Our Head of School getting some one on one time with our Middle School students
Ms. Oosterhoudt's art class has been displaying an Origami project in our Middle School Building
WORDS FROM THE MIDDLE SCHOOL HEAD
Student Government Elections
Next week, our Student Government will organize for the
year. These elections are important as
the Middle School Team wants to include the students, where appropriate, in the
Middle School decision making process.
Our hallways are already packed with campaign posters! On Wednesday, we will hear speeches from
those running office. On Thursday,
students may campaign during lunch hour.
All campaign activities must be pre-approved by
Mrs. Reardon or Ms.
Hughes and must include all 87 Middle School students. Friday is election day with the results
announced at lunch.
Students seeking to serve as Homeroom Representative must
have their campaign form submitted to Mrs. Reardon or Ms. Hughes by the close
of school Friday. Elections for Homeroom
Rep will be Monday morning in Homerooms.
First meeting of Student Government will be Tuesday, September 9th.
Testing and Extracurricular Activities
Our Middle School students are engaged in a wide variety
of activities both at Hancock and throughout the Savannah/Chatham County
region. These activities all have times
that require intense commitment. Sports
teams have game night. Children’s
Theater and Children’s Choir have dress rehearsals and multiple presentation
nights. The Soccer Academies travel
throughout the State of Georgia and beyond.
In addition, some students participate in multiple activities!
Balancing extracurricular activities with academics is an
issue that grows more intense as students move into their middle and high
school years. Solutions to balancing are
particular to each family. Numerous
studies have shown that students and families that are committed to an
extracurricular activity experience have greater success than their peers
because they are organized and plan time well.
How does the Hancock Day School support families? First, each family is given a course syllabus
that describes the general content of the course and indicates major events
such as reading a novel in English. This
facilitates completing intense assignments in “slow” extracurricular
times. Second, we publish a weekly blog
that describes in more detail the next week’s schedule for each course. While specific assignments are not usually
part of the blog, the descriptions do lay out the general schedule for the
week. This permits pre reading of most
assignments. Next, our teachers are
available each morning from 7:45 – 8:15 and after school until 3:45 to offer
support to their students. Additional study
time was added to the schedule during the 10:30 – 11:00 hour each week. Finally, we have a policy of not testing or
collecting major assignments on Mondays.
Each season brings challenges to your child’s time. This fall our volleyball team plays each
Tuesday and Thursday making Wednesdays and Fridays challenging. The football team plays most Thursdays. Cross country runs once a week in the
afternoons. Cheer practices throughout
the week and cheer at the Thursday football games
Long answer short, the solution lies in careful
planning. For our part, we will try and
avoid “piling” on when we can. We do
have a policy of no Monday tests and a policy that limits tests to two in any
day (there might be a third quiz level assignment). As a staff we are cognizant of our student’s
busy schedules, but with their wide range of activities it would be impossible
to add additional “no test” days to the week.
The beginning of the semester is usually the worst in terms of the
intensity of student assessment. Courses
are just beginning and teachers are all trying to get in their first
assessments at the same time. Experience
has shown that things spread out once we are two or three weeks into the
semester.
See you at next week’s games!
Dress Down Day Tuesday
In celebration of a GREAT start to our school year, Mrs.
Kerr announced a Dress Down Day for Tuesday.
Please see the hand book for guidelines.
There is no charge to dress down.
Pep Rally Thursday!
.JPG)
EAGLE SPORTS
Sports for the week of September 1st – 5th:
Volleyball: HDS at SCPS (DeRenne Campus) 7pm.
Football: First Game- HDS @ SCPS (DeRenne) 5:30pm
***Pep Rally: Thursday September 4th, Gym.
2:30***
***Reminder: Vertus Training will be held on Saturday
September 20th. Please arrive no later than 8:45. This is a
requirement for all coaches interested in Coaching at HDS this year. Please
RSVP to Coach O’Hayer at lohayer@hancockdayschool.org.
