Middle School Matters – Dec 03, 2021

General Announcements

Our Middle School Christmas Concert is Thurs, Dec 09 at ACS in the South Gym.

Student Attire:

56- Standing on the Promises T shirt, dark or khaki on the bottom

78 - White on top, Black on the bottom

Call Time/Concert time:

5:45 - 5th grade arrives for a 6:00pm concert

6:15 - 6th grade arrives for a 6:30pm concert

6:45 - 7th grade arrives for a 7:00pm concert

7:15 - 8th grade arrives for a 7:30pm concert

*Please wait to enter the gym until the prior concert is over - students must be with their parents when they are not performing; students may not be wandering around between concerts; it’s going to be a busy night!

For those family members who are not able or comfortable joining us in person, we will be streaming these concerts.

5th Grade

SEED Market: SEED Market is Fri, Jan 28. Please make sure that your child’s product and business materials are ready by market day! The 56er team reviewed all applications and conferenced with students. Please look over your child’s application to see if there were any changes needed. Once the necessary changes have been made, your child may get started on his/her business!

White Elephant: Your child needs a white elephant gift for our Christmas party Fri, Dec 17. No need to go out and buy anything - regifting is strongly encouraged. The more outrageous the better! The gift should be $10 in value.

Taco Party: Please sign up to bring an item for our Taco Party that is taking place on Fri, Dec 17. Each homeroom teacher will be sending out a sign-up - look for this in your email.

Auction Items: We are looking for gently used items for our Christmas auction! Games, toys, stuffed animals, anything and everything that 5th graders would love! Please send these items into your child’s homeroom teacher.

Art: Students continue the process of making relief prints. Students are now working finishing up the cutting of their print and now working to test print these designs.

Bible: This week in Bible students created presentations for the countries that they’ve been studying. Next week they will be presenting their presentations. The final justice verse dates are Dec 10 and Dec. 14. 50 points is an A.

Language Arts: This week we reviewed the story elements of A Long Walk to Water and we started reading our next class Global Awareness book, Home of the Brave. Students must finish reading their individual reading books and complete their Global Awareness reading assignment (Google Classroom Doc) by Thurs, Dec. 16. Next week, we will continue to read and analyze Home of the Brave!

Math: This past week students worked on rounding decimals for estimating as well as adding decimals. We will wrap up our chapter with subtracting decimals on Monday and have a TEST next week Wednesday, Dec. 8. Students have a review sheet but one can also be found on Google Classroom.

Music - Band: Our concert is Thurs, Dec 09 at ACS. All students have a practice assignment on Google Classroom to work on their concert music! You should hear a LOT of festive sounds!

Music - Choir: We are learning the story behind Silent Night - and some interesting history regarding this song. We will sing it in English and also German as well, and will see if we can do a small project based on an aspect of this song.

Music - Orchestra: Our concert is Thurs, Dec 09 at ACS. All students have a practice assignment on Google Classroom that was due on Thursday to work on their concert music. They also had a signed practice record due on Thursday.

PE: We have been working on throwing/catching and teamwork skills through Team Handball.

Science: This week students focused on the process of the water cycle! They are creating a comic strip of the story of a water droplet going through that process.

Social Studies: This week students researched their assigned countries for Global Awareness Month. They also started their next unit, learning all about the age of exploration.

Spanish: Students are learning language through a silly story about a girl who has no eyes but received eyes from a friend who had some extras. There will be a quiz on Dec 09. Study material can be found on Google Classroom.

6th Grade

Donations to our Christmas Auction (Dec 17) would be greatly appreciated! Used or new, whatever you think 6th graders would love would be fantastic! Send them to school in a bag marked AUCTION to any homeroom teacher, and thank you!

Christmas Countdown Candles came home Dec 01. We are counting down to Jesus’ birthday! Enjoy 24 candle-lit evenings with the candle your 6th grader decorated.

Help is needed with some 6th grade events - check your email for information!

Art: 6th graders have started a new project this week that asks students to look at an emotion that they struggle with. Students will be using wallpaper samples to create representations of these emotions as if they were monsters. Please check the homework calendar for project and sketchbook due dates.

Bible: This week in Bible we began a unit on Advent! We also conferenced about SEED Market.

Language Arts: This week we finished and presented our Tuck Everlasting Character Projects! They look fantastic! We also started our unit on short stories by reading “Zlateh the Goat.” Next week, we will learn more about story elements and reading strategies by exploring more short stories.

Math: Students have been working on ratios and ratio problems this past week. We will be having a TEST next week on Tue, Dec 07. Students have a review sheet but one can also be found on google classroom.

Music - Band: Our concert is Thurs, Dec 09 at ACS. See the top of this email for all the details for clothing and arrival times. All students have a practice assignment on Google Classroom to work on their concert music! You should hear a LOT of festive sounds!

Music - Choir: We are planning to Christmas Carol on Dec 17- so we will be singing carols the next few weeks to get ready.

Music - Orchestra: Our concert is Thurs, Dec 09 at ACS. All students have a practice assignment on Google Classroom that was due on Thursday to work on their concert music.

PE: We have been working on throwing/catching and teamwork skills through Team Handball.

Science: This week students focused on air pressure, and how high pressure and low pressure systems affect our weather!

Social Studies: This week students started their next unit, learning all about ancient Egypt!

Spanish: Students are learning how to express “likes” in Spanish. This uses a special grammatical construction, so students are getting a grammar lesson with their vocabulary. There will be a TEST on Dec 10 over Unit 2B/C. Notes and helpful resources can be found on Google Classroom.

