Field Trip to the Chicago Symphony!

Today, the middle school classes traveled downtown to see the Chicago Symphony Orchestra perform.  The orchestra performed music that featured different French composers and styles.  

At home questions (that should get more than "it was good" answers):
1. What does the term "avant garde" mean?
2. Why were there two styles of French music, elegant and revolutionary, during the French Revolution?  
3.  Of the two styles, what was Berlioz?
4.  What impressed you the most about the high school soloist?
5.  How was Alex Tran showing an avant garde performance?  

Korean War Press Conference

This week, the 8th graders are finishing up their unit about the early Cold War.  They will take their test next Thursday and have spent some of this week working on their menu items.  On Monday, students participated in a mock press conference about the Korean War.  Some students were characters from the war, such as President Truman and General Douglas MacArthur.  Other students were members of the press who asked them tough questions and wrote newspaper articles about their statements.  Later this week, the students will learn more about the Red Scare and McCarthyism.

Questions for your 8th grader:

Do you think Truman should have fired McArthur?
Is it justified to take away individual rights if the security of the American people might be at risk? (Red Scare)

Polynomials and Trebuchets

This week in 8th grade math we are finishing up our unit on polynomials and then starting our trebuchet project.  We have been spending a lot of time on how to factor polynomials and we have learned how to use punnett squares to solve these problems.  We have will learn one more way to factor polynomials called grouping.  We will then have our test for the unit on Friday.  Next week we will be watching a video about trebuchets.

Test on Friday May 1st
Alternative Assessment due May 1st

Korean War

This week, students began their Cold War menu, which will be the last big menu of the year.  Students have been looking at current events and how they are connected to events during the Cold War.  They also learned about the Korean War by acting it out and creating a map timeline.  Later in the week students will prepare for a mock press conference about the Korean War.

Questions for your 8th Grader:

• Do you think the United States had a responsibility to send troops to Korea?
• What is happening in the world today that reminds you of what happened during the Cold War?

CSO Next Week

On April 30, the NPES Middle School will be heading downtown to enjoy a concert by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  The themes is "A Revolution in French Music". The middle school students will be hearing excerpts from Bizet, Berlioz, Ravel, Debussy, and many more.  We will be back to NPES before recess and lunch.

Since we are going to a formal venue, I ask that the students dress up for this field trip.  Please no jeans, shorts, or tshirts.  Due to the NFL draft, we may have to walk a few blocks in order to get to CSO venue, so female students need to wear appropriate shoes.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Mrs. LaGorio at lagorio@npeschool.org

Looking forward to a wonderful musical experience!

Factoring Poynomials

This week in 8th grade math we are continuing to learn about polynomials.  Last week we spent time on how to add, subtract, and multiply polynomials.  This week we are learning how to factor polynomials.  We will be taking the MAP test on Friday.

Quiz tomorrow
Test Next Friday May 1
Alternative Assessment due May 1

Questions to ask

What is a polynomial?

How can you use a punnett square to factor a polynomial?

8th Grade Language Arts: Independent Reading Unit

The eighth grade students are working on an independent reading unit.  Students selected their own book for this unit and they are working on completing activities for the eight scheduled discussion meetings.  They must complete their reading log reflection for the assigned reading and develop their own vocabulary list from the words in their novels.  They are working with a partner to discuss their book and complete the final project.  Be sure to ask your child about their book.  The final project for the unit will be a character impersonation and reenactment of important events in the novel.

Upcoming Due Date:

Demonstration Speeches on April 27, 28, & 29.

Week 31: 8th Grade Science

Week: 31

Topic: Earth’s Changing Surface

Students will be able to: 

Discuss theories of how life began

State when and how the Earth was formed 

Essential Question:

Are we star children?  

This week:  This past month has flown by.  The 8th graders have started their next unit about geological time.  We began the unit by discussing the poem/song “Woodstock” by Joni Mitchell and its relevance to how life was formed.  They have explored the Big Bang Theory, Oparin’s Hypothesis, Miller’s discovery of amino acids, and have discussed biogenesis and spontaneous generation.  

Key Terms:

biogenesis

spontaneous generation

Differentiated Instruction:

discussion

art integration

researching 

argumentation

Upcoming:

Geological Time Brochure

8th Grade Language Arts: Speech Unit

The eighth grade students are currently working on a speech unit.  Students will write and present a demonstration speech.  Today each student picked their demonstration topic and began planning their speech.  They will present speeches during the last week of April.  Students are encouraged to practice at home before their presentation day.

Language Arts MAP Testing:

Students will take the reading and language sections of the MAP during their regularly scheduled Language Arts classes.  The reading test will be given on Thursday, April 16th, at 10:30 a.m. and the language test will be given on Monday, April 20th, at 10:30 a.m.

Polynomials

This week in 8th grade we are starting our new unit on polynomials.  We started off with learning what a polynomial is and then we learned how to add and subtract them.  We will spend the rest of the week learning how to multiply polynomials and find the greatest common factor of polynomials.  If you think back to your algebra days you might remember learning how to FOIL (First Outside Inside Last).  When multiplying polynomials we use the FOIL method.  This is our last unit before we end the year with out quadratics/trebuchet unit.

Quiz a week from today on Tuesday April 21.

Ask your child to explain to you what a polynomial is.

The Cold War Begins

This week, the 8th graders began their unit about the beginning of the Cold War.  Yesterday, they answered the question of "Who started the Cold War?" by looking through primary sources to find evidence to support their opinion.  Today, they will learn about American actions during the Cold War such as the Marshall Plan and the Berlin Airlift.  Later in the week, students will debate whether or not the United States should have taken these actions to try to contain Communism.  Next week, we will cover the Korean War.

Questions for your 8th grader:

• Who started the Cold War?  What evidence you can you use to support that answer?
• Do you think the United States should have aided Europe with programs like the Marshall Plan and Berlin Airlift?