General Announcements:

The Ada Christmas Parade is this week Saturday for the ACS 6th-8th grade Bands! All band members and musical family members are welcome to ride and play this week Saturday. Arrive at McDonalds at 10:30am, parade begins at 11:00am, and is done at the fire station by 11:30am. Parents are welcome to walk with us, parents with company logo on their vehicles could follow us in our little convoy, (email Mrs. VN so she can tell the fire dept you are coming) and we need strong dads to move the hay bales onto the semi and back off into Mrs. Wittenbach’s truck after we ride. Please come - it is super fun! Fa la la la la!

The Middle School Christmas Concert (Grades 6-8) is Tuesday, Dec 15 at 7:00pm in the ACS Gymnasium. All ACS middle school students have a part in this concert, and should be wearing white and black for the event (white on top, black on the bottom). All white and black must meet the ACS dress code. We are excited to celebrate the birth of Christ with you!

Fifth Grade:

Art: Printmaking is wrapping up and we will move on to learning about Native American Potter Maria Martinez.

Band: We are learning more notes. Reading music is critical - and knowing how to finger/slide is too. Please help your band student to find regular times to practice. 5x per week is AWESOME.

Bible: We continue to look at the world as a whole, and the disparities in resources that exist from one nation to another.

Language Arts: This week we will introduce the Biography project and select our famous American. Over the course of this unit we will research, outline, write, and speak!

Math: We will have a test next week Wednesday on adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing decimals. We will be finishing the unit this week, and reviewing next week.

PE: We finished up our volleyball unit last week with game play. Students demonstrated the knowledge and skills needed to compete in volleyball games. We will begin our basketball unit this week.

Science: The water cycle.

Spanish: We will resume our unit on clothing.

Sixth Grade:

Art: In class this week the 6th grade will be work on the second self-portrait in a new style. Please make sure your 6th grade is reviewing how to draw a portrait because a quiz is coming soon.

Band: See note about the Christmas Parade way above. Our first concert is Dec 15. We are hard at work on our music.

Bible: Memory work - Philippians 2:1-6 due on Wednesday. We will start our look at the beginning of the Bible - the book of Genesis.

History: Ancient Egypt project should be completed by Thursday. Global Studies Weekly due by Friday. This will be Mr. Klomp’s last week with us, so make sure your students thank him for all his hard work this semester!

Language Arts: We will begin our study of short stories and also review capitalization this week.

Math: We are beginning our second trimester with a new unit - integers!

PE: We finished our volleyball unit last week. We will begin our basketball unit this week. Students will be working on a basketball project in class.

Science: We continue to study atoms, elements and the periodic table this week.

Spanish: We will begin preparing for a big TEST coming up: 6K on Monday, Dec 7; 6D on Tuesday, Dec 8. Test will be over pronouns, the verb SER, and adjectives. Resource materials are available on Moodle, including flashcards for the adjectives. There is also a practice test we will do this Thursday in class.

Seventh Grade:

Art: In class 7th graders will be working on step 3 of the positive and negative robot project. Please check the homework calendar for sketchbook homework and project due dates.

Band: See note about the Christmas Parade way above. We will now hit Christmas music hard since our solos are done. Hooray for great solo work, and hooray for Christmas! Our concert is Tuesday, Dec 15.

History: This week we are finishing our study of East Asia. We will soon start reviewing in class for a test next Tuesday, Dec 8. Students should study from their note sheets and flashcards that are found on moodle.

Language Arts: Now that the students have lived through many events of The Westing Game, they will be putting the rest of the mystery together by actually reading the story. As we do this, be sure to ask your student about what we’ve learned regarding breaking stereotypes and what is required for characters to develop meaningful relationships with one another. Dates to keep in mind: Dec 2: Westing Journals due Dec 5: One-Pagers due Dec 9: Westing Game Quest.

PE: We finished our volleyball unit last week. We will begin our basketball unit this week. There will be a test at the end of the unit. A review sheet will be posted on Moodle.

Pre-Algebra (Kiser): We continue learning about proportions and similar figures.

Pre-Algebra (Holtrop): We will be starting on new chapter after Thanksgiving Break. It will focus on geometry. It’ll be a fun break from numbers as we spend more time focusing on shapes and angles.

Spanish: Peppy prepositions dance, complex sentence translations, and an upcoming project due - Oh my! Today we are going over the project requirements, and all PPT Projects are due next week Tuesday, Dec 8.

Eighth Grade:

Babysitting Night: Next Friday Dec 11, the 8th grade class will be sponsoring a night of babysitting to ACS families. This event will take place from 5:30 - 9:00 pm. All 8th graders are being asked to help, so please save the date on your calendar. More details to come.

Dessert Theater: The cast list is complete, and we are so excited to get started with our rehearsals this week! Please refer to our Dessert Theater website for more information.

Algebra (Witte): This week we will be finishing Ch 5 in class. We will be preparing for a test next Monday.

Algebra (8th): A test review was given to students today. Ch 4 test on Graphing Linear Equation will be Thursday.

Art: In class this week the 8th grade will receive their final days of class to work on the calligraphy and then we will transition into our new project. Please check the homework calendar and for sketchbook and project due dates.

Band: See note about the Christmas Parade this coming Saturday way above. Our Christmas concert is Tuesday, Dec 15. We have so much to show you!

Bible: We will begin a book study on The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. We will be look evidence to show that Christianity is true and how defend our faith against those who do not believe.

Geometry: We will continue unit 6 after the break. This includes proofs that now include shapes and triangles as well as finding missing angle measures.

History: This week we are reviewing Ch 8 in preparation of a test on Friday. Flashcards are posted on moodle and students are also creating their own review sheet as homework tonight. These will be helpful tools for reviewing for the test.

Language Arts: Students will be receiving feedback for the 3rd draft of their NHD essays. Feedback on their research will be returned at the beginning of the following week. We will be reading through the short story “Flowers for Algernon” while continuing our discussion of identity and what affects it.

PE: We will begin our basketball unit this week. There will be a test at the end of the unit. A review sheet will be posted on Moodle.

Science: We’re studying the water cycle and ocean climate this week. An iCheck will take place over Investigations 8 and 9 on Thursday.

Spanish: We have a couple big things coming up: Take Home Test (8A on Monday, Dec 7; and 8B on Tuesday, Dec 8) and the Memory Verse on Friday, Dec 11 for both classes. Resources are on Moodle for both!

Athletics:

Basketball: The 5th and 6th grade basketball season is off to a great start, schedules have been released and we are looking forward to watching the upcoming games! The 7th and 8th grade season begins this week.

Sports Physicals: If your child is playing winter basketball sports physicals must be turned in before the 1st day of practice.