NOTES FROM MR. CRAWFORD
Middle School T2 Exams
The Middle School TEAM feels it is important to make up valuable instructional class time lost to both Irma and Snowmageddon. Therefore, we are going to cancel the second trimester exams and use this time for regular instruction. This adjustment will allow our teachers to conclude the trimester in a meaningful way and ensure that our students have ample time to complete all their assignments. Therefore,
- Thursday, March 1st, originally a half day dedicated to exams will now be a FULL DAY of regular classes.
- Friday, March 2nd, originally a half day dedicated to exams will STILL BE A HALF DAY, but we will hold regular classes. Teachers will have an inservice day in the afternoon to close out the second trimester.
Thank you for adjusting your schedules to support the education of your children.
Middle School Sweet Tart Dance
The Middle School will be having their second dance on Friday, February 2 from 7:30pm to 9:30pm. The dress is casual. Bring your sweet tooth!
Lunch Bunch Groups
Lunch Bunch continues! 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.
Parent.Edu
If you missed the Internet Safety Parent.Edu there are extra handouts in the Middle School Office and the powerpoint presentation can be sent to you! Please email Ms. Pedrick at apedrick@hancockdayschool.org for the powerpoint of more information.
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.
8TH GRADE ASSIGNMENTS
8th grade Algebra 1 - Mrs. Reardon
Next week in Algebra we will wrap up Chapter 6 by graphing linear inequalities in two variables. We will take 2 days to review since this chapter is so content rich. On Thursday, February 8, students will take the Chapter 6 test.
8th grade Advanced Algebra - Mr. Lanfear
Next week we will begin Chapter 7 and similar figures. We will learn about similar figures and scale factor (7.1-7.2). We will also learn how to show that triangles are similar by a variety of ways such as the Angle-Angle (AA) Similarity Postulate (7.3), the Side-Side-Side (SSS) Similarity Theorem, and the Side-Angle-Side (SAS) Similarity Theorem (7.4). We will also learn how to use the Triangle Proportionality Theorem (7.5). We will have the Chapter 8 (Polygons and Area) test on Tuesday.
8th grade Geometry - Mr. Lanfear
Next week we will continue Chapter 8 by learning about properties of parallelograms (8.2), how to prove a quadrilateral is a parallelogram (8.3), and properties of rectangles, rhombuses, and squares (8.4). There will be a quiz on Friday covering 8.1-8.4.
8th grade Physical Science - Mr. Cooper
Next week we will continue with Chapter 11 in our textbooks. The students will go over sections 2 and 3 in their books. We will have a lab on Newton’s 3 laws on Thursday. The test on Chapter 11 will be Tuesday, February 6th. We will play a review game in class on Monday.
8th grade English Language Arts - Mrs. O’Connor
Students are very interested in Night, and next week we will continue to explore the text. On Monday students will take an open-book quiz (originally scheduled for today) over chapters 1-4. We will spend the rest of the week deepening our understanding of the text while also examining contextual vocabulary words and proper punctuation for compound and complex sentences. Our test over the book will be on Wednesday, February 14th.
8th grade History & Gov’t II - Mrs. English
This week in American history students will move forward with studying the events that led to the Great Depression. We will talk about the stock market and the role that the federal government plays in helping or hindering a bull market. We will also continue building our geography skills for Europe and Asia. No quizzes this week, but looking ahead we will have a quiz on February 14th.
8th grade Spanish - Ms. Hughes
Next week in Spanish the 8th grade will continue to work with the imperfect tense and the vocabulary from Chapter 4A. Students will exchange information about what they were like as a child and use that information in the biographies. The grammar quiz will be on Wednesday, February 7th and will cover the imperfect conjugation and indirect object pronouns.
7TH GRADE ASSIGNMENTS
7th grade Algebra 1 - Mrs. Reardon
Next week in Algebra we will wrap up Chapter 6 by graphing linear inequalities in two variables. We will take 2 days to review since this chapter is so content rich. On Thursday, February 8, students will take the Chapter 6 test.
7th grade Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear
Next week we will complete the remainder of Chapter 6 by learning about probability and odds (6.7) as well as the counting principle (6.8). We will have a day of review on Thursday and a quiz covering 6.7-6.8 on Friday.
7th grade History & Gov’t I - Mrs. English
This week we will continue our study of the early government in the United States. We will see how Americans created and Articles of Confederation and ultimately ended up replacing it with the Constitution. Readings and homework will come from Chapter 7.1 & 2. We will have a quiz over Chapter 7.1-2 on Friday, February 9th.
7th grade Spanish - Ms. Hughes
Next week in Spanish the 7th grade will continue to work with the preterite and vocabulary from Chapter 8A. Students will exchange information about vacations and trips in the past through various speaking activities. The grammar quiz will be on Tuesday, February 13th, will be over conjugation and the “personal A”.
