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September/October Newsletter
Welcome to our new 2026-7 school year! I hope you find this newsletter informative and helpful. Always feel free to reach out to me at jbigonia@johnsbayschools.org, through ReachMyTeach, or at 672-1989.
8th Grade Homeroom
When students arrive at school, they pass in homework and unpack for the day. They then either go to breakfast or stay in the classroom for a class activity and to connect with classmates. At 8:10, the whole school gathers to do community meeting and the Pledge of Allegiance in the center. The 8th graders are responsible for playing a song that cues the classes to gather and get the blood flowing a little. Our 1st academic class, Math, starts after the pledge.
The 8th graders have chosen to start the year with a read aloud. Given a choice of 4 books, they chose Touching Spirit Bear by Ben Mikaelsen. It is an intense book about a troubled teen who chooses a restorative circle to make amends for his transgressions. The result is isolation and ultimate growth on an Alaskan island.
Each morning before the whole-schooll community meeting, we have homeroom time. During this time the 8th grade students will develop executive functioning skills, do some read aloud, check grades on Powerschool, play community building games, connect with classmates, and prepare for LA and for our class trip.
6th Math
6th Math
Johns Bay Coastal Alliance is using iReady Classroom (aka Ready Math). Students can expect some homework each night that we have math.
The 6th graders take the diagnostic test early in the school year to see where they are at. From there, they can grow their math skills in the classroom and on their online individualized paths.
Current Unit:
- Unit 1: Expressions and Equations (Lessons 1-6)
Skills:
- Find the area of parallelograms
- Find the area of triangles and other polygons
- Use nets to find surface area
- Work with algebraic expressions
- Write and evaluate expressions with exponents
- Find the greatest common factor and least common multiple of 2 numbers
Next Unit:
- Unit 2: Decimals and Fractions (Lessons 7-11)
Skills:
- Add, subtract, and multiply multi-digit decimals
- Divide whole numbers and multi-digit decimals
- Understand division with fractions
- Divide fractions
- Solve volume problems with fractions
We also do math games and/or challenges once every two to three weeks.
Students have 45 minutes of self paced independent learning to do on the iReady Classroom website each week. This 45 minutes needs to be completed between Monday at 8AM one week to 8AM on Monday morning the next week. This helps students review concepts and allows them to try math topics we'll cover in the future.
I am using PowerSchool to keep track of work completion and assessment scores in math. Students will also be scored on the Habits of Work: being a responsible, respectful, and engaged learner. This is the link to Powerschool: https://johnsbayschools.powerschool.com/public/home.html Your child has the username and password in the spine of his/her binder.
See the 'Syllabi' tab for the syllabus for this class.
7th Math
7th Math
Johns Bay Coastal Alliance is using iReady Classroom (aka Ready Math). Students can expect some homework each night that we have math.
The 7th graders take the diagnostic test early in the school year to see where they are at. From there, they can grow their math skills in the classroom and on their online individualized paths.
Current Unit:
- Unit 1: Proportional Relationships (Lessons 1-6)
Skills:
- Solve problems involving scale
- Find unit rates involving ratios of fractions
- Understand proportional relationships
- Represent proportional relationships
- Solve problems with proportional relationships
- Solve area and circumference problems
Next Unit:
- Unit 2: Numbers and Operations (Lessons 7-10)
Skills:
- Understand addition with negative integers
- Add with negative numbers
- Understand subtraction with negative integers
- Add and subtract positive and negative numbers
We also do math games and/or challenges once every two to three weeks.
Students have 45 minutes of self paced independent learning to do on the iReady Classroom website each week. This 45 minutes needs to be completed between Monday at 8AM one week to 8AM on Monday morning the next week. This helps students review concepts and allows them to try math topics we'll cover in the future.
I am using PowerSchool to keep track of work completion and assessment scores in math. Students will also be scored on the Habits of Work: being a responsible, respectful, and engaged learner. This is the link to Powerschool: https://johnsbayschools.powerschool.com/public/home.html Your child has the username and password in the spine of his/her binder.
See the 'Syllabi' tab for the syllabus for this class.
8th Math
8th Math
Johns Bay Coastal Alliance is using iReady Classroom (aka Ready Math). Students can expect some homework each night that we have math.
The 8th graders take the diagnostic test early in the school year to see where they are at. From there, they can grow their math skills in the classroom and on their online individualized paths.
Current Unit:
- Unit 1: Geometric Figures (Lessons 1-3)
Skills:
- Understand rigid transformations and their properties
- Work with transformations in the coordinate plane
- Work with sequences of transformations and congruence
Next Unit:
- Unit 2: more Geometric Figures (Lessons 4-7)
Skills:
- Understand dilations and similarity
- Perform/describe transformations involving dilations
- Describe angle relationships
- Describe angle relationships in triangles
We also do math games and/or challenges once every two to three weeks.
