Cluster 6 Newsletter
April 14, 2023
Happy spring families and caregivers!
English
Students are expected to read their self-selected independent reading book by the end of April vacation. There is no work with it, as I want them to just read for fun. We will be doing activities with the book when we get back from break. Please ask them about their book!
After a well-deserved April break from WMS for students and staff, 8th grade will hit the ground running with their second round of book groups. For this unit, students will explore “Coming of Age” novels- in a similar fashion as our previous book groups for dystopian/speculative fiction clubs.
Students will be placed in groups based on novel preferences, reading level, and group members. They will begin by creating a calendar (graphic organizer) to plan out a successful pacing plan to map out their reading each evening (students SHOULD DEFINITELY be reading at home each evening- or catching up on the weekends!). Please ask your student about their interests in the novel.
The book groups will run for most of the month of May.
Following these groups, students will be working to publish an anthology of their 8th grade writing (a physical book)- that they will take with them upon graduation from middle school. They’ve worked hard on their writing and there’s so much to celebrate in their stories.
Not that anyone’s counting… but after April break there are only 39 days left of middle school! Lets end our year with kindness, thanks, and celebration! We deserve it.
Civics
It’s time for Civics Action Projects! This is my favorite project of the year (and many students from past year report it’s their favorite, too)! Over the course of two months, students will take everything they have learned about civics, government, law-making and policy, and use it to make the change they want to see in our communities. In this project, we strive to answer two essential questions: “How do we use our rights and responsibilities as members of a democratic society to take action?” and “How can we inform and empower our community to make change?” This is the capstone project of the entire 8th grade year, and really, a culmination of everything students have learned in middle school about research, inquiry, and presentation.
In the past, students have tackled a wide variety of issues including climate change, the WMS dress code, invasive plant species, reducing the stigma around mental illness, locker rooms at Victory Field, and making the language of the WMS handbook more inclusive. We can’t wait to see what kind of changemakers your students will be! Check out our CAP website for more information.
Current learning targets:
I can connect my personal identity to the change I want to make in the world
I can brainstorm strengths and weaknesses of the communities I am a part of
I can choose a change I a want to make in a community I am part of
I can choose a group of people who want to make the same change as me, and who will help me to achieve my goal
Math
All 8th grade math classes have been spending some time with the Pythagorean Theorem, and understanding radicals and rational/irrational numbers. We have discovered that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and have the proof.
Both the 8th grade math and Algebra classes have spent a little time each day practicing for our Math MCAS in May. We’ve practiced and discussed strategies for solving all standards that will be covered.
Algebra classes have also begun to learn about exponential relationships, and expressions with exponents. After break, we will work on graphing and describing exponential growth and decay, which is a great topic to learn about as it is related to credit interest, investment interest, mortgage interest, etc.
Science
After April break, we will begin the final unit of the year, the Physics of Motion. Students will be learning the content and skills necessary to perform well in physics at the start of 9th grade, in addition to the standards assigned to middle school and assessed on the STE MCAS (coming in late May). During this unit, students will practice problem-solving skills, collect data in labs, and interpret graphs of motion. The learning objectives for this unit are listed below.
1.1 Measuring Motion
Differentiate between distance and displacement.
Differentiate between scalar and vector.
Describe the motion of an object based on its relative position to a reference point.
Calculate the speed of an object by dividing distance by time.
Use and interpret graphs of speed.
Compare and contrast speed and velocity.
Calculate the acceleration of an object by dividing speed by time.
1.2 What is a force?
Create models of balanced and unbalanced forces.
Combine forces to determine the net force.
Determine how forces cause an object to accelerate.
1.3 Friction
Compare different sources of friction and how they affect moving objects.
1.4 Gravity
Explain how mass and distance affect the force of gravity.
Use mass to calculate the weight of an object.
2.1 Gravity and Motion
Explain how gravity and air resistance affect falling objects.
Understand how free-fall and centripetal force affect objects in orbit.
Describe how gravity affects the motion of projectiles.
2.2 Newton’s Laws of Motion
Newton’s First Law: Explain how objects at rest and those in motion are affected by inertia and mass.
Newton’s Second Law: Explain the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration.
Newton’s Third Law: Describe how pairs of forces act on objects.
2.3 Momentum
Use mass and velocity to calculate momentum.
Explain the law of conservation of momentum.
Links to other Smores
Specialist Smore
Use this link to see updates from your students' specialist teachers on their classes!
Reading Smore
Use this link to see updates from the reading teachers on their classes!
Wilson Reading Smore
Here is the link for the Wilson Reading Smore with Ms. Sorenson
English Learner Smore
Check here for updates from our English Language Development teachers Ms. Rix, Ms. Gilmartin, Ms. Campos, and Ms. Schoenbeck.
Contact Info
Mr Cloherty, Guidance: thomas.cloherty@watertown.k12.ma.us
Ms Kiernan, Special Education: kathleen.kiernan@watertown.k12.ma.us
Mr Manoukian, Math: aram.manoukian@watertown.k12.ma.us
Ms P-K, Science: katherine.poulinkerstien@watertown.k12.ma.us
Ms Rix, English Language Development: zara.rix@watertown.k12.ma.us
Ms Shock, Civics: laura.shock@watertown.k12.ma.us