7th Grade ELA - Mrs./ Boyer
ELA! Seventh graders will be reviewing Chapters 1-17 in The Count of Monte Cristo through character analysis, piecing together the Hero’s Journey in regards to Edmond Dantes, and completing the study guide questions. The students just completed a historical timeline of French History before, during and after the time period of The Count of Monte Cristo in order to better their understanding of the dispute between Napoleon and King Louis XVIII. There will be a mini quiz on subject-verb agreement and Ch. 1-17 this week. Students will be completing their study of Subject-Verb Agreement and moving on to Homographs and commonly confused verbs. Chapters 18-27 are due on February 8th. 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. There is a chapter by chapter summary powerpoint that I created from multiple sources. DO NOT READ THE SUMMARY BEFORE READING THE CHAPTERS PLEASE. All students have a paper copy of the reading schedule and the expectations for this novel. The reading schedule is posted on Google Classroom. Secondly, if your student is struggling with grammar material, I highly suggest that they use the resources and extra practice in the about section of google classroom. I have posted IXL links for them to use at home or in study hall. Reading Logs for 7th ELA, this trimester, will not be required.
7th grade Life Science - Ms. Hoffman
We have finished our class discussions and assignments on biomes, ecosystems, symbiosis, succession, food webs and the energy pyramid. Students will take their unit test Friday, 2/2 on this material, as well as, the previous information we learned on Evolution. Next week we will begin learning about more of our body systems. Earlier this year we learned about the cardiovascular and immune systems. We will continue our studies with the muscular, skeletal and respiratory system.
6TH GRADE ASSIGNMENTS
6th grade Accelerated Math 7 - Mrs. Reardon
Next week in accelerated math 7, we will continue to review for the Chapter 6 test on Monday. On Tuesday, students will take their Chapter 6 test. We will then jump right in to Chapter 7 with writing expressions and equations as well as simplifying expressions. No assessments this week.
6th grade Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear
Next week we will complete the remainder of Chapter 6 by learning about probability and odds (6.7) as well as the counting principle (6.8). We will have a day of review on Thursday and a quiz covering 6.7-6.8 on Friday.
6th grade ELA - Mrs. Guggenheim
Literature: We will begin a research project that focuses on reading the Pros/Cons of a student chosen topic (from a list of topics). Students will complete a Works Cited page, notecards, and a presentation. While there may be some work at home, a lot of time will be given in class to research the topics. Susan Hill, our media specialist, will be speaking on Wednesday about specific research skills to assist the students in their research. More info to follow….
Grammar: The test over prepositions as well as compound/complex/simple sentences, run-ons and comma splices has been rescheduled for 2/8. Please encourage your child to practice by reviewing notes, handouts, and using IXL.
Writing:
Vocabulary: Greek/Latin List 8 + 7 SAT words was distributed 2/1. The quiz is scheduled for 2/9.
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 concluded their week with two labs. For the first one, they analyzed different sands from around the world and looked at its composition, grain size, and shape. The second one involved identifying various mineral samples by testing for different properties such as hardness, streak, and luster. Next week students will continue learning about the rock cycle and create a booklet. We will also learn about weathering, erosion and deposition.
6th Grade Ancient Civ - Mrs. Boyer
Parents! Students will be continuing their venture into Ancient China. We have discussed the Shang and Zhou dynasties so far, with an in-depth discussion of Confucius’ teachings. This week we will be working on a response paper which discusses the differences between the textual Legend of Mulan and the Disney film, while also elaborating on their personal feelings in regards to cinema and the portrayal of Ancient China. We will be learning about the Qin and Han dynasties next! Because this Unit is very extensive, there will be two quizzes on the material. The slide show/the information will be broken down into two parts. The first half of the material (explicitly told to the students beforehand) will be on Thursday, February 15th (no map) with a map quiz on February 16th (only the map). The second quiz will be on February 22 and finally, the Ancient China test will be on Tuesday, February 27th.
6th Grade Spanish - Ms. Dubick
Hello parents! The 6th grade classroom projects were great! They will be up in the hallway if you have a chance to come and check them out. Their test on classroom words, using Hay and using Estar with Prepositions will be this upcoming Wednesday February 7th.
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 are still rolling along with our long term challenges.
8th grade: There are some fabulous films being created. Groups are in various stages of completion, with some moving into post production. The final “film festival” will be fantastic!
7th grade: Our Hobbit village is taking shape. We will need to let the clay cure before we can move on to firing and glazing. In the meantime, students will work on painting an environment for their houses.
6th grade: Base layers are almost complete, and students will begin laying out their landscape images. Then on to rolling, rolling, rolling.
CLUBS
Science Club
This week HDS Science Club began to build water bottle rockets with 2-Liter Diet Coke bottles. (Sorry, some of the pictures below are a bit blurry.) First, we reviewed the forces affecting objects in flight: gravity, drag, thrust and lift and then discussed the placement of ballast (weight), fins and a nosecone. We will continue to construct the rockets at our next meeting and test them mid-February.
