March 24th - March 28th

 

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.






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.


Exciting news, Eagles! Here's what's coming up in the world of HDS Athletics:

NEW! Girls Flag Football (Fall 2025)
We’re introducing a Girls Flag Football league this fall! The league will run on Saturday mornings for about 4 to 6 weeks. Grades 6-8 are eligible to play. Sign up in the MS Office or email Coach Bellairs for more details!

Baseball Schedule:

  • March 18th @ 5:00 PM vs. SAS (CANCELLED)

  • March 20th @ 7:00 PM vs. BSS
     All games will be held at Paulson Field.
     Come out and support your Eagles, especially if you stayed local over break! Let's show up in full force!

Upcoming Week (March 24-27):

March 24th - Soccer vs. SJS @ Hancock BC Field

  • Girls: 5:00 PM

  • Boys: 6:15 PM

March 25th - Golf Match @ Henderson Golf Course

  • 3:30 PM

  • Baseball vs. SCDS @ Paulson Field - 5:00 PM

March 26th - Soccer vs. SCDS @ Hancock BC Field

  • Girls: 5:00 PM

  • Boys: 6:15 PM

  • Golf: TBD

March 27th - Baseball vs. SCPS @ Paulson Field

  • 5:00 PM

Other Important News:

Track Season:
Our first track meet will be April 2nd! Get ready to run, jump, and race your way to victory!

Fishing Tournament - April 11th & 12th
Pick up your forms from Coach Bellairs on Friday, April 11th.
The tournament starts after school on the 11th and ends at noon on the 12th.
You can fish anytime between 3:45 PM (April 11th) and noon (April 12th).

  • Grades 2-5 must have a parent with them.

  • Grades 6-8 can fish with a partner.
     Freshwater fishing only. Rule sheets will be handed out after break!

Thanks for staying active and supporting our teams! Let's go, Eagles!


#18 Executive Functioning Skills: Understanding Time Management

Middle school students often struggle with time management as they balance school, extracurricular activities, and personal time. Here are some effective strategies to help them manage their time better:

1. Use a Planner or Digital Calendar

• Write down homework, tests, and project due dates on a monthly 

calendar.

• Schedule extracurricular activities and personal time.

• Set reminders for important deadlines.

2. Prioritize Tasks with a To-Do List

• Break tasks into urgent vs. important categories.

• Check off completed tasks for motivation.

3. Set a Homework Routine

• Designate a quiet, distraction-free study area.

• Follow the Pomodoro Technique (25 minutes of focused work, 

5-minute break).

• Tackle harder subjects first while energy levels are high.

4. Limit Distractions

• Keep the phone away or use “Do Not Disturb” mode.

• Use apps like Forest or StayFocusd to block distractions.

• Listen to instrumental music if background noise is helpful.

5. Break Large Tasks into Smaller Steps

• Avoid last-minute cramming by working in small chunks over 

time.

• Set mini-deadlines for each step of a project.

• Use checklists to track progress.

Con’t Next Week



The virtue for March is courage. This article has some great tips, two of my favorites are: 

  • When you define courage for your student, let them know that it often feels different inside than it looks on the outside. Courageous acts can often make you feel scared and anxious.

  • “Failure and rejection are often signs that we have done something brave.” 


How to Encourage Courage in Your Kids


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
Welcome back from Spring Break! The quadratic equations unit continues with the introduction of the quadratic formula. There will be a quiz on Thursday, March 27th.


Advanced Algebra - Mr. Lanfear
When we come back from Spring Break, we will continue Chapter 9 by learning how to find the volume of prisms  cylinders, pyramids  and cones.


Geometry - Mr. Lanfear
When we come back from Spring Break, we will begin Chapter 11 by learning how to find the area of various polygons such as squares, rectangles, triangles, parallelograms, trapezoids, and kites.


Physical Science - Ms. Harmon
We had a great time on our Trip and made lots of memories! The photos will be released on a Google doc next week. We are still collecting from students so please have them send those in. After Spring break we will be learning about Electromagnetic Waves. Have a safe and fun spring break!! 


 ELA - Ms. Hall

It sounds like the DC Trip has been a tremendous success so far! When students return from their restful spring break, we will be finishing up their Yom HaShoah projects. They are aware that the day they return, they will need to have completed editing and finalizing their annotated bibliographies. Then, we will spend the entire week working on completing their contest submissions and their formal report. Their Contest Submission piece is due Thursday, March 27. The formal report for this project is due Friday, March 28. I’m excited to see how their hard work pays off!


US History - Mr. Saviskas
Welcome back! I hope everyone is having a wonderful spring break! Once we return we will go back to our WWI unit. I plan to have a quiz on that Friday, March 28th. If it is clear that we need more time to prepare I will move it to that following Monday.


High School Spanish - Mr. De Cardenas

I hope you're doing well. I wanted to update you on what we have planned for next week in our Spanish class. After receiving positive feedback from students about our current unit, we’re excited to keep the momentum going and continue making progress.

Next week, we'll deepen our work to improve speaking, listening,  writing and reading skills. We’ll introduce a variety of activities that will give students more chances to practice their Spanish, helping them become more fluent and confident in conversation.

Additionally, we will build upon the knowledge students have already gained in the immediate future and simple future tenses. They will engage in several activities designed to apply this knowledge in practical, situational communication. This will allow them to refine their ability to use the future tenses effectively in everyday contexts, promoting greater accuracy and fluency.