6TH GRADE NEWS
6th Grade English Language Arts with Mrs. O'Connor
Next week sixth graders will continue to study nonfiction as
we read narrative and persuasive pieces. We will also review the
grammatical concepts we have studied so far this year and take a quiz over
these (simple/complete subjects and predicates, direct and indirect objects) on
Friday, September 5th. Looking ahead, students will take a
test over the nonfiction pieces we have been reading in the textbook on
Wednesday, September 10th.
6th-7th Pre-Algebra with Mr. Lanfear
Next week we will finish our exploration of integers.
We will learn how to multiply and divide integers (section 1.7) as well as
learn how to plot points on the x-y coordinate plane (1.8). We will have
a day of review on Thursday and our Chapter 1 Test on Friday.
Math 6 with Mrs. Reardon
Next week in Math 6, we will continue in Chapter 1 by
discussing order of operations, equations, and perimeter and area. We will also learn some strategies to mental
math. On Friday, students will take a brief
chapter quiz over lessons 4 – 6 and will do an activity involving area and
perimeter.
6th Earth Science with Mrs. Reardon
Next week in Earth Science, we will continue in Chapter 1 by
discussing observations and inferences.
Students learned last week that drawing a conclusion was the end result
of the scientific method, so we will elaborate on how a conclusion should be
written. They will use this skill at the
end of the week when we perform a “rate of reaction” lab.
6th Earth Science with Mrs. Blake
Next week the sixth graders will study observations &
inferences. This leads to a better
understanding of lab conclusions. In
addition, we will work on graphing skills.
Students will be relying on these skills throughout the year. At the end of the week, the students will
perform a lab which reinforces the steps of the scientific method. They will be responsible for generating a
formal conclusion for this lab.
6th Spanish with Ms. Dixon
Next week we’ll begin working on CapÍtulo 1A in our
Realidades textbook. We’ll begin to
cover “Me gusta” y “No me gusta” + infinitive phrases in Spanish and explore
some new vocabulary covering sports and activities. Keep reviewing our material
from the last two weeks as we continue to move forward. We’ll work on some
group skits together as well. Have a wonderful three day weekend!
6th Ancient Civilizations with Mrs. Hannah
What a wonderful week we have had! I enjoyed meeting many of you at the Back to
School night Thursday. Our class just finished the first chapter, and we will
be delving into ancient societies and cities next week. We will compare and
contrast the first cities to our modern civilizations, and students will have
to barter and role-play to gain a better understanding of how ancient societies
functioned. In addition to our in-class activities, I am creating a ‘Where in
the World’ board in the classroom. If your student has traveled to any
interesting locations, I would love to post a picture of those travels on the
board! Please send in the photo (or two!), along with a short 1-2 sentence
caption. Thanks so much, and enjoy your 3-day weekend!
7TH GRADE NEWS
7th Grade English Language Arts with Mrs. Hannah
I enjoyed meeting many of you at the Back to School night Thursday! We have been busy this week in ELA, including reading our first short story, The Treasure of Lemon Brown. Next week, students will begin the process of writing their own short story using a graphic organizer with the basic plot structure for their ideas. . In addition to our in-class activities, I am creating a ‘Where in the World’ board in the classroom. If your student has traveled to any interesting locations, I would love to post a picture of those travels on the board! Please send in the photo (or two!), along with a short 1-2 sentence caption. Thanks so much, and enjoy your 3-day weekend!
I enjoyed meeting many of you at the Back to School night Thursday! We have been busy this week in ELA, including reading our first short story, The Treasure of Lemon Brown. Next week, students will begin the process of writing their own short story using a graphic organizer with the basic plot structure for their ideas. . In addition to our in-class activities, I am creating a ‘Where in the World’ board in the classroom. If your student has traveled to any interesting locations, I would love to post a picture of those travels on the board! Please send in the photo (or two!), along with a short 1-2 sentence caption. Thanks so much, and enjoy your 3-day weekend!
7th-8th Algebra I with Mrs. Reardon
Next week in Algebra I, we will wrap up Chapter 1 by
representing functions as rules and tables, as well as graphing these
functions. Students will have an opportunity
to use the graphing calculators in class.
Thursday, we will review for their first test in Algebra I. On Friday, September 5, students will take
their Chapter 1 test.
