The past few weeks

Forgive my lack of posts for the past month as it has been busy in the Moncrief household.  I rarely bring personal things into my classroom blog, however, without the support of Tony and Luisa,  Beth (my substitute for 3 days), and my 8th graders and their families,  our classroom would not have run so successfully. Many thanks for the messages of concern for both Brianna and I.  A quick summary for those of you who didn't know:  My daughter Brianna had a spinal cord surgery to implant a shunt into her spinal column.  This was done to release excess spinal fluid (syringomyelia) which was causing nerve damage and loss of muscle mass in her arms and hands.  Despite the two inch scar she now has on her neck, which she thinks is totally cool, she is recovering well and will have physical and occupational therapy to regain some of her strength.  Two weeks after Brianna's hospital stay, I got to visit my doctor to remove a bit of basal cell carcinoma from my cheek.  I have had a lovely bandage across my nose for a week now as the skin graft heals.  Thank you Tori for coming to school in solidarity last week with a bandaid across your nose!!

Thank you for your support and patience this month!

 Meanwhile, back in the classroom......UPCOMING EVENTS:

• Make-Up/New Student/Spring Pictures:  Tuesday March 19
• Student Led Conferences (SLCs) will take place from March 26th - March 28th. These are half days, so conference times will begin at 12:45. Families will spend fifteen minutes in each room. Please type your student's name in a time slot. The starting room does not matter as you will visit both rooms and see work in each.

          Please click here to sign up. 

• No School Friday March 29.  Spring Break Begins!  March 29-April 7. 

Past Field Trips:  Thank you to all parents who helped with this past month's fieldtrips.  We traveled back in time in Vista a week ago Saturday to witness a Civil War reenactment.  We wandered through the Yankee and Confederate encampments and had front row seats for the battle at Gettysburg.  Not all students were able to attend since it was on a Saturday but it was a great learning experience for those who came.  

Tony arranged a great day on Thursday down at the San Diego Courthouse.  Check out the link to his blog (Links I Like) for details and photos.---->

In Math this month, PreAlgebra students focused on proportions, similar figures and cross products.  Did you know that many word problems can be set up as proportions (equivalent fractions)?  We have discovered rate problems, similar figures, percent problems and indirect measurement can all be solved using proportions.  Students created "mini me" pictures of themselves by scaling down their body measurements to 1/10th and 1/100th their actual size.

 Algebra, students focused on exponent rules, simplifying exponents and exponential growth and decay. This next week we will test the formula for exponential growth as we watch a cheese sample grow moldy.

Our murder mystery finally came to a close.  After all of the evidence was gathered and tested and all of the suspects were interviewed, some students were still certain they knew whodunit.  The final evidence that sealed the case was a tire track found at the scene.  Only one of the suspect's vehicles matched those tracks found at the scene. That same suspect's fingerprints, writing sample and food choice at the restaurant that night were all "dead" giveaways!  What a great time we had, learning about the scientific method, chemistry and using logic to solve a crime!