Middle School Matters – Sept 30, 2022

General Announcements

5th Grade Chapel: Ms. Gerig’s chapel will be taking place Friday, Oct. 7.

Protect Young Eyes will be sharing with our 56ers and 78ers on Monday afternoon. If you would like to see an outline of the topics that will be covered with students, please review the Student Presentation Details.

5th Grade

Art: Students have started working on their printmaking project by coming up with ideas for 3 different designs that are to be drawn out a planning sheet. After students have a final designs the final design will be placed on a print block.

Bible: We’ve continued Bible journaling through the Pentateuch. Over the past few weeks we have been focusing on Abraham’s lineage. We have seen how God continues to use this family to carry out His redemptive plan despite their failures.

Language Arts: This month we continued to read Hatchet and our individual survival stories. The 5th graders had a blast connecting their experiences at Survival Camp to the events and characters in their books. We have been identifying examples of imagery in the text so that we make our own writing more descriptive and vivid!

Math: This month we finished learning about Place Value and then transitioned into learning about multiplying whole numbers. Students learned how to write the prime factorization of numbers and were also introduced to exponents - these two topics were then combined to write prime factorization with exponents. Soon we will be focusing on multiplying by one and two digit numbers.

Music - Band: Band will meet for all students on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. We can play 3 pages worth of music. Our assignment for October is to practice 3x per week and record times on the practice sheet all the students have. 15-20 minutes per practice time is about right. How to practice? Play each song on each page 3x - - easier songs we have perfect can be played 1x. Work more on the harder songs - practice measure by measure. Ask for a mini concert from Page 8 - we can do quarter notes - GO BAND!

Music - Choir: We are working on reading notes - we have a number of apps we are using to help with this. We are also singing all sorts of songs, learning about a variety of musical genres and instruments as well.

Music - Orchestra: We are combined into a full group rehearsal! The 5th graders are busy learning all of the notes in the D major scale in hopes of starting to play with the bow soon. We are working towards a great playing posture, and putting our fingers in the exact right place on the fingerboard.

Science: This month in science we have been studying the Process of Scientific Inquiry (think updated version of the scientific method). Students have been experiencing this process step by step by studying what design of solar oven is best to make a s’more! We will finish this unit this week and there will be a test on Tuesday, October 4th.

Social Studies: This month we took time to honor our fellow Americans who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. Students then went home and interviewed an adult about their experience on 9-11. Wow! The stories were amazing! We are now doing all things Geography. Students used inquiry based learning to “Road Trip Across America” discovering so many amazing physical and man-made places. We are now focusing on identifying landforms and bodies of water while labeling key geographic features within the United States. Looking forward, students will be creating their own map that will reinforce their learning of how to read and interpret maps. Ultimately, we will be having “treasure hunts” on our ACS property using student-created maps. So much fun!

Spanish: Student created green screen masterpieces this past week. There short video had to include vocabulary words we were working on. They learned how to create a green screen effect in iMovie and share it with the class. Great work!

6th Grade

Service Project & Sleepover: Huge thanks to all the parents who slept over with us, went with us to serve, drove us and fed us as we had a family-style serving experience as a grade! Ada Park, Equine Assisted Development, Kid’s Food Basket, Hope Network, and our own beloved ACS all were places we worked and tried to help. Thanks be to God for our Service Project!

Gondolas, Gladiators, and Volcanoes, Oh My! (ACS Trip to Italy): 6th-8th graders have been invited to travel with Mrs. Rybarczyk this Spring Break 2023 to beautiful Italy. There will be an informational meeting Wednesday, October 5 at 6PM in the library for those interested in joining her on this education adventure.

RSVP for the meeting

Learn more about the trip.

Art: 6th grade students are working toward completion of their traditional self-portrait and have been learning about and working with drawing pencils and blending tools to add value and shading to these traditional self-portraits.

Bible: Students presented their Outside Inside Bags, which is a great way for us to celebrate how God created us uniquely. We also prepared for our archaeology dig by studying Biblical archaeology. Soon students will be uncovering artifacts!

