Week of September 19–23

Week of September 19–23

The students finished presenting their skits and shared their suggestions with the class on ways to make stronger the systems that society requires in order to best function and meet its members’ needs. They also started writing a class letter to city planners with their suggestions, which we will be revising and sending out next week. The students also decided that we would find out more about and participate in the current planning that is going on in our local community.

We have begun working on math skills. We are also continuing to work on our stories and learn new vocabulary words.

The class has officially finalized and ratified our class constitution.

Supplies:

Students need to bring in and have in class each day several composition books or spirals and a free reading book, as well as a few pens and pencils.

Assignments:

Students were assigned to research their topics and bring in a newspaper or magazine article. Some students still need to do this.

Students also need to figure out what supplies their family would need for 72 hours in an emergency, and make a checklist of whether or not they have those supplies.

Announcements:

Back to School Night is Thursday from 3:30 to 6:00 p.m. We hope to see you there!

Have a good week!

Diana and Lisa

Week of September 12–16

Week of September 12–16

We are working on defining what makes “beautiful work” and the importance of revision. We have made physical representations, and the students are working on presenting their work.

We have also been studying the systems that society requires in order to best function and meet its members’ needs, and what happens when a part of that system breaks down. Students are analyzing the systems and creating a skit to share their information and demonstrate their suggestions. We have also been reading newspapers and researching how this applies to current events as well as decision making. The students have decided to write to the city as well as their representatives to share their suggestions, which we will begin working on next week. We will also be building upon this to look at community planning today as well as examine the ways people lived during periods of time throughout history.

The students have taken a math assessment. We will begin working on skills next week.

We have created our class constitution and are now ready to finalize and ratify it.

We have begun writing fiction stories and are working on critiquing and building a safe environment to share our work. Soon, we will be working on grammar based on the students’ writing.

This week we set up the science lab and made the room our own. It has been great to have two classrooms.

Supplies:

Students need to bring in and have in class each day several composition books or spirals and a free reading book, as well as a few pens and pencils.

Assignments:

Students were assigned to research their topics and bring in a newspaper or magazine article. They were also asked to figure out what supplies their family would need for 72 hours in an emergency, and make a checklist of whether or not they have those supplies.

Announcements:

Back to School Night is Thursday from 3:30 to 6:00 p.m. We hope to see you there!

Have a good week!

Diana and Lisa

Sept 6-Sept 12

What an interesting week we've had! Our eighth grade class is off to a great start. We are putting our systems in place while getting to know each other. We are practicing routines and signals that we hope will help our classroom run effectively. Parents - ask your student about morning meetings, class council, signals, critique, our pets (and their names :) ), lunchtime, their peers, etc.

We are currently in the midst of creating our class constitution. We are also creating the framework for expressing ourselves through writing and presenting our work to others.

We were all surprised to get a day off of school on Friday and hope you enjoyed the unexpected break!

Yesterday, we started our Explorations program. Our 8th grade class has the opportunity to spend the next nine weeks in two classes on Mondays: "Rhythm and Percussion" and "Hands On Art."

We are so impressed with how quickly our class is becoming a strong community. On the second day of school during a small group activity, we noticed students laughing and working together as if they had known each other for years!