August 27th - August 31st

NOTES FROM MR. CRAWFORD

WHITE ZONE CARPOOL - The carpool is moving smoother each day.  Remember these tips and things will continue to improve.  

Morning Drop Off - 7:30 - 8:00 unload at the Hancock Hall doors.  8:00 - 8:15 move up toward the main Middle School door as far as possible.

Afternoon Pick Up - best advice is don’t arrive on campus until 3:15 that is when the students will start coming out.  If you are on campus before then, please do not line up or block the flow of cars moving through to the Green and Gold zone

We continue to work with families to direct them when and where to line up in a timely manner in order not to impede traffic flow.  We thank everyone for their patience!

LUNCH SIGN UPS! - Many middle school families have not signed up for the lunch program this year.  Registration closes today!!! Look for an email that explains the program. Click HERE to register.

PARENT.edu - Parent.edu is a series of informational sessions hosted by HDS covering timely topics of concern to our community.  Last year’s parent survey highlighted concerns about safety and security issues at school. Next Wednesday, August 29th, at 6:00pm, we will host a Parent.edu addressing Safety, Security and Wellness at Hancock.  We encourage everyone to attend to learn what is happening at the school and share your concerns.  September’s Parent.edu will be “Selecting a High School - Finding the Best Fit for My Child.”

FALL SPORTS GAMES BEGIN! - Our fall sports season kicks off next week with our first football game.  On Thursday, August 30th, Hancock will host Pinewood Academy at the Calvary field.  Come support our strong varsity football team in its quest to repeat as SPAL champions!  Game time is 7:00. Volleyball will open on Tuesday, September 4th. Look for details in next week’s blog.

LOGGING IN COMMUNITY SERVICE HOURS - Reminder - for service hours to count for the 2017-18 school year they must be logged in by the close of school Tuesday, September 4th!  This is CRITICAL for those seeking membership or maintaining their membership in National Junior Honor Society.

NURSE NOTES

Please notify the nurse if your child is sick or plans to be absent:  nurse@hancockdayschool.org. This will help as we do attendance daily and prevent unnecessary calls home. If you would like work sent home, contact Ms. Ross (351-4500 x315 or mross@hancockdayschool.org) by 12:00 to request assignments.

For your child’s safety at lunch there is a list of all allergies posted in Hancock Hall  and several size appropriate EpiPens available.

COMMUNITY SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

Each middle school student is required to complete ten hours of community service over the course of the school year.  See below for a few upcoming service opportunities.

VERY IMPORTANT - 7th GRADE STUDENTS TAKE NOTE!!!  Along with strong academics, service is one of the defining categories for admission to the National Junior Honor Society.  In order to be considered for membership, a student MUST have met Hancock’s criteria of 10 hours of service per year. To include hours earned in the summer, we accept hours for the 2017-18 school year through Tuesday, September 4th.  After that, all hours are credited toward the 2018-19 school year.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon is looking for race crew volunteers to help support our community and thousands of walkers and runners on Saturday, November 3rd and Sunday, November 4th.  Students and their families can sign up to to help with the starting line, finish line, or a water station along the way. More information and sign up forms can be found on their website -- http://www.runrocknroll.com/savannah/the-weekend/volunteer/

PACK is a local nonprofit that delivers weekly food bags to children at risk of hunger in our community.  Volunteers are needed on the first Sunday of each month to prepare bags of supplies for homeless children, children in the foster care system, and others in our community.  You can learn more about this opportunity and sign up to help on their website -- www.packsavannah.com

Union Mission exists to prevent and end homelessness in the Savannah community.  They welcome students and their families to volunteer to visit and serve a meal, sort donations, or participate in a family activity night.  More information can be found through their website -- http://www.unionmission.org/first-time-volunteers/

GUIDANCE & CHARACTER EDUCATION

This week students met in small groups to either complete team building activities with Ms. Pedrick or review and unpack The Hancock Way with their advisor.  Our virtue of the month is responsibility, and we look forward to discussing this further with students in the week ahead.  If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact Ms. Pedrick at apedrick@hancockdayschool.org

8TH GRADE ASSIGNMENTS

Algebra 1 - Mrs. Reardon

Next week in Algebra, we will continue in Chapter 1 with the problem solving plan, representing functions as rules and tables, and graphing functions.  Students should expect their Chapter 1 test on Friday, August 31. We will review in depth for the test on Thursday, August 30. The challenge problem that was distributed on Monday, August 20 is due on Monday, August 27.

Advanced Algebra - Mr. Lanfear

Next week we will be completing Chapter 9 by having a day of review on Tuesday and the Chapter 9 test on Wednesday.  We will then begin Chapter 10 by learning how to graph quadratic functions and parabolas (10.1).

