8th Grade Newsletter
We've reached May - time for a lot of activities!
May has arrived, and our 8th graders are heading into a busy and meaningful final stretch of middle school! With the school year winding down, this month is filled with exciting opportunities, important academic milestones, and special celebrations.
Students will continue to participate in Smarter Balanced testing, an important part of measuring their growth and readiness for high school.
We’re also gearing up for major end-of-year events. The Semi-Formal Dinner Dance will offer a fun evening of celebration, while the 8th Grade Promotion Ceremony will mark a proud milestone as students prepare to take their next big step into high school. The JCC Swim & Tennis Club will offer an opportunity for connections before our students take the next step in their academic journeys as they enter high school.
This is an important edition with details about End of Year Events. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions!
Upcoming Dates
May 1 - SBA Assessment
May 7 - SBA Assessment
May 16 - NGSS Assessment
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
All Sign-ups and Payment must be received by FRIDAY, May 2nd! We cannot accept late payments or permission slips.
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 - 8th Grade Readers are rounding the finish line in their reading of Farewell to Manzanar. They have impressed me with their ability to think deeply and respectfully discuss the causes and impacts of Japanese American internment camps in the United States. We will finish the year with some research of organizations that work to support human rights initiatives and a final summative discussion. Students will also have another Greek & Latin roots summative for the Using Language criteria.
History - In U.S. History students are wrapping up their third unit of study on Westward Expansion in the United States. Students will take their Summative Assessment for this unit on 5/1 or 5/2 (final Summative assessment for Criterion A Knowing & Understanding & C Communicating). Students will begin their fourth and final unit of study the first week of May. Unit IV focuses on the growing division in the United States in the 1800’s over Slavery and the fighting of the Civil War. Students will have one final Summative Assessment for Criterion B Investigating and D Thinking Critically to finish the year.
Writing - Happy May! I hope that you are enjoying the beautiful spring weather. In Writing, students are completing their Literary Argumentative Essays this week. This will culminate their comparison of the text and film versions of Farewell to Manzanar and complete the current unit. In the next few weeks, students will be studying and writing several types of poetry including haikus, limericks, and sonnets. They will also continue to sharpen their writing skills through NoRedInk online lessons and practice. As always, thank you for your cooperation and support! 😊
Science - In science class, we had just learned new vocabulary words homozygous and heterozygous to classify genotypes of different musculature of cows. We also learned how to create punnett squares to determine the genotype of future offspring of cows with different muscle types. We will now apply what we learned about genotypes, punnett squares, pedigrees in our goldfish summative. Before our summative, we will review our study guide. In this new month, we will start our new unit on natural selection by studying penguins.
Math - As we enter the last few weeks of the school year, in math we will be finishing unit 8 by the end of April and start the 8th grade SBA assessments. We will learn about functions and volume in Unit 5 as out last unit for the year. Please continue to encourage your student(s) to be prepared to learn and do their best! Thank you!
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!