Ever wondered what your child should know before 9th grade? I found this little freebie poster from Mrs.
The arithmetic, geography, civil government, physiology, grammar and history questions range from 'What is a personal pronoun?' to 'Who first discovered Lawrence River?' and 'Define Cerebrum'.
Blogger Elena Aguilar commemorates what would have been Anne Frank's 83rd birthday and shares resources for teaching students about the Holocaust and other tragic genocides.
I've done this project for the past two years with my groups of 8th graders, and wasn't planning on bringing it back this year because I like to switch things up... BUT, the current class convinced my long-term sub to let them do it and I was happy to continue to facilitate the project once I came back to work. Students used various clay hand-building techniques to create a plate (or bowl!) of their favorite foods. This lovely buffet went on display yesterday and it's always a hit for those passing by!
This Worksheet-Gustar and Similar Verbs Worksheet is suitable for 8th - 9th Grade. This quick practice is perfect for your beginning Spanish speakers. There's a short section dedicated to object pronouns and another one for simple -ar and -ir verb conjugations.
Wow. This year went by fast... I had aspirations of blogging regularly about my school year, but I simply just could not find the time. Between all of the time I spent creating lessons and all of my adjunct duties, I could not make it to my blog.... Luckily I was able to at least journal my year through pictures on Instagram and Twitter... :o) This year started out rough.... Our class sizes went up, we changed to a blocked math schedule, and from the results of last year's CAASPP Summative Assessment my students were coming in with only 6% of my students meeting the standards. I have to admit it was daunting at the beginning of the school year thinking if I was going to be able to teach the complex standards that my students needed to learn in 8th Grade Math when they came in without any Math foundation at all... :o( This reflection from a student pretty much sums this up.... Year Four of Common Core This was my 4th year of teaching 8th Grade Common Core Math and last summer I reflected on the success of my year in 8th Grade Math in the (2014 - 2015 School Year). That was the first year that my students had taken the CAASPP Summative Test. I was super excited that in the first year of implementing the CAASPP Summative Test that 39% of my students had met or exceeded the standards... Even though I was super excited with the success of my students, I still had a lot of tweaks to make to my curriculum. I wanted to take my students' learning this year even farther.... This year I implemented a lot of those changes over the course of the year.... So now I have officially completed my 4th year of teaching Common Core 8th Grade Math and am elated with the success of my students this year in 8th Grade Math. I am proud of how far they have grown mathematically and I feel that more importantly I have given them a foundation and have prepared them for high school. This year, (the second year of implementing the CAASPP Summative Test) 52% of my students met or exceeded the standards.... And 21% of my students nearly met the standards... :o) This is amazing considering that these are the students coming in at 6%... :o) It's been an exhausting year, but I am excited that all of my hard work has paid off... This summer I am reflecting on what worked in my classroom and what to Keep, Change, Continue and Stop.... Successful Pacing and Big Ideas The success of my students is mainly attributed to the pacing of the 8th grade Math Curriculum. :o) I have blogged before in detail about the evolution of my Math 8 Curriculum and Pacing in The Pacing Puzzle and Reflecting on My Journey. I think after this year I have finally nailed it. I had made some changes to the pacing for last year and they really paid off. The year before I spent a few weeks on exponents and scientific notation and didn't have time to teach transformations, So for last year I decided to teach transformations and shorten the time spent on exponents and scientific notation. That was a really good decision. I have finally finished the alignment of this years pacing fitting in the units for the days we are in school. Here is what the 2016 - 2017 8th Grade Math Pacing Calendar looks like. :o) Successful Blocked Math Periods I put a lot of thought into the best way to implement successful blocked math periods. I knew that I wanted to keep the success of my collaborative teams, writing and reasoning in math, and to continue to use my access to 1:1 iPads effectively. It was important to me to use technology in my classroom to enhance the students' learning and for technology not to be the focus. My plan for my blocked math periods was to merge the success of my Math 8 class structure and Math Support class structure from the year before. So this year in my blocked math periods the first part of the block was (Math 8) with direct instruction and a focus on collaborative teams and the second part of the block was (iMath) with iPads and a focus on independent practice. What to Keep, Change, Start and Stop - My "Collaborative Team" Structures I have blogged before about my "Collaborative Teams" and I absolutely love how effective they are and how much they help enhance the learning of my students. So I am definitely keeping my "Collaborative Team" structures. This is explains the structure of my "Collaborative