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Middle School Matters - Apr 26, 2018

General and Grade Level Announcements

General Announcements:

Tonight is Fine Arts Night! Please come visit school, see wonderful art and experience World Fair! Take a peek at the goats! 6:30-8:00pm.

Dates for your calendar:

  • Apr 26 - TONIGHT! Fine Arts Night and World Fair 6:30-8:00pm
  • Apr 27 - 6th grade field trip to DeVos Hall
  • May 04 - Grand Friends Day, half day, dismissed at 11:30am
  • May 07 - No School - Prof. Dev Day
  • May 17 - 5-8 Spring Concert
  • May 23-25 - 5th Grade Spring Camp
  • May 24-25 8th Grade Exams
  • May 31-Jun 01 7th Grade Class Trip
  • May 30-Jun 01 8th Grade Class Trip
  • Jun 07- 6th Grade Class Trip
  • Jun 07- 8th Grade Graduation at Thornapple Covenant Church
  • Jun 08 - Last day of school (half day)

Fifth Grade:

Goat Care - 5th grade families will be in charge of goat care. Please click here to sign up. Instructions are linked here and also on the sign up. Thank you for your help!

PowerSchool: During the final trimester of 5th grade, students and parents have access to student grades on PowerSchool. Click this link for instructions and more information.

Reproductive Education: At the end of May, after Spring Camp, the 5th grade team plans to begin a short unit on Reproductive Education. Mrs. Witte will be meeting with the girls while Mr. Hoo will be meeting with the boys. In addition to going over the physical aspects of puberty, we plan to include discussions on God’s design for our bodies and reproduction, as well as treating our bodies with dignity and respect. If any parent would like more information, let one of us know and we would be happy to talk with you.


Art: 5th grade is working on cupcake chalk art inspired by artist Wayne Thiebaud.

Band: Full band next week Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri due to GrandFriends Day concert Fri May 04. We can’t wait to play for you! Our Spring Concert is Thu May 17 at 7:00pm.

Bible: We are walking through Acts and beginning to talk about life after Jesus’ ascension. What trials did Christians face? How does the Holy Spirit aide us in our Christian walk? Who was Paul?

Language Arts: On Wednesday, your 5th grader came home with a Parent Editing Checklist. Please help us by editing our Biography Reports. Spend no more than 15-20 min. If you already have, thanks so much!! Ideally, I would like them back tomorrow Fri Apr 27, so that we can make our final corrections at school. Next week we will start writing our speeches. We will also focus on comma rules.

Math: We wrapped up our measurement unit with a test and now we are starting geometry!

Orchestra: Full orchestra next week Mon Tue and Thu due to Grand Friends Day on Friday, May 4. We are excited to play for our Grand Friends!

PE: We had a lot of fun playing pickleball and will begin to play tennis next!

Science: We continue to explore plants - this week we’ll be thinking about seeds and flowers.

Social Studies: We are wrapping up the Civil War and movin’ on….we will be studying the 20th century the rest of the year! ALSO, before next Friday the students will be working on their own Family Tree….an investigation into their “Roots” before Grandparent’s Day.  They will be coming home with a poster to fill out and an explanation sheet this weekend.

Spanish: We have started getting ready for our new story: Goldilocks and the three Bears.

Sixth Grade:

Missing Work: Many students are accumulating long lists of missing assignments. Please ask your child to show you his or her PowerSchool account and help him or her come up with a plan for making up work that has not been turned in.

Field Trip Tomorrow: Thank you for filling out the digital slip.7 parents are serving as chaperones, check your email for details. Thank you!

Chicken Checkup - 6th grade families will be in charge of chicken care. Please click here to sign up. Instructions are linked here and also on the sign up. Thank you for your help!

Devotions: Please sign up to lead our class in devotions on a Wednesday this year. There are still a couple of dates available. Click this link for details and an opportunity to sign up.


Art: 6th grade have 2 more class periods at the most to work on their animal effigy bowls. Ceramic terms quiz in 2 weeks. Please check the homework calendar for project due dates and sketchbook assignments.

Band: GrandFriends Day concert Fri May 04 at 11:00am in the South Gym. We can’t wait to play for you! Our Spring Concert is Thu May 17 at 7:00pm.

Bible(Rynders): We are studying Psalms. Psalm 23 is due for memory work MONDAY, along with a modern version of our own making. One other Psalm project will be due before we are finished with the Psalms.

Choir: We will be singing at the Spring Concert on May 17, 7:00pm at ACS.

History: Rome! This week we kicked off our “online” Moodle unit. So far we have covered an introduction to the Roman Empire, as well as the geography of Italy. It is important that the students stay on top of their in class work as the course unlocks lessons only after completion of previous lessons. Next week students will watch a sermon on the “Armor of God” and will receive student/parent homework. If you know that you are going to have a busy week, please spend time with your child this weekend filling out this handout on how to apply the Armor of God to our everyday lives.

