More Earthquakes 1-23 to 1-27

By Mr. Schwieger on January 23, 2012 8:22 PM | No Comments
Tip of the Week:

Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary;
 it's highly superfluous.


This week we will plot a number of earthquakes then use this information to locate a mystery quake somewhere on earth. It's more fun than it sounds (I hope).

Time to Shake Things Up! 1-9 to 1-13

By Mr. Schwieger on January 9, 2012 8:44 AM | No Comments
Earthquakes are the topic with labs involving sketching, coloring and corn starch. 

Be sure to ask them about the corn starch.

Almost Time To Break 12-12 to 12-16

By Mr. Schwieger on December 12, 2011 11:20 AM | No Comments
This is Fire Hunter testing week (either Tuesday or Wednesday). We are also finishing up on our Walking With The Dinosaurs activity. There will be no homework over the break and after break we will shake things up a bit by starting our earthquake and volcano unit. 

Earth History: 11-14 to 11-21

By Mr. Schwieger on November 12, 2011 7:38 AM | No Comments

Eighth graders have started reading Fire Hunter, a novel written in the 1950s by author Jim Kjelgaard. It is the story of a clan of prehistoric people and the dangerous lives they lived 30,000 years ago. 

This novel will be finished in early December with either one or two chapters due each class period. Students have all the chapter due dates on their question/answer sheets so please check these for specific due dates.

For this week:
                      Section 2A has chapters 1 and 2 due on Mon., chapter 3 on Wed. and chapter 4 on Fri.

                      Sections 2B and 4B have chapters 2 and 3 due Tue. and chapter 4 due on Thu.



Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Firehunter.jpgThumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Firehunter.jpgThumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Firehunter.jpgThumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Firehunter.jpgThumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Firehunter.jpgThumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Firehunter.jpg

3-D Digestion Project: Weeks of 9-19 to 9-30

By Mr. Schwieger on September 22, 2011 6:54 PM | No Comments
Once again our 8th graders are learning about the human digestive system and once again this unit ends with students presenting their homework digestive projects. This project is quite detailed and stresses both student creativity and student knowledge gained during the unit.

Eighth graders have seen examples of projects from last year and they are armed with detailed class notes and a sheet that lists what is looked for when the project is graded. We have talked about this project each class period for the last few weeks. Minimum time required for the project is about 6 hours and students have been given 3 weekends to complete their work (2 weekends remain).

Parents are encouraged to prod when needed but should not become actively involved in the work itself. Eighth grade workmanship is usually a few levels below what adults are capable of and my grading scale certainly takes this into account. What appears to be sloppy work does not necessarily translate into a low score.

I have suggested that students spend no money on their projects but rather use items found around the house. They often take this quite literally but spending 5 or 10 dollars is certainly allowed.

Projects are due on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 4th and 5th at the start of class.
Archives