Teams". My "Word of the Day" Academic Vocabulary Book I blogged about this idea last summer as an idea to help the students understand what "academic vocabulary" words they should be using in their discussions and writing. Transforming the graphic organizers into a book was a really good idea. The students would reference the book through out the year and it added a nice opening structure the the daily routine of class. How this works: The students come into class and look at the opening slide up on the board. The slide tells the students which "Team Member" is the "Resource Monitor". The "Resource Monitor" gets the materials needed for their team. When the students get their folder, they write the word of the day, the definition and draw an example of the word. They are usually done before the bell rings for class to start. :o) Something I would like to add to this idea next year is activities that will help the students utilize this vocabulary book in different ways :o) My "Solve It, PROVE It" Collaborative Team Warm-ups I have blogged about the Evolution of My "Solve It, PROVE It" Collaborative Warm-ups previously. I think that last year was the most successful year with my Collaborative Warm-ups. Having the students collaboratively prove their justification really helped solidify their understanding of the concepts they were proving. This is definitely a keeper... :o) How this Works: The Teams are given the problem on the board. The Team discusses the problem and tells their Recorder/Reporter what to write and walks the Recorder/Reporter through solving the problem. The Team then discusses a written justification and the Recorder/Reporter writes the Team's written response as the Team negotiates what the Recorder/Reporter should write. As you can see the students are not afraid to write in math class... :o) #happyteacher I added something new to this year's structure. In the past, the Recorder/Reporter read their teams written response from their seat. This year I added a microphone and the Recorder/Reporter had to "Stand and Deliver" their team's written response. My Guided Notes and Student Interactive Math Notebooks I have blogged about my Interactive Math Notebooks many times. I feel that the students' IMN are one of the keys to my students' success. My students learn to reference their notebooks and consider them a valuable resource. I am definitely keeping this structure... :o) My Digital Collaborative "Team Tasks" I love doing "Team Tasks" and I have created a lot of "Team Tasks" designed to elicit academic discourse. I have blogged about my "Team Tasks" a few times. I tried something new this year and started implementing Digital "Team Tasks". The most successful idea is my Socrative "Team Tasks". When we used Socrative for "Team Tasks", we did it Space Race style. Students loved this competition. My Socrative "Team Tasks" definitely elicited a lot of academic discussion. I was a great way for me to check for understanding.... I will definitely keep my Socrative "Team Tasks". Something I would like to add is other platforms for Digital "Team Tasks". I am interested in exploring Formative this summer and possibly utilizing it next year. My Google Forms Concept Quiz Reflections I love using Google Forms as a way for the students to reflect after taking an assessment. Reading their reflections really helped me to see what they were thinking after they took an assessment. I am definitely using this again next year. Last summer I had a great idea for using Google Forms for checking for understanding with concept assessments. I never had time to create and implement those last year, so this year my goal is to add more of the standards check quizzes using Google Forms. :o) My iMath "Paperless" Assignments If you follow my blog, you know that I love, love, love Showbie... :o) And I have blogged about My Love For Showbie many times.... This year in iMath, I continued creating and using Digital "Paperless" Assignments in Showbie. I love this because I can easily check students work and give feedback. What I love about Showbie is that not only can students annotate and solve in the document in Showbie, but they can also leave a written justification. This helps me to check for understanding and clear up misconceptions.... :o) I am definitely keeping Showbie as the foundation of my iMath section. Something I would like to start is Showbie's new feature of Group Discussions. I will explore that more over the summer and determine the best way to implement this feature next year... My Socrative (self-paced) "Digital Task Cards" I have been using Socrative for (self-paced) lessons for a few years. My (self-paced) lessons have evolved into "Digital Task Cards". The students love these lessons and I have even created some for homework assignments too. When I do the Socrative Assignments in iMath, I do the Assignments as student paced and not as Space Race. I either have the students do the questions on lined paper or on my specialized "Dry Erase" mats.... After the students finish the Assignments they get their score from me. I will definitely keep this structure because it is one of my favorites.... And I look forward to creating more assignments.... :o) My iMath "Sticky Note" Poster Assignments My students showed so much love for my iMath Poster Assignments that I created a poster activity for every unit. I will continue this next year and hope to think of more ideas. My poster assignments were done through Showbie and Socrative as "Self-paced" tasks... :o) My "Math Rockstar" Competition My students love my "Math Rockstar" Competition. There is no prize for this competition. They simply love the competition part it. Go figure... Students doing Math as a competition.... #happyteacher This is growth of my "Math Rockstar" Competition wall from the beginning of the year to the last day of school. My "Ticket Out the Door" Reflections in Showbie Another reason I love Showbie is their comment feature. I assign the students a "Ticket Out the Door" Daily Reflection. On Friday the students do a Weekly Reflection. This has been very helpful for me and for the students. I will definitely keep doing this structure next year, because I love Showbie.... :o) Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog.... Follow me this summer as I blog about my new ideas for next year.... :o)
