Post date: Oct 25, 2014 5:29:59 AM
Hi Rm 25,
What an excellent day! The very welcome rain this morning gave way to sun just in time for the Fall Festival to hit full swing. Happy crowd and great times pervade our school once again! A special thank you goes out to Gina Torresola and all the volunteers for making our dry-ice bubble art booth happen. She, along with all the other hard-working parents are stepping up to make your kids' 8th grade year full of great events and lasting memories.
Curriculum Summary: We are 2/3 of the way through this session of 6-week intensives, a time when our homeroom curriculum is compressed into the hour from 11 to 12 each day. In the realm of science, we've been able to finish up the "Forces and Motion" stuff and I'll be encroaching into the "Work, Machines, and Energy" topic a bit over the next two weeks and then a whole bunch more in November when homeroom-all-morning schedule starts again. In English most of our time has been spent on vocabulary and book clubs. The vocabulary routine should be fairly clear to the kids by now. It includes filling in a list of possible words each week as well as taking four of those words and creating a full-page entry into their word-collection comp books. There should be 8 entries by now, and if you get a moment, please go through those with your kid. The social studies has gotten the least attention during our homeroom hour this week, but the kids should have kept up with the current events routine -- they should be sitting you down for a discussion about their article sometime this weekend. About 12 kids have one or more current events write-ups missing and I reminded each of that on Thursday (if the kid was in the room at the time).
As you may notice, 8th grade assignments involve more autonomy and planning than they may have in the past. Weekly routines have replaced overnight due dates for things such as vocabulary, current events, and curiosity slides. Regardless, I still encourage kids and parents to take a look at the daily assignment sheet each evening and Powerschool once a week.
Conferences: This coming week we will have conferences each afternoon. So far, there are 18 conferences on the chart and I'm assuming that the other 7 families are opting out for this session (or, you can still take an open spot if you like). The agenda will probably involve some time discussing student work and goals for the year, as well as other possible topics from these cards.
Thinking High School: Quite a few kids have shadowed at some local high schools and have reported back to the class. It is great to hear their positive comments and excitement for that next great stage in life. Kids from DCS have gone to many schools in the area and almost all have thrived! Here is a list that I made showing where our grads have gone over the past few years. The 8th grade teachers and some parents have been talking about a high-school information session and I'll let you know about that as plans form.
Upcoming Events
October 27-31: Fall conferences
October 30: 8th Grade to "Sweeney Todd" @ MVCPA
November 11: Veteran's Day (no school)
November 24-18: Thanksgiving Break
December 11-12: Room 25 to Balclutha, Age of Sail
December 22 - January 9: Winter Holiday
January 20-23: SanFrancisco Trip
January 23: Middle School Dance
February 6: Selectives end
February 6: Family Dance