8th

Middle School End of the Year Dates 

May 19th – 6th/7th – “Why Wheeling” Exhibition @ 5:00 pm at Towngate Theatre

May 21st – 8th Grade Capstone Graduation @ 5:00 pm at the Bandstand WPMay 22nd – WCDS Field Day (8th grade not required to attend, 6th/7th should arrive between 10:30 am – 11:00 am at Main Campus)

May 22nd – WCDS Field Day (8th grade not required to attend, 6th/7th should arrive between 10:30 am – 11:00 am at Main Campus)

It’s hard to believe that in one week we will be sending our 8th Grade off to high school. Please see all details surrounding the last week of school and especially the details regarding Capstone. This week was a good one, we ended with the Middle School Olympics, a day of arranged field day style games organized by Joe and Carrie. We also took a trip to Main Campus to watch the launch of this year’s weather balloon!

English w/ Mr. Rouse –

• Students wrapped up their speeches and research paper. We are officially done, and it’s hard to believe that we will be sending these kids on next week.

May 14th – 7th Grade to STEM Lab @ WVU

May 15th – 6th/7th –  start at Main Campus for Weather Balloon

                  8th – Last Day of Internships

May 16th – Middle School Olympics/Swim Party –  (Each year we have the middle school participate in a fun morning of competition and then end the day swimming at Wheeling Park Pool) 

May 19th – 6th/7th – “Why Wheeling” Exhibition @ 5:00 pm at Towngate Theatre

May 21st – 8th Grade Capstone Graduation @ 5:00 pm at the Bandstand WP

May 22nd – WCDS Field Day (8th grade not required to attend, 6th/7th should arrive between 10:30 am – 11:00 am at Main Campus)

May is the fastest, slowest month of the school year. The weather finally turns, the schedule gets packed, the kids get restless with anticipation for what’s ahead. Not much longer! If you have a maternal figure in your life, don’t forget to appreciate and show gratitude for them!

English w/ Mr. Rouse – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes- Aimsweb Next Monday (May 12th)

• Students spent most of the week at Bechtel Summit Reserve. See pictures below!
• We worked on conclusion paragraphs and talked about what the remaining weeks of English would look like.

Math w/ Mrs. Boldrick –

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – none scheduled
• Because of the 8th grade trip, the students have been away from math class.
• They will use time next week to catch up to the other students in class.

Math w/ Mrs. Howells

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – none scheduled
• Because of the 8th grade trip, the students have been away from math class.
• They will use time next week to catch up to the other students in class.

Science w/ Mrs. Farris – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – No test or quiz scheduled 
• Students brought their contraptions to life! 
• They shared scientific explanations of how their simple machines worked, showcasing their understanding of energy in action.
• It was a fun and meaningful way to wrap up our energy unit!

CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS

Research Paper Due – May 16th

Aimsweb for English (8th) – May 12th

We had a wonderful time camping at Bechtel Summit Reserve. The weather was beautiful, and we filled every minute with exploring the massive campground, hiking, fishing, swimming, s’mores making, archery, and even rifle shooting. We kept the kids busy, and it was a wonderful time for bonding before sending 8th off to high school. A few of the highlights were, TJ swimming across the one of the many lakes- multiple times, and Adrienne was the only one to hit a moving target with an arrow. Between that and her marksmanship, a few of us wondered if perhaps she has a background in espionage.

English w/ Mr. Rouse –

Upcoming Tests/Quizzes- Aimsweb Next Monday (May 12th)

• Students spent most of the week at Bechtel Summit Reserve. See pictures below!
• We worked on conclusion paragraphs and talked about what the remaining weeks of English would look like.

Math w/ Mrs. Boldrick –

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – none scheduled
• Because of the 8th grade trip, the students have been away from math class.
• They will use time next week to catch up to the other students in class.

Math w/ Mrs. Howells

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – none scheduled
• Because of the 8th grade trip, the students have been away from math class.
• They will use time next week to catch up to the other students in class.

Science w/ Mrs. Farris – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – No test or quiz scheduled 
• Students brought their contraptions to life! 
• They shared scientific explanations of how their simple machines worked, showcasing their understanding of energy in action.
• It was a fun and meaningful way to wrap up our energy unit!

CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS

Every year, Madame McAteer gathers and works with a host of people to bring about a day dedicated to cultures outside of the United States. This year was one of the most wonderful and well orchestrated days, yet! It was lovely touring the school and listening to various representatives talk about their homeland. Please see details about 8th’s final paper. We’re almost finished!

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

• Final Paper Due: May 16th
• We briefly covered how to work through conclusions.
• We continued peer review and individual conferences.

Math w/ Mrs. Boldrick –

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – Functions Quiz, when 8th grade returns to class after their trip 
• The students continue to work with Conrad Borchers from Carnegie Mellon. They are getting used to the format and catching on to the material. 
• Concurrent with Conrad’s lessons, the students are learning about the slope of a line, and how the line shows a rate of change.
• The students will learn more about linear equations and the slope of a line with an online graphing program called Desmos. We’ll be doing a final project with this program.

