Middle School Newsletter

Middle School Updates
Week ending February 28, 2020

5th Grade
Religion: This week we are wrapping up our exploration into the Sacrament of the Eucharist. As Lent begins on Wednesday, we will begin praying the Stations of the Cross with our buddies from 1st and 2nd grade. Also, we will be partnering with a classmate during the season of Lent as we read Rediscover the Saints and work through the Best Lent Ever journal.
History: We continue to learn the Law Day/Judicial Branch of the government vocabulary. We also learned how these terms apply to our legal system. What does it mean as a citizen to have the rights to a speedy trial, and by a jury of our peers, and if we can not afford an attorney, one will be appointed for us? Mrs. Kayle Anderson from D & D Law Firm in Grand Rapids visited and spoke about different types of jobs available in Law and the different aspects of Law.
Language Arts: We finished our third draft of our biographical essay. We also participated in the 24th Annual National Student Poetry Contest through The America Library of Poetry. Daily we practice various writing conventions as we work on improving our grammar skills. We continue to work in our vocabulary books as we expand our lexicons. We are continuing our practice of penmanship with our cursive review.
Science: We are learning about the types of water on Earth and looking to solve the problem that we are finding about the cleanliness of freshwater.
Math: We continue to utilize our place value knowledge as we work with the decimal operations of multiplication and division. Some of us are working on addition and subtraction with fractions and mixed numbers. All of these skills are being applied to word problems to help us see their application in life.

6th Grade
Religion: In religion this week, the 6th graders began looking closely at the story of Noah and the Great Flood. Next week, we will look at how the story of the great flood is similar to the story of creation as well as how Noah is similar to Adam.
History: This week, we began learning about economy. Specifically, we looked closely at the factors of production: natural resources, capital, labor, and entrepreneurs. The 6th graders are now working on a project involving the factors of production in which they have to create something and determine what factors of production are required to make their product.
Language Arts: In language arts this week, the 6th graders completed the final drafts of their essays. Next week, we will begin working on researching and writing a biography about a famous woman in Michigan to celebrate Women’s History month.
Science: We are beginning our study of the human body systems, looking at how the body’s that God gave us are infinitely better than anything we could design ourselves. This week focuses on the circulatory system.
Math: We have been practicing for the National Math League Contest that will take place this Tuesday. For the contest, the students will be answering questions for 30-35 problems within 30 minutes. Their contest sheets are then sent in to be scored. We are exploring polygons and how to find the area of specific ones. A few of us are investigating ratios and rates. Some of us are working with integers and absolute value. The rest of us are finding statistical measurements dealing with mean, median, and mode. Students should be keeping their computation skills sharp by practicing nightly.

7th Grade
Religion: We are continuing to study Salvation History, reviewing how the Bible has presented us with God’s revelation of his love to humanity and to each student. We are working through the prophets this week with students researching and presenting each topic.
History: In social studies this week, the 7th graders finished their discussion of Imperialism. They also began to review for their social studies test which will be on Monday. After our test, we will begin looking more in depth into Africa.
Language Arts: Our language arts class continues to be filled with vocabulary, writing ~ our final compare/contrast papers were handed in and working on presentations. 7th-grade students continue to also participate in Project Best Life. Our Christ is Alive! essays were mailed in. Students also voted on the top 8 poems written by women authors for our upcoming Poetry March Madness.
Science: We are beginning our study of the human body systems, looking at how the body’s that God gave us are infinitely better than anything we could design ourselves. This week focuses on the circulatory system.
Math: We have been practicing for the National Math League Contest that will take place this Tuesday. For the contest, the students will be answering questions for 30-35 problems within 30 minutes. Their contest sheets are then sent in to be scored. We are utilizing our skills from solving equations to solve inequalities. Some of us are working with angles and their relationships. A few of us are exploring slope and its connection to linear equations and direct variation. The rest of us are going to explore triangles and the Pythagorean Theorem. Students should be keeping their computation skills sharp by practicing nightly.

8th Grade
Religion: We are continuing to study Salvation History, reviewing how the Bible has presented us with God’s revelation of his love to humanity and to each student. We are working through the Prophets this week with students researching and presenting each topic.
Language Arts/History: Students in the 8th grade also continue with vocabulary, creating storyboards, reading ~ To Kill a Mockingbird, and working on their comprehension packet. Our Christ is Alive! essays were mailed in. Students also voted on the top 8 poems written by women authors for our upcoming Poetry March Madness. We continue to learn the Law Day/Judicial Branch of the government vocabulary. We also learned how these terms apply to our legal system. What does it mean as a citizen to have the rights to a speedy trial, by a jury of our peers, and if we can not afford an attorney, one will be appointed for us? Mrs. Kayle Anderson from D & D Attorneys in Grand Rapids visited us and spoke about different types of jobs available in Law and different aspects of Law. 8th Grade students continue to also participate in Project Best Life.
Science: Students are going through the rock cycle to determine what is occuring in order to change a rock from one type to another type .
Math: We have been practicing for the National Math League Contest that will take place this Tuesday. For the contest, the students will be answering questions for 30-35 problems within 30 minutes. Their contest sheets are then sent in to be scored. We are continuing to graph linear equations and work with slope, as well as, explore the relationship between proportions and slope. Some of us are exploring inequalities and utilizing our skills from solving equations to solve inequalities. Students should be keeping their computation skills sharp by practicing nightly.

Important Dates

March 2, 2020 Welcome to Celebrating Reading Month

March 6, 2020 Reconciliation for grades 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th

March 6, 2020 8:20 am – 11:00 am Adoration – Chapel

March 13, 2020 No School ~ Faculty PD Day

March 13, 2020 Earn Parish Service Hours by assisting at the OLL Fish Fry and Stations of the Cross – see Mrs. Koster if interested.

March 20, 2020 Earn Parish Service Hours by assisting at the OLL Fish Fry and Stations of the Cross – see Mrs. Koster if interested.

March 25, 2020 5th – 8th Grade Lenten Retreat – Servant Leadership Project Conclusion

Lenten Servant Leadership Project Details

Prayer ~ Fasting ~ Almsgiving

Kick-off Ash Wednesday in the afternoon 2:10 pm, Chapel

1 – Bringing in individuals from 3 different agencies (Holland Rescue Mission, Kids Food Basket, and St. Vincent) to speak to students on who their program benefits, how can we help, etc. Wednesday, February 26, 2020.

2:15 – 2:30 pm Holland Rescue Mission – Cora Austin
2:30 – 2:45 pm St. Vincent de Paul –
2:45 – 3:00 pm Kids Food Basket – Christina Wilson

2 – Organizing the students into teams – they, with teacher assistance, will drive the service piece. Students will organize their “drive” (research organization and create posters for final presentations) needs, who they serve, etc. – they can market, gather items, put together, and deliver to the organization (Wednesday, March 25 – end of Lenten Retreat).

3 – Teachers are assigned a team and will oversee. They will give exact dates of drives – possible preassembly needed – TBD

4 – Lenten Retreat, March 25 – complete the project, in the afternoon deliver the items to the organization, everyone goes – Corpus Christi bus as transportation.

5 – Presentation to the school community about our projects, outcomes, learnings, how to apply to our future. The building, parents, priests, board members, etc. are invited –

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