Many students have used up their school supplies! Please assist your child with restocking their notebook paper and pencils. We are currently out of these supplies in our back up resources as well.

We could use more white board markers as well if you are able to make a donation. We appreciate it!

Keyboarding Skills & Expectations

The middle school team has started pushing the students in their typing speed and accuracy. We have observed slow typing speeds; therefore impacting the students in their ability to get their thoughts on paper smoothly. Often their thoughts are moving faster than their fingers. Even when typing text already written for them, students are showing slower speeds than we would like to see. We are enforcing home-row placement and weekly typing practice.

Each week students will be assigned a keyboarding assignment. The completion and effort on these assignments will begin appearing in their Writing & Research gradebook.

Our goal is to send the students to high school ready to type those 4-5 page essays without speed slowing down their thinking process. This does require the students to build muscle memory on the keys; the hen peck method some of them love will only go so far.

Students are encouraged to continue typing at home as well! The more practice the better. :)

Here's The Happenings:

Science:  Our eye dissections with 3rd grade were a success! It is always fun to see the kids interact with younger students. The rest of our week was spent understanding Earth’s tilt and position, and how it gives us our seasons. We also explored the sun’s atmosphere layers and how charged particles from the sun can impact Earth.

Homework Due 1/21: Sun & Earth Worksheet

• Regional science fair students should complete the alternate assignment- Science Fair Board Brainstorming (found on Google Classroom)

Math: Chapter 3- Graphing Linear Functions

In discussions, students are picking up and answering questions with our transformations with much more confidence overall. We started our review today and will continue working on it Tuesday. I would recommend that students look over the problems and bring specific questions on Tuesday. We will complete a retest on Wednesday. Coming up, we will be working again with our equations and writing them in slope-intercept form from a graph, table, or other diagram. 

Homework: Look over the review questions- due Wednesday

Social Studies: Students will be learning about the Middle East crisis. They will learn about the Camp David Hostage Crisis and other terrorist attacks as well as Islamic Fundamentalism.

English: Our 8th graders are currently reading the final chapter of The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. As we finish the text, students are discussing Douglass’s powerful journey and reflecting on the themes of freedom, perseverance, and identity. After completing the book, students will shift their focus to writing a personal narrative.

Writing & Research: In Writing and Research, students will be spending the next few weeks strengthening their grammar skills. We’ll be focusing on sentence structure, punctuation, and using grammar to make their writing clearer and more effective. These skills will support all of their upcoming writing assignments across subjects.

STEM: Students are continuing to move through project stations from before break: Claymation, Sketchup, and UKit robots.  Two new project stations have been added to the mix: Photoshop and Engino Bridges.  No matter what project station your child is on, all students are applying problem solving and critical thinking skills.