NOTES FROM MR. CRAWFORD
Internet Safety Parent.edu
Hancock Day School will be providing a Parent.edu on internet safety including the uses of Instagram and Snapchat on January 31st from 6:00pm to 7:00pm presented by APO Sharif Lockett. This should be an extremely informative and helpful program! If you have any questions please email Ms. Pedrick at apedrick@hancockdayschool.org or call at 912-351-4500 Ext 309.
Calvary Invitation
Calvary Day School has extended an invitation to our 8th grade students to attend an event and tour of the school during the it’s annual “Spiritual Emphasis Week.” An invitation has been sent home. Click HERE for invitation.
St. Vincent’s Academy Testing
Important reminder to students applying to St. Vincent’s Academy. The school’s placement test will be held on Saturday, January 27th at 8:30 am - 12:00 noon. There is a test fee of $30.
Savannah Country Day School
Country Day has extended an invitation to the Hancock community to attend a presentation on the hidden impact of screen time & social media on children: what every parent needs to know. The event is on Thursday, February 1st, 7:00 - 8:30, with a follow up coffee with the presenter on Friday morning, February 2nd, at 8:30. Click HERE for invitation.
Volleyball Camps
Bob Bertucci Volleyball Camps are being held at St. Vincent’s Academy from July 26-28, 2018. For more information about the camps and registration CLICK HERE
Community Service
Hancock Day School has encouraged student involvement in serving the community since it was founded. The Community Service Program at HDS was established to prepare our students for a lifetime of service to others. We hope to provide them with the opportunity to experience firsthand the pleasure of helping others while developing their communication, leadership, and decision making skills. Middle School Students are expected to complete a minimum of 10 hours of community service each school year. Please document service hours on the HDS Community Service Log and submit to Madison Ross in the MS office.
Lunch Bunch Groups
Starting next week, lunch bunch groups will begin for the sixth grade! These will be divided up by gender and each group will meet during lunch every other week. This will give students an opportunity to get to know others in their grade and provide a space for students to discuss the ups and downs of being middle school students. If you have any questions please email Ms. Pedrick at apedrick@hancockdayschool.org or call at 912-351-4500 Ext 309.
8TH GRADE ASSIGNMENTS
8th grade Algebra 1 - Mrs. Reardon
Next week in Algebra we will begin Chapter 6 by learning how to solve inequalities using addition, subtraction, and multiplication. We will also learn how to solve multi-step inequalities. On Thursday, January 25 we will review for the 6.1-6.3 quiz that will take place on Friday, January 26. Students will receive a challenge problem on Monday, January 22 and it will be due on Monday, January 29.
8th grade Advanced Algebra - Mr. Lanfear
Next week we will begin Chapter 8 in our Geometry textbooks by learning about different polygons and some of their properties (8.1). We will learn about the interior and exterior angles of polygons (8.2) and review finding the area of rectangles and triangles (8.3-8.4). There will be a quiz on Friday covering 8.1-8.4.
8th grade Geometry - Mr. Lanfear
Next week we will continue Chapter 7 by learning about special right triangles (30-60-90 and 45-45-90) (7.4). There will be a quiz on Tuesday covering 7.1-7.4. We will also begin learning about right triangle trigonometry and sine, cosine, and tangent. Students will learn how to use the basic trigonometric ratios to find side lengths in right triangles (7.5-7.6) as well as their inverse functions to find the measures of angles (7.7). There will be a short quiz on Friday covering 7.5-7.7.
8th grade Physical Science - Mr. Cooper
Next week we will play a review game on Monday. Students will take the Chapter 10 Test on Tuesday. We will then start Chapter 11 on Newton’s Laws of Motion.
8th grade English Language Arts - Mrs. O’Connor
Students will conclude our study of poetry next week and take a test over these concepts on Wednesday, January 24th. We will spend class time on Monday and Tuesday reviewing material in preparation for this assessment. Next we will explore some background information to help us prepare to read Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night.
