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Welcome to the 8th Grade Team Page.
General Announcements
Washington, DC: Monday, March 23-Thursday, March 26, 2026
Second Payment Due: October 30th
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Course Information
For the week of October 6th - October 10th
Current Topics
Algebra:
Expressions and Equations
Pre-Algebra:
Dilations, Similarity, Introducing Slope
Mrs. Clarner
Mrs. Clarner
This will be my last week teaching your 8th graders. I have enjoyed the experience and hope that they have enjoyed math these last 6 weeks. Please welcome Mrs. Francoeur back on Tuesday, 10/14!
Algebra will have their Unit 1 summative on Monday, 10/6. Students can watch videos or do extra practice by going to their Google Classroom. If the test does not go as well as they hoped or they failed it, they may re-take it within 10 days following the reassessment policy. On Tuesday we will begin Unit 2 on Expressions and Equations.
Pre-Algebra will have their Unit 1 summative on Tuesday, 10/7 on Rigid Transformations. Students are encouraged to watch the Unit 1 math help videos (linked on the left side of this page) as well as watch videos and do extra practice found in their Google Classroom if they are unsure of any topics. Students who would like to re-take may do so within 10 days of receiving the test back following the reassessment policy.
Please keep checking Aspen for NHI assignments. Those will need to be completed if your student would like to re-assess a summative.
~Mrs. Clarner
Mrs. Monnat
Mrs. Monnat
We have finished Unit 2: Two Worlds Meet, and will have our
Summative on Wednesday, October 15.
Unit Passports are due on Tuesday, October 14.
Our upcoming unit is Colonization. We will explore the 13 original colonies. We will examine the economic impact of geography and the legacy of democracy, republicanism, and rights that can be seen throughout.
Unit 1 Summative Reassessment Deadline: 10/16
If you have any questions, please reach out to me at any time at smonnat@sau66.org
REMINDERS:
All assignments are posted daily on Google Classroom. Unit vocabulary can also be found in the materials section. Students should be studying 5-10 minutes a night EVERY night. Also, assignments with a 💻 emoji at the start are the only ones that are required to be turned in on Google Classroom.
Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
Ms. Smith
Ms. Smith
Our first formative writing assignment, that has been an in-class assignment this week, is due on Wednesday, Oct. 8.
The first literary analysis essay, all the details are posted in Classroom, is due November 6. This is a summative grade.
We will begin reading To Kill a Mockingbird soon!
Mr. Williams
Mr. Williams
This week we began our first unit of the year: Light & Matter — Why do we sometimes see different things when looking at the same object?
We launch with a puzzling real-world clip: a music student sees himself in what looks like a mirror, but the teacher on the other side can see right through. To explore this anchor phenomenon, students study a simple scale model with two “rooms,” a light source, and a special pane between them. Right away they notice strange things about what can and can’t be seen depending on the setup. From there, they create an initial Driving Question Board to track their ideas and questions and establish norms for how we’ll work together to figure things out.
As the unit progresses, students manipulate the light in their model: switching the flashlight from one side to the other, making both sides bright, or both sides dark. Each trial leads to new diagrams and refinements in how they represent the path of light from a source to the eye. They log predictions, compare outcomes, and begin noticing important patterns.
Next, we broaden the investigation by testing materials. Students design fair trials using light meters to measure what happens when light hits a one-way mirror sheet, plain glass, and a regular mirror. They collect multiple readings, organize data, and search for consistent trends without yet knowing why they’re different. To make sense of this, they then study short readings and visuals about how mirrors are made at the microscale, updating their models to show how structural differences might explain what they’ve observed.
With new insights in hand, students return to the anchor phenomenon and push their models further. They trace how light might travel between people on both sides of the pane, identify competing light paths, and flag the questions that still remain unresolved. At this point, the storyline zooms in on how we see. Through readings and demonstrations, students model how light entering the eye is focused and sent as signals to the brain. They experiment with lenses to make the focusing step visible, and they practice showing how multiple light inputs to the eye might compete for attention. Models are revised yet again to include these biological pieces of the system.
Our science curriculum comes from OpenSciEd, a national project developed with universities and education organizations to provide high-quality, research-based materials. Each unit is aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), created through a state-led effort with leadership from the National Research Council, NSTA, and AAAS, and input from 26 states and thousands of scientists and teachers. Based on the Framework for K–12 Science Education (2012), NGSS emphasizes that science is about figuring out the natural world, not just memorizing facts. This means students learn core content while also practicing the habits of mind and problem-solving skills used by real scientists and engineers.
Please reach out to me with scheduling needs. I will coordinate parent/teacher meetings and 504 meetings. Please let me know if any your students needs more time to process the information we covered in the 8th grade Success Workbook.
Students in Health will be doing the SOS training in October. All 8th graders will be completing a career match assessment in English class mid October.
Make sure to check Aspen regularly and ask questions if you don't understand something.
Mrs. Gattie
What an amazing first few weeks of band and chorus! In band, we have worked at home and have done two practice logs. Students got online to essential elements to make their first recording. Check out their aspen page for any feedback.
In chorus, students did their first rhythm check in on sight reading factory and are well on their way to their third piece of chorus music. They are strongly singing in three part harmony!
Quick reminder that if you have any questions please email me bgattie@sau66.org
Mme Hill
Bienvenue parents to a fabulous 2025/26 year !
Mark your calendar: trip to Québec is May 14-16th 2026. Informational Meeting is Tuesday September 23 @ 6:00PM
It was so nice to meet the students, get back into learning and feel every students energy.
How is school in France different from the US? After the beginning of the year review, students will learn to talk all about school.
Students will also start writing more consistently in their cahier by doing our "Journal Quotidien" (our daily journal).
Studying vocabulary regularly is a good habit to continue. Students have the links to practice in Google Classroom.
Frau Olson
Frau Olson
Herzlich Willkommen zurück! It was so nice to see the students again after vacation. We started out just reviewing some of the basics before we get back into building our German-language foundation.
This year students can look forward to learning more about holidays, food and drink, restaurant etiquette in Germany, daily routines, fitness and health, and city life.
Please take the time to read through the syllabus with your student so that you all can be familiar with the ins and outs of our language classrooms.
*Assignments are posted to Google Classroom (Join code is: xadg2izs), and grades and assignment feedback are posted to Aspen.
REMINDER: If your student is absent from school, please ask them to reach out to me via E-Mail so that we can get them caught up. It is a great habit to get into before high school so that they are in charge of their own learning. If students are absent, I often ask them to come down during HawkTime.
Students should be reviewing new and old vocabulary 10-15 minutes per day.
To conclude our unit on La Feria, students made esquites, Mexican street corn. We discussed the importance of corn in Mexican culture. It is a fundamental ingredient in Mexican cooking, and the ancient Maya believed that humans were created from corn! Then, students invented their own version of esquites. They prepared them in class, we tasted everyone's creations, and students wrote detailed recipes in Spanish.
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15), we viewed one episode of John Leguizamo's PBS documentary series "American Historia: The Untold History of Latinos." A study by Johns Hopkins University showed Latinos represent 25% of schoolchildren in the U.S., but 87% of key topics in Latino history were either not covered in US history textbooks or mentioned in 5 or fewer sentences. Leguizamo's documentary sought to make Latino contributions to US history more visible. Next, we'll describe significant Latino individual's careers and contributions. Students will learn how to discuss professions and how to express their future goals ("Quiero ser ___ porque..." = "I want to be a ____ because...").
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