8th Grade Newsletter
December 2019
Welcome Winter!
As we approach the end of our 1st semester, I want to express my sincere appreciation for the students, parents, and community members that all work to support the mission and vision of Crabapple Middle School. The dedication, positive school spirit of our student body, and collaboration of all stakeholders truly make our school an amazing place to work and learn!
Thank you for making the first half of the school year a tremendous success! It is with eager anticipation that I await many of the exciting events and activities that will take place in the coming months. From our 8th grade Savannah trip to "Georgia Heritage Day," followed by our annual 8th grade dance, our students have much to look forward to as they finish up their final year of middle school!
I sincerely hope that you all enjoy a wonderful, relaxing, winter break! I'll look forward to seeing everyone again in January!!
Mrs. Psalmonds
From the Counseling Corner
STRUCTURE THE UNSTRUCTURED
With the holiday season quickly approaching, you will have your children home more than often. Often, we struggle with limiting screen time when we are in the midst of our own hustle and bustle of the month. A couple of options to STRUCTURE THE UNSTRUCTURED time:
Monday - Make Something Monday (let the creative juices flow)
Tuesday – Get Outside Tuesday
Wednesday -What’s Cooking Wednesday – have them come up with a menu and help cook.
Thursday -Time to READ Thursday
Friday - Go Somewhere Fun Friday
As always, please reach out to us when needed.
Your CMS Counselors, Amy Levin and Gina Severino
Math Updates
Math 8 Advanced and On Level are currently working on a Geometry unit involving Transformations [translations, reflections, rotations, and dilations], as well as Congruency and Similarity. We'll also cover angle sum of triangles including both interior and exterior angles. We'll finish the unit with learning about parallel lines cut by transversals and how the angles are affected.
Science Updates
For the month of December, we will be finishing up our Forces and Motion Unit! Students will also complete a summative project on Newton’s Laws. Our Unit test is planned for December 6th. After this, we will focus on reviewing for the Mid-term, which covers all of the content we have learned so far this year. The mid-term is scheduled for December 16, and counts as two test grades. Students should be spending time at home reinforcing the review from class each day. Students should check their teacher’s website for resources.
High school curriculum:
We are well into the solutions portion of our current unit. Students are expanding their knowledge of solutions and acids & bases through labs and demonstrations. Students recently participated in a lab where they tested how various factors affected the rate of dissolving solutes in water. This unit will conclude with our summative assessment on December 6, 2019.
The mid-term is scheduled for December 16, 2019 and will cover all of the content we’ve learned so far this year. This test counts 20% of their overall grade. Students will receive a detailed summary listing all of the standards and correlating notes sheets we have covered to date. They should use their notes sheets as their primary study guide. In preparation for the midterm, we will have hands-on activities, demonstrations, and labs to help reinforce difficult concepts as well as content that was covered earlier this year. Students should check their teacher’s website for additional resources.
Social Studies Updates
Georgia Studies will spend December exploring the effects of the Civil War and Reconstruction on Georgia’s political landscape and economy. We will accomplish this through the introduction of new small group and whole group classroom discussion strategies designed to facilitate higher order thinking skills. Everyone enjoy their winter break we are looking forward to a great second semester.
English Language Arts Updates
The 8th grade English Language Arts classes are reading Elie Wiesel’s, Night. Over the next several weeks, students will read and collaborate on various memoirs in book clubs. Our ELA midterm will be on December 12th and 13th. We will conduct class spelling bees to determine who will compete in the schoolwide competition on the week of December 2nd.
The 9th grade Honors Literature and Composition students have just begun our novel study over Jeannette Walls’s The Glass Castle. After reading this book, students will complete a research assignment over a topic of their choice as it relates to Jeannette Walls’s memoir. The 9th grade Honors Literature and Composition midterm will be on December 12th and 13th. There will be a class spelling bee to determine who will compete in the schoolwide competition on the week of December 2nd.
World Language Updates
German I students are doing a fabulous job finishing their unit on free-time activities. They are becoming proficient in writing about their hobbies and interests. German II students are finishing a unit on fashion and clothing in December. Ms. Davy is very impressed with their creative projects on fashion. Students should prepare for the German mid-term exam by studying vocabulary each day. Ms. Davy is excited for the last German Club event of the semester. That will take place Monday, December 18th at 8:10 am. Students will hear a presentation by a parent who works for an international company.
Spanish 2 and 2H:
We are currently in the middle of lesson 8. Students have been learning different vocabulary to talk about food. They have also learned comparisons and superlatives. Students have completed a project where they had to create a menu in Spanish based on a country that we will study this year. Students will be learning double object pronouns as well as stem changers in the preterite tense. When we come back from Thanksgiving, we will be finishing the chapter quickly and be taking a double quiz on lesson 8. Our midterm is Dec. 13th and will cover lesson's 7 and 8. We will also be announcing our pumpkin winners in December!
Say Cheese!
Do you want to recognize your 8th grader in this year’s yearbook? The deadline to purchase an ad is Monday, December 9th. Go to www.jostensyearbooks.com > select our school > follow steps to create your yearbook recognition ad (ads can only be created on computers and cannot be created on phones). Have questions? Contact the CMS yearbook adviser at perkinsk@fultonschools.org.
8th Grade Final Exam Schedule!
December 12th-18th, 2019
Friday, December 13th, 2019: ELA Part 2, Reading Part 2, All World Languages
Monday, December 16th, 2019: Science/Social Studies
Tuesday, December 17th, 2019: Guitar, Piano, Graphic Design, Personal Fitness,
and Math Part 1
Wednesday, December 18th, 2019: Guitar, Piano, Graphic Design, Personal Fitness,
and Math Part 2
CMS TOP 5 SCIENCE FAIR WINNERS!!
--How does temperature affect battery life?
Designed by: Armin Garmroudi, Luke Holmes, and Logan Bissett
--Egg on Amazon
Designed by: Analee Donaldson, Ellie Anderson, and Kathryn Ferris
--3D Printing, Infill, Density, and Strength
Designed by: Kai Demeritt and Evan Schwartzberg
--Fungicide on Tomato Plans
Designed by: Paula Stroeva
--Copper and Aluminum Alloy
Designed by: Matthew Findlay, Alex Mavalyants, and Matthew Kong