8th grade History & Gov’t II - Mrs. English
The World War I videos turned out great! This week we will continue our discussion of the Roaring Twenties. Discussions about foreign affairs and the United States’ role in the world (both in the past and today) will continue this week. We will also begin working with Asian geography. Students will have a quiz on Friday over Asia’s modern political map and Ch. 22.1-2.
8th grade Spanish - Ms. Hughes
Next week in Spanish the 8th grade will wrap up Chapter 3A with some speaking and listening activities. The chapter test will be on Wednesday, January 24th and will cover all of the 3A vocabulary and grammar. Students will begin Chapter 4A with an introduction to the imperfect tense. They will use this tense to describe childhood memories and to exchange information about what they were like as children.
7TH GRADE ASSIGNMENTS
7th grade Algebra 1 - Mrs. Reardon
Next week in Algebra we will begin Chapter 6 by learning how to solve inequalities using addition, subtraction, and multiplication. We will also learn how to solve multi-step inequalities. On Thursday, January 25 we will review for the 6.1-6.3 quiz that will take place on Friday, January 26. Students will receive a challenge problem on Monday, January 22 and it will be due on Monday, January 29.
7th grade Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear
Next week we will continue Chapter 6 by learning how to write and solve proportions (6.2) a variety of ways, including cross multiplication (6.3). We will also learn about similar and congruent figures and their properties (6.4). There will be a quiz on Friday covering 6.1-6.4.
7th grade History & Gov’t I - Mrs. English
This week in American History we will have a test on Chapter 6.1-4 on Thursday, January 25th. Readings and homework will come from Chapter 6.3 & 4. We will discuss African Americans during the Revolutionary War and the final battles.
7th grade Spanish - Ms. Hughes
Next week in Spanish the 7th grade will wrap up Chapter 7B and the test will be Wednesday, January 24th. We will also begin Chapter 8A which covers vacation vocabulary and cultural perspectives on travel. They will continue to use the preterite tense to describe their favorite trips in the past and learn about the personal “a” in Spanish. Over the next couple weeks students will be given a country to research while planning a mock vacation under a tight budget.
7th Grade ELA - Mrs./ Boyer
Parents! We are wrapping up our mini-unit on Greek Mythology; there will be a Quiz on January 25th (moved from 1/18). Students are also working on a partner writing exercise (mostly in class) where they are writing a 600 word (or more) greek myth with all of the Unit 6 vocabulary words (Due 1/26). We are continuing our studies on Indirect/Direct Objects and Subject/Object Complements (Predicate Nominatives and Predicate Adjectives); there will be a test on January 24th.
HERE WE GO!!!!: Students will be starting our venture into Marseilles, France in 1815 with The Count of Monte Cristo on January 19th and completing the novel by March 20th. We will be spending two days learning the background knowledge of Alexandre Dumas and the powerpoint is on Google Classroom. Students will be reading 45-100 pages every 10-13 days with very little homework other than the specific reading to complete. Students will be working on in-class activities such as research projects, essays, reader’s theatre, creative assessments, mini-quizzes, presentations, KWL charts, etc. I will be reviewing the reading material for two to three days continuously after the reading is due. I highly suggest that students work on their study guide as they read; this will help them engage in the text and question their comprehension. We will be studying the novel chapter by chapter, character by character. The point of reading this novel is to teach the students HOW to read a dense novel with multiple characters in a historical setting. I will be guiding them through this journey, but it is the student’s responsibility to keep up with the reading and the comprehension activities. If the student does not understand the material and needs extra help, please send them to me sooner rather than later. I am so very excited to begin this journey with them!! All students have a paper copy of the reading schedule and the expectations for this novel. The reading schedule is posted on Google Classroom.
Reading Logs for 7th ELA, this trimester, will not be required.
7th grade Life Science - Ms. Hoffman
Students have been studying Charles Darwin and the Theory of Natural Selection. We completed a lab activity to simulate different bird beaks and how they are adapted to specific foods. (See photos below.) Our discussions have continued with evolutionary changes over time and what pieces of evidence, such as fossils, and other clues can be found to demonstrate this information. We will continue learning about this diversity and these adaptations by turning our attention to the various biomes, such as the desert, rainforest and tundra, and the different ecosystems and interactions between species found throughout the world. Our January Science in Comics is due on 1/31.