Students have 45 minutes of self paced independent learning to do on the iReady Classroom website each week. This 45 minutes needs to be completed between Monday at 8AM one week to 8AM on Monday morning the next week. This helps students review concepts and allows them to try math topics we'll cover in the future.
I am using PowerSchool to keep track of work completion and assessment scores in math. Students will also be scored on the Habits of Work: being a responsible, respectful, and engaged learner. This is the link to Powerschool: https://johnsbayschools.powerschool.com/public/home.html Your child has the username and password in the spine of his/her binder.
See the 'Syllabi' tab for the syllabus for this class.
Algebra I
Algebra I
Our school is using Reveal by McGraw Hill as a our algebra curriculum. Students can expect some homework each night that we have math.
The student take the diagnostic test early in the school year to see where they are at on 8th grade skills. From there, we'll fill in any gaps they have in the 8th grade content. Then we'll dive into the Algebra I program and ultimately get the students ready for the Lincoln Academy Algebra I final in June.
Current Unit:
- Module 1: Expressions
Topics:
- Writing and interpreting numerical and algebraic expressions
- Properties of real numbers
- Distributive property
- Expressions involving absolute value
- Descriptive modeling and accuracy
Next Unit:
- Module 2: Equations with One Variable
Topics:
- Write and interpret equations
- Solve 1-step and multi-step equations that can include a variable on each side and absolute value
- Solve proportions
- Use formulas
We also do math games and/or challenges once every two to three weeks.
Students will take the Aleks pre-assessment (in lieu of iReady). This will identify skills they need to work on. Students are expected to master a minimum of 5 topics per week on the Aleks platform. These topics need to be completed between Monday at 8AM one week to 8AM on Monday morning the next week. This helps students review concepts and allows them to try math topics we'll cover in the future.
I am using PowerSchool to keep track of work completion and assessment scores in math. Students will also be scored on the Habits of Work: being a responsible, respectful, and engaged learner. This is the link to Powerschool: https://johnsbayschools.powerschool.com/public/home.html Your child has the username and password in the spine of his/her binder.
See the 'Syllabi' tab for the syllabus for this class.
6th/7th Science
6th/7th Science
The 6/7 class will be learning the 7th grade curriculum for science this year. Our units this year will be Cells, Heredity and Reproduction, Evolution, Biodiversity, and Ecosystems.
We start with the basic unit of life: cells. During our cells unit, we'll get a better idea what cells and what they aren't. We'll learn many of the cell organelles and their function in plant, animal, and bacteria cells. We'll learn the relationship between cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems in multicellular organisms. We'll also make a cell model, learn about cell theory, cell specialization, photosynthesis and cellular respiration, mitosis, meiosis, and cell division, and about mutations.
I am using PowerSchool to keep track of work completion and assessment scores in science. Students will also be scored on the Habits of Work: being a responsible, respectful, and engaged learner. I will also be reporting traditional grades for 6th and 7th grade. The goal is to familiarize students with how they’ll be scored in high school. 60% of a student's grade will be determined by their test/quiz scores on summative assessments and 40% will be determined by classwork and lab scores. All assignments and assessments in middle school can be retaken for a higher score. This is the link to Powerschool: https://johnsbayschools.powerschool.com/public/home.html
Your child has the username and password in the spine of his/her binder.
See the 'Syllabi' tab for the syllabus for this class.
8th Science
8th Science
The 8th graders will start the year learning about the scientific process. Then they'll apply that process to their own science experiment. I would like to have 6 unique experiments that reflect student interests and curiosities. This can be as fun and interesting as students make it. I love seeing what they come up with! Students will present their findings orally with a slideshow and in a written, formal lab report.
Before we embark on our own investigations, we'll talk a lot about variables in an experiment and how scientists make their investigations reliable, accurate, and useful.
Our 2nd unit of the year will space.
I am using PowerSchool to keep track of work completion and assessment scores in science. Students will also be scored on the Habits of Work: being a responsible, respectful, and engaged learner. I will also be reporting traditional grades for 8th grade. The goal is to familiarize students with how they’ll be scored in high school. 60% of a student's grade will be determined by their test/quiz scores on summative assessments and 40% will be determined by classwork and lab scores. All assignments and assessments in middle school can be retaken for a higher score. This is the link to Powerschool: https://johnsbayschools.powerschool.com/public/home.html Your child has the username and password in the spine of his/her binder.
See the 'Syllabi' tab for the syllabus for this class.
See the 'Syllabi' tab for the syllabus for this class.
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