August 30th - September 3rd

 

NEW PE PROGRAM FOR THE MIDDLE SCHOOL!

Mr. Helton and his team have reorganized the PE program for the Middle School.  New this year is an Athletic Development elective.  Details about the program are explained HERE.  He will be at Back To School Night to answer any questions you have about this exciting program.

 

ZOOM PROTOCOLS 

When you suspect your child might have been exposed to COVID we would like you to notify the homeroom teacher and the nurse by email (nurse@hancockdayschool.org).  We will be ready within 24 hours to have your child remotely connected with his/her classes.  Complete details can be found HERE.

 

BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT

Parents will have an opportunity to meet teachers and the administrators at the Middle School Back To School night at 6:00pm on Wednesday, September 1.  The evening will begin with a short program in the Bell Gymnasium.  That will be followed by a full schedule of 10 minute classes to meet your child’s teachers. In addition:

• Mr. Helton will be in Hancock Hall to answer questions about our PE program and athletics.  

• Mr. Fulton, our new music teacher, will explain the reinstated Middle School music program.  

• Mr. Cargile will highlight our new Enrichment program.

• Mr. Crawford will be in Hancock Hall to answer any questions about the new rotating schedule.  

See you there!!

 

SPECIAL 6TH GRADE PARENT EVENING WITH MRS. GUGGENHEIM

Join me at 6:00pm on Wednesday, September 14th, in Hancock Hall for a Parent EDU entitled “A Parent’s Guide to Making the Transition Into 6th Grade.” We will discuss ways to help ease the move from lower school into middle school; I will offer strategies and give you the opportunity to ask questions you may have about 6th grade. I hope to see you there!

 

CARPOOL

MORNING CARPOOL

• 7:30 - 7:50 drop off Middle School students at Hancock Hall

• 7:50 - 8:15 drop off Middle School students at the Gold Gate.  Please DO NOT stop at the main Middle School entrance

AFTERNOON CARPOOL

• Please DO NOT ARRIVE ON CAMPUS BEFORE 3:15. HDS now numbers over 450 students with 131 Middle School students.  There is simply not enough room in our driveway to accommodate Middle School parents until that time.  Arriving before 3:15 prevents Green and Gold zone parents from picking up their younger students.

• Watch Mr. Crawford at the head of the carpool lane.  He keeps space open  so that after you pick up your student he will waive you by any cars ahead of you.  Use your left side directional to let him know you are ready to proceed.

Assessments/Projects Calendar Parents and students now have an easy way to look at upcoming assessments and projects.  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 and projects, 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.

NEW ON CAMPUS COMMUNITY SERVICE OPPORTUNITY!  

Good environmental practices begin locally.  We are looking for student volunteers to give up some time each week during their Enrichment period to green up our campus.  Each week Mr. Crawford will coordinate projects that will enhance the beauty and functionality of our campus environment.  Students who wish to volunteer should email Mr. Crawford at hcrawford@hancockdayschool.org.

HERB RIVER BEND CROSSWALK SCHEDULE

Reminder: duty hours are 7:45 - 8:10.  ½ hour of community service credit each day.  Students should keep a log of their hours on the community service form. If you are interested see Mrs. Mannarino in the middle school office to sign up!

Monday, August 30:  Jake L./Wylie A.

Tuesday, August 31:  Couper H./Phoebe H.

Wednesday, September 1:  Jillian S./Emmeline K.

Thursday, September 2:  Bay B./Beau G.

Friday, September 3:  Avery W./Ethan H.

Welcome to a new school year! As Learning Coach, I will be working with students, parents, and teachers to offer support and strategies throughout the year. Please reach out to me if I can be of any assistance to you and your child/ren. I will share ideas and strategies often in this space. My email is: tguggenheim@hancockdayschool.org. I look forward to working with you as the year progresses.

Let’s get off to a great start this school year! Remember to schedule in time to study each day. Waiting until the night or two before an assessment forces students to cram the information if they haven’t mastered it yet. And studying right before bedtime helps the brain remember!

With the start of a new school year, families everywhere find themselves thrust into a new schedule which typically involves an early start each morning.  Establishing evening practices that allow for your student to get enough sleep is essential for success in school.  Staying consistent and encouraging children to not use devices prior to bedtime are two tips to promoting healthy habits.  Please take a quick look at the following link for some tips on how to help your student be ready to get the most out of each school day.   Sleep in Middle and High School Students   

I look forward to working with you and your family this year!  Please feel free to get in touch with me at amhaer@hancockdayschool.org if you have any questions or concerns.

