General Announcements
6-8th Grade Exploratory Week: During Jan 29 - Feb 01, all 6th-8th grade students will be participating in Exploratory Week. In order to make this great week happen, we do need a few parent chaperones and drivers throughout the week. Please consider taking some time to be with our students and to explore with them. Sign-up to help!
Jasmine's Closet: New this year! Do you have a gently used girl’s dress or shoes from past Daddy-Daughter Dances that you would like to donate to our ACS family? If so, please consider bringing them to Jasmine’s Closet over the next two weeks. There is a rack set up in the back conference room of the front office for anyone to donate. For those needing a dress for this year’s dance, please stop by and select a dress before the big night! Questions? Call Amy Leonard 317.439.3677
Fifth Grade:
PowerSchool Grade Access: On Thurs, Jan 17, all 5th grade students will learn about how to view grades in real time on PowerSchool. Please read this important parent letter before Jan 17.
Christmas Potluck: We enjoyed celebrating Christ’s birth with you! Thank you for your help! If you are missing items (dishes, bags, spoons, etc.) from the event, please email your child’s’ homeroom teacher. There were some items left behind.
SEED Market: Please keep working with your child on SEED market projects. The market is Feb 13 from 2:00-4:00pm. Here is a copy of the information sheet that was sent home and signed. SEED money and approval information was sent home with your child today - please check their binder! Thank you for your support in this project. Please direct questions to Anika Slauer or Jessica Reidsma.
Reproductive Education: A reminder that at the end of May, after Spring Camp, the 5th grade team plans to begin a short unit on Reproductive Education. Miss Slauer and Mrs. Reidsma will be meeting with the girls while Mr. Hoo will be meeting 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.
Art: 5th grade will be learning about and working in the style of artist Amedo Modigliani.
Band: All band students will meet BOTH Tuesday and Thursday Jan 29 and 31. All instruments are needed both days. Yay band!
Bible: This week we began to learn about the 12 disciples. What is discipleship? How should we continue this tradition that Jesus modeled? Next week we will begin Pilgrim’s Progress an allegory about the Christian journey. We will also begin studying Jesus’ miracles, parables, and teachings. Soon we will begin our next Bible memory project. Here is a list of the verses if you and your child want to get a head start!
Language Arts: These 5th graders are reading, reading, reading. Thanks for your encouragement in this and for signing reading tickets. BOB weekly progress reports went home on Thursday. Those ice days really bolstered those reading ticket numbers. We will take reading MAPS next week Wed - Friday.
Math: This week we took our MAPS test. Next week we will pick up with patterns and graphing, Our Chapter 7 Test is on Fri Jan 25, Practice Test is due Thurs Jan 24, and all missing math assignments are due Fri Jan 25. Here is the practice test and answer key. If your child needs extra support in math here is a document with each lesson and its corresponding IXL. Also, www.aleks.com is a great resource to stay on top of MAPS skills.
Orchestra: ALL string players will meet both Tues and Thurs, Jan 29 and 31 so all instruments need to be at school on those 2 days! Thanks for remembering.
PE: We will continue our unit on basketball. There will be a basketball test on Jan 25.
Science: After refreshing our memory about what scientific models are, what they do, and how they are made, we will develop a model for solutions as special types of mixtures this coming week.
Social Studies: We have begun learning about the first colonies. We will doing an on-going class colony project, to help us understand what it would have been like to start a colony.
Sixth Grade:
SEED Market: Please keep working with your child on SEED market projects. The market is Feb 13 from 2:00-4:00pm. Here is a copy of the information sheet that was sent home and signed. SEED money and approval information was sent home with your child today - please check their binder! Thank you for your support in this project. Please direct questions to Jessica Reidsma.
Chicken Checker & Got Yolk: Please look at the sign up to indicate when your family will be taking a turn to help out on the weekend. We ask that all families take at least 1 turn per trimester.
6th Grade Girls Book Club: We will meet in Mrs. Westrate’s room from 3:00-3:30pm on Mon and Thur. We will be reading Front Desk by Kelly Yang. Anyone is welcome to join!
Devotion Sign-up: Sign up to lead devotions for our 6th Graders on a Thur (8:00-8:10am) this school year. We love to have parents and guests come to share a story, song, verse, prayer or devotional with us. We have many open dates for the next several months!
Art: Since we missed class due to the snow day, 6th grade students have due next Tues, Jan 22 the portrait project and both side of the green watercolor video notes page. Videos and extra notes sheets are available on the 6th grade art moodle page. Please check the homework page for project and homework due dates.
Band: We are working our way through the method book learning fundamentals and skills rapidly! Regular band quizzes will be reality for awhile.
Bible: Our 6th graders have been investigating characteristics of Christ. This week they have found specific evidence, proving that Jesus is prayerful!
History: We will continue our class simulation of Ancient Egypt. If you have an old t-shirt or two that you are willing to donate for a project, please send them in on Monday! Thanks!
Language Arts: Students are working on IXLs (due Tue Jan 22), spelling my words (test on Tue Jan 22), and biography reading response (due Fri Jan 25). Please check in with your child on these things! We will also take the reading MAPS next Wed - Friday.
