September 24th - September 28th

NOTES FROM MR. CRAWFORD

Go Gold Dress Down Day
We will be holding a "Go Gold" dress down day on Friday, September 28th to raise awareness for childhood cancers.  Donations are optional.

6th-8th Grade Coffee
The Middle School Parent Coffee will be held on Friday, September 28th from 8:30am to 9:30am in Hancock Hall.  Refreshments will be provided.

COMMUNITY SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

Each middle school student is required to complete ten hours of community service over the course of the school year.  Please remember to list hours worked on a daily basis, do not log total sum of hours worked over an extended period of time.  See below for a few upcoming service opportunities.

The Village Library on Skidaway Island welcomes middle school volunteers to help with their upcoming Fall Festival on Saturday, October 27th from 10am-2pm.  Volunteers will be helping with face and pumpkin painting. Interested students should contact Bill Flammer at cwflammer@comcast.net.

Wilmington Island Farmers Market is looking for student and adult volunteers to assist on Saturdays from 8:00am to 1:30pm September through December at Islands High School.  Volunteers may view more information and sign up for shifts on their website.

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.

GUIDANCE & CHARACTER EDUCATION

This week students met in small groups to either complete team building activities with Ms. Pedrick or begin to brainstorm SMART goals for the year.  Our eighth graders have also been reviewing the recommendation forms that high schools ask our faculty members to complete. By reflecting on the questions asked of our faculty, we hope that our eighth grade students will remember the importance of their continued focus, attention, and commitment to positive class participation throughout their eighth grade year.  Our virtue of the month is still 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, students will take their Chapter 2 test on Tuesday, September 25.  We will immediately jump right into Chapter 3 by solving one and two-step equations. On Friday, we will learn a hands-on way to solve these equations using tootsie rolls and skittles.  The challenge problem that was distributed on Monday, September 17 is due on Monday, September 24.

Advanced Algebra - Mr. Lanfear

Next week we will continue the second half of Chapter 10 by practicing more solving quadratic equations by completing the square (10.5).  There will be a quiz on completing the square on Friday.

Geometry - Mr. Lanfear

Next week we will continue Chapter 3 by learning how to prove lines are parallel using angle relationships in a transversal (3.3), review slopes and slope-intercept form of linear equations (3.4-3.5), and learn different theorems about perpendicular lines (3.6).  There will be a quiz on Thursday covering sections 3.1-3.5.

Physical Science - Ms. Hoffman

This week students researched, created and presented posters to the class on the important contributions that help formed our Modern Theory of the Atom.  They learned about famous scientists such as Dalton, Rutherford and Bohr and how, over time, they were pioneers to the Atomic Theory and shaped many of our ideas today, including some of its’ now-known particles, such as quarks and bosons.  (See the photos below.) We also reviewed the primary parts of an atom and Lewis electron dot diagrams. Next week we will continue our study of the atom with ions, isotopes and radioactive decay. We will have a quiz on Thursday, 9/27 and our September Science in Comics is due Friday, 9/28.

English Language Arts - Mrs. Boyer

Literature: Students have started reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. The reading schedule has been posted in GC and handed out to students. Students will be engaging in discussion on identity, social issues, characterization, setting, etc. There will be a quiz on Ch. 1-8 on Wednesday 9/26. We will begin by studying the background information and focusing on the characters themselves. I have given out index cards for students to keep in their novels in regards to notes on characters. There will be a multitude of study materials and students may come in at any time to discuss the novel.

Grammar & Vocab: Students will be working on Unit 8 Ex. and the quiz is TBA.

All quizzes and tests have been posted on the To Kill a Mockingbird reading schedule. Therefore, all tests and quizzes for the novel have been scheduled until the end of the Trimester!

History & Gov’t II - Mrs. English

We will start the week off with a field trip downtown to experience a fantastic walking tour with the Massie Center. Then we will continue our discussion of Reconstruction Era and the New South. Readings and homework will come from Chapter 16.1-2. How will the reunited country deal with the social, economic, physical, and political problems left from the Civil War? Students will also dive into how the legislative branch makes a bill into a law. Students will also receive an open note take home quiz at the end of the week.

Spanish - Ms. Hughes

Next week in Spanish the 8th grade will continue to work with the vocabulary and grammar from Chapter 1B. Students will be asking and giving opinions concerning popular activities and review superlatives with comparisons of inequality. The grammar quiz will be Wednesday, September 26th.

7TH GRADE ASSIGNMENTS

Algebra 1 - Mrs. Reardon

Next week in Algebra, students will take their Chapter 2 test on Tuesday, September 25.  We will immediately jump right into Chapter 3 by solving one and two-step equations. On Friday, we will learn a hands-on way to solve these equations using tootsie rolls and skittles.  The challenge problem that was distributed on Monday, September 17 is due on Monday, September 24.

Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear

Next week we will have our Chapter 2 test on Monday and then begin Chapter 3.  We will learn how to solve two-step equations (3.1) as well as how to solve multi-step equations (3.2).  There will be a Math Facts Quiz on Wednesday.