On Wednesday, students will take a quiz, and on Friday, they will complete a test. Both assessments are designed to give students the opportunity to demonstrate the skills they have developed in Spanish so far

If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to reach out. I’m looking forward to another great week of learning!


Algebra I - Mr. Scordato

Welcome back from Spring Break! The quadratic equations unit continues with the introduction of the quadratic formula. There will be a quiz on Thursday, March 27th.


Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear 

When we come back from Spring Break, we will continue Chapter 8 by learning about slope, slope-intercept form, and writing linear equations.


Life Science - Ms. Harmon

After spring break we will be learning about the Nervous System. Have a safe and fun spring break!! 


Life Science - Mrs. Swanner
After spring break, we will continue our study of Human Body Systems, continuing with the Musculoskeletal System. There will be a vocabulary quiz on Friday, the 28th.


ELA - Ms. Ferkol

Upon returning from break, students will finish the final Act of the play and have a quiz on March 26 covering the characters and background information learned throughout the last week of reading Shakespeare’s work. Following the quiz, 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! 


ELA - Ms. Hall

After the break, students will take a quiz on March 26 covering the characters and background information from their week of reading Shakespeare’s work. Following the quiz, we will begin preparing for the exciting final project of this mini unit!


To help students connect more deeply with Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, they will be divided into groups to creatively reimagine one scene from the play. Each group will be responsible for assigning roles, designing costumes, rehearsing, and filming their scene. Once all the groups have completed their recordings, the scenes will be edited together to form a completed story that showcases the Hancock Day School 7th graders’ unique interpretation of this story.


American History - Mr. O’Hayer

Happy Spring Break!!! When we return, we will begin our unit studying the first six Presidents of the United States. Students will also begin their next project: Researching a President and writing/performing a song that describes their President and their accomplishments. This is a student-favorite project. Have a wonderful and relaxing break. Erin Go Bragh!!! 🇮🇪


American History - Mr. Saviskas

I hope everyone is having a great spring break! When we return we will take a day to do a review and refresher on the material covered before the break and the DC trip. Afterwards we'll be speeding towards a quiz on Friday, March 28th. From there we'll move on to the lead up to the Civil War.


Advanced Spanish - Mr. Jones

 Upon return from Spring Break, we will begin to learn a few important irregular verbs in the past simple (ser, estar, tener, ir, hacer) and then we will begin working to create sentences that express the past and present to tell stories chronologically; this will tie in all previously learned material so that we can create a stronger foundation of what we already know in the past tense as well. Students will be expected to write a half page paragraph using both the past and present tense to create such a story. Enjoy your break everyone!


X + 1 = Fluency

Advanced Spanish - Mr. De Cardenas 

Upon return from Spring Break, we will begin to learn a few important irregular verbs in the past simple (ser, estar, tener, ir, hacer) and then we will begin working to create sentences that express the past and present to tell stories chronologically; this will tie in all previously learned material so that we can create a stronger foundation of what we already know in the past tense as well. Students will be expected to write a half page paragraph using both the past and present tense to create such a story. Enjoy your break everyone!


X + 1 = Fluency



Accelerated Math - Mr. Scordato

Welcome back from Spring Break! We continue with Chapter 11 as we study the area and perimeter of various polygons.


Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear
When we come back from Spring Break, we will continue Chapter 8 by learning about slope, slope-intercept form, and writing linear equations.


Earth Science - Mrs. Swanner
After spring break, we will continue our study of Earth Dynamics. There will be a quiz on April 1. The “large” project for Trimester 3 will be building and erupting a “volcano.” Students will need to bring clay to build their volcano on Friday, April 4th (on Monday, March 24, we will research different ways to build volcanoes, so students will have an idea of any other supplies they will need).



ELA - Ms. Ferkol

Upon returning from break, we will work on finishing our novels! In doing so, we will have the last of our mini-vocabulary quizzes (Anticipated dates – Part 3: 3/25 and Part 4: 3/28). Once we have finished reading our novels, students will then work on creating their own “final assessment” and answer key for this novel. They will be provided assessment structure options and be asked to cover important concepts in their assessment such as vocabulary, theme, figurative language, etc. 


*Throughout this unit, students will be assessed on vocabulary (4 mini quizzes average into 1 quiz grade) and novels will be checked for annotations (classwork grades) regularly. 


World History - Mr. O’Hayer

Happy Spring Break!! When we return, students will begin their last couple of chapters on the Enlightenment. We will travel from France to the United States to study how the Founding Fathers used the Enlightenment to develop the new government of our new nation. Students will also begin their next project: Teach a Lesson. Students will prepare a lesson on the assigned material and present their lesson to the class. Wishing you all a wonderful and relaxing break. Erin Go Bragh! 🇮🇪


Spanish Fundamentals - Mr. Jones
Upon return from Spring Break, we will begin to learn a few important irregular verbs in the past simple (ser, estar, tener, ir, hacer); Spanish Fundamental students will focus on oral communication to practice said material by creating short statements that include both the past and present tense. Ultimately, we will add more pages to our book project to incorporate such phrases in a written format. Enjoy your break everyone! 



All students will be introduced to the Printmaking Unit.  Each grade level will experience the effect, imperfection,  transformation and repetition in the process of printmaking. Students will learn how particular tools and surfaces interact to design and describe. 


8th Graders I look forward to assisting students with their Yom HaShoa projects beginning March 24th. Students may complete at home or start bringing in their projects Monday March 24th with a due date Friday March 28th. Craftsmanship for the final is our overarching for each medium in drawing, painting and sculpture. 

Comments

Post a Comment