August 26th - August 30th

WHITE ZONE CARPOOL It is very important picking up your child in the afternoon that you DO NOT ARRIVE ON CAMPUS BEFORE 3:15. Arriving early blocks the flow of cars to the green and gold zone. We do not have the number of free parking spaces to handle early arrivals. Our students do not exit the building before 3:15 so you won’t be delayed. Following this timeline, we generally have everyone loaded by 3:25.

NOTE FROM THE NURSE
If your child is sick/absent please email their Homeroom teacher AND the nurse nurse@hancockdayschool.org

LUNCH - IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Fall lunch will be available for students Tuesday, September 3rd through Thursday, December 19th.  You may still register but there will be a $10 LATE FEE if entered after August 23rd. CLICK HERE to view lunch options.  CLICK HERE to register for lunch.

GOOGLE CLASSROOM
Parents may use student login information to view the middle school Google Classrooms and assignments for each class.  If you have any questions contact Tricia Guggenheim.

PARENTSWEB ACCOUNT
A ParentsWeb (FACTS, previously RenWeb) account gives you access to your child’s grades and schedule.  If you do not have a ParentsWeb account, please contact Melissa Gordon to get registered.

6TH GRADE TRIP - CAMP KANUGA

The 6th grade will be traveling to the Mountain Trail Outdoor School, Camp Kanuga, in Hendersonville, NC from August 27th to 29th.  The purpose of the trip is to build leadership skills and coalesse as a team. CLICK HERE for the daily schedule and paperwork that needs to be completed.  

MAKING THE TRANSITION TO MIDDLE SCHOOL

Click HERE if you were not able to make Mrs. Guggenheim’s information session, “A Parent’s Guide to Making the Transition” and would like a copy of the slide presentation.

ASSESSMENTS CALENDAR
We are very excited to introduce a new easy way for parents and students to look at upcoming assessments.  THIS LINK leads to a Google Sheet that will have the next 2 weeks of assessments.  The link below will lead to the 6th grade assessments, but by using the tabs in the lower left corner (shown below), you can navigate to 7th grade and 8th grade assessments, as well.

Different subjects will appear in different colors:

History is black, Science is green, ELA is blue, Spanish is red, and Math is pink.

Please bear in mind that Middle School Assessments may be added, removed, or changed at any time.  This Sheet will always be up to date, however - once a teacher assigns or adjusts an assessment, this Sheet will reflect that change.

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.

** NEW ** HDS Extended Day Care needs volunteers to help out after school.  We are currently limiting this opportunity to 8th graders, with a possibility of opening it up to 6th and 7th graders later on.  If a student is interested in earning some community service hours they will need to sign up a week in advance using THIS LINK.  Please contact Mrs. Mannarino with any questions.

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.

My name is Allison Maher and I am excited to be joining the Hancock Team as the School Counselor!  While this is my first year at Hancock, I have 15+ years experience as a social worker and counselor working with children and families.

Our Virtue of the Month for August and September is Commitment and we will be assisting the students with building skills and habits that will help them stick to their responsibilities and reach their goals! 

If you need to contact me, email is best.  I can be reached at: amaher@hancockdayschool.org

Algebra 1 - Mr. Cargile

Next week in Algebra 1 we will continue working on Chapter 1 concepts, including writing expressions, equations and inequalities, and we will also work on problem solving strategies and skills. We will have our Chapter 1 test during the week of September 3-6.

Geometry - Mr. Lanfear

Next week in Geometry, we will begin Chapter 2, which is all about reasoning and proof.  We will learn about inductive reasoning (2.1), conditional statements and the inverse, converse, and contrapositive (2.2), biconditional statements (2.2), and the laws of detachment and syllogism (2.3).  There will be a quiz on 2.1-2.3 on Friday.

Advanced Algebra - Mr. Lanfear

Next week in Advanced Algebra, we will complete Chapter 9 by having a day of review on Monday and the Chapter 9 test on Tuesday.  We will then begin Chapter 10 by learning how to graph quadratic functions (10.1) and algebraically find the vertex and axis of symmetry of a parabola (10.2).

