8th Grade Newsletter
April Showers Bring May Flowers - and LOTS of Activities!
April has arrived, bringing an exciting and busy time for our 8th graders! With spring in full bloom, we have a few months packed with engaging experiences, unforgettable trips, and special celebrations.
This month students will have the chance to deepen their understanding of the environment at the Ecology School, enjoy a well-earned Spring Break, and step back in time with a historical visit to Philadelphia
As the school year winds down, we’re also looking forward to major milestone events. The Semi-Formal Dinner Dance promises an evening of fun and memories, while 8th Grade Promotion will be a meaningful celebration of their middle school journey and the exciting transition to high school.
This is an important edition with information about End of Year Events, so please reach out if you have any questions!
Upcoming Dates
April 2-4 - Ecology School Experience
April 14-18 - April Break!
April 23-25 - Philadelphia Adventure
May 16 - Semi-formal Dinner Dance
May 29 - JCC Swim and Tennis Club Visit
June 9 - 8th grade promotion ceremony 9am-10am
End of Year Activities
Academy of International Studies 8th Grade End-of-Year Activities Information 2025
Semi-Formal Dance
When: Friday, May 16, 2023 - 6:00 pm-8:30 pm
Where: Academy of International Studies Cafeteria
Cost: $25
This evening event is an opportunity for students to socialize with their peers in a semi-formal setting. Dinner will be served, and students have the chance to mingle and dance! The dinner menu will be shared closer to the event. Families are responsible for picking up their children at the end of the event. Rideshare (Uber, Lyft, etc.) is NOT allowed. Students and families must also agree to the Activity Behavior Policy, outlined on the attached sheet.
To pay for the event students may bring cash to Ms. Percoski or scan the QR Code below:
8th Grade Outing - Mandell JCC Swim and Tennis Club
When: Thursday, May 29, 2025 - 9:00 pm -2:00 pm
Where: Mandell JCC Swim and Tennis Club
Cost: $35
This trip is sure to be a fun-filled day and serves as a culminating experience for our students. At the JCC, in Bloomfield, CT, students can swim, dance, and hang out with each other. There are lifeguards on duty. A pizza lunch will be provided to all students. If there are dietary restrictions, please reach out to lpercoski@crec.org to order a bagged lunch from school. Busses will depart our school at 8:30 am and will arrive back around 1:45 pm - in time for students to take their regular transportation home.
The permission form will be on PowerSchool. Students must have a completed permission form AND payment to attend.
To pay for the event students may bring cash to Ms. Percoski or scan the QR Code below:
8th Grade Promotion Ceremony
When: Monday, June 9, 2025, 9:00 am - 10:00 am
Where: Academy of International Studies Auditorium
Cost: No cost
Each eighth grader to be promoted to ninth grade will receive two tickets for family members to attend the ceremony as seating is limited. Tickets will be distributed on Wednesday, June 4th.
If your family needs additional tickets, please contact Ms. Percoski (lpercoski@crec.org) by Friday, May 30th . Although we cannot guarantee extra tickets, we will do our best to accommodate.
If your family is not going to use both tickets, please contact Ms. Percoski (lpercoski@crec.org) so we can offer them to another family.
Students are encouraged to wear dressy attire as they will be on stage during the ceremony.
In addition, because this event will be the culminating activity of their middle school experience, students must have satisfied all obligations to participate.
Students must have returned, replaced, or paid for the following:
School-provided locks
Library Books
Athletic Uniforms
Chromebooks/Laptops
*This list is not exhaustive. Students may have other debts that have accrued over time.
These materials will be collected before the promotional ceremony. Please check in with your child, and if necessary, their teachers, to ensure that they have met all obligations.
PowerSchool Directions for Field Trips
To complete the online permission slip form, please login to your CREC PowerSchool Parent Portal account at https://crec.powerschool.com/public/ or by opening the PowerSchool app on your phone.
If logging into the Parent Portal, select the Forms icon and then click on the form to open. If using the PowerSchool App on your phone, go to the More menu, then Forms, and click on the form to open.
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Para completar el formulario de permiso en línea, inicie sesión en su cuenta del Portal para padres de CREC PowerSchool en https://crec.powerschool.com/public/ o abriendo la aplicación PowerSchool en su teléfono.
Si inicia sesión en el Portal para padres, seleccione el ícono Formularios y luego haga clic en el formulario para abrirlo. Si usa la aplicación PowerSchool en su teléfono, vaya al menú Más, luego a Formularios y haga clic en el formulario para abrirlo.
Class Updates
Reading - Students have finished Part 1 of Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James Houston. We are taking our time to learn new vocabulary as well as analyze the film adaptation of the memoir alongside the text. My readers continue to impress me with their ability to ask higher-level questions and think deeply about the content in this module. We are preparing for a summative discussion at the end of this quarter.
History -In U.S. History students have just begun their 3rd Unit of Study on Westward Expansion of the United States. In this unit students will analyze how Global Interactions about power & resources change based on perspective. Students Summative for this Unit will be a written Document Based Question Response that will be assessed for Criterion A: Knowing & Understanding and Criterion C:Communicating. This will be students final Criterion C summative for the year. I will be letting students know in the coming weeks how they can get extra practice with their writing for those who are interested.
Spanish - Students in my Spanish class are doing their presentations in the Unit 6B “La Casa y los Quehaceres”. Students will be ending this unit with reading comprehension activities to review some of the conjugation and grammar. Then students will start the new Unit 7A “¿Cuánto cuesta? with the new vocabulary and grammar. Talk about cloths, shopping, and prices. Talk about want and what you prefer, point out specific items, understanding cultural perspectives on shopping. This unit will end with a t-shirt presentation where they will be modeling their design t-shirt from the Hispanic speaking country given. Directions will be post in Schoology, explain to students, work at home on their design, and preparation for their presentation in the classroom.
Writing - Happy spring! The 8th grade Writing classes have just completed their research papers on various topics of interest. Kudos to them for their hard work over the past month! As they continue to read Farewell to Manzanar and view the film of the same title in their Reading classes, they will be learning about and preparing for their next written piece, a literary argument essay, in Writing. As a result of their work in both classes, students will gain significant knowledge of the Japanese American internment.
Please check to make sure that your child has an adequate supply of pencils and pens. Thank you!
Science - In science class, we will explore more about how animal develop extra big muscles. So far, we have learned that muscles are made up of two proteins, actin and myosin and that diet and exercise can influence muscle growth. However these are not the only factors that contribute to muscle growth but also genetic factors. We will first explore pedigrees that follow traits and families and learn about sexual reproduction which involves sperm, eggs and proteins, phenotype and genotype. Then they will utilize these new vocabulary words to explain the phenomenon of extra big muscle cows in a summative. Students will then further their knowledge of genetics using Punnett squares.
Math - For math, we will begin Unit 8 Pythagorean Theorem and Irrational Numbers as we start quarter 4 and hopefully get into unit 5 Functions and Volume as we end the school year. Please remind your student that every homework assignment is due every Friday. There will be a couple of districts assessments to do along with SBA assessments and other school events so please encourage them to also attend school, so they don't miss any classes as we are down to 48 school days. Lastly, please have your students be prepared for class with pencils. Thank you for your support!
What do you want to see more of?
Email Lee-Ann Percoski at lpercoski@crec.org with any suggestions for the next installment of our Newsletter!