Announcements:
Gradelink is the best place to check your student’s progress and performance in middle school. Please login to Gradelink. You can view each class to see what work is missing (noted with MIS) and the scores students receive on graded assignments. Blanks indicate that the teacher has not yet graded an assignment. You can also see upcoming assignments.
Calendar Reminders:
- Thursday, October 31 – Minimum Day dismissal at NOON
- Friday, November 1 – Late Start Day, School starts at 9:15am – 2:00pm
- Friday, November 8 – Last day to turn in all missing work for 1st Trimester
- Monday, November 11 – NO SCHOOL
- Friday, November 15 – Minimum Day dismissal at NOON
- Monday – Friday, November 18-22 – Minimum Day dismissal at NOON
- Monday – Friday, November 25-29 – Thanksgiving Break
9:15 Late Start Friday, November 1st
Based on parent requests, the staff made November 1st a late start day instead of a traditional minimum day. Historically, the school has a high tardy rate on the day after Halloween, so staff thought it would be a win-win to start school later to allow students a bit of extra time to sleep. School will begin at 9:15 and go until 2:00. Students will have 3 rotations of Fantastic Friday instead of all 4.
Several teachers and an aide will be on campus at 8:00 on Friday the 1st to supervise students whose parents need to drop them off at regular start time. Students will play until 9:15 when school starts.
SPA Group Announcements
Dear parents of ACA II, the middle school SPA environment group is raising money to donate to the Nature Conservancy. We will be selling metal straws, T-shirts, and Origami turtles and will gratefully accept any donations. If you would like to prepare nature or environment themed treats we will also be selling the items we get. Our sale is on the week of Halloween starting Monday, October 28th and lasting while supplies are still available. The prices will be ranged from around $0.50 to $15 We are selling shirts in these sizes…. Adult small, Adult Medium, and Youth small. The sale is available for elementary, intermediate,and middle school.Thank You.
PACKAGES
You can also just buy anything you want
Straws: $1.50
T-shirts: $10.00
Origami turtles: $0.50
Super: 2 Straws FREE Straw Cleaner = $3.00
Extreme: 1 T-Shirts +1 straw + 1 origami turtle + FREE straw cleaner = $15.00
From,
Middle School SPA Environment group
Dear ACA2 families middle school is doing a Social Political Actions project. We are collecting non-perishable food. Some examples for food to donate is (we got this from the food bank of contra costa and solano county website and you can go there for more examples, you don’t have to be that exact):
- Natural Peanut Butter
- Whole Grain Cereals
- Hearty Low Sodium Soups
- Beans and Lentils (dry or canned)
- Canned Tuna and Chicken in Water
- Canned Fruit in Juice
- Non-perishable Low Sodium Ready to Eat Meals (chili, ravioli, etc.)
- Low Sodium Canned Vegetables
- Brown Rice
- Whole Wheat/Grain Pasta
- Canned Tomato Products
Our food drive will be from October 23 to November 7. Our goal is 400 for the whole school. If we reach that goal we will get popsicles for the whole school. That is bringing about 2 cans per student.
From, Middle School SPA Health group
Washington DC – Eastern Heritage Field Trip
Informational packet is in the office. Please have your student grab one if they are interested in going.
Thank you First Trimester Elective Volunteers!
A HUGE thank you to all elective volunteers for providing opportunities for our intermediate and middle school students to participate in so many different activities. Thank you Sara Wall, Iva McClurg, Stephanie Brooks, Jessica Gamble, Brandi Lopez, Annu Fuentes, and Adriana Solorio.
Also thank you to middle school students who stepped up to facilitate an elective: Jasmin Diaz-Munoz, Nicole Halbasch, Anthony Katusich, Enrique Martinez, Shudhit Sooch, Malcom Miller, and Seth Conner.
We need you!!! Elective Help 2nd Trimester
We need volunteers to supervise/teach electives for our 4th-8th grade students. This is a vital part of our program allowing students to enjoy and be introduced to varied experiences.
4th – 8th grade students have electives from 2:00 – 2:55 on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. 4th– 6th grade students have an additional elective 2:00 – 2:55 on Thursday.
Each elective is one day a week for one hour per day. Trimester 2 electives begin December 2nd and go through March 5th.
