Quarter 3 Academic Newsletter
8th Grade
What We Will Be Learning
English Language Arts (General and Honors)
In 8th grade English Language Arts, students will be completing a Literary
Analysis Essay on The Outsiders (Grade Level) or Fahrenheit 451 (Honors) using text evidence. In addition, students will begin a unit in the textbook titled The Move Towards Freedom, reading non-fiction texts and analyzing author’s purpose and craft.
English I
Math (General & Honors)
Students will complete Units 5: Functions and Volume and Unit 6: Associations in Data from the Illustrative Math textbook.
Unit 5 (from textbook website):
In this unit, students are introduced to the concept of a function. They learn to understand and use the terms “input,” “output,” and “function,” e.g., “temperature is a function of time.” They describe functions as increasing or decreasing between specific numerical inputs, and they consider the inputs of a function to be values of its independent variable and its outputs to be values of its dependent variable. (The terms “Independent variable” and “dependent variable” were introduced in grade 6.) They use tables, equations, and graphs to represent functions, and describe information presented in tables, equations, or graphs in terms of functions. In working with linear functions, students coordinate and synthesize their understanding of “constant of proportionality” (which was introduced in grade 7), “rate of change” and “slope” (which were introduced earlier in grade 8), and increasing and decreasing. Students perceive similarities in structure between pairs of known and new volume formulas: for a rectangular prism and a cylinder; and for a cylinder and a cone. Students rearrange these formulas to show functional relationships and use them to reason about how the volume of a figure changes as another measurement changes, e.g., the height of a cylinder is proportional to its volume; if the radius of a cylinder triples, its volume becomes nine times larger.
Unit 6 (from textbook website):
In this unit, students generate and work with bivariate data sets that has more variability than in previous units. They learn to understand and use the terms “scatter plot” and “association,” and describe associations as “positive” or “negative” and “linear” or “non-linear.” Students describe scatter plots, using a term previously used to describe univariate data “cluster,” and the new term “outlier.” They fit lines to scatter plots and informally assess their goodness of fit by judging the closeness of the data points to the lines, and compare predicted and actual values. Students learn to understand and use the terms “two-way table,” “bar graph,” and “segmented bar graph,” using two-way tables to investigate categorical data.
Algebra
In Algebra, students will be covering functions and linear equations on the coordinate plane. Students will be able to write and create relations and functions in different forms, graphing and describing their key features including their intercepts, intervals of increasing and decreasing activity, their minimum and maximums, their rate of change and their overall behavior. Students will be able to create scatterplots by hand and by using technology to find the linear regression using both methods.
Students will explore and learn about compound inequalities and absolute value inequalities.
Students will also be working with monomials and exploring the Laws of Exponents and how they differ from other polynomials. Students will add, subtract, and multiply polynomials and understand that polynomials are closed under these operations.
Science (General and Honors)
Social Studies (General and Honors)
In 8th grade Social Studies, students will be covering the sequence of South Carolina History and United States History from the Revolutionary Era, A New Nation and State, Sectionalism and the Antebellum Era, and into the Civil War. Skills will focus on explaining, analyzing, and contextualizing primary and secondary sources, reading, analyzing, and responding to informational texts containing multiple perspectives, reading and analyzing historical maps and data. Reading and writing like a historian using textual evidence to support claims is integral to demonstrating an understanding of the content.
8th Grade Teachers and Staff
Core Subjects:
Mrs: Olmsted: Social Studies and grade level chair
Mr. Franey: Social Studies
Mr. Carney: Social Studies
Mrs. Eichelman : ELA (English Language Arts)
Mrs. Shaddrix: ELA (English Language Arts)
Mrs Vitali: ELA (English Language Arts) and English I
Mrs. Kaasa: Math
Ms. Boulton: Math
Mrs. Guardino: Math and Algebra I
Mrs. Rheaume: Science
Mrs. Lavarnway: Science
Ms. Yingling: Science
Special Education Teachers:
Mrs. Elg
Mr. Moore
Ms. Blakely
Mrs. Billings
Mr. Stoyles
Intervention:
Mrs. Johnson: Reading
Mrs. Greene-Cummings: Math
Ms. Bagley: Academics/Organization
Related Arts:
PE/Health: Coach Duffy and Coach Siegel
Art: Mr. Brown
PLTW: Ms. Israel
Fundamentals of Computing Part II: Ms. Fissel
Financial Literacy: Ms. Fissel and Mr. Hastings
Journalism: Mr. Carney
French: Mrs. Ready
Spanish: Mrs. Spain
Band: Ms. Spitzer
Strings: Ms. Fitzgerald
Chorus: Mrs. Downs
Support:
Media Specialist: Mrs. Bouton
Media Clerk: Ms. Bailey
School Counselor: Mrs. Ciucci
Administrator: Mr. Glover
Important Dates in Quarter 3
January 21: Robotics Team 2nd Competition
January 24: Cougar Store Open
January 27: Report Cards Sent Home
January 30: Student of the Month Breakfast, 8:30 am - 9:15 am
February 2: Job Shadow Day
February 3: Early Release (1:30pm)/Teacher Workday
February 6: PTO Appreciation Day
February 6 - 10: National School Counseling Week
February 7: Cougar Store
February 10: Coffee & Conversations with Ms. Rowehl, 9 am - 10 am
February 17 and 18th Region Band Clinic at Summers Corner Performing Arts Center (for select 8th graders)
February 17: Early Release (1:30pm)/Teacher Workday
February 20: President's Day (Schools Closed)
February 21: Cougar Store
February 22: School Bus Driver Appreciation Day
February 23: Progress Reports go home
March 1: Author Varian Johnson visit
March 1: Music in Our Schools Month/March Madness Band Competition
March 3: Maintenace Worker Appreciation Day
March 6 - 10: National School Social Worker Week
March 6: PTO Teacher Appreciation Day
March 7: Cougar Store
March 8: International Girls Day Event 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
March 9: Strings Concert at JICHS, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
March 10: All Star Band Clinic (7th/8th)
March 10: Early Release (1:30pm)/Teacher Workday
March 13: SEL Survey
March 14: District 3 Board Meeting, 5:30 - 7:30
March 14: PTO Board Meeting, 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
March 21: Cougar Store
March 21: SCBDA State Concert Festival (advanced 7th/8th)
March 23: Thrilling Thursday
March 24: SCBDA State Concert Festival (advanced 7th/8th)
March 24: Teacher Workday/Professional Development (No School)
March 24: End of 3rd Quarter
Contact
Email: sonja_raines@charleston.k12.sc.us
Website: https://www.ccsdschools.com/camproad
Location: 1825 Camp Road, Charleston, SC, USA
Phone: 843-762-2784