March 30th - April 3rd

DISTANCE LEARNING BEGINS!

Thank everyone in the HDS community for making a smooth transition to our new delivery model.  A special thanks to all of our families who have restructured their homes, their entire lives to accommodate their children’s education.  We are off to a strong start and the next week will start to see us settle into a routine.  

DISTANCE LEARNING ETIQUETTE

Good manners are a characteristic of our Hancock students. In the distance learning environment there are some special circumstances that need to be acknowledged.  Click HERE for our expectations of the principles of the Hancock Way.  

SPECIALS START MONDAY!

We will integrate art, physical education, and 6th grade seminar into the distance learning schedule beginning on Monday.  This was presented to the students during homeroom on Friday. Click HERE for explanation of the process.

ASSESSMENTS CALENDAR

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.

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

Dates are subject to change; teachers will keep the calendar updated.

While we participate in distance learning, be aware that your middle school student may begin to feel socially isolated, which in turn can affect their emotional health.  After all, many state that being with friends is one of the best parts of their school day.  

Assure your student that the current situation is temporary and consider allowing some creative ways for students to reach out to peers.  Social media, texting, and FaceTime may provide a way for students to stay connected. However, as always, parents should continue to monitor and provide limits to devices as too much can have a negative effect.     

I continue to be available for support or concerns by email at amaher@hancockdayschool.org.  If needed, I can provide video support to you or your student.  Please feel free to reach out!  

-Allison Maher, School Counselor

Algebra 1 - Mr. Cargile

It has been so nice to see the students in our Zoom classes this week! They have been doing such a great job of getting acclimated to the platform and adjusting to this dynamic change in their acquisition of knowledge. I am confident that this experience will make all of us more resilient, creative, and confident learners moving forward. Next week students will continue to learn about Exponents and Exponential Functions by learning to apply exponent  properties involving quotients.

Geometry - Mr. Lanfear

In this extraordinary and challenging time, the students have done a great job adapting to our new setup using Zoom.  It’s been great getting to see them again! Next week, we will explore the perimeters and areas of similar figures (11.3) and discover how to find the circumference and area of circles and sectors of circles (11.4-11.5).  Please stay safe and keep each other safe.

Advanced Algebra - Mr. Lanfear

In this extraordinary and challenging time, the students have done a great job adapting to our new setup using Zoom.  It’s been great getting to see them again! Next week, we will introduce and work on a project involving exponent rules.  Please stay safe and keep each other safe.

Physical Science - Ms. Hoffman

The students are doing really well adjusting to on-line virtual learning.  We are working out a few glitches and I am investigating ways to try and make this as interactive as possible.  We are also a little limited with only meeting twice per week. Some of our hands-on labs may have to be demonstrations or virtual labs and I am working on modifying my assessments to an on-line format as much as possible.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions and students are encouraged to use the instructional time from 11:15 - noon M/T/Th/F and 8am to noon on Wednesdays to ask questions, review and complete make up work with teachers.

This week students are continuing their study of sound focusing on resonance, the Doppler Effect, echolocation and sonic booms.  Students are also creating a wave/ sound booklet to be counted as a test grade and will have an on-line quiz on sound on Friday, 4/3/20.  The March Science Choice Board has been cancelled, although students can submit a Science on the Road from their Washington trip for an extra homework grade. The last Science Choice Board of the year will be due 4/30/20.  

I have included photos of our Musical Notes Lab from before the Washington D.C. trip where students identified different pitches of sound and how they can change.  Some students also had time to make musical instruments out of straws! Our next unit will be on the EM (electromagnetic) spectrum.

                 

English Language Arts - Mrs. Boyer

During these upcoming weeks, students will be reading and completing Night. We will be using our Zoom time to discuss the study guide questions (posted in GC, completed for HW, and reviewed in class and during Student Support Time). This upcoming week we will begin parsing through Elie’s relationship to his father, and the second half of the novel. There will be a quiz during the week of April 6th. 

I will be having a one hour review session on 4/1 at 9:00 during the student support time. This will be recorded and posted for anyone who is not able to attend. All of the 8th grade is welcome to join. :) 

Vocabulary: Unit 15 & 16. I will post the quiz on 4/2 at 11:15 am and the students will have until 8:00 pm to complete and turn in the assignment. Students will need to complete the assessment in one sitting, and they may not use their notes. 

**As of now, students will STILL have a reading log to complete.**

T3 Reading Log Project: Students will be given a choice of three different novels to read. They will read their chosen novel and complete a Google form, answering key discussion questions about their novel. All Google forms must be submitted by May 6th. 

