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Middle School Matters – Nov 30, 2018

General Announcements

Report Cards: Today, Nov 30, report cards will be sent home digitally via email and posted to your PowerSchool parent portal. Your child also came home today with a form for you to sign and return by Mon, Dec 3 confirming you reviewed the report card.

Updates have been made to our report cards. The redesign helps us better align reports with our curriculum across grade levels and subjects. On the upper right side of the report cards, please take note of the “Academic Scale”. The previous “S” scale has been replaced with a numeric one. If you have any questions, please contact your child’s teacher.

Christmas Shoppe: On Dec 07 Middle School students will have time to shop at the ACS Christmas Shoppe. 

Christmas Concert: Christmas Concert for grades all students in grades 5-8, 7:00pm at ACS in the South Gym on Dec 13. Call time is 6:30pm.

  • 78 wears Black and White. 
  • 56 wears green 56er Mixer shirts and either black or tan on the bottom. 
  • No jeans, no holes, all clothing should meet dress code. 
  • We will celebrate Jesus with you and we are excited to do this!

Parade: It's supposed to rain - dress right for rain! All 5-8 students are invited to ride and sing on our ACS Parade Float Saturday, Dec 01 in the festive fresh fun fabulous friendly frozen village of Ada! Parents must fill out this digital permission slip.

Details:

  • Sat, Dec 01, 2018
  • Wear your warm and festive clothes - only warm holiday attire welcome (you are sitting on a semi truck and getting cold - just warm stuff - hats that light up are cool if you have them - we won't be using the school Santa Hats this year - so BYO Hat or stylish ear muffs)  
  • Drop off your student at River Street at 10:30am. The parade steps off at 11:00.
  • Meet your student @ the Ada Fire Station at 11:30am to take them with you! (or make arrangements as to where you want to meet them)
  • Do you have a COOL, Parade-worthy VEHICLE that you would like to have in the parade with us? Email Mrs. VN and let her know - we are allowed to add a couple right near our truck. :) Let me know via the form or email ()
  • Festively decorated or costumed pets who don't freak out during parades are welcome to walk with their adult owners, but they may not ride on the truck with us.

Secret Santas for Grades 6-8: Fun optional activity brought to ACS by the Student Council. Forms are due Dec 06 for any students who wish to participate. See form for more details.

Fifth Grade:

Band: We will have full band Mon/Tue and Thur from now until the Christmas Concert! Nov practice records are due the first week of Dec!

Bible: This week in Bible we have been working on our country project newspaper. Students have been researching information about their country and are beginning to layout their newspapers. Stay tuned for a due date.

Language Arts: Next week we will begin reading The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis  It is a heart-wrenching story of an Afghan girl, Parvana, who must survive under the Taliban regime. Spelling “My Words” lists went home this week. The test will be Dec 14.  

Math: This week in math we started Chapter 6, Multiplying and Dividing Decimals. Students used our GFS receipt from Cookie Factory and applied their multiplication skills to determine what our profits were as a 5th grade class.

Orchestra: We have full orchestra  for the next 2 weeks so all play together on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays! Note well- call time for strings on Dec 13  is 6:15pm so that we can tune before we perform.

PE: Please remind students to bring appropriate clothes and shoes for PE this week.

Science: We’re beginning to study mixtures and solutions. Encourage your student to look for mixtures and solutions in everyday life.

Social Studies: We have begun our unit on the Age of Exploration! Next week, we will be studying various explorers.

Sixth Grade:

6th Grade Girls Book Club: We will meet in Mrs. Westrate’s room from 3:00-3:30pm this week Mon and Thur. We will be reading/listening to Chester and Gus by Cammie McGovern. 

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.

Chicken Checkup & Got Yolk?: Is your child’s team “on duty” for Chicken Checkup this week? It is important to share the responsibility of taking care of our chickens on the weekend. After determining which Team your child is on, please sign up to take care of chores on Saturday and/or Sunday at some point this trimester (be sure to ask your child which team they are on to get to the correct sign up). If your child has questions, he or she should contact the “Eggsecutive Council” member on his or her team.


Band: Nov practice records are due the first week of Dec! We are working on concert music. Call time Dec 13 is 6:30pm.

Bible: Our Joshua Comic Booklets and Bible memory (Joshua 24:14-15) are due next week Tuesday, Dec 04. Next, we will be focusing on Advent.

History: We will continue learning about the Babylonian Empire next week!

Language Arts: We continue to learn about disABILITIES through readings, writings, discussions, and a variety of experiential activities. Please ask your child about this unit! Independent reading books need to be completed by Dec 10.   

Math: We are working with negative numbers! It’s normal for students to wrestle with these concepts. We will spend several days reviewing and practicing our skills.

PE: Please remind students to bring appropriate clothes and shoes for PE this week.

Orchestra: We are practicing our pieces for Dec 13th concert! Add vibrato and get all of those tricky notes in tune. Call time for strings is 6:15 on Dec 13!

Science: Our new unit deal with forces. We have explored a bit and will continue to do more in the coming weeks.

Seventh Grade:

Washington D.C. Trip: We have some good interest in the Washington D.C. trip already, but we still have room for some more of you to join us. Please let Mr. Witte know if you are interested in signing up!


Algebra (7th): We are pushing through Ch 7, Systems of Linear Equations and Inequalities. Students are using much of their previous understanding to build these concepts.

Band: Nov practice records are due the first week of Dec! We are working on concert music. Call time Dec 13 is 6:30pm.

History: We are working through a unit on East Asia and Southeast Asia. Next week we will start looking at the history of the region over the last 200 years.

PE: Please remind students to bring appropriate clothes and shoes for PE this week.

Pre-Algebra (Kiser): We are graphing and solving proportions; as well as working with similar figures and indirect measurements.

Orchestra: Focus on intonation and dynamic contrasts on all of your concert pieces.  Strings will tune at 6:15pm on Dec 13.

Science: Hopefully you have heard about our blazing start to chemical interactions. We will continue this work, looking into chemical reactions and the intricacies of those interactions.

Eighth Grade:

Graduation and Baby Pictures for Yearbook: Please email Mr. Witte a picture for the yearbook if you do not want to use the school picture.  Pictures are requested by Thanksgiving Break.

Washington D.C. Trip: We have some good interest in the Washington D.C. trip already, but we still have room for some more of you to join us. Please let Mr. Witte know if you are interested in signing up!


Algebra: We are starting chapter 6 on solving inequalities. Next week we will also review some concepts from chapter 5 that need to be touched up on and then have an opportunity to improve some test grades. Please keep encouraging these students to work hard, show work, and to ask questions if they don’t understand some material.  

Band: Nov practice records are due the first week of Dec! We are working on concert music. Call time Dec 13 is 6:30pm. We have a field trip to a local church Dec 06 during school for lunch and music. Check your email for the digital permission slip soon.

Bible(Van Noord): We are reading the book of Matthew, doing a special Luke 2 Project, and taking time for personal devotions as well.

History: Monday we will celebrate George Washington with our “Ode to George Day.” This is becoming an annual tradition in 8th grade history. Some students may be volunteering to bring in some treats or drinks for class on Monday, so thank you to those of you who may be helping with this! The rest of the week we will keep looking at the early years of the USA as an independent nation by looking at the presidencies of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.  

PE: Please remind students to bring appropriate clothes and shoes for PE this week.

Pre-Algebra: We are graphing and solving proportions; as well as working with similar figures and indirect measurements.

Orchestra: Focus on tone, dynamics and intonation on all of the pieces for Dec 13. Call time for strings is 6:15PM- to tune.

Science: We are studying various types of waves. Next week we will look further into sound waves.