Middle School Matters 12/13/13

Middle School Matters Theme: "Centered On Christ" December 13, 2013 Middle School Matters For the Week of: 12.16.13 General Announcements: Study Skills: Taking matching tests and true false tests Hot Lunch:  Orders for January Hot Lunch are due by Sunday the 15th.   All Middle School Christmas Concert:  Thursday, December 19 at ACS in the South Gym - Our entire Middle School will be performing.  Call time is 6:30, Concert is at 7:00.  All students should be wearing Concert Dress - Black and White.  We are so excited to show you what we have been working on! Dessert Theatre: This afternoon (Friday) marks our first rehearsal for the full cast!  We are doing a complete read through/sing through, which is very exciting!  If your student is unable to attend a rehearsal, please remember to email Mrs. Weaver to excuse him/her.  To keep up to date on rehearsals and announcements, please visit the musical's website at http://acsdesserttheatre.weebly.com/  Sixth Grade: Remember on Friday we are going on a service project to sing at two different nursing homes.  We will leave around 10:15 and be back by 1:15.  If your child did not order Culvers they will need to bring a sack lunch along with us.  We will be taking the bus.  Please encourage your child to wear appropriate fun Christmas clothing for our concerts.  Also remember that nursing homes are kept at VERY WARM TEMPERATURE, so short sleeves are good, no super warm clothes needed!  We are excited to be bringing the true meaning of Christmas to others on this busy day! Art: 6th graders are now working on creating a self portrait in the style of the Egyptians people.  Please check moodle for homework.   Band:  All Middle School Christmas Concert:  Thursday, December 19 at ACS in the South Gym. Our entire Middle School will be performing.  Call time is 6:30, Concert is at 7:00.  All students should be wearing concert dress - black and white.  We are so excited to show you what we have been working on! Bible:  Bible Memory - Philippians 2: 1-7 due on Thursday. The Bible cubes look great hanging around the 6th grade rooms. History:  Continuing our new unit on Mesopotamia.   Language arts:  Students did an awesome job on their quiz.  They should bring it home today for a parent signature (due Monday).  We will continue to read a variety of short stories.  Note:  Monday the sixth graders will be taking the second Discovery Education Assessment (DEA) test.   Math: Next week we hope to wrap up our work with fractions.  Students will have some time to work on dividing fractions and will have a chapter test on Thursday.  A study guide and practice test will be sent home on Monday.   PE: This week we will continue to work on our volleyball unit.  Students will be focusing on the skills of passing, setting, and serving.   Orchestra:  Tuning time for the concert-- be in the orchestra  room -at 6:20  and we will be on stage by 6:55!  Be sure to leave your instruments at school  this week - to keep them in tune!  Wear black and white, concert dress. Science: This week we will be investigating more about how and why different elements "like" to react with one another.  We will see what some of these reactions look like. Spanish:   Students will have a short quiz on pronouns and the verb SER.  6A Quiz is Tuesday; 6B Quiz is Wednesday. Seventh Grade: Art: 7th graders are all working on a self portraits in the style of Lego.  Please check moodle for homework.   Band: All Middle School Christmas Concert:  Thursday, December 19 at ACS in the South Gym. Our entire Middle School will be performing.  Call time is 6:30, Concert is at 7:00.  All students should be wearing concert dress - black and white.  We are so excited to show you what we have been working on! Bible:   Sanderson: We will learn about prayers in the Old Testament and investigate how we can apply these lessons when we pray. Van Noord: We have been studying the book of Isaiah, listening to the Messiah, and preparing for our Bible Memory.  Next up:  Christmas/Jonah Wanner:  This week we completed our study of 1 Samuel and next week will be working on a project dealing with the jealousy that King Saul has at the end of 1 Samuel towards David.  Bible Memory quiz is next week Tuesday on Psalm 25: 1 - 5.   Language arts: We are studying a condensed version of Charles Dickens classic piece "A Christmas Carol". By the end of the following week, students will have finished the story and be able to analyze the change in character of Ebenezer Scrooge throughout the story: his transformation from a greedy miser to a generous man.     Students are also studying verbs and will have a quiz on Monday. Notes and answers to a review packet are posted on Moodle: remind your students to check their answers online to help them prepare! PE:  This week  we will continue to work through our volleyball unit.  