General Announcements:
Fifths Disease: It seems that we have a mild outbreak of something called Fifths Disease. While not a serious condition, it is highly contagious. Like the common cold and other viruses there is very little to be done besides regular reminders to wash your hands and not share spoons, straws and water bottles. Fifths Disease usually presents itself with cold like symptoms and then a few days later a rash appears on the face and arms. Here is a link for more information. As a school we are required to report the number of cases in our building – no names are given. If you believe that your child has or has had Fifths Disease please notify the school office.
Hot Lunch - last day is 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.
Laptop Turn-In: As we are fast approaching the end of the school year, we have some details to share with you and your student about school laptops. Please take time to read through the appropriate links below.
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’s not too hot outside) or other crazy project that Mr. Wanner is working on. Click on this link for more details and Sign-ups
Summer Band Lessons - We are building great musical skills and great brains with our instruments. An excellent way to keep up and improve your musical abilities can be through lessons with amazing Mrs. Horton. Check out this link for details: Summer Music Lessons at ACS with Mrs Horton!
Knollcrest Music Camp - a fabulous option for band, orchestra, music theatre, choir, jazz, and many other musical options. This day camp is fantastic - hang out at Calvin College, meet amazing students, make friends and make music. Thinking about the musical at ACS? This is a great place to get some good practice and build musical skills.
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:
Art: 5th grade worked on completing their Wayne Thiebaud Cupcake compositions.
Band: Concert Mon Jun 05 at ACS, 7:00pm in the ACS South Gym!
Bible: Almost all Jesus Projects are complete! We end the year by reviewing stories of the Bible and making a large map to show where those stories took place.
Language Arts: Our Wild about Reading project ended today! Thank you for helping your child over the last 6+ weeks to finish books and projects, it has been really fun to see their creativity! We are continuing to focus our time on Theme by reading different short stories and determining the theme with evidence from the reading. We are also reviewing some grammar through daily grams.
Math: 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 at the bottom. 5th Grade Summer Math Review
Orchestra: 5th grade orchestra concert on Monday, June 5 at 7:00pm.
PE: Disc golf next week! Students should be prepared to go outside.
Science: We had an awesome experience at the Chemistry Demonstration Event at Calvin. We’ll wrap up our study of Mixtures and Solutions with our own chemistry investigations. Of course there will be all sorts of “Science” learning at Fifth Grade Outdoor Education Camp: succession, climax forest, hands on amphibian and reptile study (snakes, turtles, frogs, salamanders), bog life…..
Social Studies: We are going to spend the last couple of weeks looking at the twentieth century and the rapid industrial and technological advances. At Fifth Grade Camp we’ll be traveling to an old township cemetery for some learning and also finding out more about Native Americans. Camp Tall Turf happens to be the location where all “indians” were sent after the treaty of 1855 (Elbridge Township in Oceana County). Google Chief Cobmoosa for some interesting information about such. Perhaps your fifth grader will find an indian arrowhead during the final day “hunt”.
Spanish: 5th graders will have an Alphabet Quiz next week Wednesday (5H) and Thursday (5B and 5DW.)
Sixth Grade:
Preparing for Adolescence - Have you read this parent letter and read Chapters 1 & 2 with your 6th graders yet? Please send the book back to school with your child no later than Monday, May 22. If you have any questions please let us know.
Class Trip - Craig’s Cruisers Permission Form was sent home with students today. It is due back by Friday, May 26.
Art: 6th graders are working to complete the glazing of their ceramic animal effigy bowls. Please check the homework calendar for project and sketchbook due dates.
Band: What a great job on the concert - - how fun! :) On to new music and more techniques and fundamentals!
Bible: All students will be participating in the Preparing for Adolescence program this week. Boys will be in class with Mr. Kiser and Mr. Hapner. Girls will have class with Mrs. Koetje and Mrs. Westrate. Please make sure you and your student have read the assigned chapters and that your student brings the book with them to school on Monday.
History: Monday should finish up our unit on Ancient Rome. Students should be through lesson 5 by Monday. In class we will begin a new unit on the Middle Ages, and finish up our last GSW. Any remaining Ancient Rome lessons will need to be completed at home.
Language Arts: We continue to read and enjoy The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt. Students may have to finish up some reading at home.
