National Junior Honor Society
Hancock Day School’s chapter of the National Junior Honor Society is composed of current eighth grade students who exhibit a dedication to the organization’s core values of scholarship, leadership, character, service, and citizenship. At the conclusion of the second trimester, a faculty council will review grades of current seventh and eighth grade students to determine students’ eligibility to apply for membership to the National Junior Honor Society. Eligible students must have an overall academic average of a 90%, and applicants will be expected to demonstrate their commitment to the values of leadership, character, service, and citizenship through their application materials. Successful completion of community service hours from sixth grade, and continued progress toward service hours for seventh grade, is an important piece of the application. Students can expect to receive more information regarding the application process in the coming weeks.
Community Service Opportunities
Second Harvest will be filling brown bags for the elderly on Saturday, February 18th. Please arrive by 7:45.
Soccer
Soccer practices will begin the week of February 27th. Practices will be from 3:30-5:00. Girls will practice Tuesday and Thursday, and boys will practice Monday and Wednesday. The location is still TBD. Be on the lookout for more details on this coming home soon.
Special Request
Nicholas Childers, a current 7th grade student, is in need of a match for a stem cell transplant in order to survive his relapse of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. If you or anyone you know between the ages of 18 and 60 meet the health guidelines and are willing to be a possible stem cell donor, please join the national bone marrow registry at www.bethematch.org. This website will explain the process of donating stem cells which is similar to donating blood. You may BE THE MATCH that provides the cure! Please see the link below for more information on an upcoming Marrow Registry Drive for Nicholas.
SUMMER CAMP OPPORTUNITY AT CLEMSON UNIVERSITY!
The Middle School office received this announcement from Clemson University about it’s summer Scholars program.
“Students, summer is fast approaching and Clemson University Summer Scholars is offering fun and educational residential programs in June, July and August for student entering 7th to 12th grades in the fall. Program offerings range from Engineering and Biology to Audio Engineering and Music Production and many more diverse programs. To find out more, stop by the Middle School office to pick up a brochure!”
8TH GRADE ASSIGNMENTS
8th grade Algebra 1 - Mrs. Reardon - week of February 20th
After enjoying a lovely 3 day weekend, we will jump right into chapter 8 by applying exponent properties involving products and quotients. Students will get some extra practice on these properties on classzone.com on Thursday and will take a brief quiz over them on Friday, February 24.
8th grade Advanced Algebra - Mr. Lanfear - week of February 20th
Next week we will complete an activity involving angles formed by a transversal and then begin our exploration of Trigonometry. Students will learn what sine, cosine, and tangent mean and how to use SOHCAHTOA to solve right triangle problems.
8th grade Geometry - Mr. Lanfear - week of February 20th
Next week we will begin Chapter 9 by reviewing translations and learning about vectors (9.1). We will also learn about matrices and how to add, subtract, and multiply them (9.2).
8th grade Physical Science - Mrs. Huennekens - week of February 20th
Chapter 4: States of Matter is our focus. Now that the students have a good understanding of the periodic table, we will study how the states of matter depend on the motion of the particles and on the attractions between them.
8th grade English Language Arts - Mrs. O’Connor - week of February 20th
Students will continue to explore poetry and work to compose literary analysis paragraphs that explain the impact of poetic devices. These paragraphs will be composed primarily in class, and they will be due on Friday, February 24th. Additionally, students will practice working with vocabulary words from their Greek and Latin Roots books.
8th grade History and Gov’t II - Mrs. English - week of February 20th
This week students will continue our study of the Roaring Twenties. We will see how women began receiving a larger role in society and how that ultimately affected culture like fashion and entertainment. We will see how jazz and the Temperance Movement personified the era. Students will also learn a simple step of “The Charleston” dance! We will have a quiz over Ch. 22.1-2 and 19.3 on Friday. Looking forward to a great week!
8th grade Spanish-Ms. Hughes-week of February 20th
Next week in Spanish class the 8th grade will begin Chapter 4B. Students will continue to use the imperfect and preterite tenses as they describe situations in the past. We will also compare and contrast celebrations in Spanish-speaking countries with the U.S. There will be a graded listening over the new vocabulary toward the end of the week.
7TH GRADE ASSIGNMENTS
7th grade Algebra 1 - Mrs. Reardon - week of February 20th
After enjoying a lovely 3 day weekend, we will jump right into chapter 8 by applying exponent properties involving products and quotients. Students will get some extra practice on these properties on classzone.com on Thursday and will take a brief quiz over them on Friday, February 24.
