October 29th - November 2nd

NOTES FROM MR. CRAWFORD

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MIDDLE SCHOOL EXAMS - MONDAY 10/29 & TUESDAY 10/30
Next week we will continue preparing for our first trimester exams in some classes and completing a trimester capstone activity in other classes.

T1	SUBJECT	6th	7th	8th
	MATH	Activity	Exam	Exam
	SCIENCE	Exam	Activity	Exam
	SPANISH	Activity	Exam	Exam
	HISTORY	Exam	Exam	Activity
	ELA	Exam	Exam	Activity

Exams are early in the week to accommodate Halloween being on Wednesday.  Please support your child by ensuring they prepare throughout the week and do not cram the night before exams.  8th grade students should not shadow high schools on exam days. Have a good breakfast on exam days, come to school well rested and a little early to help settle in to the day’s routine.  

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR ATHLETES!
The fall sports season is winding down and all of our teams have experienced success.  Our students are an exciting group to watch!  SPECIAL CONGRATULATIONS to the football team and the 6th grade volleyball team!  The football team defeated Savannah Christian last night and is moving onto the semi-finals next Thursday.  They will play Country Day at Country Day at 7:00. The volleyball team defeated St. Peters and will be playing for the CHAMPIONSHIP against Blessed Sacrament on Monday.  The game is at 6:00 at St. Andrew’s School.

AFTER SCHOOL ART CLUB:

Ms. Dubick will be running a Middle School Art Club after school next term on Mondays from 3:15-4:30.  We will do projects and use materials that are not covered in art class, like alcohol inks and ceramic flower pots.  The cost is $150 for the term.   There is a 5 student minimum for the class to run. 12 students max.  Snack provided.  Please contact Ms. Dubick at cdubick@hancockdayschool.org for more info and signups.

HIGH SCHOOL ADMISSIONS EXPLAINED!
Information about the high school admissions process can be found  HERE.

8TH GRADE YEARBOOK AD!
Click here for information regarding ordering an 8th grade ad in the yearbook.  Last day to order these will be November 6, 2018.

DC TRIP DEPOSITS DUE!
DC DEPOSIT OF $250 WAS DUE FRIDAY, 10/12!  On September 25 we had an informational session about the upcoming 8th grade trip to Washington.  Trip details and forms can be found HERE.  

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.

PACK, a local nonprofit that delivers weekly bags of food to children at risk of experiencing hunger, seeks volunteers to help pack bags on the first Sunday of each month.  Upcoming dates are November 4th, December 2nd, and January 6th. More information can be found here.

America’s Second Harvest needs volunteers to help prepare monthly bags of food for senior citizens in our community.  Upcoming packing dates are November 17th, and December 15th. Volunteers should arrive by 7:45 and must wear closed-toe shoes.  Contact Bryce Seuntjens at bryce@helpendhunger.org for more information.

GUIDANCE & CHARACTER EDUCATION

This month we are exploring cooperation as our virtue of the month. 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 1st trimester exam on Tuesday (10/30) at 10:30 am.  On Wednesday, we will pick back up in lesson 3.7 by solving percent problems. On Thursday, we will work more together on 3.7 and then students will have a brief quiz over solving percent problems on Friday, November 2.

Advanced Algebra - Mr. Lanfear

Next week students will take their T1 exam on Tuesday, 10/30, at 10:30am.  We will then continue Chapter 11.3-11.5 by learning how to rationalize denominators (11.2).

Geometry - Mr. Lanfear

Next week students will take their T1 exam on Tuesday, 10/30, at 10:30am.  We will then complete Chapter 4 by learning about transformations such as translations, reflections, and rotations (4.8).  There will be a day of review on Thursday and the Chapter 4 test on Friday.