Math: Next week we will be learning about statistics. We spent some time reviewing mean, median and mode and now we’ll be using them more thoroughly and studying different displays.
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.
PE: Disc and foot golf next week! Students should be prepared to go outside.
Orchestra: Bring ALL music and books. We will turn in orchestra pieces and sight read some new music.
Science: We will have an open note/book quiz on Wednesday. This will cover our study of bacteria and fungi (Investigation 4).
Spanish: 6th graders have a QUIZ on Monday, May 22. The quiz will cover places inside and outside the home, along with the verb “estar” to tell where things are.
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 and begin a geometry based math project.
Art: 7th graders are learning about and working on drawing and shading in class. Please check the homework calendar for project and sketchbook due dates.
Band: What a great job on the concert - - how fun! :) On to new music and more techniques and fundamentals!
Bible: Wanner/Huttenga - 7th graders are engaged in learning about and thinking about the spiritual practice of service. Soon the 7th graders will be experiencing some different types of service opportunities.
History: Next week we will start working through Chapter 5 on the events that lead into the American Revolutionary War.
Language Arts: The 7th graders will continue reading The Skin I’m In and will be doing final revisions for the Paideia project. The final turn-in day will be either Friday May 26 or Monday May 30
PE: Foot golf next week! Students should be prepared to go outside.
Math: We have completed our 7th grade math book! For the remainder of the year we will spend time strengthening equation solving skills.
Orchestra: Be sure to bring in all music and books. We will turn in orchestra pieces and sight read new songs.
Science: We will wrap up investigation 8 and have scheduled a populations and ecosystems test for Tuesday May 30th
Spanish: As crazy as it seems, we only have two Spanish classes more this year! We will play some review games and learn about the Mayans and their use of clay.
Eighth Grade:
Exams:
Thursday, May 25
- 1st Session (8:15-9:45): Math
- 2nd Session (10:00-11:30): 8A History, 8B Science
- Pick up at 11:30
Friday, May 26
- 1st Session (8:15-9:45) 8A LA, 8B History
- 2nd Session (10:10-11:40) 8A Science, 8B LA
- Lunch and Tie-Dye Class Shirts 11:40 - 12:30
- Pick Up at 12:30
From Mrs. Greer: 8th Grade End of Year Pool Party scheduled for Wednesday, June 7, 2017. Time 3:00-7:00pm. All 8th graders (boys and girls) are invited. It will be at the MVP on Crahen. Cost is free for all. Snacks, drinks, pizza and ice cream included. Add this to your calendar now!
Algebra: Next week is our Algebra exam! We are working on a review sheet in class that can be useful for studying. A great idea would be for students to try problems from the chapter tests in our textbook. Our exam will mostly cover chapters 8, 9, 10, and a bit of 11 and 12.
Art: 8th graders are working to complete their street art project based on the street installation work of artist Bren Bataclan. Next week WEDNESDAY your 8th grader will be coming home with a large bag of art from the end of last year and all of this years artwork. It might be a great idea to pick up your 8th graders if possible that day. Please check the homework calendar for project and sketchbook due dates.
Band: All ACS music and instruments should be turned in on Mon May 22. 8th Grade student-owned instruments should have come home the night of the concert. Thank you for being a wonderful band! What a blessing!!!!!
Bible: We are wrapping up our plumb bob project and also our book of memories project this week. Some students will be sharing their plumb bob speeches with the rest of the middle school on Wednesday during chapel.
Geometry: Students took their final test today! Now we can focus on preparing for our exam that will be next week.
History: Students have a set of flashcards to use for studying for the exam on the moodle page. Next week we will continue to review in class while also putting the finishing touches on our Decades Project that we were working on in class.
PE: Foot golf next week! Students should be prepared to go outside.
Orchestra: Turn in all music by Mon, May 22! Bring your instruments home. You have been a blessing to our school!
Science: We are wrapping up some discussions about ethics, Christianity and genetic technologies. We will spend time this week reviewing for our exam. Students have a paper copy of a review sheet. The review is also posted on moodle.
Spanish: Our final test of the year is complete, and now we look ahead to our lunch at an authentic Mexican restaurant. Next week we will go over common expressions in ordering meals. Please watch for a permission slip coming home, which must be turned in any time prior to Tuesday, May 30th.
Athletics:
Uniforms: Please return all spring sport uniforms to Miss Prins