Greetings TMSA 8th Grade Parents and Guardians:
We would like to begin by thanking you (our amazing parents) and all of our 8th grade students for your unfaltering support during these different times. We look forward to continually working with you throughout the school year to provide the best educational experience possible for our students. We will use the newsletter to provide you with an update on what is going on in the classroom and what will be coming up in the future. Happy Holidays!!!!!!
Social Studies – Mr. Lotfy
We are currently finishing our unit on Georgia in the American Revolution (SS8H3: Analyze the role of Georgia in the American Revolutionary Era). Students will take their exam when the return from winter break. If students can spend 20-30 minutes a day over the break going over their study guide, they will be successful on the exam. Once the students return and complete their exam, we will begin our unit on westward expansion in Georgia (SS8H4: Explain significant factors that affected westward expansion in Georgia between 1789 and 1840). The students will be receiving their unit and vocabulary study guides this week. The study guides will always be posted in OTUS under the bookshelf tab. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions. I hope everybody has a safe and wonderful Holiday season.
Math – Ms. Asekere
Math 8: We are currently working in Chapter 1 from Volume 1 textbooks. Standards MGSE8.EE. 1 and 2. This is presenting information containing square roots, cubed roots, and properties of numerical expressions. In Alg. 1 we are focusing from Chapter 2 in their textbooks. The standards that are being covered are CED.A.1, and REI.A.1. Students are asked to complete practice in iReady weekly that shows that they spend 60 mins a week for practice. All PowerPoints, notes and assignments are posted in OTUS (lessons and blog), and SAVAAS.
ELA – Ms. Griffith
In ELA, Grades 8 and 9 have been focusing on Informational texts and how writers develop and present their ideas to readers. We are focusing on Organizational Structures that authors use in Grade 8, specifically chronological order, compare and contrast, and cause and effect structures. In Grade 9, we are also noticing text structures in informational texts, but also the author purpose/point of view, rhetorical devices, figurative language, tone and diction (word choice), and the types of supporting details that a writer uses to develop their ideas for the reader.
We are also working on Informational writing as well, using the texts that we are analyzing as our sources.
Writing Strategies’- Ms. Griffith
7 Habits of Good Writers:
- They read a lot!
- They write every day.
- They try out new ideas and strategies that they see in books they read.
- They do not edit their writing until they are finished getting their thoughts down.
- They get ideas from books, from others, and by noticing the world around them.
- They identify their audience, purpose, organization, style, flow, and presentation before they write.
- They complete the writing process in its entirety: prewrite/brainstorm, research (if needed), draft, revise, edit/proofread, and publish.
Science – Ms. Stepp
In Science Class, students have just completed the Forces and Motion unit, where they learned to identify Newton's Three Laws of Motion in their surrounding environments. Parents, you can ask your child if they notice any of Newton's Laws in your home and they should be able to point a few things out! Currently, students are learning to see the energy in everything around them. They are learning about the different forms of energy and how they can be transformed from one form to another. They will learn to provide evidence that supports that an energy transformation has occurred. Our HS Physical Science class will further explore energy transformations in the Project-Based Learning (PBL) activity where they will make a review game to help lower grades understand the concept of energy transformations.
Reminder: Students and families are strongly encouraged to check their Otus Class Board for daily announcements and daily happenings in science class. This is especially important for those that miss class.
Check this activity out that you can do at home!-https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/popsicle-stick-chain-reaction/