We will learn how to spike a volleyball, and focus on the importance of serving.   Pre-Algebra (Sanderson): We will take our 2nd round of DEA tests this week and continue our study of percents.  I appreciate how hard the students are working to become more confident mathematicians.  Keep it up! Pre-Algebra (Kiser): This has been an enjoyable week working with the PreK students.  They have a marvelous job working with percents.  Next week we will check our progress this year with our Discovery Assessment Round 2, will complete a percents review and will have a percent quiz on Thursday, December 19.   Orchestra:   Middle School Concert is Thursday, December 19. Tune time is 6:20 in the orchestra room and we will be on stage at 6:55.  Concert dress is black and white.  We are so excited to play a few songs for you. The 7th and 8th grade string players will also perform before  the All school Chapel on Friday, December 20. Spanish:  Students have a quiz on conjugating regular -AR verbs.  They do not need to know the meanings at this time, but need to know what endings to use with what subjects.  7D quiz is on Monday; 7E quiz is Tuesday.  7F will not have this quiz until after Christmas break. Eighth Grade: Art: The 8th graders continue to prepare for the art invasion.  Please check moodle for homework and any unfinished calligraphy verse projects need to be finished up Christmas break.   Band:  All Middle School Christmas Concert:  Thursday, December 19 at ACS in the South Gym. Our entire Middle School will be performing.  Call time is 6:30, Concert is at 7:00.  All students should be wearing concert dress - black and white.  We are so excited to show you what we have been working on! Bible:  Huttenga: Students are learning about Paul's third missionary journey and his letter to the Corinthians. Paul has learned that the church in Corinth is facing many problems; by the end of the week, students will use this Bible passage to discover essential components of church unity and community. Geometry: We have finished chapter 6 and are working on proving triangles are congruent. We now have 35 justifications to learn and use! History:  Chapter 9 quiz on Thursday next week.  Students should continue to work on their timeline cards.  We added 20 more cards to our pack from Chapter 9. Language arts: Eighth Graders will take the LA DEA test on Monday. People all know the stories of the 3 Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, and countless other fairy tales. But what if the tales we all heard were just part of the story? What if the Big Bad Wolf could tell his side of the fable? Is he just misunderstood?     Eighth graders are asking themselves these questions and learning that a story can sound much different if we try to view it from the perspective of another character. Next week, students will continue to learn the importance of point-of-view in a story as they work in groups to rewrite class fairy tales. PE:  This week we will work through our volleyball unit. We will focus on gameplay and specific rules to follow during game situations.     Orchestra:  The Middle School Christmas Concert is Thursday, December 19 at 7:00. All string players will tune at 6:30 in the orchestra room and be on stage by 6:55. We are looking forward to playing beautiful Christmas music for you.  Concert dress is required - black and white. Spanish:  We will be researching and reporting to our classmates view slideshows how different Spanish-speaking countries celebrate the Christmas season!  This will all be done inside of class time, and is a wonderful way to get a glimpse of several different Hispanic cultures. Athletics: 5th/6th Grade Basketball: Reminder, up to date game schedules are always posted at the link below. Currently, we do not have a schedule yet for games played after Christmas Break.  However, as soon as the schedule is available we will communicate that to you via email.    http://www.graceac.com/schedules.htm                           7th/8th Grade Basketball:  The 7th and 8th grade basketball season is now underway.  We are so excited to see so many students participating in ACS Athletics this winter.  Please keep in mind that the first games will not take place until after Christmas break in January.  The season will continue through March 8. Fall Sports Uniforms:  Good news, they are all in, Thank you! Ada Christian School Faith.Strong Quick Links Homework Calendars 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade *To see homework, click on the link above and then select "login as guest." Student Grades PowerSchool View Previous MSM MSM Archive School Newsletter Ada Connection 2013 Theme