Language Arts: The students are very excited for tonight. Students need to arrive by 6:15. They should dress in “nice” clothing. Reminder: Take home everything tonight EXCEPT the display board and portfolio. Next week we will work on the elements of persuasion.

Math: We continue to study surface area and volume. We will have a test next week Wednesday.

PE: We had a lot of fun playing pickleball and will begin to play tennis next!

Orchestra: We will play on Grand Friend’s Day , Friday May 04 at 11:00AM in the south gym

Science: Water in the air is our topic this week. How does it get there? How do we know it’s there? What can it do?

Spanish: TEST. I have decided to move the test back. Both 6th grades will take the Test on Wednesday May 2. It is over our novel: Brandon Brown. See Moodle for more detail.

Seventh Grade:

Algebra (7th): We will continue problem solving through Chapter 11. Test on Wed.

Art: In 7th grade art the students are working on a positive and negative space project by making robot stencils that will be slipped (a clay paint) over on a red clay tile. By the end of class Friday students should be close to completing the cutting out of the robot stencil. Please check moodle for homework assignment and project due dates.

Band: We are playing for the opening worship on May 04, GrandFriend’s Day at 8:15am in the South Gym. Our Spring Concert is Thu May 17 at 7:00pm.

Bible(Huttenga/Wanner): 7th graders will be writing letters to members of the GrandFriends community, and then will be writing letters of thanks to servicemen and women.

Choir: We will be singing at the Spring Concert on May 17, 7:00pm at ACS.

History: Next week we will begin looking at the stories of the first English Settlements in America including Roanoke, Jamestown, and Plymouth. 7th graders will also spend some history class time this week working outside for OE.

Language Arts: 7th graders will continue working on the ProCon project. We will be focusing on curating our Works Cited page (bibliography) and learning about parenthetical citations as well.

PE: We had a lot of fun playing pickleball and will begin to play tennis next!

Math: We have started a new chapter about probability!

Pre-Algebra: We continue to study statistics and probability.

Orchestra: We will play at the opening chapel at 8:15AM on GrandFriend’s Day Fri May 04. Our Middle School Spring Concert is May 17 at 7:00 PM

Science: I-Check on Mon. We will continue investigating Igneous rocks throughout the week and what makes up Earth’s layers.

Spanish: TEST. There will be a Test over our novel Brandon Brown on Apr 30 for 7A and on May 01 for 7B. See Moodle for more details.

Eighth Grade:

Sports Physicals: Current 8th graders planning to play high school sports in 2018-19 school year need to have an MHSAA physical form on file with the high school athletic office before they are allowed to participate. A valid physical for 2018-19 must be completed anytime after April 15, 2018. You can print out a physical form here. This form must be completed with all signatures in order to participate in sports in high school. You may attach your doctor's office physical form for the doctor portion of this form but the parent portion and signatures need to be completed on this form.

Willing to Wait: Our 8th grade students began this program this past week, and the program continues through Mon Apr 30.

Algebra: We are working through some lessons in chapter 12. Later next week we will take a quiz to cover a few of these skills.


Art: 8a students need to have their street art paintings and notes completed by Monday April 30 and 8b student need to complete this project by April, May 3. Please check moodle for homework assignment and project due dates.

Band: We are playing for the opening worship on May 04, GrandFriend’s Day at 8:15am in the South Gym. Our Spring Concert is Thu May 17 at 7:00pm.

Bible(Huttenga/Van Noord): Willing to Wait and the Plumb Bob Project continue.

Choir: We will be singing at the Spring Concert on May 17, 7:00pm at ACS.

Geometry: We are getting into trigonometry. A quiz will be on Friday and test early next week.

History: We will be finishing our Civil War unit next week.

Language Arts: 8th graders will be studying Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy and will then begin preparing for the upcoming Language Arts exam.

PE: We had a lot of fun playing pickleball and will begin to play tennis next!

Pre-Algebra: We continue to study statistics and probability. 

Orchestra: We are playing for the opening chapel at 8:15AM on GrandFriend’s Day, Fri May 04. Our Middle School Spring concert is Thursday May 17.

Science: We are investigating cells, and how our organ systems interact.

Spanish: Students are nearing the end of our novel. There will be a final test mid May and then we will look at taking a placement test for students wanting to take Spanish in 9th grade. More info to come!

Athletics:

Games! There are home games coming up this weekend! Our 5th/6th boys baseball team plays at ACS on Friday. Both of our girls soccer teams play at ACS on Saturday morning. Come out and cheer our Wildcats on!