Jan 6-16

Upcoming events:
Monday Jan 26:  Vocab Quiz #3
Wednesday Jan 28:  Middle Ages Test
Thursday Jan 29:  Medieval Times Fieldtrip


Hello 8th Grade families

My apologies for falling behind on my blog.  I have not missed a week since I started posting this school year... until illness brought me down!  Many students came back from winter break recovering various illnesses and I managed to catch a bad one the first week back!  Finally coming out of the fog and ready to take on the new year.
Although I was down, our classroom has been full of activity.
Our first item of business was to tighten up our classroom, concentrate on turning in assignments on time and organize ourselves. Students have really stepped up to the plate and shown what they are capable of accomplishing. 
We started our new math unit Growing, Growing, Growing.... an investigation into exponents, exponential growth and decay.  We are looking at exponential functions, graphs and rules of exponents.  We have been told bread mold grows exponentially with time.  In about a week, we will find out if that is true!  Our goal is to derive and understand the equation for mold growth by measuring growth versus time.

Our Writers' Workshop class is back in full swing with a research paper of the students' own choice of topics assigned and completed.  Students are now responsible for learning 6 vocabulary words a week.  They receive the words on Mondays and will be quizzed on those words the following Monday.  Words must be spelled correctly and used in a sentence. All words will be available on this blog on Sunday evenings. Next Monday's quiz words include: 

      

                                                Vocabulary List # 3

1. Abdicate: (Verb) To give up a right, claim high office, such as a monarchy
   Sentence: The protestor abdicated his freedom, so that he could prove a point.
2. Benign: (Adj) Having a tendency towards kindness and gentleness; 2). Harmless in effect
   Sentence: The hiker thought she needed sutures, but the wound was very benign.
3. Congest: (Verb) To clog or overfill; 2).To cause the accumulation of too much blood or mucus
   Sentence: This weekend I felt extremely congested, due to my chest cold.
4. Discordant (dis-KAWR-dnt): (Adj) disagreeing; conflicting. 2). Displeasing and harsh to the ear
   Sentence: The judge gave the juvenile a discordant sentence.
5. Exemplify: (Verb) To illustrate or clarify with examples 2). To provide or be an example of
   Sentence: The proof was exemplified through photographs and recorded videos.
6. Facetious (fuh-SEE-shus): (Adj) Humorous; not meant to be serious. 2). Unconcerned with a serious manner                                                                                                                                 Sentence: The remark Steven made was more of a facetious approach, and was not intended to be a derogatory remark.

We started our "War: What is it good for?" project.  Due to popular request, we backtracked into history to Europe in the middle ages.  We are spending 3 weeks looking at life during medieval times.  We watched the History Channel documentary, "The Dark Ages", created a timeline, mapped out the Holy Roman Empire, experienced feudalism and created petitions to the King for liberties and freedoms.  We learned about the Magna Carta and  will ponder the question how can we relate this document signed by an English King in 1215 to US History?  Next Thursday, our studies will culminate with a trip to Medieval Times in Buena Park.  Our room parent, Elise has sent you the details in an email.