In the midst Calder mobiles for project fair.

The eighth graders are still working hard to complete their Calder mobiles in time for project fair. We took a detour a few weeks ago to see the David Bowie show and we miss art this week with the holiday, so after break we will really need to scramble to complete them in time. There are some interesting themes this year including math symbols, books, Chicago icons, and safari animals.  If you are good with a pair of wire cutters and needle nose pliers and want to come help us in the home stretch, I would welcome your participation! The pre-school monster project got put on the back burner, but will come back after project fair.

Thanksgiving/Fractals/Fuctions

This week in math the 8th graders have continued to work on creating fractals and are getting ready for project fair.  After the Thanksgiving break we will begin our next unit on functions and direct variations.

Prohibition Research

This week, the 8th graders learned about the causes and outcomes of Prohibition.  Next Wednesday during class, the students will each take on the persona of a cultural figure during the 1920s for our Prohibition Party.  They will research their character and will perform a short biographical speech about the person's influence on American society.  The classroom will be turned into a "speakeasy" and ginger ale and root beer will be served.  It is a fun way to have students learn about the key people who changed the culture of America in the 1920s.

Questions for your 8th grader:

• What character are you researching for the Prohibition Party?
• What have you learned about that person?

Hour of Code Is Coming!

The Middle School students will participate in their Hour of Code experience during Service time on Thursday, 12/11/14 from 1:10-1:50. The experience will take place in small groups with a mix of 6th-8th graders.  The 8th graders will have the opportunity to continue the experience during Study Hall on Monday, 12/15/14 at 9:50. We would love to have your help in facilitating these experiences for the 8th graders. No tech skills are required. If you are able to help, go to SignUp Genius and sign up. Thanks!

Meet Ms. Long!

Hi, I'm Carol Long and I have been Student Teaching with Mrs. LaGorio since the end of October. I also did my Mini-Teaching last semester here at North Park Elementary. This past month has taught me a lot about teaching and has also been a joy as I worked with the students in music and band. Winter showcase is fast approaching and I am excited for the pieces that each class has been preparing for the show! It should be a great night and I am happy to be a part of it as well as a part of teaching music to the students here. I know that it will be hard to leave but I am happy to have had the opportunity to work with the students and staff at NPES. 

8th Grade Langauge Arts: Dystopian Book Clubs

Students will have their last book club meeting on Tuesday.  The concluding assessment projects for the unit will be completed in December.  Students will create a book review individually and work as a group to develop soundtrack to connect to the events in their book.

The House of the Scorpion

Sylo

Fahrenheit 451

Maze Runner

1920s Economy

This week, the 8th graders learned about the booming economy of the 1920s.  They are currently working on menu items about the economy.  Many students are choosing to research and create advertisements for the new consumer goods of the era.  Others are writing journals as if they are a worker from the 1920s and they are writing about how their financial situation is changing over time.  Next week, the students will learn about the culture of the 1920s and they will begin working on biographical speeches for their Prohibition Party.

Questions for your 8th grader:

-What are some of the new consumer goods that were popular during the 1920s?
-How did the car change American society?
-What menu item are you working on?

Inequalities

We have been working on our current unit on inequalities for two weeks in math.  We have reviewed how to graph and solve inequalities with multiple steps and learned about compound inequalities and their graphs.  The last thing that we will cover is how to solve absolute value equations and how to graph absolute value inequalities.  There is a Problem of the Week due tomorrow (Wed. Nov. 19) and the test for the unit will be on Friday.  There is no alternative assessment for this unit.

"PE Shorts" Tuesday 11/18/2014

The last couple of weeks in PE we have been working on our golf skills. We have spent time learning how to putt, chip, and pitch towards a target. The students are working hard at controlling the ball when they hit it and not just swinging as hard as they can. We have continued with our warm up games, such as Flag Football Tag and The Human Knot. Next up after golf we will begin a volleyball unit and hopefully use the UCC Gym for class.

Mr. Hirsch

8th Grade Language Arts: Cause and Effect Essay Final Draft

The final draft of the Cause and Effect Essay is due Wednesday.  During the past few weeks students worked hard during class time researching topics, organizing information, drafting, revising, and editing.

Many of the eighth grade students set goals this quarter to put more effort into the revision and editing process.  Encourage your child to spend some time at home going over their essay at least one more time before the due date to make any final revisions or edits.  Students should double check the rubric to make sure they have met all of the expectations.

Some helpful revision tips include:
Scanning for boring/bland word choice and replacing words with more vivid word choice.
Making sure thesis statements and topic sentences are clear and concise.
Making sure to vary the words used to start sentences.
Expanding on simple, short, or incomplete sentences and paragraphs with additional information.
Breaking up run-on sentences into multiple sentences.
Using the editing checklist provided in the Writing Workshop LiveBinder

Winter Showcase is Coming!

