March 25th - March 28th
Have a safe and wonderful Spring Break!
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.
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 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.
Follow all the fun on our Middle School Instagram account!
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)
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
Baseball gets the opening win with a dramatic walk-off RBI by Rex Zeigler! With HDS 8th graders gone on a field trip several 5th graders stepped up with a memorable game. Charlie Milmine and Charlie Albert had clutch triples and Walker York and John Frohn made successful pitching debuts.
Soccer season to Kick off on March 25th (time TBA)
Track team will finish their 3rd week of practice as they prepare for their first meet hosted by HDS held at SSU on March 27th. Parent volunteers are needed to help with meets.
Golf team has been determined after tryouts. Even students who didn't make the score cut-off are getting a chance to play on a developmental team coached by Coach Bellairs and Heather Seibert on Mondays at Bacon Park Golf Course. The SPAL Golf schedule has not come out yet!
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
27. Communication and Self-advocacy
As middle schoolers enter this stage of their education, they must learn to establish self-advocacy, become more independent with their academic work and interactions, and learn to communicate this new independence. This sets the stage for their interpersonal skills and confidence in the long run. So what can they do?
Communication. Children need to begin approaching teachers, counselors, and other school staff members on their own. For example, if they have difficulties in a particular subject, they should learn to approach and communicate this with a teacher. Even if they do not have problems in class, it is good to communicate and form a relationship with a teacher on their own. The same goes for other school staff, such as coaches, administrators, or counselors. Students should extend this independence in communication with friends outside of the school setting as well.
Resolve conflict independently. Allow children to solve conflicts on their own and without intervention as much as possible. For instance, if they have a rift with a peer, allow them to talk to the peer on their own or discuss the issue with teachers or relevant adults before jumping in to help them out. They might be able to find a solution on their own. You can always troubleshoot the problems at home with your child and discuss ways to overcome the conflict at hand, and then allow them to tackle the issue independently.
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
We will begin Chapter 9 regarding factoring. Our first quiz will be 4/3. It is a rather hard Chapter for some so please encourage your child to seek extra support if they need it.
ADVANCED ALGEBRA - Mr. Lanfear
Next week in Advanced Algebra, we will begin reviewing topics from Algebra 1. We will start with exponent rules and negative and zero exponents. Students will create their own presentations to demonstrate their understanding of exponent rules.
GEOMETRY - Mr. Lanfear
Next week in Geometry, we will begin Chapter 11 which deals mostly with areas. We will start with finding the area of rectangles, squares, triangles, and parallelograms (11.1). We will also learn how to find the area of trapezoids and kites (11.2), perimeters and areas of similar figures (11.3), and circumference and area of sectors of circles (11.4-11.5).
ELA - Mrs. Boyer
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
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
We will be circling back and covering WW1 and the 1920s. A monumental time that’ll lead us into the 20th century and eventually WW2.
HIGH SCHOOL SPANISH - Mr. De Cardenas
The last few weeks we have been making a lot of progress. The students are going from simple sentence structures to complex sentence structures with up to three or four verbs and different prepositions to link the complements. That is impressive. The week after spring break 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 on 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 express 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.
ADVANCED SPANISH - Mr. De Cardenas
The last few weeks the students have made a lot of improvement. They are already capable of reproducing spontaneous conversations in Spanish using all the topics and the grammatical contents taught in class. I am impressed. The week after spring break we will continue improving the student’s conversational skills. We will be learning how to use the imperative mode in Spanish to have a second way of expressing ideas when giving directions and also to reproduce sentences about other topics they have previously learned during the year. We will be working with maps as a guide to give directions to get to a specific location.
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
We will begin Chapter 9 regarding factoring. Our first quiz will be 4/3. It is a rather hard Chapter for some so please encourage your child to seek extra support if they need it.
PRE-ALGEBRA - Mr. Lanfear
Next week in Pre-Algebra, we will continue Chapter 8 by learning about function notation (8.7), solving systems of equations (8.8), and graphing linear inequalities (8.9).
ELA - Ms. Ferkol and Mrs. Boyer
When we return from break, students will be working on their final project for our Shakespeare unit before diving head-first into the wonderful world of The Hobbit! Students will learn about, review, and create their own sonnets – Shakespeare style! This is an opportunity for students to look at their own worlds through yet another lens, while also being able to connect to great writers of the past. We are looking forward to all of the fun and entertaining pieces of literature these students will come up with!
We hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing spring break, and can’t wait to see everyone next week!
Please stay on top of the assessment calendar and Google Classroom assignments.
LIFE SCIENCE - Ms. Hallman and Ms. Insignares
When we return from Spring Break we will continue our chapter on plate tectonics! Students will quiz on the continental drift theory on March 27th and test on the entire chapter 7 on April 2nd!
AMERICAN HISTORY - Mr. Saviskas
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
Happy Spring Break!!! Wishing everyone a relaxing and peaceful break. When we return we will continue our study of the first seven Presidents.
ACCELERATED MATH - Mrs. Taylor
We finished up our scale projects which included scale factors or a house, a playground with equipment, and a map of Georgia. We moved on to Chapter 9 regarding percents, fractions, and decimals. They are doing great. We will review 9.1-9.4 when we return on Monday, 3/24, and take a quiz on Tuesday, 3/25.
PRE-ALGEBRA - Mr. Lanfear
Next week in Pre-Algebra, we will continue Chapter 8 by learning about function notation (8.7), solving systems of equations (8.8), and graphing linear inequalities (8.9).
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
When we return from break, we will be jumping straight into the reading of our new novel, Inside Out and Back Again. This unit will incorporate skills to read and analyze both nonfiction and poetic language. To build these skills, we will be reincorporating explicit vocabulary lists throughout the unit that students will be assessed on. Additionally, students will be required to annotate in their novels, with book checks occurring at least once a week. 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!
Student research projects that began this week will be due WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27. Students are not expected to work over the break; however, there will not be any more class time provided after this week!
I hope you all have an incredible spring break, and get some well-deserved R&R! :) I can’t wait to see you all next week!
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
Happy Spring Break. I hope everyone has a relaxing and peaceful week off. When we return we will continue our examination of the Industrial Revolution.
Have a wonderful Spring Break!!
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