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

Another glimpse....

Here's an update on what we are doing in here! :)

7th Bible:  We are learning all about the Book of Proverbs!  We are already on Unit 5 in Bible!  I pray that we continue to gain WISDOM and understanding in God's Word.  The students have chosen their own passages from Proverbs to memorize.  The unit test (including the Scripture memorization) is this Friday.

7th English: We are in the midst of our poetry unit.  Students are learning to identify and analyze a variety of poetic forms.  They are also exploring some of the common poetic elements such as alliteration, onomatopoeia, metaphor, simile, imagery, meter, and more.  We read over a dozen wonderful poems from a variety of backgrounds and cultures.  The students are also practicing poetry comprehension and learning to question the texts that they read.  At the end of the collection, students will write and present a descriptive essay using sensory details and figures of speech.  They also have been writing poems throughout the unit, which is always fun!

8th Bible: We just started a new unit!  In our study of church history, we are in first century Rome, and Constantine is the emperor.  It's an exciting time in history to learn how God grew His church.  The students will learn more about where church traditions originated.  We will look to scripture to understand why we believe what we believe. When the students return from break, they will be completing their church reports.  Students in the past have loved presenting their own denomination before the class.  We have twentyfour students and nineteen different churches represented by the 8th grade!  I know that God will bless our time of sharing about the diversity, yet unity, in the Body of Christ.

8th English:  We just finished reading the Shakespearean drama, A Midsummer Night's Dream.  We had a wonderful time analyzing the witty language and even performing many scenes of the play in class!  The current vocabulary lessons have all come from the play as well.  The students will have a test on the play this Wednesday.  This week the students will also start on their mini-research papers (five pages).  They will understand MLA Format much better at the conclusion of their research and paper writing.  They students have chosen topics under the umbrella of PLAYS.  They could have chosen a particular theater production, a playwright, a drama from our literature text books, etc.   I will teach them how to research, create a research outline, document sources, transition from thought to thought, and much more.  This will be the last assignment due at the second quarter.


These are just some of the wonderful elements of our middle school classroom in English and Bible!
Keep the students and me (that is correct grammar-promise) in prayer as we, with the Holy Spirit's power, finish strong before Christmas break!

Don't Forget About Tomorrow!

Tomorrow we will be having our second Falcon Frey Battle Day during 5th period (right after lunch).

*Don't forget to bring in cans or dry goods to contribute to the homeroom competition and to support Pitcairn Food Pantry!

*Don't forget to wear your homeroom t-shirt to school!  (They are $3, and you can still purchase and retrieve yours tomorrow.)

*Don't forget to bring in a pie if you want to enter into the contest!

*Don't forget to bring in Christmas decorations for your homeroom's door!

Fun times will be had by all tomorrow! :)

Books! :)

Hello!

I just wanted to let you know that I am placing a Scholastic order tomorrow!  The shipment will be here next week.  If you want to order online, you can click the link below.  You can also go to the Scholastic Website and enter our class's code: JJW7D

Have a great day!
Mrs. Agate

Mrs. Agate's Scholastic :)
https://orders.scholastic.com/JJW7D

Inside Mrs. Agate's Class...

We are almost to the end of the first quarter!  The students are on track and even ahead of the curriculum in some areas.  Woo hoo!  Please look in their English binders and at their Bible study guides for more information on each element below.  Here is just a glimpse of what is currently happening in middle school English and Bible...

7th English

• Short Story Literature Unit: We are in the midst of reading ten classic short stories.  We are learning the various elements and writing techniques of a variety of genres.  We are enhancing higher level thinking skills as we learn what the author is trying to say through discussion of themes.  
• Vocabulary: We are increasing our vocabulary through our current Analogies unit and also through the literature we are reading.
• Grammar Unit 6: We are practicing classifying sentences, and we are learning verbals. 
• Writing: We are working on Persuasive Five Paragraph Essays and learning how to create a strong thesis statement. The students also do written responses to stories which assesses their reading comprehension through writing.  There is a weekly writing prompt as well.

7th Bible

• Unit Three: Job and the Books of Wisdom
• We are learning through Job that we can be refined through trials and tribulations and tested to be made pure, just as gold goes through the fire.  Students also learn to be godly friends in this unit and are encouraged to be a spiritual encouragement to others.  Looking at Job and the other Books of Wisdom also strengthens our faith in understanding that all will be well because God is in ultimate control.  
• Current memory passage is Ecclesiastes 3:1-14 ESV.  This will be a fill-in-the-blank assessment. 

8th English

• Holocaust Literature Unit: We are in the midst of reading The Hiding Place (on chapter 14).  We are also reading various poems from the prisoners held in concentration camps.  We learned about Anne Frank and skimmed the play The Diary of Anne Frank in our literature books.  
• Vocabulary: The next vocabulary unit will begin next week and will coincide with an Analogies unit.  
• Grammar Unit 5: We are continuing to practice grammar sentence classifications and strengthening grammar through writing.
• Writing: The students are writing a thesis paper on why eighth graders across the nation must visit Washington DC.  The format for this writing was explained in class; the students were given an essay outline as well as an example paper.  We are working on organizing ideas in structured writing and supporting thoughts with strong evidence and intelligent vocabulary.  The students also do written responses to assess reading comprehension as well as writing skill.  
• PLEASE NOTE:  Due to the classical poetry we have at the end of the second quarter, call me crazy, but I am extending the Poetry Portfolio due date to that time.  (See website for exact date.)  You will have to trust me that there is a method to my madness.  

8th Bible

• We are just finishing up Unit Two and moving on to Unit Three by next week.
• Students have learned about the start of the early church in terms of how church leaders are chosen to understanding what a believers life should look like even today.
• The current memory passage is Galatians 5:13-18 ESV
• Students are also to be familiar with chapter 11 of Hebrews ("The Faith Chapter") as well as chapter 12 of Hebrews which speaks of how we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.  Students recently turned in a "Person of Faith" mini-report.  

And here is a random sampling of "twin day" during Spirit Week.  :) 

Spirit Day! Go Falcons!

Falcon Frey Battle Day!

This year, the middle school is participating in a battle of the homerooms competition, and we are calling it "The Falcon Frey."  The students have had fun obtaining points for their homerooms for organized lockers, 100% homework participation, random acts of kindness, boxtops, and more.  Last Thursday was our first Falcon Frey Battle Day where we took one class period to compete in relay-type games to earn extra points!  Below you will find pictures of Schroeder's Shredders, Jensema's Jedis, and Agate's Aerial Aces.  These students are the best! :)