The kids are working hard, learning their music, and getting ready for Winter Showcase! This year's Winter Showcase is December 3, 2014 at 7pm at Northside College Prep (5501 N Kedzie Ave, Chicago, IL 60625). Please have your child to NCP by 6:30pm.  

Winter Showcase is an all-school production where the students from Kindergarten through 8th grade, including our band program, showcase what they have been learning in music class.  We aren't able to include every activity and song, but we  perform a few of the students' favorites.  Also, families are able to see the progression of their child's music education by seeing older classes perform.

Attire is dressy, but comfortable enough to dance in for classroom performances. Band students are required to wear concert attire (black pants/skirts/socks/shoes and ALL white tops... no colorful designs). Please refer to the band syllabus if you have questions about band attire. The showcase begins at 7pm sharp and is about 90 minutes long.   If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. LaGorio at LaGorio@npeschool.org

Thank you advance for bringing your child and for enjoying all of our NPES students performances.

8th Grade Science: Newton's Three Laws

Week: 12

Hi Parents,

Week 12 is a short week with report cards being mailed, conferences, and the kids finishing their unit of study.  This week is mainly housekeeping.  The kids will be reviewing their first quarter goals and maintaining and/or creating new second quarter goals.  They will be creating new journals and reviewing their first quarter journals for parent conferences and to write their first quarter reflection.

The 8th graders are completing their Physical Science Unit by creating a Naked Egg Drop Crate.  The objective of this project is to have an egg drop from a designated height into a crate and have the egg survive the drop.  To create this crate they are using Newton’s Three Laws of Motion to support their design.  We will have our competition when I return, so ask them about it.

I will not be in school next week because of a long distance wedding in Key West.

Sincerely,

Mr. T

Art in Nature, Monsters and Calder Mobiles

The eighth graders had fun last week at the nature center doing a nature installation project inspired by the artist Andy Goldsworthy. It was a little chilly, but there are some nice results.

They are also working on the "Monster Project" with the pre-schoolers. The pre-schoolers made simple monster drawings and then each 8th graders took one of the drawings and had to make it more "believable" by adding volume, color and an background. This project is based on the work of the artist Dave DeVries. They will continue to work on these when they have down time during the next few weeks.

We looked at the work of Alexander Calder today to prep for the project fair Calder Mobiles. The students will be working in pairs and practiced with the wire cutters and the box cutters and did some nice sketches of their ideas. 

Week 11: Eighth Grade Science

Week 11

Topic: Friction and Gravity.

Students will be able to: 

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

Identify the factors that affect the gravitational force between two objects.

Explain why objects accelerate during free fall.

Essential Question:

How does distance affect gravity?  How did Newton do it?

This week the kids discover how mass, distance, weight, acceleration, speed, and gravity are all related.

Key Terms:

friction

weight

gravity

free fall

air resistance

terminal velocity

projectile

Differentiated Instruction:

predicting

observing

math integration

measuring

data analysis

concluding

creating labs

compare and contrast

Upcoming:

The Laws of Newton, momentum, and Conservation of Momentum.

Inequalites

Hello 8th grade parents.  This is Mr. Hotaling and I am back to teaching your children.  This week in 8th grade we just finished working on the Math portion of the Calder Mobile Project.  They completed the math portion where they used rods, string, and alligator clips to create a version of a mobile and learned about how the fulcrum is really an equal sign and the equation is (length from fulcrum) * (weight of object) = (length from fulcrum) * (weight of object).  Today we finished it all up and watched a video on the Alexander Calder Circus.  We then started our next unit on solving inequalities.  We will be reviewing how to solve one step and multi-step inequalities.  We will also be working on some logical reasoning type questions as well.

1920s unit

This week, the 8th graders began their 1920s unit in Social Studies.  They began with a section about post-WWI turmoil in the United States.  They learned about the Red Scare, labor strikes, and the Chicago Race riot.  Then, they created menu items to show their knowledge of the section.  Later this week, the students will learn about politics during the 1920s and some of the political scandals that happened during the era.

Ask your 8th grader:

What is radicalism?  Do you think radicals were treated fairly after WWI?
What menu items are you working on?

8th Grade Language Arts: New Book Clubs

This week 8th graders started their new book club groups.  This quarter the genre is dystopian books.  The books being read this quarter include Sylo, Maze Runner, House of the Scorpion, and Fahrenheit 451.  Students received their books last week and met with their group members to develop the reading schedule and set goals and ground rules for the meetings.  Each book club group will meet for eight discussion sessions throughout the month of November.  During each meeting, students discuss reading log reflections, literary elements, opinions, frustrations, interesting quotes, predictions, etc.  The concluding assessment projects will be completed in December.  Students will create a book review individually and work as a group to develop soundtrack to connect to the events in their book.

Upcoming Due Dates:

Cause and Effect Essay:

1st Draft due: Tuesday, November 11, 2014

2nd Draft due: Monday, November 17, 2014

Final Draft due: Wednesday, November 19, 2014