Welcome to the 8th Grade Team

Curriculum Night 2011

PHYSICAL EDUCATIONMr. Prostka, Ms. Mc Ie, Mr. Ryback, Mrs. Payne

Students will be involved in a variety of activities, including team sports, individual

sports and cooperative activities, the students will learn basic strategy of different activities and participate to the best of their ability.  In addition, the students will work daily to make

personal fitness gains. 

Daily practice is crucial to learning and fitness improvement, it is important to be prepared, dressed and actively participating in class

everyday.

8th Grade Exploratory Curriculum• Careers- Mr. Seifert – Identifies individual interests and discover different

careers that correlate with those interests. Student will prepare resumes and identify interview skills.

• Health- Mrs. Brown - Unit 1 focuses on stress management skills, effective communication, refusal skills, decision making techniques and goal setting. Unit 2 drug education and Unit 3 studies human reproduction.

• Art- Ms. Nelis – This year art focuses on more advanced art concepts and materials. Students will learn perspective, value techniques and advanced color theories.

• Project Citizen- Mr. Miller – Students will learn the importance of citizenship, expanding on prior knowledge of the three levels of government, discuss policies, laws, and learn steps in order to make changes in our society.

• Media Communication- Brown, Miller, Nelis, and Seifert – Students will analyze a variety of mass media communication. Techniques that students will interpret are symbolism, advertising, journalism, propaganda and public relations.

Powerschool & Team Website

Information you can find on Powerschool:

• Check grades in all classes

• See any comments• Check attendance record• Sign up for e-mail

notification

http://d118-powerschool.info/public/

Information you can find on the team website:

• Daily assignment sheet• Team handouts• Calendar of important events

including test dates• Individual class pages• Links to other resources

http://mmsgrade8.d118.org/

Language Arts

Writing Units:•The Writing Process•6+1 Traits of Writing•Narrative Writing•Expository Writing•Persuasive Writing•Poetry & Literary Devices •Research Unit

Grammar Units:•Parts of Speech•Punctuation •Sentence Structure

Spelling Units:•Affixes•Spelling Rules & Study Strategies

Literature

Novel Units:•The Shadow Club•That was Then, This is Now•Where the Red Fern Grows •The PigmanSpeak

Literature Units:•Reading Strategies •Story Elements•Short Stories •Poetry•Drama•Fiction and Nonfiction•Literature Circles•Extended Response & ISAT preparation

Honors Literature

Novel Units:•The Pearl•Fahrenheit 451•Speak•Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl • Little Women•Julius Caesar•Frankenstein•Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry •Flowers for Algernon

Literature Units:•Reading Strategies and•Story Elements•Short Stories •Poetry•Drama•Fiction and Nonfiction•Literature Circles•Extended Response & ISAT preparation

Requirements for Being Recommended for Freshman Honors English

To be eligible for Honors English, a student must attain the following three criteria:

• 8th grade teacher recommendation• A 3.5 GPA in Language Arts and Literature classes for

8th grade• Score 19 or above on both the Reading and English

sections on the 8th grade Explore Test (taken in December)

Social Studies

• Course Topics– Reshaping the Nation – 1850s-1900– Reform, Expansion and War – 1880s-1940s– Turbulent Decades – 1950s-1960s– Turning Points – 1970s-1980s– Modern America – 1990s-Present

EARTH SCIENCEMs. Kandler & Mrs. Kondela

CURRICULUM•Inside Earth (no textbook)

•Earth’s Changing Surface

•Earth’s Waters

•Weather & Climate

•Astronomy

Skills we build upon:

•Participation in hands-on investigations

•Construction of graphs

•Analysis of results

•Critical thinking

PreAlgebra & Algebra 1Mrs. Byers & Mrs. Galanos

PreAlgebra• Equations• Inequalities• Proportions• Spatial Thinking• Probability• Functions

Algebra 1• Equations• Inequalities• Functions & Graphing• Systems• Polynomials• Radical/Rational

Expressions

Algebra 2Mrs. Galanos

• Equations & Inequalities• Matrices• Polynomial Functions• Logarithmic Functions• Conic Sections• Sequences & Series• Trignometry

Our curriculum parallels that of the WHS curriculum. A placement test will be taken in early 2012 for freshmen

placement.

Thank you for attending!

• Please sign up for November conferences according to your student’s homeroom: – pick the general time slot in which it would be most

convenient for you AND your child to have your 20-minute conference

• If you have questions for any teachers regarding curriculum, please visit us in our classrooms.

• Our extensions on the front of the packet correspond to our room numbers.

• Teachers will be available until 8:10.• Please visit the book fair which closes at 8:30.