Physical Science - Ms. Hoffman

Our 8th graders participated in a chemical reaction lab last Friday 10/19.  In it they tested the reaction of four household products (Epson salts, baking soda, Laundry detergent and Borax) with water and determined which were endothermic (heat absorbed) and which were exothermic (heat released). This week, I also showed them a demonstration called “Old Foamy” or “Elephant’s Toothpaste” to demonstrate an exothermic reaction and introduce catalysts, which we will discuss next week. To help study for our exam students used manipulatives to demonstrate ionic and covalent bonding and received an outline of study topics for our exam on Monday, 10/29.  (please see photos below on all of these activities) Don’t forget that our October Science in Comics is due next week, on Wednesday, 10/31. Next week, after exams, we will also begin learning about chemical reactions and balancing chemical equations and participating in a mini-lab.

                            “Elephant’s Toothpaste” Demonstration

English Language Arts - Mrs. Boyer

Literature: Students will be completing their summative assessment on To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. We will be diving in to our Unit on The Power of One Voice. Students will be reading short stories regarding education, standing up for one’s beliefs, important historical events, and I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai.

Writing: Students will be writing a persuasive speech and completing a project that centers around the power of one voice on a nation.

Assessments: Because I am Malala is an autobiography, the assessment will be based on the ideas surrounding her story, the short stories read, and the discussions had in class.

Vocab: Students will be working on Unit 9 Ex. The date for the Unit 9 Vocab Quiz is 11/5.

History & Gov’t II - Mrs. English

This week in American History we will present our findings from our Gilded Age research summative assessment. Students researched various topics from the Gilded Age including Andrew Carnegie, the Vanderbilt family, the World’s Fair, the Great Chicago Fire, the circus, and the Gibson girls. Moving forward, we will study chapter 18.2-3 to complete our study of the second industrial boom in America.

Spanish - Ms. Hughes

Next week the 8th grade will have their trimester exam on Tuesday, October 30th. This exam will cover all of the grammar and vocabulary from the first trimester. Several reviews have been posted on Google Classroom and students received a review packet outlining the material that will be on the exam. We will begin Chapter 3A on Wednesday. In this chapter students will talk about schedules, running errands, and places in the community. We will review direct object pronouns and learn some more irregular verbs in the preterite. The vocabulary quiz will be Wednesday, November 7th.

7TH GRADE ASSIGNMENTS

Algebra 1 - Mrs. Reardon

Next week in Algebra, students will take their 1st trimester exam on Monday (10/29) at 8:30 am.  On Wednesday, we will pick back up in lesson 3.7 by solving percent problems. On Thursday, we will work more together on 3.7 and then students will have a brief quiz over solving percent problems on Friday, November 2.

Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear

Next week students will take their T1 exam on Monday, 10/29, at 8:30am.  We will then continue Chapter 4 by learning how to find the GCF of monomials (4.2), making equivalent fractions (4.3), and finding the least common multiple (LCM) of numbers (4.4).

History & Gov’t I - Mrs. English

This week in American History we will take our T1 exam on Tuesday. Student should study their notes, topic guides, and previous tests and quizzes. Moving forward we will start reading and discussing the Atlantic Slave trade in Chapter 4.1

Spanish - Ms. Hughes

Next week the 7th grade will have their trimester exam on Monday, October 29th. This exam will cover all of the grammar and vocabulary from the first trimester. Several reviews have been posted on Google Classroom and student received a packet outlining the material that will be on the exam. We will begin Chapter 7A on Wednesday. In this chapter we will talk about shopping, clothes, and making purchases. Students will learn how to indicate specific items through the use of demonstrative adjectives, and how to express preferences. The vocabulary quiz will be Thursday, November 8th.

ELA - Mrs. Boyer

Students have started reading their novels for the Dystopian Universe (The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, Lord of the Flies, and Gathering Blue). Students will be working in groups on activities regarding theme, point of view, characterization, vocabulary, writing, etc. Because the students are reading a variety of novels, the quizzes and tests will be formatted in a different manner.

Literature: Students will be creating Body Bios of main characters in their novels. Students will also be creating Theme Flyers for their novels; these flyers will be hung around the middle school. As we get further into the novels, students will be creating  presentations regarding the themes of their novels.

