May 11-15

Notes from the Head of Middle School 

CONGRATULATIONS SOCCER TEAMS!

This week we celebrated the conclusion of a VERY successful soccer season at HDS.  Congratulations go out to the players who practiced and played hard all season.  This was often done on top of many other commitments.  Special thanks to the coaches for working with our students: Girls' coaches Meghan Hughes, Megan Roberts and Candice English and Boys’ coaches Steve O’Hearn and Capers Martin.

SPORTS SIGN UP 2015 – 16

Forms were recently sent home to families to sign up for our 2015-16 athletic teams.  This early sign up is a very important part of our planning process.  It gives us an approximate count for each sport so we can plan for and register the appropriate number of teams with our league, SPAL.  Please make sure to return this form promptly.

ST. VINCENT’S MATH PLACEMENT ASSESSMENT

Many of our 8^th grade girls planning on attending St. Vincent’s Academy received letters announcing a math placement test on Saturday, May 16^th.  This would put our students at a distinct disadvantage as we have a dance on May 15^th.  Mrs. Sykes, the Academic Dean at St. Vincent’s has graciously offered to administer the test to our girls at Hancock on Thursday, May 14^th at 1:30.  Please get a good night’s rest and pack a nutritious lunch to be it top form for this important assessment.

IT’S A SPECIAL PARTY TIME!

Dig out your Hawaiian shirts and get ready for a luau on Friday night (May15th)!  Students will dance in Hancock Hall from 7:30 – 9:30.

Lock-In planned!  The Hancock community came together to support two of its families in the fight against leukemia and lymphoma.  If our community raises in excess of $5,000 to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, plans call for a “lock in” as a reward for this Herculean effort. In anticipation of reaching our goal, we will extend the hours of our party from 9:30 to 12:00 midnight.  During the additional 2 ½ hours we will plan many extra special activities for the students.  

NATIONAL JUINIOR HONOR SOCIETY BYLAWS

Five years ago we began a chapter of the NJHS at the Middle School.  Recently, we discovered that our Chapter was not totally in compliance with the National Constitution of the National Honor Society.  Over the past two months we brought our paperwork into compliance and our new set of Chapter By-Laws was passed by the members last week.  These By-Laws will be available on the Hancock Day School website by mid-week.  Next year, an explanation of the Society and a link to all important documents will be included in the Student Handbook.

SUMMER ACADEMIC SUPPORT

From time to time we receive information from local schools and agencies offering tutoring and other academic support programs to middle school students.  I will be using the BLOG to make families aware of these opportunities.  Ms. Gordon will include links when possible and will keep the paperwork on file for your review.  This week we received information about summer programs from the Royce Learning Center.  This information can be found by clicking:

Study Skills Flyer

Summer Programs 2015 Brochure

8th Grade Graduation Slideshow
Please make sure to have your photos emailed to Ms. Gordon no later than May 15th.


Driver Volunteers Needed
 Monday, June 1^st

10:15 – 2:00 – Community service with the Savannah Tree Foundation at Hull Park.  Volunteer drivers are needed at 10:00 to transport students to Hull Park.  Students will need to bring a bag lunch.  Student pick up will be from Hull Park at 2:00.

Tuesday, June 2^nd

9:00 – 2:00 Middle School Field Day at Skidaway Island State Park.  Volunteer drivers will be needed at 9:00 to drive our students to the Park.  Student pick up will be at 2:00 at the Park.

6:30 – 8:30 Graduation Exercises and reception

S'COOL Performance

The HDS annual play will be the evening of Thursday, May 14.  To facilitate our families attending, there will be minimal assignments given on the 14^th and no assessments on the 15^th.  To provide time for those assessments, we will permit them on Monday, May 18^th.

6TH GRADE NEWS

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

The sixth graders will continue reading and studying The Giver next week.  As noted on the reading calendar, students have a quiz on Tuesday over chapters 11-17 and the contextual vocabulary words we have practiced in class.  We will be done reading the book by Thursday, and we’ll spend class time reviewing on the novel on Thursday and Friday.  Due to the Middle School play, I am not giving assessments on Friday (5/15), so our test over the novel will be on Monday, 5/18.  After we finish this test we will begin reviewing for our semester exam!  I can’t believe the school year is almost over!

6th Math with Mrs. Johnson

6th Grade math students are studying chapter 10 "Geometry."  The chapter quiz 10.1 - 10.4 will be Wednesday, May13th.

6th-7th Pre-Algebra with Mr. Lanfear

Next week we will finish our introduction to geometry by learning how to find the area of various polygons such as triangles, rectangles, squares, parallelograms, and trapezoids.  We will also learn about the circumference and area of circles.  We will review geometry at the end of the week and the test will be next Monday.

6th Earth Science with Mrs. Johnson 

In Earth Science, the students are studying chapter 16 "Weather."  The chapter 16 test will be Wednesday, May 20th.

