Starting unit 3 on graphing

This week in 8th grade we finished up our project fair project work and started our next unit on graphing linear equations.  We reviewed the distributive property and properties of numbers.  When we return from Thanksgiving Break we will be reviewing proportions and similar figures to help prepare for linear equations.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy your time off.

Week 13: 8th Grade Science

8th Grade Families,

Have a safe and Thankful holiday.

Sincerely,
Mr. T

8th Grade Language Arts: Dystopian Book Clubs

Students will have their final book club meeting on Tuesday.  The concluding assessment projects for the Dystopian Book Club Unit will be completed in December.  Students will create a book review individually and work as a group to develop a soundtrack to connect to the events and characters in their book.  Check back to see how these projects are developing!

Upcoming Due Dates:

Book Review First Draft Due: Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Book Review Final Draft Due: Monday, December 14, 2015

Book Club Soundtrack Project and Presentation: Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Technology in Your Daily Lives

Do you use technology in a creative way on a daily basis? Is there a robot that builds things in your industry? Are you able to provide better care to your patients because of technology? We want to hear from you!
We would like to connect the NPES theme of Humans of Chicago and our Hour of Code experience by bringing in guest speakers that use technology in a creative way. NPES hopes to inspire our students to change the world. From Anthony Atala who is exploring 3D printing as an alternative to organ procurement programs to Brittany Wenger who at the age of 17 turned her love of asking questions in to an award winning cloud based artificial intelligence program for diagnosing breast cancer, technology is changing the way we live our lives and experience health and happiness.
NPES students are our future. Exposing them to humans of Chicago who utilize technology everyday, gives our students the opportunity to look towards that future. Please contact Kim Smith or Brad Riggs if you would like to share your story.

Hour of Code is Coming

The Hour of Code experience at North Park needs you! The entire middle school will participate at the same time the morning of December 11, 2015. Beyond the desire to create and explore with some really great kids,  there are no specific skills required of volunteers. Everything we will do with the kids is something that you can do too. Please sign up for a time that works with your schedule. We would love to have you with your own child's class or with another class. 

Week 12

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.

1920s Projects

This week, the 8th graders began their unit about the 1920s.  Students were each given a topic or event from the era and did some preliminary research.  Then, they divided into groups based on the themes that linked their topics together.  Now, each group is creating a project that teaches their information to the class.  The topics are politics, economy, culture, and diversity.  Today, students began brainstorming how they could share their knowledge with their classmates.  They will spend the rest of the week creating projects and teaching them to the class.

Questions for your 8th grader:

• What topic and theme are you researching for your 1920s project?
• Based on your topic, do you think the 1920s were a time of innovation or conservatism?

Project Fair

This week the 8th graders are continuing to work on the project fair project.  They are working on their Calder Mobile's in art and fractals in math.  We have created dragon fractals, Koch's Snowflakes, Sierpinski's Triangles, and we are in the process of creating a 3D Koch's Sierpinski's Triangle Snowflake.  I gave the class all the created triangles from years passed and told them to create any fractal design they wanted, as long as it displayed self similarity, and they came up with a great idea.  I can't wait for you all to see it at project fair.  It really highlights what a fractal is and shows how it is between a 2d and a 3d figure.  Really cool stuff.  After we finish creating the 3d fractal, we are going to create some questions that go along with the presentation for people not in class to try and answer.

Upcoming assignment:
Quiz on the streets and numbers of the North Side of Chicago

                         
                                                                 Lots of Triangles

8th Grade Language Arts: Dystopian Book Clubs

Unwind

“Unwind is a dystopian novel set in America in the future. Three teens; Lev, Risa, and Connor are unwinds.  Meaning they will be killed for their organs to be transferred.  The three kids found out that they would be unwound before their parents told them, so the three decided to run away.  They go through a long and hard journey to try to escape their fate in the book Unwind. We all like the book because of the contrast between characters and how the chapters switch points of view.”

-Stone, Luke, Max C., & Heath

Fahrenheit 451

“We’re reading Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. The story is about a fireman – one who destroys books by starting fires, rather than putting fires out. As the story progresses, the main character, Guy Montag, realizes he might not be doing the right thing. Told in three riveting and inspiring parts, Fahrenheit 451 is a book we all have been thoroughly enjoying. Ray Bradbury does a great job in this story, perfectly illustrating the scene with excellent metaphors, similes, and analogies. He goes into detail at important parts, and leaves great cliffhangers and creates well-written suspense and tension.” 

-Sean, Ava, Max W., Audrey, & Sander 

Pascal's Triangle/Fractals and slope

This week in 8th grade math we are starting our new unit on linear equations.  We started the unit by reviewing slope concepts and rise over run.  We will continue to make the connection between slope and the use of proportions and similar figures.  We will also be spending more time working on the Pascal's Triangle/Fractal Project Fair.  Every student created a Pascal's Triangle and we are going to start to put them together to make a large version.

