Third Quarter Begins Now!

Here is what is currently happening at the beginning of this quarter....

7th English: We are finishing up our current novel, Breaking Through by Francisco Jimenez.  The students are enjoying this non-fiction work on how a Mexican immigrant was able to achieve success in America to the glory of God.  Vocabulary Unit 6 is also underway, and the students continue to impress me with their understanding and implementation of vocab.  Grammar lessons are continuing with classifications and sentence mechanics.  Please remember that there is free tutoring after school every Monday for grammar assistance! For writing, our next assignment is a business letter.  The students will learn how to properly compose a professional format of writing, and we will be sending our letters to various businesses of our choice.

7th Bible: We're on Unit 5: Prophets.  As God's nation grew, so did the need for leadership.  We are still in desperate need of spiritual leadership today.  We have enjoyed talking about the leaders we look up to and what God's word says in this regard.  Additionally, what is the message that God wants us to speak into the lives of His people today?  We have found that our message is not too far off from the messages of the prophets of old: Repent, a Messiah awaits to forgive you and give you a new life!

8th English: MLA Format writing is under way!  The students have been learning how to write MLA style papers, and the objective is to master the skill of research, format, citation, and more.  The students will also be doing a Classic Novel Project (starting this Monday) where groups of three will be assigned specific novels.  More details to come on this exciting assignment!  Greek and Latin Vocabulary Roots Unit 6 is also in process, and grammar ever continues.  

8th Bible: Our study of church history continues as we strive to hear our own, personal calling as God's children and our place in His church.  We have enjoyed discussing the essentials of faith and works, prayer, worship, and leadership in the body.  We are in Unit 4.3: Church History, The Reformation and Effects.  We just finished Unit test 4.2. which covered what was happening with God's people from 700-1400AD.  

Welcome Back from Christmas Break!

I pray that you all had a lovely Christmas break with friends and family!

I was overwhelmed by the Christmas gifts given to me by my wonderful students!  I am still in the process of sending thank you notes.  But, in the meantime-- WOW, thank you all so much for your generosity!  Thank you especially to Jill Gunniers and Michelle Sapp who came in and served the 8th graders with a fabulous Christmas party.  How adorable were those snow globes that they made?! And walking tacos and desserts?!  The fun 8th grade festivities made me not want to go to the teachers' luncheon which took place at the same time!  (Shhh!) I couldn't ask for better room moms!

If you're in 8th grade, you will be receiving your Poetry Portfolio back in the next two days.  I was completely blown away by the depth of the writing.  The original poetry from this group of thirteen and fourteen year olds was absolutely beautiful.  I was even moved to tears upon reading several of the poems.  The artwork was such a beautiful compliment to the writing as well.  AWESOME JOB, students! For each student, I filled in a comprehensive rubric showing how points were earned.  They were given a blank copy of this rubric months ahead of time, so there should be no surprises.

I pray that the middle schoolers are geared up for midterms!  We will have a couple days of excellent review before we begin the exam process.  Please note that each midterm will be taken in a regular, 42 minute class period.  This should actually ease some of the worry that these are not gigantic tests!  We teachers just want to make sure that you have learned AND retained the most important and necessary information from 7th and 8th grade so far.

Here's to a brand new year AND the second half of the school year!

Blessings!
Mrs. Agate