During February, we started our journey through the book of Acts. We studied the ascension of Jesus into the heavens and the manifestation of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. We studied the life of the apostle Peter and read the letter of James, which predates the other letters of the New Testament. Here is what some students had to say when interacting with the Word in the letter of James:
§ “When I face trials I should consider it “pure joy” because the testing of my faith “develops perseverance” and maturity. But when I am in a situation that is making me like giving up, I don’t have that joy; I don’t have that perspective. But I think if I just stop I might realize the purpose of that test.”
§ “If I stop wasting time with things that feed the flesh, I would spend my time wisely feeding my spirit, so that I could have enough strength to overpower the flesh”
§ “I need to submit myself to God wholeheartedly. Submission is sacrificing your soul and not just your body, as an act of spiritual worship.”
§ “In reading this passage (James 1: 19-27) I realized that knowing about God and His will is nothing if I don’t believe it enough to follow it entirely. Because when I do that I end up deceiving myself.”
Miss Rivera
During this month, we started to view the history of Israel and Judah under the kings that came after Solomon. We emphasized on the prophets that God called on different times and on the constant spiritual decline of the nation, with few short periods of revival. We noticed that the cycle perpetrated during the time of the judges continued during the time of the kings. We also emphasized the fact that the Lord God always sent a person to reach out to his people, namely a prophet, so that they would turn back to Him.
We studied men, like Elijah and Elisha, whose power through the Spirit of God is amazing. We also studied men with a word from God, like Amos and Hosea, who pleaded with Israel, the northern kingdom, to turn back to God before they were taken captives by the Assyrians. Isaiah spoke to Judah, the southern kingdom, and they listen and their judgment was held back from time. We hear from Isaiah that our refuge and safety does not depend on man or alliances of men but on God because He is in control. We also hear from Isaiah a lot of Messianic prophecies that point us to Jesus.
In the midst of all this, the Lord does not forget that there are other nations. For his love of these nations and so there would not be excuses the Lord sends prophet to other nations. Jonah and Nahum were sent to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire, about a hundred years apart from each other. Jonah prophesized and the Lord held his judgment. Nahum went to the city and the judgment given by Jonah and himself came to pass. The Lord also sent Obadiah to Edom to pronounce judgment over them because of their wickedness.
Miss Rivera
We continue to follow the history of Israel. We concentrated in the books of 1 and 2 Samuel. We saw the hand of God on different men and on how their examples teach us to get closer to God. We learned from Hannah, that the Lord listen to our deepest prayers, knows the desires of our hearts, and extends His mercy and remembers us. We learned from Samuel that we must answer the call of God and allow Him to do in our lives as He pleases, for what he wants is greater than our best dreams. We also learned from Samuel that when you do what God wants, He “got your back.” He told Samuel that the people had not rejected him but God himself.
We learned from Saul that it is not good enough to start out right, but to do the good and perfect will of God. Partial obedience is not good enough for God; it is all or nothing. We learned from David that repentance is key in our walk. When we do something wrong, we need to recognize it and “cease and desist” that behavior to attain forgiveness from our sins. We learned that the difference between Saul and David was that Saul excused and insisted in his behavior while David recognized his wrongdoing and repented. Solomon taught us that everything is vain if we do not have God in our lives. From a man that did it all and had it all his counsel to us is “remember your creator in the days of your youth…”
Miss Rivera
As we continue through the history of the nation of Israel we have the hand of God as they conquered and settled the Promised Land. We see in the book of Joshua how God uses Joshua to divide the land and give it in inheritance to the tribes and leaves them with instructions so that they might live in peace in the land.
In the book of Judges we saw, as the tribes were a loose “confederation” and their partial obedience to the commands given by Joshua. This cost them to live in a cycle of getting away from God, being under their enemies oppression, asking God for help, getting closer to God and starting again. We examined our lives and found we are not much better. If not for the grace of God we would not be where we are. Praise be to God.
In the book of Ruth we found the concept of a kinsman redeemer and found a “love story” that reminds us of the love God has for us that redeemed us from the world to be part of Him.
Miss Rivera
I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion by Mia Hamm. After an intense and exciting year, members of our sports teams came together to celebrate their accomplishments and reflect on all the, “funny” moments they had throughout the year. We started off our night with lots of laughter, watching slideshows of the athletes when they were younger. After laughing at each other’s baby pictures, we opened up the microphone to anyone that had a funny story about the team; needless to say many took this opportunity. Muhammad Ali once said, “Champions aren’t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them — a desire, a dream, a vision.” Our athletes have something that many others lack and that is a genuine passion and love for the game. They play not because of the recognition that it brings, but because it is an extension and expression of whom they are. I thank God for my Athletes and all that they have taught me. They could not have made my first year as Athletics Director any better then it already was.
-Mr. Wong
This month was spent doing practice Regents in class and preparing the students for the Spanish Regents Exam. We also reviewed for the final exam and took some speaking tests. Everyone was studying diligently!
Mrs. Pascualini
In June we were studying a chapter that dealt with air travel. The emphasis was on vocabulary and verb structure that helped to speak about the subject. The students were very anxious about
finals, so we spent some time reviewing our past lessons.
Mrs. Pascualini
“Mi casa” was the title of the chapter we have been studying this month, which means “My house”. In this lesson the students learned vocabulary dealing with names of the rooms of the house and how to use the form “hay” appropriately. The students had fun drawing pictures of their house and learning how to name all the rooms. Towards the end of the month we concentrated on studying for Finals!
Mrs. Pascualini
As a means of reviewing for the 8th grade final exam, students were split into two groups: boys versus girls. Each group competed in events like Historical Basketball and “20” Questions. Congratulations to the 8th grade girls who easily defeated the 8th grade boys in the review games.
Mr. Sanchez
As a means of reviewing for the 7th grade final exam, students were split into groups of five. Each group competed in events like Historical Basketball, Wheel of Fortune, and Historical Timeline.
Mr. Sanchez