Welcome to 8th Grade PE

Great job making it through the first week of 8th grade PE! This week we started learning how to juggle, played a couple new warm up games, and we are starting a soccer unit. I have been trying really hard to learn all of the new names. I'm super excited for the upcoming year in PE and have a bunch of new games and activities ready for the middle school students!

Office hours for PE are Wednesday and Thursday mornings from 7:30-8:00.

Rob Hirsch

8th Grade Language Arts Week 1: Adjective Fashion Show

This week students were given the following creative writing task:

“To practice knowledge of adjectives and descriptive language, we will be having an adjective fashion show.  Each student will bring outrageous clothes to model and they will write a description which they will read as they model their ensemble.”

Students must follow these rules: 

The description must include 35 highlighted adjectives

It must be written in third person point of view

No adjectives can be used more than once

No “dead” (overused) adjectives can be used

The Adjective Fashion Show will take place on Friday, September 5th, 2014.

Check back to see pictures from the outrageous event next week!

-Mrs. Payne

Language Arts Office Hours (Room 206):  Wednesday and Friday mornings at 7:45-8:15 a.m.

Welcome to Social Studies

Welcome to the new school year!  This year in Social Studies, the 8th graders will be focusing on American history during the 20th century.  The 8th graders spent the first week reviewing key points of 7th grade Social Studies and the 5 themes of Social Studies (history, geography, government, economics, and culture). On Thursday, the class started their first project of the year.  This year, one of my goals as a teacher is to provide more choices to the students, because all students have different learning styles.  For their 5 themes of social studies project, students were asked to choose two different small projects from a menu that had 7 different options with different point values.  All of the projects provide ways to reinforce the idea of the 5 themes.  Ask your 8th grader which two projects they chose to work on. Next week, we will start our Imperialism unit with a section about how the United States acquired Alaska and Hawaii.

Mrs. Wells
Office Hours: Wednesdays 3:30-4:30

Here is a sample of a few projects that students are creating:

 Del and Penelope are both creating worksheets that give examples of facts from history.  The reader then decides which theme of social studies the fact pertains to.

 Austin is using book creator to write a children's book.  His book explains an imaginary civilization though each of the 5 themes.

Jake is making a collage about how the 5 themes of social studies apply to his own life.

North Park Art

Welcome to the 2014-2015 school year! In art the visual theme for the year will be Food! Many of our projects, but certainly not all, will be connected to this broad theme. The 8th graders will continue to enjoy a double art period this year, with a lunch break in between. The 8th grade social studies and language arts curriculum lends itself to making some great connections in art. We will do a cool collaborative "Monster" project with the pre-school and we will work with Mr. Hotaling to make Calder mobiles. We also take our autumn field trip to the nature center to make nature installations based on the work of Andy Goldsworthy. And this fall I am hoping to take the eighth graders to see The David Bowie retrospective at the MCA. We are lucky in that Chicago will be the only stop that this exhibit will make in the U.S. We will talk about some new artists and genres and continue to learn about color, line, shapes, balance, movement, texture and pattern. The 8th graders wind up the year and their time here at North Park with the ever anticipated ceiling tile or wall tile design. It is their opportunity to leave a lasting legacy. An art program objectives guide, project list and assessment rubrics will be available at curriculum night. Keep checking the blog to see weekly updates.

My office hours, which can be used by students to catch up on work, are 
Wednesday from 3:30 - 4:30.

For further details visit the art blog.

Eighth Grade Science

North Park Elementary School

Dear Eighth Grade Parents,

I hope you all had a great summer and yes, the school year has begun.  In science this year we will explore four branches of science: physical, anatomy, earth and life.  Our studies will take us through the world of physics, carbon chemistry, nutrition, geological time and paleontology, genetics, and evolution.  We will use an integrated approach into the discovery of how this world works. 

I will be coaching the Science Olympiad team this year, if your child is interested I feel it will be a fun enrichment and also a good addition on their high school applications.  I will furnish you with more details as the time approaches.

If you are interested in volunteering in the classroom please let me know.  I encourage this because it provides opportunity for more children to receive one-on-one attention.  This can be on a weekly, bi-weekly, or occasional basis.  The more specialized help the students receive in class, the more they will learn.

Finally, please support your student’s success by stressing the importance of good or appropriate class behavior and completing homework assignments.  Credit can only be given if the assignments are neatly completed and turned in on time.  Please also ensure that your child has the required supplies for this year’s activities.

I am looking forward to an exciting and challenging year.  Thank you for your help and support.  I look forward to seeing you at Parent Orientation.

Sincerely,

Mr. Tortorici