May 4th - May 8th

GRADUATION - IT’S ON!

After much thought, we have decided to move forward with graduation on its regularly scheduled time: Thursday, May 21st at 6:00pm.  This will help both the teachers and graduates bring closure to a great, but unusual, school year.  We will do the ceremony by Zoom.  It will be preceded by the awarding of 8th grade honors.  We will follow the traditional format so that the advisors can share memorable moments with each graduate.  More details on the ceremony will follow next week.  Leading up to the ceremony look for lots of celebration of our graduates!

PUPPY & PET PARTY!

Help us celebrate puppies and ALL of our pets during our Virtual Puppy Party! Click HERE for more information. Please submit all pictures to oboyer@hancockdayschool.org and mhoffman@hancockdayschool.org! We are EXTENDING the deadline to May 6th!!!!

COFFEE AND CONVERSATION

Please mark your calendar for our next set of Coffee and Conversations. The upcoming topic is "Education is a Journey Not a Race: Will our child be prepared for the next grade level due to the interruption of COVID 19?" 

PK-5 Wednesday, May 6th at 6:00 pm

6-8 Thursday, May 7th at 6:00 pm

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.

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 the 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.

SHELTERED IN PLACE COMMUNITY SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

The best opportunities for service during these times come through supporting family.  Student service to family that goes beyond normal expectations will be recognized for community service hours.  This might include helping grandparents, tutoring younger siblings or cousins, or baby sitting so parents can work from home.  When these hours are earned please communicate that to Mrs. Mannarino following the standard protocol.  

A Reminder: In my 6th grade seminar class this week, we discussed the importance of following directions. The students suggested using a highlighter, annotating, rereading directions before submitting work to a teacher, and taking the time to carefully read the directions in the first place. All are great ideas to prevent the unnecessary loss of points.

Please reach out to me for student support: tguggenheim@hancockdayschool.org. I am always happy to provide strategies for any student who would benefit from additional support. Also, encourage your child to make use of the tutorial/extra support that the teachers offer each day. It’s a great time to ask for clarification, review material, or to ask for feedback on assignments. It is from 11:15 - 12:00  every Monday/Tuesday/ Thursday/Friday and by appointment on Wednesday. Additionally, many teachers schedule review sessions before assessments.

Please help remind students to check their school email and Google Classroom daily.

-Tricia Guggenheim, Learning Coach

Zoom Lunch Bunch Check Ins are happening after the regular school day between 12:15-12:45 with small groups of students. Students will be emailed a link for their group.

As we continue to go through this pandemic, many caregivers continue to seek information about how to stay emotionally healthy for both themselves and their children.  Here are some resources:

Mental Health and Coping During COVID-19

A List of Mental Health Resources

I am available to students and parents 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

Next week in Algebra 1 class we will have a quiz on Monday assessing skills and concepts from 8.3 Zero and Negative Exponents, and 8.4 Scientific Notation. On Thursday we will have a mini-lesson review on ratio and proportion, and then students will complete the Challenge Problem they started on Thursday, April 30th. 

Geometry - Mr. Lanfear

Next week, in Geometry, we will continue Chapter 12 by learning how to find the surface area of pyramids and cones (12.3).

Advanced Algebra - Mr. Lanfear

Next week, in Advanced Algebra, we will continue learning how to solve systems of equations by learning how to solve them by substitution and the elimination methods.

Physical Science - Ms. Hoffman

Students did a great job abiding by the HDS Honor Code and completing their take-home test on the EM spectrum and light.  Overall, they have all worked extremely hard listening in class, studying the information, organizing their schedules and submitting work. If anyone IS having trouble with assignments and submitting work on time, please let us Zoom with you to help you better navigate Google Classroom. Remember that communication is key when you are having technology issues or need clarification on an assignment or something discussed during class.  A good time for this is during the instructional time from 11:15 - noon M/T/Th/F and 8am to noon on Wednesdays or via email. We are also encouraging students to check their HDS emails throughout the day, including the afternoons for any individual communication from teachers.  Since we are only seeing students a few times per week, this is an extremely important way to contact students about missing/ incomplete work and/or clarification on assignments.

