Middle School Matters – Oct 16, 2020

General Announcements

ACS looks forward to the day when parents can once again join us in the school building, but for now we have to follow our "ACS Response and Preparedness Plan" in which parents are not able to enter our building while we are in Phase 4. To help us honor our back to school plan, please understand that we cannot have parents enter school before, during, or after school -- so sorry! If you or one of your littles need to use the restroom, please use the porta-johns located behind ACS.

5th Grade

Art: 5th graders have started cutting their prints. 5th grade will continue to work on cutting next week and even make some test prints.

Bible: This week in Bible we wrapped up the book of Exodus and Leviticus. Students also took their 10 Commandments Bible memory quiz. Next week we will look at the books of Numbers & Deuteronomy.

History: This week, students learned about primary and secondary sources and the development of early Native American cultures.

Language Arts: This week we identified similes, metaphors, and examples of personification in Hatchet. We also planned, drafted, and revised our descriptive paragraphs about our experiences from Survival Camp. Next week we will edit our paragraphs and finish Hatchet!

Music - Band: Practice at least 3x per week - this is really important to build muscle/skill/fundamentals. Lots of videos are coming in - p. 9 video is due Friday Oct 16. GREAT work!

Music - Choir: We are working on a project relating to the song “It is Well With My Soul”

Music - Orchestra: Keep practicing and filling out your practice record. You should be working through page 13.

PE: Students are finishing up their fitness tests, additionally will be learning about some of the fundamentals of throwing and catching a football.

Science: Students are wrapping up their Solar System Research Project - they’ve done excellent work so far and are learning a lot!

6th Grade

Art: 6th graders are all working on their picasso portraits. Awesome patterns were thought out and drawn for preparation to go onto these portraits. Please check the homework calendar for sketchbook and project due dates.

Bible: This week students presented their Outside Inside Bags and practiced Bible memory.

History: For our next unit, students will participate in a series of simulations. They will face the problems ancient people confronted in establishing civilization and experience the solution to those problems. This week, they learned how hunter-gatherer tribes progressed to the development of farming.

Language Arts: This week we continued to practice making inferences about the characters in Tuck Everlasting. We also took a vocabulary quiz on challenging words from the first half of the novel. Next week, we will finish Tuck Everlasting and start gearing up for a project on the Tuck characters.

Music - Band: Wow - so many excellent worship videos came in this week. Practice “It is Well With My Soul” and “In Christ Alone” - ask for a concert!

Music - Choir: We are working on a project relating to the song “It is Well With My Soul”

Music - Orchestra: Keep practicing, especially Fiddles on Fire, which will be on your next FlipGrid.

PE: Students are finishing up their fitness tests, additionally will be learning about some of the fundamentals of throwing and catching a football and applying to a game setting.

Science: We have begun a unit on Forces, focusing first on Newton’s 3 laws of motion.

7th Grade

Late & Missing Work: All late and missing work must be turned in by Oct 20. If work is not turned in by the 20th, it will be marked as a 0.

Art: 7th graders completed a self and peer critique on the sculptures they are creating and it went great. 7th graders will be painting on their sculpture for a bit yet. The 7th graders will be working to collect a variety of lines drawings as the final part of the sculpture. Please check the homework calendar for sketchbook and project due dates.

Bible: We will begin to wrap up our prayer unit in Bible. For this short week we will look at some ways that we can model prayers in our own lives. When we come back from Fall Break we will start working on our end of unit prayer project. This project will have multiple steps for students to complete so it will be important that they take time to fully complete it both in and out of class.

History: This week was a busy one for 7th grade social studies students!

We gained historical perspective by looking at a timeline of major world events and discussing potential ages for the earth and humanity. Thank you for your help with this discussion via the parent-involvement assignment. We will continue our discussion over the next few days by consulting the creation accounts in Genesis and reviewing parent feedback.

Students also had a test this week (Friday) on basic world geography, and they began researching a country of their choice to trace its changes through time. We’ll continue this work into the short week ahead.

Language Arts: 7th graders have a FlipGrid analysis of the story Super Human due Tue, Oct 20. When we return from the break, we’ll continue wrapping up the student narratives, and begin preparations for our first novel study of The Witch of Blackbird Pond.

Math - 7th Math: We finished up our unit on unit rates and proportions with a test on Thursday, and began our next unit on percents by reviewing how to do fraction, decimal, and percent conversions.

Math - Algebra: We will be wrapping up our chapter on inequalities and there will be a test on Tuesday.

Math - Pre-Algebra: We have started Chapter 4 on Roots and Exponents in Pre-Algebra and are getting to a point where students are learning new material. Now that we are getting into more challenging topics, our pace will start to slow down. Students should expect to have a test on Chapter 4 shortly after getting back from Fall Break.

