February 10th - February 14th

 

8th Grade Washington, D.C. Meeting

We would like to invite you to our last important meeting regarding the upcoming 8th-grade trip to Washington, D.C. This meeting is for both parents and students, and it will cover important trip details, expectations, and logistics.


Meeting Details:

  • Date: Wednesday, February 19th *new date due to basketball playoffs!

  • Time: 6:00 PM

  • Location: Hancock Hall


In addition to our school staff, Kelly Tours will also be present to answer any questions you may have about the trip. This is a great opportunity to get the latest information on the itinerary, packing guidelines, medical forms, and more, as well as any specific details from the tour company.


We encourage all parents and students to attend so you're fully prepared for this exciting experience! 


Deadline for PVSA Community Service Hours – Don't Miss Out!
If your 8th grader would like to receive a Presidential Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) at this year’s Honors Assembly on Monday, May 19th at 8:30 AM, please make sure all community service hours are completed and submitted to the middle school office by Monday, March 24th.

Here are the PVSA levels based on the number of hours completed:

  • Bronze Level: 50 – 74 hours

  • Silver Level: 75 – 99 hours

  • Gold Level: 100+ hours

We’re excited to recognize our students for their outstanding service to the community, so encourage your child to get their hours in on time! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out.

Attention 7th Grade Families
We are excited to continue the beloved tradition of having 7th grade families host the reception following the 8th grade graduation ceremony on May 22. This special event is a wonderful way to show our support for the 8th graders as they celebrate the end of their middle school journey and prepare to transition to high school. 

Please click here to sign up and be part of this meaningful occasion! 


** Graduating families who helped with last year’s reception: Albert. Cheshire, Lake, Lapp, Mitchell, Mobley, Moody, Phillips, Richter, Stegall, Tanner, Thomas, Wilson, Wilkes, and Zeigler! **







Share Your Memories! 

Click the QR code below to upload your photos for our school yearbook. Share your memories from school events, sports, or special moments in the classroom! Help us capture the moments that matter most!


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.


SPAL Basketball Tournament Update! 🏀

5th & 6th Grade Teams Advancing to the Finals on Monday, February 10th!

  • 6th Grade Boys (D): 5:00 PM @ HDS

  • 5th Grade Boys: 6:00 PM @ HDS

  • 6th Grade Boys: 7:00 PM @ SCPS

Great season to both our 5th and 6th Grade Girls teams! They played hard but just missed out, each falling short by only 3 points. Well done, girls! 💪

7th & 8th Grade Tournament Begins Monday, February 10th!

  • 7th Grade Boys: vs SAS at 6:00 PM @ BSS

  • 8th Grade Boys: vs Country Day at 5:00 PM @ Sav Christian

  • 8th Grade Girls: vs SJS at 7:00 PM @ SJS

Looking Ahead:

  • Spring Sports info coming next week!

    • Baseball

    • Golf

    • Track

    • Soccer

  • Basketball Camp Dates: June 4-6 @ HDS!

Remember: You can watch all our games from home here! 🎥

Let’s go, Eagles! 🔥
Coach B



Tip #14 Motivation: 

Staying motivated is crucial for students because it directly impacts their learning, performance, and overall well-being. Here’s why:

  1. Enhances Learning and Retention – When students are motivated, they engage more deeply with the material, making it easier to understand and remember.

  2. Encourages Persistence – Motivation helps students push through challenges and setbacks instead of giving up when things get tough.

  3. Boosts Performance – Motivated students tend to put in more effort, complete assignments on time, and perform better on tests and projects.

  4. Develops Positive Habits – Staying motivated builds discipline and a strong work ethic, which are essential for future success in school and beyond.

  5. Reduces Stress and Anxiety – A motivated mindset can make learning feel more enjoyable rather than overwhelming, leading to a more positive school experience.