Science w/ Mrs. Farris – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – No test or quiz scheduled 
• Each student was assigned to revise their prototype, draft an explanation, or create a cartoon before our class.
• They shared their updates with their groups and then finalized their contraptions in preparation for next week’s final build! 

CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS

From a week of summer to a week of winter. If you ceremoniously put your clothes away to mark the turning of the year, it’s time to drag the boxes back out. What a cold and brutal week. As always, a little bad weather can’t stop our kids from making the most of it! See details above about important dates. Remember, midterms are going to go out next week. The 8th Graders are going to get a placeholder grade for their Research Paper and some feedback about how it’s been going. It won’t be long before we are done!

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

• We continued our writing and review of our research papers.
• This week, I had the students turn in a midpoint draft. I’m very happy with where the papers are, and few students are nearly complete!
• I had a few students share their paper with the class to model the actual workshop format,

Math w/ Mrs. Howells

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – none scheduled 
• Everyone worked hard this week in math class!
• The students applied many pre-requisite skills to adding and subtracting positive and negative fractions and mixed numbers.
• It was a relief to switch gears and move into multiplying fractions which require less steps and a simpler process.
• Next week we will continue multiplying and dividing fractions and mixed numbers.

Science w/ Mrs. Farris – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – No test or quiz scheduled 
• We learned about Rube Goldberg and his unique impact on STEM education. Students enjoyed discovering how he combined his passion for cartooning with his engineering background to create humorously complex machines.
• His imaginative style still shows up today—in music videos, commercials, and marketing campaigns!
• Let the creativity begin – 8th graders have been challenged to design and build their own Rube Goldberg contraptions to include a minimum of 2 simple machines and 5 steps. 

CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS

Well, I think we can confidently say winter is behind us; however, April came in with what I would say is its adage. Which is to say, there were plenty of showers this week. Still, as you guys can probably guess, the rain doesn’t stop us from appreciating this beautiful campus, and we look forward to those eventual (May) flowers! Thank you to all who came to Celebrate and showed your support!

English w/ Mr. Rouse – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes- none.
• Continued peer review and individual conferencing.
• We revised and turned in our midpoint drafts.

Math w/ Mrs. Howells

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – none scheduled 
• This week began with a continuation of prime factorization.
• This led into finding Greatest Common Factors (GCF) and Least Common Multiples (LCM). 
• These foundational skills were then applied to the process of adding fractions, including both positive and negative fractions, which necessitated a review of integer operations. 
• We also revisited the concepts of proper and improper fractions, as well as mixed numbers.
• Next week we continue with fraction and mixed number operations.

Science w/ Mrs. Farris – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – No test or quiz scheduled 
• This week, students were introduced to simple machines—and many were surprised to learn that a machine does not need a motor to do work!
• We defined key concepts such as work, force, power, and the differences between simple and complex machines. 
• To reinforce their learning, students completed a digital review on simple machines and prepared for their energy unit test.

Music w/ Mrs. Chelsey – 

• 8th grade will now be in sculpting for the remainder of the year, but I will continue to edit our song and once it’s ready, I will share it!! You will all get to hear it at graduation! Thank you for a great year of music making together!! 

CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS

Well, it’s about that time! We get to see what the mad scientist and his apprentices (students) were able to come up with! The art looks terrific, and we are excited to see, speak, and bid with you guys at Celebrate! Please check out the online auctions we have set up for the art pieces, the students put a lot of creativity and hard work into the pieces! Outside of Celebrate, 7th toured the WV State Capitol on Thursday, and we had a special visitor for our Deep Dive! Please check the link for different details about upcoming events.

English w/ Mr. Rouse –

Upcoming Tests/Quizzes- none.

• We covered MLA format and broke it down using Purdue Owl. We used the knowledge and website to make revisions where needed regarding format.
• We peer reviewed, and I personally met with most of the students.
• We continued writing for the research paper.

Math w/ Mrs. Boldrick –

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – none scheduled 
• Students were introduced to solving inequalities this week. This is closely related to solving equations – except that they need to understand greater than and less than.
• We’ll continue solving one, two, and multi-step inequalities next week.
• All work is posted in Google Classroom. I encourage them to check their assignments daily, as well as use their planners for any assignments and the due dates.

Science w/ Mrs. Farris – 

• Upcoming Tests/Quizzes – Energy Unit Test Friday, April 4th 
• This week, we explored how kinetic energy depends on mass and velocity by calculating it with a formula. 
• To see it in action, we compared the impact of a 12-gram vs. 24-gram plastic egg dropped into flour, then graphed our results.
• We wrapped up the week by building spool cars and applying our understanding of energy types, conversion, and troubleshooting skills!

Music w/ Mrs. Chelsey – 

• This week students continued perfecting the “cup song” rhythm at different speeds, which was fun! They also broke off into small groups and created their own 30 second rhythm routine using whatever props they wanted – they came up with some great beats!!
• Our music journal entry this week was “How can music help us learn about different cultures?”

CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS

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?”

CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS

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;)