Why hello there everyone! It's has been a little while since I last updated. I have admittedly been pretty bad at updating the blog the last few weeks. It just seems like the days are so busy and jam packed that I cannot find a minute to get things like this done. We have had 2 weeks of benchmark testing, Honor Roll and Principals List celebrations, Principals Pride festivities, and field trips that have consumed our schedule for a while and now we have a much deserved 5 days of rest coming up for Thanksgiving break next week!
There has been a change in some of the procedures in my classroom. All of the teachers in the building had a long talk with our Principal, Mr. Wallace and he has set some high expectations for his teachers and students at this school (which he rightfully should!). With that being said, this means that I have to rearrange some of the expectations I set for my students and in this case it comes in the form of how I will allow students to make corrections on tests and quizzes. In the past, students have been allowed to make corrections on any test or quiz, regardless of their grade, and I would give them half a point for each correction they made which would improve their grade on the test or quiz. This is no longer the case. All students have been notified of this change this week. THE NEW POLICY- EFFECTIVE NOVEMBER 19TH, 2015 FOR TESTS: Students will NO LONGER be able to "fix" their grade on a test. The grade they earned on the test will be the grade they keep from here on out. However, the day following the test, students will be required to do an Error Analysis on their test that will require them to go back through the questions they got wrong and try and figure out what they did wrong. If completed correctly, this assignment will give them a 100% classwork grade which can boost their overall class grade. FOR QUIZZES: Students who earn a 75% or higher on a quiz will NO LONGER be able to make corrections on their quiz. Students who earn below a 75% on their quiz may make corrections following the guidelines on the REQUEST TO FIX A QUIZ FORM. I will give them half a point for each question they correct. This will raise their grade on their quiz tremendously, however, their grade WILL NOT RAISE ABOVE A 75%. In other words, after making corrections, the maximum score they can receive on a quiz will be a 75%. As I said before, the expectations for teachers has changed which in turn requires me to change my expectations for my students and hold them to a higher standard. This may require some parents to also adjust their expectations for their child and should definitely change the habits of some students. It is SO important to be studying at home for tests and quizzes and really paying attention to the activities we do in class to reinforce the concepts we are required to learn. No longer can you assume you don't have to study because you know you can make corrections after the test. Don't forget, you are going to the high school soon and things are only going to get harder from here. Now is the time to change our study habits so we can learn to be successful in high school. If you have any questions regarding this new policy feel free to email me any time. I will try to answer any questions you may have. I hope you all have a wonderful night and don't forget: TOMORROW WE HAVE A QUIZ AND MONDAY WE WILL TAKE THE FINAL TEST FOR THE ECOSYSTEMS UNIT.
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What a busy and fun week it has been here at HJ. All week students have been participating in spirit week here at school. Each day has given the kids an opportunity to dress up and show their school spirit. Yesterday we were able to participate in an exciting pep rally and the 8th grade WON FOR THE MOST SCHOOL SPIRIT!! They will get to have a fun party on Friday with Mr. Wallace!! Students also took their Pre-Assessment for our new science unit on Ecosystems. Today, students are taking their Fall Reading Benchmark Assessment.
Tomorrow, we will start to dive into the Ecosystems unit and students will use a GRAPHIC ORGANIZER to take notes from a POWERPOINT PRESENTATION. Next week we will have a whole line of activities lined up to show limiting factors, population density and much more. I hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween weekend! See you next week! Whew what a week it has been. I have been so busy I haven't been able to update lately. So let me get you caught up. Monday and Tuesday students had a substitute and they worked on their literacy skills by reading different articles about the current unit and answering questions about their reading as well as writing a summary for each article. Students were also given a new set of vocab words that are due on Monday (see below for these words). Wednesday, we watched the Planet Earth: Jungles video and students had to answer THESE questions (adapted from United Streaming) about the video. This video shows fabulous examples of a real ecosystem and the symbiotic relationships that take place within it as well as competition, coexistence, limiting factors and carrying capacity.
