Eighth Grade Project!

May used to mean my eighth graders would present their Eighth Grade Project to the class and their parents. I loved doing this, and most of them did too. The hardest part of the project was deciding what to research. The instructions were to research something they were interested in, and I learned there wasn’t much. After the first two years I eliminated sports as a possible topic and changed the instructions to something they didn’t already know about, and would like to learn about. This made it tougher.

Students had to write a paper, teach the class for five minutes, and have two visual aids. This sounds challenging, but they were ready and did well. We heard about historical events, artists, professions, and a lot about food. Once they learned they could bring food in, it became a popular topic. I particularly remember the dishes a Somalian student prepared. The girl’s mother was there and was so proud! I don’t remember any of the names of the dishes but there was ground beef, vegetables, and sweets made with honey. Another favorite topic was ice cream. I will do a blog on ice cream because the history is interesting.

I have fond memories of those wonderful presentations but not about the snake. The student researched boa constrictors, and to my surprise her father brought in the snake for her presentation. That became another topic for elimination!