1st Nine-week Grading Period to End

The 1st grading period is to end on October 29, 2013.

Color guard clinics to end!

The last color guard clinic of 2013 will be on Tuesday, October 29.  We will continue to offer them in 2014 so stay tuned!

Magazine sale - ½ way point!

Student Council is halfway through its magazine sale!  

Please remind your students to sell magazines to support student council – it’s the main way that we support all of the awesome programs we offer throughout the school year! 

Thank you for your support!

This week...

Weds.
 Reading: Theme Anaylsis due

Thurs.
Social studies: Chpt 2Test

Fri. 
Science: Week 1 Assessment
Reading: Outsiders movie


Upcoming Dates!
10/22
Reading: AR due

10/29/13
1st nine-weeks ends

Veterans Day Experience essay due soon!

A reminder to students who signed up to participate in the Veterans Day Experience Field Trip on November 8:

Your essay response and questions for veterans is due to Mr. Smith on Tuesday, October 15 if you would still like to attend the event

PSSA Testing

Students in the 8th grade will be taking state PSSA tests this school year.

March 17-28, 2014

Reading/Math PSSA Tests

March 31 - April 4, 2014

Writing PSSA Test

April 28 - May 2, 2014

Science PSSA Test

Read more from the State Department of Education.

PSSA Reminder: Avoid scheduling doctor appointments, vacations or other out-of-school activities during testing times. Participation in PSSA exams is a state requirement. Making up tests pulls students from their regular classes. As a result, they will miss valuable class time. It will be students' responsibility to make up any classwork you miss. Of course, if students are genuinely ill, please stay at home and take the necessary time off to get well. Students will perform better on a test if they are healthy.

Events and Dates

Friday, October 11

 [Social Studies] Current Events 2 DUE

7:00pm [Event] Halloween Social

Monday, October 14

  No School - Teacher In-service ACT 80

Friday, October 18

11:59am

 [Event] Outsiders movie

Tuesday, October 22

 [Reading] AR Due

Wednesday, October 23

 2-Hour Delay - Teacher In-service

November 4 - 6

3:15pm

Parent-teacher conferences

Thursday, November 7

10:00am

 [Event] Electronic Field Trip

Monday, November 11

 No School - Parent/Teacher Conferences

Wednesday, November 27

 No School - Teacher In-service ACT 80

November 28 - 29

 No School - Thanksgiving break

The 8^th grade calendar is available on Edline.

 

8th Grade Advisory

The 8th grade team is starting their academic advisory program this week. Part of the advisory sessions is planning the student-led conference in the spring. Learn more about advisory at the following website: https://sites.google.com/site/avonworthms8/8th-grade-advisory

Science layered curriculum

A layered curriculum is a unit of study designed to allow students to choose activities from a bank of possible activities. The daily mini-lessons teach specific topics and skills. The layered curriculum’s assignment sheet, a menu of possible tasks, indicates all of the offered activities and their value. Most of the assignments are available on the class website, www.HaskinsSci8.info.

Only a single grade will be on Edline reports for each category such as “C1, C2, etc.” The weight will be as indicated on the assignment sheet.

When your child has completed an assignment, the teacher will sign the assignment sheet (menu) in the science notebook. All graded work should be glued, taped or stapled into science notebook on a left hand page after it has been graded. Here are some helpful websites to guide you through the layered curriculum:

What is a layered curriculum? 

Assignment and Assessment Choices

Notes

Tutorials and Videos

AMS Grade 8 Parent-teacher conferences

Our parent teacher conferences for November 4 through November 6 are full. If you have an academic concern for your child that you would like to address, we welcome you to meet with us during our Tuesday morning team planning times during the months of November and December. 

If you have any questions or would like to make a request for a conference, please feel free to contact Doug Haskins by email or phone,
(412) 366-9650.

ISS to pass over tonight

Science homework: 

Tonight at 8:30 PM - I.S.S. to flyover Pittsburgh.
You should be able to see it starting southwest at compass 231° and moving toward E, 106°. It should appear as a slow moving, bright star and take at least 3 minutes to pass.

From ISS Spotter App

 Read more...

This week...

Today's text alert message... 

 
October 8
Science: test
Reading: Outsiders 10-12

October 10
English: ad presentation
Advisory
Electronic field trip

October 14 
No School

Science test

The unit test for unit B will be on Tuesday, 10/8/13. The items on the unit test include very general concepts that students should've learned in math and science class during the course of the unit. Use the following page to study for the unit test.