Faculty/Alumni Kickball Game Roll Call

At WCDS, we foster an environment that promotes the notion of being unafraid of failure. I’d even say we encourage failure, but don’t take my statement as a notion against success- we want success too. Every Thanksgiving, we abide by the principle of welcomed failure by delivering a thorough defeat to our alumni in kickball. Well, last year, the unthinkable happened. We lost to the alumni for the first time. So, if at pick-up or a visit to campus, you notice a little tension amongst the teachers and students or smell a bit of muscle relaxer, it’s for good reason. Stephanie has started the roll call for the game, and we’re prepping this time around. We plan to show the alumni exactly why failure can be a good thing.

English w/ Mr. Rouse –

Upcoming Tests/Quizzes- none.
We are entering the students into an MLK essay contest with the following prompt: write about a time you influenced someone’s happiness in a positive way. We are sending home a media consent form for the contest, if you don’t have any objection to the form, please fill it out and send it back with your child. It’s due on Monday.
Students continued their reading and discussion of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, their vocabulary list was pulled from the reading to help supplement their understanding of the text.

Deep Dive w/ Mrs.McFadden and Mr. K –

Students continued to learn more about Greek gods and goddesses while learning about their Roman counterparts. We watched videos on how the planets got their names (Roman gods) and why we have constellations and how they were named.
Learned vocabulary pertaining to mythology
As we get more refrigerator/ large appliance boxes, students snatch them up for their “cabins”. Their creativity and joy in a cardboard clubhouse is so much fun to watch! Next week we are building the cabins!

Math w/ Mrs. Boldrick –

Upcoming Tests/Quizzes: None
We spent Monday and Tuesday reviewing the laws of the exponents test.
Wednesday, the students started the test but were unable to finish. Due to absences, we continued the test on Thursday. All students finished on Friday.
Next week, we’ll review the order of operations and move on to square roots.
Algebra 1/Geometry – The students reviewed and took a test on Angles. Next week, we’ll review the test. We’ll also turn back to Algebra 1 to learn about matrices.

Math w/ Mrs. Howells –

No Upcoming Tests or Quizzes
We worked through solving equations with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division!
We had a quiz on those skills on Friday. You can check our Google Classroom to see your child’s score.
Next week we begin two-step equations.
There are practice games and activities on our class website: mhowells.weebly.com
Please encourage your student to email me if they are struggling with homework, and I can set up a time to help them.

Social Studies w/ Mr. Jividen –

Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – No Tests or Quizzes Scheduled
In 8th grade, we discussed the presidential transition period. We compared and contrasted past transition periods in order to understand what makes a transition successful.

Science w/ Mrs. Farris – None scheduled

Upcoming Tests/Quizzes –
Students traveled the “Organ Trail” this week, selecting an organ for in-depth research on its primary functions, interactions with other systems, related disorders, and whether it’s essential for survival.
Using a self-check rubric, they checked they gathered all key details needed to create engaging “wanted” posters.
Each poster highlights a different organ, preparing students to explore the body’s organ systems more deeply next week.

Music w/ Mrs. Chelsey –

We continued mapping out our Sound Meditation and getting more comfortable playing crystal singing bowls, the ocean drum and steel tongue drums. The students have a research assignment that is due next Wednesday; they were each individually given a topic pertaining to sound meditation/healing/therapy. They will share what they learned with the class, so they can understand more about what is actually happening when we are hearing the sounds from the instruments they’re playing, as well as the experience they will be creating for their listeners at the Winter Concert.
Our journal prompt this week was “ Describe how you feel when you listen to your favorite song”

Elective-

Coding – Nutcracker Ballet – An email was sent to all parents regarding sign-ups for the Nutcracker Ballet. Please sign up for a performance here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n9zMbqkHVC5MWuLtX2m6IShSoMvbeayohNxEuY101kg/edit?usp=sharing
Adulting 101 – We have started a new trimester and we all know what that means, new elective! Mr. Jividen and I are excited to have our kiddos for Adulting 101. During this elective we will be taking a look at everything from changing tires to how to budget for a meal. We will also be taking a look at how to write a professional email and learning about stocks and how they work. We hope that the students will learn alot in this elective and we can help them navigate their way to becoming an “Adult”.

Design- We dove right in on day one and had each student create a table using only a few objects- paper, pipe cleaners, tape, and straws. Logan Huff’s table won the “most weight” contest, and there were some pretty interesting designs. We spent a class period learning about the design process. Ask your child about the 5 steps in the design process and ask them about their group’s idea for improving our middle school campus classrooms.