Next week will begin our last unit of physical science for the year...Electricity and Magnetism.  Students will learn about parallel and series circuits, static electricity, electromagnets and  electric motors.  They will also write a short report about the information they have studied for a project grade and  depending on the availability of supplies at home, we will conduct another at-home lab.  Our last assessment for this trimester will be a quiz on Tuesday, 5/19/20.

English Language Arts - Mrs. Boyer

We are venturing into our wrap-up weeks with a writing project which encompasses all of our learning from Fahrenheit 451, To Kill a Mockingbird, Animal Farm, Romeo and Juliet and Night. 

Prompt: Thinking about your reading from Fahrenheit 451, To Kill a Mockingbird, Animal Farm, Romeo and Juliet and Night, what do you think the author's similarities are in regards to their ideas about language and educating oneself about past societal conflicts?

This assignment will take us to the end of the year. 

**THE READING LOG WILL BE AN EXTRA CLASSWORK GRADE FOR T3! IT IS OPTIONAL**

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 13th. I will post the Google Form by 5/1. 

History & Gov’t II - Mrs. Robinson

Next week, in American History & Government II, we will be finishing up our unit on the Cold War with a project focused on espionage and the spies of the Cold War. Students will do a profile on a spy of the Cold War and dive into some of the espionage tactics used during that time. After that we will begin our last unit on protests and social change. 

8th grade Spanish - Ms. Hill

Algebra 1 - Mr. Cargile

Next week in Algebra 1 class we will have a quiz on Tuesday assessing skills and concepts from 8.3 Zero and Negative Exponents, and 8.4 Scientific Notation. On Friday we will have a mini-lesson review on ratio and proportion, and then students will complete the Challenge Problem they started on Friday, May 1st.

Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear

Next week, in Pre-Algebra, we will continue Chapter 9 by having a quiz covering 9.1-9.2 on Tuesday and then learning about real numbers and irrational numbers (9.4).  There will be a special review session on Monday at 11:30 AM in my Student Support Zoom to prepare for the quiz.

History & Gov’t I - Mrs. Robinson

Next week, in American History & Government I, students will be working on their Native American research project. Students are working in small groups to make digital scrapbooks which will explore the cultures, journeys and life today of tribes affected by Jackson’s Indian Removal Act of 1830. The final book will be due on May 18th and a document with the broken down due dates and project description has been posted in Google Classroom. We will work on this in class leading up to the due date.

7th grade Spanish - Ms. Hill

ELA - Mrs. Boyer

Literature: Students have been engaging in a Short Story Unit! They have read “Flowers for Algernon”, “Two Kinds”, and “The Most Dangerous Game”. We have been reading, discussing, and analyzing together; however, it is imperative that students reread before taking the assessments/completing the activities. A scanned story is online for all of the material that we will cover. 

Short Story Test will be on 5/1. 

Writing: Students will be closing out the year with a writing project which will focus on their creative techniques. 

**THE READING LOG WILL BE AN EXTRA CLASSWORK GRADE FOR T3! IT IS OPTIONAL**

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 13th. I will post the Google form by 5/1. 

Life Science - Mrs. DuRant

This week in Life Science, we will have a Kahoot review to aid in preparation for a test on Bacteria and Viruses on Thursday, May 7.  Then we will begin our unit on biomes and ecosystems. Please continue to check the google classroom daily for announcements and reminders. I have created a HOMEWORK topic and all homework is now listed under this category. Additional study material such as kahoots, videos, and google slides are listed under the topic of study.  

Accelerated Math 7 - Mr. Cargile

Next week in Accelerated Math 7 we will have a quiz on Tuesday assessing Ratio, Rate, and Proportion. On Thursday we will start to learn about percent and fractions.

Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear

Next week, in Pre-Algebra, we will continue Chapter 9 by having a quiz covering 9.1-9.2 on Tuesday and then learning about real numbers and irrational numbers (9.4).  There will be a special review session on Monday at 11:30 AM in my Student Support Zoom to prepare for the quiz.

ELA - Mrs. Sasser

Students will have a final test over the second half of The Giver novel on Monday May, 4th. This will be a paragraph response test. Students will take their test in class and be expected to adhere to the normal HDS expectations for test taking. 

Students will also complete a One-Pager project this week over the entirety of the novel. They will examine theme, symbolism, and major plot events while creatively displaying their thoughts on the novel in one page using both words, quotes, and visuals. This will be due Monday, May 11th. 

Students will also need to complete IXL Sections  JJ 2, 3, and 5. This will be due on Friday for an averaged classwork grade. Many students have not been completing the IXL sections regularly, so please encourage them to work on this throughout the week. It is counted as classwork/homework grade each week. 

T3 Reading Log Project: Students will be given a choice of five different novels to read. 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 THIS WEDNESDAY May 6th. This will count as a project grade.

Earth Science - Mrs. Hoffman

We are into our last unit of the year...Astronomy.  We started off discussing the seasons, solstice and equinoxes.  We also learned about comets, asteroids,  meteors and the moon and began our discussion on the phases of the moon and solar/ lunar eclipses.  To help with all the interesting vocabulary words for this unit the students began an Astronomy Alphabet book to list all these terms we will be studying. (This assignment is due on 5/15/20 and winners in each class will earn house points.) Next week we have a quiz planned for Thursday, 5/7/20 over all this information and there will be a study session on Wednesday 5/6 for the quiz from 10am - 10:30 am.  

Later topics for this unit will include learning about our sun and planets found in our solar system.  There will be an upcoming project making solar system trading cards  and an at-home mini-lab demonstrating the distance between planets.  Then, depending on time, we will discuss the life cycle of stars and galaxies.  Our last assessment for the year is the Astronomy unit test and it will be on Monday, 5/18/20.

 As a reminder:  If anyone IS having trouble with assignments and submitting work on time, please let us Zoom with you to help you better navigate Google Classroom. Remember that communication is key when you are having technology issues or need clarification on an assignment or something discussed during class.  A good time for this is during the instructional time from 11:15 - noon M/T/Th/F and 8am to noon on Wednesdays or via email. We are also encouraging students to check their HDS emails for any individual communication from teachers.  Since we are only seeing students a few times per week, this is an extremely important way to contact students about missing/ incomplete work and/or clarification on assignments.

Earth Science - Mrs. DuRant

This week in Earth Science, we will have a Kahoot review for our test on Oceans which will be on Thursday, May 7. Marine Life Projects are due on Wednesday, May 6.  Please continue to check the google classroom daily for announcements and reminders. I have created a HOMEWORK topic and all homework is now listed under this category. Additional study material such as kahoots, videos, and google slides are listed under the topic of study. 

Ancient Civ -  Mr. O’Hayer

This week we begin one of three research projects that will bring us to the end of the trimester. As we finish up Ancient Rome students will complete a research paper on a Roman Emperor of their choice. Next, students will research one of the “barbarian” tribes that had such a huge impact on ancient history. We will work on both of these projects in class but some work will take place outside of class. The Emperor project is due Friday, May 8th. A rubric and all directions will be posted on GC. 

Spanish - Mr. Alexander

We will continue to discuss some of the historical and cultural influences of the Spanish.  We will discuss some influential people of Hispanic/Latino descent and students will give a brief presentation on one of their choosing.

We will begin reviewing foods as well as introducing some new vocabulary. 

Art - Mrs. Cookson

“Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.” - John W. Gardner

ALL: Keep working on an idea from the Matrix (or one you have already cleared with me) and keep up on your weekly sketchbook prompt. Check out Google Classroom for some links to fun online art inspiration.

INSPIRATION: Savannah Music Festival Live

https://www.savannahmusicfestival.org/category/radio/