November 11th - November 15th

 


White Gate Carpool

Middle School morning carpool runs 7:30 a.m. - 7:55 a.m. Faculty and staff leave carpool posts at 7:55 a.m. Homeroom begins at 8:00 a.m. Students arriving after 8:00 a.m. will need to sign in at the Middle School office and they will be marked TARDY. Middle School afternoon carpool begins at 3:15 p.m. Please do not arrive on campus before 3:15 p.m.


National Junior Honor Society News

The NJHS students will connect donations for our Homeless Outreach Project beginning Tuesday, November 12. We will collect items during morning carpool dropoff (7:30-8am) through Friday, November 22. Please have your NJHS student arrive by 7:30 on the days they have signed up to volunteer. Here is the link for students to sign up (they will receive service hours for this): 


https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4CA5AF28A6F8C61-53055782-njhs 


Please contact Kathleen Swanner kswanner@hancockdayschool.org or Larry O’Hayer lohayer@hancockdayschool.org if you have any NJHS questions.


High School Applications

Some families have already started the application process for high schools. HERE is a quick and easy reference sheet with some information if you are feeling overwhelmed! Please keep in mind that: 

  • you should only be sending recommendations to current teachers

  • we will not be sending transcripts until after T1 grades have been posted (after November 8)

  • we do not have birth certificates or social security card copies in our files in our office so you will need to provide these to the high schools

Email Mrs. Mannarino if you have any questions about this process.


Lost and Found: Do I Belong to You?


Math Club!

Each Monday, we will meet from 3:45 - 4:45. You do not have to attend every week to be a mathlete, but please try to make it to the first meeting. Any middle school student may join. It does not matter what grade or math class you are in.


If you are planning on joining the team, please use the following Google Classroom code to join: 5sgxkxd


You can also talk to Mr. Scordato or email him at gscordato@hancockdayschool.org to let him know that you're joining or if you have any questions.


Snacks will be provided!


Chess Club!

Chess club will be meeting on Tuesdays. It will start at 3:45 pm and last until 4:30 pm. This is a come-and-go club, so students are always free to drop by and join. In this club, we will learn how to play and do in-school tournaments against each other.


If you are interested in joining, you can email Mr. Saviskas at nsaviskas@hancockdayschool.org.


You should also join the HDS Google Classroom so you can get announcements and events.

The classroom code is: eebqyg5


Open Library 

We have begun open library for middle school students:

  • 6th grade can go from 7:45 am to 8:00 am on Tuesdays

  • 7th grade can go from 7:45 am to 8:00 am on Wednesdays

  • 8th grade can go from 7:45 am to 8:00 am on Thursdays

Students will need to inform their homeroom teacher that they are going and return to class by 8:00 am.


Follow Us on Social Media!


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.



Winter has officially begun in regards to HDS Sports!


Basketball has started and we are excited about several new coaches

  • Carey Jones: 5th grade girls 

  • Vladimir DeCardenas: 5th grade boys

  • Brad Spencer: 7th grade boys (HDS (2))

  • Marty PhillipsL: 7th and 8th grade girls

 

Physicals

Please remember physicals are due and you are NOT allowed to practice or play without an up-to-date physical. Forms are available here! You can call the HDS nurse to check and see if yours is still current.


Uniform Return
Parents, please give to coaches if possible. If not, please return it in a ziplock bag with your name and team on it.


Swimming
Anyone interested in swimming please see Coach Bellairs.


Tip #7 Prepping for Exams, Part 1

We’re close to being a month out before exams. For the next few weeks, I am going to offer some practical and effective tips for middle school students preparing for exams. These tips focus on planning, organization, study strategies, and stress management.


1. Create a Study Schedule

Plan ahead: Break down study sessions into manageable chunks over several days or weeks rather than cramming.

Set specific goals: Decide which subjects or topics to focus on each day. Use a planner or calendar to map out your study plan.

2. Organize Your Materials

Gather notes and resources: Make sure you have all your notes, handouts, textbooks, and any additional resources your teacher provided.

Create a study guide: Summarize key concepts, vocabulary, and main ideas for each subject. This can make it easier to review.


3. Use Active Study Techniques

Practice retrieval: Quiz yourself on the material instead of just reading over notes. This strengthens memory.

Teach the material: Try explaining concepts to a friend, family member, or even to yourself. Teaching is a powerful way to reinforce learning.

Make flashcards: Especially for vocabulary, terms, and key concepts. Flashcards help with memorization and quick review.