ALGEBRA 1- MRS. TAYLOR

Chapter 1 has been all review work from last year and they have done an amazing job. There will not be a quiz, only a Chapter test 9/2. We will review Monday in class. Please remind students to check all of their homework answers in the back of the book to come prepared with questions, If any. Most of the time I assign every other odd, leaving them the opposite odd questions to practice on for assessments. Chapter 2 will begin Thursday, 9/3. Chapter 2 consists of more review to include all operations with integers, rational numbers, distribution, and square roots. 

ADVANCED ALGEBRA - MR. LANFEAR

Next week in Advanced Algebra, we will learn how to factor the difference of two squares (9.7), factor by grouping (9.8), and factor trinomials that have a leading coefficient greater than 1 (9.6).

GEOMETRY - MR. LANFEAR

Next week in Geometry, we will have a quiz early in the week on sections 1.1-1.5.  We will also learn how to identify and classify polygons (1.6).  We will have a day of review and then the Chapter 1 test later in the week.

ELA - MRS. BOYER 

These students have IMPRESSED me this week! They are so creative and enthusiastic about the subject matter. I cannot wait to see how much they push themselves as we enter into our To Kill a Mockingbird Unit. 

Check out their F451 Character Haikus! 

This week we will be preparing for the assessment on F451, 9/14.  Students will also begin preparing for their Socratic Seminar (Week of 9/7).

Activities: Banned Book Month Discussion, Review Station Activities, F451 Study Guide, Socratic Seminar Beginning

**As students continue into their 8th grade year, it is imperative that they keep up with their reading, annotate their novels, and come in for extra help. The foundation of this class is heavily based on discussion and the sharing of ideas; students will need to participate to be able to engage with the material in a productive manner. **

Final Summer Reading Grades will be posted within two weeks. 

Coming Up: 

Students will be beginning To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee on 9/14. 

HIGH SCHOOL SPANISH - MRS. SALE

Eighth grade will continue with their review this week.  Numbers 0-100 will be reviewed.  And, the verb SER and Subject Pronouns will be reintroduced.  Thursday, we will fill in a study guide for the first test.  The test will be given on Friday, September 3rd.  The test will include the alphabet, 8 articles, basic conversation, numbers and ser.  I hope everyone has a great week.

PHYSICAL SCIENCE - MS. HOFFMAN

We have been busy in eighth grade this week!  We have reviewed lab safety, over 35 different examples of basic lab equipment we will be using this year, along with how to calculate basic measurements. We also compared the Engineering Process and Scientific Method. The students participated in a six station measurement lab where they were asked to determine mass, weight, temperature, time, and volume for both a rectangle and irregular-shaped objects. (See photos below.)  They also tried to “save '' Wendall the Worm during a fun, edible engineering lab.  Winning partners for this second lab were awarded a candy prize and photos will be in next week's blog.  We will have our first quiz on all of this material on Friday, September 3rd. 

Next week on Monday, 8/30 the students will receive their packets for this year's HDS Science Fair, and we will review the entire process including examples and expectations.  All students will create a generic sample experiment to help them understand variables and the need for detailed materials and instructions.  Students will also receive their science fair log book next Monday and will begin determining a topic they would like to explore. We will spend one full class period researching topics and questions to help determine a unique project they are interested in.  This topic and question (or solution for all engineering projects) will be due with our first log book check on Wednesday, 9/8/21 for Blocks D and E and on Thursday, 9/9/21 for Block F.  (All other due dates will fall on a Tuesday for all classes.) Parents will need to sign a Science Fair Parent Approval Form (found in the science fair packet) by next Friday, 9/3/21.   Final Science Fair Projects are due in December 2021 and will count for the following grades:  log book (quiz), formal report (test), triptych (2 test grades) and presentation (classwork).  All of this information will be in the packet, posted in Google Classroom, and due dates will be listed in the project section of the assessment calendar and in this blog starting next week.  

US HISTORY - MR. GAUTHIER

Hey Y’all!  :-)     The first two weeks has been AWESOME.  We have had some very lively discussions and learned (hopefully) how to reach a consensus on some historical and controversial topics.  This week the first speech will be assigned and are due on 9/9 and 9/10.  Economics 101 will be the discussion in class.

