TIGER NEWS

Hickory Creek Middle School

22150 S. 116th AveFrankfort, IL 60423

815-469-4474

March Issue2019-2020 School Year

Happenings at “The Creek”

Happenings at “The Creek”

Coming Soon! HCMS Talent Show at “The Creek”

Hickory Creek Middle School

Principal's PageMr. Crockett

Community Outreach – Kiwanis

Congratulations to eighth grader, Sama Muhsen, for being selected as the Kiwanis FebruaryStudent of the Month.

Celebrating "Kindness Month"Please Join Us at the Education Foundation

Follow "The Creek" on Twitter: @HCMSTigers157c

Friendly Reminder

All students are responsible for their own laptops. Please remind your child to be respectful, responsible, and caring with their FSD 157-C laptops. Thank you.

From the Guidance &

Counseling Office7th: When something is relevant, it is connected to the things that matter to you. Relevance strengthens your Turbo and brings your Voice to life. Relevance can inspire you to hit your Turbo in amazing ways. When something connects to what matters to you, you have more motivation and direction to take action and make a difference. How can you use relevance to deepen your Turbo and bring your Voice to life?

8th graders continue in the unit of Mawi Learning on Navigating Challenges. This unit talks about how 8th graders can be leaders with technology and social media. Students have discussed healthy and unhealthy social media habits, challenging your reactions to social media, designing a personal Code of Conduct, and being in control of their social media usage. 8th graders are currently working on a project related to navigating challenges with technology.

6th graders continue in the Mawi unit on Relationships. The unit is broken up into 5 parts; Seeing the risks, Creating up friends, Building strong friendships, Open your conversations and Seeing people that feel invisible. This unit has on-line and journal lessons that encourage students to work on their relationships with peers and family members.

March is Traumatic Brain Injury Awareness MonthFrom your nurse, Laura Strepek, RN, PEL-CSN

https://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/drivers/childsafety.html

Team 8A Team 8B

Mrs. DrozdMr. FeehanMs. FrederickMrs. GaertigMrs. Krenner

Mrs. NeyhartMrs. O’HeaMrs. O’RourkeMrs. Wojnarowski

Mrs. JohnsonMrs. MatzMrs. Rutovic

Mrs. SommerMs. WilsonMr. Zemke

8th Grade

Book Notes from the Library

Every day! It's important!

March Library LitWits book discussion Friday March 27,

2020Book TBA!

Follow us on @HCMSReads

Our 2020 Caudill Voting Celebration was a great success! We had 300 "official judges" who read more than 1800 books! 25 students read all 20 nominated titles!

Well done, Tigers!Thanks to the Education Foundation, parent volunteers and NJHS volunteers, Student Council, Brett Wheeler & Follett School Resources, HCMS staff and

administration, our custodians and everyone who read the books or encouraged others to read them!

Vote totals will be available later this month.

The HCMS Library Hosts the 2020 Rebecca Caudill Voting Celebration

The HCMS Library Hosts the 2020 Rebecca Caudill Voting Celebration

Thank you, parents, staff, and administrators! We couldn't do these programs for students without your help!Administrators Paula Paymaster, Tricia Dotson, and Jason Crockett; HCMS Faculty, Pam Swierczewski, Laura Dyokas, Kaitlyn Manning, and Renee Grady. Thank you to our parents Tayo Hill, Kathy Vogdes, Tara Moore, and Brooke Drzwiecke.

Additional thanks to The Frankfort Education Foundation and HCMS Student Council for making this event possible.

We Read All 20 Illinois Rebecca Caudill Nominees

3 years in a row 2years in a row

1st year reading all 20 nominees

Math

Honors Math students will be continuing to explore quadratic functions. They will learn how to find key characteristics of a parabola given only a quadratic equation as well as how to express equations in three different forms.In Academic Math, students will be dilating figures and will learn to differentiate between similar and congruent figures. An investigation of line and angle relationships will follow.

ELA

Students are wrapping up Shakespeare in Honors class, and short stories in ELA. We will be starting our next novel, Night by Elie Wiesel. We will conclude 3rd quarter reflecting on our Quarter's essential question-"How are the decisions we make in life affected by fate & circumstances?

Science

Students are nearing the end of their physics unit. We have explored forces and

interactions, and calculations of force, mass, weight, and gravity. Next up for 8th grade

science students will be chemistry.

