It was a wonderful celebration!

The seventh graders were able to bless the kindergarteners with donuts, juice boxes, and their story books today!  The students did a great job working with these little ones.

Not only did the middle schoolers create stories complete with characters, descriptive settings, rising action, conflict, falling action, resolution, and more, they also showed the love of Jesus to the sweet kindergarteners through their patience, gentleness, and thoughtfulness.

The laminated cover and "about the author" page were extra special touches!

The seventh graders loved their thank you notes from the kindergarteners!

The Home Stretch! :)

Can you believe that it is May already?  I find myself reviewing all the things my students have learned this year, anticipating the materials we have yet to cover, and looking for areas where they can use some extra reinforcement!  This next month of school is going to fly by!

Here is what is on the agenda in my classes as we close out the year:

English 7: 
*Booksellers Day!  The students will be reading one more novel of their choosing (approved by me).  They will have to "sell" their novel to their classmates in an exciting book report.  They will also be writing critiques on the novels.
*The last grammar unit!  We have one more unit in grammar to cover, and it is a review of all we learned this year.
*The last vocabulary unit!  We have one more vocabulary unit left!

English 8:
*Persuasive Logic Speeches!  Students will be writing speeches in support of or against a provided topic.  Students will not be able to use any of the fallacies they learned in logic to convince the audience (along with Mr. Jensema and myself) to agree with their speech.
*Last writing unit: firming the foundation!
*We will be covering two more vocabulary units!
*Grammar overview!  We will be reviewing all we have learning in grammar to prepare for high school.


Bible 7:
*One unit left on Biblical Literary Forms in God's word!

Bible 8:
*We just finished our last unit!
*The students will present their church reports next week.
*Now we will be doing a Bible study together to complete our middle school years and spiritually prepare for what God has in store for these upcoming high schoolers!

Please enjoy this photo of an impromptu Bible skit showing how the Jewish sect, the Zealots, reacted to the pressures of Hellenism in Ancient Greece.  (Maybe you had to be there...)

A citizen of Greece (Annika) in 230BC takes cover as the Jewish Zealots (Lucie, Haley, and Mekka) revolt against her Hellenistic pressures! 

7th Grade Story Book Project

The seventh graders had a wonderful time interviewing their kindergarten buddies for the Story Book Project.  I thought I would share some of the cuteness via the photos below.  Some of the students were absent, and I regret that I didn't get everyone included in the photos.

In all my years of doing this project, I have the highest hopes for this seventh grade class.  They have come a long way in their writing in just one year, and I have already loved some of the first drafts I have seen.  This class is so creative and gifted!  I have no doubt that they will present wonderful works of literature to the sweeties in kindergarten.  Please see the handout for the individual check-in dates and requirements for this project.  

Current Happenings...

Here is the briefest glimpse of what is currently happening in April aside from a week of standardized testing (April 18-22).  ALSO-- This is the last month to discuss novels with a teacher for the Classics Reading Challenge.

7th Bible

• Unit 7 - "The Silent Years"
• Memory Verse = Malachi 3:16-18 ESV

7th English

• The Hobbit (classic novel)
• Vocab Unit 9&10
• Writing topic sentences and transitions
• Short story project for kindergartener (see rubric and handout)

8th Bible

• Modern Church History Unit (last unit of the year)
• Church Project (see rubric and handout)
• Memory Verse = Ephesians 4:11-13 ESV

8th English

• Flowers for Algernon (literary classic short story) personal essay
• Lord of the Flies (classic novel)
• Rhetoric Speech Project (writing)
• Analogies Unit J (vocabulary and higher level thinking skills)
• Final unit in grammar; overview for 9th grade

Quick Classroom Update...

7th Bible: We are in Unit 6: Prayer.  We are looking to God's word and what His people have modeled for us in terms of prayer throughout generations.  We are also doing daily devotions as a two-week assignment.  Memory work includes The Prayer of Saint Francis and Colossians 3:16-17.

7th English: We are in Unit 7 of our Literature Texts studying myths, legends, folktales, and fables.  Every day we do 20 minutes of writing and/or grammar and 20 minutes of literature. I am truly enjoying this class due to their awesome work ethic and amazing attitudes.  The current grammar concepts include complex sentence classifications, subordinating conjunctions, and sentence mechanics in writing.  Classical Greek and Latin roots in vocabulary also continues.

ALL ENGLISH CLASSES: Please note the general change in middle school in terms of the time we have to devote to our subject areas and the grades received in each category.  In K-6th grades, they have separate classes and grading marks for reading, spelling, and English/grammar.  In 7-12, one English class includes grammar, writing, literature, and vocabulary-- all in one class for a single grade.  This is why we switch gears so much at this level in this class. This is also why a student who struggles in grammar but may have excellent reading comprehension or high level thinking skills can succeed.  I ask that you look at RenWeb or contact me to see what specific area(s) your student can work on.  Also, please take advantage of after-school tutoring sessions every Monday until 4PM.  We do grammar and writing reinforcement, and all are welcome!  I usually only have 3-6 students and would like to see more jump on this opportunity.  It's free! :)  Obviously, my students can come to me ANY time (before school, after school, lunch, study hall, etc.) and don't have to wait for our designated Mondays.

8th Bible: We continue to move through church history and are currently studying The Reformation and the Counter-Reformation.  The current memory passage is Romans 1:16-17.  We are enjoying learning about what God's word says about church and also about the individual congregations and denominations represented right within our own classroom!

8th English: We just finished our MLA research papers.  Please look at your student's writing rubric which explains each individual element of the paper.  The students were given rubrics and checklists ahead of time, so there are no surprises.  Next Monday we begin a short story unit (which happens to include my favorite, Flowers of Algernon) before we get into our next novel, Lord of the Flies.  Grammar and vocabulary will of course continue.  For now, we will finish up our classic novels and present those on March 8th. The current grammar concepts include dangling modifiers, appositives, and complements.  The current vocabulary unit is lesson 7&8 and includes a continued discussion of Greek and Latin roots.

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