James M. Singelyn Ed.S
Curriculum Night
Welcome to the world of 8th grade social studies. I am very excited to be your child's teacher this year! If you need to get a hold of me, please e-mail me JamesSingelyn@wlcsd.org.
In the 8th grade, U.S. history will be taught. The 8th grade text book is United States History Beginnings to 1914 by Holt McDougal. The textbook should be brought to class daily with a homework folder and colored pencils when needed. The textbook is not online.
The topics that will be covered start in Chapter 4: Conflicts in the Colonies (Pre - Revolutionary War) with a two day power point to 1919. The topics for each quarter are broken down at my web site by the State of Michigan GLEC's. I update the sites by quarter when I get the
information from the district on professional development days.
There will be homework about 3 or 4 times a week. Homework will be worth 10% of the quarter grade. Quizzes will cover the vocabulary. The quizzes cover 10-20 terms and count for 25% of the quarter grade. There will be 4 per quarter. Projects will count for 35% of the grade. Lastly, the benchmark assessment is worth 30% with 20% being the multiple choice and 10% being the essay.
Also, current events will be assigned. In the 8th grade, your child will need to find a newspaper article (Internet: www.detroitnews.com or www.freep.com) about the one of the three branches of the federal government. Sometimes there be a write up required or a discussion of the topic at hand will be the format. Also, I will assign to find articles on the Bill of Rights.
For daily information about my class, please visit my website on a regular basis. I have my daily lesson plans with homework, the quarter laid out by the State of Michigan GLEC's, notes that are alined with the State of Michigan GLEC's by the quarter, URL's for research, how I will grade your child's work, the district's grading scale for progress reports and quarter marks, and information about myself. If your child is absent, my web site will be a great asset to him or her. Please request homework through the office if your child is absent.
As a parent myself within the Walled Lake Consolidated Schools, Family Access is a great tool to see how your child is doing academically in any class. It will be updated each Tuesday.
I am looking forward to a great year!