Social Studies

Students have completed their study of World War I and will begin their study of the 1920s, the stock market crash, Great Depression, and the beginnings of the rise of dictators which will lead us into World War II. MrsSommer's class participated in the Economic Poster Competition back in December and winners have been chosen by Econ Illinois. Students will be finding out in the next month if they won at the regional or state level.

8th Grade

Team 7AMrs. ClousingMrs. Osberg Ms. Dyokas Mr. Stein Mrs. Ruffing Mrs. DeHaan Ms. Manning Mrs. Faulkner Mr. Finan Mrs. Gatsios Mrs. Neyhart

Team 7BTeam 7B

Mrs. BunnellMrs. KlutcharchMrs. NiendorfMrs. FletcherMs. ValleroMrs. Ryan

Seventh Grade Stay Gold!

Social Studies: Impeachment, Constitution, Primaries, Caucuses, Elections, Oh My!... Students are well into the U.S. Constitution Unit, exploring Article I: the Legislative Branch and How a Bill becomes a Law. Next, Article II: Executive Branch, Article III: Judicial, a review of all 27 amendments & checks and balances; final U.S. Constitution Test will be given before Spring Break.

ELA: Over the course of the last month the students have been pondering the question: What is more important the JOURNEY or the DESTINATION? Throughout this journey they discovered characters, fiction and nonfiction, that have been on a quest. As we wrap up quarter three with this question students will continue to ponder what's more important in their life.

Math: Seventh grade students are working hard on finishing their unit on expressions and equations. We will also be doing IAR review in tandem with our curriculumHonors: Students have just completed expressions and equations and we will start working on statistics and probability.

Science: We finished the digestive system and the circulatory system and have moved on the respiratory system. Students will be using their knowledge about chemical reactions from our chemistry unit to explain all the reactions that occur in our body every day. Why do we breathe in and breathe out different amounts of carbon dioxide and oxygen?7t

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Problem Solving

Team 6BTeam 6A

Discovering

MarchInvestigating

21st Century Skills

Jaclyn Brendlinger-Math

Carolyn LeGrand- Math

Amy Cumbee- ELA

Renee Grady- ELA

Pam Swierczewski - Social Studies

Rebecca Schumacher-Science

Leslie Walton- Reading Intervention

Cherie O’Brien- Math Support

Diane Jeglinski- Math

Maggie Sayles- Math

Tiffany Osberg- Co-taught Math

Mary Kay Bohms - ELA

Lizzie Dwriega -ELACari Clousing-ELA Co-taught & DI

Erin Nemeth - Science

Suzanne Sandowski-Social Studies

Bridgett Didier- DI Math and co-taught Science and SS

6th

Gra

deWe’ve Been Busy Learning

Science: The students are really working hard to develop their explanations of how the Earth, sun, and moon interact to give us our moon cycles, eclipses and seasons. Once we have finished up in outer space, we will come back down to Earth as we look at the Law of Superposition to explain rock layers and formations, they indicate the relative age of the Earth.

Math: The Sixth Grade math students are working on solving one-step equations and writing and graphing inequalities. In the upcoming unit, students will be learning about integers, graphing on a coordinate plane, and absolute value.

Social Studies: As we conclude our study of the Ancient Egyptian civilization, we are now headed into the mysterious subcontinent of Ancient India! Students will explore how the geography affected the lives of the people of the Indus river valley. We will also explore how the religions of Buddhism and Hinduism influenced these people as well.

ELA: Q3 Essential Question: How do events in our lives shape who we are?ELA: Students completed the ‘Time for Justice’ curriculum to learn more about the Civil Rights Movement. Students are reading the novel, Watsons Go to Birmingham, by Christopher Paul Curtis to build on their knowledge.

ELA Honors: Students completed the ‘Time for Justice’ curriculum and will refer to the Civil Rights Movement while reading the young edition version of, Hidden Figures as well as the novel, Wednesday Wars, by Gary Schmidt. Students will also be introduced to Shakespeare Q3.

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Please mark your calendars for our upcoming performances:

Wednesday, March 18Concert and Symphonic Band Concert @ HCMS 6:00 p.m.

Tuesday, April 21Jazz Band and Jazz Ensemble Concert @ HCMS 6:00 p.m.

Tuesday, May 19HCMS Orchestra and Sixth Grade Orchestra Concert @ HCMS 6:00 p.m.

