| Middle School Matters For the Week of: 1.20.14
General Announcements:
Leah Gortsema Shares Message at Chapel Leah challenged classmates during to our Middle School Chapel to consider the things we have that others do not -- things like food, shelter and safety. By sharing part of a life story, Leah expressed her passion for and connection to an orphanage located in Tijuana, MX called Siempre Para Los Ninos. Due to her efforts, a matching gift up to $5000 has been offered for donations to the orphanage through ACS. Donation envelopes are available in Mrs. Van Noord's room by the dropbox. Leah will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Click Here for more information.
Congratulations to our school Spelling Bee winners! 7th grader Claire VanderWall took first place, and 6th grader Rory Pruis is our first runner up. These students will represent Ada Christian School at the regional spelling bee on February 11. There was a large representation of EXCELLENT spellers at this year's bee - well done! 
Congratulations to our ACS Geography Bee winners! 8th grader Emily Schellenboom took first place in our Geography Bee. Our runner up this year was 7th grader McKenna Stafford and honorable mention goes to 6th grader Jack Long and 7th grader Allison Newell. Another group of excellent participants with a phenomenal knowledge of this world God has entrusted to our care - well done!
2nd Trimester Midpoint Reports Today is the official halfway point of our 2nd Trimester. Next week Wednesday homeroom teachers will be sending out a form asking parents to check in and look at their student's grades on PowerSchool. We would like to encourage all of you to see how your student is doing and to look for any missing work that needs to still be completed. The following week is Exploratory Week, and that can be a great time to get caught up on some of those missing assignments. If you have any questions about a particular class, please feel free to contact the teacher.
Sixth Grade:
Art: 6a will be working on a Picasso portrait next week and 6b will have one more class to complete the Egyptian portrait. Coming soon is a quiz on how to draw a self portrait correctly using all the guidelines, please encourage your sixth grade students to spend some time reviewing the green notes sheet. Please check moodle for homework.
Band: We had to have 3 scales learned this past week. Next up: 2 more scales! Fundamentals! Basics! Skill Builders! Plus new songs and the band book too. Go band!
Bible: Our final time on Philippians 2:1-11 and 14-15 memory verse due on Friday (1/24). This week we will finish our unit on the first 10 chapter of Genesis, and take a test the first week of February.
History: Mesopotamia Project #1 due on Tuesday (1/21), Project #2 due Monday (1/27). Project #3 and Extra Credit due Friday (2/7). They will have some class time to work at school, but they will need to keep up at home too.
Language arts: Amazing Read projects and 3 books are due on Monday, Jan. 20. Also, students received a review sheet yesterday for an upcoming test on Thursday, Jan. 23. The test will cover our short stories unit.
Math: Students are doing an amazing job adding and subtracting with integers. Ask them to show you how they are modeling these problems with counters. Next week we will multiply and dividing with integers!
Orchestra: We learned and practiced double chords this week . On Monday and Tuesday we will play Beauty and the Beast - so learn both the melody and harmony parts . Then parts will be assigned. Do-Si- D0 is another song that we will polish -tricky counting in this one. CELLO PLAYERS-- PLEASE check your cases both at school and at home for a lost bow- It is burgundy and sparkly and is made by K HOLTZ -carbon or fiber bow.. It belongs to Elizabeth Hansen- lost at the Christmas Concert. LOOK for it both at home and at school! Thanks so much!
Science: I'm so enjoying having such eager and inquisitive scientists in class. This week we will wrap up our study of Chemistry with a quiz on Friday. Next up after exploratories...what is Physics?
Spanish: TEST next Friday, the 24th! This will be on the verb SER and adjectives (not hair or eyes...yet.) Resources are still on Moodle; especially helpful will be the online Adjective Flash Cards.
Seventh Grade:
Art: 7th grade students are working on the art skill of drawing through a observational drawing of a still life and through drawing with value and shading work the bird they have chosen in science class. Please check moodle for homework.
Band: We had to have 4 scales learned from memory this past week. Next up: 2 more scales! Fundamentals! Basics! Skill Builders! Plus new songs and the band book too. Go band!
Bible: Van Noord: Micah projects all came due this past week. Check Power School for grades as they get posted. Next up: great stories, action and excitement: Daniel. Wanner: In class this week we completed our jealous project by sharing our artwork with each other and the results were great with many cool and original interpretations of what jealous might look like. Next week we will focus on completing our study of 2 Samuel. We do have a Bible Memory quiz on Romans 12: 9 - 12 next week Thursday. Sanderson: This week we'll begin investigating the amazing journeys that God is leading us through. Memory work is due on Wednesday (Isaiah 40:27-31).
History: We have been, and will continue, looking at the recent history of Africa. We have spent some time this week looking at the life of Nelson Mandela and his role of bringing reconciliation to South Africa. Next week we will focus on a couple of stories that show that there still are many struggles in Africa. We will take an appropriate look at the genocide that took place in Rwanda in 1994. We will also look at how a civil war in Sudan led to thousands of refugee children known as the Lost Boys of Sudan.