Music - Band: Signed Solo Letter was due today (Friday). Solo packets are in the hands of the students so they can try them out and begin to choose.

Music - Choir: We have a quiz on The Moldau the final week of October. We are also singing some African and Barbadian songs, and drumming as well.

Music - Orchestra: Solo and Ensemble Parent form is due on Tues, Oct 20. Start picking out and practicing your solo now, so you don’t have to cram in the end!

PE: Students are finishing up their fitness tests, additionally will be reviewing some of the fundamentals of throwing and catching a football and applying to a game setting.

Science: We have been studying the different kinds of rocks. We will be working on metamorphic rocks next week.

8th Grade

Late & Missing Work: All late and missing work must be turned in by Oct 20. If work is not turned in by the 20th, it will be marked as a 0.

Yearbook Pictures and Baby Pictures: Please read the details below (due Dec 01, 2020).

Yearbook Pictures

8th graders may submit a different image for the yearbook than the traditional school photograph
It should be a portrait image (vertical, not horizontal).
The image should mostly be a "head and shoulders" or "waist up" shot
Please no pets
If a digital file...300 dpi or more image size should be equivalent to a 8 x 10
the image file size should be between 2 MB and 10 MB
Please send the images to Dani Buchanan (gro.naitsirhcada@nanahcubd)
If you would like to use your child's school photo as their yearbook photo please email this choice to Dani Buchanan

"Baby Pictures" for Yearbook and Graduation

Each student needs to submit one "Baby Picture" that we can use for both the yearbook and at graduation.
You may submit either a digital image or an actual photo. (The picture will be returned quickly and safely.)
The "baby picture" can be from the time your student was a baby or up to a young child.
These pictures can be fun, sweet, cute, and all of that!
Please send the images to Dani Buchanan (dbuchanan@adachristian.org) or have your student drop off the photo to Miss Buchanan in the office.

Art: 8th graders are working on getting ready to create and build their ceramic slab (flat piece of clay) pots. Ask your 8th grader about what they are planning on creating and if they are making a handle ask your student how it is integrated as of the pot. Please check the homework calendar for sketchbook and project due dates.

Bible Huttenga: In our short week, students will complete the poster section of their Reformation & Narnia project. After we return from the break, we will begin a short essay to conclude the project, and then move on to our next unit - The Case for Faith.

Bible Sloterbeek: With ideas of fear and love in mind, this week students reflected on several passages where Jesus responds to people’s doubts. We were glad to find that Jesus is gentle with people who are doubting and asking questions. At the end of this week and into our short next week, we’ll take our thoughts on fear, love, doubt, and hope into discussions on salvation, and we’ll begin wrestling with the roles of faith and works in the Christian life and the gospel Jesus brought.

History: We had a lot going on in 8th grade social studies this week!

Students have also been studying U.S. geography for a test this coming Tuesday; they’ve been continuing work on their National History Day papers; and they began a project researching the history of a U.S. state. This project will continue into the next few weeks.

Language Arts: NHD continues. We are making good progress. Students will continue to meet milestones regarding notes and sources, and also work through a checklist of guiding questions to help them find the remaining relevant information and theme connections for their topics. We are planning on transition into outlining and drafting at the end of the month.

Math - Algebra: We are diving into inequality equations this week.

Math - Geometry: We have begun a new chapter on parallel and perpendicular lines.

Math - Pre-Algebra: Our week began with a new unit on roots and powers. Students have been learning what exponents actually are in addition to the differences between positive and negative exponents. During our short week next week, we’ll begin to look at the different exponent rules, with a focus on multiplication and division rules.

Music - Band: We have Book 3 - the first group to use this new version, I am excited to see what we can do with these new books! The next practice assignment includes the new book and also our songs for Festival.

Music - Choir: We have a quiz on The Moldau the final week of October. We are also singing some African and Barbadian songs, and drumming as well

Music - Orchestra: Keep practicing your music at home!

PE: Students are finishing up their fitness tests, additionally will be reviewing the fundamentals of throwing/catching a football and applying to a game setting.

Science: We are finishing up our moon studies with a test on Tue, Oct 20.

Athletics

For those finishing up a fall sports season please fill out the 2020 Fall Season Coaching Evaluation and turn in your uniform to Mr. Meyaard.

The 5th-8th grade boys basketball sign-ups will be closing Mon, Oct 19. Practice is scheduled to start the week of Oct 26.

If you have any questions regarding your child's sport season please contact Casey Meyaard, gro.naitsirhcada@draayemc