¡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: