Middle School Notes

Happy Friday!

With the end of the year upcoming, please keep encouraging your children to work hard on their schoolwork, and begin preparing even now for exams. It is easy to let up when spring is in the air, but we're not across the finish line just yet!

Congratulations to the following middle school students who made the Headmaster's List for the first semester. These students have the highest GPAs in the middle school. Our second semester Headmaster's List will be announced at the conclusion of the school year:

Robert Adams, Jack Albritton, Jessie Allen, Forrest Bankston, Colton Bassett, Beth Birchfield, Sam Bishop, Elisabeth Bowman, Jackson Byrd, Betsy Byrne, Fox Carlson, Grant Chambliss, Chloe Champion, Tori Chancellor, Katie Chandler, Alyssa Clark, Will Cook, Anna Lee Curles, Wesley Curles, Cole DeBardelaben, Millie Beth Dill, Turner Duraski, Savannah Elrod, Preston Etheredge, Cassie Felder, Lance Freeman, Anna Gentry, Haley Gentry, Regan Goocher, Hannah Green, Carter Green, Sarah Green, Reed Grice, Marshall Griffin, Janie Hampton, Carson Hartzog, Hadley Hayes, Hannah Haynes, Weston Heartsill, Braxton Hicks, Sadler Hinton, Joseph Hixon, Christina Hogan, Hudson Huffam, Emory Johnston, Bray Jones, Katrina King, Ali Lincoln, Anna Claire Loftis, Addison Love, Carly Mattox, Jordyn Meeks, Meredith Moore, Becca Murdoch, Stephen Neu, Mary Elizabeth Newman, Stuart Newsome, Clayton O'Barr, Emma Paramore, Hammond Parsons, Ankil Patel, Daniel Phillips, Leeanne Phillips, Mark Pickering, Caleb Redden, Jacob Redden, Miranda Register, Virginia Reid, Parker Reynolds, Leslie Schuneman, Jackson Scott, Michael Sellers, Anna Slawson, Steven Smelley, Daniel Smitherman, Caroline Stewart, Emily Stone, Aaron Tasseff, Ann Louise Teel, Autumn Thaggard, Den Trumbull, Tyler Vermillion, Grant Watson, Claire Wilder, Pat Williams, Dawson Williams, Layne Williams, Emily Windham, Katie Windham, Abby Windham.

Congratulations to these outstanding students for a job well done!

Social networking sites are becoming more popular than ever, and students and parents alike are using them more and more. However, as we all know, there can be a dark side to this new media. The New York Times published an article in Thursday's edition highlighting the potential dangers with a new form of social networking called Formspring. You may access the article by clicking here.

Here are our tests for next week:

6th Grade: None

7th Grade:

Tuesday - Science

Wednesday - Keyboarding

8th Grade:

Monday - Algebra I

Tuesday - Pre-Algebra

Wednesday - English

Have a great weekend!

Middle School Notes

Good Monday Afternoon --

You know it is a crazy time of year when I don't post this communication in a timely manner. Sorry about that! I'll save the good stuff for this Friday. In the meantime, here are our tests for this week:

6th Grade: None

7th Grade: None

8th Grade:

Wednesday - History (McLemore)

Thursday - English

Friday - History (Weeks), Algebra I

Remember, exams are coming up soon so make sure your child is studying.

Have a great week!

Middle School Notes

Happy Friday!

I hope you are having a great day! It has been a spectacular week here at Trinity!

Here is some great advice from leadership guru Jim Rohn, who passed away this past December. I hope you enjoy!

The Ant Philosophy

by Jim Rohn

Over the years, I've been teaching kids about a simple but powerful concept: the Ant Philosophy. I think everybody should study ants. They have an amazing four-part philosophy.

Here is the first part: Ants never quit. That's a good philosophy. If they're headed somewhere and you try to stop them, they'll look for another way. They'll climb over. They'll climb under. They'll climb around. They keep looking for another way. What a neat philosophy -- to never quit looking for a way to get where you're supposed to go.

Second, ants think winter all summer. That's an important perspective. You can't be so naive as to think summer will last forever. So ants gather their winter food in the middle of summer.

An ancient story says, "Don't build your house on the sand in the summer." Why do we need that advice? Because it is important to think ahead. In the summer, you've got to think storm. You've got to think rocks as you enjoy the sand and sun.

The third part of the Ant Philosophy is that ants think summer all winter. That is so important. During the winter, ants remind themselves, "This won't last long; we'll soon be out of here." And the first warm day, the ants are out. If it turns cold again, they'll dive back down, but then they come out the first warm day. They can't wait to get out.

And here's the last part of the ant philosophy. How much will an ant gather during the summer to prepare for the winter? All he possibly can. What an incredible philosophy, the "all-you-possibly-can" philosophy.

Wow, what a great philosophy to have -- the ant philosophy. Never give up, look ahead, stay positive and do all you can.

I urge you to share the Ant Philosophy with your middle schooler this weekend.

Here are our tests for the week:

6th Grade: None

7th Grade:

Wednesday - Science

Thursday - Keyboarding, Math 7

Friday - Pre-Algebra

8th Grade:

Tuesday: Old Testament

Friday: Algebra I, Science

Have a Great Weekend!

Correction

Eighth Grade Parents:

There was a mistake on this week's Middle School Notes. The 8th grade history test being given Friday is in Ms. McLemore's class. It was not her mistake -- it was mine!! I failed to write down the teacher's name when making my list before leaving for the weekend.

Middle School Notes

Good Afternoon!

I hope you have had a chance to enjoy this beautiful weekend with your family! Today has certainly been a "Chamber of Commerce" day - absolute perfection!

This year, Trinity School has endeavored to teach our kids about giving back. We have done this by sponsoring mission opportunities both here and abroad by raising money for Common Ground's Montgomery ministries, providing a well for clean drinking water in Africa, and donating our old shoes to those in need.

As you work at the increasingly difficult task of raising your kids in a world of takers, we would like to provide you with some tips that, along with what we are doing here at school and in the local church, will help them grow to be Christ-like givers. By partnering together, we can show our children how to serve like Jesus.

Grace Fox published an article in the April 2005 issue of Discovery Years entitled Serving as a Family. Focus on the Family recently picked up the article, and you may read it by clicking here. You should find some helpful tips to encourage your children to view their role in this world through the eyes of Christ.

Here are our tests for the week:

6th Grade:

Monday - Social Studies

Tuesday - English, Math

7th Grade:

Friday - Economics

8th Grade:

Thursday - US History (Weeks)

Friday - US History (McLemore), Algebra I

Have a wonderful week!

Middle School Notes

Happy Friday!

Common Sense Media is an excellent website with tons of resources for parents and teachers alike. Recently, I found a great video full of tips on how to handle text messaging and your teen. You may access the video by clicking here.

We have been working on some exciting changes at Trinity, including our upcoming building project which will completely renovate our middle and upper school library space, and add a new lower school building complete with a new lower school library. We have also been looking at some curriculum changes, and these begin with some in the science department which will affect our current eighth grade class. Following is a memo to parents from Mrs. Sarah Tyus, the chairman of the science department here at Trinity:

The Science Department has decided to make some changes in the course selections starting in the 9th grade in order to better serve our students. All 9th graders will be taking biology or honors biology starting next year (2010-2011). This will allow students who are very strong in science and math to continue on to honors chemistry in 10th grade, and then AP chemistry and AP biology in 11th and 12th grade if they choose, without having to double up on their sciences in the 11th grade. Students who are weaker in math will take physical science in 10th grade and chemistry or honors chemistry in the 11th grade.

Physical science lays the foundation for chemistry and physics, but when taken in the 9th grade, the students tend to forget much of what they have learned by the time they need it in the 11th grade. by offering physical science and chemistry back to back in 10th and 11th grade, we feel that the students will achieve greater success.

Please consult the course description guide (handbook) online to help decide what is best for your child. There are some prerequisites and grade requirements for some of the classes.

Here are our tests for next week:

6th Grade: None

7th Grade:

Tuesday - Science (big quiz)

Wednesday - Economics, Math 7

Friday - Pre-Algebra

8th Grade:

Monday - Algebra I

Have a great weekend!

A Cup of Cold Water

This fall, the students here at Trinity raised $5,000 to install a well in a community in Africa that had no clean drinking water. Click here to see a very special "thank you" video from the people in this community.

And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward. Matthew 10:42