General Announcements:
Hot Lunch will be ending on Friday, May 26th. For the remaining school year your child will need a lunch and drink (as milk will be ending as well). If a parent wants a refund for a graduating 8th grader (with no younger siblings) they can e-mail cpratt@fhps.net stating that they would like a refund along with a current address. Otherwise all remaining balances will roll over to next fall. If you oldest is an 8th grader and they have younger siblings the balance may be added to the sibling’s accounts as well.
Middle School Concert Grades 6-8 All Students! Thurs May 18, 7:00pm at ACS. Call time is 6:30pm. Wear White and Black. Bands to the South Gym. Orch to the Commons. Choir only families choose an opening venue, then join all in the South Gym to close the concert with the ACS choirs.
Summer Tech Camp: Do you enjoy using technology? Mr. Musch, Ms. Frens, and Mr. Kiser would love to explore some technology activities, games and projects with you. Our ACS Summer Tech Camp is for people of all technological skills. Possible activities: coding, Cubelets, game design, Makey-Makey, Mindstorms, Osmo, Ozobots, stop motion videos, etc. No matter your skill level, you will have a great time hanging out with the tech team, learning new things and meeting new friends. Snack and games every day! Sign up for Tech Camp!
Summer Art Camp: If you are in 5th, 6th, or, 7th grade and love creating art then you should consider Art Camp this summer from August 7 -11. In the middle school session will make a Chihuly inspired soda bottle sculpture to hang at school, plaster masks, monochromatic landscape oil paint landscapes and maybe we will try out some plein air acrylic painting (if it not too hot outside) or other crazy project that Mr. Wanner is working on. Click on this link for more details and Sign-ups
Cross Country at GRCHS: The annual Grand Rapids Christian High cross country open house will be Friday, June 09 from 5:30-7:00pm at Coach Jager’s house located at 1910 Pokogon SE. Meet teammates and coaches. Get race schedules and summer plans, register for camp, and more. Grand Rapids Christian camp brochures can be found at eaglesrunning.com Dates for camp are: Middle school (grades 5-8) are July 17-20. High school are July 23-28.
Fifth Grade:
Summer Math Review: Mr. Boersma has put together a summer math review packet that covers the 11 chapters your students worked through this year. The link below will bring you to that page. Feel free to print it off and use it for extra practice over the summer to keep their skills sharp. Answer keys are in the back. 5th Grade Summer Math Review
Calvin Chemistry Demonstration: Please sign and return the paper permission slip to go to Calvin College for a chemistry demonstration next Tuesday.
Art: 5th grade is working on creating cupcake chalk compositions inspired by artist Wayne Thiebaud.
Band: Full Band Mon/Tue/Thu until end of year! Spring Concert Mon Jun 05 at 7:00pm in the South Gym! Wear comfortable clothes - 5th graders will sit on the floor for the slideshow in the commons later that evening. Song 100 party was yesterday, long overdue, so FUN. :)
Math: We are in full review mode to make sure that the major content of this year is fresh in our minds for middle school math - number sense, decimals, fractions, etc. Please see the note above about the summer review packet. I strongly encourage all levels of math ability to keep up their math skills over the summer!
Orchestra: Full orchestra Mon/Tue/ Thur until the end of the year to prepare for our Spring Concert Mon Jun 5 at 7:00pm in the Commons. Be sure to send in rental check for your stringed instrument . You should receive your letter with details and the amount by Monday!
PE: We will be playing Lacrosse next week!
Science: Investigations into “Mixtures and Solutions” continues. On Tuesday we’ll go to Calvin College for an hour of Chemistry demonstrations - amazing hour long show the Chem department puts on for area fifth graders.
Social Studies: We are finishing up our historical review of inventions and tieing it into our Science unit. The whirlwind technological changes in our world is something we all need to ponder from a Faith perspective. In other words keeping kids (and US) grounded in an age where technology can dominant our lives.
Spanish: We pretended to be in another country and “called” a taxi dispatch, giving our names, phone numbers and addresses all in Spanish. Of course we had to spell our names and addresses in Spanish, too. We will continue with the alphabet, phonetics, and pronunciation these last few classes of the year.
Sixth Grade:
Summer Math Review: To keep your student fresh on their math skills over the summer Mr. Kiser and Mrs. Holtrop would recommend you take a look at this link to a Middle School Summer Math Skills Sharpener.
Art: 6th grade is working on glazing their ceramic animal effigy bowls in class. Please check the homework calendar for sketchbook and project due dates.
Band: Spring Concert Thu May 18. Wear White/Black. Call time is 6:30pm. We can’t wait to show you what we can do! Band will meet in the South Gym.
Bible: We will be wrapping up our current units.
History: Students should have their Ancient Rome unit completed by the end of next week (5/21). They should have completed Lesson 5 about the Fall of Rome. GSW # 27 will be due on Friday.