Ask your child how their Calder Mobile's are going.

World War I Menu Projects

Today, the 8th graders are finishing their World War I unit and taking their test.  Yesterday, they presented their creations from their menu projects.  We saw a variety of different projects about World War I and it was a good review for the test.  Students performed interviews with characters from the unit, showed wartime propaganda that they created, and even rapped about the causes of World War I.  Later in the week, we will begin our unit about the 1920s.

Questions for your 8th grader:

• Was the Treaty of Versailles a fair and effective settlement for lasting world peace?
• Show me the menu item that you are most proud of.

8th Grade Language Arts: Dystopian Book Clubs

The Maze Runner

“The Maze Runner is about a boy named Thomas who is put in a box and is sent up to the Glade. He doesn’t remember anything except his first name. Since he got there, everything has started to change, a day after he arrives a girl comes to the Glade and she’s the first girl to ever come into the Glade. 

The Glade is the center of the Maze, the only way to get out. There are Runners to scope out the Maze, but it’s very difficult because the Maze changes every night. It may sound like you can stay in the Maze overnight, but that would be a death wish. The Grievers are the death wish. Big matronic bugs that can sting you. Get stung and make it back in time to the Glade, you go through the Changing. 

Everything’s been changing since Thomas arrived, will he be the one to get everyone out?

Some things that we’re finding interesting include how Thomas has been changing. He seems to be getting more confident throughout the story. Also, why is everyone here? What’s the reasoning behind sending someone to the Glade when it really doesn’t have that big of an effect? What kind of things qualify you to get sent into the Maze? Everyone is a teenager, they’re smart, and at least kind of athletic. The Glade sounds like a nice place, however it seems kind of artificial. If you’re trapping someone there, why would you make it so nice?”

-Lauren, Gwyneth, Emma, & Thora

Uglies

“Uglies is a dystopian novel about a society where until the age of sixteen, everyone is called an “ugly.”  Then at sixteen, all Uglies undergo an operation that makes them “Pretty.”  Tally Youngblood can't wait for her operation, till her friend Shay runs away and she questions everything she thought she knew.  We think this book takes issues from our society and dramatizes them.  This book is a very interesting, new idea.  Are looks that important to our society?  The author poses an interesting point of view and we look forward to finishing this book and possible the series.”

-Asha, Viv, Ella, Sophie, & Abby

Week 11: 8th Grade Science

Week 11

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.

Lacrosse in PE

"I think that Lacrosse was really fun. I learned how to properly hold a stick, cradle the ball, and aim my passing and shooting so that it would go to my teammate's stick or into the goal. Lacrosse was probably my favorite unit this year because we had never done it before and it was really fun. If I went to this school again next year I would hope we would play it again."

-Max W

The Treaty of Versailles

Last week, the 8th graders talked about the end of World War I.  On Friday, they participated in a simulation of the Treaty of Versailles.  Each group represented a different country from the Allies (The United States, Great Britain, France, and Italy) and argued about how the treaty should deal with Germany.  They answered questions like should Germany have to pay for the war, should they take full blame for the war, and what should be done with its overseas territories.  Then, during the next lesson, the students compared the treaty that they made with the actual Treaty of Versailles.

Upcoming Dates:

• Monday, November 9  World War I Menu due
• Tuesday, November 10 World War I test

Questions for your 8th grader:

• Who did you represent during the Treaty of Versailles simulation and how did they believe Germany should be treated?
• Was the Treaty of Versailles a good treaty?

Environmental art at the nature center.

With the monster project finished (look for work to be hung up in the hall next week) the 8th grade moved on to our annual nature installation project at the North Park Village Nature Center. We look at the work of the artist Andy Goldsworthy and then we go out in the field to create and photograph temporary installations using only what we find in nature.  The only tools allowed are scissors, trowels and water and once complete these designs will dissipate back to nature.  Here are a few images of them working and a few of the completed pieces. These works will be made into a set of greeting cards that will be available for purchase at the auction.

Here are some of the beautiful finished pieces.

Calder Mobile's and City Streets

This week in 8th grade math we are working on our Calder Mobile's.  The students were broken into pairs and they are working on the math portion of the project fair project.  In the pictures posted below the students are using wooden dowels and alligator clips to find balance.  They are asked to add clips to both end and the slide the fulcrum around to find the balance point.  They then measure the distance from the fulcrum to the clips and count the number of clips.  This is called the moment and what they find out is that the moment on one side should be equal to, or close to equal to, the moment on the other side.  We will continue working with the clips for the next two days and then they will apply what they learned to building an actual Calder Mobile in art class.  When we finish the Calder Mobile's we will again work with the Chicago city street grid system.

Week 10: 8th Grade Science

Week 10

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?”

1st Quarter Grades Posted 11/9 by 5:00 pm

Today marks the beginning of the 2nd quarter for middle school students. Grades for the 1st quarter will be posted to Net Community by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, 11/9/15.