October 24- November 3

This was a fast couple of weeks!

Students began research on Phase 1 of the AMA project. Most of the research was internet based though I brought many books from the library about buildings and architecture for students to use. I am excited to learn about the structures the students chose. Some buildings are from medieval and renaissance times as well as modern structures. For an idea of what questions students were investigating, click here. We started AMA-GEOMA, the math component of the project. Using images of our buildings, students are learning about 3 dimensional geometry and symmetry. They are using that information to recognize the elements of geometry found in their structures.

We started reading a book together as a class, Nothing But the Truth, by Avi. It is about a boy who got himself into trouble for breaking the school's policy of silence during the national anthem by humming along. The story examines freedom, patriotism and respect.

In other math news, the Skills group is learning how to write exponents, understand square numbers and simplify expressions using PEMDAS. The Pre-algebra group learned how to multiply and divide numbers with exponents using the power rule and convert numbers from standard form to scientific notation. Algebra students learned how to use the distributive property and advanced exponent rules in order to simplify expressions.

Our eighth grade scientists spent October learning about atoms, elements and the Periodic Table of Elements. These fundamentals of chemistry will be useful for November’s mystery.