  6. Prepares for Future Goals – Motivation helps students stay focused on their long-term goals, whether it’s getting into college, pursuing a career, or developing skills for personal growth.

Next week: Tips for staying motivated



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 take a test on Exponents on Wednesday, February 5th. We then move on to classifying polynomials.


Advanced Algebra - Mr. Lanfear
Next week in Advanced Algebra, we will complete Chapter 7 by having a quiz covering 7.1-7.5 on Monday.  Then, we will begin our unit on right triangle Trigonometry by learning what sine, cosine, and tangent are as well as how to find the lengths of missing sides and angles using trig.  There will be a quiz on Thursday covering SOHCAHTOA and how to find missing sides.


Geometry - Mr. Lanfear
Next week in Geometry, we will begin Chapter 9 by learning about vectors (9.1), matrices (9.2), performing reflections and rotations (9.3-9.4), and performing compositions of transformations (9.5).


Physical Science - Ms. Harmon
We will be continuing our lesson on Force next week. 


ELA - Ms. Hall

Next week, students will begin reading the novel Night by Eli Wiesel. As they read outside of class, we will continue developing their reading and writing skills when it comes to informational texts. As students read, they should be aware of several projects and a test that will occur at the end of our Informational Unit.


US History - Mr. Saviskas
Hello again! We are diving deep into the Holocaust these next few weeks. We have already started with the origins of antisemitism and we’ll be further examining how the Holocaust happened. This is an important lesson for students as it will also come up during our March, Washington, DC trip. This is a pretty dark and heavy unit so if you have any questions or concerns please let me know via email.


High School Spanish - Mr. De Cardenas

Next week, based on the positive feedback from students about the current unit, we will continue building on this solid foundation with an emphasis on improving speaking skills. We’ll incorporate a variety of activities designed to give students plenty of chances to practice and strengthen their spoken language abilities.

In addition to these speaking exercises, we will read another episode of La Isla Más Peligrosa to further engage students in the storyline and deepen their understanding of the material. We will also update the mapping project to reflect our progress and connect it more closely to what we’re learning from the book.

Please note that there will be a quiz on Tuesday, 02/03, and a test on Friday, 02/07, to assess their understanding and progress with the language so far. These assessments will help identify strengths and areas for improvement as we move forward.

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to reach out.


 


Algebra I - Mr. Scordato
Students will take a test on Exponents on Wednesday, February 5th. We then move on to classifying polynomials.


Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear
Next week in Pre-Algebra, we will begin Chapter 7 by learning about converting percents to and from fractions and decimals (7.1, 7.3).  We will also learn how to solve percent problems using proportions (7.2) and the percent equation (7.4).  We will also learn how to find the percent of change (7.5).  There will be a quiz on Friday covering 7.1-7.4.


Life Science - Ms. Harmon

Next week we will be continuing our lesson on the musculoskeletal system. 


Life Science - Mrs. Swanner
Next week, we will begin our study of protists and fungi.


ELA - Ms. Ferkol

We are about to begin our culminating project for the Voices of the World Book Club Unit! This project results in the creation of a “theme” park that is  named after and representative of one of their book club novel’s major themes. This project will be due on February 21st for a TEST grade; however, there will be checkpoints throughout our work time to make sure students stay on track and have every opportunity to be successful with this project! This week, students will work toward the goal of creating an abstract draft and blueprint of their parks. Students should keep in mind that this week’s work will be submitted as their first checkpoint and be graded as a project!


**Please note that the entire packet of journals will be due ON FEBRUARY 13TH and taken as a QUIZ GRADE. Students should take care to work on these journals diligently and with care and intention. 


ELA - Ms. Hall

Next week, students will be concluding reading their Voices of the World novels and journals. Those journals will be due on Wednesday, February 12. As they finish reading, they’ll use the skills they’ve cultivated throughout the unit to complete Theme based final project. This will be due in the following weeks.


