Winter Newsletter
February 2024
A note from our Principal
Dear ACH Families,
As we find ourselves almost halfway through the school year, I reflect on our school year so far. The positive energy and enthusiasm have made this academic year a great one.
Our students have actively participated in classroom activities, extracurricular events and various projects/groups. They have explored new concepts and engaged with one another to push themselves in their learning.
Parents, your support and involvement continue to play a crucial role in the success of our students. Your participation in their education is appreciated, and we encourage you to maintain open communication with teachers and staff.
Let's continue to work hard, learn from challenges, and celebrate achievements, big and small. Thank you for your ongoing support and dedication to the success of our students. Here's to the second half of our school year and finishing strong!
Warm regards,
Mrs. Hoppe
News from Mrs. Sample
The 6th Grade has been learning about early humans. They have been learning new grammar skills and reading a novel about a boy with amnesia who has the chance to restart his life. 8th-grade history has been learning about American history before the colonization and the early colonization of America.
Mrs. Samples' art class
Mrs. Samples art class has been busy creating ornaments to sent to the governors office. The 6-8 grade art class has just finished up watercolor Flint corn(picture). They currently made sports-themed Christmas ornaments for the Governor’s mansion Christmas tree. (picture). They are now working on various Christmas projects. K-5 art students produced several fall-themed projects (pictures) and are now working on Christmas projects.
The third and fourth grade music class
The third and fourth grade classes are having fun with their “Turkey Run” music lesson. We learned a new song, then added whole body movements, boom whackers, and body percussion for a super exciting pre-thanksgiving class.
Robotics
The Robotics team, Warriorbots 2.0, have been working hard this season. They competed at the First Lego League Challenge on December 9th and are Champion’s Award finalists! This awarded them advancement to the Eastern Washington State Championship on January 27th at Eastern Washington University! Great job Warriorbots and good luck!
Middle school science happenings:
6th grade has been studying the anatomy, function and path of blood through the heart. They have made clay models and diagrams. On Friday, January, 5th, they had a hands on pig heart exploration lab.
7th grade has been studying how land changes, with an emphasis on volcano science. They are completing a multi-stage project involving a paper mache volcano, an illustrated land change informational booklet, and a travel brochure for their fictional volcano.
8th grade is studying physics. They have practiced using physics formulas, built balloon powered cars, examined balanced and unbalanced forces, and engineered collision tracks to observe elastic and non-elastic collisions.
Almira Holiday Concert Extravaganza
The performing arts elective class in conjunction with all the elementary music classes performed the Christmas musical “Jingle Jury" on December 14th. The show opened with the ACH middle school choir singing, “Still, Still, Still”, followed by the middle school band performing, “The Jingle King” and “African Noel”. The forty-four performing arts students and all the elementary students then performed the musical, “Jingle Jury” under the direction of Sean Matthewson and Kristi Okamoto. This was the first performance on the new Almira stage and the multi-purpose room was close to capacity with an audience size of 275!
7th and 8th Grade ELA Class
8th grade ELA has started a non-fiction reading unit. They are learning about persuasive writing, how to identify it, and how to write their own persuasive essays. We have just begun reading Michael Pollan's book "The Omnivore's Dilemma," which is about food choices. Meanwhile, the 7th-grade students have just wrapped up their unit based on "A Long Walk to Water," a book by Linda Sue Park, based on real events. Each student used AI picture-generating software to create a picture book, telling the story of children from Sudan, displaced by the war. They then had the opportunity to read their books to the 3rd and 4th-grade reading classes.