October 2nd - October 6th

 

Follow all the fun on our Middle School Instagram account!

Parents and students 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, 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.

Monday, Oct 2nd - volleyball games at HDS 

  5th white vs Habersham at 5 pm

  8th vs St James at 6 pm 

  7th vs BSS at 7 pm 

  (no 6th grade game)

Tuesday, Oct 3rd - meet at BC

   Cross Country at 4:30 pm

Wednesday, Oct 4th - volleyball games at HDS 

  5th white vs BSS at 5 pm

  5th green vs BSS at 6 pm 

  6th vs Habersham at 7 pm

  8th vs Habersham at 8 pm 

Wednesday, Oct 4th - flag football at HDS field at BC

  3rd vs 4th “Bragging Rights” Game at 4 pm 

 

Wednesday, Oct 4th - football 

  JV vs SCDS at Morris Field at Daffin Park at 5:30 pm

  Varsity vs SCPS at SCPS at 5:15 pm

Thursday, Oct 5th - volleyball games at HDS 

   5th white vs SCPS at 5 pm

   5th green vs SJS  at 6 pm

   7th vs SAS  at 7 pm

   8th vs SAS  at 8 pm

****last regular season game for 8th grade  

Parent sign up link for football AND volleyball games: 

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C094CAFAB2BABF5C34-44516405-cross

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. Click HERE for a log form or see Mrs. Mannarino in the office.

Below is a volunteer opportunity, organized by the PA, for our Middle Schoolers outside of school!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C094CAFAB2BABF5C34-second

Parent Association Halloween decorating volunteer day (10/9)!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C094CAFAB2BABF5C34-44654914-decorate

As Learning Coach, I work 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. My phone extension is 327. I look forward to working with you! Tricia Guggenheim

Tip #5 What's a Reasonable Homework Break?

Both your body and brain need frequent refreshers. Set timer for five minutes, then do jumping jacks, run in place, or stretch. Start another 30-minute block of homework. This sounds too simple to work, but these breaks keep you sharp to get your work done faster. After two weeks, you will find that these five-minute blocks will significantly reduce procrastination.

For middle school students and families, this is a busy time of the year. Juggling school obligations, after-school activities, and squeezing in some family time can be difficult, if not impossible at times. However, middle school is also a crucial time to reinforce virtues that will last a lifetime.

Kindness is our virtue of the month and takes both practice and intention. Being kind involves thinking beyond yourself, which is not necessarily aligned, developmentally, with the middle school brain. 

While modeling virtuous behaviors is crucial, you can also help your student think ahead about situations that they will encounter. Find time to squeeze in “what-if” scenarios with your student while driving in the car or at dinnertime to help them visually practice kindness. Start with common situations like a student dropping items on the way to class or tripping in the hallway. Move up to situations that are more difficult such as a student who is sitting alone at lunch or appears to feel left out at recess. By having these conversations, your student will be more equipped and more likely to demonstrate acts of kindness.

Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns that you may have this year at amaher@hancockdayschool.org.

ALGEBRA 1 - Mrs. Taylor

Monday, students will STAR assess. Students will continue with Chapter 3 when we return and finish the chapter Friday, 10/6. Tuesday , 10/10 we review and assess all of Chapter 3 on Wednesday 10/11.

ADVANCED ALGEBRA - Mr. Lanfear

In Advanced Algebra, when we come back from Merri Mac, we will continue with the second part of Chapter 10.  Students will discover the quadratic formula and learn how to use it to solve any quadratic equation (10.6).  We will also learn how to use the discriminant to determine the number and type of solutions to a quadratic equation (10.7).  There will be a day of review on Friday and the 10.4-10.7 test the beginning of the following week.

GEOMETRY - Mr. Lanfear

In Geometry, when we come back from Merri Mac, we will begin Chapter 3 by learning about angles formed by parallel lines and transversals (3.1-3.2), proofs about parallel lines (3.3), review slope and slope-intercept form of linear functions (3.4-3.5), and proofs about perpendicular lines (3.6).  The following week, there will be a day of review and the Chapter 3 test.

