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| Friday Assembly |
Parent Teacher Conference Day
Wednesday, October 23
No school for students
WORDS FROM THE MIDDLE SCHOOL DIRECTOR
ABSENCES!
Over
the past couple of weeks we have had many students miss all or part of a day to
participate in family activities. First,
Hancock supports families! That said,
the foundation of academic success is being in class, ready to work, each
and every day. Missing class time makes
success difficult. Therefore, planning
for absences when possible is essential. Our attendance policy can be found on page 55 of the Handbook or at the
following link:
In
the Non-scheduled vacations section, the Hancock requests that you notify the
school 2 weeks in advance of any non-scheduled vacation. Why is this important? When a student is absent, the student
essentially has one day to make up the missing work. Missing a critical day could put undue
pressure on your child. That became an
issue this week, the final week of the first quarter. I highlighted over the past two newsletters
how busy things were academically during this time. One student told me Thursday he was going to
miss school Friday for a family trip, which means he will be making up multiple assignments AND tests when he
returns on Monday. Had we known about
the absence we could have spread the tests throughout this week before his
departure.
Please
look at your calendars now to plan for the second quarter. The most critical week of that quarter
is the week of December 16th, exam week. On Monday and Tuesday teachers will be
reviewing for semester exams. Those
exams will be administered on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Missing any time that week would put your
child at a significant disadvantage to succeed. Please support your child by keeping us in
the loop for these planned absences.
DIRECTOR’S STUDY HALL
Beginning
the week of October 21st, I will be holding a Director’s Study Hall
each Wednesday and Thursday afternoon from 3:30 – 4:00. This study hall will be to assist students
who would like a quiet, structured study environment, and also for students who are not
performing satisfactorily in class. This
performance gap could be driven by failure to complete assigned classwork or
conduct. A teacher may assign a student
to the Director’s Study Hall with a day's notice to parents so appropriate
transportation can be arranged. Students
who would like a quiet study hall on those days are invited to attend anytime.
SCHOOL VISITATIONS BEGIN
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| The Homecoming t-shirts have arrived! Stay tuned... |
A NEW BEGINNING!
Monday
marks the beginning of the second quarter.
Hard to believe we are this far into our school year already. It is a
time for all students to discuss first quarter performance with their families. It is also a time to make those “resolutions”
in areas they may improve. It is a
time to GET OFF TO A GREAT START!
LAST WEEK FOR THE RAFFLE!
Please give this raffle your best effort! 100% participation means sell as many tickets as you can! All ticket must be turned into the office by noon on Friday, October 24th. Currently Mrs. O'Connor's Homeroom is in the school lead for raffle tickets! Nice!
SEE EVERYONE AT HOMECOMING AND GOOD LUCK IN THE RAFFLE!
6TH GRADE NEWS
6th Grade English Language Arts with Mrs. O'Connor
The sixth graders will spend the first half of next week
viewing the Academy Award-winning documentary Anne Frank Remembered. Viewing
and discussing this film will allow students to deepen their understanding of
Anne Frank’s experiences specifically and the Holocaust in general. Permission slips went home for this on Wednesday, and these forms must be
returned no later than Monday. Once we finish viewing and discussing this
documentary we will begin studying short stories in our textbook.
Math 6 with Mrs. Reardon
Next week in Math 6, we will be venturing further into
chapter 4 by comparing and ordering fractions, learning about mixed numbers and
improper fractions, and converting fractions to decimals and decimals to
fractions. On Friday, October 25
students will take a chapter quiz over lessons 4.4 – 4.6. At the end of the week, students should begin
preparing for their Chapter 4 test that will take place on Tuesday, October
29. Due to parent/teacher conferences,
students will NOT have a math facts quiz next week.
6th Earth Science with Mr. Crawford
All
work for the next several weeks will be done in the ORANGE book. We are beginning a unit on the Atmosphere,
Weather and Climate. Homework Friday is
to complete any portions of the Layer Lab not finished in class and to read
pages 430 – 433 (second request). Tuesday we will be studying those pages in class. Homework is to finish pages 430-433 notes;
questions pages 448-9 # 1-11 & 17. Wednesday – see you all in Parent Conferences! Thursday we will prep and complete a graphing
activity involving layers of the atmosphere and temperature. Homework will be to finish the lab. Friday we will explore sunscreens.
6th Earth Science with Mrs. Blake
Next week the sixth graders will be looking at latitude and
longitude. This information is not new
to the students, but is of great importance in Earth Science. Their knowledge and understanding of basic geography
is necessary and helpful as they cover future topics such as plate tectonics,
earthquakes, and volcanoes.