Geometry - Mr. Lanfear

Next week we will be starting Chapter 2, which is where we start learning how logic and proofs.  But first, we will learn about inductive reasoning (2.1), conditional statements (2.2), the logic laws of detachment and syllogism (2.3), and truth tables (2.3).  There will be a quiz on Friday covering sections 2.1-2.3.

Physical Science - Ms. Hoffman

Our 8th graders have been getting back into the swing of school and doing a great job.  We have finished our focus on lab equipment, safety and the components of a science experiment.  They participated in saving Wendell the Worm, an engineering process lab that utilized teamwork and ingenuity. (See the pictures below for your students in action and ask them for the details of the lab.)  The fastest teams to solve the problem and save Wendell by putting on his gummi life preserver were Meg and Megan for period 3 and E.B. and Hannah K. for period 4.  We also received our new science books and workbooks. Students are allowed to write in the softcover workbooks for specific assignments and other study options. Finally, we began our discussion of the the four states of matter and their properties.  Next week we will continue this and add information about elements, compounds and mixtures. Our August Science in Comics assignment is due Friday, August 3st.

 

English Language Arts - Mrs. Boyer

In the upcoming week, the students will be assessed on Fahrenheit 451 on Tuesday, August 28th. They have an abundance of notes and resources to be studying from.

We will be reviewing parts of speech, discussing Indirect and Direct Objects, and studying our final units of vocabulary in the Greek and Latin Roots workbook.

We will also be begin the discussion centering around our first unit of study, Identity and Power. This discussion will lead us to our second unit on Justice and Equality, and we will begin reading To Kill a Mockingbird.

History & Gov’t II - Mrs. English

We had a great week learning about the Civil War! We will continue our study in Chapter 15. 1-3. We will have a quiz over Chapter 15.1-3 on Thursday, August 30th. We will also have the first half of our Civil War food days on Friday August 31st. If your child has any specific allergies or dietary restrictions please let me know. We will also continue to work through our middle school geography challenge.

Spanish - Ms. Hughes

Next week in Spanish class the 8th grade will continue to work with the grammar and vocabulary from Chapter 1A. Students will become familiar with affirmative and negative words  through various speaking and writing activities. They will also create and present their vision of the perfect school. The grammar quiz is Wednesday, August 29th and will cover stem-changing verbs and affirmative/negative words.

7TH GRADE ASSIGNMENTS

Algebra 1 - Mrs. Reardon

Next week in Algebra, we will continue in Chapter 1 with the problem solving plan, representing functions as rules and tables, and graphing functions.  Students should expect their Chapter 1 test on Friday, August 31. We will review in depth for the test on Thursday, August 30. The challenge problem that was distributed on Monday, August 20 is due on Monday, August 27.

Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear

Next week we will be completing Chapter 1 by learning about the coordinate plane (1.8), having a day of review on Tuesday, and then the Chapter 1 test on Wednesday.  We will then begin Chapter 2 by learning about the commutative, associative, and identity properties of addition and multiplication (2.1). We will also begin exploring the distributive property (2.2).

History & Gov’t I - Mrs. English

This week in American History and Gov’t I we will continue our study of European societies that eventually explored the new world. Readings and homework will cover Chapter 1.4 and 2.1. Wednesday we will review for our Chapter 1 test on Thursday, August 30th. We will also continue to work through our middle school geography challenge.

Spanish - Ms. Hughes

Next week in Spanish class the 7th grade will continue to work with the grammar and vocabulary from Chapter 5B. Students will become familiar with the verbs venir and traer through various speaking and writing activities. They will also describe their favorite restaurant and menu items. The grammar quiz is Wednesday, August 29th and will cover the difference between the verbs ser and estar.

ELA - Mrs. Boyer

Next week we will be engaging in mock(pre)-book club activities regarding Inside Out and Back Again. Students will also be editing their summer reading analytical essays. Both of these activities will prepare the students for our first Book Club meeting regarding The Hobbit, which we will start on Thursday, August 30st. Students will be creating their own reading schedule in their assigned book clubs. Students will have completed the novel by September, 28th.

• Why a Book Club?
• Foster’s Student Choice
• Independent Critical Thinking
• Group Discussion
• Writing Skills

What is a Book Club? How will my child be learning?

• Students will have Book Club Journals. (Show example)
• Students will have group discussions every week, including whole class discussions that are teacher led.
• Students will have a class activity with each Book Club meeting day that will count for a CW grade.
• Students will be in charge of creating their own reading schedule based upon an end date supplied by the teacher.  
• Students will have response forms for homework during their reading time. Their homework will either be to read & respond, or complete a reading activity.

Mrs. Boyer’s End Goals for 7th Grade (by using Book Clubs):

This class is tailored to all types of student learning styles.

Students enjoy reading and have at least one author that they are excited about.

