The End of an Era

I pronounce the third quarter as an "era" as it is the LONGEST quarter.  So, yes, it is the end of an era in the middle school.

The students have been doing AMAZINGLY well during this quarter.  We have written several papers, taken tests on Bible, Greek and Latin roots for vocabulary, done grammar units, read novels, shared writing prompts, and SO much more!  I am very proud of these students and am looking forward to the final push of the year: the fourth quarter.  It's my favorite quarter!  We have a ton to be excited about.  

Here is a small snapshot of what is on the agenda for my classes in the fourth quarter (after we kick-start it with a week of achievement tests)!

7th Bible

*Intertestamental Period Unit

*Peacemakers Unit

*Citizenship in Christ Unit

8th Bible

*Cults Unit

*Modern Church Unit

*Church Reports

*Worldview Review Unit

7th English

*Grammar: Perfecting Pronouns and Tenses

*Analogies Unit 

*Vocabulary Units 11&12

*Novel Critique Project

*Short Story Unit and Project

8th English

*Lord of the Flies Unit and Project

*Literary Analysis Paper

*Mastery of the MLA Research Paper

*Greek and Latin Roots Vocab Units 11&12

*Grammar Overview Unit

*Short Story Unit and Paper

Today the eighth grade Biblical Worldview students worked with the second graders in their Bible class.  See my Facebook post on Trinity's page for more photos!   https://www.facebook.com/trinitychristian.net/

THE VOCAB CHAMPS

Our middle school vocabulary curriculum is challenging!  The seventh and eighth graders work hard to learn vocabulary from Greek and Latin roots.  Congrats to these special students for being consistent with their vocabulary assignments, for acing vocabulary tests, for winning vocabulary games, and for doing their best!  These four recently received awards in English class for outstanding achievement in vocabulary.

Keith, Chris, Lucie, and Sarah: Vocab Champions of the World

Third Quarter in Mrs. Agate's Class...

Here are the third quarter happenings to provide a VERY general gist of third quarter material.  Ask your student for the specifics of each curriculum item as we go along!  I pray that your student is continuing to enjoy all that middle school has to offer! :)


7th English
*Almost finished with The Hobbit!
*Writing business letters
*Non-fiction literature and writing unit, including Breaking Through
*Mini-research paper
*Vocabulary units 7-10
*Grammar lessons 20-29

7th Bible
* Prophets Unit
*Prayer Unit

8th English
*Short story unit, including Flowers for Algernon
*Writing: Literary Critique; Formal Response Paper; Thematic Essay
*Classic novel mini book "club"
*Grammar lessons 40-49
*Vocabulary units 9&10

8th Biblical Worldview
*Units 4.2&4.3
*Church History: from Constantine to the Enlightenment (including the rise of Roman Catholicism, Islam, The Reformation, etc.)
*Current applications

Spencer did an excellent job with his prophet report!

Ballads...

I love when I ask my students to try a simple form of poetry (or any writing for that matter), and they really GO for it.  A recent example is when I asked eighth graders to write ballads for a homework assignment.  After explaining the form of the poetry, they realized that writing ballads is much like writing songs, and to my surprise (and delight), two students came in the next day with instruments in hand, ready to share their original ballads.  Several other students experimented with using the same complex form and rhyme scheme as Robert Service's famous ballad, The Cremation of Sam McGee, which we had read and learned about in class the day before.  It's moments like this that I can't believe I get to partake in the creativity of these students who continue to do their best by going above and beyond the requirements.  Keep up the great work, everyone!  What a blessing!

Kyra with her ukelele and Destyni with her djembe.

THANK YOU!!!

Dearest Parents,

Thank you so much for the Christmas gifts!  I am a little late with my thank you notes!  I am very thankful for all of you and for your encouragement.  I greatly appreciate your thoughtfulness and generosity and have already enjoyed hot chocolate, mugs, Panera giftcard, and Amazon giftcard!  With the Amazon gift card, I purchased the game, "Pandemic" for our class to play after the debates on Thursday.

