I'm looking forward to continuing the recorder music we began last week.  I've got some new music for us to run through and I'm looking forward to the arrival of some surprise instruments that we will start with upon arrival.

Week 5: 8th Grade Science

Week 5

Topic:  Standards of Measurement:  Converting Metric Measurements

Objectives: 

Students will understand that density is a derived unit from mass and volume. 

Essential Question:

How are conversion factors useful?

This week in science the kids will define volume and mass and discover there relationship which we call “density.” 

Differentiated Instruction:

Estimating

Mathematics

Measuring 

Upcoming:

Metric Conversion

*** Don’t forget to register for Parent/Teacher Conferences

Imperialism Menu Projects

This week in social studies, the 8th graders are finishing up their American Imperialism unit.  They will be taking their test today and writing their essay in class tomorrow.  Last week, the students shared their menu items about imperialism.  They created some really great products, which will be hung up for you to see at conferences.  Next week, we will begin our unit about World War I.

Questions for your 8th grader:

• Show me the menu item that you created that you are the most proud of.
• Was isolationism or imperialism a better policy for the United States at the turn of the century?

Function rules, tables, and graphs

This week in 8th grade math we are continuing to work on our second unit on functions and their graphs.  On Monday we reviewed what a function is and what makes a function.  We also discussed the connection between rule, table and graph and how these are three different representations of a function.  We did some basic graphing of absolute value and quadratic functions as well.  Today we took the MAP test.  Tomorrow we will review how to write a function rule for a table of values.  Next week we will begin to look at direct and indirect variations.

Upcoming assignments:
Quiz 5.1 on sections 5.1, 1.4, and 5.2

Questions to ask at home:
What is the difference between continuous and discrete data?

8th Grade Language Arts: Steppenwolf for Young Adults Opportunity

Steppenwolf for Young Adults is featuring a stage adaptation of George Orwell’s classic novel 1984.  The production runs from October 21, through November 20, 2015.  Although we will not be attending this play as a class (since it is not part of the Language Arts curriculum), I wanted to post information about the play for families interested in attending the play on their own.

Here is the play summary:

“Winston Smith works for the Ministry of Truth located in the nation of Oceania, part of a vast empire in a constant, shifting war against other superstates. Dissent is not tolerated (not even in thought), and Winston and his fellow citizens are under perpetual electronic surveillance by their ever-watchful ruler Big Brother. When Winston falls in love with a co-worker, their illegal affair pushes them to rebel and face the darkest and most dangerous corners of the regime. On the heels of last year’s gripping Animal Farm, Steppenwolf for Young Adults presents Orwell’s dystopian masterpiece in a multi-media production that is a haunting, shockingly timely look at a future that seems disturbingly present.”

http://www.steppenwolf.org/Plays-Events/productions/index.aspx?id=645

Upcoming 1st Quarter Assessments & Due Dates:

Literary Elements and Techniques Quiz: Thursday, October 1, 2015 

Literary Elements and Techniques Final Test: Thursday, October 15, 2015

Graphic Novel Final Due: Wednesday, October 21, 2015

What makes us Human?

This week the eighth graders continued to work on their human contour drawing compositions by adding volume, patterns and color. I really like how all their drawings of the same mannequins look very different and their choices of arrangement, colors and patterns can affect the feeling of the piece. So far they are doing a great job with composition and shading. They will be filling their backgrounds with text about what we do as humans, things like "we build things, we collect, we explore, we wear clothes, we dance" etc. They can also use negative statements like "we discriminate, we pollute, we waste, we are lazy" etc. I will be anxious to show you the finished products but here are a few in progress.

Graphs and Functions

This week in math the 8th graders started there next unit on Graphs and Functions.  We are skipping ahead from unit 1 to unit 5 to start working with linear equations and graphing, which helps give a visual image of what is happening when they actually solve algebra equations.  We have been reviewing what a function is and how to identify independent and dependent variables.  We also learned about what domain and range are.  This week we will review how to identify a function.  We have also been reading chapters in the book Secrets, Lies, and Algebra and learned about a pattern     1    5     10     10    5      1.  This pattern is a big part of our project fair project on triangles.

Upcoming assignments:

POW From Here To There due on Monday September 28th
Quiz on Tuesday September 29th

Ask your child where the above code has shown up in math class?

Week 4: 8th Grade Science

Week 4

Topic:  Standards of Measurement:  Converting Metric Measurements

Objectives: 

Students will understand that measurements are important in science. 

Essential Question:

How is linear measurement converted into a liquid measurement?

