Week 3: Aug 28 - Sep 1
Please check the newsletter homepage for Important Information and Dates!
ELAR
"The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine." - Mike Murdock
Reader's conferences have been ongoing since last week, and we'll spend just a little more time with them this week ... and that's a good thing! I'm having different conversations with students around their perspectives about themselves as readers, and the insight they're offering is giving me clarity as to what I can possibly do to help in reaching their reading goals. Plus, they continue to work on reading stamina/endurance.
Beyond that, this is the week summer reading needs to be completed - we will have an exam over the novel on Friday, Sept. 1st. We will also do some note-taking on archetypes, which is helpful in character study.
Questions or concerns? Feel free to email me: jburci@neisd.net
MATH
"Mathematics is not about numbers, equations, computations, or algorithms: it is about understanding."
- William Paul Thurston, American mathematician
Algebra
We are finishing up our introduction to functions unit. Students will test over this unit Tuesday August 22. Review will take place in class Monday and there will also be a review available on google classroom for extra practice.
Geometry
Students have discussed proofs as they relate to non-curricular topics, and we will continue this practice as we derive the distance and midpoint formulas. We will have a short quiz this week over the use of these formulas.
Tutoring: Thursday before and after school or by appointment. mlund@neisd.net
SCIENCE
EXPERIMENT. FAIL. LEARN. REPEAT.
We just finished up our Process Skills unit. We discussed the 3 different types of scientific investigations and learned about the different variables involved in experimental designs.
This week we will move on to our universe unit. We will begin by looking at components of the universe with our focus on stars and galaxies. We will analyze the life cycle of stars as well as how stars fit into the H-R Diagram.
Tutoring is offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays, students can attend from 7:45-8:15 am.
If you have any questions, you may email me at egonza10@neisd.net
U.S. History through 1877
We are Living History!
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Hello all! Week three already? Soon you'll be telling me that it has been a month since school started! 🙂
We've had a wonderful week building our note-taking skills and learning how the Thirteen Colonies came to be. In this upcoming week, your amatuer historian will use their collaboration skills, communication skills, and creativity to start applying their newly acquired knowledge. Of course we'll still try to have fun too! We will be having a blast on Monday running a Mercantilism simulation, and then students will get to start their first project this year! (Details to come to Google Classroom soon)
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Puzzle Club will be starting up in September. Our first meeting will be afterschool Thursday, September 7th.
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Tutoring is available Mondays, 7:45-8:20 am and 3:45-4:15
You can reach me at lvanho@neisd.net.
Have a wonderful week!
-Ms. Van Horn
AV Comm/Video Game Design
Greetings DATA Families!
Have a great week!
We value your trust in us for your students' education. I'm enjoying getting to know your children in my class. Our focus is on creating a positive classroom environment, building relationships, establishing trust, and exploring the impact of technology on our world.
AV Comm: Students have completed their student ePortfolios and will continue to add work to them throughout the year as keepsakes of their hard work and creative expressions in my class. They will include several graphic design pieces they have produced to demonstrate their artistic abilities as they currently stand. I am anticipating observing growth in their skillset throughout the course of the year.
Video Game Design: In this phase of their learning journey, students are progressing with their exploration of SNAP! The exciting next step involves them embarking on their inaugural video game project. This project not only showcases their adeptness in coding, but also encourages their creativity to flourish as they craft a compelling narrative intertwined with interactive animations. Through this hands-on experience, students will not only refine their coding skills but also develop a profound understanding of the fusion between storytelling and technology.
My email is emalin@neisd.net --Mrs. Malin
Mr. Lovett's Classes
Mrs. Malin, I couldn't agree more!
This is a bit out of the norm; however, I feel the need to spread a good word about my colleague. If there is ANYTHING good that I do in my classroom or with my students, I learned it from Mrs. Malin. She is my mentor and has instilled in me the most important thing we do as teachers: build meaningful relationships with students. One of the things we work the hardest on is building the culture she is speaking about.
Both of my classes this week completed their first creative project of the year. This project will provide a baseline for our creative journey. I hope your student is able to see a whole lot of growth as the year progresses.
Principles of Architecture:
Principles students will be taking the information they learned about their personality traits and the "work" of the architect into the learning for this week. They will be doing some career exploration seeing the many professions available to the architect.
Digital Media 2:
Digital Media 2 students will also be exploring career options. Hopefully they will also be able to get into Adobe Illustrator and begin getting nimble in the amazing software!
Students in all DATA 8th grade tech classes enjoy complimentary access to Adobe Creative Cloud, made possible by the support of NEISD. This means they can freely use Adobe's suite of applications on their personal devices at home. This opportunity equips them with tools for graphic design, video editing, photography, animation, and more. Feel free to contact me for assistance in setting up this software at home.
If you ever have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send me an email.