ELA MCAS is coming up. Students are not required to prepare for MCAS. Everything they have done all year has improved their skills; they're ready! If students choose to prepare, there are resources in Schoology, including literary terms flashcards and practice tests. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns! kmlewis@shrewsbury.k12.ma.us

​To kick off our work with systems we first looked at some Solvemoji puzzles. We made connections between the strategies used to solve emoji puzzles and the strategies that can be used to solve systems in algebra.  

Can you solve these student puzzles?

 We are working with atoms, elements, molecules, and compounds. Students have learned about atomic structure, how specific atomic structures make specific elements, learning how atoms combine to form molecules, and molecules are the smallest piece of a compound. Chemical reactions here we come!

Now that trimester two is over, we are moving out of the Middle Ages and into the Early Modern Period of the Renaissance, Reformation, and Age of Discovery.  Students did an excellent job anticipating changes that might occur following the decline of the feudal system, and we were able to take a couple of days to examine Magna Carta and make parallels between it and some of our more modern documents that limit the powers of our leaders and give us basic rights. 

This week, we started specifically looking at the Renaissance and reviewing Greco-Roman achievements to explain how this "re-birth" paved the way for the modern world.  We spent some time with Petrarch and examining how the (often complicated for 8th grade) idea of humanism will affect this time period.  I was really impressed with how well students are able to identify the new themes we are working with.  Today, students are working on creating seals or logos for humanist thought.  I can't wait to see the final products :)