8th Grade Vocabulary: We study 20 words per unit. We will complete our fourth unit on Wednesday, October 27, with a test. For each unit, the students make study materials (flash cards), play puzzles and games with the words and their definition, create a story filled with unit words and (sometimes) act out the story for the rest of the class. The words can be found in each student's vocabulary book or online at www.vocabtest.com. Click on "Level C" and you can "peruse" all units we will be and have been studying.
8th Grade Literature: We finished our unit on nonfiction, where we read pieces from Maya Angelou, Eudora Welty, and James Herriot, among others. We also studied the elements of nonfiction, such as genres within it (biography, autobiography, essay, etc). We are currently engaged in a research project where we take an historical fiction book and compare/contrast it to the time it takes place. We will be doing research to find out more on the time period of our historical fiction books, then read the books, and finally put together a paper comprised of what we learned. Each student also should have read and taken tests on three books by October 26 for our Accelerated Reader program.
8th Grade Language Arts: We finished a unit on creating better sentences (using revision, style, elaboration). We are currently creating autobiographical incidents. Each student will be writing a story about one time in their lives. They will explain why it is important to them, capture the reader's interest, detail what happened, describe their feelings, and have great punctuation.
8th Grade Math (my class): We just finished studying expressions, equations, and functions. Our current studies include understanding linear equations. Homework grading update: each student gets credit for each correct answer given on their homeork. If there are 25 problems and they respond correctly on 24, they receive a 96% (24 out of 25). Students must still show their work to receive full credit.
7th Grade Literature: We just finished our unit on nonfiction, where we read pieces from Russell Baker, Ernesto Galarza, a biography on Nolan Ryan, among other stories. We also studied the elements of nonfiction and the genres within it (biography, autobiography, essay, informational text, etc). We are currently studying the relationship between antagonists and protagonists. Each student also should have read and taken tests on three approved books by October 26 for our Accelerated Reader program.
7th Grade Language Arts: We just finished studying how to create better senteces (using elaboration, revision, and style). We are currently studying persuasive essays. Each student will create an essay attempting to persuade his/her audience in one direction or another. Students will focus on using facts to support their opinions.
7th Grade Math (my class): We just finished studying the tools of algebra (variables, properties, ordered pairs) and are currently learning about operations with integers. Homework grading update: each student gets credit for each correct answer given on their homeork. If there are 25 problems and they respond correctly on 24, they receive a 96% (24 out of 25). Students must still show their work to receive full credit.
Other activities:
We had a great time at the spelling bee at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Allen Park. We had 18 participants. Andre Cabalang and Elaine Spaminato took home brand-new dictionaries and earned the right to participate in regional competition because of their success at the bee. Congratulations to all!
The 8th Grade Halloween Party has been set for Friday, October 29. We will play board games, card games and hold a potluck brunch in class from 9:00am to 11:15 am. We will be visiting the library from 9:40-10:25.
Go Pirates!!