History & Gov’t II - Mrs. Robinson

Next week, in American History & Government II, we will be continuing our study of World War II. We will explore America’s entrance into the war and students will be able to dig into a specific area of the war they are most interested in for an individual project. The students have been working to adjust to our new online learning environment and I am looking forward to continuing to work with them to find new and interesting ways to deliver content. 

8th grade Spanish - Ms. Hill

I am very proud of all of you for handling our new “school” setup so well. Next week we will continue exploring the possibilities of our new, online learning environment. I have posted online resources and supplemental materials (to be updated weekly) in google classroom. 

We will be doing some Unit 6 grammar and vocabulary review practice on IXL and in ClassZone as well as completing our first Listening/Speaking assignment via individual ZOOM breakouts and/or Google Voice. 

Algebra 1 - Mr. Cargile

It has been so nice to see the students in our Zoom classes this week! They have been doing such a great job of getting acclimated to the platform and adjusting to this dynamic change in their acquisition of knowledge. I am confident that this experience will make all of us more resilient, creative, and confident learners moving forward. Next week students will continue to learn about Exponents and Exponential Functions by learning to apply exponent  properties involving quotients.

Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear

In this extraordinary and challenging time, the students have done a great job adapting to our new setup using Zoom.  It’s been great getting to see them again! Next week, we will learn about function notation (8.7) and begin learning how to solve a system of linear equations (8.8).  Please stay safe and keep each other safe.

History & Gov’t I - Mrs. Robinson

Next week, in American History & Government I, we will continue our study of Thomas Jefferson’s Presidency. We will focus on Marbury vs. Madison and how the process of judicial review has shaped American laws and culture. Students will complete a partner project that delves into one specific court case that changed the landscape of America. The students have been doing an excellent job of adjusting to our online learning set up. They come with energy each day and have been engaging in the material provided to them, I am looking forward to continuing to work with them to make this interesting and engaging. 

7th grade Spanish - Ms. Hill

I am very proud of all of you for handling our new “school” setup so well. Next week we will continue exploring the possibilities of our new, online learning environment. I have posted online resources and supplemental materials (to be updated weekly) in google classroom. 

We will be doing some Unit 5 grammar and vocabulary review practice on IXL and in ClassZone as well as completing our first Listening/Speaking assignment via individual ZOOM breakouts and/or Google Voice. 

ELA - Mrs. Boyer

During the next few weeks students will be engaging in a Short Story Unit where they will read “Flowers for Algernon”, “Two Kinds”, and “The Most Dangerous Game”. We will be reading, discussing, and analyzing together; however, it is imperative that students read before coming to class, they complete their questions, and they annotate in order to understand. A scanned story is online for all of the material that we will cover. 

There will be assessments; however, they will be posted in GC and students will have a day or so to complete them. Assessments will not be taken in class; they will need to be completed in one sitting without the use of notes. 

Vocabulary: Students will be working through Unit 7.

** As of now students are STILL expected to complete their Reading Log for T3.**

T3 Reading Log Project: Students will be given a choice of three different novels to read. They will read their chosen novel and complete a Google form, answering key discussion questions about their novel. All Google forms must be submitted by May 6th. 

Life Science - Mrs. DuRant

I want to begin by extending a special thank you to our parents and students as we have had a wonderful first week of Remote Learning! I was so happy to see each and every student.  They were equally excited to see each other in our virtual classroom Before we left for Spring Break, we began our unit on the respiratory system with students creating a clay model of the respiratory system.  Next week in life science, students will work collaboratively in pairs to complete an online station lab. They will have a quiz on the respiratory system on Thursday.

Accelerated Math 7 - Mr. Cargile

It has been so nice to see the students in our Zoom classes this week! They have been doing such a great job of getting acclimated to the platform and adjusting to this dynamic change in their acquisition of knowledge. I am confident that this experience will make all of us more resilient, creative, and confident learners moving forward. Next week students will delve a little deeper into understanding integer operations to strengthen and enrich their understanding.

Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear

In this extraordinary and challenging time, the students have done a great job adapting to our new setup using Zoom.  It’s been great getting to see them again! Next week, we will learn about function notation (8.7) and begin learning how to solve a system of linear equations (8.8).  Please stay safe and keep each other safe.

