Parent  Newsletter  

November  9,  2018  Dear  HMS  Families,       This  week  I  visited  many  classrooms  once  again,  and  learned  a  lot  along  with  our  students.  In  eighth  grade  science  class,  Mrs.  Boyle  was  reviewing  the  use  of  the  triple  beam  balance  so  that  students  could  participate  in  a  lab  to  determine  the  relationship  between  the  volume  of  water  and  the  mass  of  water.  Looking  at  the  data,  they  also  had  to  decide  the  density  of  water.  I  visited  Mr.  Mare’s  class,  where  he  was  engaging  his  students  in  a  discussion  about  the  combining  of  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt  in  ancient  times,  including  how  King  Menes  united  the  land  and  named  himself  king.  I  also  visited  Mrs.  Grande’s  class,  where  I  enjoyed  the  band  playing  several  different  pieces  of  music.  Mrs.  Miller,  our  Speech  and  Language  Pathologist,  was  supporting  students  with  the  organization  of  their  writing  to  include  proper  sentence  structure,  grammar,  etc.  in  regard  to  a  book  that  they  have  been  reading  in  her  class.  I  visited  Mrs.  Latimer’s  Health  class,  where  students  were  engaged  in  a  “Mental  Imagery”  exercise,  and  were  learning  about  the  benefits  of  mental  imagery  relaxation.  This  was  a  great  mindfulness  activity  that  supported  social  emotional  learning.  I  stopped  by  Mrs.  DiTrolio’s  eighth  grade  math  class  earlier  today,  where  students  were  learning  about  solving  equations  with  rational  numbers.       We  conducted  our  second  official  fire  drill  of  the  year  today  in  collaboration  with  the  Seekonk  Fire  Department.  Captain  Sandra  Lowery  reported  that  both  the  students  and  staff  did  very  well  during  this  drill  with  no  obvious  delays  or  problems  noted.         Yesterday,  our  Teacher  Leadership  Team  at  HMS  met  to  review  the  applications  for  the  2018-­‐2019  Student  Leadership  Team,  and  decide  on  a  final  roster.  The  team  of  eleven  educators  collaborated  to  choose  ten  students  for  the  team,  all  of  which  were  chosen  with  a  one  hundred  percent  consensus  amongst  the  educator  leaders.  Congratulations  to  our  Student  Leadership  Team!         I  would  like  to  thank  all  of  the  PTO  parents  that  were  able  to  volunteer  at  our  Book  Fair  this  week.  Your  time  and  effort  is  appreciated  by  our  staff  and  students.       There  is  no  school  on  Monday,  November  12th  in  honor  of  Veterans  Day.       Report  cards  will  be  available  in  the  portal  on  Saturday  morning,  November  10th.       The  final  basketball  rosters  will  be  posted  on  the  Principal’s  Page  this  evening  around  6  pm.    Sincerely,    Dr.  William  V.  Whalen  III  Principal  

           

                             

   Hello  Hurley  Families,     It  is  hard  to  believe  that  the  first  quarter  has  concluded  and  you  will  be  able  to  access  Quarter  1  report  cards  on  the  portal  this  weekend.  Next  week  at  lunch  students  will  be  able  to  share  with  me  any  positive  comment  they  received  from  their  teachers  on  their  report  card.  Students  can  either  bring  in  a  copy  of  their  report  card  to  show  me  or  simply  tell  me  what  comment  they  received  from  which  teacher.  Students  will  be  able  to  enter  their  name  for  each  positive  comment  they  receive  to  win  a  $25  dollar  gift  card  to  Dick’s  Sporting  Goods.  A  name  will  be  drawn  for  each  grade  on  Friday  of  next  week  at  the  lunches.  

    Grade  checks  will  also  be  conducted  in  regard  to  student  academic  eligibility  for  athletics  and  clubs.  A  student  must  receive  a  65  or  higher  for  all  classes  in  order  to  be  eligible  to  attend  clubs  or  athletics.  This  policy  is  outlined  in  the  Student  Athletics/Activities  Handbook  which  can  be  found  on  the  Principal/Assistant  Principal  page  of  the  HMS  website.  I  will  be  notifying  any  student  who  is  ineligible  next  week.     Congratulations  to  those  students  who  were  selected  for  the  2018-­‐2019  HMS  Student  Leadership  Team.  Thank  you  to  all  those  students  that  applied  as  it  was  a  difficult  decision  amongst  the  Teacher  Leadership  Team.       Happy  Veterans  Day!  Thank  you  to  all  those  that  have  served  and  continue  to  serve.  Enjoy  the  long  weekend!    Ms.  Bouchard  Assistant  Principal    

     Warrior  Wednesday  morning  message  submitted  by  7th  grader  Sara  Santoro.  

