General Announcements
Dates for your calendar:
Feb 20 - Conferences in the Commons 4:30-7:30
Feb 21 - Last regular day of T2
Feb 24-27 - Exploratory Week
Feb 27 - Conferences in the Commons 4:30-7:30
Feb 28 - No School, in service
Mar 02 - No School, Winter Break
Mar 26 & 27 - Dessert Theatre Shows
Upcoming Chapels/Small Groups for 6-8 (Chapel meets 8:15-8:45 in the Commons)
Feb 14 - Small Groups
Art Student Teacher Introduction
Dear Families,
Hello! My name is Jamie Kuiper and I will be working as a student teacher for the next 14 weeks in your child’s art classroom. I am working towards a certification in teaching art to kids k-12. This is the fourth and final semester of my training as a teacher, and I have enjoyed working with students ages 4-16 in and out of the art classroom over the past 4 years.
My parents were missionaries, so I’m originally from all over the place, but I have been attending Calvin University for four years now. Besides learning practical classroom skills and art techniques I have also worked for two summers as a camp counselor at Camp Roger/Camp Scottie, and working with students at New City Neighbors, an urban farm located in Grand Rapids.
I will be working with Mr. Wanner, gradually increasing my responsibilities with the students over the course of the semester, and I will lead two teaching weeks. During this time, I will need to occasionally record the classroom and student’s work in order to assess my progress with my professor. These recordings will only be reviewed by my professor at Calvin, Jo-Ann VanReeuwyk. If you have any concerns about video taping of the lesson, please contact Mr. Wanner or I. I am very excited to be in the art classroom, and look forward to a great semester!
Sincerely,
Jamie Kuiper - ude.nivlac.stneduts@57klj
TikToK - Please be Aware
TikTok is a new video sharing app that is growing in popularity in general and with our ACS students. Protect Young Eyes has posted an app review and a parent controls tutorial.
Fifth Grade:
Reproductive Education: As you have some extra time with your child over the coming months, please find an opportunity to discuss Reproductive Health. At the end of May, after Spring Camp, the 5th grade team plans to begin a short unit on Reproductive Education. Mrs. Gerig and Mrs. Reidsma will meet with the girls while Mr. Stepanek will meet 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. Please have a conversation with your child before we have this conversation at school. If any parent would like more information, let one of us know and we would be happy to talk with you. More detailed information will be sent out in the coming months.
Valentine’s Day: If 5th graders want to bring in a goodie or a card for Valentine’s Day, we kindly ask that they bring in enough for each student in their homeroom class (5R-18, 5S-17, 5G-16).
Disinfectant Wipes Needed:We are still in need of disinfecting wipes in 5th grade. Would you be willing to send in a container next week? Thank you in advance.
Art: 5th graders and working on a project inspired by Mark Rothko and learning about artist Amedo Modigliani in preparation for self-portraits in the style of Modigliani. Next week students will be painting with artist Joel Schoon-Tanis on the new school mural and it would be a great idea to reminder your student to dress for a possible mess.
Bible: This week students wrote about the healing of the demon-possessed man (crazy story!!) from a different perspective. Chris P. Bacon….Peter Porker...so many puns. We also caught up on various Jesus Project items. Matthew 6:28-30 is due on Fri, Feb 14.
History: This week students studied the New England Colonies, researching using our class website. Next week students will become experts on the Middle Colonies!
Language Arts: B.O.B. ends on Mon, Febr 17. Finish. Strong. Just a reminder, the B.O.B reading grade is an AVERAGE of the quiz points and reading tickets. I helped the fifth graders figure out their current grade, which put many minds at ease. The fifth graders will participate in a BOB Extravaganza on Thur, Feb 27. Students must submit their pizza orders/$ for celebration by this coming Tue, Feb 11.
Math: We just finished a chapter on Expressions and Patterns. We will now be focusing on Chapter 8: Fractions and Decimals. Finding the greatest common factor (GCF), writing fractions in simplest form, finding the least common multiple (LCM), and comparing fractions will be the main topics of this chapter.
Music - Band: Concert on Feb 24 in the late afternoon during school. Watch email for more details soon. :)
Music - Choir: Singing, Stomp, Country Roads, Bach, Holland, Williams, Sousa, Grand Rapids Symphony. Go us!
Music - Orchestra: Playing quiz every Monday for cello players and Tuesday for violin/ viola players! Practice, practice practice!
PE: We are just finishing up jump roping! Next week will start a few short weeks of basketball skills and gameplay.
Science: We just started our last section in the Living Systems unit: Ecosystems. We will be saying goodbye to the worms we have been growing. They will continue their lives in the Mr. Hoo’s compost bin
Spanish: Wow! Students continue to impress! We have just completed a unit about a very arrogant boy who was unkind when celebrating his wins in rock, paper, scissors games. Students enjoyed this story and learned how to play rock, paper, scissors in Spanish!
Sixth Grade:
Art: 6th grade students should be close to completing their experiments in painting with different watercolor painting techniques. Next students will take their experiments and use them to create mosaics of their chosen landscape photograph. Next week students will be painting with artist Joel Schoon-Tanis on the new school mural and it would be a great idea to reminder your student to dress for a possible mess. Please check moodle for homework and project due dates.
Bible: This week we have been talking about Paul’s first missionary journey. Preach in synagogues, Jews create ruckus, persecution, get back up and preach - perseverance in the face of persecution by the power of the gospel. Galatians 5:13-15, 22-23 due Fri, Jan 21.
History: This week we learned about culture, why and how we study it, and what shapes or changes it.