Thursday, we went over the STUDY GUIDE for the benchmark and classroom test. Students were able to ask any questions they had and clear up any misconceptions. Friday, students completed the 6th district benchmark assessment on Ecosystems and Monday they will be completing the classroom test for this unit as well. Keep in mind your vocab is due on Monday. Also, THE LAST DAY TO TURN IN ANY MISSING OR MAKE-UP WORK FOR THIS QUARTER IS MONDAY THE 23rd!!! Have a wonderful weekend, I will see you all Monday. VOCAB WORDS DUE MONDAY 3/23/15 Aquatic Food Chain Terrestrial Food Chain Nitrogen Cycle Carbon Cycle Autotroph Heterotroph Ecological Pyramid Quick update today...
Today, students were able to complete another online assignment using the interactive tool SAS CURRICULUM LESSON #952. This tool walked them through all the aspects of the Carbon Cycle. Students were also given the opportunity to finish the WebQuest from yesterday. Tomorrow students will complete a PACKET on Food Chains and Webs that will give them a better understanding of the flow of energy throughout ecosystems. Happy Hump Day! We are half way through the week and today we focused on the Carbon Cycle and Nitrogen Cycle with a webquest. Students had to complete THIS assignment while diving deep into the content from the 3 websites below. Tomorrow we will continue to look at these cycles as we complete a SAS Curriculum module online.
Carbon Cycle and Nitrogen Cycle Webquest Sites: Section #1 Nitrogen Cycle Section #2 Carbon Cycle Section #3 Carbon Cycle Game Happy Tuesday! Today, students took NOTES (slides 36-42) on our last section of the Ecosystem Unit. We focused on the Carbon Cycle, Nitrogen Cycle, and Water Cycle. We also glued in diagrams for each cycle into our notebooks and color coded them to help us study.
DON'T FORGET!!! TONIGHT IS HJM'S OPEN HOUSE FROM 6-7 PM. COME ON OUT AND SEE WHAT YOUR KIDS ARE DOING IN 8TH GRADE! SEE YOU THERE! Happy Monday to all! Friday, students took NOTES (slides 21-35) on the 2nd part of the Ecosystem Unit. Today, students took their vocab quiz on the first set of words for the Ecosystems unit. They also received the next set of words (see below). These words will be due on Wednesday 3/18/15. We also worked on several different interactive websites today so students could gain a better understanding of how energy flows in ecosystems. The websites we visited are also below. We will finish our last set of notes on Ecosystems tomorrow and spend the rest of the week exploring the cycling of matter.
Hey there everyone! An update from yesterday and today's activities in Science. Yesterday, we kicked off our Ecosystem unit with our first set of notes. These notes covered the organization of ecosystems, limiting factors, and carrying capacity. You can find the PowerPoint in it's entirety HERE, keep in mind yesterday's notes only covered slides 1-20. We will cover the rest of the PPT tomorrow and next week. Click HERE for a copy of the fill-in-the-blank notes for your notebooks. Today students worked on completing a packet that reinforced what we learned yesterday. The packet contained the following items: Limiting Factors Activity Niche vs. Habitat (courtesy of https://sciencewithmsbarton.wordpress.com/) Abiotic vs. Biotic Factors The following video should be watched in order to complete the Niche vs. Habitat page: Students were required to complete the packet in class and any work they did not finish should have gone home for homework. The homework should be turned in tomorrow for a grade.
Have a wonderful evening and I will see you back here tomorrow! Just a quick update today. Students took their classroom test on the Molecular Biology unit today. They also received their first set of vocab words for our new unit on Ecosystems. See below for the list of words.
Tomorrow we will hit the ground running and start off the Ecosystems unit with some notes. See you then! NEW VOCAB WORDS DUE MONDAY 3/9/15 Producer Consumer Decomposer Abiotic factor Biotic factor Habitat Limiting factor Carrying Capacity Population Density Ecosystem Community Population |
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November 2015
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