8th

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Every year for the last (at least) 10 years, we’ve lost Mr. K a week or two before Celebrate- and this year is no different. His alter ego comes out: The Mad Scientist. Only one mind can orchestrate creative the genius behind Celebrate’s art work, and the process manifests in student/teacher collaboration, a laboratory art room, and endless supply runs. However, it’s also only possible because the students apply their passion to the ideas! Please come out, socialize, and bid on a piece of art work- lots of effort goes into making the event special! Also, enjoy the only internship selfie we got this week from none other than Adrienne!

English w/ Mr. Rouse – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes- none.
• This week, I continued to conference with the students and workshop their Introduction to the paper.
• We spent some time working on body paragraphs. All things considered, the research papers are coming along nicely. Next week, we will be working on MLA formatting because I don’t want them to have to go back and change a bunch of their source format.

Math w/ Mrs. Boldrick –

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – None
• On Monday and Tuesday, the students reviewed for their test on Wednesday. 
• They asked many questions and asked for assistance, which is appreciated.
• After taking the test, they had a chance to correct their answers, which they worked very hard on mastering the process.
• Next week, we’ll move into inequalities, but will also continue to work on solving multi-step equations since the skills are related.
• Algebra 1/Geometry – The students worked hard at understanding how to simplify radicals in all operations. They took a test on Wednesday and have until Monday to make corrections.

Math w/ Mrs. Howells

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – none
• This week the students worked to solve one- and two-step equations involving decimals and all four operations.
• We also reviewed the three topics from last week: dividing decimals by decimals, negative exponents, and scientific notation.
• Next week we will begin working with prime factorization, greatest common factors, and least common multiples.

Science w/ Mrs. Farris – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – No test or quiz scheduled 
• “Is that popcorn for us? Wait… are those Matchbox cars?” You got it! But before enjoying our afternoon snack, we explored just how many forms of energy we could identify while popping popcorn in the microwave. This engaging start to our Monday afternoon captivated the 8th grade as we discovered that energy never stops—it only transforms, illustrating the law of conservation of energy.
• A special musical performance by Tristain made for another memorable example of how energy transforms. 
• Students are also doing a great job managing their digital labs and assignments in science—keep up the great work!

Music w/ Mrs. Chelsey – 

• This week we started learning the rhythm for the “Cup Song”. It’s a fun and challenging way to keep rhythm during a song!
• Our music journal prompt this week was “ What song would you choose as a soundtrack for your life today?”

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We celebrated two welcome backs this week, the students from Spring Break, and the sun from a brief hiatus. The students are back in a 90s revival way. They were really only arm’s distance or so away, and we knew the return was inevitable. The sun, however, well its back in a long lost lover sort of way, breathing life into all the winter weary souls out there. Welcome back! See details about Celebrate!

English w/ Mr. Rouse – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes- none.
• We continued working on the research papers, and the assignment for this week was to get a draft of their introduction done. We spent a lot of our (shortened) time reviewing how the intro formula changes with a research paper, reviewing work from other classes, and peer reviewing each other.
• Their homework outside of the paper was just a basic research activity where I tasked them with answering research questions using trustworthy sources.

Math w/ Mrs. Boldrick –

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – Wednesday, March 19
• The students are finishing up with solving equations and will have a test on Wednesday, March 19.
• Students learned the process for solving multi-step equations.
• They are encouraged to use notebook paper to write each step and keeping their work organized.
• We will move on to solving equations with inequalities. 
• Algebra 1/Geometry – The students worked on learning how to simplify and solved radical expressions and equations. They will have a test on radicals next Wednesday, March 19.

Math w/ Mrs. Howells

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – Thursday, March 20 – Quiz on Negative Exponents and Scientific Notation
• This week the students worked on three topics: dividing decimals by decimals, negative exponents, and scientific notation.
• These topics can be challenging and students may need more practice to become proficient.
• To help them, there are video lessons on each topic in our Google Classroom. These can be reviewed for the quiz. Other review and study materials will be made available as well.
• Next week we will also begin working to solve one- and two-step equations involving decimals and all four operations. 