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ACS Newsletter

A Note From Mrs. Brower and Mrs. DeKoster Faith. Strong. December 9, 2013 Dear ACS Families,    In the past several months there has been some public debate about the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). This letter is intended to provide information about the Common Core and explain Ada Christian School's response to and use of these standards.     The Common Core is a national state-led initiative designed to ensure that students graduating from high school will be well prepared to enter college or the work force. The Common Core is not a curriculum. Rather, it is a set of clear and concise standards that provide all parents, teachers, and students with a solid understanding of learning expectations in reading, writing, speaking, listening, language, and mathematics. Public and private schools across the United States have been working with the Common Core since 2010. To date, 45 of 50 states, including the Michigan Department of Education, have adopted the standards as benchmarks for math and English language arts for K-12 students.    Faith-based schools throughout Michigan have studied the Common Core to determine its relevance for their mission. Recently, the Michigan Association of Non-Public Schools (MANS), a professional organization representing Christian, Catholic, and Lutheran schools of which ACS is a member, affirmed its support of the Common Core as a set of high-quality academic expectations and an essential component in the alignment of K-12 curriculum in order to prepare students for career and college readiness. According to MANS, "The Common Core State Standards establish clear and measurable goals that assist teachers seeking best instructional methods for educating students and can be effectively woven into MANS schools' already successful faith-based curriculum content."   We are first and foremost Ada Christian School and there are no standards that will change the faith-based lens through which we approach the teaching of the covenant children that have been entrusted to our care! Our ACS curriculum committees have an established process for review and recommendation of curriculum. Teachers are surveyed with regard to current practice; examination copies are requested from a variety of publishing houses and each of them is studied and evaluated by groups of teachers. Careful review of the standards has always been a part of our ongoing process. The resource that rises to the top will often be piloted in a grade or two and then reevaluated and prayerfully considered before a proposal is made to our Education Committee.   We can use math as an example of how we blend resources to insure a rich curriculum. Our ACS teachers serving on our Math Curriculum Committee recognized a reduction in daily skill practice in the new State Standards.  As a result, we decided to supplement the My Math resources with daily skill practice materials that we have used for the past several years.  We value and see the importance of students knowing their math facts, while appreciating the importance of higher order thinking skills the My Math resources encourage.    ACS has the freedom to set our own curriculum and use the best resources available. As one of our ACS teachers commented, "... parents need to know that we are not throwing out our many years of experience in the teaching of kids all for what some politicians are saying is important. We are giving students the tools needed to think and solve math problems."   The Common Core State Standards are only one of many resources we use in curriculum development to assist us with the alignment of our K-8 curriculum. ACS is known to have a rigorous academic program that seeks to exceed, not just meet, identified standards. This has not changed. In addition to strong Language Arts and Math instruction, our students are blessed with outstanding opportunities in the areas of Science, History, the Fine Arts and Physical Education. Most importantly, each of these areas is addressed through the lens of our faith.   In all curriculum decisions made at Ada Christian School, you can be assured that our mission of equipping students for service in God's world is central to discerning not only what we teach but also how we teach your children. Thank you for entrusting them to our care. We are grateful for your partnership!   In His Service,   Melissa S. Brower, Principal   Julie DeKoster, Assistant Principal

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Middle School Matters 12/9/13

