The Hornet's Nest
8th grade newsletter
Week of October 1- 5
Announcements:
Important Dates:
October
1 - Megan Meier Foundation Assembly
1 to 5 - Sports Spectacular Sign Up ($10)
9 to 12 - HOPE Week
GRADE INFORMATION
We've received several inquiries about students' grades this year. Mostly, you've been asking, "Where are their scores?" You may not be seeing many scores in your child's gradebook. That's because with our move to standards referenced grading, we don't enter grades as frequently. Rather than grading many individual assignments and then averaging them, we are scoring only major assessments that test your child's overall mastery of a standard. But we are tracking your child's progress! Please ask them to show you their data binder in Google Classroom. In the documents you'll find there, your child will be able to show you their progress towards meeting the standards we are working on in class.
Please reach out to your teachers with questions, and we appreciate your patience as we implement our updated gradebook.
Best,
The 8th grade team
Midterm Grades Update:
Math
This week students will work on their knowledge of solving equations. Corrections and retesting opportunities will be provided for those that have not met the equation standard (ELO 1). Students will review graphing points. Please be sure your child keeps up with their Independent Work!
This Week's Objectives:
Solve linear equations and inequalities in one variable.
Daily Independent Work:
Monday: Introduction to Chapter 3
Tuesday: Chapter 2 ReTeaching
Wednesday: Chapter 2 Corrections
Thursday: Work Day in preparation for ReTakes (Enrichment for those proficient at ELO 1)
Friday: ReTakes or continue practice toward ReTakes (Enrichment for others)
Advanced Math
This week students will be completing their understanding of equations and start with inequalities.
This Week's Objectives:
Solve linear equations and inequalities in one variable.
Daily Independent Work:
Monday: Complete Topic 1a Test
Tuesday: Intro to 1b Solving Linear Inequalities in One Variable and ReTeaching
Wednesday: Topic 1a Corrections
Thursday: Lesson 1-5 Solving Inequalities in One Variable; pg 34 12,20-24
Friday: Lesson 1-5; pg 34 29-34, 47
Social Studies
This week Students will finish up giving their oral defense over George Washington's Presidency. Up next we will be starting to look at objective #3: First Political Parties.
Important Vocabulary:
- Federalists
- Democratic Republicans
- Alexander Hamilton
- Thomas Jefferson
- Elastic Clause
- Strict Construction
- Loose Construction
Learning Target for the Week:
" I can compare the core beliefs of the first political parties".
Including:
- Names of parties and their founders
- Strict vs. Loose Construction
- Views on Human Nature
- Views on Government
- Views on Economy
- Views on Alliances
Students working on
their book or song
over George Washington
ELA
This week, E/LA class is shifting its focus to writing short stories. This past week, we read short stories from several different genres, including science fiction, memoir, horror, and myth. We will be working on the following objectives, based on Missouri Learning Standard 8.W.2.A.a:
I can...
-Follow a writing process to produce a well-organized and interesting short story.
-Create a plot and a setting for a story..
-Render familiar experiences into scenes fit for literature.
-Develop characters with coherent motives and personalities.
-Utilize tone, descriptive language, and figurative language to paint on the page.
-Deploy twists and surprises in ways that serve thematic development and character development.
In addition, we will continue to focus on MO Standard 8.RL.3.D, reading and comprehending texts on grade level. We will encourage students to read stories within the genres they are writing!
BRAINSTORMING OUR SCI-FI SETTINGS & PLOTS.
WHEN THE BOOK IS SO GOOD, YOU CAN'T PUT IT DOWN.
UPDATING & WRITING IN OUR COMPOSITION NOTEBOOKS.
SCIENCE
Students will be review the different types of forces from last week. Learn how to make a science graph and discover how mass affects gravity in a hands on activity.
This Week's Objectives:
PS2A2--Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that the change in an object's motion depends on the sum of forces on the object and the mass of the object.
PS2B2--Create and analyze a graph to use as evidence to support the claim that gravitational interactions depend on the mass of the interacting objects.
Daily Activities:
Monday: Review the force stations from last week and decide which force type was being exerted.
Tuesday: Types of Forces challenge and acting out the forces
Wednesday: Assessment over types of forces (for a grade) and a quick pretest over the PS2B2 objective above.
Thursday: How to make a graph in science class practice
Friday: Spring into Action investigation