Advisory Update

In Middle School Advisory, the students continue to focus on food and food related issues.  After a highly successful potluck lunch, in which kids contributed dishes that were either cultural traditions or family favorites, we went on to discuss local issues such as food deserts and food swamps.  We read this article: http://theweek.com/article/index/218167/americarsquos-food-deserts and discussed the following question:

Meet the Madisons—a family of five with three young children. Mrs. Madison wants to make dinner for her family and decides she wants to make a fresh and healthy meal of barbeque chicken, baked potatoes, green beans, and a side salad. She does not currently have any of these items in her home. Think through the following questions, then write your responses in your journal.

This produced some good conversation about access to food when considering that not everyone has money, transportation, or even utensils to cook a meal.

To follow this discussion, three speakers from Common Pantry talked to the kids about the services that they provide for people in need right here in the neighborhood.  NPES has run several food drives for them and plans to be further involved.   The speakers were impressed with the excellent questions that were asked by the students.  

Scott Best, Common Pantry Director, speaks to middle schoolers about the services that the pantry provides.

"PE Shorts" Tuesday 10/28/2014

With the 1st quarter wrapping up last week we are ending our football unit with games this week. We have been doing separate boys and girls games and have learned some of the basic rules wwile playing a football game. Starting next week we will begin a golf unit that will probably last until around Thanksgiving break.

Mr. Hirsch

Menu Products

The 8th graders ended their World War I unit on Monday by sharing their menu products with the class.  There was such a great variety of products to share.  Some students performed interviews with important people from the unit.  Others taught mini-lessons about topics that interested them.  Many of the projects were forms of WWI propaganda.  We heard songs, watched videos, and saw posters and political cartoons, all convincing people to support or reject the war.  Later this week, we will begin our unit about the 1920s.

Week 10: 8th Grade Science

Week 10

Topic: May the Force be with you.

Students will be able to: 

Describe what a force is.

Explain how a balanced and unbalanced forces are related to an object’s motion.

Describe friction, and identify factors that determine the friction force between two objects.

Essential Question:

What happens when forces are combined?

This week the kids will apply their understanding of motion and explore what happens when they accelerate a mass.

Key Terms:

force 

newton

net force

balance and unbalanced forces

friction

Differentiated Instruction:

observing

math integration

measuring

data analysis

creating labs

Upcoming:

Gravity and the The Laws of Newton.

Week 9: 8th grade Science

Week 9

Topic: “The Tortoise and the Hare”

Students will be able to: 

Determine when an object is in motion.

Calculate an objects speed and velocity.

Demonstrate how to graph motion.

Essential Question:

Why did the tortoise win the race?

This week the kids will graph and rewrite the fable of “The Tortoise and Hare” as if a physicist had written it. 

Key Terms:

motion

reference point

speed/velocity

instantaneous and average speed

slope

Differentiated Instruction:

inferring 

math integration/graphing

kinesthetic

measuring

Upcoming:

How do forces work? and the The Laws of Newton.

End of WWI unit

This week, the 8th graders are finishing up their unit about World War I.  They will take their test on Friday.  We discussed the outcomes and casualties of the war yesterday.  Tomorrow, students will participate in a simulation as if they are delegates at the Versailles Peace Conference.  They will try to decide what should be done to Germany at the end of the war.  Then, they will find out what the Treaty actually said.  Students are also finishing up their menu items.  They will present their final products both this week and next week.  Later next week, we will begin our unit about the 1920s.

Questions for your 8th grader:

• Do you think the allies should have forgiven or punished the Central Powers after WWI?
• Show me some of your menu items.

8th Grade Language Arts: Second Quarter Units

8th graders turned in their graphic novels today.  They put so much time and effort into their stories and illustrations.  I am so impressed.  The Graphic Novel Project will be showcased for the whole school to see during Middle School Project Fair on Friday, December 12th.  Students will have the opportunity to share their stories with all the other NPES classes and families.

This week students will be picking books for the Dystopian Reading Unit.  Students will work in book club groups to explore and discuss the literature.  Throughout the unit, students will meet with their groups during eight meetings and complete both individual and group projects.

We are starting a new genre of writing this quarter.  Students will begin writing cause and effect expository essays this week.  They will explore cause and effect through a topic of their choice.

Check back for more information and pictures as these units progress.

Advisory Potluck Lunch

Thank you to the middle school parents for supporting the Advisory Potluck Lunch today. The advisors and kids had a great time sharing culinary experiences and dishes. Each advisory group had their own wide variety of food. From stuffed clams to eel, cupcakes to popcorn, Tzatziki to samosas, Packzis to pigs in a blanket, and red beans and rice to pizza, students ate experimentally and enjoyed one another's treats. #NPESSharkPride

 

Week 8: Acceleration

Week 8

Topic:  Motion:  Describing and Measuring Acceleration

Students will be able to: 

Describe the motion of an object as it accelerates.

Calculate an objects acceleration.

Describe what graphs are used to analyze the motion of an accelerating object.

Essential Question:

What does a meter per second per second mean?

This week the kids will expand their knowledge of velocity by finding out that acceleration is the speed within a speed.  They will be conducting an experiment to calculate and graph acceleration and see how acceleration is the change of speed and/or direction.   

Key Terms:

acceleration

Differentiated Instruction:

inferring 

math integration

kinesthetic

measuring

graphing

Upcoming:

How would a physicist write the fable, “The Tortoise and the Hare?”

Portraits are almost done and our nature field trip is coming soon.

We will have one more class period this week to finish the Chuck Close portraits. Most students are either done or very close. They look great and I think everyone is ready to move on.

