April 22nd - April 26th

APRIL PARENT.EDU
This month’s Parent.Edu will be on Monday, April 29th at 8:30am in Hancock Hall.  The conversation will be a follow-up from March’s Parent.Edu re: SMOKING, VAPING AND JUULING with the Georgia Department of Public Health.  

8TH GRADE GRADUATION INFORMATION PACKET
On Monday, April 8th, the 8th grade students received their graduation packets, which included 10 invitations and documents with important dates/details.  CLICK HERE for the information.

NEW RECESS OPPORTUNITIES!

Reminder that we have moved the Wednesday lunch recess periods into the Bell Gymnasium. Everyone needs to wear a pair of shoes suited for athletic activity (your gym shoes!). Those without proper shoes will have quiet activities in the bleachers.

ATHLETIC INTEREST 2019-2020
Parents:  Please help us plan for the future by completing the 2019-2020 Athletic Interest Survey Form.  To accurately predict our Athletic needs for 2019-20, we need responses from all parents of prospective student-athletes in grades 5th-8th.

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. Click HERE for a log form.

The Old Savannah City Mission needs volunteers for various positions.  The mission provides food, shelter, and clothing to the homeless.  For more information, contact Connell Stiles at 912-232-1979 or stiles@oscm.org.

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

This month we are exploring confidence as our virtue of the month. Lunch Bunches will continue with the 6th and 7th grades with the groups listed on the door to Hancock Hall. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact Ms. Pedrick at apedrick@hancockdayschool.org

Algebra 1 - Mrs. Reardon

Next week, we begin in Chapter 9 by adding and subtracting polynomials as well as multiplying polynomials. The challenge problem that students received on Monday, April 15 is due on Tuesday, April 23.

Advanced Algebra - Mr. Lanfear

Next week, we will continue our Algebra 1 review by learning how to solve systems of equations using various methods such as by graphing, substitution, and elimination.

Geometry - Mr. Lanfear

Next week, we will continue Chapter 12 by exploring solids and discovering the formulas to find the surface area of prisms and cylinders (12.2) as well as pyramids and cones (12.3).

Physical Science - Ms. Hoffman

This week we finished up our unit on the Electromagnetic Spectrum, light, color, the eye, and mirrors/ lenses with a quiz and unit test. The students also participated in a lab and compared convex and concave lens, observed how images are reflected in a mirror, measured salinity with a refractometer and used a spectroscope to look at light refraction.  (See our photos below.) Our next unit of study will be electricity, which we will begin after the Easter holidays. The last Science in Comics for the year will be due Tuesday, 4/30 and students may complete up to two extra ones for additional homework credit. We will also have a quiz on electricity on Thursday, 5/2 and then begin magnetism.

English Language Arts - Mrs. Boyer
Literature: Students have completed their Yom HaShoah Art/Writing Projects and they are about to complete their reading of Night . We are having discussions that combine their reading to their real world knowledge (personal & cultural connections). There will be pop quizzes throughout this novel.

ELA Unit Project: Students will be engaging in a six week project where they will be competing in the Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance) Writing and Art Contest which is sponsored by the Jewish Educational Alliance of Savannah. Rubrics and Due Dates were handed out on 3/25. Students have handed in their projects, and are now focusing on their formal reports and presentations. Students should continue focusing on the journal entries for the next few weeks until the next deadline of 4/22-4/23 for the presentations and formal report. Students should have seven-nine journal entries from class time alone (so far). Students will be focusing on this project throughout T3.

Assessments: Most assessments will come from the project for T3. There will be a test in the second week of May. (These announced assessments will be over Night.). I will announce the date on Tuesday after the holiday weekend.

Reading Log: Students will have a choice between turning in a Reading Log (like T1) or a Reading Card (like T2). Either one will be due on 5/14/19. This is a project grade.

History & Gov’t II - Mrs. English

This week students will work on their World War II collaborative project and World War II research essays. The World War II research essays will be due on Tuesday, April 30th.

The origami birds are due May 6th (at the latest). A reminder that the collaborative project completion will be counted as a test grade. Lastly, looking ahead, our World War II/Veterans Night  will be May13th at 6pm. Students have an opportunity to earn bonus points by attending the event.

Spanish - Ms. Hughes

Next week in Spanish the 8th grade will continue working with the vocabulary and grammar from Chapter 5B. Students will work with the imperfect progressive tense and irregular preterite verbs to describe accidents that occurred in the past. The 5B quiz will be Friday, April 26th.

Algebra 1 - Mrs. Reardon

Next week, we begin in Chapter 9 by adding and subtracting polynomials as well as multiplying polynomials. The challenge problem that students received on Monday, April 15 is due on Tuesday, April 23.

Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear

Next week, we will continue Chapter 9 by learning how to simplify radical expressions that contain variables (9.2), using the Pythagorean Theorem to find missing side lengths of right triangles (9.2), and using the Converse of the Pythagorean Theorem to determine if a triangle is a right triangle or not given only its side lengths (9.3).  There will be a quiz on Friday covering sections 9.1-9.2.

