March 11th - March 15th
Dear Parents,
We continue to experience disruptions to our Gold Gate and Green Gate afternoon Carpools due to Middle School parents who arrive early for White Gate Carpool. When you arrive before your scheduled pick-up time, you cause traffic congestion in our parking lot, which causes the traffic to extend out of our parking lot onto Howard Foss Drive. Its
The is important m for all HDS parents to understand that a single car arriving before the scheduled time will cause a chain reaction that has a negative effect on our ability to facilitate Carpool according to expected timelines.
Green Zone (PreK-2nd Grade) 2:45-3:00
Gold Zone (3rd-5th Grade) 3:00-3:15
White Zone (6th-8th Grade) 3:25-3:45: Arrive at 3:15 or later
When we all work together, afternoon Carpool runs more smoothly and takes less time out of your day. We recognize that perfect timing is not always easy, and we thank you for your efforts to do your part to ensure that everyone can experience an efficient and safe afternoon Carpool.
Thank you.
Jack Cargile
Head of Middle School
A Note from Ms. Johnson (PE)
Get ready to move! Our students in grades 3rd-8th will participate in the Eagles Fitness Test during the two weeks after spring break. It includes the Pacer Test - a fun and engaging way to measure cardiovascular endurance. The Pacer Test involves running back and forth between two lines (20 meters), with the interval speed increasing every minute, while a paced audio recording provides encouragement and motivation. Students will be challenged to keep up with the pace, building their speed and stamina as they go! Three additional exercises are measured: Push-Ups, Sit and Reach, and Curl-Ups. These exercises will help our students develop strength, flexibility, and overall fitness. This assessment will help us understand our students' fitness levels and provide insights into how we can support their physical development.
Please remind students to bring their water bottles and if they have asthma to have their inhaler at school that day.
This is not a competitive fitness test. Students may stop whenever they feel like it during any of the tests. It is encouraged for the students to listen to their bodies and do what they are able to without making themselves sick.
* The Sit and Reach, Push ups and Curl ups will be the first week. The Pacer test will be in the 2nd week. *
President's Volunteer Service Award (8th Grade)
If students in the 8th grade would like to receive a PVSA at this year’s Honors Assembly, all community service hours need to be completed and turned in to the middle school office no later than Monday, March 25.
Bronze Level: 50 - 74 hours
Silver Level: 75 - 99 hours
Gold Level: 100+ hours
8th Grade Graduation
Time to start preparing for graduation! Please take some time to complete the graduation form (link below). This information will be used on the programs and diplomas. After the ceremony, we will have a brief reception, where a slideshow will be displayed with the graduates. We request families to submit 5 pictures for the slideshow. The pictures can be anything you would like (baby, siblings, family, friends, etc). The pictures should be submitted electronically to mmannarino@hancockdayschool.org.
Graduation information and slideshow pictures are due Friday, May 3rd.
Junior Achievement of Georgia’s Upcoming Summer Camp
It’s going to be a fun week at their Discovery Center on the GSU Armstrong Campus. The camp is for 10-14 year old students, and it’s June 10-14th from 9AM-3PM.
Here is a link for more information about the camp - JA Summer Camp
And here’s a link to register - JA Summer Camp Registration (just click the “Get Tickets’ button)
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.
HDS Eagles Basketball Camp
June 3rd - 6th 4:30pm - 6pm
Pre-K thru 2nd Grade
Cost $100
Every camper gets a free small (age appropriate) basketball
Skills, Games and Social Skills incorporated
** Possible 2nd week of June 17-20th 9am-10:30am
Volleyball Camp Girls
June 3rd, 4th, 5th 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Rising 4th - 8th Grade
Cost $100
Every girl gets a t-shirt
HDS Basketball Camp
Week 1 June 3rd, 4th, 5th
9am - 11:30am Rising 3rd, 4th, 5th Grades
1pm - 3:30pm Rising 6th, 7th, 8th Grades
Week 2 June 17th, 18th, 19th
6pm - 8pm Co-Ed Rising 3rd - 8th Grades
Cost per week $100 ** if camper does both weeks, 2nd week is $75
Every camper gets a “free” ball
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.
