General Announcements:
Parent Teacher Conferences: 5th Grade families have a scheduled conference with their homeroom teacher.
Parents of students in middle school will have the opportunity to visit with each of their student’s teachers in the commons. No sign up is necessary for Middle School. Feb 16 5:30-8:30pm Feb 23 4:30-7:30pm
Conferences With Our Specials Teachers: Mrs. Weaver (3-8 Spanish), and Mrs. Van Noord (5-8 band/choir/8th Homeroom) and Mr. Wanner (K-8 Art) will be at tables in the Commons available for a 5 minute conference with elementary and middle school parents on both Feb 16 and 23.
Feb 16- Mrs. Boerman (K-8 Library/Media), will be in her classroom or the front lobby
Feb 23 - Mrs. Kladder (5-8 Orchestra), Ms. Prins (5-8 P.E.) will be at tables in the Commons available for a 5 minute conference with elementary and middle school parents.
Winter Break: No School Fri Feb 17 or Mon Feb 20 (Winter Break)
Marriage Seminar: Redeemer Presbyterian Church (8605 E. Fulton, Ada) is hosting a marriage seminar on Friday evening, March 3 and Saturday morning, March 4. We invite you to join Kent and Barbara Hughes as they share their journey of over forty years of marriage. Based on their book Disciplines of a Godly Family, you will leave with Biblical encouragement for your marital relationship. For more information and to register, please go to: http://www.redeemer-opc.org/redeemer-life/events/#hughes-marriage-seminar
Fifth Grade:
Valentine’s Day is Tuesday. If you plan to do cards/treats, please plan to pass them out in our larger afternoon groups (27 in each). You may pass out to each student or to all the students in one gender, but please don’t “pick and choose” to keep from hurt feelings. Thank you!
Art: In art we completed the Modigliani project and now are learning about Georges Seurat and pointillism.
Band: What a great group! Signed practice records are due every Thursday. Steady, consistent practice is super important. We will invite you to a concert again soon!
Bible: Pilgrim’s Progress and Gospel Theater with Mr. Hoo, and learning all about the calling of the 12 Disciples in Bible.
Language Arts: We had a great time doing our wax museum for our classmates on Tuesday. We spent time this week doing a padlet on our biography and working on verbs. Next week Tuesday, there will be a “quiz” on the 23 helping and linking verbs.
Math: We have moved on to mixed numbers - adding & subtracting, and converting mixed number to improper fractions and vice versa.
Orchestra: Polish the songs and exercises on pages 28 and 29 in All for Strings. We will work on skills involved with slurs on page 30. Keep up the super work!
PE: We will continue our floor hockey unit.
Spanish: Students should complete their “Garage Sale” preparations for Tuesday’s shopping.
Sixth Grade:
Art: 6th grade will be working on watercolor exploration over the next few weeks. Please check the homework calendar for due dates on sketchbook and projects.
Band: We officially retired book 1 - YAY US! We celebrated royally and now will begin book 2. Signed practice records are due each Thursday. Go team!
Bible: We continue to learn from God’s people who live all around the world.
History: Excellent work on many of the Mesopotamia Projects! Students have started to receive them back along with a grading rubric that shows how it was graded. Any project, notes, or bibliography pages may be fixed to improve their grade. They have one week from getting them back to fix it and turn it in again. They must turn in the old rubric with their redone project to get credit. We will continue to study different world cultures this week.
Language Arts: We have learned so many fun and interesting things about cultures all over the world. We researched etiquette and went on a website scavenger hunt to help familiarize ourselves different cultures and countries around the world. Country choices and 1-inch binder due to school on Wed Feb 15.
Math: Chapter 6 Expressions test is on Monday. A study guide and practice test were given this week. Next up: Equations.
PE: We will continue our floor hockey unit.
Orchestra: Work on all of the sheet music and focus on better intonation.
Science: Where’s the water? Is our focus this week. We will investigate the amazing process of cloud formation. A quiz over this investigation is (tentatively) scheduled for Thursday.
