7th Grade Newsletter
Week of August 24th – 28th
Speech and Debate – On Tuesday and Friday of this week students will get a basic understanding of the format of a speech. They will be given a simple outline and be asked to write a short speech based on a topic of their choice. Students will have fun and gain a lot of valuable skills in the process.
English - We're going to dive right into daily diagramming, spelling, and parsing at the beginning of every class period. We'll share our Notable Tee's and review our "Let Me Know" letters. Once we've accumulated 10 words and have identified their parts of speech, we will quiz the next day. This week will find us identifying our top 10 content & mechanical issues as an individual and as a class and brainstorming ways to strengthen our writing. Eliminating passive voice verbs will be a focus, as we work on strengthening our word choice and vary our sentence structure.
Math – We will be continuing to explore algebraic concepts through the use of patterns. We will be finding both iterative and explicit rules for our patterns, and creating our own patterns. Towards the end of the week we will begin work in our textbooks.
Science – In this first full week we will be diving into our first project where we will investigate which paper towel is the best in the land. The students will be covering the steps of the scientific method during the course of this project. It is very important that the kids learn this process and apply it right away before we delve into the book.
Science Exploratory – In our two sessions this week, we will be writing a letter to parents about our new “Adopt an Animal” project. We will also be splitting up responsibilities between plants, animals, and lab design. This will be a fun class for the kids.
Social Studies – This week we will dive into our initial textbook and explore the earliest of human times. Starting with dawn of civilization and the “iceman” and then progressively moving to the Egyptians. It will be a fun first full week in which the kids will get some review from previous years.
Religion- This week we will start “at the beginning” talking about the story of creation. We will be beginning our walk through “Salvation History” which is the story of how we came to be in God’s Family. We will also continue journaling each day based on either the readings for the upcoming day or on a Christian Praise and Worship Song.
Notes
8th Grade Newsletter
Week of August 24th – 28th
Reading – Students will begin the year with a six week study of the Six Traits of Reading. They will spend this first week polishing their skills on Decoding Conventions. Students will do a variety of leveled activities in order to recognize the importance of these skills. By the end of the week, students will also begin their first Vocabulary Unit. Look for those words/definitions to be posted later this week.
English – Our daily routine will include diagramming sentences and taking notes over spelling while identifying their parts of speech to prepare for weekly quizzes (once we accumulate 15 total words). We've examined different messages shirts provide for us, and students will bring in their notable tee's and defense paragraphs to share. Evidence of voice will allow us to make more accurate guesses about the owner. In addition, we will review our corrected "Let Me Know" letters and identify strengths and weaknesses of our writing. Eliminating passive voice verbs will be a focus, as we work on strengthening our word choice and varying our sentence structure.
Math – This week we will continue to introduce the basic concepts of Algebra and Algebraic thinking. We will begin the week with an Algebra readiness pre-test, and start working in the first few sections of our textbooks.
Math (Geometry) – We will continue working in Chapter 1 of our textbooks and also begin exploring how to do geometric constructions using straightedge and compass.
MATHCOUNTS Exploratory – On Tuesday and Friday of this week we will be learning specific problem solving strategies that we will start applying to MATHCOUNTS problems and later our design unit.
Science – This week the 8th graders will be doing independent investigations based on products that they have chosen. The will be going completely through the scientific method during this process. It gives the kids the opportunity to independently design tests and completely coordinate everything that a scientist does.
Social Studies – Students will begin the year by looking at the first immigrants and mass migration to America. This will prepare them to learn about the colonization and westward expansion in the early years of our nation’s history. Students will focus on taking notes, defining relevant vocabulary, and completing review activities prior to their first test.
Religion- Becoming "one" with Scripture will be a daily goal through our Scripture Hunts. We will jot notes about each Scripture as we go so we'll have a mega reference when life poses questions and challenges that we may not have the answers for. The good news is that God does! We have been making preparations to "go live" with our Mass Mentor program. Students will create posters, prepare and practice an introduction, and meet their assigned classes. In addition, each week, we will expose ourselves to a variety of styles and artists associated with Christian music with Music Journal Monday's. We'll also delve into chapter 1, "Search for God," and focus on Bible facts and notes that will help us gain keys to unlock the Old Testament.
Journalism – We will brainstorm everything from the name of the paper and what our school newspaper will include to what the layout will look like and what roles students would like to assume in developing and printing St. Patrick’s Catholic School’s first newspaper. The paper will be student-developed, supported, and driven and will allow them to edit, report, write, proofread, organize, and use their skills of photography to inform our community about what’s going on at St. Patrick’s!
Notes