Language Arts: The sixth graders did an OUTSTANDING job on their persuasive speeches. Thanks for encouraging them in this area. They have officially completed World Fair! I, however, need to finish up some of the grading. As for the rest of the school year, we will be reading The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt. This is an entertaining story about a boy in the 1960s who is able to make sense of his own world as he reads through William Shakespeare plays.
Math: On Monday, students have a test on Chapter 10: Volume and Surface Area. A practice test was completed and checked today. Students can bring a 3x5 note card of formulas to the test. We will also complete the DEA this week.
PE: We will be playing Lacrosse next week! Students should be prepared to go outside.
Orchestra: Spring Concert is this Thursday May 18. Wear Black and white. Tuning time is 6:30PM in the orchestra room. Concert is 7PM in the Commons.
Science: There’s fungus among us! Ask your student about the many living things that we have in our classroom. Single-celled organisms, multicellular organisms, protists, animals, prokaryotes, eukaryotes...we’ve got them all!
Spanish: 6th graders will have a quiz over the “Casa” vocabulary and verb “estar” a week from Monday, on the 22nd. Resources are now open on their Moodle page.
Seventh Grade:
Summer Math Review: We recommend that 7th Grade students complete this Summer Math Activities review. The review has a brief recap of targeted concepts, practice pages, and activities/games that can be completed with another family member. If you wish to pick up a printed copy, please contact Mr. Kiser (gro.naitsirhcada@resikn).
Algebra (7th): We will wrap up chapter 12 with a test on Wednesday and move into another life application project.
Art: In class we will be working on drawing, shading and value. Students are encouraged to bring small personal items to construct a simple still life with. Please check the homework calendar for sketchbook and project due dates.
Band: Spring Concert Thu May 18. Wear White/Black. Call time is 6:30pm. We can’t wait to show you what we can do! Band will meet in the South Gym.
Bible: 7th graders will look at the spiritual practice of service of the next coming weeks in Bible class.
History: Next week we will continue our short study of what life was like in the American colonies.
Language Arts: The 7th graders will continue learning about grammar and will be preparing to complete final revisions for Paideia. A one-pager assignment is due on the 19th.
PE: We will be playing Lacrosse next week! Students should be prepared to go outside.
Math: We will continue to study statistics and prepare for our final test!
Pre-Algebra: We continue with our transformations chapter. We will also complete the DEA.
Orchestra: Spring Concert this Thursday May 18th. Tune at 6:30PM in the orchestra room. We perform at 7PM in the Commons. We are so excited to perform for you!
Science: We will continue working through Investigation 6 “Following the Energy” there will be no Quest this week.
Spanish: QUIZ on Wednesday! Review those higher numbers. Packets were handed out, but the same packet is posted on your Moodle class site.
Eighth Grade:
Class Trip: Earlier this week information went home regarding the class trip. Please turn back the permission form, waivers, and money by Wednesday, May 17.
Laptops: All 8th Grade parents need to complete this survey regarding the MacBook Air that your student has been using.
Algebra: Next week we will cover a few topics like the Pythagorean Theorem and the Distance Formula. We will also start reviewing for the exam in class.
Art: In class 8th graders will be working on creating a painting for their street art installation. Please check the homework calendar for sketchbook and project due dates.
Band: Spring Concert Thu May 18. Wear White/Black. Call time is 6:30pm. We can’t wait to show you what we can do! Band will meet in the South Gym. 8th graders will be honored at this concert!
Bible: Students have blessed us with their plumb bob speeches this week. It has been absolutely amazing to witness these young disciples share their faith. Be sure to ask them about what they shared if you haven’t already.
Geometry: We will be mastering our skills on angles and circles. We also will continue to work on reviewing and preparing for our final exam.
History: Next week we will take a quick look at some events that happened after the Civil War. We will also start reviewing for the upcoming exam.
Language Arts: 8th graders will continue their final novel study: Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy. We will begin preparing for our exam soon.
PE: We will be playing Lacrosse next week! Students should be prepared to go outside.
Pre-Algebra Enhanced: We continue with our Geometry Intro, will take the DEA and will begin our Exam Review.
Orchestra: Spring Concert is this Thu May 18th . Tune in orchestra room promptly at 6:30pm and we perform at 7:00pm in the Commons. 8th grade string players will be honored at this concert.
Science: An exam review and pacing guide has been posted on Moodle and on the homework calendar. Students also have a paper copy of the exam review. We will wrap up our study of heredity/genetics next week (no unit test this time) and then will work hard to prepare for our exam.
Spanish: Tue, May 16th, is our Cumulative Assessment Test. This will be a little of everything we have learned over the years. Packets and online material are available to skim, but students are not expected to “cram.” It is a multiple choice test based on practical things we have learned. Permission slips for the Restaurant field trip will be handed out Tuesday, as well. We still need a couple chaperones for this outing on May 30th. Let me know if you would be interested!