Welcome to Curriculum Night Teams 8A/8B

Language Arts Currently, we are working on grammar. We will continue in the book. The students have also completed several writing assignments.

Grades My grading policy is the county’s grading policy for the middle school. Daily grades and test grades county fifty percent each. All final drafts of any type of writing count as test grades. Your child is welcomed and encouraged to redo assignments with failing grades.

Writing Test Our first hurdle to jump over is the Middle Grades Writing Assessment, which is given in January. Then, the CRCT will be administered in the spring.

Math In math, we will have a test at the end of each unit. Each student will receive a calendar each month that will serve as a pacing guide. We do projects periodically. When a student fails to complete an assignment, he or she must get their agenda signed by a parent. Failure to do so results in the loss of lunch break.

Reading In Reading, we are beginning our first year with our new CCGPS standards. These standards are more about true understanding and not just test mastery. The students will learn about higher ideas such as culture, human condition, and understanding relationships with other people. Reading and writing are becoming more blended. The students are keeping reading journals and doing long responses in place of multiple choice/fill in the blank type questions.

Independent Reading Reading Counts points will no longer be required. The students will be allowed to choose a book to read. They will be required to do either a book report or a project. They will be given product options as an alternative to the book report. There will be a variety of options that they can choose from in order to show their understanding of the book. They will be required to complete one per nine weeks on their own, with the possibility of also having to complete one for any novels that we read in class.

Advanced Language Arts The advanced language arts class is currently working on a unit on sentence construction and descriptive language. The next writing assignment will begin in September,and, of course, the research project will be in the spring.

Advanced Reading The class is in the process of presenting research PowerPoint's they constructed on events and personalities from the 1960s. These presentations are part of a unit on the 1960s and the novel The Outsiders.

Advanced Reading Independent Reading First nine weeks – 450 pages Second nine weeks – 500 pages Third nine weeks – 550 pages Fourth nine weeks – 600 pages Novels must be on level Student may test on Reading Counts or complete written analysis sheet.

Physical Science Students are currently exploring the forces in nature. Students will learn about Sir Isaac Newton and the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration as well as his other laws of motion. We will also learn about the effects of mass and distance on the pull of gravity. When we have performance projects assigned, they will be counted as test grades. Our curriculum (standards) can be found at:

P.S. Unit 2 By the end of September we will make the transition into matter. Students will be studying matter and The Periodic Table of Elements. In particular, students will be learning about the arrangements of elements in the Periodic Table and the rationale for this arrangement. Students will be working independently as well as with partners to discover how atoms are arranged and the significance of their arrangements.

P.S. Units 3 & 4 Next semester, we will be studying energy, electricity, and sound waves. The students will be learning new ways to conserve energy and more efficient ways to supply electricity to the world. We will begin with a focus on energy and its many transformations. This particular area is a large percentage of the CRCT for 8th grade science. We will be studying heat, electricity, electromagnetism, and we will begin our study of the visible light spectrum and waves in March. Later, we will begin practicing for the CRCT using

Social Studies We are finishing Georgia’s geography and prehistoric Native Americans. We will begin learning about Georgia’s explorers and first colonists. We continue to work on performance tasks to display in each student’s Scrap Book. Scrap book checks count as test grades.

Absences If a student is absent, it is his/her responsibility to find out what assignments he/she missed. Please refer to the student’s agenda to review the policy on completing missed work and the time limits allowed.

If your child is struggling in a class or several classes, teachers are available to help him/her. Tutoring is available on the following days and times. Monday - Thursday from 3:30-4:30

Have you checked your child’s agenda lately?

Parent Connect Please sign up for Parent Connect if you haven’t already. This is an awesome pro- gram that will let you view your child’s grades for each class, and it will notify you of missing assignments and/or failing grades.

Student of the Month Each month the academic teachers will nominate a boy and girl as Students of the Month. This award/honor is based on a student’s academic standing, citizenship, and behavior. Students that are chosen are considered role models due to their conscientious work habits, respectful behavior to both their peers and teachers in classroom settings and during unstructured times, and overall standing in all academic classes.

Thanks for coming!