 “May  the  best  of  your  todays  be  the  worst  of  your  tomorrows.”-­‐  Jason  Mraz.

   

Gray Team

ELA:-Work continues on our class novels, Among the Betrayed and Gathering Blue. Students have been connecting to the novels through journaling and through writing letters of appreciation!!

Science: As a culmination to our learning on the parts of the cell the students are developing models to represent how a cell functions. They have the option to pick between 4 different projects; a story, model, a slideshow, or a poster. The students demonstrated their understanding of the functions of the cell through analogies of everyday objects. I saw a lot of creativity and hard work on these projects. Great Job! Math: We have begun our second unit studying expressions and equations. Students are beginning to explore how to simplify expressions while not forgeting their integer rules! Next week, we move onto solving equations! Social Studies: Students completed their first chapter of Egypt this week and quizzed on Thursday. In addition, they began the process of understanding Egyptian religion; a multi-faceted unit that includes mummification, spirits, and the identification of varying origin stories! We’ll be continuning this chapter up until Thanksgiving break.

RED TEAM NEWS

Science with Mr. Coury As 1st quarter draws to a close, students will be finishing up our unit on Thermal Energy transfer. This week students created posters on the concepts they found most challenging in class, with regard to the unit on Thermal Energy. Students were challenged to create a well written paragraph explanation of their concept, a visual that shows their concepts, and then they were asked to create a presentation which was given to the class. On Friday students engaged in an inquiry lab where they will try to prove which cups (made of different materials - glass, plastic, styrofoam, and metal) will conduct or insulate thermal energy - with a focus on analysing and using data to justify their answers. Next week students will embark on a culminating project for this unit where they will leverage their understanding of what we have learned to design and build a house- with the goal of focusing on heating efficiency. Students were notified last week that there will be a Post Test on this unit on Tuesday 11/13/2018. They were provided a study guide, two study sessions, and were instructed to study a little bit each day.

English with Mrs. Thivierge The kids have been enjoying Tuck Everlasting for about a week, and we’re plowing through the story! Some of us have already read the novel in fifth grade, but we are making the best of getting what we can out of a re-read, and discussing as we go. We’ll continue to work through the book next week, as well as spirit week and the week that follows! :) ~ Ask your kiddos to tell you about our chapter-review game: Grudgeball! Happy weekend!

Math with Mrs. Halpin We are now onto the Number Theory portion of the Number Sense strand. Students have been reviewing the divisibility rules and discussing how useful they are. Using these rules, we are now using prime factorization of a composite number to find the GCF and LCM of two numbers. We are also solving real world problems where the solution is to find the GCF or LCM. The students are also working on their Mathletics assignment. In Supercore, we are running a Video Game Truck business and calculating the costs it takes to run such a business. The students have come up with some great business names and slogans for their company.

Social Studies with Mr. Manton Hi! Social studies over the past two weeks has seen us wrap up our Africa unit! Students did such a fantastic job with this unit, the assessments, project and learning was great all-around! Second quarter will take us to Asia, which we have just recently started this week. Students have worked on their country maps and learned about Asia’s physical geography. This includes land, water and climate features of the five regions of Asia. Upcoming quizzes include a country quiz (East and South Asia) on November 19th. Students have lizardpoint available on Google Classroom to use as a study tool for this assessment. Have a great weekend!

 

                                                                         

                                                                                               

Thank you volunteers! Thank you to all of the parents who helped with setup, breakdown, and sales at this week’s Book Fair. Because of your help, HMS students had the opportunity this week to show their love of reading by picking out great books, all while raising funds for the PTO. Special thanks to Rita Wibberj, who organized the event.