Physical Science - Ms. Hoffman - Week of August 26th

See below for some photos of the 8th graders learning about the Science Engineering Process, as they participated last week in a fun activity to help “save” Wendell the Worm.  They worked with a partner to determine the steps necessary to place the “gummy” life preserver onto Wendall the “gummy” Worm, while only using paperclips (no hands).  And, earlier this week the students designed their own science fair project experiment using tennis, golf, and/or baseballs and either meter sticks, timers and/or ramps to determine one type of measurement, such as the height of bounce, the number of bounces or the speed down the ramp/ hallway.  The groups then switched their lab experiment with another group to complete and include suggestions focusing on the details included in the materials and procedure sections. (See photos below.) . We also began our study of Chemistry with information on chemical and physical properties, a review of changes in the states of matter and how matter is classified.  Next Monday 8/26, a detailed packet on the 8th grade Science Fair Project with all the progress due dates will be reviewed and be sent home with students. (This project will include multiple homework progress dates and the completed project will be due in December.)  We will look at sample projects and will discuss choosing a science fair topic. This topic will count as the first homework grade for the project and will be due at the end of the day, Friday, 8/30 after the students spend time in class researching topics, talking with me and finalizing their choices. All due date information will posted on Google Classroom and posted on the Blog.  A quick reminder that our first Science Choice Board assignment is also due on Friday, 8/30.

                              

English Language Arts - Mrs. Boyer

This week students will be engaged in a multitude of cooperative learning activities. Students should be rereading/reviewing Fahrenheit 451 in order to best interact with their peers and their teacher during class. In order to succeed in ELA during their 8th grade year, it is imperative that students are constantly reading and reviewing their novels. 

This week we will be engaging in a Socratic Seminar! 

Students will be taking a QUIZ on Fahrenheit 451 on September 5th, 2019. 

We will also be engaging with Vocabulary Units 11 & 12 for the next few weeks. Students will take a quiz over these units on September 17th. 

History & Gov’t II - Mrs. Robinson

Next week in American History & Government Part II we will continue our study on the Civil War. This week we concluded the events leading up to the war and next week we will move full steam ahead with examining the war itself. We will focus on key battles, what life was like in the war, and how each side felt about the war. We will have our first quiz next week on Wednesday the 28th covering the key terms from the unit so far. The list of key terms can be found on our google classroom page, under Classwork, Unit One, Key Terms. Next week we will also do our Civil War food activity on Friday the 30th. Students will research and make a dish common to Civil War times and bring it in for people to taste - details will come out early next week.

Spanish - Ms. Hill

VERBS!!! 8th grade will be reviewing present tense regular and irregular verbs, stem changing verbs, and the uses of SER and ESTAR. Review verb charts and helpful resources for conjugation will be posted on Google Classroom over the weekend. 

Verb chart quiz on Thursday, August 29th.

Algebra 1 - Mr. Cargile

Next week in Algebra 1 we will continue working on Chapter 1 concepts, including writing expressions, equations and inequalities, and we will also work on problem solving strategies and skills. We will have our Chapter 1 test during the week of September 3-6.

Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear

Next week in Pre-Algebra, we will complete Chapter 1 by learning about the coordinate plane and how to plot points and identify quadrants (1.8).  We will have a day of review on Tuesday and 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).

History & Gov’t I - Mrs. Robinson

This week in American History & Government Part I we will be finishing up Chapter 1 by covering the importance of trade as well as European influences on the development of America. We will have our first quiz next week on Wednesday the 28th covering the key terms from the unit so far. The list of key terms can be found on our google classroom page, under Classwork, Unit One, Key Terms. We will then have our Unit One test on Wednesday September 4th.

Spanish - Ms. Hill

7th grade Spanish will be reviewing Present tense -AR, -ER, and -IR verbs like Hablar, Comer, and Compartir.  We will discuss some common irregular verbs and verb phrases as well. Sample verb charts will be posted on Google Classroom over the weekend as well as some helpful resources for conjugations. 