Science w/ Mrs. Farris – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – No test or quiz scheduled 
• This trimester, we’re building our end-of-the-day stamina on Mondays, as this will be our lecture day. Then, we’ll regroup on Fridays for a virtual or in-person lab to reinforce our learning.
• This week, we explored energy and identified its two main types—kinetic and potential.
• On Friday, students participated in a digital roller coaster lab, using simulations to observe and describe energy transformations in action!

Music w/ Mrs. Chelsey – 

• This week we finished recording our 8th grade song!! We need to give it a title and I will do some editing on it, but we should have a finished product soon!! I’m very excited for them hear it!
• They worked on finishing their composer “job application”. They had to fill out an application from the perspective of a given composer – I think it was a unique way to dive into a composers life and works. They each shared something they learned.
• Our music journal prompt this week was “ Have you ever had an ear worm?” Not sure what that is? Ask your child – you’ve probably experienced it;)

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We’re finally getting to the point where Mother Nature feels trustworthy. The weather is turning (slowly), and it seems that spring has finally decided to spring. The students were happy to get some warm weather, and there was an infectious enthusiasm/positivity about the students. Outside of the nice weather, Britney Farris brought in some visitors from WVU, and students learned all about WVU STEAM Tac- see details below. We hope students enjoy their breaks!

English w/ Mr. Rouse – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes- none.
• Students gave a project overview/introducing the problem assignment to wrap up the final touches on their paper topics.
• Students got through a great deal of the research paper, and we ended off the week with their annotated bibliography (first draft). I’m having them do two separate drafts of the bibliography because I will be going over formatting, and their research materials might change as they get deeper into the trimester.

Math w/ Mrs. Boldrick –

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – none scheduled
• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – none scheduled 
• The students moved on from solving one-step equations to one-step equations with fractions.
• We then moved to two or more step equations. They had practice sheets, then went on to graded worksheets.
• The students are challenged with these equations when using fractions. We’ll continue to practice them.
• When we return from spring break, we will use inequalities when solving for a variable.
• Algebra 1/Geometry – the students are working on solving matrices using addition, subtraction, and multiplication. While the computations are not difficult, they are realizing the importance of keeping their work organized. When we return from break, they will move to solving systems of equations.

Math w/ Mrs. Howells

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – none scheduled 

• This third trimester began with everyone working their math skills to multiply decimals. 
• We also reviewed for our quiz, then spent Thursday and Friday taking the quiz.  
• The quiz covered rational numbers; rounding, comparing, ordering, adding, & subtracting decimals.
• When we return from Spring Break we will continue multiplying decimals, then begin dividing decimals and working with negative exponents. 

Science w/ Mrs. Farris – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – No test or quiz scheduled 
• We kicked off the week by preparing for WVU STEAM Tac! Students explored how technology can enhance food security and agriculture, brainstorming innovative solutions to meet growing demands.
• On Thursday, we welcomed STEAM Tac and participated in their Growing with Innovations immersion. Students coded Micro:bits to solve real-world challenges, using light sensors and temperature monitors to develop practical solutions.

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Exhibition stole the show this week. Special shout out to Mr. K and Mrs. McFadden. Some creative minds work around each other. Some creative minds work against each other. With these two? Two creative minds collided and magic stemmed from the sparks! It was a perfect display of the type of learning we get these students engaged in. The kids were invested to the very end! Thank you to all the parents who came and voted in the house popularity contest! Also, frogs were dissected! Remember, next week is our last week before Spring Break.

English w/ Mr. Rouse – Upcoming Tests/Quizzes- none.

• Another chaotic week with missing a day for exhibition and two delays. Still, we tried to make the most of the class time that we had.
• We start compiling sources as a precursor to the Annotated Bibliography for our research paper.
• I modeled different ways to research. 
• I modeled previous research papers, again.

Math w/ Mrs. Boldrick –

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – Wednesday, March 19 – One and Two-Step Equations
• This week we reviewed and practiced solving for a variable using one step.
• We used integers, decimals, and fractions using all four operations.
• The students are still a little hesitant with operations using fractions, but with much practice, they are moving forward.
• Next week we’ll solve for a variable in two or more steps. 
• Algebra I/Geometry – It’s been tough have both Tristan and Carson out sick at various times. We are finally on the same page and working on the same skills. They finished up with solving for distance on a coordinate grid. Next week, they will begin work with triangles.