Our virtues of the month are respect and responsibility! A skill that is key to both of these is effective problem solving skills. One of my favorite ways to encourage this is to “talk out loud” and let your student hear the inner dialogue that you have when you run into an issue. They will start to incorporate this “self talk” to help solve obstacles they encounter which will  lead to better choices that support respect and responsibility.


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


Each middle school student is required to complete ten hours of community service over the course of the school year.  Please remember to check this area of the blog for opportunities. Click HERE for a log form or see Mrs. Mannarino in the office.


Algebra I - Mr. Scordato
Students will have a quiz on Wednesday on the following topics for Linear Functions: Standard Form, Point-Slope Form, Slope-Intercept, and writing equations for parallel and perpendicular lines. We will begin our next unit on Systems of Equations.


Advanced Algebra - Mr. Lanfear
Next week in Advanced Algebra, we will continue Chapter 11 by learning how to use the Pythagorean Theorem and its converse to answer questions about triangles (11.4) and learning the distance formula (11.5).  There will be a quiz on Friday covering 11.3-11.4.


Geometry - Mr. Lanfear
Next week in Geometry, we will continue Chapter 5 by learning about special line segments in triangles such as perpendicular bisectors and the circumcenter (5.2), angle bisectors and the incenter (5.3), and medians and the centroid (5.4).  There will be a quiz on Thursday covering 5.1-5.3.


Physical Science - Ms. Harmon
Next week we will be continuing our lesson on chemical reactions and equations.


ELA - Ms. Hall

Students officially finished reading through To Kill a Mockingbird this week! Next week, they will be finishing their end of unit Choice Board Project before we start preparing for Macbeth. This will ensure that students have a strong understanding of citing textual evidence and using narrative techniques they may use in the future.


US History - Mr. Saviskas
We are finishing up a research paper on the technological changes that occurred during the Civil War. Those will be due early next week. Next we will be covering the Civil War proper. First we will dive into the technology and how wars were fought back then. Afterwards we will talk about the first two years of the war and the goals of both sides. It should be a fun and informative week!


High School Spanish - Mr. De Cardenas

To this point the students have made so much progress. It is impressive. I am so proud of them. Next week we will start Unit 4: Simple Past Tense. The students will Master the use of the  verb to be in Simple Past Tense (which they have been using for the past progressive tense), they will also master the use of the  action verbs in Simple Past Tense and the use of time expressions and adverbs in Simple Past Tense. We will have a quiz on tuesday.



Algebra I - Mr. Scordato
Students will have a quiz on Wednesday on the following topics for Linear Functions: Standard Form, Point-Slope Form, Slope-Intercept, and writing equations for parallel and perpendicular lines. We will begin our next unit on Systems of Equations.


Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear
Next week in Pre-Algebra, we will complete the first half of Chapter 4 by having a test on Tuesday covering 4.1-4.4.  We will then begin the second half by learning about exponent rules (4.5), zero exponents, and negative exponents (4.6).


Life Science - Ms. Harmon
We will be continuing our lesson on cell transport.


Life Science - Mrs. Swanner
Next week, we will continue our study of cell differentiation.


ELA - Ms. Ferkol

Next week, students will finish their reading of Posted and complete their final guided reading question packet; however,  in addition to this, students will be experiencing a 2-day lesson with guest speaker Amy Nedriga–the founder of the nonprofit organization Children Inspiring Hope. They will learn about Amy’s incredible work with the schools in Ghana and begin to think about larger concepts that we will explore in our next unit, Voices of the World. It should be a wonderful experience that they will hopefully remember for a long time! :) 


**This novel is available through Audible for students to listen to while they annotate/read! When students have the opportunity to read independently in class, they may choose to listen along with their reading (via Chromebook, not cell phone). Should your child want to utilize this option they must have CORDED headphones, not bluetooth, per the school policy! Please make sure the connector fits into the headphone jack of the Chromebook :)


ELA - Ms. Hall
Students are nearing the end of their reading of the novel Posted and will be completing their final analysis packet, which ensures they have had plenty of practice citing textual evidence when it comes to analyzing a story. In addition to this, students will be listening to our guest speaker Amy Nedriga, who will share some of her stories to help prepare students for our next unit.


American History - Mr. O’Hayer

Next week in American History we will continue our study of the American Revolution. We will identify the causes and events leading up to the War and summarize the major events, battles,  and key participants of the Revolution. 


American History- Mr. Saviskas
We have finished the Patriot and will now be moving on to the Revolution proper. I still fully intend to make callbacks and references to the world of the film, using clips to help illustrate how the history unfolded. We will be starting our notes next week.


