Thanks for reading our Room 8 Blog! A lot has happened since our past blog.
Tyler Blaszczak won the annual St. Pius Turkey Trot 2K run on November 19.
The St. Pius Girls Basketball Team placed 2nd place at the St. Stan's basketball tournament the weekend of November 20.
The St. Pius Boys Basketball team has a couple games under its belt. Still searching for that first elusive win, the Pirates take on Wyandotte Catholic this Saturday, December 4. Be the ball!
Our cheerleaders placed fourth in the Fall CYO Cheer Competition at St. Lawrence in Utica.
Our 7th and 8th graders will be front and center during the St. Pius Christmas Concert, to be held on Thursday, December 9. They have all been working very hard on their singing and performing duties as the show date nears.
The 8th grade class hosted the school's Thanksgiving Mass on Monday, November 22.
The seventh graders are currently handling prayer duties during morning announcements, while the 8th graders admirably handled those duties last week.
We will also be hosting a pointsettia sale the weekend of December 11 in the Social Hall after each mass. Proceeds will go to fund this year's 8th grade class trip.
Congratulations and Go Pirates!
In terms of academics...
8th Grade Vocabulary: We are currently studying Unit 6. Words in Unit 6 include: abashed, aloof, anguish, articulate, bask, defect, finesse, flaunt, forthright, genial, instill, ostracize, premonition, pseudonym, rehabilitate, repercussion, resolute, retentive, and scapegoat. Please try and "drop" these words to your 8th grader (in the appropriate manner, of course) so they become more comfortable with them. For online games and quizzes on these and all our words, please visit www.vocabtest.com . We are "Level C." The test will take place on Wednesday, December 8.
8th Grade Math: My math class is currently studying linear functions. For example, is 3x+4y=10 a linear equation? (YES) The test will take place on Wednesday, December 8.
8th Grade Literature: We are in the midst of unraveling the mysteries and tragedies of Romeo and Juliet. Summaries of each act are given to students each day we read to help improve their understanding of the text. The test on Romeo and Juliet will be on Friday, December 3.
8th Grade Language Arts: The class just turned in simulated memoirs of historical figures. This means a diary of a famous historical person. They were able to choose (with my approval) an historical figure and then create four to five memoir entries that person would have written at an important time in their lives. For example, Benjamin Franklin penning a diary during the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. What would he have written in his diary on July 3, 1776?
7th Grade Math: We are currently studying Operations with Rational Numbers. For example, what is the decimal equivalent of 2/9? How do you multiply fractions? How do you divide fractions? The test is set for Tuesday, December 7.
7th Grade Literature: We are currently reading S.E. Hinton's "The Outsiders." The Chicago Tribune raves that it is, "Taut with tension, filled with drama." It is a story of rival social groups in an urban area in the 1960s.
7th Grade Language Arts: Getting down to basics, the seventh graders are studying various parts of a sentence: Subject, predicate, linking verbs, etc. After starting out the school year writing stories and looking at the big picture of writing, we then broke down paragraphs and their elements. Now we focus on the sentence adn the various aspects of it.