Math w/ Mrs. Howells

• Thursday, February 27: Quiz on Lessons 4-1 – 4-5: rational numbers; rounding, comparing, ordering, adding, & subtracting decimals
• Review and study materials will be available on our class website: mhowells.weebly.com
• Students completed many practice activities this week involving decimals. Some of those were challenging, especially adding and subtracting positive and negative decimal numbers. So many rules and steps to remember! But they persevered and everyone increased in their skills:)
• We will review those topics next week and jump into multiplying and dividing decimals. 

Science w/ Mrs. Farris – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – No test or quiz scheduled 
• Students completed frog dissections this week, and I couldn’t be more proud of their maturity and engagement! They made meaningful connections to our learning throughout the year while demonstrating respect for the procedures, the specimen, and, most importantly, each other. 
• Next week, we will welcome WVU STEAM Tac and participate in their Growing with Innovation classroom immersion!

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That’s right, sickness is running rampant right now. We know you’ll be doing lots of hand holding this Friday, so make sure you’re holding *sanitized* hands. We’ve been trying our best to maintain a clean environment, so school can carry on as expected. It was a shorter week, so not much went on outside of exchanging goodies for Valentine’s Day! Please see details about exhibition next week.

English w/ Mr. Rouse – Upcoming Tests/Quizzes- Aimsweb completed.

• We didn’t do much outside of research topics for our paper because we had a short week and did Aimsweb on top of it.

Math w/ Mrs. Boldrick –

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – none scheduled 
• We reviewed the distributive property and combining like terms. 
• We are working on solving one-step equations using all operations – addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. These problems include positive and negative numbers.
• We’ll continue doing one-step equations, but will use fractions and decimals in these equations.
• Any missed assignments can be found on Google Classroom. Students are responsible for making up any assignments they missed due to absences.
• All math Aimsweb assessments are finished. Please reach out to me if you have any questions about their scores.
• Algebra 1/Geometry – The students continued work with the Pythagorean Theorem while measuring the distance of a line on a coordinate grid.

Math w/ Mrs. Howells

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – none scheduled
• Everyone has now completed the winter benchmark assessment on Aimsweb. 
• This week the students began working with decimals.
• We covered these concepts:
  • Comparing and Ordering Decimals
  • Estimating Decimal Sums and Differences
  • Adding and Subtracting Decimals
• The above listed concepts require several prerequisite skills so students revisited positive and negative numbers on the numberline, rounding to a certain place, and adding and subtracting integers.

Deep Dive w/ Mrs. McFadden & Mr. K –

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes- Exhibition – February 19th @ 5:00
• We only met once this week, but we enjoyed seeing the final product come together!

Elective

• Cooking – This week our chefs planned the menu for our exhibition next week. Then we took a trip to Kroger to buy the ingredients. We look forward to showcasing our dishes on Wednesday!

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So, we’ve reached the point of the year where spring and winter work together to make us miserable. Oh, you’re tired of the cold, bleak weather? Here’s a sprinkle of 60 degree weather and sunshine! Don’t get used to it though, there’s plenty of winter left. Still, we at WCDS took the warm day and lived it to the fullest. Not much went on this week, but did someone say four day weekend? Woot woot!!!! There were some chicks born in 4th grade, though, and because they are absolutely adorable, I’ve included some pictures I took.

English w/ Mr. Rouse – Upcoming Tests/Quizzes- Aimsweb was not taken. We will take it Thursday.

• We spent most of the week talking about and brainstorming ideas for how we will choose a topic for the upcoming research paper.
• We will try to start the research paper now to get a head start on it before internships.
• We reviewed some research papers from last year’s 8th grade.

Deep Dive –

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes- Exhibition – February 19th
• Students are preparing their presentations for the exhibition. They are encouraged to wear something that represents their “house” theme. For example, the house of Hades might wear black, while the house of Poseidon might wear beach garb.