6TH GRADE ASSIGNMENTS
6th grade Accelerated Math 7 - Mrs. Reardon
Next week in accelerated math 7, we will continue in Chapter 6 by multiplying and dividing integers. On Wednesday, we will review for the 6.2-6.5 quiz that will take place on Thursday, January 25. On Friday, we will work on a real world application of integers. Students will receive a challenge problem on Monday, January 22 and it will be due on Monday, January 29.
6th grade Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear
Next week we will continue Chapter 6 by learning how to write and solve proportions (6.2) a variety of ways, including cross multiplication (6.3). We will also learn about similar and congruent figures and their properties (6.4). There will be a quiz on Friday covering 6.1-6.4.
6th grade ELA - Mrs. Guggenheim
Literature: We will continue our reading of Phineas Gage. There will be an open book quiz over Chapter 3 on 1/25. Nonfiction unit test on 2/2.
Grammar: Continue to work on prepositions and prepositional phrases; quiz on 1/30 and a test over prepositions as well as compound/complex/simple sentences, run-ons and comma splices tentatively on 2/7.
Writing:
Vocabulary:
Reading Log: Reading for the reading log begins for Trimester Two this weekend. 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 Wednesday, February 21.
6th grade Earth Science - Ms. Hoffman
Students have been learning about Pangea and the Theory of Continental Drift. We completed a puzzle activity to determine how the different continents fit together and have been learning about the many pieces of evidence we have to support this theory. (See pictures below and our bulletin board at school.) We also had a guest speaker from Georgia Power on Thursday 1/18 who reviewed information on Energy and Energy Resources using maps and other activities. Next week we will continue our discussions about plate tectonics focusing on sea-floor spreading, subduction and plate boundaries. Our Unit Test on plate tectonics will be on 1/31 and the January Science in Comics is also due 1/31.
6th Grade Ancient Civ - Mrs. Boyer
Parents! This week we will be completing our tour of Ancient India (Test on January 18th). Students completed a Hindu Religion Project where they chose their groups and their gods/goddesses and answered the questions of, why is it important/necessary to learn about other cultures and religions? (Pictures below). This week students will be venturing into Ancient China, climbing the Great Wall of China, analyzing the famous dynasties and researching The Chinese New Year! Ancient China has multiple dynasties and many dates to remember; therefore, students need to pay extra close attention as we begin studying the material. There will be a multi-cultural activity planned for the end of this unit which will involve Ancient Egypt, Ancient India and Ancient China! Get Excited!!!
6th Grade Spanish - Ms. Dubick
Hello parents! The 6th grade will continue to practice describing the classroom, using hay and indefinite articles next week, along with how to form questions in Spanish. We will also be covering prepositions and will be building towards a small project designing a classroom.
GOOGLE CLASSROOM/ABSENCES: All work from the day and any homework will be posted on Google Classroom. Students are responsible for checking Google Classroom and scheduling a time to come and see me to discuss anything missed during an absence.
EXTRA HELP: Every Wednesday and Friday morning before school I’ll be doing extra help sessions to reinforce what we are covering, any students who feel they could use the additional support are welcome to come. I also hold study sessions the morning before any assessment. STUDENTS SHOULD EMAIL IF THEY ARE PLANNING TO ATTEND.
GRADING: This semester, graded homeworks and classworks are 50 points, and homework checks will be 25 points. Any pop quiz will be a classwork grade.
MS Art - Mrs. Cookson
We will continue to work on the challenges from the previous week. The 8th graders have come up with some creative stories for their stop-motion animations, and will begin filming this week. The 7th graders have sketched out ideas for Hobbit Houses. Construction will begin this week after a quick review of clay slab techniques. The 6th graders selected a landscape inspiration image for their wet felt creations. This week they will start building the foundation layers.
