8-3 Newsletter
January 6, 2016
What's New?
Welcome to the second half of 8th grade! Requirements get tougher and the work load may increase as we get prepared for Milestones testing and our launch into high school. Expectations for missing and late assignments are now more stringent as is appropriate for preparing our students for high school. Please set a time each week for you and your child to check Power School. If there is a zero recorded, they should get a ZAP form from the teacher and attend the next ZAP session (Thursday afternoons) to make up that assignment. The Zeroes Aren’t Permitted policy states that children will be given the opportunity to make-up missing assignments in an afterschool session. If students do not seize the opportunity, the zero will remain in the gradebook. Zeroes will become permanent after 10 days if the student has not submitted the assignment to the teacher. Midterm progress reports will also be permanent. No work can be turned in from before midterm, after the progress reports have gone out.
Students need to take an offensive stance by staying on top of their studies and completing their assignments in a timely manner. The number one problem with student success seems to be time management. Students are given ample time in class to complete all classwork as long as they stay on task. They should not need to do work at home in science and Georgia Studies unless they have been absent. Homework is assigned in language arts and math. It is imperative that students get in the habit of getting classwork done in class so that they are only doing homework at home.
Habits of Successful Students
1. Be proactive- Work first, play later, Check Power School Weekly
2. Participate- Come to school daily and take part in classroom activities
3. Engage- Think about what is being done and what it means
4. Communicate/Advocate- Ask questions & get help when needed
5. Take ownership- Make it your own, put it in your own words
6. Go the extra mile- Ask "what would make this better?" then do it!
7. Keep track of time- Keep a calendar, agenda, or other organizer to stay on top of things
8. Set goals- Motivate yourself, expect the best out of yourself
Here is what is happening in our classes!
Bridwell- Physical Science
Friday, Jan 8th is our mastery assessment on Waves (S8P4). Students will receive a study guide to complete in class on Wednesday. We will go over the correct answers and review on Thursday. The grades in Power School are final for quarter 2. Students were told they would be final before the holidays and had ample opportunities to complete and turn in missing assignments. Our next unit of study on Motion & Forces will begin next week.
McKinney- Math
In math we are finishing up unit 4 Functions. The mastery assessment will be on January 20. I have included a review for students to be working on prior to the mastery assessment. Students will need graph paper and pencils for the next three units. We will be doing a lot of graphing.
Siekkinen- Georgia Studies
Welcome back! Hope everyone had a great Christmas! We will be jumping in where we left off before the break with the period following the Civil War. First test on Ch. 18 next Monday the 11th. Permission slips for the next field trip will be going home this week. Our next trip will be to tour the USS Alaska on 1 February.
Richardson- Language Arts
Welcome back!! I hope you all had a wonderful winter break. This year we will start by reading To Kill a Mockingbird with blocks 2,4 and 5. They will be given a book to take home. They will not be allowed to write in it, but they can use sticky notes for their annotations. They will be given a reading/annotation guide this week in class. Students will be required to read and take annotations most week nights. The assigned reading will only be 1 chapter a night. They will be asked questions about the assigned chapter the next day in class, this will count as a grade, and they will work on other various activities that will reinforce the chapter read that evening. Also, during this unit we will be writing an argumentative essay and working on our next grammar skill. Block 3 will be reading The Boy in the Striped Pajamas in class, and working on our next grammar skill. This next grammar skill, verbals, is a tough skill to understand. I can’t stress how important it is for the students to be listening to instruction and asking questions when they don’t understand.
All students need to have notebooks or folders with notebook paper.
We are here if you need us!
Best way to contact us is by email!
For conference requests, please contact the main office.
Email: contact@camden.k12.ga.us
Website: http://smms.camden.k12.ga.us/
Location: St. Marys Middle School, Martha Drive, Saint Marys, GA, United States
Phone: (912) 882-8626