Day 2

Eight graders at home.... we miss you! Answer to yesterday's question: Freaking cold, windy and misty! Pictures are in backwards chronological order. Still trying to figure out how to post them on this blog. Ugh!

We had a very fun day today experiencing San Francisco. We went to San Francisco State University and got a taste of college life in their commons, bookstore, Fine Arts Building and baseball fields. Sound stage Director of Cinema Arts Professor Jamison Goldner was kind enough to give us a small impromptu lecture on directing. He has been around since 1963 as one of the founding members of the Dept of Cinema. He and our tour guide Jimmy, a second year grad student gave us some interesting information about college life. We visited the Gators baseball field and had photo ops in the dugout.

After a quick lunch out of the back of the cars we drove to Blazing Saddles for our bike ride. I stayed back with three of the kids while the rest braved the cold misty wind for the ten mile ride along San Francisco Bay and across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Two hours later, our famished group walked to the Rainforest Cafe for refueling and a well deserved dinner. Unfortunately we ran out of time to get on the tour bus before they closed so we did some very touristy stuff....The Wax Museum (ask your kids about the electrocution chair!) and Ripley's Believe it or Not. We dragged ourselves back to the cars close to 9:30 and am still wondering when the kids are going to run out of energy!

Question of the day: The bridge is celebrating a milestone birthday this year. Find out how old it is.

8th grade trip Day 1

Hello Parents! Day 1 of our trip is complete! We made it safely to San Francisco! We stopped a few times along the way to load up on junk food and stretch.... pretty uneventful. The weather was hot and beautiful along the drive and as we drove into Oakland, the wall of fog was covering San Francisco. It is quite cool here! We are staying in Christine's brother's beautiful home near Golden Gate Park. They were kind enough to leave their home in our care for two days. We have a fun filled dayof exploring the city tomorrow.

As I reflect upon the anticipation and preparation that went into taking this trip, I just want to say how grateful I am to have had the opportunity to be a part of your childrens' lives as well as yours. I have one of the best jobs on the planet and feel it a privilege that your children came into my life. Thank you for supporting them and having faith in me. I feel I have learned as much from them as they have from me. We have a busy day tomorrow so until then.......

Question of the day: What will our weather be like today?

March Madness!

Upcoming Events:

*Book Fair March 19 until March 23 9:00 am - 4:00 pm

*Wednesday March 21: Family Night between 4:30-7:00 Book Fair and Classroom visit

*Friday March 23: Costco Pizza fundraiser for lunch

*Superheroes project Benchmark 2 due Tuesday March 20 Benchmark 3 due Friday March 23

Our Math test took a little longer to attempt due to teacher error! We took the test last Tuesday and the kids had a great time traveling to different coordinates around the school to find their test questions. We started our new unit on Polynomials. Students will learn new meanings for FOIL and xBox as they discover how to simplify and later factor algebraic equations with many(poly) terms.

We are continuing to work on our integrated Superheroes project. All parents were asked to read over the Superhero in the Making Project outline and sign it. Please make sure you have read over it and support your student with ideas, research and meeting their deadlines. I am still missing a couple of signatures. I am happy to say all groups turned in the 1st Benchmark for the Physics portion of the project on the due date!! This week students are working on an outline(Benchmark 2) and the first draft (Benchmark 3) of the physics concept for the superpower they chose. This research will help them to gain knowledge and understand their superpower, in order to create a memorable superhero. Some students will be using their knowledge to help me teach minilabs about their chosen physics concept.

In other news, today is the first week of our new explorations class sessions for Hip Hop and Photography. Last week, our 1st grade buddies got the opportunity to join in our coordinate plane fun by working with the 8th graders in an outside activity similar to our math test. Students used our coordinate plan map to determine a design that was made using points they had to find around school and putting them on a graph. Cooking Club was yummy with berry smoothies and banana chocolate peanut butter shakes.

Spring has Sprung!

Upcoming Events:

Students (and Parents):Please bring to class any pictures or video taken on our field trips or in class

*Wednesday March 7: Kickoff Superheroes Project

*Thursday March 8: Math test(see below)

*Friday March 9: Costco Pizza fundraiser for lunch

*Friday March 9: "My Lucky Charm" Family dance at Marshall Middle School (tickets are still on sale!)

This month flew by! If you haven't noticed, we have stepped up our work schedule with the students in preparation for their high school experience. Some of you have received emails or phone calls to meet with us to ensure your student is staying on the right track. As agreed upon by eighth grade students and teachers in our classroom agreements, work not completed in class needs to be completed at home.

In math, all skills levels have been working on graphing linear equations, the concepts of coordinates, slope and y-intercepts, as well as understanding and applying the slope-intercept form: y=mx + b. We played human twister as a way of introducing graphing points on the coordinate plane using the four quadrants. We investigated rise over run (slope) be determining whether our handicap ramp in the front of the school is legal. Students enjoyed traveling the length of the ramp in a wheelchair and taking actual measurements to determine the slope of the ramp. As it turns out, our ramp IS legal according to the ADA accessibility guidelines that we looked up on the internet.