ADVANCED SPANISH - MRS. SALE 

Hello, I hope everyone had a great first week.  This week numbers 0-100 will be introduced.  The seventh graders will learn about Definite &  Indefinite Articles as well as receive new vocabulary.  We will start verbs this week.  We will begin with SER.  On Friday we will have a quiz over greetings, farewells, basic conversation and numbers.  I hope everyone has a great week.  

ADVANCED SPANISH - MS. CROCKER 

We started off in our first week reviewing Spanish small talk, including calendar vocabulary, weather, and time. In our second week we will make our “diarios de viaje” (travel journals) which we will take on our virtual road trip to Veracruz, Mexico! We will also start practicing basic conversational Spanish in small groups. Looking ahead, we have a quiz Thursday, 9/2 on our first vocabulary list. Please practice those flashcards for at least 10-15 minutes a night!

ALGEBRA 1 - MRS. TAYLOR 

I was so excited to see all of these kids! I hope they were just as happy to see me. Friday, students began assessing last year’s material. I have heard from several students that did not do the optional summer work. It was merely suggested but not mandatory. They are seeing the effects of not practicing as they struggle a little with the assessment of reviewing last year’s material. I am grading it for my purposes only and I will share it with them. Next week, we begin Chapter 1. 

PRE-ALGEBRA - MR. LANFEAR

Next week in Pre-Algebra, we will have a quiz covering 1.1-1.4 on Monday.  We will then learn how to add integers (1.5), subtracting integers (1.6), and multiplying/dividing integers (1.7).

ELA - MRS. BOYER 

This week we will be reviewing Chapters 1-4! I have also posted chapter summaries on GC. Students are expected to be reading Chapters 5-7 and completing the review questions which are both due on 9/7. Students will engage in an introduction activity: World Building Brochure using Canva.com. 

Students will have a Quiz over the Hero’s Journey(Hero’s Guidebook)/Tolkien&The Hobbit notes. Students have study guides and notes to prepare. 

Students will have a Quiz over Chapters 1-10 on 9/20. 

Students will have their Hobbit Test on 9/30. 

**As students continue into their 7th grade year, it is imperative that they keep up with their reading, annotate their novels, and come in for extra help. The foundation of this class is heavily based on student reading and the sharing of ideas; students will need to participate to be able to engage with the material in a productive manner. All class activities are based on the reading completed prior to class time. **

Final Summer Reading Grades will be posted within two weeks. 

ELA - MRS. SASSER

This week we will be moving into our first major unit: The Hero’s Journey. Students will receive a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Each week, students will have assigned reading. This week, students will read chapters 1-5 and work on their assigned guided reading questions. The reading and questions are due Tuesday 9/7. Students can expect to have reading quizzes over the assigned chapters each week. 

It is imperative that students keep up with their reading. They will be unable to complete our class discussions and activities without completing the reading. 

Looking ahead, students will have a quiz over the Hero’s Guidebook on Tuesday, 8/31. Students should review their guided questions that were sent home over the summer.

All reading assignments and homework are posted on my classroom board and on Google Classroom daily. Students should check Google Classroom every single day. 

LIFE SCIENCE - MRS. DURANT

Next week, we will wrap up our study of microscopes and begin the week with a lab which will increase the students’ knowledge of the parts of the microscope and work on microscope use skills. They will have a quiz on Lab Safety and Microscopes on Thursday. Students’ need to continue to work on their monthly Science in the News assignment which is due Tuesday, August 31. Next week, we will also begin our new unit on the Characteristics of Life and Classification of Organisms. We will conclude the week with an engaging lab in which they classify organisms. Please remind your student to check the Google Classroom daily for assignments and review material. 

US HISTORY - MR. GAUTHIER

We had some very lively and insightful discussions in learning how to reach a consensus on some historical and controversial topics! . This week in American History we will continue to “Think like a Historian” with examining a reliable or unreliable sources in dealing with a lunch room fight.  Our first Unit will dive into the Roots of the American People. We will study The First Americans and how Geography played an important role in our early beginnings. 

US HISTORY - MR. O’HAYER

Our first Unit will dive into the Roots of the American People. We will study The First Americans and how Geography played an important role in our early beginnings. We will dive deep into analyzing how the First Americans made their way to our lands. We will also study the First Cultures of North America, trade networks that developed and impacted early cultures. We will have an assessment at the end of the week.

