Week 24

February 26th - March 2nd

Class T-Shirt Design Contest

Is your child an artist? Does he/she like to design and create? Have him/her enter our graduation logo contest!! We are looking for our future graduates to design the Class of 2018 t-shirt and memory book cover.

Follow this link for further details.

Math

Ms. Knippen

jknippen@foxbay.org

Algebra, 1st and 8th hours:

We just started Ch. 7 on Exponential Growth and Decay. Students will be using the in-class graphing calculators to study patterns of exponential equations.

8th-grade math, 3rd and 7th hours:

We are continuing with our unit on the Laws of Exponents, Ch. 10 from their texts. The laws should be continually reviewed as the laws get confused when students don't write out the work in expanded form.

Science

Ms. Waller

twaller@foxbay.org

We are ready to begin our next unit Inheriting Traits. In this unit students will learn about the structure of DNA and how it encodes for proteins in the cell. They will also investigate how cells replicate to make copies of themselves (mitosis) and how gametes are formed (meiosis). Finally students will model how mutations occur in cells. This week will begin with a reading and then students will do an investigation modeling transcription and translation.

English

Mr. Heimerl

zheimerl@foxbay.org

We will finish the second trimester this week with no major deadlines. Students will simply continue the research process and finalize their note cards for their research essay. Students should have a total of 25 unique note cards recorded to their NoodleTools account by Wednesday, February 28th. We will then begin to discuss how to make sense of and organize all their various note and ideas. This process will spill into the third trimester when we will begin the writing process and all of its various steps.

Reading

Ms. Brinnington, Ms. Traska, Ms. Hiir, Ms. Allen

dbrinnington@foxbay.org, straska@foxbay.org,
ghiir@foxbay.org, jallen@foxbay.org

This week in reading we will finish up the book Discovering Wes Moore. There will be a Double Journal Entry test mid to late week. This will count as an assessment grade and will go on Trimester 2. There is no root word this week.

Social Studies

Mr. Blahnik

bblahnik@foxbay.org

This week in United States History, we have started our next unit which is called "The Union Challenged." We have started Chapter 20 which is titled "A Divided Nation." The essential question of this chapter is: Which events of the mid-1800s kept the nation together and which events pulled it apart? The students are also working on their Washington D.C. project that contains the itinerary of the Washington D.C. trip. The project is due on Monday before the trip.

Week 23

February 20th-23rd

Class T-Shirt Design Contest

Is your child an artist? Does he/she like to design and create? Have him/her enter our graduation logo contest!! We are looking for our future graduates to design the Class of 2018 t-shirt and memory book cover.

Follow this link for further details.

Math

Ms. Knippen

jknippen@foxbay.org

Hours 1 and 8 – Algebra:

We will be finishing Ch. 6 this week with a test on Thursday (due to the students having off on Monday, the test is postponed a day). Students will be working with the graphing calculator-inputting data, calculating the line of best fit, residuals, correlation coefficient and upper and lower boundary lines. The parent guide is available through a link on google classroom. We will then begin work in Ch. 7. This is a chapter on geometric sequences and percentages as it relates to interest rates.

Hours 3 and 7 – 8th-grade Math:

We will be working on the Laws of Exponents from Ch. 10. We will also look at scientific notation. This is a quick unit and will finish up before we leave for DC.

Science

Ms. Waller

twaller@foxbay.org

We'll be finishing up our first Biology unit of the year with a test on Thursday. There is a study guide posted on Google Classroom. Prior to the test we have a lab to finish up where the students are looking at how a sugar solution affects Daphnia heart rate. Our next unit is Inheriting Traits and will explore how DNA codes for proteins and how it gets passed down from parent to offspring. Students will compare sexual and asexual reproduction and model how changes to a DNA sequence can result in mutations.

English

Mr. Heimerl

zheimerl@foxbay.org

This week, students will be continuing their research process. After gathering resources and narrowing their focus to a working thesis, students will begin taking notes using NoodeTools to record and organize their notes. They should each have ~15 unique notes recorded by Friday, 2/23.

In grammar, students will continue their exploration of the infinitive phrase with a quiz scheduled for Friday, February 23rd.

Reading

Ms. Brinnington, Ms. Traska, Ms. Hiir, Ms. Allen

dbrinnington@foxbay.org, straska@foxbay.org,
ghiir@foxbay.org, jallen@foxbay.org

This week we will be continuing our reading of Discovering Wes Moore. At the culmination of this short unit, we will be taking a service learning field trip on March 5. Root word this week is Flu/Flux.

Social Studies

Mr. Blahnik

bblahnik@foxbay.org

This week in United States History, to prepare for the Holocaust speaker on Wednesday, students will create a timeline of events of the Holocaust and investigate its impact and implications on us today. We also finished our unit on Americans in the mid-1800s. We will have our unit test on Friday. The next unit of study is called "The Union Challenged". This unit will examine the causes of the Civil War, the Civil War, and the Reconstruction Era. The students have also been assigned their Washington D.C. project that is based on the itinerary of the Washington D.C. trip that is coming up in March. The Washington D.C. project is posted on Google Classroom.

