8th Grade MP3 Campus

School Data is open on the 1st for parent reviews. These are due by the 5th. We hope the cut and paste grade level newsletter will be helpful to supplement your remote learning plan reviews. Thank you for submitting in a timely manner and if you need help, please reach out to your SLPC.

Topics: Solving for Variables

Activities: This month we reviewed 6th and 7th standards of manipulating equations to solve for variables. We started with single-solution equations and then moved onto multi-step solution equations. We also reviewed combining like terms and order of operations, taking a break to play some combining like terms bingo.

Teacher Tip:

Teacher Info: Mrs. Alexander, halexander@meridian.wednet.edu

Topics: Personal Narratives, Creative Writing, Book Project Gallery Walk

Activities: During our narrative writing unit, students crafted two stories - one real and one imagined. For both the personal narrative and the creative writing assignments they planned, wrote and edited their work. You can see their writing by looking in their Google Classroom, but I will also be sending home paper copies soon. Students used a rubric and color-coded their papers to ensure they include a hook, dialogue, imagery (descriptive, sensory and figurative language), and transition words. We also reviewed editing techniques to catch as many errors in our work as possible. I have been so impressed with the final product!

Teacher info: Rachel Oscarson, roscarson@meridian.wednet.edu

Topics: Choosing roles, Opening Statements, Direct Examination, Cross Examination

Activities: We covered a ton of ground this month in Mock Trials. Students were assigned roles for the trial which is always fun as it gives students the opportunity to really start planning. We divided the class into two legal teams; one to represent our plaintiff, Decker and another to represent our defendant, The Metro City Police Department. The collaborative work students are doing requires lots of shared documents, peer review and peer editing. This can be challenging work so students are getting frequent reminders on the purpose of peer feedback.

To ensure all students have an understanding of the facts of the case, we started off the month by working on opening statements. The opening statement will be the first opportunity to present your version of events to the court. It should set the tone for how you will build your case.

Currently, all students are working on crafting witness examination questions. We began by first thinking about direct examination, which is when attorneys question their own witnesses. Students were given templates and sentence stems to guide them through the process and reminded that on direct, witnesses are sharing what they know and attorneys cannot ask leading questions.

Next, we moved on to cross examination. When many people imagine the classic court room drama, like you may see play out on TV or in the movies, they are usually thinking about a cross examination. This is when an attorney for one side gets to challenge a witness from the other. on cross examinations the attorney can (and should) use leading questions. These questions allow the attorney to control the narrative. Again, students used a template with sentence stems to help them build confidence with this process.

Teacher Tip: Ask your student what legal team they have been working with and what role they have to play in our case. Will they be a witness, an attorney, a jury member?

Teacher Info: Reach out if you have any questions.

Mr. Caraco, jcaraco@meridian.wednet.edu

Topics: Began a study of the cell and the organelles that make a cell operate successfully, Van Leeuwenhoek lab, theory vs law, fertilizer lab.

Activities: Students drew cells in their science notebooks. They learned the difference between a prokaryote and eukaryote cell. Cells were required to have the following included: Cell membrane, cytoplasm, mitochondria, Golgi bodies, rough endoplasmic reticulum, smooth endoplasmic reticulum, lysosomes, vacuoles, and ribosomes. Students re-created Van Leeuwenhoek’s lab, where he first observed “animalcules.” They collected water samples on their own and wrote a lab report on their findings. This year we collected the most water samples I have ever received for this assignment!! Way to go!! Students were able to observe many living microorganisms under the microscope! Students read about the origins of life and learned the difference between a theory and a law. Students began a lab to determine the effects of varying concentrations of fertilizer on plant growth. Students measured (quantitative data) and observed (qualitative data) their plants progress each class period. This lab requires several weeks of observation.

Teacher Info: Mrs. De Waard, hdewaard@meridian.wednet.edu

Topics: Elements of Art: Shape, Line, Texture, Space, & Form; Principles of Design: Contrast, Balance, Unity, & Pattern; Techniques: Texture techniques in drawing

Activities: This has been a short but very busy month! We recognized Native American Heritage Month by viewing and discussing contemporary artworks made by Native American artists. Our first project was an observational drawing of a collection of “findings” from the fall. From moss & spiders, to bark, leaves, and fuzzy caterpillars, students observed these “specimens” and did their best to draw them inside a collection of jars. Next, we began the stepping-stone project. It has become a tradition at MP3 for the 8th-grade class to design their own mosaic stepping stones and add them to the MP3 courtyard. This year, students designed everything from sports logos and cartoon characters, to landscapes and the all-popular, “6-7.” After this, we read The House in the Night, by Susan Marie Swanson & Beth Krommes, and looked closely at the hatching, cross-hatching, and stippling techniques used by the illustrator, as well as the contrast shown by using black and white with a pop of yellow. Students used what they knew about depth to draw a landscape using these same techniques. They are stunning!

Reflection Questions: I am starting to collect artwork for the Share Fair in January and the MSD Spring Art Show. If your student has not brought home one of the projects listed above, ask them to tell you about their work! Ask them also about their stepping stone design!

Teacher Info: Mrs. Warnock, swarnock@meridian.wednet.edu