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:
- Monday-Friday, January 27-31 – Spirit Week
- Thursday, January 30 – Instrumental Music Concert 7:00 at John Muir Elementary
- Thursday and Friday, January 30-31 – Minimum Day dismissal at NOON
National School Choice Spirit Week!
To celebrate the choice families are able to make in where to have their children attend school, students may choose to dress up for Spirit Week January 27 to 31!
Monday, 1/27 is Pajama and stuffed animal day
Tuesday, 1/28 is Meme Day
Wednesday, 1/29 is Mix-Match Day
Thursday, 1/30 is Video Game Day
Friday 1/31 is Crazy Hair Day
Message from the Walk-A-Thon Team
It is time to start planning the Walk-a-Thon, which is one of our biggest school fundraisers and a super fun day! The Walk-a-Thon team will be having their first planning meeting after school on Thursday, January 23rd at 3:15 PM at the picnic tables near the primary/elementary playground. Please join us and find out how you can help!
Message from FNB
We have a lot of exciting events coming up and our teams are beginning to form! Below you will find the first meetings for WA, SA and FF. This is a great way to get involved and earn those volunteer hours. We look forward to seeing you at the meetings.
Walkathon (TBA)
This Thursday January 23 after school at the picnic tables near elementary/primary playground.
https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/20f0444a9af23a5f58-walkathon/93309609
Silent Auction (TBA)
Jan 28th after school
https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/20f0444a9af23a5f58-silent/93309609
Family Formal (April 3)
February 5 after school
Alliance to Save Energy Contest
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.
- At home, use a phone, computer, or tablet and go to euc.empoweredschools.org/pledge.
- In the teacher’s name section use the grade chart to identify which teacher you will select. Elementary parents make sure to make your selection based on your child’s grade not which teacher’s group they are in.
- 8th: Hagan
- 7th: McCutcheon
- 6th: Albertoni
- 5th: Gonzales
- 4th: Dubitsky
- 3rd: Fank
- 2nd: Mariappan
- 1st: Berkich
- Primary: Peacock
- Complete questions about lighting, heating, air conditioning, and appliances.
- If you don’t know the answer to a question, ask a parent or guardian.
- Gather all members of your family together to review and sign the pledge.
- Hit submit.
- If you have children in more than one grade level submit a separate pledge for each child, they can be the exact same answers.
The class with the most will win either a doughnut party or a pizza party. If you have any questions let your teacher know!
Homework:
Reading:
- Book Talk/Review schedule for trimester #2:
- 1/30, 3/5
Alliance to Save Energy:
I’m leaving these instructions up for anyone who hasn’t completed the pledge yet.
7th graders can now use the link for the pledge (be sure to select McCutcheon as your teacher). 8th graders can also still sign the pledge if they haven’t already (select Hagan).
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:
- At home, use a phone, computer, or tablet and go to euc.empoweredschools.org/pledge.
- In the teacher name section use Hagan if you are an 8th grader and McCutcheon if you are a 7th grader.
- Complete questions about lighting, heating, air conditioning, and appliances.
- If you don’t know the answer to a question, ask a parent or guardian.
- Gather all members of your family together to review and sign the pledge.
- Hit submit.
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.) (Tuesday):
AOW #7 Sadfishing
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
Persuasive Essay Presentation (Wed-Thursday):
Essay presentations will be on Tuesday the 28th. The instructions are attached.
Journal (Thursday):
Write a paragraph in which you make a claim stating what the author’s message of your novel is. Be sure to use at least 2 pieces of cited evidence from your novel. You should also explain how each piece of evidence supports your claim.
Author’s Message definition: The message is the “big idea” or what the author is trying to tell the reader. The author also has a purpose for his/her writing. The purpose can be to entertain, inform, or persuade.
Mobymax (10 minutes a day):
Students will login to MobyMax here. They will click on the “Language” button and practice for 30 minutes.
Knights Challenge:
Suggestion for this week: Focus on completing the 5th squires challenges, you should be reaching the end of constructing your castle.
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:
Ecosystem analysis due Friday
SPA:
Group Educational Activity Plan for ecotour due February 6th.
Music:
Practice everyday!
Winter Instrumental Music Concert coming up this month, Mrs. Vela is encouraging students to prepare & parents to attend. It is on Thursday, January 30 at 7:00 pm. in the multi-use room of John Muir School in Antioch. If you have any questions please feel free in contacting Mrs. Vela.
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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.