Present tense verb chart quiz on Thursday, 8/29

ELA - Mrs. Boyer

Writing: Students will be practicing the writing process as they engage in writing a personal narrative. They will have a mini-quiz over their writing process notes on 8/27. 

Vocabulary: Students will review Unit 1 in their Greek and Latin roots workbook.  Their quiz will be on 9/5. 

Life Science - Mrs. DuRant

Next week in Life Science, we will have a quiz on Microscopes on Tuesday, August 27. The next Science in the News monthly writing assignment is due Friday, August 30.  For this assignment, students can select their own current event pertaining to the dynamic world of science. They did a great job on their initial Science in the News assignment and I enjoyed reading their essays about the whales that beached themselves on St. Simons Island this summer.  This topic opened a lot of classroom discussion and it was great to hear their thoughts and questions regarding this phenomenon. Now that we have reviewed the Scientific Method, Lab Safety and proper use of microscopes we are ready to shift our focus for this week to Chapter 1 as we begin to explore Classification of Organisms.  

Accelerated Math 7 - Mr. Cargile

Next week in Accelerated Math 7 we will continue to practice evaluating problems using the order of operations, and we will learn the distance, rate, time formula. From Tuesday through Thursday we will be in North Carolina at Kanuga for our team building trip.

Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear

Next week in Pre-Algebra, we will learn about the coordinate plane and how to plot points and identify quadrants (1.8).  We will have a day of review on Friday to prepare for the Chapter 1 test the following week.

ELA - Mrs. Sasser

Students will have a quiz on Monday over proofreading marks and our writing format SRES. Tuesday through Thursday, we’ll be bonding as a grade level in North Carolina at Kanuga. When we return to our classroom setting on Friday, students will reflect on their time at Kanuga by writing an SRES paragraph about their experience. The following week, we’ll begin learning about and implementing reading strategies to help them become more critical readers. 

Earth Science - Mrs. Hoffman

This week in 6th grade we finished up learning about measurement and the students participated in a density lab.  (See the photos below.) We also began our study of the four states of matter and how they can change phases (or states).  We will continue this discussion next week and our unit test will be on Friday, 9/6. Also, next week we will enjoy team building and lots of examples of science (Remember, science is EVERYWHERE.) during our field trip to Kanuga on August 27 - 29.  Lastly, our Science in Comics assignment due date was moved to Tuesday, 9/3, which is the day after the Labor Day holiday.

Earth Science - Mrs. DuRant

Students will be at Camp Kanuga from Tuesday-Thursday so we will pack a lot into Monday and Friday. This week we will be focusing on States of Matter and how matter can change states/phases.This will provide them with the info they need to understand further concepts in Earth Science. Please note...because of the Kanuga trip, the next Science in Comics monthly writing assignment is due on September 3.

Ancient Civ -  Mr. O’Hayer

We have a short week at school with Camp Kanuga Tuesday-Thursday. We will introduce Chapter 2: Early Farmers and City Dwellers. We will study the physical and cultural development of early farmers and city dwellers. In Lesson 1- Producing Food- we will discover how early people changed their environment through farming and raising animals. Another new component to AC will be introduced: Reflection Writing. Students will be given short historical quotes that they will explain and then write a reflection response. No assessments will be given this week. 

Spanish - Mr. Alexander

We’ve had a fun week learning some new vocabulary and all about the eight articles in Spanish.  During the week of the 26th, we will be learning some new vocabulary (which will be posted on Friday the 23rd to allow some study time over the weekend) and some new grammar concepts including the pronouns and an introduction to verbs.

SPECIALS

Art - Mrs. Cookson 

“Colour is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.” - Claude Monet

8th: Will continue working on Color Wheel Graffiti

7th: Will take a pause in the Geometric Still Life as I will be out. They instead will work on the 50 objects drawing with a substitute

6th: Will continue finish up sketches on Adjective, Adjective Noun drawings