Spanish: 6th graders will be presenting their Fake Family Photo Albums next week. We should finish them in class today, but they may certainly add finishing touches over the weekend.
Seventh Grade:
Algebra (7th): Chapter 10 Test on Monday 2/13. We will begin studying chapter 11 concepts on Tuesday.
Art: 7th graders are now looking at and exploring proportions through the creation of Lego portraits. Please check the homework calendar for due dates on sketchbook and projects. Clay robots must be completed next week check the calendar for specific dates.
Band: Signed practice records are due each Thursday. Go team! We are working on Dessert Theatre music. Yay us!
Bible: Wanner - we are entering into our study of prayer. We will be creating prayer journals next week.
Bible: Huttenga - We will continue analyzing and evaluating sermons together using criteria from the Calvin Theological Seminary. We will be focusing on key terms “Biblical”, “authentic”, “contextual”, and “life-changing”. Consider asking your child what these terms mean to get a glimpse into what we are discussing.
Language Arts: In the coming week the 7th graders will finish reading The Westing Game. On Monday, February 13, students will meet to officially pick their topics for the Paideia research project. From then on, students can expect to learn about and conduct a lot of research in class. Students should try to obtain a separate 3-ring binder for all their notes sometime in the next week.
PE: We will continue our floor hockey unit.
Math: We will be wrapping up our unit about equations and inequalities. They’ve been working hard to master the skills they have been learning. There will be a test early next week.
Pre-Algebra: WOW. These students are excellent with their equations skills. Next week we will solve inequalities.
Orchestra: Great work on songs for the ESME concert! Practice them with the MM numbers that we used in class.
Science: Investigation 5/6 Quest on Tuesday 2/14. We will begin investigation 7 on Wednesday.
Spanish: We took our quiz on -AR verb conjugations and kitchen vocabulary, and next week Wednesday will be our quiz on the meanings of the -AR verbs. There is a Quizlet flashcard set on Moodle for studying. We continue writing to our “pen pals,” as we practice using our verbs.
Eighth Grade:
Art: The 8th grade has start plastering their cardboard family shape portraits. Please check the homework calendar for due dates on sketchbook and projects.
Band: Signed practice records are due each Thursday. Go team! We are working on lots of music and sounding great - - so much improvement and WOW….so fun to hear them play.
Bible (Huttenga): The 8th graders will continue production with their film adaptations of Paul’s missions in the book of Acts.
Bible (Westrate): We’re working through the book of Mark and are enjoying the action-packed nature of this book.
Geometry: Students just finished chapter 8 about right triangles, area and perimeter. Next we will be learning about surface area and volume.
Language Arts: The 8th graders will be submitting the first essay of their Book of Memories project on Thursday, February 16. As the project continues, we will be reading through a survey of several contemporary creative nonfiction essays focusing on the concepts of memories, self-identification, and faith. We will also continue our study of Lois Lowry’s The Giver, in which we will tie in the aforementioned concepts as well as review key literary concepts (eg: plot elements, characterization, etc.)
PE: We will continue our floor hockey unit.
Pre-Algebra Enhanced: Tuesday is our Chapter 7 test on Expressions. A study guide and practice test can be found on page 321 in the textbook.
Orchestra: Great work on pieces for the ESME concert- (Thursday, Feb 23 -at 7 or 7:30 at GRCH. Call me if you have any questions.
Science: We’re studying communication waves this week. A short quiz will take place on Thursday. A test over our Waves unit will take place on Wed Feb 15 when we return from winter break. Students should review using the guide on moodle with their notebooks close at hand.
Spanish: 8th graders have a TEST next Thursday on breakfast vocabulary, stem-changing verbs (querer, poder, preferir) and possessive pronouns. (I just learned some orchestra students will not be here during normal Spanish time. We considered having them take the test during orchestra that morning, but that will not work after all. Those students will have to make arrangements to come in and take the test Wednesday during Noon Room.)
Athletics:
You may now sign-up for spring sports on the ACS Athletics website. Sign-ups end on February 26.