Why does the author write? To inform, entertain, or persuade. Students will be able to show that they understand why an author writes by choosing persuade, inform, or entertain for a short reading selection. ...
Need some help with your American History lessons? Take a peek at my lesson plans and ideas. These are my Constitution Lesson Plans for 8th Grade American History. My first year teaching I was dying to see other teachers' plan books, but most of them were either blank or didn't seem suitable for our students ("high-risk" with poor reading skills). After teaching American history to 8th graders for a few years, I've developed this webpage in the hopes that it can help first year teachers get an
Disclaimer... phone pictures with battery too low for a flash :/ so sorry!! But I can't put off posting these any longer! It's been almost a month that I've benefited from the MTBoS and haven't contributed! :( Alright, so here's what my Unit 2 includes. This is our table of contents for this unit but it also helps you get a feel for what's ahead. I'm trying to start every unit with a Unit Overview. This is our overview for Unit 2. I ask the students to revisit the essential questions throughout the unit to monitor their own growth and then formally answer them before our test, kind of like a test review. I hope to continue to get better in this area because it's still not working as well as I envision. Students also complete goals and actions before their unit test. I talk a lot about goals at the beginning of the year because I've found that junior high students don't really know how to set goals. "I want to do well" "I will do well by studying" are typical things I get. I try to teach students how to set measurable goals like "I will answer 3 out 4 questions about perfect squares correctly." And actions such as "I will rework the homework about perfect squares to achieve my goals." Then they can actually assess if they've met their goals. Who knows if they did "well"? What does that even mean? Moving on... Students are supposed to already know combining like terms and distributive property, but here's my review. Based on awesome ideas: here and here. Next was the real number system. I used most of this from last year but added a foldable and changed up the right side since it's Math-8 instead of Algebra 1. Here's the foldable... And for the right side student's each got a set of 30 cards, cut them apart, and sorted them into rational and irrational. We discussed as a class to make sure everyone had each card appropriately placed and then they taped them all down to the page. The originally sorting idea was inspired by this post. Click on the "rational number" frayer definition to access the sorting activity. Next was terminating decimals to fractions. I still need to add the second flap for repeating decimals to fractions to this page. The Irrational Approximations activity came from here. See what I mean?! I've been living off the MTBoS without contributing. Does this even count as contributing? I'm just showing my combination of all your ideas... oh well! :) Next was perfect squares and perfect cubes. We also completed these pages before approximating radicals. We did the real number system, then calculated decimals to fractions and fractions to decimals, then perfect squares and perfect cubes, then back to approximating radicals. I know... crazy and not at all how the pages lay out! By the end, it all came together nicely. :) Students were just as pumped to have little flash cards in envelopes as these students were last year. Score! And I saw them pulling them out on numerous occasions to study and approximate their radicals with. :) Happy Teacher!! I printed the cards double sided and the back tells the answer to the root on the front. No chance kiddos are studying the wrong root that way! Next was solving equations. This was inspired by Sarah's pages over here. Each title on the left flips open to reveal practice problems. And finally, special case equations. Similar to last year, originally from here. Alright...there it is! 8th Grade Math, Unit 2. I'll try to come back soon and upload some documents. I honestly don't have much to upload since my ideas were all pieced together from across the internet. I never like to give freebies on ideas I commandeered (I feel like I pirate when I use that word!) because I don't feel like they're mine to share. Anyway...entire other post there... We'll see what all I feel like is legitimately "mine" to share. Happy Sunday! Please leave a comment with a link to how you approach these topics! I'm always looking for new ideas to implement in my classroom. :) **UPDATE** Files have been enabled again! Enjoy!!
