January 10, 2014

WORDS FROM THE MIDDLE SCHOOL DIRECTOR

 

WINTER ATHLETICS – Our basketball schedule got into full swing this week.  While there a couple of dramatic mismatches, games were exciting and our students represented HDS very well.  When Ms. Edie returns next week we will be sure to have photo coverage!  Please support our students, they REALLY appreciated it!  Game are Tuesday and Thursdays with an abbreviated schedule on Saturday mornings. 

LATE ARRIVAL/EARLY DISMISSAL – A clear expectation of HDS is that we know where your child is at all times!  Another is to keep an accurate school register of student attendance.  To ensure that we are meeting both of these expectations it is critical that we accurately account for a child’s late arrival or early departure.  Therefore, if you are late arriving, please drop your child off at the main door of the Lower School and report to Mrs. Monson.  If you are picking up your child early, please reverse the process picking up your child at the main door of the Lower School.  The Middle School team will try and add some consistency to this process by releasing early dismissals through Mrs. Monson.

HIGH SCHOOL APPLICATIONS – If you have application packets to be completed have your child bring them to Ms. Edie.  She will distribute them to the appropriate teachers and the see that HDS mails the documents to the high school (except for Savannah Arts where they will be returned to the parent).  This will ensure everything is processed accurately and in a timely manner.

6TH GRADE NEWS

6th Grade English Language Arts with Mrs. O'Connor

Sixth graders are continuing to read The Outsiders and study contextual vocabulary in the week ahead.  Students have a quiz coming up on Tuesday, January 14^th,  over chapters 1-3.  The quiz will include the vocabulary words we are studying, as well as the grammatical concepts we have practiced this week (Lessons 11 and 12 in GUM).  Students also have questions due over chapters 3-4 on Wednesday, and questions over chapters 5-6 due on Friday.  Students will have reading homework every single night next week, so I encourage them to budget their time carefully in order to ensure that they do not fall behind.
 

Math 6 with Mrs. Reardon

Next week in Math 6, we will be solving equations by using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.  We will then put all of the operations together to solve 2-step equations.  We will review what we covered Monday through Wednesday in class on Thursday and then the students will take a chapter quiz over sections 7.3-7.5 on Friday (1/17).  If possible, please have your child take advantage of Thursday afternoon tutoring sessions from 3:10-3:30 – they seem to be less crowded than the morning sessions.

6th Earth Science with Mr. Crawford

The beginning of the second semester presented several challenges for which I did not plan.  As a result, the schedule that I sent last week never got completed.  For a while we fell behind in some areas and still are.  In another area we are ahead!  Over the weekend I will be rescheduling several items.  At this time I do know that the lab we planned on doing will be on Tuesday.  The quiz that was planned for Friday (which I actually postponed due to a 6^th grade overload!) will be on Wednesday.  The quiz will cover the handouts on Continental Drift, Sea Floor Spreading and Plate Tectonics.  The assignment due Monday will be a question sheet on those three topics.  Further details will be emailed Monday.

6th Earth Science with Mrs. Blake

The sixth graders just finished their chapter on volcanoes and started a quick research project.  On Wednesday, students will present their specific volcano to the class.  At the end of the week, there will be a quiz on the last two sections of this chapter.  We also will resume our current event presentations next Friday. 
 
6th Spanish with Ms. Hughes

Next week in Spanish class, the 6^th grade will continue to work with their new vocabulary from Chapter 3A. Students will begin a project where they will choose one of their favorite recipes and translate it to Spanish. We will then compile everybody’s recipes and create a “Spanish Class Cookbook”. The Chapter 3A test will be on Friday, January 17^th.

6th World Civilizations with Mrs. English

This week in World Civilizations we will be continuing our study of Ancient Greece.  We will see how the early Greeks developed their culture.  We see how literature like the Odyssey and Greek myths played a huge roll in Greek society.  We will have a Quiz on Chapter 8-Lessons 1 & 2 on Thursday January 16^th. 

