October 12th - October 16th
IMPORTANT REMINDER - EARLY CHECKOUT
Due to our staggered dismissal times this year, picking up your child early at the Middle School for an afternoon appointment can be a challenge. If you need to pick up your child before their scheduled dismissal time, this must be done NO LATER than 2:15. This will give you time to depart campus with your child before cars begin to line up for the Primary and Lower School dismissals. Please use THIS FORM to inform the office of early pickups.
MONDAY ASSESSMENTS
With our shortened volleyball season (thank you COVID!!), tournament week is just around the corner. Semi-Finals will be Monday, October 19th and Finals on Wednesday, October 21st. With COVID cancellations and adjustments, this is all subject to change! In the Middle School, we will be shortening up assignments on the 19th with no homework on the 21st. To facilitate this, we will open up Monday, October 19th and 26th for assessments if needed.
TRIMESTER 1 ACTIVITIES AND EXAMS
The end of the first trimester is 3 ½ short weeks away. The conclusion of a trimester always brings an increased workload. In the past, students have had to prepare for 5 exams. Beginning several years ago we began the practice of having some classes have a summative activity and some classes will sit for an exam. The students have been told which will be offered in each class. We will post a chart in next week’s blog to parents to reference. Also next week, look for a chart detailing the schedule of activities in each grade. These activities take many forms: papers, speeches and projects. This will help you assist your child in organizing their prep/study time.
NOVEMBER LUNCH SIGN-UPS
November lunch sign-ups are now open! You can access sign-ups through your parent portal. Deadline is October 23rd.
8TH GRADE D.C. TRIP UPDATE
Normally, at this point in the year, we have everything in place and have met as a class to discuss our annual trip to Washington. Surprise, this year is different! Many of the venues we want to visit are still closed preventing us from scheduling our visit. However, that has not stopped the planning. Mrs. Sasser and Mrs. Robinson are hard at work researching activities we can schedule. The goal is to have everything in place by December 1. I do want to alert families that past trips have cost in the $850 range. Once this year’s fee is set, it will be due in two parts: deposit in November and balance in February.
8TH GRADE ZOOM WITH SAVANNAH EDUCATIONAL CONSULTANTS
If you were not able to join us last Thursday for the high school admissions Zoom with Savannah Educational Consultants, please click HERE for the recorded session.
SIGN IN / SIGN OUT PROCEDURES
At this time, we are still not able to have parents come inside the building. If you are dropping off a student, please have them come to the middle school office for Mrs. Mannarino to take their temperature and sign them in. If you are picking up a student, please buzz to let us know you are outside and we will send the student out. We thank you for your patience and cooperation.
PE & SCHOOL UNIFORM SCHEDULE
Reminder: students should follow the schedule below for uniforms during T1.
ASSESSMENTS CALENDAR
We have created a great way for students and parents to check for 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 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.
This year in the LC Corner, I will be offering tips and strategies to support your work at school and home. Please reach out to me anytime you need assistance or have any questions.
Tip #8: MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR RESOURCES. When you get ready to study or complete an assignment, and you have a question, where can you go for help?
Google Classroom. Check the resources your teachers have available for you to use.
Email your teacher/s.
Phone a friend - but don’t take too long on the phone!
Look back through your notes.
Reread the text.
Study with your parents!
October is National Bullying Awareness Month. One of the top ways to combat bullying is by encouraging inclusion and respect among students. This following article has some great ideas for raising children to be inclusive.
11 Ways for Teaching Kids to be Inclusive of Others
Allison Maher
amaher@hancockdayschool.org
ALGEBRA - MRS. SMOAK
We have started working on square roots and will finish that up in the next week. There will be a quiz on estimating square roots on Tuesday. The students need to memorize the perfect squares from 1-15. We will then start on simplifying expressions with variables.
GEOMETRY - MR. LANFEAR
Next week in Geometry, we will begin Chapter 4 by learning about properties of triangles (4.1), and learning how to prove triangles are congruent (4.2).
ELA - MRS. BOYER
This week we are reviewing Chapters 18-21 of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Students will starting their Critical Analysis Essay over TKAM.