Week 22

February 12th-16th

T-Shirt Design Contest

Is your child an artist? Does he/she like to design and create? Have him/her enter our graduation logo contest!! We are looking for our future graduates to design the Class of 2018 t-shirt and memory book cover.

Follow this link for further details.

Math

Ms. Knippen

jknippen@foxbay.org

Hours 1 and 8 – Algebra: We are finishing up Ch. 6, calculating best fit lines. We will have a check and quiz this week. The test will be early next week.

Hours 3 and 7 – 8th-grade math: We have a quiz on 8B Wednesday and test on Thursday. Many students need to do a supply check. Please help them with pencils, a calculator and a notebook as needed.

Science

Ms. Waller

twaller@foxbay.org

This week students are designing an experiment to answer the question, "how does the amount of sugar affect yeast's respiration rate?"

After the lab, we will have a Socratic Seminar where we will discuss the definition of life and the role that cells and organelles play in living things. Then we will complete the last section of reading in our current unit. In this reading, students will learn about how cells become differentiated in multicellular life forms and develop organs and systems to carry out functions similar to those of organelles in single-celled life forms. Our next lab is a daphnia lab where students will investigate how sugar affects the heart rate in a multi-cellular organism.

English

Mr. Heimerl

zheimerl@foxbay.org

This week in English, we will continue the beginning stages of the research process, gathering sources and writing an annotated bibliography containing a minimum of five sources. Due to the snow day on Friday, the annotated bibliography won't be due until Wednesday, February 14th. Once finished gathering research sources, the next step will be to take notes from those sources. Students will be using NoodleTools online to organize their research, which they will be able to access through their school email. To access from home, students will need to enter their Google Drive, click on the "waffle button" in the top right corner, and scroll all the way down to the NoodleTools app.

Beyond moving through the research process, students will also continue to explore the grammar of the infinitive phrase. The quiz originally scheduled for last week Friday, will take place next week Tuesday, 2/20.

Reading

Ms. Brinnington, Ms. Traska, Ms. Hiir, Ms. Allen

dbrinnington@foxbay.org, straska@foxbay.org,
ghiir@foxbay.org, jallen@foxbay.org

We will be finishing up the book Phineas Gage this week. As a wrap-up to this nonfiction unit on the brain, we will be having a guest speaker on Friday to talk about traumatic brain injury and the structure of the brain.

Because of the snow day last week, we will have the root word quiz on Monday and will forgo a new word this week.

Social Studies

Mr. Blahnik

bblahnik@foxbay.org

On Tuesday, we are having a presenter for United States History. The presenter will be bringing in Civil War artifacts and putting on a presentation for the students. We will continue Chapter 19 which is titled "African Americans in the mid-1800s". The essential question of the chapter is How did African Americans face slavery and discrimination in the mid-1800s? Next week, we will have a test on this unit which is Americans in the Mid-1800s which covers chapters 17-19.

Week 21

February 5th - 9th

Math

Ms. Knippen

jknippen@foxbay.org

Hours 1 and 8 - Algebra
We are in Ch. 6. Plans changed due to the timing of the test for Ch. 5 and camp. So Ch. 6 it is! We are back to studying linear equations and best fit lines. We will be using the classroom set of graphing calculators to input data, calculate the line of best fit and to analyze the data.

Hours 3 and 7 - 8th Grade Math
We are in Ch. 8 working through geometric formulas for the volume of cones and cylinders. We will be looking at similar figures and comparing their surface areas and volume. The first quiz of this unit is on Monday. They have page 347 to use as their review. Please be sure to ask your child if they completed this assignment. Many have not been doing the necessary review problems before quizzes and tests. Calculators are still a must-so please make sure your child has a calculator. This is a great unit!

English

Mr. Heimerl

zheimerl@foxbay.org

This week, students will begin their research process for their essays. After brainstorming a research focus and learning how to determine whether or not a source is reliable and trustworthy, students will begin researching on their own topic, using academic search engines to find sources. They will then need to determine the sources' reliability and whether or not they are relevant to their topic, recording the sources they find in an annotated bibliography using Noodletools.

For grammar, students will continue to work with the infinitive phrase. There will be a quiz this Friday, February 9th.

Reading

Ms. Brinnington, Ms. Traska, Ms. Hiir, Ms. Allen

dbrinnington@foxbay.org, straska@foxbay.org, ghiir@foxbay.org, jallen@foxbay.org

This week our root word is duc/duct, meaning "to lead'. Sentences will be due on Wednesday and the quiz will be on Friday. We will continue reading the true story of Phineas Gage and taking notes as we read. Students can expect quizzes on each chapter. They will be able to use their notes on these.

Social Studies

Mr. Blahnik

bblahnik@foxbay.org

In United States History, the Americans in the mid-1800s project is due on Tuesday, February 6th.  Students will be presenting to each other in class on Tuesday.  We will then examine Chapter 19 "African Americans in the mid-1800s".  The essential question of the chapter is How did African Americans face slavery and discrimination in the mid-1800s?  After this chapter, we will have a unit test and move the next unit which is called a Unit Challenged which is on the Civil War and Reconstruction.  We will have a Civil War presenter for the 8th graders on Tuesday, February 13th.  He will be presenting his Civil War artifacts to the 8th-grade students on this day.