Supplies and Drivers needed

UPCOMING:

• A possible change in Friday lunch fundraiser: We are going to try out Panda Express or Subway Sandwiches for the month of March.
• Beach Bums Club Field Trip Change: We will be going to La Jolla Children's Pool on Friday during clubs. Drivers needed.
• 7th and 8th grade Camp Pendleton Hovercraft Fieldtrip Tuesday March 8. DRIVERS NEEDED. We need license plate numbers for military clearance for all drivers asap by Wed March 2.

MATH:
EVENT PLANNING PROJECT is well under way. Students are planning activities and troubleshooting snags in their planning. This past week students learned how to convert decimals and fractions to percentages.

SCIENCE:
Our HOVERCRAFT PROJECT started Monday. Students were introduced to Newton's First Law of Motion while building mini hovercrafts with cds and balloons. On Tuesday and Thursday, students were given a set of instructions and a supply list for the construction of their 4ft hovercrafts. If you can help with the supplies, we would really appreciate it. Our goal is to start working on the construction next Tuesday and Thursday. I will have the plywood cut outside of class. Students have decided within their groups their team name and theme. The designs are looking fantastic! Students should be well into Zingy Learning. On Wednesday we worked on Lesson 6: Topics 1-3 in class. If your student is not that far, please help them work on it at home.

BEACHBUMS:Our Beach Bums Club went to Sea World last Friday. The storm held off long enough for us to have a beautiful afternoon. Our guide was Keith Yip, curator of mammals. He took us behind the scenes where we got to learn how the animals are fed and cared for. We saw a baby harbor seal, a green sea turtle and a deaf pilot whale, all rescued from the wild and otherwise would have died. We also got up close and personal with many other animals. Mr. Yip was very impressed with how well our students listened and paid attention during the tour. I hope we can build a relationship with Sea World so we can do this again.

Projects Projects!

Time is flying by!
UPCOMING THIS WEEK: Whole school yearbook photo on Thursday at 2:00. Turn in Vons receipts and Box Tops. Pizza Friday(we need help picking up pizza)

MATH:
We are well on our way into the planning process of our EVENT PLANNING PROJECT. Our essential questions for this project is "How do the PARTS contribute to the WHOLE? Throughout the planning, students will incorporate the math concepts of fractions, decimals and percentages into their planning.

• 7th graders chose to work on 3 events: Field Day for grades 6 thru 8, School Sleepover(Lock In) for grades 4 thru 8, and a 7th grade Beach Bonfire.



• 8th graders are working on 4 things. One event is 8th Grade Promotion. The other three involve our Sacramento Trip. One group is working on Food and Supplies, another is working on the Itinerary and the last group is working on Lodging.

SCIENCE:
We finally started Zingy Learning! Students were given their own username and password so they can use this program at their own pace at school or at home. We are currently completing Lesson 6 - Motion. This coordinates with our HOVERCRAFT PROJECT starting Monday. Students will learn about speed, velocity, acceleration, bouyancy, friction and momentum during this fun project. Students will be constructing 4 ft diameter hovercrafts out of plywood, plastic and a leafblower. If anyone has access to plywood or gas powered leafblowers, please let me know. The plywood does not need to be new.

BEACHBUMS:

Our Beach Bums Club went to Mission Beach last Friday. We braved the weather and had a great time picking up trash and walking on the jetty. We almost had to cancel because we did not have enough drivers. Thank you Jaq's mom and Austin's mom and Fortunately we had some non parent drivers who also helped out. Thank you Luisa, Julian and Michelle.

Our next trip this upcoming Friday is behind the scenes at Sea World. Again I need help with drivers! This trip is a rare opportunity that not many kids get to get up close and personal with dolphins, pilot whales and other sea animals.

******I have a special request: It seems that some 7th and 8th graders do not feel a sense of urgency to turn in work on time. All Detective Reports were due on Tuesday. Out of 10 groups, I only have 3 group's reports turned in. I would like to debrief both classes and uncover the guilty suspect but I will not do that until all reports are in. Please ask your student if assignments have been turned in.

End of Semester

This past month has been a busy one! We went on two field trips, had an eighth grade beach bar-b-que, had an awesome intern, Katy with us as well as do a lot of school stuff!

In math, students studied the properties of equality, solving one, two and multi-step equations and combining like terms. We learned about factoring and the beginnings of fractions. We are kicking off an "Event Planning" project next Tuesday where we are looking at "How do the parts contribute to the whole?" We will be investigating in detail the concepts of fractions, decimals and percentages.

Our science mystery is almost solved! Students interviewed suspects and investigated evidence for a mock arson this past month. They are putting their finishing touches on their Detective Reports as I write this. After wrapping it up next week, I am introducing our new Zingy Learning Online Science program. This will be an ongoing program that will be integrated into our science curriculum. Our next science project is buiding hovercrafts. More info coming soon!

Clubs started this month. I am part of the Beach Bums Club. We are learning about sea creatures from the ocean and will have three fieldtrips coming up in the next few Fridays. Some of our eighth graders are in my club. Ask your student which club they joined.

Report Cards went out this past week. If you have any questions or would like to come in to discuss them or your student, please see me.

Spring is in the air and our middle schoolers are maturing. It is so fun to watch how much they have grown since the beginning of the year.