This week the kids will review the formulas for perimeter, area, & volume, compute the these measurements for common geometric shapes, and apply their understanding of these measurements to a real life situation.  

Differentiated Instruction:

Scavenger Hunt (Estimation)

Cuisenaire Rods

Using the Stair Method to find metric equivalencies.  

Upcoming:

Metric Conversion

*** Don’t forget to register for Parent/Teacher Conferences

Debate and Menu Projects

Last week in 8th grade social studies, the students studied the outcome of the Spanish-American War.  After the war, the United States had acquired Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines from Spain and had to decide what to do with them.  On Thursday, the students had a debate about whether or not the United States should give the Philippines independence or annex them and make them a part of the U.S.  The students argued from several different points of view: members of the American government, American businessmen, Filipinos, and Anti-Imperialists.  The students did a great job arguing their points and connecting the content to prior knowledge.  Students in the inner circle debated verbally while students in the outer circle shared their thoughts through a discussion on Schoology. Later this week, we will discuss the United States' growing role in Latin America.  Students are also working on their Imperialism learning menu project. Students chose several different ways to demonstrate their knowledge about this unit. 

Upcoming Dates:

-Imperialism menu project due:  Friday, September 25
-Imperialism (chapter 22) test:   Tuesday, September 29

Questions for your 8th grader:

-What position did you defend in the debate?
-What menu items are you working on?
-What is your opinion about how the United States handled its acquisitions after the Spanish American War?

Philippines Debate

8th Grade Language Arts: Short Stories and Graphic Novels

Eighth graders created their own original characters this week.  In addition to illustrating what the character looks like they also had to develop a personality, background, and description for their character.  Students presented their character creations and have the option to use their character for the Graphic Novel Writing Project.  This week students will learn all of the aspects that go into creating a graphic novel.  They will starting planning and drafting their own creative graphic novels using both pictures and text.  

Students are studying the literary elements and techniques during our first quarter Language Arts unit.  The 8th grade unit will focus on short stories.  We will be reading some classic short stories by Kurt Vonnegut, Ambrose Bierce, Liam O’Flaherty, and Shirley Jackson. 

Upcoming 1st Quarter Assessments & Due Dates:

MAP Reading Assessment: Friday September 25, 2015

Literary Elements and Techniques Quiz: Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Literary Elements and Techniques Final Test: Thursday, October 15, 2015

Graphic Novel Final Due: Monday, October 19, 2015

MAP Testing Begins Friday

8th grade will be taking the NWEA MAP reading and math tests soon. The math test will be given on 9/29/15 and the reading will be given on 9/25/15.

The results from these tests will be available by 10/5/15. I will provide these results to BEC for those students whose parents have given permission for them to be shared. Results will be sent home via kidmail as well.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Mrs. Smith at smith@npeschool.org. If you would like further information about the NWEA MAP tests, take time to look through the Parent Toolkit created by NWEA.

¡La clase de español!

The eighth graders are off to a great start in Spanish.  Last week they reviewed the last two years by working in groups to each individually write a short essay.  The essay included topics such as; describing themselves, writing about their classes and school, talking about foods they like and don't like, and describing their family.  After completing the assignment, they practiced their oral communication by reading one of their paragraphs to the class.  It was a great activity that provided review, collaboration, and practice with writing, reading, speaking, and listening.

This week, we began our unit for 1st quarter, Vivimos aquí,  We live here. We opened the unit exploring the Spanish speaking country, Ecuador. We looked at its geography, learned about their passion for fútbol, and their traditional clothing; where we discussed how people in the United States express themselves through the clothing we wear.

The objectives for this unit are to learn how to describe a house and household items, indicate the order of things, and describe people and locations. We looked at several pictures of different houses and the class used their prior knowledge of physical descriptions to describe the exterior.  They also shared the furniture they have in their homes or bedrooms to personalize the topic.  Today, we did a great activity for visual learners. They drew their favorite room. Next class they will exchange drawings with a partner and their partner will hopefully be able to label the items they see.

Next week, we will discover different types of houses and compare and contrast houses in Quito, Ecuador with ones we see in Chicago. We will practice the difference among two very important Spanish verbs, ser and estar.  They are two verbs that both have the same meaning but are used in different circumstances.

At home and over the next few weeks, ask your child if they can describe their house or bedroom. The vocabulary is new; however as we continue to work through this unit they should be able to easily describe different rooms and items.

