General Announcements
Note: Due to the Spiritual Retreat, you are receiving your Middle School Matters one day early
Spiritual Retreat – Please join us in praying for our retreat and for our school. Follow this link to a prayer schedule and get involved!
Service Project – Middle School Service Project is Oct 1 & 2. Please note that the 7th and 8th graders will be spending the night of Oct 1 at Camp Tall Turf. This will be another great two days of service in God’s World. More information about the Service Project will be coming soon.
5th Grade News
Band:
- Monday: Brass and Percussion
- Tuesday: Woodwinds
- Thursday: Everyone!
Reed players: Read this article about caring for your reed
Percussion families: Read this article about drum rudiments, and practice them!
All: Practice - Regular, consistent practice is KEY! Work on pages 4-6 (some are ready for 7 which is awesome). Practice 5 times per week - usually each practice will take about 20 minutes. Consider private lessons on your instruments - - Sarah Horton (moc.liamg@notrohbharas) is available Mon/Thurs after school. Mrs. Van Noord (gro.naitsirhcada@droonnavn) also gives lessons after school.
Bible: We continue to learn about events and themes from the Pentateuch.
Language Arts: Normal spelling list test tomorrow. Activity packets for spelling are also due tomorrow. We have been working hard on adding lots of details to our writing and practicing with our daily journals. We have also started working on writing about our survival books.
Math: We took a quiz today on place value, standard and expanded form, and changing decimals into fractions. Next week we will dive into chapter 2 - exponents and exponential notation.
Orchestra: We are off to a great beginning in 5th grade strings and are playing pizzacato with all 3 and 4( for the cellists) fingers down on the D strings. On Mondays the violins and viola practice and Tuesdays the celli and then on Thursdays we meet together as a full group. Students should be practicing at home - for at least 5 days / 20 minutes each time. Ask for a song or two!
PE: The 5th grade students have really been showing off their soccer skills! Next week we will wrap up our soccer unit.
Spanish: 5th graders have Spanish homework (although a few finished in class.) This is a “math” paper which will help them practice learning their numbers in Spanish for their QUIZ next week (5B and 5H on Wednesday; 5DW on Friday.)
6th Grade News
6th Grade Service Project: Informational papers went home on Wednesday about our service project on Oct 1 & 2. Please read and return the parent permission slip by Sept 23. We hope many of you can volunteer and help us on these days.
Art Prize: 6th graders will have the opportunity to go downtown and visit some locations of Art Prize on Sept 30. We will eat lunch early and head downtown by 11:30am. We will be home by the end of the school day. Are you interested in chaperoning a group of students? Permission forms are due by Wednesday, Sept 23.
Band: Back on Track Practice Assignment is due Sept 24. Students should be finding time to practice this assignment at home regularly! Ask for a concert - we have some great tunes we can play for you! Your student gets 50 extra points if they play a concert for you.
Bible: Outside/Inside Bags are due on Wednesday - Sept 23. We are now beginning to study the settings of the Bible.
History: We are continuing our geography unit this week looking at latitude and longitude.
Language Arts: We have been working through 5-a-day LA skills and learning the importance of knowing synonyms. Week 3 5-a-day (M, T, W) due on Tuesday, Sept 22. Students have a “CLUES” sheet to assist them. We are also reading Tuck Everlasting. Through this novel, we will study characterization, plot development, vocabulary, and figurative language (similes, metaphors, and personification).
Math: Students have done well to freshen up their computation skills with decimals. Next week we will be changing decimals to fractions and fractions to decimals. Please ask your student if you can help quiz them with their flashcards. We will also complete the math portion of the Discovery Assessment.
PE: The 6th grade students have really been showing off their soccer skills! We have been blessed with beautiful weather this week. Next week we will wrap up our soccer unit with a quiz. There is a review sheet posted on Moodle.
Orchestra: We are finishing a review section in our new books that included many scales, arpeggios and short songs. Our focus this week has been intonation on Advent Carol, and Burst . We will practice a bit more and then take a playing test on Monday and Tuesday. Be sure to ask me for help- if you have any questions or concerns.
Science: We’re learning about metric measurements and the tools used to make them. We’ll practice a bit in the lab and take a test on Wednesday, Sept 30.
Spanish: We will upload our iMovie projects this week! Then we begin our unit on the Spanish alphabet and phonetics.
7th Grade News
Algebra (7th): Ch 1 is completed and we have now started ch 2: Properties of Real Numbers
Band: Back on Track Practice Assignment is due Sept 24. Students should be finding time to practice this assignment at home regularly! Ask for a concert - we have some great tunes we can play for you! Your student gets 50 extra points if they play a concert for you. :)
Bible: We will be beginning our next unit on Israel’s kingdom being divided. Memory work will be announced this week as well.
History: Next week we will begin our study of South Asia. We will focus on learning about the geography of South Asia and what advantages and challenges it brings. Next week we will also start learning the names of most countries in Asia. We will be scheduling a map quiz on Asia for the end of the week or early in the following week.
Language Arts: This coming week, the 7th graders will be winding down with this first unit on short stories. They will be introduced to a final project and also receive a review guide for the upcoming test (the official date of which will be announced shortly). Near the end of Sept and beginning of Oct, we will begin our first novel study based on the The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. This coming Monday and Tuesday, 7th and 8th graders will be taking the first sections of the DEA test for Language Arts.
PE: The 7th grade students have really been showing off their soccer skills! We have been blessed with beautiful weather this week. Next week we will wrap up our soccer unit with a quiz. There is a review sheet posted on Moodle.
Pre-Algebra (Kiser): Next week we will wrap up our quick review of Integers. Our Ch 2 Test will be on Thursday. Friday students will complete the math portion of the Discovery Assessment.
Pre-Algebra (Holtrop): Next week we will begin our chapter that reviews integers. On Wednesday students will complete the math portion of Discovery Assessment.
Orchestra: Our focus this week is on improving intonation on Advent Carol-especially on the 8th note segments. We will write out scales including the key signatures and then play them for each other in class next week.
Science: Continuing our study of plants on the ACS campus.
Spanish: 7th graders are learning about inside and outside of the home with new vocabulary and the verb used to tell where someone or something is. We will take this opportunity to review subject pronouns and how they dictate the correct form of the verb, also.
8th Grade News
Algebra (Witte): Next week we will continue our study of Chapter 2 on Real Numbers. We will also take 1 or 2 days (Thursday and Friday) to take the math portion of the Discovery Assessment.
Algebra (8th): Next week we will continue to work with “real” numbers. We will practice using math properties and operations with integers. Thursday and Friday students will complete the math portion of the Discovery Assessment.
Band: Back on Track Practice Assignment is due Sept 24. Students should be finding time to practice this assignment at home regularly! Ask for a concert - we have some great tunes we can play for you! Your student gets 50 extra points if they play a concert for you. :)
Bible: We are continuing our study looking at the basics of the Gospels. We will have a small test next week Thursday on our notes from this unit. Bible memory (Philippians 4:6-8) due on Tuesday, Sept 29.
Geometry: Next week we will continue to study conditional statements and union and intersection of sets. Students will also be completing the math portion of Discovery Assessment.
History: Next week we will finish looking at the Declaration of Independence and then it’s off to learning more about the actual battles of the American Revolution. We will spend some time taking notes from our textbook and also watching clips from a documentary series called, Liberty!.
Language Arts: This coming week, the 8th graders will need to turn in a working draft of their outline for the National History Day project. Students have seen the rubric, and this will be made available to parents as well. Expect an email with more details about the grading of the outline. Once the outline has been turned in, there will still be time for revisions and improvements to be made. In the meantime, we will continue to workshop with details including topic sentences and drafting thesis statements. This coming Monday and Tuesday, 7th and 8th graders will be taking the first sections of the DEA test for Language Arts.
PE: The 8th grade students have really been showing off their soccer skills! We have been blessed with beautiful weather this week. Next week we will wrap up our soccer unit with a quiz. There is a review sheet posted on Moodle.
Orchestra: Wow - this group of string players is amazing! We have 2 selections from the oratorio by G.F. Handel-”Messiah”.. we are working to get all of the shifting in tune and the 16th notes faster. Thanks for all of your encouragement.
Science: Currently we are learning about air pressure and density in the atmosphere and how it impacts our weather.
Spanish: 8th graders will present their “Shopping Skits!” This is a group project, and requirements for the skit are posted on Moodle.
Wildcats Athletics
Winter basketball – sign-ups for grades 5-8 are now open. The fee to play is $50. The deadline for sign-ups is Sept 24.
8th Grade Girls Basketball – Open Gyms will be Monday, Sept 21 and Monday Oct 5 from 3:15-5:00pm.
Sports Physicals – are due on Monday, Oct 5. Please note, after this date if we do not have a Sport Physical Form on file your child will no longer be eligible for the season. If your child is playing winter basketball this must be turned in before the 1st day of practice. Safety is extremely important and we want to be certain that all athletes at ACS are physically healthy enough to compete.