Combine this experience with the multiple mailings they are now receiving from New Trier High School: tryouts for dance and music programs, the Academic Life meeting (an informational meeting for incoming freshmen and their parents), and of course, numerous forms to complete. This onslaught of information about the high school starts in November. What happened to eighth grade?

I hope my students can summon some of the powers of concentration I am seeing today to remain focused on eighth grade. There is still so much for them to learn here at Marie Murphy School. Over the years I have observed that the students who “stay in the game” until the end of eighth grade are more likely to start strong freshman year. The best predictor of success at the high school is a strong finish to eighth grade.

There was a book that came out way back when I was in middle school called “Be Here Now.” Most of it was pretty easy to dismiss as 1970's psuedo-spiritual dribble, but the central theme of living in the moment is timeless. Several decades earlier, Dale Carnegie popularized the term “living in a day-tight compartment”. The idea is simple: we miss out on the present if we dwell too much on the past or worry endlessly about the future. Now, I'm not big on self-help books or simple solutions to life's complicated problems. But I do see the benefit of this way of living.

My best advice to my eighth graders is to stay in the moment, concentrate on the tasks at hand, and enjoy your remaining time in eighth grade. Namaste!

Here is a link to some Mad Libs you can complete online provided by National Geographic Kids.

The links below are from Classroom Jr Teaching Resources. List your words first, then click on the links and fill in the blanks.

1. adjective
2. plural noun
3. noun
4. noun
5. adjective
6. plural noun
7. verb
8. adjective
9. plural noun
10. same plural noun as #9
11. noun
12. plural noun
13. noun

Turkey Dinner Mad Lib

1. adjective
2. adjective
3. person
4. plural noun
5. noun
6. noun
7. verb
8. vegetable
9. color
10. adjective
11. noun

A Family Visit Mad Lib

Each year as we enter Arlington National Cemetery on the 8th grade trip to Washington, D.C., at least one student will ask , “What are we going to learn here.” That’s a dangerous question to ask a woman whose husband is a combat veteran of Vietnam, whose father was a combat veteran of World War II, and whose grandfathers were both combat veterans of World War I. Distant relations of mine also fought in the Revolutionary War and on both sides of The Civil War. The student who asked the question looks at Arlington with new eyes after 20 or so minutes of listening to my impassioned lecture on service and sacrifice and duty (delivered as we walk past waves of identical white tombstones.)

My family is not a military family. To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever made a career of the military and most who served entered the military via the draft, not voluntarily. Yet, as is our tradition in these United States, when called, they served their country, giving up years of their lives, away from their loved ones and frequently in harm’s way. Some of them, as in my husband’s case, served in a war that they opposed. Yet they served.

Whether or not we agree with our nation’s foreign policy and military actions, we owe the men and women in the armed forces a debt of gratitude. They serve for us. So please, take time today to thank a veteran for their service.

My advice to students: Put on your running shoes and try to keep up! It's much easier to keep the pace running with the pack than to make up ground once you have fallen behind.

If you need help figuring out how to keep up with the work load, see me or one of your other teachers. We can help.

So it was inevitable that one of my classes would ask to go outside. As a teacher, this always causes me a dilemma. If I start letting my classes go outside too early in the spring, they beg to do it more, and valuable class time is lost. But I see such value in being outside the school walls, out in the fresh air and sunshine. I think some students, maybe even many students, learn better in that environment.

It gets me thinking, why are schools designed the way they are? Should they be designed differently today than they were 50 or 100 years ago? If students had a say in how schools looked, would they look different? And more immediately, are there ways to get my students outside more often without losing precious instructional time?

I think I'll go sit on the benches by the Peace Garden and contemplate these questions. It's not just the students who want to be outside.

Video # 1: Darth Vader Explains Pythagorean Theorem

Video # 2: Eggman Uses Pythagorean Theorem

All this attention to the future must make it challenging for students to stay in the moment. But there is so much left to do in eighth grade! The best advice I can give is STAY FOCUSED! Whether you plan to attend New Trier or will be going to a different high school, there is a lot of learning left to do right here.

A strong end to middle school is your best investment in a great beginning to high school.

Students: In a comment below, tell us about one place you visited last week that you really enjoyed or found interesting or important. Describe the location, what you saw there and what it meant to you.