7th Grade Life Science with Mrs. Blake
The seventh graders will spend part of next week working on
their graphing skills. This is an
essential skill in the sciences. Also, they
will learn about the characteristics of all living things. The cell will be introduced at this time and
they will spend the better part of the next two chapters learning about this
fundamental unit of organisms. Near the
end of the week they will perform a lab which reinforces the scientific method.
7th Spanish with Ms. Hughes
Next week in Spanish class, the 7th grade will be presenting their writing assignment. In this assignment students described their ideal bedroom using all of the vocabulary and grammar from Chapter 6A. We will also continue to work with comparisons and stem-changing verbs. The chapter test will be Friday, September 5th.
Next week in Spanish class, the 7th grade will be presenting their writing assignment. In this assignment students described their ideal bedroom using all of the vocabulary and grammar from Chapter 6A. We will also continue to work with comparisons and stem-changing verbs. The chapter test will be Friday, September 5th.
7th American History with Mrs. English
This week we will study European Heritage and
the influence it had on the colonists that eventually came to America. Students
will see how the Renaissance, Crusades, and the Reformation influenced
the push to go to the New World hundreds of years later. Students
should expect a test on Chapter 1 during the second week of September.
Looking forward to a good week. Have a nice holiday!
8TH GRADE NEWS
8th Grade English Language Arts with Mrs. O'Connor
The eighth graders will discuss the conclusion of “Flowers
for Algernon” and read a short companion piece (“Charles”) early next
week. On Friday, September 5th, students will take a quiz over
both “Flowers for Algernon” and “Charles”. We will also be studying
sentence parts and lesson two in Wordly Wise.
8th Grade Physical Science with Mrs. Blake
The eighth graders have studied models in science and will
do a quick activity with weather models.
Also, the students are learning a new, shorter way to write lab
conclusions. They will spend most of
next week designing an extension lab based on a lab they performed in sixth
grade. Hopefully they will be ready to
perform their lab at the end of the week.
7th-8th Algebra with Mrs. Reardon
Next week in Algebra I, we will wrap up Chapter 1 by
representing functions as rules and tables, as well as graphing these
functions. Students will have an opportunity
to use the graphing calculators in class.
Thursday, we will review for their first test in Algebra I. On Friday, September 5, students will take
their Chapter 1 test.
8th Advanced Algebra with Mr. Lanfear
Next week we will learn the final section in Chapter 9 –
factoring using the AC Method. This is a very useful and handy way to
factor trinomials that have a number in front of the x2. There
will be a review day on Wednesday and the Chapter 9 Test on Thursday. On
Friday, we will start learning about graphing parabolas (10.1).
8th Geometry with Mr. Lanfear
Next week we will finish our introduction to Geometry.
There will be a day of review on Tuesday and the Chapter 1 Test on
Wednesday. Then we will start looking at inductive reasoning, which helps
identify patterns (2.1) and conditional if-then statements (2.2).
8th Spanish with Ms. Hughes
8th Next week in Spanish class, the 8th
grade will be presenting their writing assignment. In this assignment students
were to create a brochure describing their ideal school using all of the
vocabulary and grammar from Chapter 1A. We will also continue to work with
negative and affirmative words. The chapter test will be Friday, September 5th.
8th American History with Mrs. English
Wow, the Civil War recipes were a success. However, I think we all agree that we are glad we are not Civil War soldiers! Next week we are continuing our study of the Civil War by looking at some of the major battles and the Emancipation Proclamation. We will watch a few short clips of Ken Burns’ The Civil War so students can really relate to the war and those that endured it. Students should look for their next quiz to take place at the end of the week. Looking forward to a great week. Enjoy your holiday!
Wow, the Civil War recipes were a success. However, I think we all agree that we are glad we are not Civil War soldiers! Next week we are continuing our study of the Civil War by looking at some of the major battles and the Emancipation Proclamation. We will watch a few short clips of Ken Burns’ The Civil War so students can really relate to the war and those that endured it. Students should look for their next quiz to take place at the end of the week. Looking forward to a great week. Enjoy your holiday!