How well can you do on this 101-year old quiz for Bullitt County, Kentucky, eighth graders?
Teaching the function of the three types of conjunctions with the most common examples in memorable ways certainly makes sense for older students.
I've said this before on my blog, but it is most definitely worth saying again, I work with an amazing group of middle school language arts educators. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't learn something from each one that I work with. I have a special treat for my blog followers, and that is a picture walk through my middle school through anchor charts! :) Purposes of anchor charts include: To display routines and expectations throughout different parts of Reading and Writing Workshop. To have up as inspiration for ideas in writing or how to select books during reading. To chart and summarize the learning of a specific lesson that can be referenced again and again throughout the year. To give students ownership in the classroom by displaying their self-generated ideas. Below are anchor charts from 5th-8th grade language arts classrooms. I think it's pretty safe to say that it's easy to tell from the anchor charts that there are some amazing learning experiences happening in the reading and writing of students. I hope you enjoy the anchor charts, and that they inspire new ideas in your classroom Kasey
Who killed Fannin? Engaging students in authentic real-life challenges is very difficult for many educators, but it is vital to student learning. One resource which supported my efforts in teaching…
Text Structure Worksheet 4th Grade. Usually textual content structure is studied in nonfiction texts. Nesbit’s 1906 novel, The Railway Children, on this four-page studying comprehension worksheet. Then they take data from the passages and put i
Summary Raymonds Run is about a little girl named hazel that has a special needs brother, every year she participantes in a race, this...
The arithmetic, geography, civil government, physiology, grammar and history questions range from 'What is a personal pronoun?' to 'Who first discovered Lawrence River?' and 'Define Cerebrum'.
Ethos Pathos Logos Worksheet Answers. Delightful to help my own blog site, with this period I'll explain to you about Ethos Pathos Logos Worksheet Answers. Why don't you consider graphic above? is in which amazing???. if you think consequently, I'l m teach you many impression again underneath: So, if you want to get all of
We are in the speed unit. I give my students the Speed Equation Triangle. This is so cool, especially for those kids not comfortable with algebraically rearranging equations. I got this from my Friend Mr. Lake at Buchanan High School. Mr. Lake tells me he got it in high school from our chemistry teacher Mr. Wentworth. Thank both of you. I hope this helps, Love to Teach and Teach with Passion Remember...It's not Magic, It's Science http://qp.clovisusd.k12.ca.us/rey_kinney [email protected]
Here is the list of homeschooling curriculum that I’m planning on using for our 8th grade year. 8th Grade Language Arts Curriculum Spelling Workout Level H– The last of the Spelling Workout series. Nothing flashy here and definitely not the preferred homeschool spelling program of today. Nevertheless, it made my son into a better speller … Continue reading "Our Curriculum for an 8th Grade Homeschool Year"
Free Download of Blank Plot Diagram for The Outsiders Anwser Key for Plot Diagram Free Download of Conficts Diagram for The...