ELA - Mrs. Sasser

We had a great first week using our Zoom app! The kids have done a great job adjusting to this new style of learning, and I am so impressed with their flexibility. This week, we’ll be diving right into our novel study on The Giver. Students will be expected to keep up with the assigned readings and be prepared to enter our Zoom classroom on Monday/Thursdays ready to discuss the chapters. We’ll be analyzing how Lois Lowery sets up the idea of a utopia in her novel and compare/contrast the novel’s society with our own. They will have a quiz over chapters 1-5 on Monday and begin a travel brochure project on the setting of the novel next Thursday. 

T3 Reading Log Project: Students will be given a choice of five different novels to read. They should have a copy of their novel in class by March 9th. They will read their chosen novel independently over the course of the trimester and complete a Google form, answering key discussion questions about their novel. All Google forms must be submitted by May 6th. 

Earth Science - Mrs. Hoffman

The students are doing really well adjusting to on-line virtual learning.  We are working out a few glitches and I am investigating ways to try and make this as interactive as possible.  We are also a little limited with only meeting twice per week. Some of our hands-on and group activities may have to be demonstrations or more discussion-based and I am working on modifying my assessments to an on-line format as much as possible.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions and students are encouraged to use the instructional time from 11:15 - noon M/T/Th/F and 8am to noon on Wednesdays to ask questions, review and complete make up work with teachers.

Before Spring Break the students learned about tides and waves with a focus on  coastal flooding. They then graphed some actual tidal data from Tybee and also created wave bottles to demonstrate the movement and parts of a wave.  (Note: If students forgot to take the wave bottles home with them before the holiday they can get them when we return. They were a little messy to put with the locker materials.) Please see the photos below for these activities.

This week students turned in their ocean animal cereal box project and finished up information on the two types of currents (surface and deep) and upwellings.  I also assigned, and students worked on during class, an ocean study guide for our upcoming test, which has been postponed until Thursday, 4/9. This will be an on-line test that the students will take during the Zoom class period they have with me that day.  Keeping with our Ocean theme, our next topic will be ocean pollution and students will work on a project creating an ocean pollution storybook. The March Science in Comics is still due Tuesday, 3/31/20 and will be submitted on-line through Google Classroom.

Earth Science - Mrs. DuRant

I want to begin by extending a special thank you to our parents and students as we have had a wonderful first week of Remote Learning! I was so happy to see each and every student.  They seemed excited to be able to engage with their classroom community. Before we left for Spring Break we had an amazing virtual tour scheduled with the Aurora Fossil Museum in NC. They have sent us a fossil kit of sediment from New Bern, NC and we will have a fossil dig and identification lab when we return to school.  This week in science, we will conclude our unit on fossils. Students will participate in an online station lab on Tuesday collaborating in small groups. They will have a quiz on fossils on Thursday. After the quiz, we will begin exploring the exciting world of oceans including tides, waves, and currents.

Ancient Civ -  Mr. O’Hayer

Welcome back everyone. I thought the adjustment to our new Online Learning/Zoom went well. As I told my students, I want the kids to take ownership of this class/Zoom. We will have planning segments during class that allow for group input on upcoming lessons. This week we will dive into introducing the Unit on Ancient Rome. We will study the founding of Rome and how Rome began to develop into one of the most advanced and most powerful civilizations in ancient times. It is so important to check GC everyday. More work/assignments will be posted/completed on GC. Follow it everyday. 

Spanish - Mr. Alexander

Thank you for your patience and understanding during these interesting times!  We have begun using more of our online resources (which Spanish has many excellent resources available free online).  We are currently reviewing some grammar points we have already discussed but in more detail. Students are taking notes on what they are reading and turning them in on Google Classroom.  Also, students are working on IXL. Unit 1 should be completed by Friday April 3rd.

Art - Mrs. Cookson

“Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do.” - Edgar Degas

It has been said time and time again; we are entering unknown territory. As we join schools across the nation in an online environment, we are faced with new challenges. Not only how to deliver our content to our students, but how to handle the social separation. As a teacher I get my energy from my students (and you know middle school students have a lot of energy). I miss the in between moments. Delivering art content poses a unique challenge as I know students do not have all of the materials available and they will not have the immediate feedback that happens in the classroom. 

ALL: As a result, all of our previous projects are put on hold. Instead, I have created an art matrix with a variety of options, most of which can be done at home with limited materials. I am asking that the students select and complete at least one idea per week. In addition, I would like them to complete one sketchbook prompt each week. I will give them the prompt in our Zoom meeting. We will work together to do our best to keep the arts alive.