Students will have their Unit Test on 10/23.
Students will have their Mastery Test over Units 1-3 on 10/16. They will then finish out their vocabulary for T1 with Unit 4. There will be a Unit 4 Quiz on 10/29.
To Kill a Mockingbird Reading Schedule
**I try very hard to make sure that the only homework is vocabulary (over two weeks) and their reading. All other activities will be done (mostly) in class, especially if students manage their time well. *
HIGH SCHOOL SPANISH - MRS. SALE
Hi…this week the students are only going to learn one new concept….possessive adjectives. The rest of the time we will concentrate on vocabulary and various concepts that we have learned along the way. On Friday we will have a quiz...focusing on family vocabulary, -ar, -er, -ir verbs and possessive adjectives. Have a great week and weekend.
PHYSICAL SCIENCE - MS. HOFFMAN
See photos below from last Friday when students worked in groups to put together an “alien” periodic table. This activity was an introduction to look at patterns and trends seen in the actual Periodic Table of the Elements. There are also photos of our eighth graders looking for essential elements found in the breakfast cereals we eat. These elements are part of the families, groups and properties we are studying on the Periodic Table. Knowing this information helps to determine how (and if) elements react together to form compounds. We also discussed the major groups of metals, nonmetals and metalloids found on the Periodic Table. Next week each student will each research one particular element to create a portion of our HDS Periodic Table of Elements. This in-class project will allow them to use the periodic table and discover interesting things about elements and why they are considered the “building blocks” of matter. We will also begin our information about the three basic types of chemical bonds (ionic, covalent and metallic) and review a list of approximately forty elements and compounds they will need to memorize. Upcoming chemistry topics include different types of chemical reactions and writing chemical formulas. We will have a variety of demonstrations and student labs leading up to our Unit Test on Friday 10/23. The final Science in Comic for this Trimester is due on Friday, 10/30/20.
Science Fair Update: Our next progress check is on Wednesday 10/21/20 the students will be emailing or sharing with me their rough draft of their background research information. All other due dates are listed below. I have begun to have students sign up to borrow equipment for their projects if they need to do so and have given safety forms to students using chemicals, fire or other potentially dangerous items. These MUST be completed and signed before project experiments begin. Students should email or meet with me with any questions or concerns about their science fair project. I am also available every morning from 7:30 - 8am, after school on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays as well as during break and snack.
**Remember that along with numerous homework grades, this assignment will count as a test grade (formal report), homework (log book), classwork (class presentation) and Second Trimester project grade (triptych).
Remaining Science Fair Project Dates
(* Indicate Homework Grades)
Wednesday 10/21/20 Rough Draft of Background/ Research Info (email or share document)
Wednesday 10/28/20 *Log Book Check with Updates/ Revisions
Wednesday 11/11/20 *Final Draft of Background/ Research Info
(email or share document)
Wednesday 12/2/20 *Log Book Check with Data/ Results OR
Prototype/Solution
Wednesday 12/9/20 *Log Book Check/ Updated Results OR
Solution AND Sketch of Triptych
Completed Formal Report (printed)
Wednesday 12/16/20 All Completed Project Triptych & Log Book
Project presentations also this week
US HISTORY - MRS. ROBINSON
Next week, in American History & Government II, we will continue working on Unit Three: The Civil War. We will begin the week looking at how different groups were affected by the Civil War including African Americans and women. We will then look at life at home in both the North and the South and see how things like the draft, the economics of the war, and opinions of the war shaped life at home. Finally, the week will conclude with a mini project on some important battles from the second half of the Civil War. The Unit Three Test will be on October 27th.
ADVANCED SPANISH - MRS. SALE
Hola estudiantes….this week we will start off with learning the verb GUSTAR and the Indirect Object Pronouns/IOP’s. WE will also focus on a review of the concepts that we have learned thus far. The week will be wrapped up with a Friday quiz concentrating on -ar verbs and the verb gustar & IOP’s. Have a great week and long weekend.
