8th Grade Newsletter: February 8, 2019

 
This newsletter is a digest of all 8th Grade news stories posted for the week ending on Friday, February 8.

8th Reading: 2/11/19-2/15/19

Reminders
- At least four PASS master tests in reading are DUE: March 18, 2019
- The weekly 60 min. in the PASS program check will occur on Friday (2/15)

We will continue reading and discussing Tangerine. This week our focus will be on pages 182-244. Students have received their work packet for this entire novel. Part II reading response questions and book club #2 writing prompt are DUE: Tuesday, Feb. 12 (this date has changed three times due to the snow week and NWEA testing).

Below is a guideline for the week:

Monday (2/11): Read p. 182-199
Tuesday (2/12): Part II DUE, Read p. 203-212
Wednesday (2/13): Read p. 212-230
Thursday (2/14): Read p. 230-244
Friday (2/8): No School

8th Writing: 2/11/19-2/15/19

Reminder
- The 1-page paper on the virtue of the month of February (orderliness) is DUE: February 28. This may be handwritten or typed.
- At least 4 PASS master tests in language are due March 18.

Writing
We will continue the unit on informational essay writing. In this unit, students will compare and contrast two different perspectives on a critical issue by conveying ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

​This week students will do the following: 

- Reminder: students were asked to create a table in their writer's notebook modeled after the one on the provided handout (Determining Topics and Subtopics) after they sort their information into categories and subcategories (the table is DUE: Tuesday 2/12)
- Determine a central idea to focus the drafting of their essay
- Learn that in an essay focused on compare/contrast, the central idea will point out both similarities and differences
- Select a logical structure for their piece as they draft: point-by-point or block method

Research Paper Reminders
- Body Section #2: DUE Thursday, February 14

Grammar
We will begin studying chapter 4 on verbs. Below is a guideline for the week:

Tuesday (2/12): Today's lesson: students will identify and use action verbs in writing
 

Science

On Monday we will have a quiz over Elements #1-30 on the Periodic Table. 
We will do Chapter 18 section 2 and 3 of the blue book.