Spanish-American War

This week, the 8th graders are discussing the Spanish-American War in Social Studies.  Last Friday, students acted in a simulation about the events of the war.  This week, they will be participating in a debate about whether the United States should have annexed the Philippines after the war was over.  Students also analyzed different forms of yellow journalism, which are press articles and cartoons that exaggerated the events of the war.  Next week, they will learn about the United States' relationship with Latin America during the Age of Imperialism.

Questions for your 8th grader:

• Did yellow journalism cause the Spanish-American War?
• Which side are you arguing during the debate about the Philippines?

End of Unit 1

This week in 8th grade math we are finishing up our first unit of the year.  We have reviewed variables, order of operations, evaluating expressions, word phrases, types of numbers, adding rational numbers, subtracting rational numbers, multiplying and dividing rational numbers, probability, independent probability, and dependent probability.  The last thing that will be covered in this unit is cubed roots and how to simplify square roots.

Upcoming assignments:
Alternative Assessment due and test on Friday September 18th.

Week 3: 8h Grade Science

Week 3

Topic:  Standards of Measurement:  Converting Metric Measurements

Objectives: 

Students will understand that measurements are important in science. 

Essential Question:

Why is it important to make measurements using a standard?

This week the kids will see that the metric system was the first system based on powers of 10.  In the Si system, each type of measurement has a prefix and a base unit.    Prefixes are used with the base units to indicate what power of ten should be used with the base unit.  Each type of measurement has a base unit (meter is the base unit of length.) 

Differentiated Instruction:

Using the Stair Method to find metric equivalencies.  

Upcoming:

Metric Conversion

*** Don’t forget to register for Parent/Teacher Conferences

CPS High School Process

The deadline for the application for October MAP testing was September 10. The next step is for CPS to process all of the applications that were received.

At some point after October 1st and approximately 2 weeks before your MAP test date, you will receive mailed notification of your assigned test dates. This letter will also include your PIN for use in registering with the online parent portal. You will register in the portal upon receipt of the PIN. Two weeks after your child's 2nd NWEA MAP test is taken, you will log on to the portal to see scores from those tests and to register for the SEHS exam.

I spoke with OAE about this process. You will have the option to pick your dates and your sites for the exam. However, if you have fewer viable options for test dates, be selective with your date and indicate flexibility with your site. Sites are King, Lane, Lindblom, and Whitney Young. OAE says this will help to ensure that the date you need is assigned. By testing in December or January, you will not know the scores from the SEHS exam; however, OAE does report they have found a high correlation between NWEA scores and SEHS exam scores.

The Selective Prep class that is being held at North Park will conclude on December 7th.This leaves the December 12th date for testing as the best choice. If you would like to try and register for November test dates but also want your child to participate in test prep of some sort, you will need to look at options outside of the Selective Prep class.

Please let me know if you have any questions. This page details this same information from OAE.

Parent/Teacher Conferences 10/1 and 10/2

Parent/Teacher Conference Sign Up for 8th Grade

You may have noticed that fall conferences will be held in early October this year. The teachers would like to utilize this early time to get to know you and your child and to review and discuss the goals that your child worked to set with his/her teachers for the 2015/2016 school year. This conference will be more a time of collaboration with you and your child and less about giving you an academic picture of your child, as conferences have been in the past. Consider this a time to start conversations that can be continued throughout the year by email, in-person, and at spring parent/teacher conferences. As always, outside of conference times, you are welcome to contact your child’s teacher by email, phone, or to schedule a time to meet together.

Visit the link below to sign up for a conference with your child's teacher. Through this link, you should be able to see schedules for all of your necessary classes (if you have more than 1 child or a middle school student) side-by-side. If you are having trouble signing up, please visit this page for more detailed instructions.

When scheduling, especially for multiple teachers, please keep in mind how long you have for the conference itself and how long it will take you to move to other locations in the school. The time allotted for each conference is as follows:

MS - 10 minute student led conferences for each content teacher (sign up for all 4 teachers);

3-5 - 10 minute student led conferences with 5 minutes for parent only interaction (if needed); and

K-2 - 10 minute conferences.

Contact your child's teacher if you are unable to make any of these scheduled times. Contact Kim Smith with questions pertaining to the sign up system. If you would like to schedule a time with one of the co-curricular teachers, please contact that teacher directly by email.

In addition to the conference sign-up procedures described above, we would also like to share our plans to communicate with NPES K-5 parents on a trimester basis during the school year. This was the reporting system in place three years ago at NPES and feels most appropriate as a complement to our fall and spring student goal setting processes. Middle school reporting systems will remain on a quarterly basis. Please do not hesitate to contact your child's teacher with any questions related to our reporting systems and as always, should you have a question or concern pertaining to your child's learning in school at any point in the year, NPES faculty and staff are always available for further discussion.

