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:

  • Wednesday, December 18 – Dine In or Out Fundraiser at Chipotle 4pm-8pm (Pittsburg location)
  • Friday, December 20 – Mrs. Ave’s Annual Holiday Breakfast
  • Friday, December 20 – Minimum Day dismissal at NOON
  • Friday, December 20 – Chuck E. Cheese Fundraiser 3pm-9pm (Brentwood location)
  • Monday – Friday, December 23-January 3 – Winter Break NO SCHOOL

Message from Mrs. Ave!

Mrs. Ave’s annual Middle School Holiday breakfast party is Friday, December 20th!  I need HELP!  I’m looking for volunteers the day of the event.  If you can help out please meet me in Mrs. McCutcheon’s room (Room 6) after drop off.

A very big THANK YOU to those who have responded about donations!  Please have your student or yourself bring these items to me by Wednesday.

After breakfast, we plan on having our annual White Elephant gift exchange.  If your student is interested in participating, have them bring a gift limit of $15.  The gift can be bought, made or a gently used item.  Have your student bring the gift wrapped Friday (12/20) morning.

If you have any questions please feel free to reply!

Homework:

Reading:

  • Book Talk/Review schedule for trimester #2:
  • This Thursday!, 1/30, 3/5

Alliance to Save Energy:  (Monday)

Our school has decided to participate in a free energy education program called emPowered Schools, provided by Energy Upgrade California and the Alliance to Save Energy. The aim of emPowered Schools is to educate students, their families, and their communities about what we can all do to help California meet it’s 100% renewable energy target. The program launched this spring  in California and the response from students was fantastic. The middle school is going to begin the program by doing the following as an optional assignment this week:

  1. At home, use a phone, computer, or tablet and go to euc.empoweredschools.org/pledge.
  2. In the teacher name section use Hagan if you are an 8th grader and McCutcheon if you are a 7th grader.
  3. Complete questions about lighting, heating, air conditioning, and appliances.
  4. If you don’t know the answer to a question, ask a parent or guardian.
  5. Gather all members of your family together to review and sign the pledge.
  6. Hit submit.

When we get back from break we will launch the program throughout the whole school.  There will be a contest for which class gets the most households to take the pledge.  The class with the most will win either a doughnut party or a pizza party.  If you have any questions let Mr. Hagan know!

Article of the Week (A.O.W.):  (Monday)

AOW #4 Exercise for Depression

Each week students will receive an article of the week (AOW) to read. Students are required to:

  1. Read the article
  2. Discuss the article with one of their parents or guardians (whoever discusses the article should also read it)
  3. 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

Social Studies:  (Tuesday)

Answer the following questions on Google Classroom.

  1. What effect did vernacular literature have on uneducated people? Explain

.

  1. What were Thomas Aquinas’s beliefs about government? Explain how this relates to our government in the United States.
  1. Name one present day writer or leader that you think will influence people for centuries to come.  Explain why.

Persuasive Essay Planning:  (Wednesday)

Essay prompt: Write a letter to Princess Charlotte arguing which real knight from the middle ages is the greatest knight in history.

Students should work on completing their outline and then begin to work on their 1st drafts.  On Wednesday we will be doing a rebuttal tutorial so that may be a good time to complete that paragraph.

The completed essay is due January 16th.

Knights Challenge:

Suggestion for this week: Focus on completing the 2nd of the squires challenges, begin building your castle, possibly use some time over break to complete community service.

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:

Khan Academy growth mindset lesson 4 due Friday.  Test this Thursday.  Study guide on google classroom science. Link to kahoot practice will be on google classroom Monday evening.

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

http://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.