ELA - Mrs. Boyer

We will be starting a cross-curricular project with Mr. Saviskas. This will be the Annual Mock Trial Project regarding To Kill a Mockingbird. Students will be using their knowledge of Chapters 1-19 to ‘act out’ the trial of Tom Robinson. This will be a TEST and PROJECT grade in ELA and History. Details to come! 

During this week, your child will be reading 25-30 minutes a night. I highly suggest your child use Audible.com or Youtube readings. (When using Audible.com, your child can adjust the reading speed to their liking.) 

With each night of reading and class, your child can expect Reading Checks multiple times throughout the week. Your child may use their book/annotations to help them. REMINDER: Students may come in and **check** their annotations against mine. 

**It is incredibly important that your child stay on top of their reading. My room is open every day at 7:30 am for readers if they were unable to read in the evening. Please help your child by reading and discussing with them! :) **

PHYSICAL SCIENCE - Ms. Hallman

We have wrapped up our first official unit in Physical Science and students will get a much needed break at Merri Mac to just be kids without the stress of homework and assessments :)! I for one and so excited about this trip! When we return, the real fun begins with learning about the periodic table and structure of an atom. There will be an extra credit opportunity when we return along with many project grades that are awesome opportunities for those looking to boost their average. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to support your child as they move through science this year! 

US HISTORY - Mr. Saviskas  

Hello again. After Merri Mac we will be taking a break from the Civil War and partnering with Mrs. Boyer to do a unit on Mock Trial. This is paired with their readings of To Kill a Mockingbird so that students gain a better understanding of both literature and history through it. To prepare for this, history class will take a look at the 1930s and the Great Depression. We’ll go in depth about its causes and how people got through it. We will also cover prominent legal cases from the era to discuss what law looked like at the time and how society viewed justice.

This unit will include lots of reading and contains one test and one project grade along with other smaller grades. I would highly recommend that when students get work that week, they complete it as soon as possible so as to not get far behind.

HIGH SCHOOL SPANISH  - Ms. Gonzalez

¡Hola! We have completed our first Spanish project - Introducing family and friends. The students presented their Google Slides, introducing themselves, a family member and a friend. Next week we will begin reviewing conjugating verbs!  

ADVANCED SPANISH - Ms. Brown and Ms. Gonzalez
For students enrolled in Ms. Brown’s class, please see the following bullets to know what we have on our agenda for the coming week!

• Tuesday, Oct 3, is the due date for our project. The rubric is posted on Google Classroom and was provided as a hard copy in class. We will have a total of four complete days to work on our projects in class.

• Wednesday, Oct 4, is the test day for Unit Three. 

• Please be mindful that due to the North Carolina trip having fallen right in the middle of our current unit, it is well within the realm of possibility that an extension(s) will be made. If no change is made to the assessment calendar after Friday, The 22 of September, then it is to be expected that there will be NO extension(s).

Take it away Ms. Gonzalez!

¡Hola! We have completed our first Spanish project - Introducing family and friends. The students presented their Google Slides, introducing themselves, a family member and a friend. Next week we will start our new unit: Regular & Irregular Verbs! We will be conjugating verbs!  

ALGEBRA 1 - Mrs. Taylor

Monday, students will STAR assess. Students will continue with Chapter 3 when we return and finish the chapter Friday, 10/6. Tuesday , 10/10 we review and assess all of Chapter 3 on Wednesday 10/11.

PRE-ALGEBRA - Mr. Lanfear

In Pre-Algebra, when we come back from Merri Mac, we will do our first STAR math assessment of the year.  Then, we will begin Chapter 3 by learning how to solve two-step equations (3.1) which is one of the fundamental building blocks of Algebra.  We will also learn how to solve multi-step equations (3.2).  There will be a Math Facts Quiz on Friday, and an outline will be handed out early in the week so students know what to study.

ELA - Ms. Ferkol and Mrs. Boyer

This week we will be continuing our reading of Posted and diving into part 3! We will be starting an essay: Frost Quoting Frost, where students will be analyzing why John David Anderson uses Robert Frost poems to support the novel’s themes. 

Reading Checks are being graded and sent back to the students through their email. It is our suggestion that students create a Posted folder in their Gmail for these checks, so that it is easier to find them for study purposes. The discussion questions will all be checked and graded for a test grade the day of the final unit test. 