Grammar: Gerund/Participles/Infinitives & Prepositional Phrases, Direct Objects & Indirect Objects. Students have learned the basics of all of these skills; we are now going to break them down and students will see how they are used in everyday language.

Vocabulary: Unit 3, Quiz on November 7th

Life Science - Ms. Hoffman

We have had a busy week finishing up before middle school exams.  Last Friday, 10/19 the seventh graders completed an activity to simulate a common lab procedure called a CBC or complete blood count.  Using beans they saw and discussed differences in the parts of the blood (red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and blood plasma) between a healthy individual and one who is sick.  (See the photos below.) The students also completed a take-home test on the circulatory and lymphatic systems and worked on a project to create a short informative commercial promoting Healthy Heart Habits.  For this project, students researched common circulatory diseases (hypertension, atherosclerosis, heart attacks, strokes, heart failure) and/or conditions (anemia, sickle-cell, leukemia, hemophilia). This short film counts as our first trimester project and will be in lieu of an exam in science.  The students were very creative and enjoyed making their films. (see the photos below) I hope to enter a few of them in our Spring Film Festival next year. Next week, after exams, we will begin the immune system to learn about bacteria and viruses and all of our body’s defenses. Finally, don’t forget our October Science in Comic assignment is due on Wednesday, 10/31.

6TH GRADE ASSIGNMENTS

Accelerated Math 7 - Mrs. Reardon

Next week in Accelerated Math 7, students will present their exam activity in class on Monday (10/29) at 10:30.  On Wednesday, we will play a quick round of Halloween Math BINGO. On Thursday, we will pick right back up in Chapter 4 by learning about prime factorization.  On Friday, students will be creating their own factor trees from scratch.

Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear

Next week students will submit and present their T1 summative assessment on Monday, 10/29.  We will then continue Chapter 4 by learning how to find the GCF of monomials (4.2), making equivalent fractions (4.3), and finding the least common multiple (LCM) of numbers (4.4).

ELA - Mrs. Guggenheim

LITERATURE: After exams we will continue reading The Outsiders. The chapter summaries will be turned in 11/9 upon completing Chapter 12 for a project grade. The unit test is scheduled for 11/13.

GRAMMAR:

VOCABULARY: List 5 Greek/Latin + 7 SAT words will be given out 11/2. The quiz is scheduled for 11/8.

WRITING:

Reading Log: 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, Trimester 2, are due Friday, February 8th.

Earth Science - Mrs. Taylor

Study Guides have been given to the students for their exam (which is Tuesday). We reviewed for the exam as a group Thursday and Friday (today). Currently, students are working on a individual project on Severe Weather Events. They finished up their research and have begun to create a slogan for their project. The theme is cereal and they are covering cereal boxes and putting information on the boxes essentially selling their cereal. Ex: Tsunami Crunch. We will begin Chapter 13 next on weather and climate.

Ancient Civ -  Mr. O’Hayer

Exams begin Monday. Our Ancient Civ. Exam is Tuesday Morning. We spent all last week reviewing. After the exam we will begin our travels to Ancient Egypt (Ch. 4). We will spend the next two weeks exploring Egyptian culture, government, art, geography, architecture,  religion, and social structures that made ancient Egypt so influential to civilizations that followed.

Spanish - Ms. Dubick

The 6th graders researched hispanic holidays around the world for their second project this term-- ask them what they learned!

Spanish also has a project instead of an exam this term.  For their project, the 6th graders are creating their own exams with answer keys.  These are to be turned in during their activity period on Monday October 29th.

On November 1st the 6th grade will go on a field trip!

The rest of the week we will be learning about Day of the Dead traditions and festivities.

Art - Mrs. Cookson

"Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” - Edgar Degas

Good luck on exams. Looking forward to some creative brain breaks at the end of the trimester.

8th: Will finally have the opportunity to finish us Graffiti names.

7th: No class due to exams

6th: Brush washing lesson, watercolor demo and experimentation, and painting Collaborative, Imaginative drawings.