Happy Holidays from the 8th Grade Classroom!

Happy Holidays from the 8th Grade Classroom

8th graders singing at the K-12 Holiday Singalong

Thank you to Calysta Phillips for organizing the Advocates Holiday Gift Program!  The 8th graders organized by

advisory to purchase a gift or gifts for local residents through The Advocates organization.  The Advocates

provide safety and services for people affected by domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking in Blaine County

and surrounding areas.  Visit The Advocates website for more information about this amazing organization. 

Students have begun researching the background and history of their 8th grade project topics.  After a lesson on the

Dewey Decimal system, Naomi led the students on a field trip to the Community Library.  Students had to find

and check out books related to their topic. (Please help them return these books to the Community Library on time!)

Back at school students have begun to formulate their outlines and dig into their resources by taking notes and

tracking work cited.  In addition, students are learning to carefully evaluate the reliability of website resources. 

To help students gain first-hand information about their topic and give them access to first hand experiences early in their process, they are required to interview a professional in a field related to their topic by January 9th.  Some students are still working on making a connection with an adult in their topic area. Click here for a list of student topics.  Please email Reggie or Naomi if you are or know an expert in one of these fields and would be willing to have a student contact you.

In Math, we have been problem-solving with ratios and proportional relationships. Students have practiced finding unit rates to determine the best deals at the grocery store, the carnival, and the gym. Please ask them if you are unsure which sale price is best! In addition, we looked at architecture plans to estimate the costs of tiling a kitchen floor. Students were surprised to find out that, based on Disney's assertion that Olaf is 5'4'', Elsa is actually 9'9"! This week we began with virtual holiday shopping in which students used percents to calculate th sale price of items. Lastly, we investigated a percent change including different percept population increases in Blaine County, decreases to available moose tags, the potential impact of the Epic Pass, and how a math rap can really help you remember an important math process.

In Writing, we are continuing to work on gathering information and "research" about our own identities as we work

with the We Are America program to explore what identity means to us. We will start to work on our final We Are

America submissions for our book in January.

A few housekeeping items: 

• Don't forget to check our weekly schedule document if you want to know what your child is doing day-to-day in school.
• We have officially started the Winter Schedule! This means that Tuesday through Friday, MS and US students are dismissed at 1:30pm. We do offer a variety of after-school clubs that run from 1:30-2:30, so make sure to check those out (Sam sent an email about them a couple of weeks ago) if the early  dismissal does not work for your family.
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On Friday morning students participated in the annual K-12 Community School sing-a-long. It was a fun way to welcome the holidays and winter break. We hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday and a Happy New Year. As many of the students have noted, this is the last blog post of the decade! See you in 2020!

Locker clean out!

More locker clean out

Performing at the K-12 Sing-along

Secondly, we have officially started the winter

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NEXT UP in the ARTROOM

IN THE ART ROOM... WE JUST COMPLETED our unit, How to CAPTURE THE FALL? 

The Art, 

The Reflection,  

The Critique: 

ALL DONE!!!

WHAT'S NEXT? 

        IDENTITY THROUGH OBSERVATION AND EXPRESSION

WHO AM I?

Branching off of the "We Are America" project with Naomi, in the art room students will investigate how their IDENTITY has been shaped through memories. Our starting point will be a nostalgic, personal photo of a moment in time when a specific aspect of their Identity was formed...the search begins.                                      

To stretch and explore the possibilities and potential we spent the week researching artists who use Identity to shape their art.

HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH AN 8th GRADER... WHO IS THIS MAN? 

HOW DOES HIS IDENTITY SHAPE HIS ART?

Discuss a time when you fell short...experienced pressure to be something you were not...

Want more? CHECK OUT THESE ARTISTS:

YaYoi Kusama          Kehinde Wiley

T.S. Abe          Jung Lee

December Update from the 8th Grade Classroom

Welcome to the Winter Term! The weather outside is cooperating with our seasonal shift, and we hope you all had a great Thanksgiving week with plenty of family time, relaxation, and maybe even a little skiing!