History & Gov’t I - Mrs. English

This week we will start our study of Chapter 10. This chapter deals with Andrew Jackson and the Trail of Tears. Looking ahead, students will have a chapter 10 quiz on Friday, May 3rd. Also, I will introduce their summative assessment, which will be an interview and ancestry project. Be on the lookout for more details coming home. Looking forward to a great end of the year!

Spanish - Ms. Hughes

Next week in Spanish 7th grade will continue to work with the grammar and vocabulary from Chapter 9B. Students will also work with the verbs conocer and saber.Using all the new information from Chapter 9B, students will invent helpful products for popular fictional characters. The grammar quiz will be Wednesday, April 24th.

ELA - Mrs. Boyer
Literature: Students are engaged in the final theme for the year: Sportsmanship. Students are reading one of the following novels:

Tangerine by Edward Bloor

Ghost by Jason Reynolds

A Little Piece of Ground by Elizabeth Laird

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander

Writing: Students will engage in a research paper which will be covering the topic of sports medicine. This paper will correspond with their book club reading.

Grammar: For the remainder of T3 students will be reviewing parts of speech, the writing of dialogue, irregular verbs, citations, comma and semicolon usage, etc.

Vocabulary: CHANGE!! Students will be engaged in Unit 8, 9 & 10 over the next four weeks. There will be a test over Units 8, 9 & 10 on May 9th.

Reading Log: Students will have a choice between turning in a Reading Log (like T1) or a Reading Card (like T2). Either one will be due on 5/14/19. This is a project grade.

Life Science - Ms. Hoffman

We have finished all our study of the animal phyla and classes. Our unit test this week was on the five groups of vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals).   Our next unit of study will take us back to the body systems. We will begin with the skeletal system, which is chapter 14 in our textbook. The students will learn the functions of the skeleton, types and structure of the bones and joints found in our body, along with the name of over twenty of our bones.  We are excited to have a guest speaker on Thursday, 5/2 during our Eagle Op period. Thank you to Mrs. Walmsley, an Occupational Therapist with Optim for offering to help the students learn more about the importance of our skeletal system. The muscular system will continue our discussion about Structure and Movement and we will have a quiz on Friday, 5/3 over both systems.   Also, don’t forget the last Science in Comics for the year will be due Tuesday, 4/30 and students may complete up to two extra ones for additional homework credit.

Accelerated Math 7 - Mrs. Reardon

Next week, we will continue in Chapter 9 by converting percents to decimals and decimals to percents, as well as learning the percent equation. The challenge problem that students received on Monday, April 15 is due on Tuesday, April 23.

Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear

Next week, we will continue Chapter 9 by learning how to simplify radical expressions that contain variables (9.2), using the Pythagorean Theorem to find missing side lengths of right triangles (9.2), and using the Converse of the Pythagorean Theorem to determine if a triangle is a right triangle or not given only its side lengths (9.3).  There will be a quiz on Friday covering sections 9.1-9.2.

ELA - Mrs. Guggenheim

LITERATURE: Continue reading The Diary of Anne Frank (play version). There will be an open book quiz over Act 1 Scenes 1 and 2 either Wednesday or Friday.

VOCABULARY: List 11 Greek/Latin and 7 SAT words will be distributed. Quiz on 5/1. Students may write sentences with the 7 SAT words for up to 3 bonus points. They are due on 4/29.

GRAMMAR: We will work on editing and proofing sentences.

3RD TRIMESTER BOOK PROJECT

Students will be given a choice. They may choose to keep a Reading Log for 360 minutes as they did 1st trimester or create a card as they did 2nd trimester over one book. They must inform me by 2/22 of their choice, and that choice is final. They may not switch between the two midway through the trimester.

Earth Science - Mrs. Taylor

Students will complete any work they need to get caught up on. We will address any questions regarding all of the passages read on this unit. Wednesday-Friday, I am on the 5th grade field trip. Students who returned their movie permission slips will watch Red Planet. Those that did not will sit with another teacher and read. There is a quiz to follow the movie.

Ancient Civ -  Mr. O’Hayer

We will begin our journey to Rome with Ch. 13 The Roman Empire. First up is studying Rome from a Republic to an Empire. We will analyze the geographic, economic, social, and political structures during the Roman Empire. We will discuss the influence of Augustus on Rome’s transitions to an empire. We will have an assessment either Thursday or Friday- depending on the progress of the lesson.

Spanish - Ms. Dubick

The 6th graders are doing a great job using prepositions with estar. They will have a quiz on the 24th. They will then do a little project describing where their house is and how to get to it from school.

Art - Mrs. Cookson

“The holy grail is to spend less time making the picture than it takes people to look at it.” - Banksy

8th: Will finish up Pointillism

7th: No class due to Easter Monday holiday

6th: Will continue to work on Wet Felting