Language Arts: We learned about some different countries and cultures using a research tool entitled, CultureGrams. Students worked through a scavenger hunt to find out new and interesting places across the globe.
Math: We are finishing up our chapter on Expressions. There will be a test next Tuesday. The students received a packet on Thursday with practice problems for the test. The answers for these problems can be found on the 6th grade math google classroom page. Next week we will be learning about Equations.
Music - Band: We are doing great work in our new books….ask for a concert. We are working on theory concepts too, like all sorts of things with accidentals/sharps/flats/naturals and three types of minor scales.
Music - Choir: Sound of Music, Solfege, Songs, Intervals, Austria, Etc.
Music - Orchestra: Playing quiz for pages in Muller Rusch technique book.
PE: We are just finishing up jump roping! Next week will start a few short weeks of basketball skills and gameplay.
Science: We started our unit on Weather and Water! The students have been learning about severe weather phenomena.
Spanish: We have just wrapped up a unit about taking classes, doing homework, and attending universities. Okay, so they are a little young yet, but we had fun talking about what they want to be, and what classes they would take as well as what universities are options there are in Mexico. A highlight was that students created a hilarious story about Dwayne “The Rock '' Johnson as a university student and some funny occupations and classes he may have taken.
Seventh Grade:
Art: 7th graders are very engaged in creating their Lego likeness. Many students have started painting. Next week students will be painting with artist Joel Schoon-Tanis on the new school mural and it would be a great idea to reminder your student to dress for a possible mess. Please check moodle for homework and project due dates.
Bible Huttenga: We will begin wrapping up our unit on critiquing sermons this week after our third viewing. We will begin to transition into a unit on the effects and practice of gratitude.
Bible Meyaard: This past week we have looked at a few different stories throughout the Bible showing individuals relying on prayer and trusting God, showing us good examples of how we should strive to be like. We will continue to dig into a few more stories this coming week.
History: Next week Wednesday we will plan on taking a history test on Economic Systems. Students filled out a review sheet today and we will have more resources on Monday.
Language Arts: Students will begin studying for The Westing Game quiz/test. We will continue our study of the parts of speech.
Math - Algebra: The rules of powers cake back to us relatively quickly and students are quickly catching onto the rules of radicals. We will have a quiz on 6.1-6.3 on Monday.
Math - Pre-Algebra: We are starting a new chapter next week covering math expressions.
Music - Band: Dessert Theatre approaches. Lots of songs to play together.
Music - Choir: We are working on a project that relates to Seven Brides and life in the 1850s. Very interesting. You might score homemade ice cream or sourdough bread out of this deal.
Music - Orchestra: We are working on learning all of the music for Dessert Theatre.
PE: We will be starting a few short weeks of basketball this coming week developing our skills and applying to the game setting.
Science: We have been studying the periodic table this week. Students did presentations of the family on the periodic table that they studied. Students learned how to make Bohr and Lewis-dot models of atoms. We will have a Quest next week Wednesday.
Spanish: TEST - Tue, Feb 11. Students will have a test over Unit 8. Please see Moodle for links that would be helpful for studying. Students also have blue folders that they should take home for studying purposes.
Eighth Grade:
High School Approaches: Please encourage your student to complete their work and hand it in on time. If they have missing work, encourage them to get it done. Learning this now will be so helpful for their future educational plans. If you are not sure how to figure out if your student has missing work, email Mrs. Van Noord or Mr. Witte and we will help you/them. The end of the trimester is approaching, let’s work together to help our 8th graders get things done and handed in.
Art: 8th graders will all be working on plaster their family shapes project. Next week students will be painting with artist Joel Schoon-Tanis on the new school mural and it would be a great idea to reminder your student to dress for a possible mess. Please check moodle for homework and project due dates.
BibleHutt: We are finishing The Case for Faith. Students will spend the remainder of the trimester reflecting on what they’ve learned, writing their final essay, and preparing for an interview assignment.
BibleVN: We are finishing the Case for Christ. Next we will watch the movie and take a test. Some students have missing work. Please check this with your student.
History: We are starting a unit on the Industrial Revolution looking at both the great technological advances, but also the challenges and negative impacts it had on other parts of society. We are also planning on working with Mr. Hoo for OE next Tuesday and Thursday.
Language Arts: 8th graders will have a quiz on The Giver this Tue, Feb 11. The study guide and resources have been posted on Google Classroom. Students will continue their study of the parts of speech.
Math - Algebra: The rules of powers cake back to us relatively quickly and students are quickly catching onto the rules of radicals. We will have a quiz on 6.1-6.3 on Monday.
Math - Pre-Algebra: We are starting a unit on math expressions next week.
Music - Band: We have a number of great pieces going these days; it will be very fun to show you.
Music - Choir: We are working on a unit on Fiddler while simultaneously working on Beast and also listening projects. Go us!
Music - Orchestra: We are working on increasing the tempos and improving our 3rd position!
PE: We will be starting a few short weeks of basketball this coming week developing our skills and applying to the game setting.
Science: Students have been studying force the second half of this week. We will be taking a test on what we’ve learned so far in our gravity and kinetic energy unit next week Thursday.
Spanish: Are you thinking about classes for 9th grade? Soon, students will be registering for their 9th grade schedules. Parents and students often wonder when they should take language, and if it’s Spanish, for which level to register. For most high schools, a Spanish language placement test is encouraged or required. Typically, I go over this information with students the first week of March and will send an informational letter to parents. If you would like information before then, please see me at conferences or send me an email with your questions.