Friday, February 6

Science: Investigated resistance of conductors & insulators and then used the concept of Ohm's Law to identify the resistance of "mystery" resistors. Electricity Quiz Thursday, February 12.

Geometry: Coordinate proofs. Homework is the 5.4-5.5 quiz. Unit 5 test Thursday, February 12.

Pre-Algebra: Today students took the Quarterly. No homework :)

RR English:

Read every evening

Reading log is due Monday, February 9, 2015

parents must sign reading logs

RR Math:

A section of math should be completed each night

Math packet is due Monday, February 23, 2015

TEST: Monday, February 23, 2015 

Algebra: Today we did Brainteasers, made an entry in to our ISN books, practiced multiplying and dividing scientific notation, checked 2 nights of homework, answered questions and did sample problems. No homework!

Humanities: Students shared current events in class today. No homework.

ELA - Reader's Workshop Day 9 - Students used all they learned about author's craft in an On-Demand-Writing utilizing one of the offered sections from To Kill a Mockingbird. Homework: Read through Chapter 21

Technology: Students worked to complete up through Quest 4 on the Digital Footprint project. We will finish the Quests by next Friday.

Thursday, February 5

Permission slips for our field trip to see Selma are due tomorrow!

Science: Took notes on voltage, current and resistance. Homework is the 13.1 & 13.2 handout. Quiz Thursday, February 12.

Geometry: Investigated properties of special parallelograms (rectangle, rhombus & square). Homework is the Special Parallelogram handout. Unit 5 test on Thursday, February 12.

Pre-Algebra: Today we worked on a cumulative review, Chapters 1 - 4. Homework: No homework.

RR English:

Read every evening

Reading log is due Monday, February 9, 2015

parents must sign reading logs

RR Math:

A section of math should be completed each night

Math packet is due Monday, February 23, 2015

TEST: Monday, February 23, 2015

Humanities: Students presented projects in class. Homework is to complete a current event for tomorrow.

ELA - Reader's Workshop Day 8 - Tough Questions, we revisited a Sign-Post from a previous unit, reminding students they should be Noticing and Noting signposts always and with every book (not just when Mrs. Kennedy gives them a chart). Homework: Read through at least Chapter 16 & Journal #3.15

Wednesday, February 4

Science: Electricity Webpage. After completing the first page visit some of these:

http://www.cleo.net.uk/consultants_resources/science/circuitWorld/circuitworld.html

http://www.learningcircuits.co.uk/flashmain.htm

http://www.hyperstaffs.info/science/work/physics/child/main.html

Geometry: Completed section 5.4- criteria for proving a quadrilateral is a parallelogram. Homework is the criteria for parallelograms handout. 

Pre-Algebra: Students finished and looked over their Chapter 4 tests. No homework.

Humanities: Students presented projects in class. Current events are due Friday.

Chinese: The class have an assignment and the due date is this Friday, Feb 6. Please check the class blog for detail.

RR English:

Read every evening

Reading log is due Monday, February 9, 2015

parents must sign reading logs

RR Math:

A section of math should be completed each night

Math packet was due today (February 4, 2015) - a new packet will be

to students on Friday

TEST: Monday, February 23, 2015

ELA - Welcome back! Hope reading continued over the long weekend. Today students continued with RW Day 7 - finding signposts of Contrasts and Contradictions. We are gathering evidence that will eventually be used in a paper on To Kill a Mockingbird and how Harper Lee used her craft to get her message across.

In case you haven't heard - publishers are taking the remainder of the original book Harper Lee wrote and molding it into a form of a sequel. The original book was set in the 1950s and was a grown up Scout flashing back on the summers in the 1930s - these flashbacks became To Kill a Mockingbird, the "new" book is the remainder of the story of Scout as she has grown. It will be interesting to see the woman she becomes! The book Go Set a Watchman will be released this summer, I already have my alerts on so I can get one of the first copies.

Also, To Kill a Mockingbird is on Kindle-ebooks now! If your child is an ebook reader it is very inexpensive on Amazon $3.99! Homework: Read through Chap 15 $ Journal # 3.13

Technology - Students presented their findings on their Tech Usage individually instead of in groups. We moved on to Quest 2 to stay on track.

Algebra: Welcome back. We talked about scientific notation today. Most students have seen it before. Homework: worksheet 8.4 (evens)

Friday, January 30

Humanities: Students continued to work on projects that are due Monday. Homework is to complete the projects (paper, visuals and presentation) by Monday.

Science: Practiced using a multi-meter to measure voltage and current. Students then built circuits with potentiometers (dimmer switch) and used the meters to measure voltage across a bulb while observing the relationship between voltage and brightness.