Some past popular electives and new ideas include: outdoor sports, board games, photography, recycle art, drama, woodworking, gardening, ultimate Frisbee, cooking, special effects makeup, film making/editing, costume design, choir, zumba, foreign language, fun with science, fundraising, roller skating and video game design. We encourage new ideas too!
Please email aca2middle@antiochcharteracademy.org to let us know which day and type of activity interests you.
DAR American History Essay Contest for 5th-8th Graders
The 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders are invited to participate in the annual Daughters of the American Revolution American History Essay Contest.
First place in each grade receives a medal and $50.
Second and Third place in each grade receive $25.
The deadline for having the essay emailed to me is November 14th.
Below is a link to a google drive folder where I have placed all the information for the essay contest.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1blbZeXem7kCEZiOVMnnnks2fn7x9EEJK?usp=sharing
I will also be holding after school support days at ACA where I will be available to guide students with their research and writing.
After school support days:
Thurs, Oct 24 from 3:00-4:00
Thurs, Nov 7 from 3:00-4:00
Tues, Nov 12 from 3:00-4:00
All questions and finished essays can be emailed to me at
Thanks so much,
Ms. McLean
HET THEME: Our theme for first trimester is Community. Students have picked projects to help an issue that they care about. One group is going to have a canned food drive, one group is going to make a video to educate people about discrimination, and one group is going to make a video to raise awareness of protecting the environment as they sell products to raise money for Nature Conservatory.
Homework:
During the week we focus on certain assignments on certain days. So I’m adding the focus day to the assignment list below. This way you will know when we are concentrating on a given assignment during the week. I suggest completing that assignment on the day we focus on it. The focus days will be listed (like this) next to each assignment. If you have any questions please let me know. – Mr. Hagan
Reading:
- Book Talk/Review schedule:
- Final day for book talks/reviews 11/14
Writing:
A role model is a person you look up to. Before you begin writing, think about someone you look up to. Why do you admire this person? Write an essay in which you explain to your classmates whom you admire and why you admire this person.
- Complete T-Chart outline
- Complete rough draft of essay introduction in a google doc. The introduction should have a hook that is at least 4 sentences and end with a thesis sentence. See your notes for guidance (also attached if you need them).
- Complete rough draft of body paragraphs. The body paragraph should be 5 sentences that follow this format:
Topic
Evidence/Example
Explanation
Evidence/Example
Explanation
- Complete the essay conclusion rough draft.
- Complete the editing process on your essay (remember the more people who read over your essay and help you, the better it will be.)
- Prepare your final draft.
*See attached help sheets for guidance.
Article of the Week (A.O.W.): (Monday)
AOW #10 Questions
Each week students will receive an article of the week (AOW) to read. Students are required to:
- Read the article
- Discuss the article with one of their parents or guardians (whoever discusses the article should also read it)
- Respond in writing to the questions in the google classroom assignment.
The article for this week can be found here and in the Language Arts google class. It is also attached as a handout.
Due Thursday
Mobymax Language: (10 minutes a day)
Students will login to MobyMax here. They will click on the “Language” button and practice for 40 minutes.
Social Studies:
- Study for test on Medieval Africa, test is Wednesday.
- Notes due Wednesday
Math:
Please see the attached calendars for this week’s classwork, homework, and assessments. Your student will also be given a paper version of the calendar. Or, login to gradelink to see all math assignments.
Science:
Science test Wednesday! There is a study guide on google classroom in the Science class.
Music:
Practice everyday!
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***Helpful email addresses
If you need to reach Middle School or any of the teachers, please use the following email addresses:
aca2middle@antiochcharteracademy.org – absence notes, responses to the newsletter, general questions, contacting Mrs. Ave
emccutcheon@antiochcharteracademy.org – Mrs. McCutcheon, science or math questions
mhagan@antiochcharteracademy.org – Mr. Hagan, language arts or social studies questions
Online Resources:
School Website: www.AntiochCharterAcademy.org
https://cpm.org – resource pages, tool kits, extra practice and tech resources – Student homework help is available ALSO – Parent resource page has tutorials so you can better help your student!!
learnersdictionary.com – great website for vocabulary
www.khanacademy.org – Search ANY math topic to watch a short video tutorial, practice activities to get better at skills.