April 2 - April 5

 

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. It is important 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.

I hope everyone has a nice Easter break. Enjoy the extra long weekend!

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 can 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. *

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 want (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 Sports Update

  

BASKETBALL CAMPS AT HDS 

(ALL CAMPERS GET FREE BASKETBALLS)

 Camps are coed and are at different times per age group

•  Rising PK-2nd grades  June 3-6th and June 17-20th

•  Rising  3-5th grades June 3-5th and June 17-19th

•  Rising 6-8th  grades June 3-5th and June 17-19th

 VOLLEYBALL CAMP 

 All Campers get a Free T-shirt

 Campers divided by JV and Varsity

•  Rising 4 - 8TH  June 3-5th

Coach Bellairs directs all camps

Each middle school student is required to complete ten hours of community service over the school year.  Please remember to list hours worked daily, and do not log the total sum of hours worked over an extended period. 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

28. Learn to Take Risks 

As middle schoolers, children should learn to take risks and explore new possibilities. They need to know how to speak up, combat their fears, and understand that it is OK to encounter failures as well. What are some things they should do? 

• Speak up. Students should learn to participate and ask questions during class—remember, no question is a dumb question, so there is no need to be embarrassed! To help them combat shyness, students can even take up public speaking and join debate clubs. These clubs will help make children speak up with a sense of confidence, clarity, and poise. 

• Make new connections. Taking these risks to do things out of their comfort zone also provides students an opportunity to connect with peers and meet new people. Once again, without letting inhibition take over, students should make the best of their new connections and expand their network, building on the interpersonal skills previously mentioned in the blog. 

https://askversed.com/blog-post/5-important-skills-middle-schoolers-should-develop-high-school

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 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

Chapter 9 seems to be going well and I am so happy students are coming in early with questions and asking for support. The first quiz is Wednesday, 4/3. We will continue factoring and the remainder of the Chapter through next week (ERAB week). We will assess fully on this Chapter the week after ERB.

ADVANCED ALGEBRA - Mr. Lanfear

Next week in Advanced Algebra, we will spend some time working on ERB Test preparations.  We will present our Exponent Rules presentations on Wednesday, have a day of review on Thursday, and have the Exponent Rules quiz on Friday.

GEOMETRY - Mr. Lanfear

Next week in Geometry, we will spend some time working on ERB Test preparations.  We will have a quiz covering 11.1-11.5 on Wednesday and begin our Math in Art project on Friday.  Students will use the website desmos.com and a variety of different types of functions to create works of art!

ELA - Mrs. Boyer

We have completed our Holocaust Unit!! Yay! Thank you so much for the support and guidance at home! :) 

Onwards and Upwards! 

Next, we will embark on a journey home, to The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros! We will be thoughtfully reflecting on our own personal lives as we dive into this collection of vignettes thematically driven by questions regarding culture and identity. :) 

PHYSICAL SCIENCE - Ms. Hallman

Next week, we will continue our work on waves. They will be having a test over mechanical waves, electromagnetic waves, and wave interactions on Friday, April 5th. 

US HISTORY - Mr. Saviskas  

We’re finished with WW1. Yay! Always a fun and interesting topic for students to learn about. We will start next week with a quiz on Wednesday. Expect a short study out on Friday for students to use to study. Afterwards we will be looking at the 1920s - 1930s as a prelude to our WW2 unit.

HIGH SCHOOL SPANISH  - Mr. De Cardenas

To this point the skills shown by the students are amazing. They are already capable of giving or following directions to get to a location using the modal verbs in simple present tense to form compound sentences. The next week we will keep working to master how to give or follow directions but in this case using the imperative mode instead. For this we will study the rules for this verbal mode in Spanish and the different conjugations we can use. This will allow the students to have a different way to communicate and will also increase their talkative range. We will continue practicing this in actual conversations in which they will spontaneously give directions in Spanish to get to different locations on a map. During the week we will have some classwork to grade and an Oral quiz on Thursday. 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.

ADVANCED SPANISH - Mr. De Cardenas

To this point the skills shown by the students are amazing. They are already capable of giving or following directions to get to a location using the modal verbs in simple present tense to form compound sentences. The next week we will keep working to master how to give or follow directions but in this case using the imperative mode instead. For this we will study the rules for this verbal mode in Spanish and the different conjugations we can use. This will allow the students to have a different way to communicate and will also increase their talkative range. We will continue practicing this in actual conversations in which they will spontaneously give directions in Spanish to get to different locations on a map. During the week we will have some classwork to grade and an Oral quiz on Tuesday. 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)

For any students that have missed and/or will miss class work from this week, fear not! Upon returning, Monday will be allocated to ensuring all students are caught up and on track as a unit. Friday, 14/03 we will have our 3rd test which will be the same 10 questions that we’ve used over the past month however students will be expected to demonstrate their ability to spontaneously produce an accurate response. We have practiced and reviewed, I believe they are ready! PS. Enjoy y’all’s break!

