I am so proud...

I am so thrilled that all the hard work has paid off! The students did FABULOUSLY on their Decimals and Percents Unit Test. A big congrats to the following people for receiving over an 80% on their test:

• NiJaia (84%)
• Khaila (92%)
• Cameron (92%)
• Trenton (96%)
• Deacon (88%)
• Christina (100%) woo hoo!
• DaShawn (100%) double woo hoo!
• Leah (96%)
• Trinity (100%) triple woo hoo!
• Richard (96%)

Spectacular Science Scores

Once again, we had some great results from the science test on Plate Tectonics.

Congratulations to the following people who received an 80% or higher on their test:

• Cameron (81%)
• Ananda (81%)
• Richard (86%)
• Nate (81%)
• Trinity (86%)
• Leah (100%) Woo hoo!!!!
• Khaila (86%)
• Deacon (81%)

Weekly News

This week in both Math and Science we will be reviewing the major concepts in each of the units we have been studying and take a test.

For Math, the following things will be tested:

• Adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing decimals
• Story problems (with exact calculations and estimated answers)
• Sales tax, tip, discount
• Percent of

For Science the students need to understand the following concepts:

• Continental drift
• The three types of plate boundaries and what happens at each type (earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountains)
• Layers of the earth
• Plate tectonics
• A general idea of when major events occurred on Earth

In Advisory students are expected to continue working on their exhibition projects. Students are required to have 4 graphs for math and their science information turned in on Wednesday to be graded for completion. Those students that do not have this work done will not go to the library or Wayne State on Thursday.

New Dismissal Procedure

Starting on Monday, March 29th, our dismissal procedure will be as follows:

• At 3:15pm, students will be dismissed to go to their lockers. At this time, they may turn their cell phones on.
• If their parent comes right at 3:15pm, they may leave the building. Please realize that once students leave, they can not re-enter the school. Also, once they are in the parking lot, they must find their car or else leave the school property.
• If their parent comes after 3:15pm, they will go back in their classroom and wait for their parent to arrive. Parents may call their child on their cell phone when they arrive and their child can leave the classroom. If parents/students don't have a cell phone, there will be a teacher in the parking lot with a walkie-talking that will call students out (as done before), or the parent can come into the office and have their child called down at that time.
• Students not picked up by 3:30 will be taken to the auditorium, where again they can wait for their parents (using cell phones, walkie-talkie, or office phone calls to indicate when the parent is here).

Any questions?? PLEASE feel free to leave a comment or email me personally.

Weekly News

This week in Math students will be working on "percent of" problems. There are three different formats that students will learn (35% of 13 is what?, 45% of what is 24?, and what percent of 87 is 12? are three examples -- 1 for each format). Students will spend 3 days working on these 3 formats before having a review at the end of the week and a BINGO game to practice all 3 formats. As a heads-up, students will have a unit test next week reviewing all decimal operations, story problems, estimating in story problems, sales tax, tip, and discount, AND percent of. Now would be a great time to start reviewing.

In Science students will be working on the idea of convection and conduction. Also, we will use a computer simulation to look at plate tectonics, earthquakes, tornadoes, etc. to help visualize how all this happens. Also, we will anticipate the Plate Tectonics Unit test for next week also! Based off of the quiz we had last week, some of you may want to start reviewing now to remember all of the information you have learned so far!

In Advisory students will continue using their class time looking through their books and on the computer for information for their MATH and SCIENCE portions. Remember, both of these sections are due on March 31 (in final copy form) in order to go to Wayne State and the library on April 1st. I also told the students that whoever emailed me their math graphs by this Friday (March 26th), I would print out for them (in color!). Please take advantage of this if color printing is not available to you!

Another reminder -- there will be an Honors Assembly for 2nd trimester on Tuesday, March 23rd from 9-10am in the school gym. We will award students who received above a 95% in academic classes, had excellent citizenship, showed improvement in an academic subject, and/or had perfect attendance. Feel free to join us -- especially if your child is receiving a certificate (notes were sent home last week for those students receiving awards!)

Third Trimester Success

This week is the first week of the third trimester. For some, it is a chance for a fresh start -- everyone started the trimester off with 100%! It is up to each individual student as to whether or not he/she keeps that grade.

We have had a math quiz on sales tax and tip and I am so pleased at how well many of the students did. The students with an 80% or higher are:

• Trenton (80%)
• NiJaia (100%)
• Marae (88%)
• Christina (105%)
• Ananda (96%)
• Richard (92%)
• Michael (88%)
• Trinity (96%)
• DaShawn (92%)
• Leah (96%)
• Khaila (105%)
• Yanik (92%)
• Deacon (100%)

In Science, we also had a quiz on Plate Tectonics. The students with 80% or higher are:

• Christina (95%)
• Trinity (95%)
• DaShawn (95%)
• Leah (95%)
• Khaila (100%)

Although most of them did excellent on the vocabulary crossword puzzle, students must also know their content well enough to answer short response questions.

Congratulations to everyone listed above! I am happy to see such a good start to the last trimester!

Maple Syrup Field Trip afterthoughts...