There is a clear difference between the student’s writing when they entered 7th grade to when they ended 7th grade.

Students can argue both sides of an opinion by using textual evidence and supporting their claim(s).

Life Science - Ms. Hoffman

It has been great seeing all of my former 6th graders settling into their new grade and classes.  We have had a great start of the school year! We have finished reviewing lab safety and equipment and the components of the scientific method.  Students participated in a Gummi Bear lab to help them learn about all this information, including variables.  (See our pictures below and please let your students go over with you any of our labs/ activities and other discussions we have in class.)  We also received our new science textbooks and workbooks. Students are allowed to write in the softcover workbooks for specific assignments and other types of review.  Finally, we learned about the parts of a microscope and its’ correct use with a second lab. Next week we will start our discussion on classification and the six kingdoms of life.  Our August Science in Comics is due Friday, August 31st.

  

  

6TH GRADE ASSIGNMENTS

Accelerated Math 7 - Mrs. Reardon

Next week in Accelerated Math 7, we will continue in Chapter 1 by taking a closer look at order of operations, equations and mental math, as well as perimeter and area.  We will do a fun activity in the middle school hallway involving perimeter and area on Wednesday. On Friday (8/31), students will take a chapter quiz over sections 1.4-1.6.  We will review for this quiz in class on Thursday, August 30. The challenge problem that was distributed on Monday, August 20 is due on Monday, August 27.

Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear

Next week we will be completing Chapter 1 by learning about the coordinate plane (1.8), having a day of review on Tuesday, and then the Chapter 1 test on Wednesday.  We will then begin Chapter 2 by learning about the commutative, associative, and identity properties of addition and multiplication (2.1). We will also begin exploring the distributive property (2.2).

ELA - Mrs. Guggenheim

Literature - Finish practicing annotation and begin short story unit. There will be a quiz on short story literary terms on 9/14

Grammar - Work on proofreading skills - Capitalization, Periods, Questions Marks, and Commas

Vocabulary - Greek/Latin root words List 2 + 7 SAT words. Students will complete Exercises A-D for homework and will practice writing sentences with the 7 SAT words. They will need to know the parts of speech for the 10 Greek/Latin words.The quiz is scheduled for Friday, August 31.

Writing - Continue to review paragraph format

Reading Log: Reading for the reading log begins for Trimester One has begun. As stated in the syllabus, all middle school students are required to read 360 minutes during the course of the trimester - reading that is outside of their regular assignments. They have a form on which to keep track of their minutes, and on Mondays in class I post their minutes in a spreadsheet. They need to obtain a parent signature to verify the minutes read. This counts as a project grade. The grading scale is written in the syllabus. This year students will be reading for 20 minutes on Wednesday during a silent reading time. This time counts for their reading log if they get their form signed by the proctor. Reading log minutes for 6th grade are due Friday, October 26th.

Earth Science - Mrs. Taylor

Please give your children a big shout out for making me feel so incredibly welcome. We just finished up Lab Safety (typically review), and began work on the Scientific Method. Application of the Scientific Method will be Tuesday, the 28th.

Ancient Civ -  Mr. O’Hayer

We had a productive time last week learning about ways  to be successful in A.C. We spent extra time learning note taking and outlining skills as well as test taking hints. We will continue to develop those skills but will also pick up the pace a bit as we move on to Lesson 2- Early Modern Humans. Students will focus on the following 2 lesson objectives- 1) Describe how early humans found food and water and 2) Describe how early humans populated major regions of the world. Monday we will finish up Lesson 2 (that we started Friday) and begin Lesson 3 by visiting places like Africa, Asia, and Europe. Tuesday and Wednesday we will explore how and why Early Modern Humans moved and how they adapted to their environments. As we travel we will work on our map skills and locating regions/places our early human friends migrated to and link culture and history along the way. No lesson 3 quiz. We will spend time reviewing for our Ch.1 Test which will be Friday the 31st. Remember to always check GC for updates, notes, etc.

Spanish - Ms. Dubick

It’s been wonderful to have these kids in my class this week, many of whom I taught when they were in 4th grade!  They’re off to a great start and have been polite, attentive and eager to learn. We have begun the year with common classroom phrases and reviewing the alphabet.  They worked hard for their first quiz this week on classroom phrases, the alphabet and Asian Latinos, I’m very proud of them!

Their next quiz on Thursday August 30  will cover the gender and plurality of nouns and question words.  A test the following week will cover the subjects from both the quizzes.

I highly recommend that they use Quizlet to study for their vocab!  It’s a great, fun online resource to help them learn.

Art - Mrs. Cookson

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” - Pablo Picasso

Things are well underway in the art room.

8th: Will continue working on Graffiti Names

7th: Will enhance observation and drawing skills with a study of a geometric still life

6th: Will continue on Adjective, Adjective, Noun drawings