Twin Day and More!

Today was "Twin Day" of Spirit Week.  I thought you would enjoy some snap shots of the wonderful middle schoolers.  Along with these photos, here is a tiny glimpse, or "snap shot," of what is going on in each of my classes.

8th English: As the Poetry Unit closes, we move on to a vocabulary unit and more WRITING! (Note: Ask about any one of the many poems we have read! The students really got into these!)
7th English: These kids are doing lots of GRAMMAR!  AND we are almost done with our literature unit on FolkTales. (Ask about your student's favorite short story so far!)  
8th Bible: We're on to Unit Two: The Rise of the Church!
7th Bible: We're on to Unit Two: Jewish Feasts and Festivals of the Lord!

Booky Book-Books

(I sent this letter home with the scholastic forms attached, but I thought I would post it to my website as well.  Thanks.) 

Hey, Parents!

It’s book order time!

Purchasing books from Scholastic has never been easier!  You can just go to my website and click the Scholastic link!  (You might want to visit my website anyway to check in on assignments that are coming up for your student!)

I will be making the order on Friday, September 19th.  There are MANY books online, and they are comparable to Half-Price Bookstore prices.  You can even find wonderful selections for $1!  There are TONS of classical selections if you student plans on participating in The Classic Reading Challenge.  There are also TONS of selections for “the reluctant reader.”  Summaries are included on the Scholastic website, and every reading-need and level is accommodated.  

There are three ways you can order:

Look through a catalog and send in the order form and cash for your selections.

OR

2. Go to my website by clicking on my face at the faculty page at trinitychristian.net. Then click the Scholastic link to the left. 

OR

3. Go to scholastic.com, and enter our class code: JJW7D

Benefits of Ordering:

You get books at a great price!

AND

2. Your students interest level in reading is peaked!

AND

3. For every order, we get a FREE book for our classroom library!

On the Scholastic website, we also have a classroom wish list for books that students request.  You and your student can add any book to this list, just let me know, and I will make sure that your wish-book gets put on our list!  Sometimes a donation is made, and we are able to purchase our wishes!  

Thanks!

Mrs. Agate

Recess!

I took the 7th graders out for twenty minutes today and brought my camera along on our little break because I knew the results of an impromptu recess would be fun to share.  Even though we do not officially have recess in the middle school, the teachers might find a few moments on a random Friday to get these kids outside.  The students certainly proved to enjoy their time out there, as you can see!

(Who says they're too old for the playground?!)

:)

Have a fantastic weekend!

What's Happenin'?

Dear Parents and Students, 

We have had a great start to our year!  I know it may have seemed a bit hectic off the bat, but I can see that the students are really getting into the swing of 7th and 8th grade.  I am thankful for the blessing of such fantastic middle schoolers!  

I know that middle schoolers can be a bit reserved when it comes to information about the school day, so here is a little glimpse of what is going on in my classes....

English 7: We have been working on the mechanics of writing and reviewing grammar.  The students are finding that they can still be creative within a structured format of writing.  We just finished a five paragraph persuasive essay with a three point thesis.  The instructions were very specific, and we took a lot of class time to give examples of excellent writing and instruction on how to improve our writing.  Their binders are already filling with notes, handouts, and more.  Check out the writing and also the grammar sections of their binders for a more detailed look of some of the material we have been tackling!

English 8: We kicked off the year with a fabulous poetry unit.  The students have been taking notes on poetic elements, reading and analyzing a variety of poetry, and learning how to write poetry themselves!  Look in the literature section of their binder to see more!  We also have been reviewing grammar, and we are starting our first vocabulary unit next week as well.

Bible 7: For our Christian Schools International Bible Curriculum, Unit 1 is an overview of the Old Testament with a focus on covenant fulfillment.  The students have already memorized a verse (Jer. 29:11) and are on to their second verse (Deut. 6:4-6).  The students have been amazing with participation and discussion.  The whole class is together for Bible class (26 students, whereas they are divided in half for most classes), and their behavior has been impeccable.  This group is fun-loving but also focused.  I am really proud of these students!  In Bible they have been taking notes (see study guide and workbook pages for more information), and we are currently on lesson 9.

Bible 8: Our first unit is an overview of the New Testament with an emphasis on the Gospels.  The students have been diligently taking notes (also see study guide and workbook pages), and we have had awesome discussion in class.  Meanwhile, the students have been working on Gospel presentation projects and were assigned to groups of four to collaborate on executing the details of the project.  (See handout for requirements.)  They are also writing papers in MLA format on an assigned Gospel writer.  Their scripture memory work is on the seven last phrases of Jesus, and this will be assessed with their unit test.  By the way, I love having the

se students for the first and last periods of the day.  They are the greatest junior highers! :)

If you ever have any questions, just shoot an email my way, or you can always call the office to speak with me over the phone or even schedule a conference.  

Thanks!
Mrs. Agate