Language arts: We are in the home stretch with verbs! This week, we were introduced to the final two elements of verbs: perfect tenses and transitive/intransitive verbs. We will continue to master these words and have a quiz next week. Today (Friday) we also began reading Gary Schmidt's book Trouble. Paideia begins this coming week!
Pre-Algebra (Sanderson): Students have done well this week solving one and two step equations. Although this is a new challenge, I appreciate the hard work that the students are putting into it. This week, we'll continue to hone our algebra skills as we work on solving inequalities with variables and interpreting graphs. A quiz over this material will take place on Friday. Pre-Algebra (Kiser): Our Algebraic Expressions Test has been moved from today to Monday. Students have many review resources (practice quizzes and practice problems with answers) on moodle to check over to help prepare. Next week we will be solving one and two step equations.
Orchestra: Work on Blue Fire and the song from Creation as well as two pages in our string book ! CELLO PLAYERS --PLEASE CHECK YOUR CASES FOR A LOST BOW! IT IS BURGUNDY AND SPARKLY and is a K HOLTZ Carbon bow - lost by Elizabeth Hansen at the Christmas Concert. Thanks for checking!
Science: OnFriday the Bird Project is due.
Spanish: 7D and 7E have a QUIZ next week: 7D on Wednesday and 7E on Thursday. (7F will not have this quiz until after Exploratories...) The quiz will cover conjugating -AR, -ER, and -IR ending verbs. There are resources on Moodle, as well as practice assignments they may re-do on Quia (the grades in Grade Book will not change from the original assignment grades given.)
Eighth Grade:
High School Informational Meetings: -
Please join NorthPointe Christian High School on January 21st, from 6:00-9:00 p.m. in the ACS Commons for an informal information meeting with our superintendent, principals, and NorthPointe families. For questions, please contact our admissions counselor at 616.942.0350 x276 or johnsonb@npchristian.org. Visit www.npchristian.org to learn more about our school.
Dessert Theatre: Rehearsals are going well! Students should soon be OFF BOOK for scenes/songs that we have already worked. Please keep an eye on the website for rehearsal schedules and announcements: http://acsdesserttheatre.weebly.com/
Yearbook and Baby Pictures -It is best if the picture is vertical -It looks great if it is just a head and shoulders shot -Make sure the resolution of the photo is at 300 dpi or higher.
-
To go along with this request, the yearbook (and the graduation ceremony) would like a baby picture for each 8th grade student. I understand that many baby pictures are not digital, so you may submit either an electronic copy or a photograph. To submit an electronic copy, again email yearbook@adachristian.org. If you need to submit a traditional photograph, please write your child's name on the back of the picture and send it into school. We will return the photograph later this spring.
Algebra: Witte: Next week we will be finishing our study of Chapter 6. We will review on Monday and Tuesday and aim for a Quiz on Wednesday. (This Quiz will cover Lessons 1-5 and 8 in chapter 6.)
Art: All 8th graders need to be completed with the tiling of their invasion project; 8a is due on Wednesday and 8b was due this Thursday. Next up is our ceramic slab pot project.
Band: We had to have 4 scales learned from memory this past week. Next up: 2 more scales! Fundamentals! Basics! Skill Builders! Plus new songs and the band book too. Go band!
Bible: Witte: Next week Friday our Journal Project is due. This project asks students to pretend that they were one of the disciples traveling with Jesus through the last week of his life. They need to have an entry for most days that summarizes what happened on that day and include what they believe the disciples must have been thinking and feeling during this final week. This project will need to be mostly completed at home. During class, we will spend time reading through the book, A Case for Christ. This student version of the book summarizes how a once atheist journalist investigated the claims of Christ and came out a believer in Jesus Christ. Huttenga: This coming Wednesday, we will be having a Bible test on our unit of the Growth of the Church. We do not meet on Monday, but Tuesday will be a review day. To make the most out of this review, students should begin looking over the review guide that will be posted Friday Jan 17 by 5PM.
Geometry: We have finished Chapter 7 and have started to work with area, perimeter, and the Pythagorean Theorem.
Language arts: This week we continued our study of Lois Lowry's classic novel The Giver. As we explore the essential component theme of memory in the novel, we will also begin gearing up for the 8th grade project: "The Book of Memories"
Orchestra: Work on Blue Fire Fiddler, the song from Creation and # 5 and 6 from Suite by Corelli- you are sounding great! CELLO PLAYERS----PLEASE CHECK YOUR CASES FOR A CELLO BOW- it was lost by Elizabeth Hansen at our Christmas concert.. It is burgundy and sparkly and is a K Holtz Carbon Bow. Thanks for checking this out in both your home and school cello cases!
Science: Earthquake test on Thursday.
Spanish: We are beginning our new unit on breakfast foods, possessive adjectives, and corresponding irregular verbs.
| 