Because this is a new term and we have a number of exciting projects going on, this is going to be a long blog post. Two highlights that you don't want to miss:

1. Students are starting to work on their 8th Grade Projects. We are looking for professionals in various fields who would be willing to speak with an 8th grader in the next three weeks about their experience and help them brainstorm ideas for hands-on opportunities related to their topics. Click here for a list of student topics, and please email me if you are or know an expert in one of these fields and would be willing to have a student contact you.
2. We are also starting work on the National We Are America project. Stay tuned for more information about the project through the course of the term, and check out the The National We Are America Project website for information. We are really excited to be a part of this.

A few housekeeping items: 

• Firstly, we wanted to re-share our weekly schedule document. We use this daily, and it's a great resource if you want to know what your child is doing each day in school. 
• Secondly, we have officially started the winter schedule! This means that on Tuesday through Friday, middle school and upper school students are dismissed at 1:30. We do offer a variety of after-school clubs that run from 1:30-2:30, so make sure to check those out (Sam sent an email about them a couple of weeks ago) if the early dismissal does not work for your family. 
• Finally, we welcomed new/returning 8th grader Sacha Stern-pre back to school the week before Thanksgiving. He spent the fall term in France, and we are excited that he's back!

We finished up our Food Unit at the end of the fall term. Students shared their learning through a number of final projects that they presented to the 6th and 7th graders during lunch on Friday, Nov. 22. They created everything from a satirical newscast that explored different methods of farming to a side-by-side "cost" comparison of local versus organic or local versus conventional food.

Students work on final projects.

Students experimented with plant growth using modified soils.

   

Food writing requires a lot of eating!

Students peer review their personal food narratives.

December marks the beginning of the winter term and our Identity Unit, a unit that focuses on defining aspects of identity and personality formation. In addition to exploring a passion through 8th Grade Projects, our 8th grade class has been selected to participate in The National We Are America Project through the organization We Are America! We Are America’s goal as an organization is to help spark national conversation around American identity, led by the young and bright members of the current generation of students. After applying, Naomi and the SVCS 8th graders were one of 36 classes from 23 states across the country selected to participate! 

During this project, Naomi will work with students to plan, edit, and publish a book of student stories and recordings for the We Are America Project national website. These stories will center on student perspectives about and experiences with American identity and will be shared with families, with the school, and with our communities. The project consists of multiple lessons that will be taught during Writing and Humanities classes starting in this week and running through the end of the winter trimester, with a possibility of an extension of the project into the spring. For the national project, the school will receive copies of the printed book of stories to share with students and families. We are so excited about this opportunity, and will be sure to share more about the project in future blogs.

Before the break, we also introduced the 8th Grade Project, the long-term project that 8th graders will be working on throughout the winter term. The 8th Grade Project assignment can be viewed here, so please take a moment to read through the expectations with your child. We have also provided students with a general calendar of the term that they can refer to or make a copy of to organize their own time and work. This week, students will be working on proposals for their projects. Please talk to your child about his or her ideas! We are hopeful that all students will have their topics chosen by the beginning of next week. The final presentations of the projects are scheduled for the week of March 16-20, 2020. Yvonne will be in touch with you to schedule those presentations starting in February.

Here's where you can help: One of the requirements of this year's projects is a preliminary interview with an expert in the field each student is studying. We are hoping that by connecting with professionals, students will get ideas about how they can "live" their topics through hands-on experiences. Click here for a list of student topics, and please email me if you are or know an expert in one of these fields and would be willing to have a student contact you.

A final aspect of our Identity unit that began this week is our Human Sexuality class. As part of the Life Skills curriculum, students will learn about human anatomy and physiology, reproduction, sexuality, safe and healthy relationships. These classes will be taught primarily in single-gender groups by Naomi, Reggie, and Sam Herrick.

We are so excited to be jumping into a new term and new topics with this group! I will publish a list of topics in my next blog right before Winter Break, so check back then to see what 8th graders have chosen to study.