7th grade Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear - week of February 20th
Next week we will continue our exploration of percents by learning about percent of change (7.5) and percent applications (7.6). We will then begin learning about calculating simple and compound interest (7.7).
7th grade History and Gov’t I - Mrs. English - week of February 20th
This week in American History we will begin our studies of America as a new nation. Readings and homework will come from Chapter 7.1 & 2. This chapter will deal heavily with how the Founding Fathers set up the Articles of Confederation and how the struggle between a strong federal government and states’ rights personified the political discourse of the era. We will have a quiz on Chapter 7.1 on Friday.
7th grade Spanish-Ms. Hughes week of February 20th
Next week in Spanish class, the 7th grade will discuss opportunities for volunteering and read an article about Habitat for Humanity. Students will also discuss volunteer work they have done in the past using the preterite verb and indirect object pronouns. The Chapter 8B test will be on Friday, February 24th.
7th Grade ELA- Mrs. Hannah- 21-24 February
We have finished our second novel and will be moving into a study of myths, epics, and fables. This week, students will read Icarus and Daedalus, then plan and stage a mini-debate in groups. In grammar, we will begin a study in pronouns. Students should expect grammar homework regularly in addition to literature assignments. Finally, we will begin vocabulary Lesson 6 from Greek and Latin Roots, with a quiz scheduled next Tuesday 28 February.
7th grade Science - Mrs. Heyward - week of February 20th
Next week we will continue our exploration into the Organization of the Human Body. We started a chart that will contain the functions, major organs, and continual interactions between the systems. Once we have completed our overview of the entire system, we will focus our studies more specifically on the individual systems, beginning with the Integumentary, Skeletal, and Muscular System. We will have a quiz on Friday. February 24. We will have a test on Friday, March 3.
6TH GRADE ASSIGNMENTS
6th grade Accelerated Math 7 - Mrs. Reardon - week of February 20th
After enjoying a lovely 3 day weekend, we will wrap up chapter 7 by solving inequalities and learning how to graph functions. Students will get some extra practice graphing functions on the the graphing calculators. No assessments this week.
6th grade Pre-Algebra - Mr. Lanfear - week of February 20th
Next week we will continue our exploration of percents by learning about percent of change (7.5) and percent applications (7.6). We will then begin learning about calculating simple and compound interest (7.7).
6th grade ELA - Mrs. Guggenheim - week of February 20th
We are beginning our research unit this week. The students have chosen their topics, and we will be reviewing note-taking strategies in preparation for our field trip to the public library on Friday. Students will be presented with a rubric and calendar of due dates. They will work in class and at home on their research. They will choose the type of report/presentation they would like to do from a list of options. We will begin Vocab List 9 on Tuesday. The quiz is 3/2. We will also begin the Reading Log for 3rd trimester on Tuesday. Reading 30 minutes a week outside of class assignments will help them reach their goal of 360 minutes.
6th grade Earth Science - Mrs. Huennekens- week of February 20th
Chapter 18: Ocean Motion is our focus. We will see how oceans are important sources of water, food, energy, and minerals.
6th Grade Ancient Civ- Mrs. Hannah- 21-24 February
This week, we will study the Han dynasty, the final dynasty of our China unit. We will learn about the Silk Road and China’s connection to the Western world. We will review material from the Qin and Han dynasties on Monday 27 February and test over the unit on Tuesday 28 February.
6th Grade Spanish- Ms. Sotomayor, week of February 20th
We are beginning a new novel: Piratas del Caribe by Mira Canion. We will have more in depth practice of using a variety of verbs, learning about pirate history in Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico, as well as segueing into food vocabulary.
MS Ensemble - Mrs. Cookson week of February 20th
We started our first few entertaining rounds of Charades. This game builds listening, quick thinking, and presentation skills; not to mention provides for great team building.
MS Art - Mrs. Cookson week of February 20th
Humming along with lots of creativity. Make sure you ask your child about their Artist Research Challenge. You should have received a paper to sign, and your child should be able to tell you something about the artist they are researching.
6th - Continuing with illustrations and wet felting; things are progressing nicely.
7th - After our critique of concert posters we will move into some art fundamentals.
8th - Making last minute touches on our clay tiles, and then we will move into digital work.