7TH GRADE NEWS

7th Grade English Language Arts with Mrs. O'Connor

Seventh graders are busy reading The Hobbit and exploring contextual vocabulary.  Questions over chapters 1-3 are due on Tuesday, January 14^th, and students have a quiz over chapters 1-4 on Wednesday, January 15^th.  This quiz will include the contextual vocabulary words from list one.  Questions over chapters 4-5 will be due on Thursday.  Students will have reading homework every single night next week, so I encourage students to carefully plan their time to ensure that they do not fall behind.

  Pre-Algebra with Mrs. Reardon

Next week in Pre-Algebra, we will be converting percents to decimals, learning the percent equation and change of percent.  We will review what we covered Monday through Wednesday in class on Thursday and then the students will take a chapter quiz over sections 7.3-7.5 on Friday (1/17).
  7th-8th Algebra with Mr. Lanfear

Next week in Mr. Lanfear’s Algebra (7/8) class we will be continuing our exploration of inequalities.  We will be discussing compound inequalities (6.4) and having a quiz on inequalities.  We will then move on to solving absolute value equations (6.5).

 

7th Grade Life Science with Mrs. Blake

The seventh graders have started their survey of the animal kingdom.  They began by learning about animal characteristics and symmetry.    The students are currently doing research for their invertebrate phylum project.  Their presentations will begin the week of January 20.   Also next week, they will be introduced to the phylum Porifera.  This phylum is made up of sponges-the simplest animal. 
 
7th Spanish with Ms. Hughes

Next week in Spanish class, the 7^th grade will continue to work with their new vocabulary from Chapter 8B along with indirect objects. Students will begin a project where they will choose a charity to research and present to the class. We will have a graded listening on Friday, January 17^th and the Chapter 8B test will be the following Wednesday, January 21^st.

7th American History with Mrs. English

This week in American History we will continue to see how the American colonists were on the road towards revolution.  As the colonists gained more independence from Britain, Britain grasped tighter control.  Students should expect to read Chapter 5- Section 2, define vocabulary, and answer review questions.  We will also have a quiz on Chapter 5-Section 1&2 on Thursday January 16^th. Finally, the class timeline projects are due Friday January 17^th during class. 

 

8TH GRADE NEWS

8th Grade English Language Arts with Mrs. O'Connor

Eighth grade students are currently reading The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  Our first set of questions over the novel are due on Monday, and students will also have a quiz over chapters 1-6 on Monday.  Students will take another short quiz on Wednesday over chapters 7-8.  Our second set of questions over the novel will be due on Friday.  Students will have reading homework every single night next week, so I encourage students to carefully plan their time to ensure that they do not fall behind.

8th Grade Physical Science with Mrs. Blake

The eighth graders are finishing their chapter on chemical and physical properties and changes.  They have already performed one lab which illustrated chemical changes and will perform one more next week.  They will have a quiz on the last two sections of this chapter next Friday.

7th-8th Algebra with Mr. Lanfear

Next week in Mr. Lanfear’s Algebra (7/8) class we will be continuing our exploration of inequalities.  We will be discussing compound inequalities (6.4) and having a quiz on inequalities.  We will then move on to solving absolute value equations (6.5).

8th Advanced Algebra with Mr. Lanfear

Next week in Mr. Lanfear’s Advanced Algebra/Intro to Geometry (Grade 8) class we will be exploring more about triangles.  We will discover the Base Angles Theorem of isosceles triangles (4.3) and we will discuss medians of triangles and the resulting centroid (4.6).
8th Spanish with Ms. Hughes

Next week in Spanish class, the 8^th grade will continue to with the imperfect tense and vocabulary from Chapter 4A. Students will begin a project where they will write a biography about one of their fellow classmates using our new tense. There will be a graded listening on Friday, January 17^th and the Chapter 4A test will be the following Wednesday, January 21^st.

8th American Government with Mrs. English

This week we will continue our study of the United States Congress by examining who is in Congress and what Congress members do in office.  For homework, students should expect to read Chapter 5- Section 2, define vocabulary, answer review questions, and read articles assigned in class.