Ask Your Child About...: 12/18

Ask your 8th grader about...

... Christmas breakfast.

... Secret Santa.

... Christmas Chapel.

... Letters to Santa.

... The Count of Monte Cristo movie.

... making crystals.

... marbling paper.

Ask Your Child About...: 12/11

Ask your 8th grader about...

... how they would demonstrate Newton’s First Law.

... final Research Paper Edits.

... the end of The Count of Monte Cristo.

... Stick Dance.

Ask Your Child About...: 12/4

Ask Your 8th Grader About...

... New Applied Skills

... Group & Peer Editing

... Christmas Decorating

... Stick Dance

... Constitution Video

Ask Your Child About...: 11/20

Ask Your 8th Grader About...

...rough drafts.

...The US Constitution.

...The Count of Monte Cristo.

...their last Applied Skills class for this trimester.

...Health presentations.

November & Holiday Book Orders!

The November and Holiday Book Orders are coming home today. They are due back on Monday, November 16. With Christmas approaching, if you would like to purchase books as gifts for your child, let me know, and I'll be sure to get the books directly to you rather than sending them home with your child. For the easiest ordering (and more options!) order online at www.scholastic.com. Our class code is MFP3G. You can also order by returning the book order form and payment to me.

Don't Forget...

• 25 Notecards, Due Tuesday, November 3
• Vocab, Unit 4, Due Wednesday, November 4
• 100 Notecards, Due Friday, November 6

Ask Your Child About...

• Declaration of Independence
• Applied Skills
• Reaction Time
• Upcoming Test on Motion, Velocity, and Acceleration
• Focusing the Research Paper Topic
• Plans for Baby Atticus and the Plucknetts

Subject Update: US History - 10/8

Our study of US History has shifted to American Independence and the founding of our country.  Today, we finished the first chapter of what led to the Revolutionary War.  As a part of our study, we will be watching in class a few episodes of the HBO miniseries John Adams.  The parts we will watch follow this founding father from his role in the Boston Massacre to his work helping craft the Declaration of Independence.  Due to content mainly found in later parts of this miniseries, it is rated TV-MA.  A permission slip to watch this, which details any questionable material we will see, was sent home today.  Our test on Ch. 5 is Monday, and we will start watching this on Tuesday.  Let me know if there are any questions.

Subject Update: Literature - 10/8

This week, we started our new novel, The Count of Monte Cristo.  We will be reading this from now till Christmas.  As with the last book, your 8th graders will be purchasing their copies of the book unless they brought their own.  These books are $7 each.  This will be charged to your account through TADS.

This is a long and complex book.  Because of this, we read a majority of it in class.  Of the 15-20 pages of reading each night, we will usually get through 10-12 of these pages in class to help everyone understand what is going on in the story.  This is a wonderful book that becomes an all-time favorite for many 8th graders!

Ask Your Child About...: 10/8

Ask Your 8th Grader About...

The Count of Monte Cristo

Boston Massacre

Boston Tea Party

Theophilus

LEST Sign-Ups

Acceleration

Book Orders

Scholastic Book Order - Due Friday, October 16

This month is an exciting month to order books! Your child is bringing home three different book orders to peruse. You can also order online where there are even more choices than are in the flyers.

This month, if the total order for 7th & 8th grade combined is $125 or more, every student in those two classes will receive a free book! What an awesome opportunity! This breaks down to an order of roughly $5/student. Also with $125, I get to spend $15 on books for our classroom, and I also earn 1325 bonus points to purchase free books for the classroom (approximately $50 worth of books). This is a great month to order!!

Thank you for your support,

Kresha Schulze
Middle School Language Arts

•  VISIT scholastic.com/readingclub
•  ENTER the one-time Class Activation Code - MFP3G
•  SHOP from a carefully curated selection of the best books and value packs
•  SUBMIT your order and earn FREE Books for our classroom
•  All book orders will be shipped to our classroom so we can celebrate the joy of reading together!

8th Grade Service Opportunities

Yesterday, the 8th graders learned about some of the service projects we do as a class each year.  First, we had a visit from a representative from the Hillsboro Senior Center telling us about our service project there.  On the first Tuesday of each month, four 8th graders travel to the Hillsboro Senior Center to help serve lunch.  As this is during school hours, they will be held responsible for the information they missed while they were gone.  They will miss the end of Science class, US History, lunch, recess, and the start of Fine Arts when they help at the Senior Center.  In your Family Envelope coming home tomorrow, there will be a permission slip that gives permission for your 8th grader to attend any of these Senior Center trips throughout the year.  A sign-up sheet for these trips will be up in the classroom.

Our other service project the 8th graders participate in throughout the year is HomePlate.  HomePlate is an organization that services homeless and at-risk youth in the Hillsboro area.  Three times per week at different locations around town, they offer a meal, fellowship, resources, clothing, and many other things to any young people that need it.  Our role in volunteering with HomePlate is to provide the meal.  On service days, four 8th graders will stay after school, prepare a meal in our school kitchen with Mrs. Nuno, transport the food to the location in Hillsboro, and serve those that come.  The students will be picked up from the location (different depending on the day) at 8:00.  Since it takes up most of the evening, the students who go to HomePlate will be given an extra day to complete any homework that is due the following day.  We have committed to do this four times throughout the school year.  In the Family Envelope tomorrow, there will also be a sign-up sheet for this.  Included on that sign-up sheet is a place for parents to sign up as well.  We need parents to help out for our HomePlate projects to happen.  Please consider accompanying your 8th grader on one of these nights.  For more information on HomePlate's ministry, go to www.homeplateyouth.org.

These are great opportunities for us to serve our community and be Christ's shining light to those around us!

9/25: Ask Your 8th Grader About...

One thing we like to do as middle school teachers is help give parents some conversation starters with their kids about what is going on at school.  We call it the "Ask Your Child About..." list.  We will try and post one of these lists for each class each week.  Here is the 8th grade list for this week!

Ask your 8th grader about...

... Grandparents Day.

... The Outsiders test and movie

... the 13 colonies

... motion (science).

... Language Arts Interactive Notebooks.

... Peacemakers with Mr. Schiemann.

Reminder!

Vocab Unit 2 is due Wednesday!

Scholastic Book Order - Due 9/14

Encouraging reading is one of the most important things we can do to help your child succeed. It can be tough finding the right books to keep them interested, which is why I am so excited that our class will be participating in Scholastic Reading Club this school year.

With Scholastic Reading Club:

• Every book you buy earns FREE Books for our classroom library
• You can choose from handpicked, grade- and reading-level-specific books for your child
• You'll find the best values on a variety of formats

Each month, your child will bring home Reading Club flyers. Together you can choose from books hand-selected by teachers and experts, and then order online or send your order form and payment to me.

I'd also love some help growing our classroom Reading Club. If you'd like to help out, please let me know or check out our Wish List when you're ordering! I'm excited to get our class reading!

Thank you for your support,

Kresha Schulze
Middle School Language Arts

•  VISIT scholastic.com/readingclub
•  ENTER the one-time Class Activation Code - MFP3G
•  SHOP from a carefully curated selection of the best books and value packs
•  SUBMIT your order and earn FREE Books for our classroom
•  All book orders will be shipped to our classroom so we can celebrate the joy of reading together!

Subject Update: US History - 9/3

The 8th graders are getting ready today for their first US History test of the year tomorrow.  These will be taken fairly regularly throughout the course and are in a format they might not be used to: essay tests.  To try and calm any fear or worry about having to write essays, we took a practice test today to prepare them for the format.  As you can see, a topic was picked for the practice test that they could easily take a test on.

Vocabulary Has Begun!

The much anticipated (and often feared) Vocabulary Workshop began today for 8th graders. This book can be daunting, but never fear - it gets easier with time! (Which means it should be a little easier this year - and I already noticed this in class today! Yay!)

8th grade has one vocab class each week during which they will work on their vocabulary. The class time this year, on days when a new unit is assigned, will be primarily self-study. As always, Mrs. Schulze will be available to answer questions and work with individuals or small groups that might need more guidance. We will continue to review together for our quizzes.

The book focuses on 20 words every two weeks. Our goal is three-fold:

1. To know how to spell the words
2. To know what the words mean
3. To know how to use the words

The activities in the book are designed to help each student accomplish all three goals with each of the 20 words. Look through their book with them this week to see what the different activities are. The activities are the same for each chapter, with only the word list changing.

The rule of thumb I encourage the students to use is: 

If you complete one activity each day, it shouldn't be too overwhelming to complete the chapter.

Here's the general schedule for vocabulary:

• Week One: Work on a unit
• If they choose to do one activity each night, it might look like this:
• Tuesday Night: Choosing the Right Word
• Wednesday Night: Synonyms
• Thursday Night: Antonyms
• Weekend: Completing the Sentence
• Monday Night: Vocabulary in Context
• Week Two: Review the unit for spelling and vocabulary quizzes

Unit 1 was assigned today. It is due next Wednesday, September 9. The quizzes for Unit 1 will be on September 16. Unit 2 will be assigned that day after we've completed the quizzes.

Units will nearly always be due on Wednesdays, and quizzes will nearly always be the following Wednesday (unless the school schedule prevents it).

Students can access vocabularyworkshop.com for learning activities and games related to the words.

US History: Archaeological Investigation!

Today in US History, the 8th graders investigated what life was like for the Native Americans before colonization.  To do this, they were given artifacts found from each American Indian group and had to match them up using the information provided by their textbook.  This activity will continue tomorrow.

This year, our US History textbook is found exclusively online through TCI.  This is the same website we used for our geography textbook last year.  Our study of history this year starts with Native Americans and will cover all American History up till present day.  Some themes we will be focusing on throughout the year are exploration/expansion, conflict, and civil rights.  Much of our work for History this year will be done in class.

Subject Update: Literature - 8/27

Today we started reading our first literature book for the year, S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders.  This coming-of-age story really engages the 8th graders as they learn about stereotypes, loyalty, and family while also exploring literary concepts like plot, conflict, and foreshadowing.

Something we do in 8th grade literature is begin to build the students' personal libraries.  To do this, most of the books this year will be brand new copies the school has purchased that are available for you purchase from us.  This gives the 8th graders ownership over the books they read, make notes to review in the text, and also allows them to leave with them when we finish.  The copies of The Outsiders we have are $10.  If you have your own copy, or want to try and find a bargain somewhere, that is perfectly fine.  I have used copies (which several took advantage of today, for short-term borrowing so you can check.

We should be finishing this book sometime around the end of September.  When we finish, we will be taking a test and then watching the 1983 movie version of the story (starring a lot of familiar faces before many knew who they were).  More information will come out about this as we get closer.

If there are any questions, let me know!

Welcome 8th Grade Families!

I am so excited this year to have your children in class for their last year here at Forest Hills!  This is going to be a great year as your students get ready to move on to high school just one short year from now.  We will have an ongoing focus this year on readying them for this transition coming up in their lives.  We will be focusing on things like responsibility and taking initiative, as well as echoing our school theme this year seen on our school sign above.  We want to fully equip them to know how to set a good example and be a light for Christ wherever life takes them.

Throughout the year, check back on this page to find information and updates on what is going on in the classroom with the 8th graders, as well as any announcements you might need to know.