NOTES FROM MR. CRAWFORD
Community Service
Please remember that students should complete ten hours of community service each school year. Service opportunities are advertised in the blog weekly. Additionally, if you know of any service opportunities that would be appropriate for our students, please feel free to send them to Ms. Ross so that they may be included here.
Completed service hours should be documented on the Community Service Form and submitted to your child’s homeroom teacher.
Brown Bag for the Elderly at Second Harvest Food Bank
Students and families can volunteer on the third Saturday morning of each month. Upcoming date is October 21st. Volunteers should wear closed-toed shoes and arrive by 7:45am. Those wishing to volunteer should contact volunteer coordinator Jason Brown (jbrown@helpendhunger.org) in advance.
All School Community Service Day
On November 21, the Middle School students will be heading to Second Harvest and Oatland Island Wildlife to perform community service. We are asking for volunteers to drive the students. Volunteer drivers will need to stay with the students for the entire trip (8:30am-Noon). If you are interested, please contact Madison Ross in the MS Office (x315) to sign up.
Sports Schedule Updates
Varsity Football:
- Plays at Pinewood Christian Academy (Bellville, GA) on Thursday, October 26 at 6:30pm.
Volleyball:
- Tournament starts on Monday, October 23. Pairings will be announced on Sunday. Look for updates.
Middle School Dress Down Day!
Students can pay $2.00 to dress down on Friday, October 27
Parent.edu
Sports Wellness and Sports Injuries
October 25th | 6:00 - 7:00 PM | Hancock Hall
All Hancock athletes, their families and coaches
are strongly urged to attend this session presented by:
M e m o r i a l
S p o r t s
M e d i c i n e
Memorial Sports Medicine works with athletes to
prevent and treat sports-related injuries
8TH GRADE ASSIGNMENTS
8th grade Algebra 1 - Mrs. Reardon
Next week in Algebra we will wrap up Chapter 3 by solving percent problems as well as rewriting equations and formulas. On Wednesday, we will review for the Chapter 3 test that will take place on Thursday, October 26th.
8th grade Advanced Algebra - Mr. Lanfear
Next week we will continue Chapter 11 by learning how to simplify radical expressions that have variables, as well as learning how to rationalize denominators (11.2). There will be a quiz on 11.1 and part of 11.2 on Tuesday.
8th grade Geometry - Mr. Lanfear
Next week we will continue Chapter 4 by learning the Triangle Exterior Angle Theorem (4.1), using congruent triangles (4.2), and learning some of the various methods of proving triangles are congruent, such as Side-Side-Side (4.3), Side-Angle-Side, and the Hypotenuse-Leg Theorem (4.4). There will be a quiz on 4.1-4.2 on Thursday.
8th grade Physical Science - Mr. Cooper
Next week we will move on from surface tension and cover the topics found on pages 116-123 in the textbook. These topics include density, pressure, the buoyant force, Archimedes’ Principle, (boat building activity) and Pascal’s Principle. There will be a short check up quiz on these topics on Friday (October 27th).
8th grade English Language Arts - Mrs. O’Connor
We are just beginning our first novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. So far students have practiced working with contextual vocabulary words from the novel’s first six chapters and studied some background information about Harper Lee. Students have a reading calendar that details their homework assignments for each night as we study the novel in addition to upcoming test and quiz dates. Our first quiz over the book is scheduled for Friday, October 27th. Remember to be reading independently in your free time and logging minutes in the reading log document!
8th grade History & Gov’t II - Mrs. English
This week we will continue our study of the industrial boom in America during the 1800s. Readings and homework will come from Chapter 18. We will also begin The Urban Game where students create their own city and see how American cities developed and grew over time. We have a field trip to Green Meldrim House on Tuesday. Looking ahead, we will have our last test on November 2nd (Ch. 18.1-3).
8th grade Spanish - Ms. Hughes
Next week in Spanish class, the 8th grade will focus on using reflexive verbs to explain their daily routines. Students will learn about popular events that take place in the Spanish-speaking communities, and plan a “fiesta” for a large group of people.We will also discuss Día de los Muertos, a popular holiday in many Spanish-speaking countries. The grammar quiz will be Thursday, October 26th.
7TH GRADE ASSIGNMENTS
7th grade Algebra 1 - Mrs. Reardon
Next week in Algebra we will wrap up Chapter 3 by solving percent problems as well as rewriting equations and formulas. On Wednesday, we will review for the Chapter 3 test that will take place on Thursday, October 26th.
7th grade Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear
Next week we will complete Chapter 3 by practicing solving inequalities and word problems involving inequalities (3.6). There will be a day of review on Wednesday and the Chapter 3 test on Thursday. We will then begin Chapter 4 by learning about prime numbers, composite numbers, prime factorization, and factoring monomials (4.1).
7th grade History & Gov’t I - Mrs. English
This week students will continue to study early English settlements. Readings and homework will come from Chapter 3.2-4. Students will begin to see how the three colonial regions began forming their own identities based on manufacturing and agriculture. Looking ahead students will have a test on October 27th (Ch. 3.1-4) and for Halloween we will look into the “spooky” events of the Salem Witch Trials!!