Next we have the Monster project with the pre-school and our annual trip to North Park Village nature center to do our nature installation project. This project is very popular and allows us to spend a couple of hours out in nature looking for colors, shapes and textures. I will be posting an update soon.

Grandparents Day

Last Friday, the 8th graders welcomed several grandparents as guests into our classroom.  Because the 8th grade social studies curriculum is about 20th century American history, student interviewed our guests about their experiences in school.  We are currently discussing the United States joining World War I, so students asked the grandparents about times that they could remember in their lifetime when the U.S. had to make a decision to go to war.  Students heard stories about Pearl Harbor, Vietnam, and 9/11.  This week, students are working on a new menu about World War I.  Many of them are working on creating propaganda products.  This week's lessons will be about the home front during WWI and how every day Americans pitched in to help with the war effort.

Questions for your 8th grader:

-What did you learn from a guest on Grandparent's Day?
-What menu items are you working on?

¡La clase de español!

Our theme in Spanish this quarter is ¡Bienvenido a nuestra casa!- Welcome to our house. The 8th graders have been learning how to describe a house, household items, indicate the order of things using ordinal numbers, and when to use the verb ser vs estar- two verbs in Spanish that mean the same thing but are used at different times.

Below are pictures of the class playing Matamosca- Flyswatter.  In this game, two students backs are against the Promethean board, when prompted they can turn around, read the sentence, and using a flyswatter decide which verb they would use ser or estar. After choosing the verb, they need to conjugate it correctly in a sentence. 

Here the class participated in a practice with ordinal numbers.  The class gave these volunteers commands for things to do.  For example, one command was "La tercera persona necesita hacer veinte push ups".  Eli got down and did 20! 

Next week, the class will be working on a project related to our "house" theme.  The students were given a choice to create their dream house, conduct an interview with someone famous, a video of one's house, creating a brochure of house on the market, creating an ebook, or a choice of their own.  Academic choice is a great way for students to create something that interests them!

Gender Groups in Advisory

In Advisory last week, girls and boys were separated for two sessions in which we discussed the definition of "Bystander," Upstander," and "Whistle Blower" in reference to various situations.  The kids were given scenarios and discussed what they might do - stand by and do nothing, approach the person/intervene themselves, or talk to an adult.  Next week, the advisories will be doing a similar activity with their "Little Buddy" groups.  The middle schoolers have already created scenes that they will act out for the younger kids and discuss their various roles.  This lesson is helping to bring home the point that even if a situation is not happening to them, they can still help.

In library, eighth graders completed a project addressing the annual event known as Banned Books Week.  Sponsored by the American Library Association, Banned Books Week explores the reasons that books are challenged and banned in various libraries and school districts and encourages us to celebrate our freedom to read.  The students were paired up and each had to answer a question pertaining to the subject.  Their presentations can be found at this private youtube link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-ACWbqywAs&list=UUJXphDkBGKuDIOwCbqNxAug.

Week 7: Motion

Week 7

Topic:  Motion:  Describing and Measuring Motion

Students will be able to: 

Determine when an object is in motion.

Calculate an objects speed and velocity.

Demonstrate how to graph motion.

Essential Question:

How do you know when an object is in motion?

This week the kids will complete their metric unit unit and transfer their metric knowledge into the study of motion.  They will be conducting experiments to calculate speed, see velocity as a change of direction, and how acceleration is the speed within a speed.  

Key Terms:

motion

reference point

speed/velocity

instantaneous and average speed

slope

Differentiated Instruction:

inferring 

math integration

kinesthetic

measuring

Upcoming:

How would a physicist write the fable, “The Tortoise and the Hare?”

WWI Debate

The 8th graders are currently learning about World War I.  They spent last week learning about the many events that led to the United States' growing involvement in the war overseas.  Today, they participated in a debate about whether or not the United States should join the war.  Each student looked at the question from a different perspective: Pro-war, Anti-war, American government, British government, and German government.  Students used arguments from their knowledge of the chapter and they also drew on the information that they had learned in our Imperialism unit.  Students will have a quiz over the first two sections of chapter 23 on Thursday.

Questions for your 8th grader:
-What side did you take in the World War I debate?
-Do you think the United States should have joined WWI?
-What is propaganda?

8th Grade Language Arts: Elements of Stories Unit

The 8th grade graphic novels are really coming together.  Students finished planning and creating a first draft of their graphic novels.  This week students are creating their final drafts.  This unit will come to a close within the next week with the final draft submission and the final test.

Upcoming 1st Quarter Assessments & Due Dates:

Literary Elements and Techniques Final Test: Thursday, October 9th, 2014

Graphic Novel Final Due: Friday, October 17, 2014

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

Ragtime Dance Party!

During the 1910's and 20's, adolescents would dance in a way that was considered to be wild in the eyes of their parents.  In order to push the criticism even more, young adults would create dances to reenact animalistic behavior, such as the Turkey Trot or Fox Trot.  In the celebration of the era, our 8th grade students created animal dances that also had to portray animals.  Couples (and one group of three) performed their dance in order to have their classmates guess the animal they were mimicking.  Seen here is our Ragtime Dance Party with all the 8th grade students performing their animal dances.

"PE Shorts" Tuesday 10/7/2014

8th Grade has been playing Ultimate Frisbee the last few weeks in PE. Ultimate Frisbee, not to be confused with Frisbee Golf, is a highly active game that has become really popular at the high school and college level. Using various skills and situations similar to football, soccer, and basketball; players need to rely on teamwork and passing to advance with frisbee up the field to score a point in an endzone. We also had a fitness/team building class where we first performed the pacer test, followed by a trust building activity guiding a friend around the gym while wearing a blindfold.

-Mr. Hirsch