Guest Speakers!

This week (November 16th- November 20th) we had the privilege of TWO guest speakers!!! Jacqui Thomson-Dodb was the first, a strong Buddhist practitioner. She talked about the benefits of being buddhist, and how everyone has a Buddha inside of them. She showed us a traditional alter, at which she prays every morning, and showed us the book of Nichiren (a type of Buddhism) Buddhist prayers. She also talked about Buddhist beliefs on death, birth and the never ending circle of life.

The other women who came in was Elizabeth Squires, or the "BOOB" lady. She spoke about how her breasts have influenced her life, and why she decided to write her book, BOOBS. She also talked about the influence that magazines and the media image of breasts have on kids, teens and adults. Elizabeth, while embarrassing some people, spoke about the power of having breasts, and the difference between cultures when talking about nipples. In Europe, many women couldn't care less about having their nipples show through a tee shirt. Here in America, the same type of thing would be shocking, even though women can walk around in extremely low cut shirts, showing practically everything BUT the nipple, and be considered sexy. After the presentation, a few of us had a discussion about why many body images are considered wrong in our society, yet we still practice them ourselves. After these two great women speakers, we all hope to have many more great ones throughout the year!

Parent / Daughter Book Club Meeting!

Hi Everyone,

I am pleased to announce that Sally and the 8th grade Reading Workshop members are hosting a Parent-Daughter book club lunch meeting for those who have read Unwind by Neal Shusterman. This book, along with two others, was assigned for the summer read for eighth grade girls. In class, we decided that Unwind would be a good discussion book for 8th grade students and their parents, as it deals with a most provocative concept - turning in less than cooperative, productive teenagers for "parts." (Here's what the amazon.com review had to say: Connor's parents want to be rid of him because he's a troublemaker. Risa has no parents and is being unwound to cut orphanage costs. Lev's unwinding has been planned since his birth, as part of his family's strict religion. Brought together by chance, and kept together by desperation, these three unlikely companions make a harrowing cross-country journey, knowing their lives hang in the balance. If they can survive until their eighteenth birthday, they can't be harmed -- but when every piece of them, from their hands to their hearts, are wanted by a world gone mad, eighteen seems far, far away.)

The date of our lunch discussion will be Wednesday, December 2nd (12:40 - 1:30) in the 8th grade library. Bring your lunch along with your reactions to Neal Shusterman's Unwind...and brace yourself for a lively discussion!

We hope you can come!

Trigonometry!

Last week, we started a new unit in math, Trigonometry! We learned how to correctly identify the position at which someone shot a gun, by knowing only the length and degree of one leg or angle or a drop of blood. We used pipets to project fake blood onto a large sheet of paper. We then took measurements with calipers of diameter and length of each blood splatter, and from those measurements, using our scientific calculators, we found out the angles of impact. We then connected strings to the measured blood splatters and the stings mostly led to where the "shooter" would have been standing. It was neat to see how we could have accurately figured out a lot of information from one small blood splatter. More fun this week!

Art Walk

Hi All,

One major highlight from last week was the art walk with Kyle on Wednesday morning (October 27th, 2009). We had the great opportunity to see his studio, and learn how he paints. Then after spending time at his studio, we walked to Pioneer Square and looked at many art galleries with various styles of art. We drew thumbnail sketches of our favorite pieces and headed over to a small park for lunch. It was a fun activity to do as a class, and a great chance to look at lots of art!

Parents- How You Can Help

Hello Parents! We said we would alert you when we saw ways you can help your daughters at home. We have two key curricular pieces with which we could use your help:

1) Resources and Research- The girls are well under way with their Theme work and have begun looking for resources to support their various topics. We are requiring them to have resources (other than just internet ones). These could be in the form of books, magazines, articles, etc. We want hard copies! They will need to bring these to their theme time in class on Thursday, Nov. 12 and Tuesday, Nov. 17th. You can help by taking your daughter to the library to check out materials related to her theme project. If you are lucky, she may even have the item on hold already!

2) Math Homework- While I have not assigned official homework, the girls have plenty of math practice opportunities they can be working on at home. 1) They have basic skills practice (they should know what specific skills they need to be working on and there are a variety of ways they can practice such as using the links on the 8th grade student blog for online practice sites, making flash cards, practice with worksheets). 2) They have POW's that are assigned on a weekly basis. They can continue work on a POW, expand their thinking on a POW or even come up with their own. 3) There are problem sets in the chapter we are currently working on. These are in their CPM Packets and they can work on the problems and check their answers using hotmath. com. 4) Geometry practice- We just started work on trigonometry and the girls are loving it! We have given some extension work if the girls choose to do it.

You can help with all of the above by reminding the girls that these are practice options and pushing them to choose one to focus on. We are committed to giving individualized work at home but this means that we cannot "assign" an all class homework as the girls are all working on their individual skills. Thanks for your help!

Word-of-the-Day Rules!

You may well have heard of our "Word of the Day" focus - known henceforth as WOD! Basically 8th graders encounter words in their every day dealings that alternately intrigue or perturb them...and then they investigate said word as their own individual "WOD." Students are responsible for finding a complete definition of the word, noting its part of speech and etymology (if it's interesting enough to note); they also need to record the source of their word, with a direct quote if possible, and then use the word in an original sentence...all recorded in a WOD journal. The expectation is that each student will ferret out a word for each day that we're in school...thus the term: word of the day!! At the beginning of Reading Workshop (and again with one of the core teachers later in the week), each student then brings her WOD to her table, where, after a group sharing of the day's finds, one word is selected by the members of each table group for an all-class consideration. In the past weeks we've discussed such words as apropos, masochistic, infidel, libel, sycophant, succinct, quintessential, ubiquitous and hipocrite (to name only a few!)... from sources as varied as our parents, the news coverage of the election, our teachers, popular songs, and independent reading ventures. In this manner, students are exposed to eight new words per session. We carry on lively discussions about the all-class terms, and from them I compile a monthly list of twenty words that our students master for a monthly quiz. Over the years, alums invariably return to tell me how efficacious our Word-of-the-Day endeavor has proven...not only does it help them with the array of standardized tests that loom on the horizon, but it also awakens them to the myriad benefits of an enriched vocabulary. (A few of them even have continued with the WOD practice - having become true word nerds!) As I tell our girls, words are power!

FYI: Our October Words are:
1. intrinsic
2. caprice
3. ubiquitous
4. masochistic
5. sanctimonious
6. inexorable
7. camaraderie
8. rancor
9. cantankerous
10. ideology
11. sycophant
12. propitious
13. taciturn
14. diatribe
15. tangible
16. harangue
17. cajole
18. dissident
19. nebulous
20. petty