Quarter 2 Newsletter
8th Grade
Fall Conferences
The CIMS Park and Play Yard!
We still need painted rocks for our display in the CIMS Park and Play Yard! If you or your family are interested in taking rocks home to paint and return for the playground, come pick up a packet in the office. Note that rocks will be provided, paint or other materials will not. Feel free to pick up for anyone who wants to contribute to the playground! Please pick up, decorate, and return rocks by Thursday 11/15/18.
Other Important Updates
- Make sure to update your Parent Booker account and that you have your student's name on the account so you can take advantage of upcoming volunteer opportunities like helping with the Holiday dance on Dec. 20th sponsored by student council.
- We will be hosting a team from IB on November 26th and 27th to check out what amazing things our PYP program is doing.
- Don't miss out on PTO's bingo night on December 14th. It's a fun way to raise funds for the PTO!
Current Units of Inquiry
Language and Literature
Unit Statement of Inquiry: Analyzing intertextual themes highlights connections between qualities of human nature that transcend social/cultural differences.
Inquiry Questions: What is theme? What does theme say about human nature? Are there UNIVERSAL qualities of human nature?
Summative Assessment: Students will complete a compare and contrast written piece.
Science
Statement of Inquiry: Energy and function can be used to indicate relationships between scale, duration, frequency, and variability.
Inquiry Questions:
If values are known, is it possible to determine the distance, time and speed of an object?- Students will investigate the relationship between scale and duration.
- Students will explore the relationships and function between moving objects (scale, duration, frequency, and variability) and energy.
- Students will explore the relationships and function between moving objects (scale, duration, frequency, and variability)
Summative Assessment: Students will participate in various labs and written tasks to demonstrate their knowledge of Force ad Motion.
Individuals and Societies
Statement of Inquiry: Communities determine how to allocate power equitably.
Inquiry Questions: What rights are guaranteed to American citizens by the Bill of Rights? How does a government protect its people and their rights? Does the United States actually give equal rights to all citizens? Why or why not?
Summative Assessment: Students will use their knowledge and understanding of the Constitution and Bill of Rights as well as their research skills in order to trace the evolving nature of citizenship for a specific group in American Society. They will discuss how that group’s role in society and government have changed over time, as well as how the protections of their rights have changed over time.Students will act as museum curator creating a visual display illustrating key moments in the history of this group.
Math Level 3
Statement of Inquiry: Representing change reveals relationships in natural and human landscapes.
Inquiry Questions:
How can change be calculated?- Students will explore the relationship between independent and dependent variables to calculate rate of change
- Students will investigate how temperature measurements can be used to calculate wind chill
What other factors have an impact on temperature patterns?
- Students willl look into other environmental impacts that may affect climate change.
Algebra
Statement of Inquiry: The space within digital environments is created, changed and governed by rules.
Inquiry Questions: Under Construction!
Summative Assessment: For the Functions performance task you will be asked to create a level on a video game of your own creation. You will use transformations of various parent functions to create the path the character will take to achieve the goal of the level. You will graph the functions and string them together to show the video game level in its entirety. For each graph, you will give the function of the graph, its parent function and the transformation.
Spanish
Statement of Inquiry: Globalization and sustainability has caused people to be creative in their ways to protect the environment.
Inquiry Questions: Is it important to help others? What can I learn about myself by helping others? Is it everyone's job to help others?
Summative Assessment: Students will create a community service project based on the needs of the community in an effort to protect the environment.
Design
Statement of Inquiry:The design cycle promotes abstract thinking to develop and evaluate sustainable resources
Inquiry Questions:
How can your structure withstand the elements of nature for 60 seconds?
Students will design a tower that will withstand the elements brought to their tower by the teacher.
Students will understand the concept building a design that will keep people safe based structure and choice of putting pieces together.
Students will grasp the idea of being responsible for their choices in life.
Summative Assessment: The Student will learn to interact with clients using appropriate resources to help create sustainability to develop a structure that withstands elements of nature.
Drama
Statement of Inquiry: Personal and cultural expression develops aesthetic through play with various medium.
Inquiry Questions: What are the effects of scenery in a play/musical? Why is lighting and sound important in a performance? Is technical theater important? Why or Why not? Why is color important in set and lighting design? Does sound and color improve or take away from a performance? Explain. What are the different types of sets? What are safety rules for staging a play?
Summative Assessment: Students will watch a silent, black and white film. Reflect on how color and sound could change the experience. Answer the unit debatable question, "Does color and sound add or take away from a performance", support your answer.
PHE
Statement of Inquiry: An individual’s development of perspective and interactions impacts their awareness of space and time.
Inquiry Questions: What is the difference between a chest pass, overhead pass, and bounce pass? When would it be most effective to learn a skill in parts? Do you have to be tall to be successful in basketball?
Summative Assessment: Students will demonstrate the skills and tech. necessary for active participation in creating a game that involves basic fundamental skills that are used in basketball i.e. (shooting, dribbling, passing)
Your task will be to create a game using skills from basketball, however the game cannot be basketball.You are an inventor of new games. Your job is to sell your product to elementary PE teachers in your city. Your target audience will be 4th grade students. Once you have invented your game it will be played so that your peers can evaluate it to determine if it is at 4th grade level. Using some or all of the Basketball Skills you learned in class you will create a game that elementary students can play. You will use a basketball and any other equipment you need to be successful. You and your group will also make a brochure with the name of the game, rules, the amount of players for each team, description of the game, equipment needed and where the game is played. Each person develops a rule; game makes sense and is easy to understand; the main idea of the game is clear; the amount of gamers is clear; game has an appropriately name. All of this information is placed on a brochure.