Our Math test this Thursday will take place around campus as a treasure hunt. We are taking measurements to make a scale 2D model of our school with our 1st grade buddies on Wednesday. This scale model will be put on a coordinate plane. Students will have to travel to different coordinates around the school to find their test questions. Their answer to each question will determine where they have to go to get their next question. I can't wait! This should be fun!

We are continuing to work on our IA beginnings documentary as well as starting our month long integrated Superheroes project. Students will be learning physics concepts by creating superheroes with "super powers" that relate to the laws of physics. They will develop a fictional character, design its costume and write a story that will be turned into a comic book.

In other news, today is the last week of our explorations class sessions for PE and Stop Motion animation. Next Monday we will have an exhibition during explorations time to showcase the work that has been done. Our crews continue to happen every Friday with the Kindergarteners. We spend crews time gardening and beautifying our campus. My cooking club includes 6th through 8th graders and will continue until spring break. So far we have made Creative Quesadillas, Smoothies, Waffles and Tiny Tacos. This Friday we will make Bison Bacon Cheese Sliders.

Have a great week!

Jan 23 -Feb3

Upcoming Events:

Students (and Parents):Please bring to class any pictures or video taken on our field trips

*Tues Feb 7 Math classwork due

*Wed Feb 8 Math test(see below)
*Friday Feb 10: Parent's Night Out (we need as many 8th graders as we can to help).
*Friday Feb 10: Costco Pizza to purchase for lunch

*Friday Feb 17 - Monday Feb 20 Presidents weekend: No School!

Our field trips were so fun! We gathered photos and video as well as memories to help us with the creation of our IA Beginnings documentary. This week we will start interviewing teachers and students to gain their perspective of our school.

In math, our Skills class has been working on number sense, placing rational numbers on the number line and the relationship between fractions and decimals. Pre-Algebra students are working on solving multi-step equations using the distributive property and the addition, subtraction, multiplication and division properties of equality. Algebra students are finishing up solving equations with variables on both sides, inequalities, absolute value problems. All math groups have classwork due Tuesday and a test on Wednesday. I am excited to start our graphing unit this week with all of the eighth graders.

Week of Jan 16-20

Upcoming Events:
*Wed. Jan. 25: Fieldtrip this Wednesday(note day change). Kroc center. Bring $7 for ice skating and a sack lunch
*Friday Jan 27: Report Cards sent home.
*Friday Jan 27: Costco Pizza to purchase for lunch
*Tuesday Jan 31: Fieldtrip to Mission Valley old IA school sites. $5.00 for trolley and bus bring lunch or money for lunch to eat at Fashion Valley mall. Wear tennis shoes for capture the flag and river walk.

This past week was amazing! I was so impressed with our students' POLs. It was obvious they put much preparation into their responses. All three socratic seminars were done with professionalism and respect for each others' opinions. Thank you to the many parents who came and help with the assessment process of their children. We hope you enjoyed the experience.
We have finished the first semester and students are aware the last day to turn in any unfinished work is Wednesday Jan 25.

Happy New Year!

Upcoming Events:
Wed Jan 11 6pm or Sat Jan 7 3pm: Parent Meeting in the Multipurpose Room to celebrate IA
Mon Jan 16: Martin Luther King Jr Day no school
Tues Jan 24: Field trip to Kroc center
Fri Jan 27: Report Cards Handed Out

Hope everyone had a safe and relaxing two weeks off. We got off to a great start last week. It seemed to be over before it began! We are coming up on the end of the semester and started preparing for our presentations of learning (POLs) The eighth graders will be participating in socratic seminars with two main topics of discussion. The humanities portion will discuss the novel Nothing But the Truth, and the math/science portion will include chemistry and closing our murder mystery case. In order to make this meaningful and successful for our students, we would like parents to be there to support the students. You would be involved in the questioning and assessment portion of the socratic seminar. This will help students to prepare for articulating and answering their topic questions in a way that those who were not involved in the assignment can understand. The socratic seminars will be held the mornings of Wednesday, January 18 and Thursday, January 19. You will recieve an email by Thursday as to when your student is scheduled to participate.

As the new semester begins, students have been told that Jennie and I are holding them to a higher expectation. Accountability for their work as well as excellence are top priority. I handed out a checklist of math assignments that will be due Friday, January 20. This checklist also includes a self assessment of their struggles, successes and overall effort in completing the work.

Once POLs are complete, students will be starting the 2nd and 3rd phase of our AMA project. The 1st phase ended with amazing presentations given about buildings and structures around the world. Students were able to show their knowledge of elements of architecture, symmetry, geometry and history involved in the building of their structures. Jennie and I were very impressed with the seriousness and professionalism in which they presented themselves. The 2nd and 3rd phases will move much quicker as they design and build our hydroponics garden.

Another project to look forward to starting on the 24th is the IA Beginnings documentary. If you have any still cameras or video cameras that we may use for this project, please let me know.