Middle School Matters Theme: "Centered On Christ" December 9, 2013 For the week of December 9, 2013  General Announcements: Study Skills: Test-taking strategies PTO Christmas Shop: The countdown is on... we are only 3 days away from the 1st PTO Christmas Shop.  The Shop will run Thursday, December 12th and Friday, December 13th.  The Christmas Shop will provide all students K-8th the ability to shop for gifts for their immediate family members.  Middle School students will have the opportunity to shop on their lunch hour both Thursday and Friday.  Sibling gifts will range from $1-$4 and gifts for mom's and dad's will range from $4-$7.  All proceeds from the sale will benefit the PTO.  We currently have over 1,200 gifts for purchase!  All gifts have been hand selected, nothing wholesale.  Some items include JCrew scarves, IPhone cases, Pottery Barn items, gift cards from JW's, Starbucks, Koetsier's Greenhouse, Suburba, Nonna Cafe, Biggby, Heidi Christines, Ada Hardware, Vitales, Spoonlickers, and more!  We will not be selling an off season merchandise or food items.  All gifts will be wrapped, tagged, and ready to come home with the students that same day.  We are still in need of men's gifts, wrapping paper,  and gift labels.  All items should be delivered to the office by Monday, December 9.  If you are willing to work a 2 hour shift please click on the link-  http://vols.pt/g1zrvd. 8th Grade Graduation:   Please mark your calendars that the 8th Grade Graduation will be held on Tuesday, June 3, 2014.  The ceremony will be at 7 pm at Thornapple Evangelical Covenant Church.   Dessert Theatre: Our first rehearsal!  We will have an ALL-cast read-through/sing-through next Friday, December 13th, from 3:15 - 5 p.m.  This is an important event as it really gives the whole class a chance to get a feel for the show and their part in it.   Sixth Grade: 6th grade Service Project & Lunch: Friday, December 20we will spend part of our day serving others by singing Christmas songs at 2 different nursing homes.  We will end our singing time with a stop at Culver's restaurant.  If your child would like to purchase a Scoopie Kids Meal, order forms were sent on Friday and must be returned by Friday (12/13).  Cash only please.  If they don't want to purchase a kids meal, they may bring a sack lunch. Art: In class we are working on correctly doing portraiture.  At the end of this project we will have a traditional portrait, a Egyptian styled portrait and a Cubist styled portrait.  Please check moodle for homework.    Band:   Christmas Concert Dec. 19 at 7:00 p.m. in the ACS gym.  Can't wait to show you what we are working on! Bible:  Bible memory: Philippians 2: 1-5 due Friday.  Bible Cubes due on Thursday.  We will assemble them at school, so just make sure their panels are completed and printed before Thursday. History:  Beginning a new unit on Mesopotamia this week. Language arts:  We are reading short stories.  Students will have a brief quiz on the elements of a short story on Wednesday, Dec. 11.   We are working with these elements and will review for the quiz in class on Monday.     Math: Students are doing great remembering their fraction skills from last year!  Next week we will be dividing fractions and checking our progress this year with round two our the Discovery Education Assessment.  We will complete the DEA on Tuesday and Thursday in class.  Please help your students by sending theme with a healthy snack and lunch. Orchestra:  All 6th, 7th and 8th grade string players will perform a Christmas Concert  at Raybrook Chapel this Tuesday, December 10.  Remember to wear black and white concert dress and bring all music as well as instruments from home!    We will eat lunch and leave on the bus at 12 noon and return by 2:25!  Feel free to call me with any questions . Science: Quiz on The Periodic Table & Elements on Wednesday. Spanish:   Students are creating poems that describe who they are in Spanish.  These are to be printed off before class (Tuesday for 6A, and Wednesday for 6B) and should show illustrations (clip art or drawings) and be creative/colorful.  (Creativity and Neatness are part of the grade.) Seventh Grade: Art: In class students are working on a self portrait in unique and different way - ask your 7th grade what crazy thing we are doing.  In the end, we hope to have unique portrait that has helped us learn a little more about tints, shades, shadows, highlights and review drawing a traditional portrait.  Please check Moodle for homework.   Band: Christmas Concert Dec. 19 at 7:00 p.m. in the ACS gym.  Can't wait to show you what we are working on! Bible:   Sanderson - We are studying Deut. 6:4-9...The Shema.  Students will complete a project about The Shema & will have a quiz on it on Friday. Wanner:   We are studying 1 Samuel and the stories and lesson contained within this section of Bible.  Students have their first Bible Memory (Psalm 25: 1 - 5) quiz on Tuesday, December 17.   