Week of October 13-16

Events Coming up:

• Eighth Grade Picture Day Tuesday, October 28 at 10:50. 
• Our next fundraising opportunity will be our Middle School Halloween event on Wednesday, October 29 from 5:30-7:30.  Cost will be $3.00 and includes pizza, costumes, games and music!  Many 8th graders have volunteered to help with this event. I could use a parent or two to be there too!

I can't believe October is almost over!  We crammed a lot into our very short work week. I enjoyed meeting with all of you for Student Led Conferences. We had almost 100% participation last week and plan to meet with the last 3 families this coming week.  I so appreciate all parents' support in learning at IA.  As mentioned during our SLCs, links for Math XL for School and Fresh Grade can be found in the "Links I Like" section to the right of this blog --->



In Math, students worked on their ACE 2 problems 1,2,7,8 due Monday Oct 20.  We used geo-boards and rubber bands to demonstrate an understanding of slope and y-intercept.  Students were given a quiz to check for understanding on Wednesday.  We will finish Investigation #2 and start Investigation #3 this week.
During Writers' Workshop, students were given graphic organizers for writing essays.  They worked on writing intro paragraphs. 
In Science, students learned how hydrochloric acid (HCl) reacts with rocks from the Grand Canyon. The "acid test" included placing a drop of dilute HCl on a rock and watching for bubbles of carbon dioxide gas to be released. A positive reaction of bubbles signaled the presence of carbonate materials such as calcite.
We displayed our Walk A Mile In My Shoes and Poem artwork for SLCs outside the classroom.  I hope you had a chance to see your student's work as well as other poems and shoes.  I was quite impressed with the beautiful poems created by our 7th and 8th graders. The work will continue to be on display within our classrooms.


This week we begin our new project, 'Where's the Water? From Drought to Deluge'
One essential question we will attempt to conquer is "How can we use what we know about El Nino weather patterns and the history of droughts in California to more effectively capture and utilize water'?
Some topics we will investigate include:

• How does the ocean regulate the planet's weather
• Why do ocean temperatures change during El Nino and La Nina?
• What geographical areas are affected by El Nino and La Nina?
• What is a drought?
• What effects are we feeling because of California's drought?
• How do we measure weather patterns in history?

We hope to take a field trip to a home that has been retrofitted to collect water.  Another field trip is planned on November 20-21 to Borrego Springs where we will hike to Palm Canyon, a natural palm oasis and (weather permitting) spend an evening stargazing and practicing what students have learned about space in Science class with Wes.