7th grade Spanish - Ms. Hughes
Next week in Spanish class, students will learn about the present progressive tense and affirmative commands through a series of speaking and listening activities. Using the grammar and vocabulary from Chapter 6B, students will present their own versions of the fairytale Cinderella. Toward the end of the week we will discuss Día de los Muertos, a popular holiday in the Spanish-speaking community. The vocabulary quiz will be Wednesday, October 25th.
7th Grade ELA - Mrs. Boyer
Parents! This week we will be reviewing Chapter 5-7 of The Hobbit. We are focusing on imagery, character analysis and point of view. There will be a test over Chapter 1-7 on Thursday, October 26. Students are receiving all necessary notes to incorporate into their study methods. I am always available for early morning or after school (Thursdays) help sessions. Lastly, just a reminder, Reading Logs are due at the end of the Trimester. I will be reviewing these logs as a homework grade on Friday, October 27th. Please be sure you are communicating with your student about their workload and time management strategies.
7th grade Life Science - Ms. Hoffman
We are continuing to learn about the Cardiovascular and Lymphatic Systems. This is chapter 19 in our textbook. We will have a unit test (and notebook check) on Wednesday, October 25th over this material, including the heart and flow of blood, blood vessels, lymph, and the composition of blood and the different blood types. Our lab tomorrow will be a simulation showing the reactions between these different blood types. Next week students will also work on a at-home assignment to learn about heart disease by creating an advertisement or safety poster. At the end of the week we will introduce information on the Immune System as we begin to learn about different bacteria and viruses.
6TH GRADE ASSIGNMENTS
6th grade Accelerated Math 7 - Mrs. Reardon
Next week in math we will wrap up Chapter 3 by creating box and whisker plots and histograms. We will review on Wednesday for our Chapter 3 test that will take place on Thursday, October 26.
Pictures from our Bubblegum Mean, Median, Mode, and Range activity on Friday, October 13.
6th grade Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear
Next week we will complete Chapter 3 by practicing solving inequalities and word problems involving inequalities (3.6). There will be a day of review on Wednesday and the Chapter 3 test on Thursday. We will then begin Chapter 4 by learning about prime numbers, composite numbers, prime factorization, and factoring monomials (4.1).
6th grade ELA - Mrs. Guggenheim
Literature: We’re continuing our study of The Outsiders. We’ll be writing compare/contrast essays with partners.
Grammar: Exploring writing with dialogue (for our short stories.) We will have a test on October 24 over: 4 sentence types, subject/predicate (identifying complete and compound subjects/predicates, coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS), and correct dialogue punctuation. A practice packet was uploaded to the About section in my Google Classroom for those students who would like to practice. I’ve included an answer key as well. IXL also offers practice exercises in these areas.
Writing: Short story outlines are complete, and rough drafts of short stories - printed- are due 10/23. We will peer edit in class. Final copies - printed - are due 10/31.
Vocabulary: List 6 will be distributed next week. The quiz is scheduled for 11/2.
Reading Log: Some students have been very diligent about beginning their reading logs. Others have not yet turned in any minutes. As stated in the syllabus, all middle school students are required to read 360 minutes during the course of the trimester - reading that is outside of their regular assignments. They have a form on which to keep track of their minutes, and on Mondays in class I post their minutes in a spreadsheet. They need to obtain a parent signature to verify the minutes read. This counts as a project grade. The grading scale is written in the syllabus. Reading log minutes for 6th grade are due 11/6.
6th grade Earth Science - Ms. Hoffman
We have begun to take daily data collection from our school weather station and this week played a game to review the water cycle. Our next focus in our weather unit (Chapter 16 in the textbook) will be on some of the other components that influence our weather, including air pressure and air masses and fronts. We will also look at how meteorologist predict the weather and learn how to interpret weather maps. This will lead us up to a fun in-class project to study severe weather, such as hurricanes, tornados, blizzards, thunderstorms and floods.
6th Grade Ancient Civ - Mrs. Boyer
Parents! This week we will be finishing our studies over Chapter Three in preparation for the test on November 2. We will be focusing on Hammurabi’s Code of Laws during the first half of the week with small interactive activities. On Thursday and we will begin creating study materials (a slide presentation, brochure, or test; due Tuesday, October 31). Friday there will be a quiz over Lesson 3, 4 & 5 of Chapter 3. Students will receive their quizzes back on Monday in order to prepare for the test; the Chapter Three test is over an immense amount of dense material. Please be sure your student has already begun studying.
6th Grade Spanish - Ms. Dubick
Hello parents! The sixth graders will be continuing with physical and personality descriptions this week, and will work on using conjugations of the verb SER. They will have a quiz on using conjugations of SER with the vocab on Friday. We will also be discussing when to use Ser vs. Estar, which both mean “to be”. Every Wednesday and Friday morning before school I’ll be doing review sessions, any students who feel they could use the extra help are welcome to come. I have added a class Quizlet, students should use this resource to help them review.
MS Art - Mrs. Cookson
All students are well on their way working on their collaborative piece. They are going off the theme, “Imagine a hidden world.” They may use any of the materials to which they have been introduced so far. I am excited to see what they come up with as they tackle all of the challenges ahead.
