Middle School Matters - Feb 01, 2018

General Announcements:

Winter Olympics Are Coming To ACS: Every four years ACS joins with our nation and countries around the world in celebrating the Winter Olympics. This year the 2018 Winter Olympics will be held in PyeongChang, South Korea. The ACS Winter Olympics will take place on school grounds (only one event will be outside) from *Mon Feb 05 to Thur Feb 09*. Closing ceremonies will be held on Friday, Feb 09 in the South Gym. Students in grades 1 through 8 will be on a team which will participate in 2 events each day. Floor hockey, speed skating, curling, biathlon, bobsled and luge, are just some of the events that will take place.

Olympic Parent Volunteers - NEXT WEEK, Feb 05-08

Mon. 11:45 to 1:15 - We need 4 volunteers
Tue 11:45-1:15 - We need 2 volunteers
Wed 11:45-1:15 - We need 4 volunteers
Thu 11:45 to 1:15 - We need 4 volunteers

Please go to the Ada Christian School website to sign up. We can't do it without you!

Mothers & Sons: Come join us for an Amazing Adventure on Friday, Mar 02 from 6:30-8:00pm. It will be a night designed to test your wits with team challenges, "Survivor" type puzzles, and creative games! Tickets are on sale online or in the office. Couples tickets for $20 and family tickets for $30. Registration deadline February 22.

Is your daughter interested in playing softball? Coach DK would like to offer a softball club for skill development. Email her at sdekleine@adachristian.org for more information.

Dates for your calendar:

Feb 05-Feb 09 Winter Olympics - We Need HELP (see above - much help still needed)
Feb 20-BOB ends
Mar 22--23 Dessert Theatre performances
Jun 07 - 8th Grade Graduation at Thornapple Covenant Church

Fifth Grade:

SEED Update - here is a form that students received regarding SEED. Microloans of $10 went out last week to businesses who requested them. Our SEED Market is going to have diverse offerings. Plan to come shop on Fri Mar 02! More details to come.

Chicken/Goat Care - We are short on families to care for the chickens and goats in the next few weeks. Please click here to sign up. Updated instructions are linked here and also on the sign up. Thanks to all of you for your help!

BOB: Keep on Reading! We are halfway done with BOB! (It officially ends on Tue Feb 20.) Look for updates coming home on the Weekly Report today. At this point 5th graders should have at minimum 20 tickets in each category. They need 50 tickets/points in each category for an A, not just 100 points total.

Music Field Trip: The 5th grade gets to go see the Grand Rapids Symphony on Tue Feb 20. We leave school about 9:00am and will return by 11:00am. Please fill out this digital permission slip so that your child will be able to attend.

Art: All students will be working from inspiration from the artist Modigliani.

Band: Song 100 concert Thurs Feb 15. Band 10:55-11:15; orchestra 11:10-11:30.

Bible: Keep plugging away at Bible memory! Also, please make sure your child is spending time reviewing/memorizing their lines for the gospel theatre skits.

Language Arts: This week we continue to take our MAPS tests. Next week we will be writing our Persuasive Writings and learning more about verbs.

Math: There is a math test Mon Feb 05 on order of operations, equations, and graphing. The practice test is due Fri Feb 02--please check over your child’s practice test with the answer key that I emailed to you. Next week we will begin fractions!

Orchestra: Song 100 celebration concert will be Thurs Feb 15 11:10-11:30 in the orchestra room.

PE: We will be playing Broomball next week.

Science: We continue our unit on Mixtures & Solutions. We will also have a new face joining our class as Ms. Kaitlyn DeWindt joins us from Calvin College as a teacher intern. Ms. DeWindt will be teaching with Mrs. Westrate and Mr. Kiser until mid-May. Click here for a letter from Ms. DeWindt. If you’d like to welcome or contact her, please email her at gro.naitsirhcada@tdniwedk.

Social Studies: We are taking a break from US History to study “Our Neighbors”...mini unit on Canada followed by mini unit on Latin America (South and Central America).

Sixth Grade:

Devotions: Please sign up to lead our class in devotions on a Wednesday this year. Click this link for details and an opportunity to sign up.

Art: 6th students need to have their watercolor paper painted or 1 box left before the start of class this coming week. Next we will use our watercolor experiments to create a landscape picture. Check the homework calendar for due dates.

Band: During the Olympics, band will not meet at school - but practice cards are still due - - and this is a GREAT time to make up extra time that was missed for practice.

History: Mon Feb 5 Global Studies Weekly #2 is due. Please make sure that your child takes them time to read this edition as we will be discussing “culture” next week in preparation for World Fair. The Egypt Glogsters are due Fri Feb 9 along with a works cited page. There will not be any more class time given to work on Glogsters.

Language Arts: This week we will read several short stories and begin our study of cultures through an online scavenger hunt. We will learn from many wonderful people about life and culture around the globe. I hope that you will have some interesting dinner discussions next week.

Math: We will continue to study equations. There will be a test at the end of the week.

PE: Up next in PE is Broomball!

Orchestra: We will learn more pieces with flats in the keys of F and B flat.

Science: We will begin our unit entitled “Weather and Water” this week. We will also have a new face joining our class as Ms. Kaitlyn DeWindt joins us from Calvin College as a teacher intern. Ms. DeWindt will be teaching with Mrs. Westrate and Mr. Kiser until mid-May. Click here for a letter from Ms. DeWindt. If you’d like to welcome or contact her, please email her at kdewindt@adachristian.org.

Seventh Grade:

Art: 7th grade is working on painting lego self-portraits. Check the homework calendar for due dates.

Band: Dessert Theatre begins! We get to serve dessert and also entertain with our music. So fun! New songs are out this coming week for the ensemble performances.

Bible(Huttenga): Students will continue learning about sermons and how to analyze them according to the Calvin Theological Seminary.

Bible(Wanner): Working on prayer. Next week we will do some book binding.

History: Next week we will continue our study of Africa.

Language Arts: A combination of the Organism Project monologues and independent reading.

PE: We will be playing Broomball next week.

Math: We will continue to study equations. Don’t forget to complete your equation review due Monday!

Orchestra: We are choosing pieces for our performances at Dessert Theatre.

Eighth Grade:

Mar 22--23 Dessert Theatre performances
Jun 07 - 8th Grade Graduation at Thornapple Covenant Church

Algebra: We will continue working with exponential expressions and functions in algebra.

Art: Plastering and gesso needs to be completed; uncompleted plaster will result in lost points. Next up painting in acrylic paints. Check the homework calendar for due dates.

Band: We will be playing at a church in March - also we will do some exploration into second instruments. This will be SO FUN to watch them try a new/different thing.

Bible(Huttenga): Students will be continuing their group film projects about Paul, the missionary of the early church.

Bible(Van Noord): The Case for Christ! We are reading and responding to a man’s search for the truth about Christ.

Geometry: There will be a test on Tuesday about Unit 8.

History: Next week we will begin a unit on Manifest Destiny.

Language Arts: A combination of The Book of Memories Project, NHD, and independent reading.

PE: We will be playing Broomball next week.

Athletics:

5th and 6th grade basketball teams are wrapping up their seasons with end of season tournaments. Congratulations to our 5th and 6th grade teams on their awesome regular seasons!

Uniforms can be returned to Mrs. O’Brien.