American History - Mr. O’Hayer

Next week in American History students will continue our examination of the American Government/Economics Unit. Our focus will be on the U.S. Constitution and the three branches of government, and the Bill of Rights. This is an essential unit! Students will learn what government is, the origins of the American government systems, the U.S. Constitution, and the Structures of our political systems. 


American History - Mr. Saviskas

On Monday, 2/10 we will be having a test on what we’ve learned about the Constitution so far. Students already have a study guide and the notes available to them in Google Classroom. After that we will be working on our Political Parties Project, allowing students to research American political parties of the past and present. This is a pretty simple research project that I expect to take up most of the week.


Advanced Spanish - Mr. Jones

 Working now to differentiate between the possessive pronouns and adjectives, we will begin adding in the demonstrative adjectives and pronouns to these structures. Our goal is to empower students to speak of nouns with specificity! We will add in the expression “to have to…” as well. We will test over this material on Friday, 14 February.


X + 1 = Fluency


Advanced Spanish - Mr. De Cardenas 

 Working now to differentiate between the possessive pronouns and adjectives, we will begin adding in the demonstrative adjectives and pronouns to these structures. Our goal is to empower students to speak of nouns with specificity! We will add in the expression “to have to…” as well. We will test over this material on Friday, 14 February.



X + 1 = Fluency




Accelerated Math - Mr. Scordato

There will be a quiz on Thursday on writing and graphing functions. We will be taking some detours along the way as the students are loving these dice games I have created to help them learn about Probability.


Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear
Next week in Pre-Algebra, we will begin Chapter 7 by learning about converting percents to and from fractions and decimals (7.1, 7.3).  We will also learn how to solve percent problems using proportions (7.2) and the percent equation (7.4).  We will also learn how to find the percent of change (7.5).  There will be a quiz on Friday covering 7.1-7.4.


Earth Science - Mrs. Swanner
There will be a Rocks and Minerals test on Wednesday, February 12.


ELA - Ms. Ferkol
Throughout the duration of this week, students will be drafting and editing their culminating essay for our Realistic Fiction unit. Students will draft using their outlines in class and should expect to write the associated paragraph for homework each night. Their work in their outlines will count toward check-in classwork grades throughout this time. This essay will be due for a TEST GRADE on Friday, February 14th at the beginning of class. As a reminder, students should have their essays printed and ready to turn in hard copy AS WELL AS submitted digitally in Google Classroom.


World History - Mr. O’Hayer
Next week in World History students will continue preparing for our trip to Junior Achievement’s BizTown. This financial Literacy program will introduce students to the world of finance. This program is a hands-on learning experience that will culminate in a fun field trip to the GSU Armstrong campus where students will explore jobs and see how the “real world works.” Please make sure permission slips are in. Students will NOT be allowed to take part if we do not have a permission slip. The date is Feb. 13th. Please arrive at 9:30. Make sure students are dressed in regular uniforms (NO PE Uniforms) and have lunch/drink. The pick-up time is 1:30.


Spanish Fundamentals - Mr. Jones
We will begin learning the expression “to have to…” and continue moving forward thereafter. Our first book project check will be on Friday, 7th February and all following checks will come immediately after test days as well. Students must have an answer to one of our questions per page (10 pages total as of right now), have an illustration of their choosing (literally anything that is appropriate), and color the illustration. This semester-long project is intended to serve as a mile marker of our progress. 



 6th graders needed an extra day for shoe exhibition and completing the Year of the Snake design. Next week we will begin impressionist cloud studies in painting. 


7th graders will resume treehouse architecture and build small scale sculptures of their tree house illustration. Each 7th grade class had an amount of silliness this week. Please join me in a conversation:  Teachers are interested in the success of every student. Humor is welcome at the right time. The exceptional student creativity at Hancock should be celebrated each class. 


8th graders are putting final touches on Comics and Characters. Next week they will start a pop art Roy Lichtenstein project using the Ben-Day dot painting technique. 

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