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
26. Develop a strong study habit
Many students do not have any plans for studying and start by just reading textbooks or notes and sometimes attempting to memorize these contents directly for their exams. And in class, they often have the habit of simply copying down notes word for word based on what the teacher is saying. Passive studying will not help students learn or retain the information well, and active learning is critical. Here are some ways to implement this:
Pay attention during class. Instead of merely copying down notes, students should listen to what is being taught and discussed actively. They should also make attempts to participate and speak up in class discussions.
Take class notes. Along with participating in class, students should take down some notes. However, they should make sure not to copy down what the teacher is saying monotonously and instead take notes in their own words.
Study efficiently at home. Effective ways of studying at home involve not merely reading the textbook. Students should gather all their materials - class handouts, notes, homework assignments, previous quizzes and tests, and books. Identify what is most important and create a study guide that includes important topics, terms, and concepts. Turn this list into a set of questions that will force them to remember each item. Read more about study strategies at 6 Steps to Better Grades.
Courage is the virtue of the month and there are lots of ways that parents can encourage the development of this skill.
Lead by example by modeling acts of courage for your child.
Point out courageous behaviors in the community and in the news.
Try new things as a family.
Encourage the use of positive “self-talk” and affirmation statements.
For more tips and ideas, visit 15 Courage-Boosting Activities for Children.
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
Next Week in Algebra 1, students will be in DC.
ADVANCED ALGEBRA - Mr. Lanfear
Next week in Advanced Algebra, we will be in Washington, D.C.!!
GEOMETRY - Mr. Lanfear
Next week in Geometry, we will be in Washington, D.C.!!
ELA - Mrs. Boyer
DC WEEK!!!!! WOOP WOOP!!!
Throughout this unit, It is critical that your child work on their time management skills. Students will be able to choose their own text: I never saw another butterfly: children's drawings and poems from Terezin concentration camp, 1942-44, Night by Elie Weisel, The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak, The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom, or When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr.
Students will be embarking on a journey of reflection and education, both literally and figuratively. This summer I traveled to Germany and Poland where I stepped foot in the hallowed grounds of three concentration camps: Suchsenhausen, Ravensbruck, and Auschwitz. I will be sharing my experience with my students so that they too…will never forget.
PHYSICAL SCIENCE - Ms. Hallman
I am so excited to be in DC this upcoming week! It should be a great trip and I am praying for safe travels and a whole lot of fun! The week we get back, we will be continuing our unit on waves. We will be having a quiz on Thursday, March 29th. It will be over waves and we will be doing plenty of review to prepare!
US HISTORY - Mr. Saviskas
Next week we will be in DC. I’m so excited to be in our nation’s capital once again! I know the kids will love it! When we return we will be circling back and covering WW1 and the 1920s. A monumental time which’ll lead us into the 20th century and eventually WW2.
HIGH SCHOOL SPANISH - Mr. De Cardenas
DC Trip
ADVANCED SPANISH - Mr. De Cardenas
This current week we are making a lot of progress. The students are going from simple sentence structures to really complex sentence structure with up to three or four verbs and different prepositions to link the complements. That is really impressive. Next week we will continue practicing how to give and receive directions to go to different places. We will start accomplishing this in actual conversation in which they will spontaneously give directions in Spanish to get to different locations in a map. We will make sure to master the Ordinal numbers in Spanish such as the conjugations of all the new verbs including the modal verbs, their meaning and what we can ex[press with them. We will continue practicing the new vocabulary that was taught in class. On Thursday we will have a test which will cover the following topics.
Mrs. Brown (Mr. Jones)
With our banana-phone conversations now behind us (great success!), we will move on to further writing and reading comprehension skills with our previously learnt material with the addition of several new grammatical structures (you have to/must, I like.., I love.., etc). The goal is to empower your students to be able to speak spontaneously, which is beginning to show!! 7th graders will be challenged in Advanced Spanish with additional structures/vocabulary with which to engage!
ALGEBRA 1 - Mrs. Taylor
Students begin working on transversals and will assess at the end of the week. Probably just a quiz. Also, I will be giving them a packet to keep at school and work on anytime, skills for ERB. I will be going over test strategies as well.