ALGEBRA 1 - Mrs. Taylor

Chapter 9 seems to be going well and I am so happy students are coming in early with questions and asking for support. The first quiz is Wednesday, 4/3. We will continue factoring and the remainder of the Chapter through next week (ERAB week). We will assess fully on this Chapter the week after ERB.

PRE-ALGEBRA - Mr. Lanfear

Next week in Pre-Algebra, we will complete Chapter 8.7-8.9 by learning how to graph linear inequalities (8.9), having 2 days of review on Wednesday and Thursday, and having the 8.7-8.9 test on Friday.  We will also spend some time on ERB Test preparations.

ELA - Ms. Ferkol and Mrs. Boyer

This week we are diving into our fantastical fantasy unit where we will embark on a journey through different worlds to meet elves, dwarves, and magical folk! 

We are starting out by shedding light on the foundation of the Hobbit, the Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell. Students will be reading a short guidebook to how Tolkien utilized the all-encompassing Hero’s Journey to help Bilbo on his travels! 

All assessments for the remainder of the year are on GC and in the assessment calendar! 

Assessments: 

Tolkien Notes/Hero’s Journey Quiz ⅘

Hero’s Guidebook Test 4/15

Ch. 1-4 Quiz 4/17

Ch. 1-11 Test 5/6

Exam: Final Hobbit Assessment

LIFE SCIENCE - Ms. Hallman and Ms. Insignares

Next week, we will be continuing to work on the nervous system. We saved the best for last! The students seem really engaged and excited with this one. We will have a test of excretory, immune, and small bit of nervous system on Thursday, April 4th with two days of review of those concepts we covered before break. 

AMERICAN HISTORY - Mr. Saviskas

We have finished our President biography project. We will be moving on to the prelude to the Civil War and Manifest Destiny. I hope to have a quiz on the New American Republic material next Thursday, 4/4. We will do some review for it early next week before hitting the quiz and moving onward.

AMERICAN HISTORY - Mr. O’Hayer

Next week in American History we will begin our last Unit of the year: The Civil War. First, we will examine how Westward Expansion laid the foundation for conflict and dissent. First up, students will analyze the impacts of the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clarke’s explorations. We will show how the growth of railroads had both positive and negative impacts on society, our environment, and the plight of the Native Americans. 

ACCELERATED MATH - Mrs. Taylor

Students did very well on the quiz for Chapter 9. We will be finishing the Chapter learning about Percent increase and decrease, Discounts, sales tax and tip. Chapter 9 test will be Friday, 4/6.

PRE-ALGEBRA - Mr. Lanfear

Next week in Pre-Algebra, we will complete Chapter 8.7-8.9 by learning how to graph linear inequalities (8.9), having 2 days of review on Wednesday and Thursday, and having the 8.7-8.9 test on Friday.  We will also spend some time on ERB Test preparations.

EARTH SCIENCE - Ms. Insignares

This week we measured terrariums and SO many have grown! Students are able to see their seeds sprouting and record any new data! Next week students will test on Chapter 7 on April 2nd. We will also begin chapter 8 and 9 (Earth Dynamics, Earthquakes and Volcanoes).

ELA - Ms. Ferkol

This week we will continue reading Inside Out and Back Again with the goal of finishing the novel! As we read this week, students will be practicing independent annotations and interpretations of the text. Additionally, students will have their second and third mini vocabulary quizzes this week on Wednesday and Friday respectively. There will be one final mini vocabulary quiz after ERBs–all four of these quizzes will be averaged together to culminate in one vocabulary quiz grade for this trimester! 

If you celebrate, I am wishing you all a Happy Easter! For those of you that may not celebrate, I hope you have a wonderful long weekend and enjoy some extra time with your family! 

INTRO SPANISH - Ms. Brown (Mr. Jones)

For any students that have missed and/or will miss class work from this week, fear not! Upon returning, Monday will be allocated to ensuring all students are caught up and on track as a unit. Friday, 14/03 we will have our 3rd test which will be the same 10 questions that we’ve used over the past month however students will be expected to demonstrate their ability to spontaneously produce an accurate response. We have practiced and reviewed, I believe they are ready! PS. Enjoy y’all’s break!

WORLD HISTORY - Mr. O’Hayer

Next week in World History, students will continue their examination of economic systems of the Industrial Revolution. We will also begin our next project: Building our own Inventions. This is a fan favorite among projects for World History. Students will collaborate on creating an invention or building on a current one, that benefits society.