Math: Next week will work focus on expense, profit and marketing as it connects to our SEED businesses.
PE: We will wrap up our unit on basketball with a test on Fri, Jan 25.
Orchestra: Practice pages 17 and 18 - rhythm etudes and syncopation!
Science: We’re focusing on electricity and circuits this week.
Spanish: Test on Thurs, Jan 24 over Unit 3 “Cierra la puerta.” See Moodle for more detail.
Seventh Grade:
Algebra (7th): We will finish Chapter 8 with a test on Friday next week.
Art: Students will be working on a creating a lego styled self portrait in class. Organism painted signs will be due Jan 23. Please check the homework page for project and homework due dates.
Band: We are working our way through the method book learning fundamentals and skills rapidly! Regular band quizzes will be reality for awhile.
Bible Huttenga: 7th graders will begin studying their second sermon this coming week. They will have a quiz on terminology on Fri, Jan 25.
Bible Holtrop: We will continue to study different aspects or prayer and write a letter to a preschool student talking about prayer.
History: This week we are starting a new unit on Africa. While learning about the geography of Africa, we will also be learning the names of 30 countries and taking a quiz by the end of the week.
Language Arts: Students who don’t have their MAP Reading tests finished will be able to complete it on Mon, Jan 24. Signed Reading Inventories are due on Mon, Jan 21; we will have a spelling quiz on Thurs, Jan 24. We will be continuing our study and discussion of Gary Schmidt’s Trouble in class
Math (Holtrop): We will spend a lot of time practicing how to solve equations. Students will also take their MAP test.
Orchestra: Work on page 8 , shifting technique and page 44, spiccato bowing. Also go through pages 42 and 43 for vibrato workouts.
PE: We will wrap up our unit on basketball with a test on Thurs, Jan 24.
Pre-Algebra: In the coming week we will be simplifying linear expressions.
Orchestra: Focus on improving intonation and skill in 3rd position on all 4 strings- pages 9 and 10.
Science: Our ice days pushed our test back a bit- we will have a test on particle spacing Tuesday.
Spanish: We are working on Unit 9 El Cucuy (The boogeyman). See Moodle for links and more detail. Vocabulary check coming soon - Fri, Jan 25 at the earliest.... (ice days!)
Eighth Grade:
NorthPointe Christian High School Info Night ("Blueprints 2019") - Jan 29, 6:45 pm.
NorthPointe Christian High School invites ACS 8th Graders to this year's Info Night. Meet the teachers and administrators, tour the school, and choose from the breakouts that most interest you, including our accelerated learning breakout and our internship-based program (Big Picture Learning).
Details and RSVP available at: http://www.npchristian.org/admissions/ or by contacting our Admissions Team at: 616.942.0363 x276, gro.naitsirhcpn@bllon.
Lowell High School class of 2023 Orientation: Thurs, Jan 31, 2019, @ 7:00pm. See flyer for details.
Algebra: We are finishing our unit on Systems of Equations next week and are planning on a quiz next Wednesday. Next Thursday and Friday we will take the MAP tests in math that we were scheduled to take this week.
Art: 8th grade students must be plastering their family shape projects by the end of class Monday - this will be a grade step in our project. Students may come complete the cardboard construction of this family shape project before school, at lunch, or after school. Please check the homework page for project and homework due dates.
Band: We are almost done with our book and will celebrate with a party - your student will know when once we finish. Then we will begin a new book!
Bible (Huttenga): The 8th graders are completing their Narnia/Reformed Worldview posters - these will be due at the beginning on our Bible class on Wed, Jan 23. After that, we will begin laying the groundwork for our next unit, an individually-driven study of Lee Strobel’s The Case for Faith.
Bible(Van Noord): We celebrated the Passover Seder together Friday. Thank you for sending in the things that we needed so we could do this. Ask your student about it - we talked about how we see Jesus in the Passover - - and about how his last supper with his disciples was the passover seder. We also finished the book of Matthew.
Geometry: We are studying special right triangles and the pythagorean theorem. Also, students will take their MAP test.
History: We are jumping into a new unit on the Industrial Revolution. We will be studying how these advancements changed life in the North and the South.
Language Arts: Students who don’t have their MAP Reading tests finished will be able to complete it on Mon, Jan 24. 8th graders have gotten their feedback for NHD, and are working on final revisions. Once the project is finished, students will be focused on creative nonfiction for the remainder of the year. Signed Reading Inventories are due on Mon, Jan 21; we will have a spelling quiz on Thurs, Jan 24.
Orchestra: Concert with Grand Rapids Christian High orchestras - and a jazz violinist - Thurs, Feb 28!. Our 7th and 8th grade strings will perform with the jazz violinist and other orchestras in this evening performance at Christian High - more info later but be sure to put this date on your calendar!
Pre-Algebra: In the coming week we will be simplifying linear expressions.
PE: We will wrap up our unit on basketball with a test on Thurs, Jan 24.
Science: We dive into different colors of light next week- finishing our unit on light waves with an I-check on Friday.
Spanish: We are working on Unit 9 El Cucuy (The boogeyman). See Moodle for links and more detail. Vocabulary check coming soon - Fri, Jan 25 at the earliest.... (ice days!)