6th Earth Science with Mrs. Blake

The sixth graders continue their chapter on weather next week.  They will continue their lab activity dealing with local weather.  The students will look at fronts and the different types of severe weather, especially hurricanes.  They will also study station models and learn how to read a weather map.   At that point, they will have a lab activity dealing with weather maps.   

  

6th Spanish with Mrs. Dixon-Bender

Next week, we’ll wrap up Capítulo 4B. Students will visit Latin Chicks restaurant on Wednesday and Thursday, May 13^th and 14^th (4^th & 6^th periods respectively). We will have our last chapter test for the year on Friday, May 15^th.

6th Ancient Civilizations with Mrs. Hannah
 We are almost finished studying ancient Rome! Students have a quiz over daily life in Rome and Roman entertainment on Tuesday 12 May, and we will conclude our unit with the fall of the Roman Empire this week. Next Tuesday 19 May will be our unit test, and since we have studied so much information with Rome, I suggest making flashcards to help study for the final assessment. I am in my room at 7:45 each morning for extra help or to clarify any questions. 

7TH GRADE NEWS

7th Grade English Language Arts with Mrs. Hannah

We will finish reading Across Five Aprils next week! The test over the novel will be Monday 18 May. We are also concluding our study of clauses by comparing adjective and adverb clauses, and will have a quiz over grammar Thursday 14 May. I also plan to show the movie version of Across Five Aprils in class, so students can compare and contrast the novel with the film adaptation. 

6th-7th Grade Pre-Algebra with Mr. Lanfear

Next week we will finish our introduction to geometry by learning how to find the area of various polygons such as triangles, rectangles, squares, parallelograms, and trapezoids.  We will also learn about the circumference and area of circles.  We will review geometry at the end of the week and the test will be next Monday.

7th Grade Life Science with Mrs. Blake

In seventh grade, the students continue their study the heart & blood.  They have followed the pathway of blood through the body and learned about the functions of blood.  They will be reintroduced to blood types.  When they studied blood types previously, it was in connection to the inheritance of your blood type.  At this point they will be learning about antigens and blood compatibility for transfusions.  They will perform two labs—one on heart rates and one on blood typing.  

7th-8th Algebra I with Mrs. Johnson

Algebra classes will complete chapter 9 and have the chapter 9 test Wednesday, May13th.  We will begin chapter 10 Thursday, May 14th.

7th Spanish with Ms. Hughes

Next week in Spanish class, the 7^th grade will continue working with the future and conditional tense. The quiz over this material will be Tuesday, May 12^th. Students will also finish and present their short stories on Wednesday, May 13^th.

7th American History with Mrs. English
This week we will continue our study of Northern Industrialization (Chapter 11.2) and have our last quiz of the quarter on Wednesday, May 13th.  On Thursday and Friday, we will see how the South turned to the farming, the plantation system, and slavery rather than industrialization.  Homework will come from Chapter 11-Sections 3 & 4.  Looking ahead, students should expect to have their last test on Wednesday, May 20th.  For this course, exam review will begin on Thursday, May 21st.   Looking forward to a great week!

8TH GRADE NEWS

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

The eighth grade is concluding their study of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in the week ahead.  On Monday students will take a short quiz over Act 2, and on Wednesday they will take a quiz over Act 3.  Next Monday (5/18) students will receive their take-home test over the play.  Students will have until Wednesday (5/20) to complete and submit the take-home test.  We will begin reviewing for our semester exam on Tuesday, 5/19.  I can’t believe the school year is almost over!

8th Grade Physical Science with Mrs. Blake

The eighth graders have started their final chapter on motion and momentum.  They have already learned the difference between distance and displacement and how to calculate average speed.  Over the next week the students will cover acceleration (positive and negative) and momentum. 

7th-8th Algebra I with Mrs. Johnson

Algebra classes will complete chapter 9 and have the chapter 9 test Wednesday, May13th.  We will begin chapter 10 Thursday, May 14th.

8th Advanced Algebra with Mr. Lanfear 

Next week we will complete our algebra review by learning how to solve and graph inequalities and systems of inequalities.  There will be a review day on Wednesday and then the unit test on Thursday.

8th Geometry with Mr. Lanfear

Next week we will complete learning about surface area and volume by learning how to find the volume of pyramids, cones, and spheres.  We will also learn about the surface area of a sphere.  We will review surface area and volume at the end of the week and the test will be next Monday.

8th Spanish with Ms. Hughes

Next week in Spanish class, the 8^th grade will continue working with the future and conditional tense. The quiz over this material will be Tuesday, May 12^th. Students will also finish and present their “cooking show” projects on Thursday, 14^th.

8th American Government with Mrs. English

This week we will continue our study of Protest in the 1950s-1970s. Discussion will cover the Civil Rights movement and the Anti-Vietnam War protests.  Readings and homework will come from Chapter 26.3 and Chapter 27.1. Looking ahead, students will have their last test on American Protest from the 1950s-1970s on Wednesday, May 20th.  For this course, exam review will begin on Thursday, May 21st.  Looking forward to a great week!