Mr. Waxler's Class

First of all, I want to thank everyone who signed up for the email notifications.  By working together I believe your child will have the greatest opportunity for success.

However, please understand that the homework and/or content of any given day is subject to change.  During the course of a lesson students may go through material quicker than anticipated or may “dig” deeper into a subject than originally anticipated.  Good teaching involves making adjustments to lesson plans and assignments when necessary.  Feel free to contact me at any time if you ever have any questions.

Well, the first week got off to a great start!

After focusing the first few days on rules, procedures, and expectations, we started our first unit on Geography.  On Friday of last week, students created map “puzzle pieces” and questions that will be used to play a game in Monday’s class. The puzzle pieces will be used to create a large classroom political map.

Tuesday and Wednesday we will move onto examining physical maps.  Students will be identifying and labeling the major physical features (both water and land) in the United States.  Thursday will be spent reviewing everything we have done so far in this unit and students will take their first test of the quarter on Friday.

Have a nice week,
Adam Waxler

Homework

Monday 8/31
Complete blank political map: fill in all 50 states.

Tuesday 9/1
Pick any three physical features (water) from today’s lesson that you would like to visit.  Write down one state the physical feature borders or is located in and the latitude and longitude coordinates for each.  Use the physical map on textbook p. RA4 – RA5 for help.

Example: I would like to visit the Great Salt Lake in Utah (41 N, 112 W)

Wednesday 9/2
Pick any three physical features (land) from today’s lesson that you would like to visit.  Write down one state the physical feature borders or is located in and the latitude and longitude coordinates for each.  Use the physical map on textbook p. RA4 – RA5 for help.

Example: I would like to visit Mt McKinley in Alaska (150 W, 61 N)

Thursday 9/3
Ticket-to-the-Test: This is an optional homework assignment that I give the night before EVERY test.  Students are to create their own test questions AND answers (minimum of 10) based on the content of the unit.  Those students who create the Ticket-to-the-Test can hand it in BEFORE the test and receive 3 Bonus points on the test.

Friday 9/4
No Homework

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Hello and welcome to Mr. Waxler’s classroom blog.  I created this site to help parents (and students) stay informed about what is happening in 8th grade social studies at Haile Middle School.

Each week I will post the homework for the week as well as any other important information pertaining to your child’s social studies class.  Whenever homework is not from the textbook (which will be quite often) I will try to make a pdf version available on this site.  However, in order to read/download/print those .pdf files you should have the latest version of Adobe Reader.  You can download it free right here: Get Adobe Reader FREE!

If you would like to bookmark, email, download, or print any of the blog posts simply use the “share” button below each post.

**Also, make sure to sign up for email notifications so you can be automatically notified whenever I update the blog with new homework or other important information.

Best Wishes,
Adam Waxler

Week of August 24th – August 28th

Of course, Monday & Tuesday will be spent on introductions, class rules, procedures, and a general overview of the class.  On Wednesday, students will take a short quiz based on the rules, procedures, and why we study history.  Once we get past that, the rest of the week will be spent on our first unit of the year: Geography.

Don’t worry…I know the students spent all of last year studying world geography.  The first unit this year will last only about one week and should be mostly a review.

I believe it is important to start with a unit on U.S. geography prior to studying U.S. history as this will help lay the foundation for most everything else the students will learn this year (such as how the colonies developed different cultures and economies, differences between how the colonists and the Native Americans adapted to their environments, differences between the north and the south, the impact on westward expansion, understanding how major battles unfolded, etc.)

Homework

Monday 8/24

Students and parents should read over “welcome letter” and “syllabus” together and sign both.  (pdf version of syllabus)

Tuesday 8/25
Review notes for tomorrow’s quiz on classroom procedures, syllabus, and why we study history.

Wednesday 8/26
No Homework

Thursday 8/27
Complete Coordinate Matching Sheet (pdf version)

Friday 8/28
No Homework

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