Mrs. Miller's 8th Grade Science

I hope everyone had a good and relaxing summer break. 

Science is all around you.  In my class we like to have fun while we're learning, so I'm making sure we have lab experiments and other interesting activities to help us learn.  

Check this webpage for more information on assignments, activities, and so on.  

Don't forget to check your Genesis site for grades.  If parents ever have any questions, please contact me by e-mail at millers@mvdistrict.net, or you can call the school at 768-9196.  And of course parents and students can talk to me at school anytime.

Good luck this year, and let's have some fun learning about science.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Miller

I look forward to getting to know each of my students during the year.  In the meantime, here's a little bit about me...

I have a Bachelor's degree in Humanities and Philosophy, a Master's degree in Educaton and am currently working towards a second Master's degree in Psychology.

I used to teach 5th and 6th grades at Mohave Valley Elementary before I came to the Junior High in 2004.  For my first few years here I taught Science and Social Studies, but now I'm just teaching Science. 

I grew up in Needles and went to school there, so there's a chance that if your family has lived here a while I might know one of your relatives.  I am married and have three children, with two going to college and the third doing volunteer work for the library.  I have four dogs (Betty, Polly, Raven and Lollipop) and two cats (Runt and Arnie).  Most days you'll see me riding to school on my motorcycle.  I also trail ride on my dirt bike - and 'no' I don't do wheelies, at least not on purpose. 

My favorite shows are Invader Zim, Underdog, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Popeye -- and you'll see them and hear about them in my classroom.  Eureka and Warehouse 13 are also pretty cool.  Also, whenever there's an interesting program on the sci-fi, science, national geographic and history channels I'll try to catch them.  "The Universe", "Journey to the Edge of the Universe" and "Time" have been some of the good ones.

I like hearing about what my students do, so when we have a few spare minutes tell me about your weekend or what you like to do for fun.  If you're an artist, let me see your artwork.  If you play sports, how did your team do?    Let me get to know a little bit about you!

Supplies....

You must always bring a pencil, paper, your agenda and your brain. 

Homework....

I generally do not assign daily homework and we finish most of our assignments in the classroom.  If you didn't finish your assignment in class, then it is homework.   If you are absent, it is up to you to make sure you get what you missed and turn it in.  In the back of the room is a box where I put extra worksheets.  It is your resonsibility to look in the box and get what you missed.

At the beginning of each week, I will post our weekly agenda on the poster-boards in the front of the room.  Also, as the quarter progresses, I will post previous vocabulary words on our door.  Those vocabulary words will also be in the worksheet box at the back of the room.

All papers (unless otherwise indicated) should have the following in the upper right-hand corner:

First and last name

Period

Teacher name

Date

If you have any questions, please ask me.  You might be responsible for your own work, but it is good to clear up any confusion before it gets too late.  This goes for every one of your classes, not just Science.

In the front of the classroom, there are poster-boards listing what we will be doing for the week.  Students can copy this down in their agenda on Mondays (for the week) or daily.  There should (almost) never be a reason you don't know about an assignment or test, because it is (almost) always posted in the front of the room for them to see.

In general, our weekly agenda will be:

Mondays - Introduce what we're studying for the week and work on vocabulary words.

Tuesdays - Take notes from the textbook.

Wednesdays - Activities or worksheets.

Thursdays - Review and test.

Friday - This day varies.  There may be worksheets or an activity, or we might review what we have done on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.  All  completed work from the week is due on Friday.

Of course, there are short weeks, minimum days, assemblies, and so on throughout the year.  There will be weeks that we don't follow this schedule exactly, but this is the general plan.  The agenda posted in the front of the room will let you know if there are any changes.

Remember: if you miss anything, it is your responsibility to make it up.  Extra worksheets are in the back of the room in the worksheet box.