News from 8N

Team 8N Update

MATH (Mr. Mikula and Ms. Behounek)

Team 8N's Study Island Assignments:  Our students will have Study Island assignments each month, which will be due on the last school day of the month.  However, we will have time to complete the majority of these assignment in class, so students should hold off on completing the assignments at home until closer to the end of the month. 

The grading of these assignments will be different than what most students are used to from last year.  Students may complete as many 10 question tests in each topic.  I will only score the highest test grade in each topic, and will not look at the overall averages.  So, once a student scores a desired grade for a single test in a topic, they can move on to a different topic.  This will eliminate the need to retake tests many times after mastery simply to boost the average score.

The login information is.... Last name first initial 18 .jh    

For example, Kevin Mikula would be MIKULAK18.jh

The password is the student’s lunch code number.

ENGLISH (Mrs. Mason and Mrs. Dinsmore)

Students are now in the middle of the informative essay unit.  They are in the process of outlining their essays and writing their first drafts.  Students are required to use their Google accounts for this assignment.  While they will have plenty of time in class to work on their essays, by using their Google accounts, they can also continue to type and revise their essays outside of school.  The outline and rubric for this assignment are available on Edline.  Once students have completed their essays, they will then create Animoto videos on their essay topics.

Additionally, students completed their first book report of the year, and they are now moving on to reading non-fiction books.  All students will be going to the library on September 30 to have the opportunity to select a non-fiction book.  Mrs. Mason and Mrs. Dinsmore also have non-fiction books in their classroom, and students are also permitted to bring in non-fiction books from home.  The assessment for the non-fiction book is also available on Edline.

HEALTH (Mrs. Couch)

Students will be practicing vocabulary who with an  'I have...  Who has .... activity' in Health.  The pictures show 8N students completing this activity.

SCIENCE  (Mr. Resh and Mrs. Dinsmore)

Students have successfully used the Scientific Method and Experimentation to solve problems big & small!  Now we are mastering the metric system to measure things in our world accurately.  I wonder if King Henry really did Die By Drinking Chocolate Milk???

SOCIAL STUDIES (Mrs. Heishman and Ms. Behounek)

In social studies we have been reviewing the thirteen English colonies in the new world.  We will soon be learning about the causes leading to the French and Indian War.  Your child will be participating in maps, graphic organizers, and a variety of assessments.  I encourage you to ask your child what he/she is learning in school.  Just a reminder that students are to have their textbook covered at all times!  We are off to a great start this school year!

ACADEMIC LITERACY (Miss Smith)

In Miss Smith’s Academic Literacy class, students are reading non-fiction, informational texts and learning how to identify the main idea and supporting details, and they will soon learn how to efficiently summarize a text.  Just this week students began writing their own memoirs.  After completing the first draft, students will choose one category on the Pennsylvania Writing Assessment Domain Scoring Guide (focus, content, organization, style, conventions) to be the focus of their revision.  Students will select a revision goal that they wish to achieve within this category, and they will reflect on how well they believe they accomplished this goal.  Once their memoirs are completed, students will analyze their own writing to identify the main idea, supporting details, and write a brief summary of their memoir.  The picture shows 8N students working on their memoirs.