General Announcements:
Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp: A Representative from Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp will be at Ada Christian on Thursday, Jan 14. He will listen to students from grades 5-8 audition for scholarships to the camp. Each student who plays/sings/shows art/acts for him will receive a letter from the camp with a scholarship option to attend. Parents decide with their students whether they would like their child to attend the camp. This is a great opportunity to defray the costs of an excellent summer Fine Arts camp.
Scrapbooking materials: Do you have any extra or unused scrapbooking materials? If so, we would love to have them/borrow them for the scrapbooking exploratory class. Please bring them to the office. If you want something returned, please note that as well. Thanks in advance. Bethany Koetje
Fifth Grade:
Art: In art this week the 5th graders started a self portrait project related to the work of artist Amedeo Modigliani.
Band: We are working in the book on pages 17 and 18. There have been some great scores on Music Racer lately too!
Bible: We have started the Jesus Project: Readings, Writings, Illustrations, and Jesus Plays. Memory work due next Friday is John 1:1-5.
Language Arts: Besides reading for BOB, we are peer reviewing and editing our biography reports. Next week Friday we will give a brief speech to our classmates.
Math: This week we compared and simplified fractions. Next week we will cover the greatest common factor and the least common multiple.
PE: We are focusing on the five components of fitness and trying out a variety of ways that we can improve our fitness.
Social Studies: Inventions.
Spanish: We resume our unit on clothing.
Sixth Grade:
Exploratories: 6th grade students will be coming home with information about Exploratories on Monday. Please review this information with your child and have your child return their Exploratory preference selections on Tuesday.
Art: The sixth graders spent this week working on finishing the creation part of their self-portrait and in the next class will focus on coloring in the portrait.Please check the homework calendar for sketchbook assignments.
Band: We have begun the new book, and are making great progress. We are also playing some music from Star Wars!
Bible: Bible Memory due this week Wednesday - Philippians 2:1-11. The Bible cubes look excellent! They should be hanging up in our room this week.
History: Mesopotamia Project information was shared on Thursday. Students need parent signatures on their project choices. The first mini project is due on Friday.
Language Arts: We are studying short stories, reviewing capitalization rules, and learning about adverbs.There is a spelling “My Words” Test on Friday.
Math: It has been a lot of fun watching our math skills grow from the start of this chapter. This coming week we will continue to study expressions.
PE: We are busy preparing for the 7th Annual Super Snow Bowl! Details can be found on Moodle.
Science: We’re really stretching our minds with discussions on bonding. We’ll look at a very special molecule this week: water.
Spanish: Memory verse:6K on Monday, 6D on Tuesday! Resources are on Moodle (one is the verse written out, the other is an audio clip.) Students should know the verse in English, also (any version is fine; they even learned a song with Mrs. Van Noord.)
Seventh Grade:
Algebra (7th): Working on chapter 7 which deals with systems of linear equations and inequalities.
Art: The 7th graders are creating self-portraits as legos with the goal of being ready for painting next week Wednesday. Please check the homework calendar for sketchbook assignments.
Band: We are working on small group numbers for the dessert theatre, and also music from Pirates of the Caribbean.
Bible: We’ve been working to understand a few chapters of Isaiah. Memory work due Friday is Isaiah 55:1-4.
History: Next week we will be covering an overview of the history in Africa. We will focus on some stories about Nelson Mandela and the Lost Boys of Sudan.
Language Arts: In the coming week, we will continue to explore concepts such as doubt, conflict, loss, and prejudice in Gary Schmidt’s Trouble. Parents, feel free to stay up-to-date on the story by checking out the summary of the story I sent in an earlier email. We will also continue working our way into Paideia - on Wednesday, students will pick their topic. Parents, check an earlier email about what this means.
PE: We have begun a short football unit. There will not be a test at the end of this unit.
Pre-Algebra (Kiser): Wrapping up our work on percent with a test on Monday. Test review solutions are on moodle for students to check their work.
Pre-Algebra (Holtrop): This coming week we will continue to learn about area and surface area of different shapes. Please encourage your student to show all of their work!
Science: Continuing our study of butterflies.We are presently raising cabbage white butterflies.The eggs hatched this week and the caterpillars are busy consuming our Brassica plants.
Spanish: All classes have a TEST on Tuesday.There are resources on Moodle (feel free to have students print these off for study purposes.) If they click on the assignment on the homework calendar, they will find more details on what to study. In short: Vocab (sala y dormitorio,) prepositions, articles, translations that put them all together.
Eighth Grade:
Dessert Theatre: Have you been to the new Costumes page on the website? It’s never too early to start looking up the odds and ends that our actors will need to bring from home. Keep encouraging your child(ren) to practice and be learning these great songs! We need every voice! Website link: http://acsdesserttheatre.weebly.com/
Algebra (Witte): Our Chapter 6 test will be on Tuesday. Then we will start Chapter 7 which covers solving systems of equations.
Algebra (8th): We start solving and graphing inequalities on Monday.
Art: 8th graders worked on plastering their family shape portrait project.Plaster will continue next week as well.Please check the homework calendar for sketchbook assignments.
Band: New music, including a piece written by 8th graders.
Bible: We are beginning a new unit looking at the characteristics of Jesus. Jan Bible memory is due on Jan 22.
Geometry: We have a test this coming Tuesday! It will include triangle proofs and finding missing angles. Students are doing a great job and showing a good understanding of these new concepts!
History: Next week we will begin Chapter 11 which focuses on the Industrial Revolution.
Language Arts: How do you build the perfect society? The 8th graders will continue to attempt just that as they work on their Utopia projects in the coming week. Once completed, the groups will be giving presentations to the class to explain how their Utopias work and what makes them unique. Students will also have to field questions and anticipate problems. Depending on how quickly the presentations go, we may begin reading The Giver by Lois Lowry. Parents, I have sent you an earlier email giving information about the book and unit.
PE: We have begun a short football unit. There will not be a test at the end of this unit.
Science: We’ve kicked off our Planetary Science unit. We continue to record data about the moon, have proved the Earth is round in several ways, and will continue to explore Earth’s neighborhood in space. An iCheck (quiz) over Investigations 1 and 2 will take place on Wednesday.
Spanish: We are beginning a new unit on table settings, fruits (review), new verbs and direct object pronouns.
Athletics:
Basketball: The 5th – 8th grade basketball season is off to a great start! It is so much fun watching all the teams compete!