ADVANCED SPANISH - MR. ALEXANDER
Hi…this week we will power through the -er & -ir verbs. We will review the -er & -ir verbs by conjugating them and using them in sentences. This week the students will complete worksheets, play BINGO/LO TENGO and finish the week up with a quiz on Friday. The quiz will cover various vocabulary (that has already been reviewed) and -ar, -er & -ir verbs. I hope you all have a great week and weekend.
ALGEBRA 1 - MRS. SMOAK
We have started working on square roots and will finish that up in the next week. There will be a quiz on estimating square roots on Tuesday. The students need to memorize the perfect squares from 1-15. We will then start on simplifying expressions with variables.
PRE-ALGEBRA - MR. LANFEAR
Next week in Pre-Algebra, we will continue Chapter 3 by learning how to solve inequalities with and without negative coefficients (3.4-3.6). We will also practice writing and solving inequalities from word problems.
ELA - MRS. BOYER
This week students will be turning in their Compare and Contrast Essay where they have compared the Hero’s Journey to a modern day film.
We will begin a Creative Project: Hero’s Journey Wheel on Tuesday which will take us to the end of the week. Students will receive a comprehensive instruction and rubric packet. Projects in my class are designed for a student to creatively and analytically show me what they know and the connections that they have made. Students are responsible for meeting deadlines and coming for extra help before the due dates arrive.
Students will have a Mastery Test over Units 1-3 on 10/16, and end T1 with Unit 4 with a final quiz on 10/29.
Coming up! We will be diving into a Mini Poetry Unit which focus on Shakespearean Sonnets (18, 71 & 65), “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out” by Shel Silverstein, “The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost, “English B” by Langston Hughes, “Felt a Funeral, in my Brain” and “Because I could not stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson, “Oranges” by Gary Soto, “I carry your heart with me” by E.E. Cummings, “Miracles” by Walt Whitman and “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe. We are going to try and write as many types of poems as we can!
Students will end this Unit with an Exam Project based on poetic figures in history.
ELA - MRS. SASSER
On Friday, students turned in their hero’s journey wheel project. They did a great job of working on these! Stay tuned for pictures soon! We will round out our hero’s journey unit with one final written assignment. Students will work in partners or alone to complete a creative writing assignment, honing their written expression. They will use what they know of the hero’s journey and pull on information from the text The Hero’s Journey Guidebook to develop their own characters and create a children’s book detailing their character’s hero’s journey. Students began putting together their ideas and drafting their story on Friday. They will need to complete their draft and submit it to me by Thursday at 3:00pm so I can review it and give them notes for corrections. They will spend the rest of the week revising their story and putting it into the book. This project will be due Thursday 10/22.
Just a reminder: projects in my class are designed to help students think critically and not just memorize information. Rather, I want them learning how to apply what they’ve learned. They are given detailed rubrics with checklists and a breakdown of my expectations. They should consult their rubric regularly while working on their project. The bulk of ELA projects are completed in class; they are given ample time and multiple class periods where they are strictly working on their project. Therefore, if students use their time wisely, they should have only minimal parts to complete at home.
Students will also be working through their fourth unit in the new Sadlier vocabulary books. There will be a vocabulary quiz on Friday, October 23rd.
LIFE SCIENCE - MRS. DURANT
Cell Model Projects were due this week and students did an amazing job with their models. It was wonderful to see them express their creativity through these projects and they were very excited to present them to their classes. Photos of these wonderful projects are below. As you can see they used a wide variety of materials and designs, displaying wonderful creativity, extensive research, and strong work ethic in creating their models. Next week in Life Science, we will wrap up our study of cells. Students have been working on creating a Cellular Transportation booklet and are doing a great job as they review active and passive transport. This booklet is due on Wednesday, October 14. A unit test on Cells is planned for Friday, October 16. From there we will begin our study of mitosis and meiosis.
US HISTORY - MRS. ROBINSON
Next week in American History & Government, we will continue working on our third unit, Faith & Religion. Next week we will take a look at the religious language used in the founding documents of the United States, discuss the value of words vs. actions, and gather evidence for our research question from the time period from after the signing of the Constitution to now. Students will continue to develop their evidence and outline for the argumentative history essay. Unit Three Quiz will be Oct 14th and the Unit Three Test will be Oct 29th.
