Middle School Matters - Dec 09, 2016

General Announcements:

The Christmas Concert for grades 6-8 is Thu Dec 15 at ACS. Call time is 6:30pm. We are excited to play and sing for you! In the meantime ENCOURAGE your student to play/sing at home so they are totally ready. Concert dress is white on top, black on the bottom, dark stockings and shoes.

Fifth Grade:

Please join us Tuesday, Dec. 20 at 12:15 in the commons for a potluck lunch! A sign up genius was emailed home this week.

Art: Working on the last weeks of printmaking.

Band: Yay band! We will have regular sectionals next week Monday and Tuesday, and then band will resume again in Jan. We won’t be meeting 12.15 due to the 6-8 concert, nor 12.19 and 20 due to Christmas Chapel planning and activities.

Bible: We are looking at the aspects of the Jesse Tree, and creating a slideshow outlining the story of the Bible from Creation through the Christmas Story. After Christmas we will dive into the Jesus Project!

Language Arts: We started planning (note-taking) and writing a 5 paragraph model for informative writing. We will start our biography reading and note-taking next week. This project will continue after break.

Math: The test on decimals came home yesterday. Next week we will look at patterns in lists and in graphs. After Christmas it will be all about fractions!

PE: We will continue our basketball unit.

Spanish: We continue with our “Ropa” unit.

Sixth Grade:

Sixth Grade Caroling: On Tues Dec 20, the 6th graders will be sharing our gifts by caroling at three different locations off-campus. While we’re out, we will be enjoying lunch together at Culver’s Restaurant. A permission/lunch order form went home with students on Thursday. Please sign and return the form with your student’s lunch money ($5.50) by Mon Dec 12.

Art: working on portrait drawing. There will be a quiz next week Friday on how to draw a portrait. Check the homework calendar for homework and due dates.

Band: Christmas Concert Thu Dec 15 at ACS. Call time is 6:30pm. We are excited to play for you! In the meantime ENCOURAGE your student to play at home so they are totally ready. Concert dress is white on top, black on the bottom, dark stockings and shoes.

Bible (6Ki - Koetje): Students will be working on an in-class, open-note test next week as well as spending time with 1st grade buddies and preparing for the Christmas chapel.

Bible (6W - Westrate): We will begin preparing to lead our school’s Christmas chapel. We will wrap up our study of the book of Proverbs as well.

History: Great work this week on your Egypt Glogster. The final project is due on Monday.

Language Arts: Students did well on the quiz over the elements of short stories. We will continue to read short stories next week. We are also working hard to develop solid informational paragraphs for Social Studies and identifying prepositions/prepositional phrases/objects of the preposition.

Math: Will will continue with Integers. Specifically focusing on Subtracting Integers.

PE: We will continue our basketball unit.

Science: We continue to study factors that impact weather. A quiz over density and convection will take place on Monday. With our new knowledge about pressure and density we can begin to examine the large-scale movement of air (wind).

Spanish: We begin our new unit on comparisons using much of the vocabulary we have learned so far this year. Please check the Moodle Homework Calendar regularly for homework assignments. With classes only meeting twice a week, it’s easy for students to forget about things due several days later. NOTE: Online Quia assignments can be done multiple times, and I will take the BEST score as of the due date. It’s a great way to extend their practice time with Spanish. Currently, there are MANY missing or one-attempt (low) scores in this class.

Seventh Grade:

Art: 7th grade is working on the sign project this coming week. After that we will return to the positive and negative space robot project. Check the homework calendar for homework and due dates.

Bible (Wanner): Next week we will begin taking a look at the problems we may face when we pray. Ask your student to share with you their update version of the Lord’s Prayer.

Bible (Huttenga): We will be writing a series of haikus that will tie together ideas of identity, sanctification, and nature symbolism.

History: Next week we will begin a study of Africa.

Language Arts: Seventh Graders will continue their study of the novel Trouble by Gary Schmidt. Parents, if you are curious about what is being covered in the story, a summary of the book was sent via email earlier.

PE: We will continue our basketball unit.

Math: Students will be taking a test on Tuesday about algebraic expressions. Next we will be studying slopes and graphing linear equations.

Pre-Algebra: Topics next week: Percent of Change, Markup, Discount, Simple and Compound Interests.

Spanish: We learned how to conjugate regular -AR verbs, and now we can write LOTS of sentences and will translate whole paragraphs! Many assignments will require that students do self-correcting in class (to learn from their mistakes) and will be given credit for completing the assignment, and then credit for making accurate corrections.

Eighth Grade:

Dessert Theatre: We are hard at work. Who practices and when? Check out the website.

Algebra: We will be taking a test on Chapter 6 at the end of next week.

Art: 8th grade has completed building their ceramic pots. If you student has not completed this part of the project it is their responsibility to find time before school, after school or at lunchtime to come and complete their unfinished work. Each day the pot sits uncompleted it is losing points. Check the homework calendar for homework and due dates.

Bible Huttenga: We will continue studying C.S. Lewis’s The Last Battle. Once we are finished

Bible Westrate: We have begun a study of the Gospels. Our first memory work is Matthew 5:1-12 from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.

Geometry: We will continue to study congruent triangles and how to use them in proofs. Students will be taking a quiz early in the week.

History: We will start Chapter 10 next week focusing on the presidency of Andrew Jackson.

Language Arts: Students will be spending most of their time revising their NHD essays and research before the final drafts are due on Tuesday, December 20. There will also be a quiz on The Pearl on Monday, December 19. Parents, I will be emailing some checklists in case you would like to assist your student in getting ready for the final submission.

PE: We will continue our basketball unit.

Pre-Algebra Enhanced: We have a test on Monday, a study guide and practice test can be located on page 243 in the textbook. Also IXL (J) H.1 - H.10 are great practice problems.

Science: We will begin a study of waves this week.

Spanish: TEST for both 8C and 8D Thursday, December 15th. Table settings, fruits, traer, poner, DOP’s. Resources to study are on Moodle.