Thank you,

Kim Smith

8th Grade Language Arts: Adjective Fashion Show

The Adjective Fashion show was a delightful event!  8th graders were decked out in the most outrageous outfits they could find.  I was impressed by how much they challenged themselves to use unique and interesting adjectives in their outfit descriptions.

Here is a picture of the the fabulous 8th graders after the fashion show:

Welcome to PE!

Welcome back to school and to Mr. Hirsch's PE class everyone! This year I will try to have the kids write down blog entries.    - Mr. Hirsch

"We began the year in gym class with our soccer unit. For the first couple of days, we did drills or skill building activities. Starting this week, we have began to play three minute long games. The class is divided into three different teams, so that every team can play the two other teams. Gym class has been very enjoyable this week."   -Ava

Home made pizzas in Advisory today. Yum.

Happy new school year from Middle School Advisory.  The new 6th graders are integrating into their advisories and getting to know the older kids. The new Morning Advisory sessions, designed after Responsive Classroom (that takes place in grades K - 5) are less formal and a little more low key than what they experienced previously but we are finding that it's a great way to settle into the day.  Many of the advisory activities this month are focusing on getting to know one another.  But in addition, the last couple of longer advisory sessions have involved the vegetable garden beds in the playlot that the kids helped plant last spring.

Of course, nothing tastes better than food that you've grown and picked yourselves!  Middle School advisory kids got a taste of that experience today after picking vegetables and herbs and making tasty pizza creations.  Nasturtiums and green tomatoes on a pizza? Fantastic!

Review, Secrets, Lies, and Algebra, and Patterns

We had a great first week in 8th grade math.  We started off the year with some review of concepts and we are continuing to review for much of the first unit.  This week we will be reviewing order of operations, real numbers, absolute value, and how to do all operations with rational numbers.  We have also been reading a fiction book called, Secrets, Lies, and Algebra in an attempt to make real world connections to what we learn in class.  It has already lead to some great discussion questions on Schoology.

We will have a quiz on sections 1.1-1.3 on Thursday the 10th and POW Operation Warm-Up is due on Friday the 11th.

Question to ask your child at home:  What is a tangent in math class?

Age of Imperialism

This week, the 8th graders have been learning about American imperialism in social studies. Last week, they looked at political cartoons, maps, and pictures from the era and made observations, asked questions, and made predictions about how the United States expanded.  This week, students are learning about how the United States acquired places like Alaska, Hawaii, and other Pacific islands.  Today, they researched and began to teach mini-lessons about the United States' relationship with Japan, Hawaii, and China during the Age of Imperialism.  

Questions for your 8th grader:

• Should the United States have acquired overseas possessions?
• If country is strong enough and rich enough to take over another country, does that give them the right to do so?

8th Grade Language Arts: Vocabulary Root Words

We will be studying common Greek and Latin root words throughout the school year in Language Arts class.  Students will learn to use clues from those roots when they encounter unfamiliar words.  They will complete creative and challenging vocabulary building activities to reinforce the root words.  Each of the twelve units introduces ten vocabulary words and traces their definitions back to a common meaning.  Students will examine the words in context to understand correct usage and complete hands-on activities to build their vocabulary skills.

Be sure to check with your child and hear the new words they are learning this year!

The roots we will study this year in eighth grade include:

graph, gram (write), curr, curs, cours (run), carn, corp (body), arch (ruler), cycle, orb (roundness), min (small), phone (sound), anthro, homo (man), dict (speak), port (carry), sum, syn (together), phil (love)

Week 2: BLAST OFF!!!

Week 2:

Hopefully the kids have recovered from their sleep deprivation of week 1.  We reviewed our lab protocols, enjoyed each others summer vacations, and reviewed this years curriculum.  Our main focus this quarter in Physics will be motion.  The 8th graders have already gotten started on their first project “Bottle Rockets.”  They will change two variables on their rocket to see which one can fly the longest.  The launch is scheduled for sometime during the week of September 15th.  Hopefully we will see you their.  

It's a pleasure meeting you.

I’m excited to introduce myself as the new music teacher at North Park Elementary School.  I’d been a music teacher in the Chicago Public Schools since 2004 where I had developed my curriculum to include a variety of folk instruments including recorders, ukuleles and guitars, as well as an extra curricular band program.  I look forward to bringing some of the experiences I’ve gained in my former school as well as taking advantage of the many resources available at NPES.  