US HISTORY - MR. O’HAYER
Next week in American History we continue our discussion and examinations of how empires were built in the Americas. We will first dive into how Spain became a major player in the expansion drive and then move on to how conflicts in Europe helped define the creation of regional colonies. We will have our test on Thursday, 10/15.
ACCELERATED MATH - MR. CARGILE
Next week in Accelerated Math 7 we will continue our unit on Decimal Operations. We will practice using scientific notation, and we will have a quiz over scientific notation on Wednesday. To finish the week we will be working with metric units of measure.
PRE-ALGEBRA - MR. LANFEAR
Next week in Pre-Algebra, we will continue Chapter 3 by learning how to solve inequalities with and without negative coefficients (3.4-3.6). We will also practice writing and solving inequalities from word problems.
EARTH SCIENCE - MS. HOFFMAN
The first 10 minutes of each class this week the sixth graders went outside and completed their HDS weather log. They used observations and our school classroom weather station monitor to determine wind speed/direction, air pressure, humidity, cloud types seen, temperature, dew and general observations. Some interesting observations included a view of the moon during the day, parking lot lights coming on in the morning due to very overcast skies and a spider web full of dew. (See photos below) Additional weather information included a review of the water cycle and how to predict the weather and use weather maps. We also looked at local weather maps and compared this week's weather to weather in Savannah in 2017. We finished our week with a quiz on the layers and composition of the atmosphere as well as clouds, air pressure and winds. There will be another quiz over weather maps, air masses and air fronts on Friday, 10/16. Our Weather Unit Test is Friday, 9/23/20. The October Science in Comics is due Friday 10/30/20.
EARTH SCIENCE - MRS. DURANT
Next week in Earth Science, students will conclude their study of the Earth’s Atmosphere. We will review for their unit test on Tuesday and the unit test will be on Wednesday. There are many supplemental study resources in the google classroom including videos and slide presentations. We will then begin our study of the exciting world of weather. We will conduct a weather scavenger hunt and use the classroom weather station to monitor the various changes in our daily weather.
ELA - MRS. SASSER
Students did a great job working on “The Monkey’s Paw” PSA projects this week! Stay tuned for pictures soon! This week, students will read their final story in our short story unit: “The Hitchhiker.” We will listen to the radio play in class and examine narrator reliability along with suspense, mood, and tone. Students will also complete two in class activities with the short story, examining character motivations.
Students will have their Unit 2 test on Thursday, October 22nd. They should be studying and reviewing nightly for 15 minutes in order to be successful on this test. It will cover all of the notes on plot and suspense along with the stories “All Summer in a Day,” “The Monkey’s Paw,” and “The Hitchhiker.” They will play a Kahoot to review; it will also be posted to Google Classroom.
Students will also be working through their fourth unit in the new Sadlier vocabulary books. There will be a vocabulary quiz on Friday, October 23rd.
INTRO SPANISH - MR. ALEXANDER
Test on Tuesday! We will begin the week by reviewing and preparing for our Chapter test which will cover everything we have learned so far. On Wednesday we will begin learning how to express likes and dislikes as well as learn some new vocabulary related to hobbies and interests.
WORLD HISTORY - MR. O’HAYER
Reminder: We will continue to pick up the pace in World History. Make sure you keep up with your readings and outlines. Next week we move on to the Golden Age of Athens. Here, we will discuss the rise of the Athenian Empire. We will also see how the Peloponnesian War impacted the region and influenced the end of the Golden Age. We will have a Test on Friday, 10/16. These chapters are a little longer than usual. Please keep up with your readings/outlines.
ART - MRS. COOKSON
“Things do not change; we change.” - Henry David Thoreau
No Monday classes due to Fall Break.
Sketchbook Prompt: Willy Wonka remade a whole room out of candy, can you draw the room you are sitting in or your bedroom as if it was all made out of candy?
8th: Will spend some time on the Self-portrait and some time working with a sub on a repeat pattern exercise
7th: Will have an introduction to the design of buildings from The Hobbit and The World of Harry Potter; then begin ideation for their own design
6th: Will work with a sub on a short project exploring the possibilities with the form of a name
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