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