After spending a day at U of M, learning about the maple syrup process, feel free to comment to this posting about what you learned today or what you thought was interesting.

Some suggested questions:

1) What are the 3 B's that can help you identify a maple tree and what do you look for?

2) When can maple syrup be collected in Michigan?

3) Why did Rick say that there wasn't much maple syrup today?

4) Why were some lighter rings in the "tree cookie" larger than the darker rings?

What else interested you?

Weekly News

This week in Math we will continue our work with percents. Students have done a good job so far with sales tax and tip (which we will review early in the week) and we will end the week in learning how to work with discounts.

In Science we will continue our work with plate tectonics and truly understanding how the plates play a role in creating volcanoes, earthquakes, and mountains. We will have a quiz at the end of the week on vocabulary from this unit and major concepts we've learned.

In Advisory students will create their new learning plan by finalizing their topic and deciding what they are going to study within that topic to cover the 4 academic subjects (ELA, science, math, social studies) and personal qualities. Due dates for each section will be provided and once students have their learning plan approved, they will be able to start working on their new topic. Students that got books out of the library should bring them to school EVERY day so they can work on things even when the computers are not available.

Field trip reminders:

• Monday, March 15 -- Maple Syrup field trip -- wear old/warm clothes (jeans, boots, warm jackets, gloves, hats, etc.). We will be outside for a portion of the day, in the wet grass so please be prepared. Also, don't forget your bagged lunch!
• Friday, March 19 -- Skating Party -- payment of $12 or $10 (if you don't need skates) is due by Wednesday! Free dress is given only to the students that are going skating!

Earthquakes

We had a few questions in class that if anyone can answer, extra credit will be given (I had a few of my own I added):

1) What number on the earthquake "Richter" scale is the one where people can actually feel the earthquake?

2) When was the most intense earthquake ever recorded and what number was it on the scale?

3) How many tectonic plates are there on the Earth?

If you find out anymore interesting facts, list them under the comments and you'll get credit as well!

Weekly News

In Math this week we are going to turn our attention to working with percents again. The students are going to learn how to compute sales tax, tips, and discounts. If the students remember how to turn the percents into decimals, they will have no problems!

In Science we are going to return to our unit on Plate Tectonics and start by watching a video about plate tectonics which will also answer some questions students still have on continental drift. We will then model earthquake seismograph records and students will explore the relationships between the movement of the plates and earthquakes.

In Advisory we will start looking for ideas for our last trimester exhibition topic. I have a few ideas, but I'd like to see what the students have in mind also. So, students, if you are reading this, try to think of a topic you'd like to study that can incorporate ELA, Math, Science, and Social Studies, okay? We'll talk about it this week and hopefully by the end of the week we'll have our new topic to start! Remember, on Thursday, we will be going to Wayne State University's Food Court as a reward for a job well done last week with exhibitions. Don't forget to bring money if you'd like to buy something to eat!!!

See you tomorrow!

Exhibitions

I am so proud of all the students hard work with their exhibitions. It goes to show they worked their butts off when many of them fulfilled the 30 minute time frame and even went over (whoops!). I am impressed with the work they did and hope they continue this high level of work for the third trimester project.

Congratulations to the following students for receiving a "Meeting expectations" grade or higher:

• Trenton -- Presentation Skills
• Cameron -- Presentation Skills AND Academic Skills
• Christina -- Presentation Skills AND Academic Skills
• Ananda -- Presentation Skills AND Academic Skills
• Michael -- Presentation Skills
• Trinity -- Presentation Skills AND Academic Skills
• DaShawn -- Presentation Skills AND Academic Skills
• Leah -- Academic Skills
• Khaila -- Presentation Skills AND Academic Skills
• Deacon -- Presentation Skills AND Academic Skills

Great job everyone!!!

Field Trips

Now that the exhibitions are over (and most students did fabulous on them -- BIG round of applause to you all!), we can look at going on some field trips.

Thursday, March 11 -- Wayne State University Food Court as a reward for doing so well and working so hard on their exhibitions. Students will still go to the school lunch and electives, and we will leave shortly after 1pm. Students are asked to bring money depending on what they'd like to eat at Wayne State.

Monday, March 15 -- University of Michigan Maple Syrup Field Trip -- We will be leaving around 9am and returning around 2:30pm. Students are asked to wear old, warm clothing as we will be outside and it may be muddy and cold. Students are also asked to bring a bag lunch since there will be no food for purchase. The cost is $7 and students must pay this and bring their permission slip by Monday, March 8th. Any parents that would like to chaperone are free of charge. Please just let me know if you would like to join us.

Friday, March 19 -- Skating Party -- a fundraiser for the 8th grade students attending the Japan trip in the Summer. Cost is $12 ($10 if you have your own skates). Students will leave at 12pm and return by 3:30pm. Money and permission slips are due by Wednesday, March 17.

** Please realize that students are not REQUIRED to attend any of these field trips. If there are behavior problems, individual students will stay back at the school with another teacher with work to do. Students that do not go on the Maple Syrup field trip will be given Science work to do in replace of the field trip since this is an academic field trip.

Any questions? Let me know...