PRE-ALGEBRA - Mr. Lanfear
Next week in Pre-Algebra, we will be doing a group project where students will design a playground! They will calculate some area and perimeter as well as some costs associated with building the playground. Then, they will draw a scale drawing of the playground they designed!
ELA - Ms. Ferkol and Mrs. Boyer
This week, we are working through our summarization and synthesis of A Midsummer Night’s Dream! :) Students and teachers will be reviewing all scenes, character elements, literary devices, themes, etc. within the play. Students will essentially be completing their Test Study Guide this week. We will also be preparing for our fun final project of this mini unit…
Midsummer Dreams: A 7th Grade Symphony
To help students connect on a deeper level with Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, students will be grouped together to reimagine one scene from the play through their own creative lenses. Each group will be responsible for dividing the roles, costuming, rehearsing, and recording their scene from the play. Once each group has filmed their portion, the scenes will be spliced together to create one harmonic symphony representative of the Hancock Day School 7th Grader’s interpretation of this classic piece of literature!
Please stay on top of the assessment calendar and Google Classroom assignments.
Assessments:
Full Play Quiz Friday, March 15th (If you are leaving early for Spring Break, you must schedule to take the quiz before break.)
LIFE SCIENCE - Ms. Hallman and Ms. Insignares
Next week is project week!! Students will begin their Body Systems Project on Monday and must be done by Thursday. They will write reflections/present their finished product on Friday the 15th!
The project will be graded as a test grade and participation grade. (Each item a student does not bring that they were assigned to is 10 points off their project grade.)
AMERICAN HISTORY - Mr. Saviskas
Hello everyone! I will be in DC next week so I will have Mr. O’Hayer and Mr. De Cardenas running my classes. 7th graders will be getting a President biography project to work on. Students will be given an early American President and will research and write a biography about them. Next week they will also continue our notes on the New American Republic. This period is especially important to the shaping of our country and how today’s America works.
AMERICAN HISTORY - Mr. O’Hayer
Next week in American History students will continue our study of the first seven Presidents that helped shape American policy and government functions. Students will continue our analysis of how the Electoral College works, it’s pros and cons.
ACCELERATED MATH - Mrs. Taylor
Students will be working on their projects this week. They are to be done only at school. Also, I will be giving them a packet to keep at school and work on anytime, skills for ERB. I will be going over test strategies as well.
PRE-ALGEBRA - Mr. Lanfear
Next week in Pre-Algebra, we will be doing a group project where students will design a playground! They will calculate some area and perimeter as well as some costs associated with building the playground. Then, they will draw a scale drawing of the playground they designed!
EARTH SCIENCE - Ms. Insignares
Next week is project week!! Students will begin their Terrarium Class Project on Monday and must be done by Thursday. They will write reflections/present their finished product on Friday the 15th! Terrariums will be left in indirect sunlight throughout Spring Break and we will see the results upon our return to school!!!
The project will be graded as a test grade and participation grade. (Each item a student does not bring that they were assigned to is 10 points off their project grade)
ELA - Ms. Ferkol
This week we are beginning our final novel unit of this year! We will be reading Inside Out and Back Again by Tanhha Lai. This historical fiction novel was beautifully written in free verse to describe the experiences of the author’s journey to America from Vietnam as a child. Throughout this short unit, we will discover both the beauty of poetry and the importance of history. Students should come to class prepared with their blue binders and their novels daily to be able to fully participate in lessons, activities, and projects!
INTRO SPANISH - Ms. Brown (Mr. Jones)
With our banana-phone conversations now behind us (great success!), we will move on to further writing and reading comprehension skills with our previously learnt material with the addition of several new grammatical structures (you have to/must, I like.., I love.., etc). The goal is to empower your students to be able to speak spontaneously, which is beginning to show!!
WORLD HISTORY - Mr. O’Hayer
Next week in World History We will continue our examination of The Industrial Revolution: Changes and Challenges. This is a very interesting unit. Students will learn that the IR was a time of transformation in how people worked and lived, bringing innovation and fueling debates about forms of government, economic systems, and workers’ rights. Students will begin their next project next week: Creating/building their own inventions. This is a student favorite.
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