Language Arts: This month we have continued to read the novel Tuck Everlasting. We have studied the characters, have practiced making predictions, and have taken a closer look at figurative language. The 6th graders also applied for their jobs for Got Yolk, and they were “invited” back to do some interviews! The students are excited to get their final Got Yolk positions and continue to learn about business.

Math: Students wrapped up Computing with Multi-digit numbers and have transitioned into fractions, decimals, and percents. We are really focusing on how math builds and that computing with multi-digit numbers is essential for what follows this year. Students are also seeing how they can relate fractions, decimals, percents, and how to move from one to the other.

Music - Band: Our assignment for October is to practice 3x per week and record times on the practice sheet all the students have. 15-20 minutes per practice time is about right. How to practice? Play each song on each page 3x - - easier songs we have perfect can be played 1x. Work more on the harder songs - practice measure by measure. We also have sheet music to play too, and occasionally quizzes during class this month as well.

Music - Choir: We are listening to Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons: Autumn (allegro/adagio molto/allegro), we are singing a variety of songs, learning a plethora of instruments and reinforcing our rhythm reading skills as well. We met our new prayer partner, Natalie - a former ACS student and we will be praying for her as she leaves for the Netherlands on Sat Oct 1 for 2 years to serve in Amsterdam - she will be working with Muslims… and people who do not know Jesus.

Music - Orchestra: In sixth grade orchestra we are continuing to go over the basic scales, reinforce good playing position and expand our knowledge through new pieces.

Social Studies: This month we took time to honor our fellow Americans who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. Students then went home and interviewed an adult about their experience on 9-11. Wow! The stories were amazing! We are now focusing on all things Geography. Students participated in an inquiry based learning activity where they created a Digital Scrapbook of places around the world. We are now diving into the 5 Themes of Geography: Location, Place, Human and Environment Interaction, Movement, and Region. Our unit will culminate into a massive Geocache hunt around our ACS campus where the students will have to find and identify the various Themes of Geography hidden around the campus.

Spanish: Students complete their first unit and will have a test this Friday (9/30). Highlights from the unit were, the silent short about two wildebeests. We spoke Spanish over the short. Students did an excellent job using complete sentences in their oral narration. Students also did much reading and writing centered on personal descriptions and introductions.

7th Grade

RSVP for the meeting

Learn more about the trip.

Art: 7th graders have moved into the final step of the texture painting project, by adding 2 - 3 painted acrylic on top of the spray painted texture paintings. Students also learned about art critiques and participated in a midpoint critique on their classmates texture paintings.

Bible: In Bible class we have been focusing on prayer. Students have spent time praying for preschool families, taking requests from people and using the gift of communication with God to strengthen their relationship with him. Our new Bible memory is from the Heidelburg Catechism Q&A 116 and is due Oct 16

History: We finished our first unit studying the Constitution and took our first test. The students studied hard and did a great job! Then we moved on to Launching the Nation, a study of the first presidents as they worked hard to get the nation up and running. Washington, Adams, and Jefferson had to learn as they went along, making both greatness and mistakes. The students are learning about both elements and thinking about how to learn as they live and work as well. After we’ve studied the first presidents we’ll learn how the US had to earn the respect of the other nations.

Language Arts: The seventh graders have written poetry and memoirs, and have practiced using sensory details and stylization of thoughts and feelings in writing. They have learned about the parts, functions, and common errors of sentences. We have read 2 short stories and analyzed them to determine theme and practice indirect characterization using specific textual evidence to back our claims. In October, we will be exploring conflict in literature and how crucial it is in developing more complex characters in literature. We will begin our first novel study of Elizabeth George Speare’s The Witch of Blackbird Pond.

Math - 7th Math: This month we’ve been learning about ratios and proportional reasoning. We’ve been practicing skills like finding and converting unit rates, identifying, writing, and solving proportional relationships, and finding a constant rate of change.

Math - Algebra: These algebuddies have been crushing it so far this year! We just took our Chapter 1 test and are headed straight into chapter 2. There we take what we have learned about with linear systems and combine it with an extra twist: Inequalities.

