Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe that the school year is almost half over!  I am really proud of the students and all they have accomplished so far!  Here is what is on the agenda for when we return from break and head into the third quarter.

TWO WEEK COLLABORATIVE UNIT:  We are so excited to be diving into our theme: 2018 MEDIEVAL Unit! All classes will revolve around this theme, and we will be closing the unit by making a Medieval Fair for our elementary friends.  Stay tuned for more details AND how you can help us out with this exciting unit!

7th Bible: We will be studying Proverbs and learning more about how our amazing Lord gives us wisdom.  Students will be memorizing two passages (of their choosing) from the Book of Proverbs.  After our Proverbs Unit, we will complete a unit on an overview of the prophets.  This inspirational unit is often a favorite among the students.

7th English:  It's time to read The Hobbit and other writings by Tolkien, CS Lewis, and George MacDonald!  Students will be completing Hobbit Projects and doing oral presentations along with the projects.  We are moving on in our vocabulary and grammar curriculum as well. Additionally, students will be learning how to write business letters and "professional" resumes.  Students will be sending their letters to the businesses of their choice.  It's extra fun when they hear back from these companies!

8th Bible: Church history continues on!  I love our next unit where we get to discuss Constantine, Augustine, and more exciting and influential people in history.  It is amazing how God uses us, His vessels, to move His kingdom.  May we continue to do His work by being His hands and feet.

8th English:  We are tackling Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream!  (This might be my favorite thing I do all year.)  The students will be writing literary analysis essays to defend their chosen theme for this Shakespearean drama.  In addition to this literature and writing unit, we will be continuing with grammar and vocabulary lessons.

I love my students! + A little update!

Is this year flying by, or what?  Thank you for continuing to share your teenagers with me and entrusting them to my care (at least for English and Bible classes).  They bring me joy every day!  Here is a very brief update on what your treasures are up to in the classroom.

ENGLISH 7: We just finished a grammar AND a vocabulary Unit.  We will continue with "a sprinkling of grammar" throughout our current poetry unit.  For our poetry unit, we will be reading and writing poems, and we will be writing a research paper on a famous poet.  Your student will have learned fifteen different types of poems and twenty literary elements by the end of the unit.  Pretty cool!

BIBLE 7: We are in the middle of Unit 3, The Writings.  We are currently learning about Job.  I love getting to talk to the students about how God is completely in control of all things! Next up in Unit 3 is Ecclesiastes where we see how meaningless life is without the Lord.  Our current memory work is The Apostles Creed.

ENGLISH 8: We just finished a grammar AND a vocabulary Unit.  We finished our unit on research writing.  We finished our Holocaust Literature Unit.  Now we are on to a poetry unit.  Not only will we be learning the intricacies of poetry, we will also be making poetry portfolios for this unit, and you will LOVE the end product!

BIBLE 8: We're nearing the end of Unit 2 and discussing early church history.  Students will have to write papers on a person who heavily influenced the early church.  Currently, we are discussing the qualifications for church leadership, and I have been so encouraged by the students' responses!  They strongly agree that what Paul expressed to Timothy and Titus is still current for our churches today.  (Of COURSE God's Word is perfect and living and active and always relevant!)  I love that I get to dig into the details of God's Word every day with these amazing kids!  Our current memory work is The Apostles Creed.

Great times in DC. :)

Great start!

We have had an awesome start to our year!  Here is a brief update on English and Bible classes.

7th English

• We just finished a Literature Unit on myths, legends, folktales, and fables.  We read eleven short stories over this unit, and the students did a wonderful job understanding the deeper meanings and lessons in each.  Additionally, students wrote three essays displaying their knowledge of various stories and their themes.  Within this unit, we also worked on note-taking skills and organization. 
• The seventh graders also completed the first two lessons in vocabulary (Greek and Latin Classical Roots).  Students worked on understanding how words work in a sentence and how they can differ the part of speech of the word as well as use the root to understand other derivatives.
• Currently, we are in a grammar review unit, covering all the parts of speech and implementing our grammar knowledge into writing.  Additionally, on Friday, the students will be receiving The Giver, an award-winning novel by Lois Lowry that we will read as a class.

7th Bible

• We just completed our first unit which consisted of an overview of the Old Testament.  
• We are beginning a new unit on the Jewish feasts and festivities.  It's so exciting to see how Jesus fulfilled all the Jewish holidays.

8th English

• We have completed two units already and are in our third.  The first unit was a literature unit with some writing assessment as well.  This literature unit was on short stories.  The students read a variety of stories from many backgrounds and genres.  Their reading comprehension and high level thinking skills were tested during this unit.  
• The other unit we completed was our first vocabulary unit.  Students did an excellent job understanding Greek and Latin roots and how the English language was derived from this foundation.  There were spelling, definitions, parts of speech, and analogies portions of this unit.
• Our current English unit is on grammar and writing.  The students are undergoing an extensive grammar review before we move on to new material.
• This week we also begin the novel The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom.  I am looking forward to reading this together, especially before we visit The Holocaust Museum in five weeks!  Students will also be completing Holocaust research papers in MLA Format, and students will present the information to the seventh grade class.  More details on this will be given to the students on Friday.

8th Bible

• We are in the middle of an overview of the New Testament.  This week was devoted to student presentations on the Gospels and the Epistles.  The students have done an excellent job presenting!
• We are memorizing the Beatitudes and talking about this rich Scripture as well.

8th graders perform skits to better understand and remember the meaning of the parables Jesus taught about The Kingdom of God

Homeroom Flag!

These two awesome students worked really hard during their study hall to finish painting our flag!  Thanks, Robert and T!

The avocados have also decided on a homeroom motto: "WE'RE HARDCORE!"

First "Falcon Fray" Battle Day!

The middle school teachers set up an afternoon of homeroom bonding and competition today.  It was great to get to know one another better, and we actually got a lot accomplished!  We started in the auditorium after lunch where The Falcon Fray was explained to all.  The students heard about how their service outside of school, extra curricular activities, academic excellence, and such can be applied to homeroom points!  Today the homerooms also decided on their team names and colors, made their team banners, and competed in several team games to earn points for the homerooms.  The day ended in ice cream treats and popsicles (DOUBLE for the winners), and a fun time was had by all.  We loved cheering one another on while competing in different contests.  The students can look forward to other Falcon Fray Battle Days the end of each quarter.

The students decided on the follow homeroom team names:

Agate's Avocados

Jensema's Jaws

Roberts' Rebels

We have an AWESOME middle school.  The students have done a wonderful job over the last three days.   I feel extremely blessed. :)

Relay race, obstacle course, balloon toss, water balloon fight, gummy worm-in-pudding eating contest, and more! :)

GO, AGATE'S AVOCADOS!

WELCOME TO MIDDLE SCHOOL!

I am SUPER PUMPED for this year!  It is going to be an amazing year for 7th and 8th graders!  We have incredible things planned for you, and we can't wait to welcome you all tomorrow morning!

A few things:
1. You will have until Friday to get school supplies in order. Fear not.
2. We will work out any scheduling glitches by tomorrow.  Fear not.
3. It is not too late to sign up for band and/or choir if you missed orientation or changed your mind. Fear not.
4. You will get your planners tomorrow morning. Fear not.
5. We have AN AMAZINGLY AWESOME year of school ahead of us where we will grow academically, socially, and spiritually.  Fear not.

*Get some sleep!
*God Bless You!
*Go, Falcons!

SEE YAS IN THE MORNING!

AGATE'S ALPACAS WIN!

Congratulations to the world's greatest homeroom for winning the 2017 Falcon Fray!  Here are some of the Alpacas showing off our championship title belt!