Advanced Spanish - Mr. Jones 

Due to weather conditions and our abrupt departure on Thursday, the test will be postponed until we return on Tuesday, 12 Nov . Students will need to know the meaning and present tense conjugations of the verbs: leer, aprender, hacer, ver, ir, hablar, escuchar, escribir, buscar, visitar, & practicar. We will continue to review the following information that will also be on the test: masculine/feminine nouns with definite articles (i.g. el libro/la botella), and most importantly the verb querer (to want) plus the prepositions para & porque. Students should look to the handouts provided for study materials (p.24 #2a-b, 3a / p.26 #5a, 6a-c). Thereafter, we will begin Unit 3 discussing time, geography, and touristic places of interest in addition to functional grammar: hay, and quantifiers. 

X + 1 = Fluency

Advanced Spanish - Mr. De Cardenas 

Due to weather conditions and our abrupt departure on Thursday, the test will be postponed until we return on Tuesday, 12 Nov . Students will need to know the meaning and present tense conjugations of the verbs: leer, aprender, hacer, ver, ir, hablar, escuchar, escribir, buscar, visitar, & practicar. We will continue to review the following information that will also be on the test: masculine/feminine nouns with definite articles (i.g. el libro/la botella), and most importantly the verb querer (to want) plus the prepositions para & porque. Students should look to the handouts provided for study materials (p.24 #2a-b, 3a / p.26 #5a, 6a-c). Thereafter, we will begin Unit 3 discussing time, geography, and touristic places of interest in addition to functional grammar: hay, and quantifiers. 

X + 1 = Fluency


Accelerated Math - Mr. Scordato

Students will have a quiz on Wednesday regarding ratios, unit rates, and percentages. We will start our next unit on positive and negative integers. Any time that you can discuss with your children any real word examples of negative numbers, it’s always extremely helpful as they try to grasp this more abstract concept. Get those cold temperatures, golf stories, Jeopardy scores, and above and below sea-level examples ready!


Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear
Next week in Pre-Algebra, we will complete the first half of Chapter 4 by having a test on Tuesday covering 4.1-4.4.  We will then begin the second half by learning about exponent rules (4.5), zero exponents, and negative exponents (4.6).


Earth Science - Mrs. Swanner
Next week, conclude our study of Climate Change and finalize our 3-D “Plan a Green City” project.


ELA - Ms. Ferkol
I can’t believe we’ve finished our first novel study of the year!! The students have done an incredible job with learning how to dig in to these stories to get to the big picture and develop ideas surrounding theme and deeper meaning! Over the next week, students will be working in groups on a final “body biography” project in which they will critically analyze one main character of the novel. This will be an in-class project and will be due on Monday, November 18th at the beginning of class. Their final test of this unit will be on Tuesday, November 19th, immediately followed by a Greasers vs. Socs dress-down movie day on Wednesday, November 20th! 


**As we read, I am posting the Youtube read-alouds for this novel. When students have the opportunity to read independently in class, they may choose to listen along with their reading–should your child want to utilize this option they must have CORDED headphones, not bluetooth, per the school policy! Please make sure the connector fits into the headphone jack of the Chromebook :)


World History - Mr. O’Hayer
Next week in World History students will continue our study of Greek Philosophy. We continue our journey for knowledge by looking at the most famous of all Greek philosophers: Socrates. From there we will look at the impacts of Plato and Aristotle. Students will analyze the works and words of these famous thinkers and establish how their contributions still impact our world today.


Intro to Spanish - Mr. Jones
Due to the disruption of the storm on Thursday, we will finish working with the short stories we created upon returning to school Tuesday, 12 Nov. Thereafter, we will work with indefinite articles, more question words, expressing existence in a location, and talking about weather. We will have a test over Unit 2 on Friday, 22 Nov. Students will need to study definite articles (el, la, los, las), conjugations of the verb querer (to want), and to differentiate between Spanish words for countries and the languages therein (e.g. Francia>francés).


Students have a fresh portfolio to fill for Trimester ll. They have published many works with reflections on Artsonia. This work can be used to start a digital portfolio for the future. The Sixth Grade will incorporate color, pattern and sound in the upcoming unit in paint with a series of watercolor, fiber arts and canvas painting inspired by Gene Davis art. Gratitude for the senses' taste and sound are on the agenda for Seventh and Eighth through Art History projects. 

🎾Thank you for the tennis balls!  A serene studio and tranquil tutorial is evermore smooth with the tennis balls eliminating screeching stools. Now, a need for 24 will complete the set. Thank you!🎾💚


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