September 26, 2025

Math 8

We're finishing up our pivot towards proportional relationships this week. Next week we're back in to geometry with chapter 9 which is on parallel lines and and properties of angles with respect to triangles. This is about transversals, interior angles of triangles, exterior angles of triangles.

Syllabus-

Trimester 1 focuses on geometric standards.

*Homework is posted on Monday and due on Friday in homework notebooks.
*My office hours are Wednesdays at lunch. I will have a sign in sheet.
*Many resources are on google classroom. Here are the codes.
*New this year: Mathematician Projects! Check it out.

Algebra

We're working on chapter 2 which is on the classic linear equation y=mx+b. Next week we're looking into a situation called "the big race" where we explore rates, unit rates and negative slopes further. We're ending the chapter with with learning how to write a linear equation given different types of information, slope and point, 2 points.

Syllabus

SPANISH-2

We have one more week before we finish our first chapter of the year. In this chapter (#6A) the vocabulary is all about the bedroom all the things we can find in a room including the location of all those things. Please feel free to ask your child to describe his room

Our grammar got a little bit more complex this chapter. We are learning to make comparisons (Comparatives) and to talk about things that reach the highest or lowest levels of a quality (Superlatives).

FYI, our Chapter test #6A is scheduled for Friday 10/03.

Language Arts

We've been busy! After reading The Veldt, students learned about different literary devices authors commonly use, such as symbolism, tone, irony, and allusions. Students created awesome one-pagers to show their understanding of the complex characters and themes in the story.

Now, we are moving on to our first unit in the new EL curriculum. Students are reading Summer of the Mariposas, and we will be doing daily activities around characterization and point of view. Students will also be learning about spirits, monsters, and supernatural creatures from Latin folklore that the characters in the novel encounter on their journey.

Students are expected to:

-Read the assigned chapters each night to be ready to discuss in class the next day

-Continue reading their own novels

-Complete two iReady reading activities each week (teacher assigned activities that relate to standards we are focusing on in class that particular week).

Science

These last two weeks our amazing 8th graders have been learning how to find the FORCE, ACCELERATION and SPEED of an object. Students have done great with the language of Science which is MATH!

We will be using this knowledge to determine factors that affect the movement of an object. Objects we will be using are human bodies (in a tug-o-war : ) and Rockets made out of water bottles powered by air pressure which students will be making in the next two weeks. Finally, students will be on their own to work in groups and propose ways to improve sports here at Hall in our culminating physics project, THE PHYSICS OF SPORTS.

How fast are you accelerating? What are Newton's 3 Laws? How fast are we going? Please ask your student to explain these concepts to you!

STEM and Design

Students have been working on their skills of both drawing and creating in STEM. In designing, we learned how to draw multiview sketches of objects. Students are learning how to draw multiview sketches of rectangular cubes (blocks) which we will then use to CAD design (Tinkercad) and finally use these designs to create cube puzzles.

In two weeks, we will have our competition where students compete against each other to see who has made the cube that is the most difficult (take the longest) to solve.

Physical Education

Ms. Taylor - Our 8th graders have started the year strong in volleyball! Students came in with solid baseline skills, and many are already able to control the forearm pass consistently to themselves. We’ve been focusing on improving setting technique and building confidence with this key skill. Next week, we’ll move into serving and serve receive, which will set us up for playing full games together. The enthusiasm and teamwork on the court have been great to see!

CORBOLOTTI: Students did a fantastic job completing their baseline scores for the mile run and pacer test, lots of excellent effort all around. We’ve now moved onto the turf, where students are beginning to develop their forehand and backhand frisbee throws. This focus on skill-building will help make our upcoming games more fun and engaging.

Advanced Band

I'm continuously impressed by the level of this class! Behavior is no longer a challenge (like last year) and we're really making some impressive strides on difficult pieces. Our current tune is called, "Fandango" a latin up tempo piece. It changes time signatures throughout from 3/4 to 4/4...essentially feels like 7/4 at times. The students are defnitely putting in work outside of the class and I can tell each rehearsal. Super pumped by our current level. Looking forward to playing with the jazz band this Fri at Blue Barn Novato from 4:15-5!

Art

The 7th and 8th grade art students have just finished an engaging 3D cardboard sculpture/relief project—planning, building, and decorating their designs in cardboard—and are now transitioning into an exploration of color theory with watercolor. Over the next several classes, they’ll experiment with mixing tints, shades, and muted tones, and explore warm vs. cool color variations. Their culminating task will be to create a small landscape or still life using what they’ve learned about value, saturation, and temperature. I look forward to seeing how their understanding of color deepens through this hands‑on watercolor work!

Social Studies

This week in 8th Grade U.S. History we have started the Revolution! We looked at primary source documents to try to determine who fired the "Shot Heard 'Round The World" at the Battle of Lexington (spoiler alert: we don't know!) and then translated parts of the Declaration of Independence into modern English. Students followed up by rewriting the Declaration as a "Break-up" letter to King George III.

Next week, students will begin an American Revolution project in which they will tell the story of the war in different ways of their choice. Some will create a Colonial Newspaper, others might write journal entries from the point of view of a soldier, or even choose to write and perform an original song or rap!

Page updated

Report abuse