History & Gov’t I - Mrs. English

This week in American history students will begin their Explorer Projects! We will spend the entire week researching and creating materials for their project that they will present on Friday, September 28th. Students will have all week to work on their project in class and it will be their only homework in my class. Please note that students will need a trifold/tryptic (any size/any color) for their project.

Spanish - Ms. Hughes

Next week in Spanish class the 7th grade will continue to work with the vocabulary from Chapter 6A. Students will practice forming sentences using comparisons of inequality and superlatives.They will also present designing the ideal bedroom using the grammar and vocabulary from Chapter 6A. The grammar quiz will be Tuesday, September 25th.

ELA - Mrs. Boyer

Students will be completing The Hobbit on September 28th. Journal Entries are still due next week. Journal Entries will be due each Wednesday, and they will be returned the following day. Journal entries are a time for the students to reflect and question their reading. Students should be writing for a full five minutes, and they must follow the instructions on Google Classroom or points will be deducted. Students also may come in at 7:45 am and read/work on these entries at any point in the year. We will be discussing Indirect and Direct Characterization and starting a larger conversation about Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey. This discussion will be the base for their Hobbit novel project.

Vocabulary and Grammar lessons will begin this week. Students will be completing Unit 2 Vocab Ex. The Unit 2 Vocab Quiz is TBA. In regards to grammar, we are still working on adjective phrases, adverb phrases and prepositional phrases and there will be a quiz on 9/26. Students have powerpoints and worksheets to review as study material.

Life Science - Ms. Hoffman

Students have been continuing to learn about plant and animal cells, including all of its organelles. Overall, they did a wonderful job completing their lab reports and writing very detailed conclusions. We have also started discussing the three types of cell transport:  diffusion, osmosis and active transport. Students received their rubric for our Cell Storybook Project, which is due Tuesday, October 2nd. We will have a progress check on Monday, 9/24.  Students should have approximately ½ of their project completed. For example, they have all of the story and information written and need to add pictures to their Google Slides or written book.  *Please note all of the details are on the rubric sent home on Tuesday, 9/18 and posted on Google Classroom. Next week our assessments are a quiz on Monday, 9/24 (cells, cell theory and organelles) and a test on Friday, 9/28 (also including cell transport.)  We also have our September Science in Comics due Friday, 9/28.

6TH GRADE ASSIGNMENTS

Accelerated Math 7 - Mrs. Reardon

Next week in Accelerated Math 7, students will take their Chapter 2 test on Tuesday, September 25.  We will immediately jump right into Chapter 3 by learning mean, median, and mode, as well as creating bar graphs and line graphs.  On Friday, we will use the chromebooks and Google Sheets to practice creating bar and line graphs. The challenge problem that was distributed on Monday, September 17 is due on Monday, September 24.

Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear

Next week we will have our Chapter 2 test on Monday and then begin Chapter 3.  We will learn how to solve two-step equations (3.1) as well as how to solve multi-step equations (3.2).  There will be a Math Facts Quiz on Wednesday.

ELA - Mrs. Guggenheim

Literature - Continue short story unit - the quiz over short story concepts is 9/24 (note change) We will be reading and annotating short stories as well as completing open book reading comprehension quizzes in class.

Grammar - Work on proofreading skills - Parts of Speech, Sentence Fragments, and Subject/Verb Agreement

Vocabulary - Greek/Latin root words List 4 + 7 SAT words will be handed out mid-week. Students will complete Exercises A-D for homework and should practice writing sentences with the 7 SAT words. They will need to know the parts of speech for the 10 Greek/Latin words. Quiz 9/27.

Writing - Continue to practice 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

Students just finished up Matter and Heat Energy/Transfer. We will begin a new Unit Friday or Monday covering the Earth’s atmosphere. This unit will tie in with Matter and Heat Transfer. Booklets they made for Heat Transfer were due 9/21. If it was late, it is 10 points a day off.

Ancient Civ -  Mr. O’Hayer

We will finish up Lesson 1 -The Land Between Two Rivers on Monday. We will continue to focus on our Map Skills/Development. We will tackle Lesson 2- Independent Sumerian City-States and Lesson 3- Mesopotamian Achievements Tuesday- Thursday with a Quiz on those two lessons on Friday. We will focus our understanding of these lessons by completing the Reading Check and Short Answer Review questions. There are 5 Lessons in this Chapter. Our Test will cover Lessons 2-5. We will have our Chapter test the end of the last week of September.

Spanish - Ms. Dubick

We will have a quiz on Personal pronouns and Hispanic history in the western United States on Monday.  They may have their history notes open for this quiz, so it will be an excellent measure of their note taking skills.

After that, we’ll jump into Greetings and Goodbye’s!

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 - Week of September 24th

“The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.” - Francis Bacon

Building onto skills.

8th: Back to color blending for Graffiti Names

7th: Gesture drawing - the adult form in motion

6th: How to wash a brush and watercolor demo