Van Noord: We are studying the prophets, beginning with the book of Isaiah, and are also listening to the Messiah.  First Bible memory is Isaiah 43:1-7, due 12/13.  These are amazing words to learn and internalize. History:  This week in history we will switch our study to Africa.  We will begin by looking at the geography of Africa and learning about the diversity of this great continent.  We will start learning names of many countries from around Africa, too.  On a side note, we will be participating in a class Geography Bee in the this week.  Each student will have the opportunity to participate and the top scores will get to go on to the school Geography Bee in January.   Pre-Algebra (Sanderson): Students will be brushing up on their percent skills and will be checking their progress this year with the 2nd round of our Discovery Assessment. Pre-Algebra (Kiser): Students will be brushing up on their percent skills and will be checking their progress this year with the 2nd round of our Discovery Assessment. Orchestra:   All 6th , 7th and 8th grade string  players will perform a Christmas  Concert this Tuesday, December 10 at Raybrook Chapel (2120 Raybrook SE, Grand Rapids 49546) .  Be sure to  wear black and white concert dress.  We will take a bus at 12 noon to Raybrook and return by about 2:25PM.  Bring all music and your instruments from home!   Parents- you are invited to come to listen !   Many students have grandparents and grandfriends  who live at Raybrook so this is a wonderful time to share our musical talents with them. Spanish:  All have a vocabulary quiz this week:  7D on Wednesday the 11th; and 7E on Thursday the 12th.  Details are on their Moodle calendar, as well as vocabulary sheets and online flashcards (also on Moodle.). Eighth Grade: Babysitting Night:  This coming Friday, Dec. 13, our 8th graders will be offering a night of free babysitting to our school community (potty-trained up through 4th grade).  This will be a fundraiser for our class trip in the spring.  The 8th graders are being asked to come to school at 5 pm and stay till 9:15 pm.  This gives us some extra time to set-up and to clean-up at the end of the night.  Please remind your student to turn in their permission forms if they can make it, or else use this link to give a digital permission.  Thanks.    Algebra: We will finish chapter 5 and start reviewing for the Chapter 5 test.  We have been learning how to write linear equations in many different forms.  The test will be scheduled for either the end of the week, or early the following week.   Art: In 8th grade we are working on a street art project preparing for an invasion of art.  More information on the invasion later... Please check moodle for sketchbook homework.   Band:  Christmas Concert Dec. 19 at 7:00 p.m. in the ACS gym.  Can't wait to show you what we are working on! Bible:   Witte:  In our Bible class we are studying the Passion Week.  In class we are going through the different days of the week and learning where Jesus was and what he was doing and teaching.  The students are going to have to put together a journal project that has them play the role of a disciple.  In that role, they will retell the main events of each day and share what they are thinking as they walk with Jesus through these last days.  Students have the option of making this journal in either written form, blog form, or even video form.  We will try to wrap this up before Christmas Break. Geometry: We are continuing to work on quadrilaterals and will have a test on chapter 6 on Wednesday, Dec. 11th and Thursday, Dec. 12th. History:  We are learning about the beginning of the new United States.  We will begin learning about Thomas Jefferson and what happened during the time of his presidency.   Orchestra:  All 6th, 7th and 8th grade string players will perform a Christmas Concert this Tuesday, December 10th at Raybrook Chapel( 2120 Raybrook SE Grand Rapids MI- 49546)   Be SURE to wear black and white.  We will leave on a bus at 12 noon and return to school by about 2:25PM.  Bring all music and instruments from home on both Monday and Tuesday!  All 8th graders  have also been invited to play the Christmas  prelude music for the  all school Christmas Chapel on Dec. 20th-- so you will be able to hear all of our music then also!   Spanish:  8A and 8B have a Spanish TEST on Friday, the 13th.  All study materials and details are on their Moodle page. Ada Christian School Faith.Strong Quick Links Homework Calendars 6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade *To see homework, click on the link above and then select "login as guest." Student Grades PowerSchool View Previous MSM MSM Archive School Newsletter Ada Connection 2013 Theme

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