ACCELERATED MATH - MRS. TAYOR

Chapter 1 has been all review work from last year and they have done an amazing job. They had their first quiz last Friday. In Chapter 1, they were introduced to variables and substituting values in for these variables. The rest of Chapter 1 has been mostly a review of 5th grade material. Please remind students to check all of their homework answers in the back of the book to come prepared with questions, If any. Most of the time I assign every other odd, leaving them the opposite odd questions to practice on for assessments. After their quiz last Friday, they will finish up Perimeter and Area. Monday, 8/31, we will review for their Chapter 1 test 8/31. The focus of Chapter 2 consists of all operations with decimals. Please encourage your child to review their multiplication facts so they are prepared for long division with decimals. 

PRE-ALGEBRA - MR. LANFEAR

Next week in Pre-Algebra, we will have a quiz covering 1.1-1.4 on Monday.  We will then learn how to add integers (1.5), subtracting integers (1.6), and multiplying/dividing integers (1.7).

EARTH SCIENCE - MS. HOFFMAN

We have had a busy week in sixth grade!  The students have reviewed lab safety and basic measurement calculations, focusing on density.  They also participated in a fun, edible introductory lab learning about variables and constructing a data chart.  (See photos below.)  They then created a density column and determined the density of various objects during another hand-on science lab. (See photos next week.) Our first quiz on all of this material will be on Friday, September 3rd. 

Next week the students will be learning about the four states of matter, how they change phases (or states) and some of their physical properties such as viscosity and surface tension.  We will also investigate a plasma ball and discuss examples and uses of plasma.  Discussing temperature and comparing expansion and contraction of matter is also on the agenda.

EARTH SCIENCE - MRS. DURANT

Next week, students will begin our study of Density and conclude the week with an overview of the States of Matter and phase changes. They will have a fun and engaging lab where they will create a density column and measure the volume and mass of various objects. Later in the week, they will have their monthly science literacy assignment, Exploring the National Parks, due Tuesday, August 31. The instructions and rubric are posted in the google classroom. Please remind your child to check the Google Classroom daily for assignments and review material. 

ELA - MRS. SASSER

This week, students will continue to work on their writing skills by practicing using SRES. They will write a formal paragraph on an argumentative topic. Students are welcome to come in any morning and get feedback as needed. It would benefit students to read their final paragraphs OUT LOUD to an adult/older sibling at home. This verbal reading helps them catch grammatical and organizational mistakes. All PRINTED paragraphs are due by Friday 9/3 for all classes. 

Students should be reviewing their notes nightly. This will be a new topic and concept for the students, as I have a very specific writing format and formula I expect them to follow. Daily review for 15 minutes will help them achieve mastery. Students will have a quiz over our new writing rules and format on the following dates: 

D Block---Tuesday 8/31

B/C Block---Wednesday 9/1

All reading assignments and homework are posted on my classroom board and on Google Classroom daily. Students should check Google Classroom every single day. 

INTRO SPANISH - MS. CROCKER

We started off in our first week reviewing some Spanish basics, including the alphabet, numbers 1-31, and saying the date. We also practiced making flashcards and how to best use them for efficient studying and had a practice quiz. In our second week we will make our “diarios de viaje” (travel journals) which we will take on our virtual road trip to Oaxaca, Mexico! And we will start practicing greetings and basic introductions. Our quiz this week is Wednesday 9/1 that covers the alphabet, and the date (including months and numbers 1-31). Start practicing those flashcards at least 10 minutes per night, even after we have moved on from that vocabulary list! 

WORLD HISTORY - MR. O’HAYER 

 Our first Unit in World History will take us to Ancient Greece and Rome. Here, students will begin our travels into these great civilizations by studying about the Ancient Greek City-States of Athens and Sparta. We will examine the different cultures and governments that defined early Greece. We will have an assessment later in the week.

ART - MRS. COOKSON

“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it, we go nowhere.” - Carl Sagan

Sketchbook Prompt:

8th: Before the dishes are washed, draw them and everything on them.

7th: Draw the inside of your refrigerator and all of the contents.

6th: Draw a design you think would make a cool tattoo for you. Remember that tattoos are often symbols of things important to the person wearing it.

Class Challenges:

8th: Will begin layout and tracing in preparation for Graffiti Names

7th: Will finish up with drawing 1 object/9 ways and will begin a single object still life

6th: Will wrap up sketches and ideation and begin final drawings for Adjective, Adjective Noun