Tuesday Feb. 7th – Review notes from class.

Wednesday Feb. 8th –  Review notes from class. Read Science & History on pages 76 & 77

Thursday Feb. 9th – Review notes from class.

Friday Feb. 10th – Read pages 78 & 79 of the textbook.

photo retrieved from http://prezi.com/ learn/manual/

 Prezi Presentation Tool Test click here Prezi Review  Guide or – See TeacherEase for Study Guide
8-121 on Tuesday 2/14/12 in Study Skills
8-123 on Monday 2/13/12  in Study Skills

8th Grade has been learning how to use an alternative “web-based” presentation tool called Prezi. Each group chose their own content and has been adding text, video, sound, and images to their “canvas”, after adding the content they are using frames and paths to make the exciting visual 2.5D presentation flow.

As with most new technologies, Prezi allows users to work collaboratively, students “share” their Prezi by accessing a link in their Gaggle email, then they can work in their team simultaneously. All borrowed materials are mandated to be referenced, so student’s presentations comply with copyright law.  

~Mrs. Flickinger

Discussion of oral reports/ collection of rubrics/ Inrtro to the Depression era-no written work.

LA/LIT

Vocab. test #12-changed to Monday due to internal conflicts-Blessing of the Throat/ Red/White Game

Cumulative review due on #’s 10,11,12 on- 2/ 9/12-Mastery test on 2/10.

No reading assignment.  Today we reviewed editorial formatting in regard to persuasive writing.

Grad. photos due Friday or a $25.00 late fee applied.

Tomorrow-Persuasive writing option Test-In class test-No test prep. needed.

Oral presentations

LA/Lit.

Vocab. #12 due Weds. w/ wkbk/ notecards/ parag.

Lit-Read #17-do vocab. (5 words for #16/17)

We have completed #24 on The Roaring 20′s and will be starting the introduction the The Depression Era later in the week.  Previous to that, we are finalizing Oral History Presentations on people/ events from the 1920′s.  The students as well as myself are critiquing these two minute presentations.

Lang Arts/Literature

We are two thirds of the the way toward completion of our fourth novel, Swallowing Stones.  It is a wonderfully engaging novel that deals with a random gun shooting in which an innocent man is killed.  Upon conclusion, we are receiving a trunk set of books from the Illinois H0locaust Museum on February 15th to utilize in our social studies unit on WWII.  The students will then choose their literary circle books, read and discuss them.

In grammar we have completed five chapters and will finish #6 on adjective usage this month. 

In vocabulary we are completing #12 of a #15 chapter text.  The students have incorporated the wording into their writing on a weekly basis.

We have also spent two weeks discussing  persuasive writing techniques which encompass a myraid of different strategies.  Look for their personalized Person of the Year papers in the middle school hallway.

Science Fair

Congratulations to all the students for completing their science fair projects.  All of you deserve a big round of applause for all of your hard work. This year’s winner was Ian Farnan with second and third place going to Keith Lenz and Emma Decker respectively. Congratulations!

Tuesday Jan. 31st – Review notes from class.

Wednesday Feb. 1st – No homework.

Thursday Feb. 2nd – Review notes from class in preparation for tomorrow’s quiz.

Friday Feb. 3rd – No homework.

REGULAR ALGEBRA  We are closing up the chapter on writing a linear equation this week. We will have that Chapter 5 test next week. I am ahead of last year at this time and that speaks to the hard work of these students this quarter. They have really stepped to the plate and mastered some difficult topics and homework is being completed in a more timely fashion. It is very difficult to succeed in math without doing assignments as it creates holes in the learning process. Then it makes it difficult to build on those holes. I think the students are getting that fact so they are working better than before. The more we can cover this year, the easier it will be next year.

ACCEL ALGEBRA We are testing Chapter 8 at the end of this week and will begin Chapter 9 next week.  Before the year is out we need to complete chapters 9 and 10 completely along with portions of Chapters 11, 12 and 13.  We are on track to do that but can’t waste one minute along the way.  I am disappointed in the fact that I am getting more dedication and a better work ethic from the regular group than the accel group overall. Many are working well and hard but many are not. On a recent quiz grades were very low despite 100′s on homework. There’s something amiss here.  I’m not sure what it is specifically, but I do know it tells me that homework isn’t being learned while it’s being done. Working in groups, copying, rushing, taking my work as your own during class explanations are all contributing factors. There is no substitute for hard work and knowing what you need to know for the next level.  Many thanks to those who are already there!

RELIGION  We are beginning sesion 5 out of 8 toward Confirmation and I am enjoying the process. I hope the students are also. Test scores in the second quarter were low in spite of the whole test being mapped out ahead of time. I tell the students exactly what to know and even share the essay questions prior to the test date.  Those who prepare as I outline do well, and those who don’t prepare have those low scores. We will have 4 more tests in the Confirmation series and then return to our study of Morality to finish out the year. Discussions are good and projects are well done, now let’s get those test scores up where they belong.  We will attend Mass on Tuesday this week for Catholic School’s Week. Let’s appreciate the fact that we can worship together during our school day!

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: none

Thursday: 5-5A 2-24 evens + 25-28 all

Friday: 5-6A 2-26 evens + 25

ACCEL ALGEBRA

Monday: 8-5A circled problems

Tuesday: 8-6A circled problems

Wednesday: none

Thursday: study for Chapter 8 test (no written homework)

Friday: none

RELIGION no homework all week

Oral History projects to be finalized next week.

LA/LIT

#13,14,15 in novel w/ 15 new words within these chapters due Monday.  All word banks to be reviewed.

#12 due Weds-notecards/ wkbk./parag., if need be.