This year we will put extra emphasis on the music of Chicago. In addition to developing the basic concepts such as rhythm, pitch, dynamics, and notation covered in the general music classroom, we will be looking at the musicians and the rich musical history and influence of one of the world’s greatest cities, Chicago.  

I really look forward to getting to know and making some great music with your children throughout the year.

-Ben Saltz

MAP Test Dates from CPS

Thank you all for your patience with all the communication about the CPS test process for the fall. Remember that applications to test are due by September 10th. Mrs. Johnson is currently compiling the grades from 7th grade to submit to CPS. This will be 1/3 or 300 points of the total rubric.
According to OAE, any student that has registered to take MAP in October will be sent a letter at the beginning of October. This letter will contain your pin for the overall application process and your exact dates for MAP testing.

The 8th graders will take a math MAP test on 9/28/15 and a reading MAP test on 9/29/15 at NPES. If your child will be participating in the boot camp and you would like their MAP scores shared with BEC, please send Mrs. Smith an email with permission for that to be done. Information (a flier) from BEC regarding pricing and scheduling for the MAP boot camp will be forthcoming this week. We are confirmed for the weekend of 10/10 and 10/11 from 9:00-12:30. Carlos Becerra, owner and founder of BEC, will be teaching the boot camp classes, at my request.

Registration for the Selective Prep test prep session for the Selective Enrollment exam is ongoing. This session will begin at NPES on October 19, 2015. The session consists of 8 classes to be held on Mondays at NPES from 3:30 to 4:30. If you have not registered yet and would like to, you can do so here.

Ms. Rosenberg is working on a timeline reference with important dates in the high school application process. This will be forthcoming. Remember that it is best to begin visiting schools as soon as possible so you can cast a wide net in the application process. Open Houses for high schools will likely begin in October, but you can begin to visit high school events (sporting events, performances, etc.) at any time, once the school year begins. Talking to students and parents of students at the high schools of interest can be a resource that is more valuable than an Open House.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact Ms. Rosenberg or Mrs. Smith.

8th Grade Math

Hello 8th Grade Families,

It was great to see all the 8th graders even if for just a short time on Monday.  We spent our class period on Monday getting iPads distributed and setting up Google Drive and Schoology accounts.

For the rest of the week we will be doing some introductory problem solving activities and playing games.  We will begin working in the text book and quickly going over review material from last year.  Lastly, we will begin our study of Pascals triangle this week in preparation for project fair in December.

8th Grade Language Arts Week 1: Adjective Fashion Show

This week students will be 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 11th, 2015.
Check back to see pictures from the outrageous event!

-Mrs. Payne

NPES Art 2015-2016 The Year of the Human and "Humans of Chicago"

This year I am excited to focus on all aspects of humans and the human body as it pertains to art. We will be looking at art that explores the human form and learning what it means to be a human, especially a "human of Chicago". Along with a wide variety of new lessons and old favorites, we will take time this year to do more figure drawing and portraiture, in an effort to learn how to draw human proportions and faces.

One or more elements and principles of art are addressed with each project. They include:

Balance, emphasis, contrast, unity/harmony, movement,/rhythm, proportion, line, shape, form, value, texture, space, and color. 

Students practice:

Looking at and talking about art

Following directions and sequential steps in a process

Creative problem solving

Craftsmanship and technique with new and familiar mediums

Philosophy and Objectives

Art students learn how to be engaged fully in the artistic process and gain skill and confidence by learning to work in the following two and three dimensional mediums: drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, ceramics, print-making, collage, fiber, and computer arts. Drawing receives the greatest emphasis because it provides the basis for all other creative activities. Drawing is the single most accessible form of art available and provides a direct link between reading, writing, and math.

  The art program is integrated with the core curriculum in order to establish historic relevance and offer students the opportunity to create and do in all subject areas. The program nurtures inventiveness as it engages students in a process that aids in the development of self-esteem, self-discipline, cooperation, and self-motivation. The program is spiraled to allow for building on and practicing prior knowledge and skills at every grade level, while adding more complex techniques, critical thinking opportunities and higher expectations of craft as the student matures.

The goals of the visual art program at NPES are to provide students with the tools to understand human experience; to learn to adapt to and respect others way of thinking; to learn creative methods of problem solving; understand the historical and cultural influences of art; to make decisions in situations where there are no standard answers; to analyze non-verbal communication; and to communicate thoughts and feelings using a practiced and highly developed visual vocabulary.

Student Assessment

Effort 

Participation (including clean-up) 

Creativity and meeting project criteria 

Following directions 

Office Hours

Tuesdays 3:30 - 4:30