Geometry: Took the 5.1-5.3 quiz, no homework.

Pre-Algebra: Chapter 4 Test. No homework :)

ELA - Readers Workshop Day 6 - Students reviewed the Notice and Note Sign-Post "Words of the Wiser". Students were then given the remainder of the class to read their books. Homework: Read through chapter 12

Algebra: We did section 8.3 today (negative exponents-ugh!) I also offered an extra credit assignment-which I hardly ever do. Extra credit is due Monday and it must be COMPLETE to get any extra credit. Homework: wkst 8.3 (evens) Extra credit is attached.

Thursday, January 29

Geometry: Investigated diagonals of parallelograms, diagonals of parallelograms handout is homework. Quiz tomorrow.

Science: Did our first section of notes for electricity and looked at example of circuit diagrams. Homework is the energy flow & circuit diagram practice.  

ELA - RW Day 5 - Students learned about the Goals and Techniques that Narrative Writers use when creating a piece of written work. Homework: Journal 3.10 & Read Chap 9

Technology - Students turned in (through Google Classroom) yesterday's Netiquette assignment. We then continued in our online classroom with 21 Things - Digital Footprint. There are 5 self guided assignments within this unit. All due dates and links are on the classroom website. All work for this unit is due no later than Friday, February 13.

RR English:

Read every evening

Reading log is due Monday, February 2

parents must sign reading logs

RR Math:

A section of math should be completed each night

Math packet is due Monday, February 2

TEST: Monday, February 2

French 2 midterm is continued tomorrow.

Humanities: Students worked on writing rough drafts for our projects that are due Monday. Homework is to work on projects.

Pre-Algebra: Today we went over the review and answered any student questions. Detailed answers to the review are available at http://norupstein.weebly.com/pre-algebra-notes-and-homework . Chapter 4 Test tomorrow!!! I told students they are allowed to have a 3 x 5 index card/piece of paper, front and back, with notes to use on the test.

Algebra: We took a quiz today. No homework.

Wednesday, January 28

8th Grade Privileges Letter must be signed by a guardian and returned by Friday.

Science: We began our unit on electricity by building basic circuits and testing different materials for conductivity. While this first day may seem basic, students were pushed to extend their understanding of these simple circuits to produce energy flow diagrams.

Geometry: Worked on proofs related to parallelograms for 5-2. Homework is the sides and angles of parallelograms handout. Quiz Friday.

ELA - RW Day 4 - Students looked for the Sign-Post "Aha Moment" in their reading for today. Homework: Journal Entry # 3.08 and Read chapter 8. Technology - Students worked on and turned in their Netiquette Essay on Google Classroom. When done they are to continue their Touch Typing review on Typing Web.

Chinese: Assignment due tomorrow, please check the class blog.

RR English:

Read every evening

Reading log is due Monday, February 2, 1015

parents must sign reading logs

RR Math:

A section of math should be completed each night

Math packet is due Monday, February 2, 2015

TEST: Monday, February 2, 2015

Algebra: Quiz tomorrow covering sections 8.1-8.2. Homework: 3 questions from ISN and review worksheet (evens only)

Pre-Algebra: Today we started the Chapter 4 Review. Students had the hour to complete this and ask questions. This is due tomorrow. The Chapter 4 Test is on Friday, January 30. Extra practice is available at my website (Textbook Resources, Chapter 4). This site will check the answer for the student and tell them if they are right or wrong. I will post answers to the review Thursday night on my website. http://norupstein.weebly.com/pre-algebra-notes-and-homework

Humanities: Students checked their notes and began to outline papers for projects due Monday. Homework is to finish an outline for the project.

Tuesday, January 27

Geometry: Began section 5.2 and went over the results from the midterm, no homework.

Science: Took the midterm

French 2: The French 2 midterm is this Thursday and Friday.

ELA - Reader's Workshop Realistic Fiction Day 3 - Students looked at a passage from TKM from another character's perspective. We then chose what we observation we liked best and placed it on a sticky note and on a chart in the room. We were able to see our thinking and discuss it with each other. Homework: Journal #3.04 & Read Chapter 7

Technology - Students worked on their Keyboarding skills and turned in Practices and Expectations. This was sent in an email last week and is posted in the class on Google Classroom.

RR English:

Read every evening

Reading log is due Monday, February 2, 1015

parents must sign reading logs

RR Math:

A section of math should be completed each night

Math packet is due Monday, February 2

TEST: Monday, February 2

Humanities: Students checked in questions and resources for our projects and began to take notes in class. Notes are due tomorrow and projects are due Monday.

Chinese: Please check our class blog for assignment.

Algebra: We talked about dividing fractions (section 8.2). Homework: worksheet 8.2 (all)