7th Grade Newsletter

            Week of August 31st-Sept 4th

Reading – This week students will continue an intense six week study of the Six Traits of Reading.  They will spend this week reviewing their skills on Comprehension.  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 have tested on their first Vocabulary Unit.  Look for those words/definitions on the Middle School Website. 

Speech and Debate – On Tuesday and Friday of this week students will be giving their first speech.  This speech is based on a topic that the students chose at random.  They will be speaking for a few minutes using an outline to assist them.

English -  We're continuing on our quest to become "one" with the comma.  There are so many rules to follow, and we must understand them in order to use them correctly.  We'll do plenty of exercises from the book and in our Hunt 'Em Down activities to help us get the hang of using those commas in a variety of ways.  In addition, we'll daily diagram, tend to our spelling/parsing notes, and use upper-level thinking skills while solving problems and using our DWP skills. 

Math – We will be working in Chapter 1 of our textbooks this week.  Lessons will include problem solving and numbers operations.  At the end of this week, we will have a test over the basic computation skills that we have been reviewing.

Science – After hitting the scientific method farely hard last week, we will get into our textbook this week.  Expect some reading to come home this week as well as some notes.  We will begin by learning about rock and minerals among other things that make up the earth's surface.  I feel a debate coming.  What is more important, the rock or the mineral? 

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 test over the fist 3 chapters of our book and then we will dive right into ancient Egypt.  This unit will take us many weeks to cover as we will be delving way into all the knooks and crannies of the Egyptians.

Religion-  This week we will be continuing our walk through Salvation History.  We will finish with the creation story and move on to The Flood.

8th Grade Newsletter

                Week of August 31st - September 4th

Reading –   This week students will continue an intense six week study of the Six Traits of Reading.  They will spend this week reviewing their skills on Comprehension.  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 have tested on their first Vocabulary Unit.  Look for those words/definitions on the Middle School Website.                                      

English – Our understanding of the comma is becoming more clear and proficient. Through multiple exercises contained within the text and activities participated in outside of the book, we are coming to the realization that we don’t use commas when we want to take a breath; there are a lot of rules that dictate when/how to use the comma. In addition to our comma work, we will diagram daily, tend to spelling & parsing issues, and journal.

Math - THis week we will continue working in Chapter 1 of our textbooks.  On Friday we will have a basic computation skills test that will test our ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide whole numbers, decimals, and fractions.

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 some of the basics of 3 dimensional drawing.

Science – After spending our time last week solidifying our understanding of the scienctific method, we will be moving on this week.  We will get into our first book which covers matter and everything about it.  We will do some cool experiments this week in class and expect some reading and notes to come home.

Social Studies –  Students will continue this week by looking at the first immigrants chapters in their American History Texts.  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-   We’ll tackle Ch 3, “The Glory of God,” this week, as well as work on our understanding of Scripture, note taking, journal reflections, and Bible crossword races! The 8th graders have started the year off as Mass Mentors in a strong fashion, and we expect nothing less as the year progresses. They are doing more than talking the talk; they are walking the walk!