8th Grade

34

Teacher: Ms.Caitlin Corrieri
ststansfr8@yahoo.com
Aide: Mrs. Cori Cunningham

International Night Summer Assignment

Grades 6-8

Over the summer, browse through books, talk to the adults in your family, and look at such sites as www.historyforkids.org  or www.bbc.co.uk/history/forkids . 

Make a list of 5 different countries and/or other history topics you would like to research for your International Night Project.  You will only research 1 topic, but it’s important that you choose 5.   All students names will be put in a hat, and as each name is pulled that student will select their final country or topic from their list.  Other students who may have that country or topic on their list must then cross it out. No two students will be allowed to research the same country or topic.

Hint:  If your choosing a history topic, avoid large epics and select single events or people.

Examples:

Instead of                                             Choose

Civil War                                             Battle of Gettysburg

Ancient Egypt                                     The Building of the Pyramids

World War II                                       General Eisenhower

Cold War                                             Espionage During the Cold War

Ancient Rome                                      Julius Caesar

The Development of Theater              Musical Theater

Archaeology                                        Excavating the The Terra Cotta Army of Qin Shihuagdi

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Science Fair Summer Assignment

Next year, the students in grades 7 and 8 will be participating in the 2009 St. Stanislaus School Science Fair.  This year, 7 of our students went to the Regional Science Fair at Bristol Community College.  Four of our students won achievement awards.  Science fairs began in the United States in 1928 when the American Institute of New York organized a children’s fair to promote domestic industry.  There are many reasons to participate in a science fair including…..

-                     learning how to think scientifically

-                     making one’s own observations about the world

-                     working with people in the community and talking with professional scientists

-                     adding to the world’s knowledge with your data

-                     developing new skills such as researching, measuring and calculating. 

The students will be taught how to write a research paper and how to cite their sources using the APA format.  They will also be taught the scientific method.  Each student’s job this summer is to come up with 3 to 5 testable questions, and a written explanation of how each would be tested, from which they will choose their science project.  These are due on the first day of school.  A testable question is one that you can observe.  When you want to prove a theory true or false you must create an experiment that will test one thing.  When you set up a controlled situation and purposely change just one thing you have a changing variable.  The project must be experimental in nature – mere demonstrations are not permitted.  State regulations prohibit the use of animals in experimentation. 

Examples of some testable questions that are very specific include…..

-                     What is the effect of dilution on reducing water pollution?

-                     Are there solid particles in the air we breathe?

-                     What materials are biodegradable?

There are some excellent web sites with science fair ideas:

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/  - this site has a science fair topic wizard that suggests topics based on quick interest survey questions that the student answers

http://pbskids.org/dragonflytv/scifair/ - this site features a science fair spinner that suggests interesting topics

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sciencefaircentral/elmers/250projectideas.html

http://www.lasciencefair.org/ideas.htm

http://www.sciencebob.com/lab/sciencefair/resources.html

http://www.juliantrubin.com/sciencefairprojectsaz.html - scroll down past the sponsored ads to see a huge a-z list of projects

Students will receive specific details in the fall regarding a timeline as to when various aspects of this project will be due.

Homework Assignment:	Date Assigned:	Due Date
Finish any classwork that was not completed [unless instructed otherwise]   8th Algebra- Group A - WB p. 42 26-36 odds and p. 43 1-24 odds 8th Algebra- Group B -  worksheet p.33 1-18 8th Algebra- Group C - WB p. 42 26-36 odds and p. 43 1-24 odds 8th Religion-   Study chapters 1-6 for test on 11/20 8th Social Studies-  Report due on person of choice 8th Science-  8th English- Rough draft of all body paragraphs for Science Fair paper ia due 8th French- 8th Reading-  8th Reading- 8th Reading- Short story test 8th English- Journal entries are due. (You will be graded on 15 journal entries)	11/19/08 11/19/08 11/19/08 11/12/08 11/17/08 11/13/08 11/14/08 11/13/08	11/20/08 11/20/08 11/20/08 11/20/08 11/20/08 11/20/08 11/19/08 11/19/08