Junior High Journal
News and Happenings in the Junior High Department
8th Grade Updates & Reminders 10/17-10/21
- Chromebooks should be charged every night to ensure the battery lasts throughout the day!
- Water bottles should be stored in lockers at all time. Students can ask to get a drink if they are thirsty, but with our new Chromebooks, water bottles are not allowed in the classroom.
- Check Skyward and the homework calendar frequently for missing and current homework assignments, talk to your child about their work.
- Please remember that although you can email your students, absences and early pick-up information must be reported through the office. Please call the Yorkville School office.
Character Education: Growth Mindset
So Why Socktober?
Individual Classes
ELA News and Updates
Katie Nicholls katie.nicholls@yorkville.k12.wi.us
This week in ELA, students continued reading No Promises in the Wind. Students are steadily grasping the idea that life during the Great Depression was quite different from life today. We are having lively discussions and interesting predictions about the novel. We also spent time revising and editing our argumentative essays. Peer reviewers gave each student valuable feedback. Students then had an opportunity to make any and all changes needed to their paper before final submission. We rounded out the week with character education and discussing the importance of believing in ourselves, and how the mindset of failure results in failure. Ask your student what fixed mindset they are trying to change in regards to failure.
Science News and Updates
Erin Weis erin.weis@yorkville.k12.wi.us
Students finished learning about the characteristics, necessities and chemistry of life this week with a chapter test on Monday. We will build on that knowledge in our next chapter about cells that we started right away on Tuesday. Students are learning about the invention of the microscope that made the discovery of cells possible. They are creating a timeline of scientists, their inventions or discoveries and descriptions that led to the cell theory.
We are also learning why cells are so small. Students did activities modeling changes in the surface area to volume ratio. First, they cut out different size cubes, measured and calculated the surface area and volume of the different cubes. Then they made comparisons of the ratios. This is a difficult concept for kids to wrap their brains around so we will continue to practice with more modeling. Ask your child about the importance of the surface area to volume ratio in terms of cell size.
Have a great weekend!
Go Badgers!
Mrs. Weis
Social Studies News and Updates
John Johnsen john.johnsen@yorkville.k12.wi.us
This week in 8th grade Civics, we finished looking at the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and how Shay’s Rebellion led to people wanting changes. We then started looking at lesson 2 which was the Constitutional Convention. We focus on how compromise was so important in building the current government. We will discuss the Virginia and New Jersey plans and how the Great Compromise solve the problem of representation in Congress. Next week we will finish lesson 2 and begin lesson 3 and how the structure of the Constitution works. When looking at the Constitution we will also look at how we can make changes or amendments to the constitution. Have a great weekend. Mr. Johnsen
Math News and Updates
Mary Niccolai mary.niccolai@yorkville.k12.wi.us
Intro to Algebra worked on writing and solving equations based on word problems. Sometimes writing the equation can be harder than solving the equation. We also began our next unit, real numbers and exponents. In this chapter we will investigate square roots and cube roots. Students will solve some equations by taking the square root of both sides. Please check skyward for updated grades. Have a great weekend.
Mrs. Niccolai
Algebra wrapped up Unit 1A with a test on Tuesday and Wednesday. There are still a few students that need to complete this test. We ended the week by beginning module 4 in unit 1B. This module will focus on solving multi-step equations. We will also solve and graph inequalities. The algebra tests should all be finished by Friday and I will get them corrected over the weekend. Please check skyward for updated grades. Have a great weekend.
Mrs. Niccolai
Spanish News and Updates
Katy Morrow katy.morrow@yorkville.k12.wi.us
¡Hola! This week, we began the grammar concepts of our hobbies unit and students talked, listened, and wrote about what they like to do. We also reviewed pronombres personales or subject pronouns from last year. Lastly, students had their final workday for thier Hispanic Heritage Month portfolio that is due next Friday.
Physical Education & Health News and Updates
Amanda Peterson amanda.peterson@yorkville.k12.wi.us
This week in health the 8th graders started presenting their Unintentional Injury presentations. Because I was at a workshop on Thursday, we took a break with the presentations and focused on Fitnessgram goal setting. These will becoming home within the next couple of weeks so you know how your son/daughter scored and how you can help them achieve their fitness SMART goals!
This week the 7th graders had the opportunity to play Angleball, which is very unique and new game to our school as of last spring. We also started our basketball unit with ball handling, dribbling, jump stops, pivoting, knockout, passing, and 2on 2 basketball games. We are looking forward the benefits from this cardiovascular endurance activity!
Mrs. Peterson
Band News and Updates
Mike Beix
The Advanced Band continues to learn music for our Winter Band Concert on December 15.
We had our first Jazz Band rehearsal this week. We have more than 40 students participating in the group this year! Jazz Band meets every Wednesday from 3:45 to 4:15.
Encourage your child to perform something for you. This will help develop their self-confidence and will give you the opportunity to hear how much they have improved!
The band will be performing at the Veterans Day Assembly at Yorkville School on Friday, November 11 at 9:45am.
Please check out the band website (tinyurl.com/yorkvilleband) to stay informed with calendar dates, current band news, and helpful online resources.
Choir News and Updates
Carly Kreuscher
carly.kreuscher@yorkville.k12.wi.us
http://yorkvillemusic.weebly.com
The students continue to work on pieces for our upcoming concerts. They continue to make lots of progress! There will be a Fall performance on Tuesday November 15, 2016 at Union Grove High School, 6:30pm. We will be performing in the Performance Center with Choirs from Nash Elementary in Kenosha.
I have added a “What’s New” page to my website and will be posting a monthly newsletter. Included in the newsletter will be Upcoming Events, Notes from the teacher, What we are learning, songs we are singing, and a “Did you Know” column. Stop by and check it out!!! http://yorkvillemusic.weebly.com
There are still some students with missing handbook slips. The signed portion of the handbook was due Friday Sept 23rd. Let’s try to get the remainder of them in asap!!
There are still some students with missing handbook slips. The signed portion of the handbook was due Friday Sept 23rd. Let’s try to get the remainder of them in asap!!
There are still some students with missing handbook slips. The signed portion of the handbook was due Friday Sept 23rd. Let’s try to get the remainder of them in asap!!
Art News and Updates
Mrs. Herman is currently on maternity leave after having her daughter, Audrey Jean, on September 7th! She will be back sometime in December! 8th grade students currently do not have art.