When we begin novel studies, it is expected that your child will read for 20-25 minutes at home each night. This will be the majority of their homework. Some nights they may also have Reading Checks to go along with their reading; we will also be working on these Reading Checks in class. These Reading Checks will be CW/HW grades that will be averaged into one quiz grade. Students may always use their beautiful annotations to help with these reading quizzes. 

Posted is filled with an immense amount of literary devices, world connections, and character development. These are topics which will allow for us to dive deep into our reading comprehension skill building. 

Please stay on top of the assessment calendar and Google Classroom assignments. 

LIFE SCIENCE - Ms. Hallman and Ms. Insignares

The biome project has been a HUGE hit! Not only are they works of art, but the students have seemed really excited and engaged all week. Our hope is that they walk away from this experience proud of what they have done and with more knowledge of the different biomes around the world. Please see the pictures below of their projects!! Thank you all for taking them to get supplies and making this project possible! 

US HISTORY - Mr. Saviskas

This coming week we will be talking about the thirteen colonies and their historical significance to America today. We’ll start by laying out the context of why the British were so interested in the Americas and how they set up the first colonies there. Next we will dive into life, trade and society of the colonies. Seeing how they interacted with the world around them. From the natives to the other European colonies, the stories of how this came together is especially important to understanding how the American Revolution happened and why we have a nation today.

US HISTORY - Mr. O’Hayer

When we return from the Middle School trip we will continue our study of the development of the 13 Colonies. Students will also begin their next project: Creating their own colony. This project will allow the students to examine all the details in creating their colony and relate these challenges to how the original 13 Colonies were created. 

ACCELERATED MATH - Mrs. Taylor

Students will STAR assess when they return. We will continue with Chapter 3 and end the week with two formative assessments to solidify Mean, median, mode, Stem and leaf plots, histograms, and box and whiskers plots. They will review 10/10 and take Chapter 3 test on Wednesday 10/11.

PRE-ALGEBRA - Mr. Lanfear

In Pre-Algebra, when we come back from Merri Mac, we will do our first STAR math assessment of the year.  Then, we will begin Chapter 3 by learning how to solve two-step equations (3.1) which is one of the fundamental building blocks of Algebra.  We will also learn how to solve multi-step equations (3.2).  There will be a Math Facts Quiz on Friday, and an outline will be handed out early in the week so students know what to study.

EARTH SCIENCE - Ms. Insignares

We are officially closing off our Universe topic! This week we dive into chapter 22, our final stop in the Solar System. This chapter will focus on the stars and galaxies that have been discovered, the views we have of them from Earth, and how to classify some of the stars. 

We will create constellations with a hands on activity that I am confident the students will LOVE! 

Students will have a quiz on Tuesday, October 10th on the first three lessons in the chapter.

ELA - Ms. Ferkol

This week we will continue our novel study with The Outsiders. We will be getting into Chapters 5 and 6 this week. We will continue to work on annotating the text and exploring figurative language as we critically analyze poetry found within the book. We will also have our second Socratic Seminar covering Chapters 3 and 4 to discuss some of the key themes and conflicts we are encountering. These Socratic Seminar days are extremely important as they allow students to think critically, collaborate, and develop deeper understandings of the text as they actively participate, listen to, and are empowered by their peers to engage with the text. Participation in these seminars will be graded!

As we move further into this unit, students should expect to have between 25-30 minutes of solid work each night. This work will often include reading or re-reading portions of the book, comprehension work, and vocabulary. As we move through the unit, this may also include other work such as art projects, Google Form reading checks, or note-taking in preparation for a Socratic seminar. 

INTRO SPANISH - Ms. Brown

The 6th graders are so excited for the North Carolina trip! To help us all stay on track, please see the coming plans for the week we return from the trip.

• Tuesday, Oct 3, there will be a quiz on their vocabulary part two (see the notes from class for the list that is posted and was provided in class).

• That week we will be using class time to work on our projects that will be due on Oct 10.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

WORLD HISTORY - Mr. O’Hayer

When we return from the Middle School trip we will begin our examination of the Golden Age of Athens. Students wil answer the Big Question: What are some of the cultural achievements during the Golden Age of Athens? Following this topic we will study the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta.