I hope that everyone is having an excellent end to a fun and extra long weekend! I am excited to get started on week four. I can’t believe we are nearly halfway through the first quarter already!
Class Dojo!
As many of you already know, we are using ClassDojo in our room this year to encourage important skills, like working hard and participating. I’m also working on using it to better communicate with you: we can instantly share messages, updates and photos from that happenings in our classroom. Most of our parents have already signed up to join. Thank you so much, you guys seriously rock! I just wanted to make sure you also knew that there is a free mobile app for iOS and Android that might make it even easier to use. :)
Tomorrow we will dive deeper into our Body Systems project. The class has been assigned their group members and body system. This week groups will be researching the organs, their functions, and disorders and diseases related to their body system. Eventually groups will be putting all of this information onto life sized posters that will be used to teach the rest of the class.
This week we are reading and annotating passages that give a snapshot of the life and economies of the north and south in the years leading up to the Civil War. One idea that we have really found interesting is how the Southern states had become increasingly more dependent on slave labor while the Northern states came to depend on a commercial economy. From the readings this week, the class should come to understand why more than half of Ireland’s population came to the US, the impacts that diseases like cholera, typhoid, and yellow fever had, and the rise of labor unions in the North.
During our writing block, we will continue to work on our informational essay to the prompt; What is the electoral college? Explain its role/purpose in a U.S. presidential election. We are focusing on writing strong thesis statements, that will set up the essay. We will also center our attention on setting up an organization chart that will help keep the facts the kids want to use in their essay straight.
Our 8th graders have made their way through history, reading about the lives of hunters and gatherers and how they developed into early farming societies. We’ve been focusing on pulling out just the main idea and important details while taking notes and annotations. This week we will continue practicing these skills as we read passages and complete notes on the Incas, Aztecs and Mayas.
