Girls on the Run Lemonade and Treat Sale 5/26

Tuesday, May 26th, from 3:15 to 4:30, Girls on the Run will host a lemonade and treat sale as their community impact project. Lemonade and treats will be sold after school in front of the building for 50 cents each (or a donation) to raise money for the purchase of a tree for the playlot. We'd love to have you and your child join us for a tasty end to the day! Thank you for your support!

PE Year in Review Video!

Hi Everyone,

I have created a video to show everybody all the great things we have done this year in PE here at NPES! We have come a long way since the fall, and have been learning about and playing many games this year.  I hope you all enjoy this glimpse into your student's year in my class!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F59Im2cVfq8

-Mr. Hirsch

Civil Rights Project

This week, the 8th graders are working in pairs to research an event from the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.  They will then create a presentation to teach the information to the class.  Next week, they will use primary sources from these events to discuss the impact of the Civil Rights Movement in a Socratic Seminar.

Trebuchet's and final exam

This week in 8th grade math we are continuing to work on our trebuchet's.  We have been going over to the church gym and launching the trebuchet's over and over again to get data.  We have one more day in the gym to get as much data as we can.  Then, on Thursday, we will take the 50 question multiple choice comprehensive final exam.  Then, on Friday and on Tuesday of next week, we will graph our data and learn how to create an equation for the flight of the ball.  Then, on Thursday of next week, we will have the trebuchet competition.

Week 36: 8th Grade Science

Week: 36

Topic: Mendel’s Work

Students will be able to: 

Describe the results of Mendel’s experiments. 

Identify what controls the inheritance of traits in organisms.  

Essential Question:

Why do we look the way we do?

This week:  This week we will look at the experiments of Mendel, do some test crossing, and take a class survey to see if traits are controlled by dominant alleles more common than traits controlled by recessive alleles.  

Key Terms:

heredity

trait

genetics

fertilization

purebred

gene

alleles

hybrid

Differentiated Instruction:

inferring

predicting

developing hypotheses

interpreting data3

36: 

Cold War Continues

Last week, the 8th graders finished up their unit about the early Cold War and took their test last Thursday.  This week, they will do a mini-unit about the Eisenhower years and take a quiz on Friday.  The last unit of the year will be about the Civil Rights Movement.  Students will do research on an event and then discuss them in a Socratic Seminar.

Questions for your 8th Grader:
Tell me about some of the 1950s commercials that you saw.
What effect did the arms race have on the culture of the United States?

8th Grade Language Arts: Book Project

To conclude the eighth grade reading unit students will present a character impersonation and reenactment of events in their novel.  This will be a similar activity to when professional actors dress up as historical figures and speak at schools as if they were the person telling stories about his or her life.  Students will choose main characters from their novel and create a five to ten minute presentation about themselves.  They will talk about important events from the novel they have experienced, what it is like to live in the setting from their book, what it is like to interact with the other characters, and any other relevant information that will allow them to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the book.  They will need to write their script, dress in character, and speak in character.  Students will present on Thursday, May 21st.

Quadratic functions and trebuchets

This week in 8th grade math we are continuing our current unit on quadratic functions.  Last week we learned how to graph a parabola and how to find the locations where a parabola crosses the x axis.  We used our knowledge of how to factor polynomials to help find the solution to quadratic equations.  This week we will learn about the quadratic equation and how to use it solve quadratic equations.

On Monday we went to the church gym and finished building our trebuchet's and learned about the adjustments that can be made to them to change how the ball flies.  For the rest of the week we will be doing lots of trials with the trebuchet's to collect data for the end of the year competition.

No Homework

Week 35: 8th Grade Science

Week: 35

Topic: Cell Division

Students will be able to: 

Identify the events that take place during the three stages of the cell cycle.

Explain how the structure of DNA helps account for the way in which DNA copies itself.  

Essential Question:

What does it mean to be multiplying by dividing?  

This week:  This week we started our unit on Genetics.  We will start the unit with Mitosis, the structure of DNA, and replication of DNA.  

Key Terms:

cell cycle

interphase

replication

mitosis

chromosomes

cytokinesis

Differentiated Instruction:

discussion

model making

Upcoming:

Mendel’s work, probability, and heredity

Week 34: 8th Grade Science

Week: 34

Topic: Earth’s Changing Surface

In the past three weeks the 8th grade class has done some great work.  You have to ask to see all the work they have completed.  They started by creating a timeline to see how long it took for the universe as we know it to be created.  Then they created another timeline using the ipad to create an electronic timeline for the geologic time scale.  Each student selected a time period in which they researched how lone ago was the period, how long did it last, the geological features of the time, its climate, life, and where there any extinctions.  To culminate this timeline, they created a travel brochure for their time period.  Each brochure was unique and creatively done.  Lastly, they wrote an essay about the essential question: Where did life come from?  A definite dinner time discussion.

To end the school year the class will study the cell nucleus and explore mitosis and meiosis, genetics, and inheritance.

Motown and The Supremes

In music we have ventured deeper into the history of Rock n' Roll and took our studies to Detroit, the birthplace of Motown.  Within that study, we looked at a major performance group in the Motown style, The Supremes.  The students learned who the three members of the group were, who was the leading lady, and what made them different in their sound and performance compared to other groups.  In order to channel their inner Motown performer, the 8th grade class created choreography to famous Supremes songs in the Motown style.  

(Typically the video does not come through via email, so if you are unable to see the video, please visit the actual blog site to see the student performances. Thanks.)

Trebuchet's

This week in 8th grade we are beginning our final unit on quadratic functions or parabolas.  We started the week off watching a NOVA video about laying siege to a castle using trebuchets.  It discussed how a trebuchet works and what makes it effective.  For the rest of the week we will be learning about parabolas and quadratic equations and then we will begin to build trebuchet's in class.

No assignments due.

Ask your child what a trebuchet is?

8th Grade Language Arts: Speeches

8th graders completed their demonstration speeches last week.  I was impressed by how professional and confident they were during their presentations.  During the three class periods of speeches students learned how to make a smoothie, make an ocean tie dye cake, make a bagel sandwich, assemble a root beer float, bake whopper cookies, create paper flowers, make a duct tape wallet, make paper cranes, make paper airplanes, make a paper crossbow, create fake wounds, tie neckties, make a yarn pom pom, care for a bunny, make Greek coffee, draw a face, and properly dress a hot dog.  Students enjoyed eating samples from the food demonstrations and making the craft items along with the speeches.

This week students are starting their Persuasive speeches. They will work with a partner to create and present their speech.  Presentations start on Tuesday, May 12th.