~ Class of 2022 ~

Homeroom Update:

Ms. T looks forward to meeting with you all this coming week during Parent Teacher Conferences.  If you need to reschedule your in person or Zoom meeting , please reach out to Ms. T directly and we’ll find a time that works to connect face-to-face in the near future. As always, your partnership is appreciated!

10/1: noon dismissal

10/5: presentation from Cristo Rey High School 

10/6: Progress reports coming home

10/6 & 10/7: Parent Teacher Conferences

10/7: noon dismissal

10/8: noon dismissal

10/11: no school (Indigenous Peoples’ Day/ Columbus Day)

10/12: presentation from Holy Names High School

10/14: St. Joe’s field trip/ on-site visit

10/29: Halloween parade @11am/ noon dismissal/ Halloween Party @ 6pm

High School Reminders: October brings many informational events for our local High Schools. We highly advise you visit the website of your prospective schools to keep up to date on virtual events held in the coming weeks! If you are planning on attending a Catholic High School next year, we highly recommend that you consider applying to multiple schools, as the admission process can be competitive and spaces are limited at each site. Please keep in mind that the High School Placement Exam is needed when applying to Catholic High Schools, so you do need to sign your child up for that test. You may take the test through any of the Catholic High Schools that you plan on applying to; the test date will be January 15, 2022.

Social Studies & Religion:

8th grade has been busy learning all about European exploration of the Americas. We’ve studied the Spanish and Portuguese conquests of the Aztec and Incan Empires in central and South America and the deepening of the trans-Atlantic slave trade as a result of the development of sugar plantations in the Carribean. 8th grade has also delved deeper into the foundation of the English colonies in North America, focusing on the importance of religious motivation in the earliest years. In our final week of September, we broke down the different colonial regions and demonstrated our understanding of what made each region unique and profitable during the colonial era. Keeping our historical lenses sharp, we identified how different ethnic groups were treated in different colonial regions, and how social class affected the daily life of indiginous and immigrant peoples during this time. In Religion class, we’ve dedicated time to understanding the foundation of our Caholic Church as an Apostolic ministry and focused on refreshing our understanding of the importance of the seven Sacraments. We’ve also reinforced how to use our Bibles to look up Scripture passages, and had the opportunity to complete our first two Family Life lessons. This month was also special for us as we met our Pre-K buddies for the first time, and led our first Faith Family activities yesterday!  As we look towards October, 8th graders will begin learning about the Council of Jerusalem and the early conflicts within our Christian faith, as well as spend time deepening our connection with Mother Mary during her holy month of the Rosary.

Math & Science:

For Math, 8th grade students have been reviewing “Proportional Relationship” in our math textbooks. We will be learning how to set up algebraic problems, combine like terms, and the distributive property. This review session will serve as our jumping off point into more advanced algebra, so we will take our time on basics so we can form good habits to apply in future algebra classes. Following our section on ratios we will begin preparing for the High School Entrance Exam by reviewing the test materials, coming up with study strategies, and identifying how to use our time wisely. 

For Science, 8th grade students will continue working on chapter 2 “ States of Matter“. We will talk about the fundamentals of the three distinct characters of the states of matter, how they differ from each other, and how they transform into one another.  In conclusion of this chapter we will be moving to “ Elements and the Periodic Table” where we will learn about the basics of chemistry.

ELA:

In Literature, 8th graders are continuing their novel study for My Brother Sam is Dead.  With this novel study they are learning new vocabulary, summarizing, and focusing on note taking skills as they read.  In English, we are continuing to utilize the Noredink website to work on our grammar lessons and practice.  There are a number of students who are behind in their in-class lessons/practice.  For those students, I tell them that it is classwork that turns into homework.  Please feel free to reach out to me via email at angonzales@csdo.org if your student does not have computer/internet access at home. I will then be able to arrange for students to stay after school with me to complete their past due assignments.  Lastly, students are continuing to utilize Duolingo for Spanish.  I have broken down the class into an advanced group and a beginner group. This allows all students to strengthen/grow their skills at their own pace.