HMS Holiday Luncheon The Hurley Middle School holiday luncheon is scheduled for Wednesday, December 12. The PTO organizes this lunch to show the HMS teachers how much we appreciate the work that they do for the kids all year long. We want to create a buffet table that will include a variety of food items. Our goal is to have something (and enough) for everyone. So, if you can help, please sign up! All hot food items should be dropped off in the crockpot before 10:30 AM on 12/12. All other items can be dropped off before 3:30 on 12/11 OR in the morning of 12/12. Sign up to donate food for the luncheon at http://signup.com/go/ZhLMiiW. Holiday Fair The PTO is looking for snack and drink donations for the Holiday Fair Saturday, December 8. The snacks will be sold at the fair, which features fun holiday activities for kids and opportunities to shop with local vendors. All proceeds will support the PTO. SIgnup is available at https://goo.gl/forms/ib8elTGR3uKiuD0B2. Upcoming PTO Events

● November 20, 2018 Box Tops Collection ● December 4, 2018 PTO Meeting, 6 p.m. ● December 8, 2018 HMS Holiday Fair, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. ● December 12, 2018 Holiday Luncheon

     

               Congratulations  to  Ms.  Lauren  Morales!  Lauren  has  been  chosen  as  our  Project  351  Ambassador.      

           

     Come join us for our 2nd Annual Holiday Craft and Vendor Fair Shop with local vendors and crafters while supporting our school PTO. Stay up to date with who will be attending by responding to our event on Facebook. Vendor and crafters will be posting about items that will be available to purchase. We will also be updating the event as new fun activities are added. https://www.facebook.com/events/498014260702110/                                        

     

   

11/9/18 BAND NEWS

Thank you for another wonderful extra help time with 6th grade students! Flutes and oboes worked on scales, upper register and tone production. Thank you to Olivia Halajko for assisting with oboe! Spirit Week is coming on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Thanksgiving week. HMS Concert band goes WILD with pep songs and lots of fun. This is an 8th grade tradition and is sure to get everyone fired up for spirit week! All students are working on concert music. Hopefully you hear your child practicing at home. Encourage them to practice the HARD PARTS FIRST! 15-20 minutes at a time if sufficient. Again, I like to remind parents and students to check for cleanliness of instruments. If the instrument “smells” foul, please check for mold. Some students have more saliva in their tuning slides, mouthpieces and valves. You can always check with Rick’s Musical Instruments for a professional cleaning. The cost should be covered if you are still renting. DATES to keep in mind: HMS November meeting- 11/14 @ 6:00 BRASS CHOIR @ Town Hall-December 6 @ 6:00 Swansea Mall Performance (Jazz band and Grade 8 ONLY) Thursday, December 13 HOLIDAY CONCERT-Wednesday, December 19

Health Education News! 6th Grade: We are continuing with our Substance Abuse Unit next week. We have finished learning about the dangers of Inhalants and will be moving on to Tobacco. Later on in this unit we will learn and discuss one more substance...vaping. During this unit, we will also be learning about the short-term and long-term damages of these substances, how to deal with those social pressures (peers, family and media) that may influence adolescents to use such substances, and learning to make responsible decisions in pressure situations. At the end of this unit students will be able to:

o Explain the difference between long-term and short-term dangers of using inhalants, tobacco and vape

o Explain what sudden sniffing death is o Demonstrate the ability to use refusal skills o Identify internal and external influences that may lead to risky

behavior such as experimentation with inhalants, tobacco and vape o Explain addiction o Identify the link between using inhalants, tobacco and vape and the

health problems they cause o Demonstrate decision making skills by using the responsible

decision making model MA Frameworks Standards covered:

o Disease Prevention & Control (8.5) o Tobacco, Alcohol and other Substances (10.5, 10.6, 10.7, 10.8)

National Health Education Standards: o Standard #1: Core Concepts o Standard #4: Interpersonal Communication o Standard #5; Decision Making o Standard #7: Self-Management

7th Grade: We continuing with our Mental Health unit. This past week we have been learning about stress helpful ways to cope and relax. This past week students learned about how stress affects their bodies and the health problems it can cause if stress is ongoing. Therefore, students learned helpful ways to cope with stress and identified harmful ways of coping. We also spend time in class relaxing. Yes, relaxing! We did a Mental Imagery exercise and a little Art Therapy. When all is said and done, students will apply what they have learned to their own personal stressors they have already identified and

will soon begin work on eliminating their stressors or positively coping with them; Stress Management Plan Project. This project will count as a Classwork grade. The due date for this project (along with rubric and project description) will be posted on The Portal as well as the Google Classroom when it is assigned. At the end of this topic students will be able to:

● Identify stressors in their life ● Identify symptoms of stress ● Explain healthy and unhealthy ways to reduce and COPE with stress ● Explain the effects that long-term stress can have on our bodies ● Identify individuals they consider to be a part of their personal support system

MA Frameworks Standards covered: o Growth & Development (1.8) o Mental Health (5.8, 5.8, 5.11, 5.16, 5.17, 5.19) o Violence Prevention (11.2) National Health Education Standards: o Standard #1: Core Concepts o Standard #5: Decision Making o Standard #6: Goal setting o Standard #7: Self-Management o Standard #8: Advocacy 8th Grade: Students are continuing to learn about Noncommunicable Diseases…those that cannot be spread. We are learning about common noncommunicable disease, risk factors that may increase the chance of developing such diseases and prevention. At the end of this unit students will be able to:

o Identify common Noncommunicable diseases o Identify risk factors that may cause disease o Identify positive behaviors that reduce the risk

of developing Noncommunicable Diseases o Explain the link between diet and disease o Explain the prevention and control of

Noncommunicable Disease MA Frameworks Standards covered:

o Disease Prevention & Control (8.1, 8.3, 8.5, 8.7, 8.13, 8.14, 8.19)

National Health Education Standards: o Standard #1: Core Concepts o Standard #5; Decision Making o Standard #7: Self-Management o Standard #8: Advocacy

Personal Development Lab News

Students in PDL have been learning study skills this past week. Currently the 8th grade is finishing a project in social where they have been responsible to taking notes for a project they are currently working on. They will also be doing some writing for the project as well. We have discussed ways to take notes as well as to organize notes or thoughts for writing. I continue to reiterate the skills they have just learned will be helpful with this project. Students have had time to catch up on this work in class if it was not done outside of class. As we move into second quarter, students will be re-evaluating their goal plan to see what is working to help them achieve their goal and “tweak” their goal plan if part of their plan is not working. The MOST VALUABLE TOOL your child has is their student agenda. Therefore, efficiently using their agenda is a requirement for this course. Another thing that is very valuable to them is the class time they are often given to get work done or catch up on work owed. They may usually get this time after our mini-lesson is done. This opportunity should not be taken lightly and they should use this time to be productive. As always, I am available after school on Mondays and Tuesdays if your child would

like to stay here and get some work done before going home at the end of the day. One thing I will definitely tell you is that there is ONE thing that sometimes (ok, maybe more than sometimes) gets in their way of completing homework in a timely manner, if at all. THEIR PHONE. We have discussed time management techniques when doing homework. One of the strategies I have shared with them time and time again is to TURN THEIR PHONES OFF OR PUT THEM ON SILENT MODE WHEN DOING HOMEWORK. I promised them that missing a text or phone call from their friends will not be the end of the world! :) If you take a look in the google classroom, I have

uploaded all of the handouts they have received so far with the strategies to help them with their challenges including time management strategies I just mentioned. Take a look to see all we have done so far. If you are not listed as a parent/guardian in my PDL Google Classroom, please let me know and I will send you an invite.  

   

                                 

Builders Club with Mrs. Farrow & Mrs. Kenney Since there is no school on Monday 11/12 because of Veterans Day, the next Builders Club meeting will be held Monday 11/19 after school in the art room. Also, last call to bring in items for the Izzy Room at Hasbro Children's Hospital. Thank you very much for all the generous families who have already donated. We are all so grateful!      

                                                                 

                     

          HEALTH  OFFICE     Yellow  folder  like  dental  forms  went  home  with  your  child  about  2  weeks  ago.    If  you  want  your  child  to  be  seen  please  complete  this  form  and  return  to  the  school  ASAP.      

 Please,  please  be  sure  your  child  has  water  to  consume  throughout  the  day  if  they  are  experiencing  cold  or  cough.    I  cannot  express  how  important  hydration  is  with  illness  such  as  a  cold,  congestion  and  cough.    Your  body  needs  this  to  help  loosen  mucous  and  most  important  also  is  that  fluids  help  to  wash  flush  germs  and  viruses  out  of  your  immune  system  and  soothe  a  cough.    Fever  is  dehydrating  and  schools  are  drying  due  to  the  heat.    I  find  and  feel  you  are  able  to  heal  much  sooner  with  lots  and  lots  of  fluids!      .