ACS Middle School Matters: Middle School Matters: 3/14/14

Middle School Matters

March 14,
2014

General Announcements

Student Appreciation Day is fast approaching. Your letters are due three weeks from now. Click here to read more about your part in this fabulous day.

The Blue Lake representative will be at ACS on Thursday of this week to hear ACS students play. He will visit all three grades of the Middle School. Scholarships are offered to those who audition for him. This is a great opportunity!

6th Grade News

The Forest Hills Expo is tomorrow, March 15, if you can come! (Not a required event). Band plays from 11-11:10, choir sings 11:10-11:30. Arrive at ACS by 10:45 and come to the band room. Hooray!

Art: Both sections will be working on taking their watercolor experiments, tarring them up and using them to add color to their landscape drawings. Sketchbook assignment coming next week. Check moodle for the due dates.

Band: Whoever can come will play tomorrow, March 15 at ACS for the Forest Hills Expo. Fun! (see above for further info)

Bible: Exodus 20:1-17 due on Friday. Continuing our study of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

History: Studying Ancient Greece, and participating in the 6th grade Ancient Olympic Games starting on Monday. Teams will be announced, and competition activities will begin on Tuesday.

Language arts: We have been working hard on our informative World Fair paragraphs. I was able to conference with students this week and classmates gave feedback through a peer edit. Paragraph #1 final copy (and process) is due on Monday. Many students already handed these in and have begun working on paragraph #2. This paragraph is due on Thursday. I hope that your child has started working on the display board at home. Don't forget to mark Fine Arts night on your calendars (Thursday, April 24).

Math: Our current topic of study is functions and inequalities. Students will use their equations solving skills and their knowledge of greater than and less than values to plot and descriptives this week.

graph lines.

Orchestra: Continue to polish the set of songs for the Good Friday Chapel prelude music. Also increase the tempo on Do-Si-Do and work through Korean Folk Tune. You have learned so much new music - keep up the great work!

Science: Our motion test is coming on Tuesday, March 25. Review early, review often! We'll be working with Newton's Laws this week.

Spanish: We start a new short unit on making comparisons based on the last two units of

7th Grade News

Thank you to parents and students for signing up to help with dessert theater. We are now putting together a table plan and musical groups for each evening. Miss Sanderson will be communicating with students and parents in the coming weeks regarding individual schedules for the event.

Art: We are nearing the end of painting their still lives and will move on to working with clay again. Please check the homework calendar there is a sketchbook due next week.

Band: We will be playing in small groups for dessert theatre. Each section will play 2 numbers.

Bible:

Sanderson: We're kicking off the trimester with a short study of the Shema (Deut. 6:4-9). Students have an assignment due on Wednesday and a quiz on Friday.

VN: We began with some introduction to the prophets and a study of Micah. Micah questions are due at the end of class Tuesday and Micah memory work(Micah 6:6-8) is due Thursday.

Wanner: We have begun our study of 1 and 2 Samuel. Bible memory one is March 25 and the verse to learn is Psalm 25: 1 - 5.

Pre-Algebra (Sanderson): We've wrapped up a unit on multi-step equations. This week we will build on this knowledge by graphing linear equations.

Pre-Algebra (Kiser): We are working with statistics and probability. Ask your student if they know the "Measures of Center" and "Measures of Variability" They have a note page with them listed if they don't remember.

Orchestra: We will continue putting all of our musical selections together for the Dessert Theatre Performances. Thanks for learning so many songs so quickly! We can't wait to perform for everyone!

Spanish: We are starting a new unit on rooms in the house and things outside our homes.

8th Grade News

Dessert Theatre Link: http://acsdesserttheatre.weebly.com/

Less than two weeks to showtime! We are working hard, but students need to be working at home on lines and song memorization, too. All music (both vocal and non-vocal tracks) are available on Mrs. VanNoord's Choir Course on Moodle.

Art: All should be completed with their ceramic pots. We will be working on a project inspired by minimalist artist Frank Stella. Please check the homework calendar for due dates of the sketchbook handed out this week.

Band: We continue to work on a wide variety of music.

Geometry: We are finishing chapter 10 this week. The test is scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, March 17-18. We will begin our study of analytic geometry in chapter 11 and learn how to justify geometric conclusions using algebraic formulas.

History: Continuation of our study of the Civil War. Project # 2 due on Friday.

Orchestra: This week Thursday we will have a visit from a representative from Blue Lake Music Camp so come prepared to play scales and a few measures of a solo. Our students always receive scholarship money towards a summer camp session!

Spanish: We move to the new unit on lunch foods, some more irregular verbs, and use of 'gustar.'

Athletics

Attention 8th grade girls heading to Grand Rapids Christian High School next fall: Due to MHSAA regulation changes and GRCHS exams being scheduled at the end of May, tryouts for the Junior Varsity and Varsity Sideline cheer teams will be earlier this year than they have been in the past. These tryouts will take place on Thursday, March 20 and Monday, March 24, 2014 in the Quest Center at Grand Rapids Christian High School, from 6:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m. There are no cuts for the JV Sideline Team. If you are new to cheer, come and experience what it is all about! Sideline cheer is a great way to meet girls, make friends, and become a member of a high school team before classes even begin in August and the best way to learn about Competitive Cheer, the fastest growing MHSAA sport in the state! Questions? Please call Varsity Coach Jacquie DeJonge @ 949-7516.