Math - Pre-Algebra: Pre-Algebra students are preparing for their Chapter 3 test in rational numbers. After the test, we will jump into ch. 4 on roots and powers. This chapter will involve quite a bit of memorization and it is the chapter where we transition out of review and into some new material. Students will spend more class time on learning each concept and spend more time at home completing homework.

Music - Orchestra: In 7th grade we are starting to learn what it feels like to shift up the string into a new position. This is very challenging for the students but they are doing a wonderful job. We are also continuing to go over the basic scales, reinforce good playing position and expand our knowledge through new pieces.

Spanish: Students completed a short beginning unit. They created a story and act that was performed in class. We also reviewed the concept of how to speak in the first person. Our new unit will continue to build foundational vocabulary and include a few cultural themes. The first theme we talked about is migrant workers and the United Farm Workers Union with Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. I choose this because it goes well with our vocabulary and gets students thinking about the food we consume and where it comes from.

8th Grade

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)
Due date: Dec 01, 2022

"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.
Due date: Dec 01, 2022

RSVP for the meeting

Learn more about the trip.

Art: 8th grade students are working on printing their cut print design in various color and multicolor combinations. Eventually students will select their best designs prepared for display.

Bible: We have been studying the gospels, following the life of Christ as we strive to learn more about Jesus’ teaching and mission. This month we learned about how Jesus called his disciples, investigated the “I Am” claims Jesus makes, and read the Sermon on the Mount out on the OE mountain, among other things. Our next memory verse is Matthew 5:13-16 and due on Oct 14.

History: We are finishing up a study of the Industrial Age–the second industrial revolution, big business and the labor movement, immigration, and the growth of cities. After next week’s test, we’ll move into a brief study of the Gilded Age and the Progressive Movement. We’ll examine the problems the growth of the US brought and the reforms people implemented to correct them. This will also give us a good opportunity to look at problems in our own time and consider ways we can try to help.

Language Arts: The 8th graders have accomplished a mountain of work for the NHD research-writing project: 7 pages of notes, 6 sources, a complete formatted bibliography, a drafted thesis statement, and a complex system of note-coding. While we’re not leaving the world of research behind, the beginning of October will have the kids creating a correctly-formatted outline to plan out the shape of their essay. In the meantime, students will have a quiz on unit 1 of writing conventions and begin learning about writing tips and tricks with different punctuation.

Math - Algebra: We are close to finishing our first official chapter of Algebra. In this chapter students had many opportunities to work with partners and around the room practicing multi-step equations and solving absolute value problems. We have our Chapter 1 Test coming up on Tuesday.

Math - Geometry: This month we have been learning about proofs and reasoning. The students have taken the dramatic shift from algebra to geometry in stride, and have been working with properties and if-then statements. The test for this chapter is on Oct 7.

Music - Band: Our assignment for October is to practice 3x per week and record times on the practice sheet all the students have. 15-20 minutes per practice time is about right. How to practice? Play each song on each page 3x - easier songs we have perfect can be played 1x. Work more on the harder songs - practice measure by measure. We also have sheet music to play too, and occasionally quizzes during class this month as well. 8th band will be performing for a judge in Nov. More news about that in October.

Music - Choir: We are listening to Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons: Autumn (allegro/adagio molto/allegro), we are singing a variety of songs, learning many instruments and reinforcing our rhythm reading skills as well.

Music - Orchestra: In 8th grade we are starting to learn vibrato while reinforcing shifting on the strings. We are practicing our vibrato using tic tacs as our shakers :) This is very challenging for the students but they are doing a wonderful job. We are also continuing to go over the basic scales, reinforce good playing position and expand our knowledge through new pieces.

Science: We have started studying the moon. We just observed it outside in the morning the other day and spent some time pondering how that was possible and what the other side of the world is seeing if we see the moon during our day. We will continue exploring this idea and why moon phases are able to be predicted over the next little bit.

Spanish: Students just finished their first unit called “Laugh and Cry.” Culture items in this unit included a look at the famous salsa singer Celia Cruz and the idiomatic phrase “crocodile tears.” A final test was taken this week and we will start a new unit on Sports when they return from camp.