I am very blessed by all of you.

In Christ,
Katie Agate

Current Happenings...

Here's a bit of WHAT'S UP in middle school English and Bible! :)

7th English: We just finished a riveting grammar unit.  (Sarcasm?  I think not!) We are putting our grammar skills to practice by writing in response to various prompts.  We are in the middle of a poetry unit as well!  The students have taken notes on various forms of poetry and poetic devices.  We will be reading and writing much poetry in the next few weeks.  The students should also be memorizing their speech meet piece.  As always, we will continue with vocabulary lessons as well.

7th Bible: Our Unit 3 test on Job and Ecclesiastes is Tuesday November 22nd.  The students have done a great job with this unit, and we have learned so much!  They worked hard to memorize Ecclesiastes 3:1-14 ESV, and they will also display this knowledge on their test. If you ask your student for his notes and study guide, you will see the wonderful themes and information we have discussed.  We will begin Unit 4 on Proverbs when we return from Thanksgiving.

8th English: We are mastering the rules of MLA Format (writing formal research papers) along with beginning a poetry unit.  I love reading, analyzing, memorizing, and writing poetry with these students.  The eighth graders will be learning many poetic devices and forms of poetry along with getting familiar with beautiful classic poems that have withstood the test of time.  We will be creating poetry portfolios as well during this unit.  Vocabulary and grammar will continue, par usual.

8th Bible: We are getting pretty deep in Bible class these days.  Our current unit is more theological and philosophical.  The students memorizing a passage in Philippians, and we are looking at God's word, praying together, and devoting time to growing our faith through accountability, Scripture reading, and more.  Last week, each student devised a specific plan to enhance Spiritual growth.  Our next unit focuses on church history and is more "factual."  Right now we are enjoying focusing our hearts on Jesus and God's glorious Word alone.  I'm blessed to be around this young cloud of witnesses.

Up and Running!

I know that RenWeb is keeping you up to date on assignments, but here is another snippet of what is happening in my classes...

7th Grade English: We are working on grammar.  We have mostly been reviewing grammar but have learned a few new concepts.  We shall see how well the work has sunken in after this Tuesday's assessment.  We just finished a novel and have already written two papers: a personal essay and a literary critique of sorts, both in the five paragraph essay format to reinforce supporting a three-point-thesis with specific evidences.  Our next literature unit (starting Monday) is on myths, legends, and folktales.   We have finished two vocabulary units and will continue working on vocab as well during this quarter.

7th Grade Bible: We finished the first unit, an overview of the Old Testament. Now we are on to Unit Two: The Nine Jewish Feasts.  Please see the handout and information given regarding the project that coincides with this unit.  It is so awesome to see how Christ is the fulfillment of each festival and feast!

8th Grade English: We finished our first literary work, A Midsummer Night's Dream.  We had so much fun with this drama; I think the students have fallen in love with Shakespeare.  They really understood the beautiful, and often silly, Shakespearean language.  We have an essay AND the first two vocabulary units under our belts, and we will complete another paper and two more vocab units before the quarter ends.  Our next literature unit  (starting Monday) is on Corrie TenBoom's The Hiding Place, The Diary of Anne Frank, and poetry from the Holocaust.  This will lead us into our Washington DC Trip where we will be visiting the Holocaust museum.  Additionally, the students will be writing research papers on one aspect of the Holocaust.  Of course we will also have continual grammar lessons throughout our literature units.  See RenWeb for assignments and tests/quiz dates.

8th Grade Bible:  We finished the first unit, The Early Church in the New Testament.  The class test average was a 91%, which is very high!  I joked that I would try to make the next assessment much more difficult.  We are currently working on the second unit in our curriculum: Themes of the New Testament.  As we look at the persecuted church, our hearts are filled with gratitude that we can openly talk about our Savior who loves us so much!  We have been having wonderfully deep conversations about theology and more complicated themes presented in Scripture.  Pray for our class through these topics as my only desire is to point them to Jesus and to a hunger for the Word of God.

I must confess...I took them out for recess...