Spring Break has come and gone. It felt like a little taste of summer break. Students came back talking about sleeping in, sun burns, vacations, and sleepovers. The needed respite provided us, teachers included, the energy and space to persevere through the rest of the school year. However, this is probably my favorite part of the year. It’s the time we get to celebrate what we have accomplished. We all get together at Pass It On and Spread the Word. We take our annual class trips, celebrate at the dance, play at Field Day, and believe it or not, even enjoy ERB testing. It’s a time of tradition, reference to the past, and time for reflection. As we get ready to start a new tradition, graduation from Middle School, I look forward to this special time of the year and relishing in the hard work up until now.
Cheers to seven more weeks!
LD


Here’s a look at what is happening in each of the classes:

What’s happening in Social Studies?
The eighth graders sparked their interests in World War I as we began to take a look at the causes of the war and the beginnings. Students were then asked to map the different alliances that were formed AND choose an alliance. Students were challenged, based on the knowledge they gained, to choose an alliance to support as if they were ruling a neutral European country. They were asked to back up their choice with references to their learning.

Next week, the students will be challenged to analyze primary sources and participate in a debate. Students will be looking into an eyewitness account of the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the Zimmermann Note. Students will then begin prepping for their debate about who caused World War I.

What’s happening in ELA?

Eighth graders are revising and editing their research papers. They have also begun a new unit titled “Dystopian Book Clubs.”

Finally, we are working on grammar week 15 and learning about prefixes (a- and be-)/suffixes (-ent and -ant).

What’s happening in Science?
Eighth graders learned about cladograms, scientific family trees, and how they represent evolutionary ancestry. They created their own family trees to consider “relatedness,” how genetics are passed down, as well as how “relatedness” changes over time. They then were able to correlate their own family tree with a mammalian cladogram using animal characteristics. Eighth graders also analyzed the structures and characteristics of primate skulls to hypothesize the evolution of primates, creating their own cladogram to share and discuss. Next week, they will learn about Darwin’s theories of evolution and how they can be seen today in organisms around the world.

What’s happening in Math?

This week, eighth graders have continued their exploration of quadratic functions. We have spent a bulk of time this week comparing quadratic functions to exponential functions and analyzing their growth. Students will soon be graphing parabolas and using the quadratic formula to find the roots. They continue to remain hungry for knowledge and I feel so privileged that I get to teach them!


Important Dates:

April 22- TCS Spring Auction
April 27- Holocaust Survivor Speaker
April 27 – Athletic Banquet @ 6:00pm
May 4- 11:30 dismissal
May 5- Middle School Dance