Science w/ Mrs. Farris – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – Thursday Feb 13th Genetics and DNA test. We will use class time next week to review —enjoy your long weekend, everyone!
• Students took the lead in teaching their peers who were absent last week about Punnett squares on Monday. Teaching a concept truly demonstrates a deep understanding—way to go!
• We wrapped up our Genetics and DNA unit by learning about pedigree charts and completing a pedigree simulator to explore whether an addiction can be linked to genetics.
• Looking ahead—we will dissect frogs during the week of February 17th. Students who may be squeamish will be paired with a dissection leader to ensure they can comfortably engage in the learning experience.

CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS

Sometimes, there’s November rain. Sometimes, there’s purple rain. This week? There was January rain. Both campuses went from arctic tundras to swamplands in a simple 10-20 degree change of temperature. So, it was a cozy week with as much outdoor time as we could squeeze in- weather permitting. Please see details about Aimsweb for 8th.

English w/ Mr. Rouse – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes- We will take Aimsweb on Tuesday, February 4th.
• We continued our reading, questions, and discussions for Howl’s Moving Castle
• We continued to work on dialogue (I’ve been doing it with most of my classes.), and I made 7th do a dialogue writing assignment following a conversation between two unlikely people.
• Did Unit #3 of vocabulary.
• Continued our warm-ups and studied sentence types.

Science w/ Mrs. Farris – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – no test or quiz scheduled 
• Teams finalized their experimental designs—a challenging task in preparation for our grow date next week.
• Students then compared Earth’s soil to the Moon’s “soil,” discovering that the Moon’s surface material is called regolith. 
• The regolith consists of fine dust, broken rock fragments, and tiny glass beads, all formed by constant meteorite impacts. 

Music w/ Mrs. Chelsey – 

• This week we focused more on matching pitch and controlling where our voice is when we sing, as well as energy and volume. We worked on a rhythmically challenging section of “California Girls” and continued to the next part of The National Anthem. 
• Our music journal entry this week was “Is there any style or kind of music that you don’t like?”

CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS

Remember when I mentioned youthful enthusiasm as the perfect counter to winter’s fury? Well, I don’t doubt it still is, but we decided to play it safe this week. We hope you stayed warm and your tires stayed full! Even though we had a bumpy start to the week, it was still a busy one! We did a second spelling bee round, and 8th took a field trip to Jamie Peck Productions. Congrats to Trennan for winning this week and Tesla for being the runner-up. They are 1-1. Please see details about Reimagine Middle School being rescheduled.

English w/ Mr. Rouse – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes- Aimsweb date moved. TBA.
• Continued our reading of The Prince of Nowhere.
• Thesis Paragraph topic was to identify what they believe to be the most important quality in a leader.
• Watched a Ted Talk on leadership.

Math w/ Mrs. Boldrick –

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – Pythagorean Theorem and Triangles, Wed. January 29
• The students will take a quiz on using the Pythgorean Theorem next Wednesday, January 29.
• This week, they demonstrated their confidence with solving for a missing side of a triangle.
• Against much reluctance, we applied the Pythagorean Theorem to real world problems; AKA – Word Problems! Their challenge was drawing the picture. Once they understood how to draw out their triangle, they solved the problems with ease. These word problems will be on their quiz next week.

Math w/ Mrs. Howells

• Upcoming Test – Aimsweb on Monday, January 27
• Students took the Chapter 3 test on Inequalities. Their grades will be added to Google Classroom.
• We started some very preliminary work on our next topic: Rational Numbers.
• Next week we will jump into this topic and classify rational numbers and begin operations with rational numbers.

Science w/ Mrs. Farris – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes –  
• We created a double helix model using twizzlers and gumdrops!
• The gumdrops represented the four DNA bases, and students were challenged to develop genetic codes.
• We wrapped up the week with a successful vocabulary quiz—great job, 8th grade!

Music w/ Mrs. Chelsey – 

• Friday morning we went on our field trip to Jamie Peck Productions recording studio! We all worked together to meld our thoughts for what instruments the students wanted and the specific sound they were going for. Jamie was incredible at taking our ideas and turning them into a background track that we will then continue working with in the classroom. Next up, crafting lyrics for the verses and chorus!!

CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS

You know it’s cold when 20 degree weather has you saying, “Oh, it’s not that bad out!” Or you know it’s cold when wind feels more like a whip- to the face. However… You know what the perfect counter to winter’s fury is? Youthful enthusiasm. If you haven’t braved the elements just to make sure the kids can have fun in the snow, you haven’t had the full WCDS experience! We finished this week off with a spelling bee! Congrats to Tesla and Trennan! Tesla was the winner. Trennan came in 2nd. See details about 8th’s field trip being moved to next Friday.

English w/ Mr. Rouse – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes- Aimsweb on Tuesday.
• Started The Prince of Nowhere.
• I had them present the chapters they’ve read to their substitute teacher.
• Ended the week with workshopping the writing of previous students.

Math w/ Mrs. Boldrick –

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – Pythagorean Theorem and Triangles, Wed. January 29
• We continued using the Pythagorean Theorem to solve for the hypotenuse of a triangle.
• The students also learned how to solve for a missing leg measurement.
• While they are given the chance to use calculators to calculate square roots, the students had to round their answers to the nearest hundredth. We reviewed rounding numbers, which is a skill they needed a refresher on.
• We’ll move on to measuring lengths of triangles next week.

Science w/ Mrs. Farris – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes –  Vocabulary Quiz Thursday Jan 23rd 
• This week, students built a foundational vocabulary in genetics and DNA. 
• The new vocabulary learned will be key next week as we create DNA models and review concepts.
• The 8th grade also met with the 7th grade students to provide insight to this year’s plant moon environmental designs.

Music w/ Mrs. Chelsey – 

• Although our plans changed with the field trip this week, we did a lot of work on our song project in other ways. We did an exercise in knowing how to identify the structure of a song, as well as worked on beginning to put together the first steps of what our song will be like. It’s exciting to brainstorm ideas and see where the song will go!!
• Their music journal entry this week was “How does music influence your mood?”

CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS

That’s right folks, there was a bunch of snow and WCDS’s first ever (probably) back-to-back closings. Something our grandparents would groan about and say, “When I was younger, we wore wooden shoes with straw in ’em, and we had to walk across a frozen river just to get to school in the winter!” Students were particularly rested and giddy. How can we blame them? Snow activities are a staple of growing up, and it was nice to see the students share that on Wheeling Park’s enormous campus. We shall see if next week is a full one! Please see details below about 8th’s music trip next Friday.

Students are encouraged to participate in the middle school spelling bee on Friday. Study guides can be found here.

English w/ Mr. Rouse – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – None
• With a shorter week, we didn’t cover as much, but we did complete our warm-ups. This week, we covered a lot of the different functions a preposition can have and punctuation.
• On Monday, students will need the book, The Prince of Nowhere by Rochelle Hassan.
• We workshopped thesis paragraphs on dress codes. Our thesis paragraph exercises are designed to get students familiar with generating introductory paragraphs following a certain formula. 

Math w/ Mrs. Boldrick –

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – Square Roots (radicals) Quiz, Tuesday, December 17

Math w/ Mrs. Howells

• No Upcoming Tests or Quizzes 
• We continued our introduction into inequalities that began before the holiday break.
• Our focus skill was graphing inequalities on a number line.
• Started solving inequalities with addition.
• The students picked up quickly on these since the process is the same as solving for the unknown in equations.

Science w/ Mrs. Farris – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – no test or quiz scheduled 
• Students were introduced to genetics by taking a trait quiz and comparing their traits with classmates. They then created a chart to highlight similarities and differences. 
• Next, we made genetic gingerbread models to demonstrate how traits are inherited. These activities set the stage for our next study on DNA!

Music w/ Mrs. Chelsey – 

• It was great to see the students again! We played some rhythm games this week and discussed our class songwriting project. 
• FIELD TRIP!!! We will be taking a field trip next Friday, January 17th from 8:30-10am to Jamie Peck Production Studios. Jamie is an Emmy award winning composer and producer, and this is where we will begin our songwriting project. We will be taking the van to and from middle school. Students must arrive at middle school by 8:00am, as the van will be leaving at 8:15am. Permission slips will be going home asap! I’m very much looking forward to this!!