7th Grade

Art: 7th graders started painting their organic sculptures with a color scheme that the artist selected based on what they learned in last class about color families. Please check the homework calendar for project and sketchbook due dates.

Bible: We have begun writing our own devotionals. Students have spent time thinking about Biblical lessons they have learned and how others can relate to them as well. Look out for an email about participating in a parent edit for their devotionals.

History: We have begun a 5-day project making ourselves travelers on the Oregon Trail in 1853. Students study the aspects of the journey and write journal entries about their experiences. The project is due Thursday.

Language Arts: This week we will conclude our study of The Witch of Blackbird Pond. We will continue our discussion of identity and the “Dangers of a Single Story”, and how these concepts relate to characterization in literature. We will carry this over into a seasonal study of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. We will simultaneously study a theatrical play of the story and view the 1984 film.

Math - 7th Math: Students finished up our unit on rational numbers and took a test this week. We are starting a new unit on expressions today.

Math - Algebra: We will be wrapping up our chapter on writing linear equations. There will be a test on Wednesday. Next we begin Systems of Equations!

Math - Pre-Algebra: Pre-Algebra students are working on Chapter 6 which focuses on percentages. We will be learning how to find percentages of numbers, discounts, and tax. We will end this unit by completing a project instead of taking a test.

Music - Choir: We revisited Silent Night and the Christmas Truce, and are also singing worship and Christmas songs.

Music - Orchestra: Our concert is Thurs, Dec 09 at ACS. All students have a practice assignment on Google Classroom that was due on Thursday to work on their concert music.

PE: We have been working on throwing/catching and teamwork skills through Team Handball.

Science: Our salmon babies continue to grow! They hatched over Thanksgiving break and are learning to swim now! This week we spent some time observing them and watching what they are doing each day. Next week we will continue learning about our salmon and the environment they live in.

Spanish: Students are learning language through a story about a very kind friend who gives up some interesting things to help her friends in need. This week we also included cultural readings to further practice our vocabulary and language skills. There will be a QUIZ Dec 06.

8th Grade

“What do you offer that others don’t?”

Our mission at South Christian High School is to equip students to live Christ-centered lives and serve God to their greatest potential. We do this by anchoring students in God’s Word, by providing excellence in all of our programs, including the arts and sciences. Our supportive community of teachers, students,

Administrators and families, help you to connect quickly. Explore what we offer at South Christian High School!

Explore South Christian Night – Dec 06 or 08 @ 7:00pm

An exciting evening with all incoming 8th graders and their parents for an overview of campus life at SCHS.
Have additional questions? Please contact Sherri DeVries (gro.shcs@seirveds)

Art: 8th graders have completed the building of their ceramic pots with lids and integrated handles in and the results of these projects are quite impressive. Students have just started learning and thinking about their new project inspired in part by the work of Frank Stella. Next week Tuesday 12/7 students have a Google classroom assignment due and a What is their shape assignment due. Please check the homework calendar for project and sketchbook due dates.

Bible: What was the Protestant Reformation? What does it mean to have a Reformed world view? Where is the good? Where is the brokenness? How can we redeem our world - every aspect of it? We are wrestling with these concepts this week in Bible, while also getting a good dose of history/Martin Luther and the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

History: Students are working on developing podcasts discussing the increasing divisions of the three sections of the country as we head for the Civil War. They will use six political acts or compromises to develop their podcast. The podcast is due before Christmas Break.

Language Arts: We will keep working hard on the NHD essay with the goal of finishing the project before Christmas break. We have and will continue to work with parenthetical citations and proper MLA quote integration.

Math - Algebra: This week, students have been learning about how to write equations in point slope form, slope intercept form, and writing linear functions. Students should expect a quiz on Monday.

Math - Geometry: We will be wrapping up our chapter on Congruent Triangles. There will be a test on Wednesday. We will spend the second half of the week reviewing what we have learned so far and some other topics like probability and statistics.

Music - Band: Our concert is Thursday Dec 09 at ACS. See the top of this email for all the details for clothing and arrival times. All students have a practice assignment on Google Classroom to work on their concert music! You should hear a LOT of festive sounds!

Music - Choir: We will be working on our musical until March. See the ACS Website Dessert Theatre page for more information and the schedule for practices.

Music - Orchestra: Our concert is Thursday Dec 09 at ACS. All students have a practice assignment on Google Classroom that was due on Thursday to work on their concert music.

PE: We have been working on throwing/catching and teamwork skills through Team Handball.

Science: We have been working on comparing the Earth to different places in the solar system. We used spectroscopes to look at the light given off from various places and if it shows us that there is water present there. Next week we will begin our Waves study. We start with just learning the anatomy of a wave and then move into sound waves.

Spanish: This week, students are learning about subject pronouns and basic verb conjugation. This is the first time we have spent several lessons focusing just on grammar. These are essential building blocks for level 1 Spanish. Notes and helpful videos can be found on Google Classroom. There will be a QUIZ on this material (8H: Dec 07, 8Q: Dec 10, 8S: Dec 14).

Athletics

Winter II Sport Registration is still open but will be closing this weekend. Below are following opportunities for ACS students:

5-8 ACS Girls Basketball (Closes Dec 05): Click here to sign-up and more information.

GRCMS Middle School Wrestling (Closes Dec 03): Click here for sign-ups and more information.

GRCMS Middle School Downhill Ski Team (Dec 03): Click here for sign-ups and more information.

Boys basketball is wrapping up its regular season this weekend. Please watch your email for more information about the upcoming postseason tournament!