6th Spanish with Ms. Hughes
Next week in Spanish the 6th grade will begin a
new chapter discussing school subjects and what students do during the day. We
will also be covering “ar” verb conjugation. There will be a vocabulary quiz on
Friday, October 25th.
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| Reciting their 50 states song in Mrs. English's class |
We will continue our study of Mesopotamia in Chapter
3-section 1 and explore how cities transformed into civilizations. Students
should expect to read the section, answer review questions, and complete
section worksheets for homework. Continue to review your 50 states
geography! We will have a quiz on Chapter 3-Section 1 on Friday.
7TH GRADE NEWS
7th Grade English Language Arts with Mrs. O'Connor
Seventh graders have finished reading of Roll of Thunder,
Hear My Cry and are now beginning to work on a group project.
Students will create a newspaper based on the life and times of characters in
the novel. This assignment gives our class an opportunity to study the
format and structure of news articles while also demonstrating what we’ve
learned from the novel. Much of the work for this assignment will be
completed in class in the week ahead.
Pre-Algebra with Mrs. Reardon
Next week in Pre-Algebra, we will continue learning in
chapter 4 about least common multiples and rules of exponents. On Friday, October 25 students will take a
chapter quiz over lessons 4.4 – 4.5. The
Chapter 4 test will take place on Thursday, October 31. Due to parent/teacher conferences, students
will NOT have a math facts quiz next week.
7th-8th Algebra with Mr. Lanfear
Next week in Mr. Lanfear’s Algebra (Grades 7/8) class, we
will be continuing to explore the wonderful world of slope. By the end of
the week, we will learn how to use slope and intercepts to graph linear
functions.
7th Grade Life Science with Mrs. Blake
After learning about organic and inorganic compounds, the
seventh graders will have a quiz Tuesday over selected elements and their
symbols. They have just been introduced
to the different types of passive transport and will be performing a lab
showcasing osmosis next week. Later in
the week, they will learn about the types of active transport in the cell.
7th Spanish with Ms. Hughes
Next week in Spanish the 7th grade will begin a
new chapter discussing events that happened in the past and learning the direct
object in Spanish. This chapter also covers the preterit form. There will be a
vocabulary quiz on Friday, October 25th.
7th American History with Mrs. English
In American History we will start Chapter 3-Section 1 “The
First English Settlements” this week. We will specifically study
Jamestown, Plymouth, and the first Thanksgiving. Students will consider the
conditions and struggles that early colonists faced in the New World. Students
will be expected to read the section, answer review questions, and define
vocabulary for homework. Continue to review your 50 states geography!
8TH GRADE NEWS
8th Grade English Language Arts with Mrs. O'Connor
Eighth graders will read “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel
Keyes in the week ahead. Our class will only meet three times next week
due to conferences and high school visits, so students should expect to read a
significant portion of this text on their own out of class. Once we
finish this piece we will be ready to begin To Kill a Mockingbird.
8th Grade Physical Science with Mrs. Blake
The eighth graders will finish their review of the various
atomic models at the beginning of the week. On Tuesday, they will have a quiz over selected elements and their
symbols. The class will then focus on
elements and the periodic table. They
will be looking at the development of the table and be learning how to use it.
8th Spanish with Ms. Hughes
Next week in Spanish the 8th grade will begin a
new chapter covering irregular verbs in the preterit form. They will also
learn vocabulary discussing running errands and different places in the
community. There will be a vocabulary quiz on Friday, October 25th.
7th-8th Algebra with Mr. Lanfear
Next week in Mr. Lanfear’s Algebra (Grades 7/8) class, we
will be continuing to explore the wonderful world of slope. By the end of
the week, we will learn how to use slope and intercepts to graph linear
functions.
8th Advanced Algebra with Mr. Lanfear
Next week in Mr. Lanfear’s Advanced Algebra/Intro to
Geometry (Grade 8) class, we will continue to explore simplifying radical
expressions with variables under the radical. We will have a quiz on
section 11.2 in the middle of the week. We will end the week with
starting to solve radical equations using those techniques.
8th American Government with Mrs. English
In American Government we will continue our study of the
Constitution and the founding fathers. We will explore what the writers
of the Constitution were trying to accomplish and consider if our government is
accomplishing those goals today. Students should expect to read the
section, define vocabulary, answer review questions, and be prepared to write a
reflection on the section. Continue to review your 50 states geography!
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| 6th graders perform the song they wrote about the fifty states |
SPORTS EVENTS
Big shout out to the Volleyball team for last night's win!
Volleyball Game
Tuesday, Oct. 22 @ 7pm
Volleyball Game
Hancock vs. SCDS at Blessed Sacrament
Saturday, Oct. 26 @ 11am
Football Game
Hancock vs. SCDS at BC