Monday, May 25Symphonic Band and Concert Band Memorial Day Ceremony @ Breidert Green 10:00 a.m.

Chorus Happenings:

Congratulations to all of the students who participated in the IGSMA Solo-Ensemble contest in February. HCMS sent a record 48 vocal events and received 44 first place ratings and 4 second place ratings. Special congratulations to three soloists who received perfect scores: Kylie Steinhauser, Savannah Davis, and Alex McCarthy.

Varsity Chorus, Advanced Choir, and Show Choir are all preparing for the IGSMA District Chorus contest on Saturday, March 7 at Martino Jr. High. Afterward the choirs will travel to Medieval Times to celebrate! Break a leg to all!

The Show Choir will be performing at the LWE Fish Fry on Friday, March 13 at 5:00 p.m. All are welcome to come and enjoy a nice dinner and some great entertainment!

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The cast has started rehearsals for this year's spring musical, "Singin' in the Rain". It promises to be a fabulous show!

Show Dates:

Friday, May 15, 7:00 p.m.Saturday, May 16, 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.Sunday, May 17, 2:00 p.m.

General M

usicWhat a great class! We are using Essential Elements for Guitar to explore the wonderful world of music. We have been learning how to play solo's on the e, b, and g strings, and we have learned the C, G, G7, D7, and Em chords. We are also learning how to play the drum set.

7th grade general music is exploring melody and harmony using the online applications: Noteflight, and Soundtrap. Students will be creating original compositions and then will explore different genres during the guitar unit.

6th grade general music is exploring Melody and Harmony using the online applications: Noteflight, and Soundtrap. Students will be creating original compositions and then will explore different genres during the ukulele unit.

ART

Third Quarter is off to a great start!

6th Grade

We just began our third unit on colors and clothing. The

students have been using their previous knowledge on colors

and they are doing phenomenal! We are excited

to get into more grammar concepts. We will be working noun and adjective agreement using colors and clothing. The students will also be using our

previous vocabulary on seasons and weather to

explain clothing they wear in different season and

weather.

7th Grade Quarter

The students are almost finished with our third unit (Greetings and Introductions). We began the unit

watching videos of simple conversations. This week, they created a partner conversation and recorded themselves on

Flipgrid. They were able to use this platform to be creative about

names, where they were from and even ages. We will be moving on to our first grammar topic: subject pronouns. This will lead us into

the final unit of the students being able to describe themselves and

other people.

8th GradeThe students just finished

being able to describe their family and their house. The

students watched a video on chores and had to talk about what chores family members

do at their house.We are moving into the next chapter this week to discuss

food, everyone's favorite chapter! The students will practice ordering food in a

restaurant and eventually be able to have a mock conversation as a

waiter/waitress and a customer.

7th Grade ExtensionThe students have been doing great with remembering previous vocabulary from last year and applying that to some new situations. We just finished our unit on Days, Months and Dates. We are now

moving into our first unit on culture. The students will learn facts about Spain

including important festivals, food and traditions. We hope they can compare how Spain is alike and different to their

own culture and traditions

6th, 7th, and 8th grade classes are exploring 3D design and printing, circuitry, and coding

robotics.

PE Units this Month for Ford, Rodgers, Connolly:

Dance and T'Chouk Ball

Health Units this Month for Dettman, Purpura:

8th Grade – Alcohol,Tobacco and other Drugs

7th Grade – Alcohol and Tobacco, Body Systems

6th Grade – Safety and Body SystemsPh

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Please continue collecting box tops and bringing them into your P.E. teacher! Each box top is worth 10 cents and is used to supplement equipment.

LWSRA Wheelchair Basketball. March 24th! 6PM"The Chosen One" 2019 video: https://youtu.be/yUUcUwY_nXw

Wrestling Post Season Dates2/29 - Regionals @ Liberty Junior High3/7 - Sectionals @ Lincoln Way West3/13 & 3/14 - State Tournament @ NIU

(Dekalb, IL)

Girls Volleyball IESA Regionals7th grade

3/2 @ Summit Hill JH (6:30 pm)8th grade

3/10 - 3/12 @ Summit Hill JH (TBD)

Athletics AthleticsTrack and Field TryoutsAll Dates are from 2:30 pm - 4:30 pm

March 16th and 17th - 6th grade onlyMarch 18th and 19th - 7th hand 8th

grade onlyMarch 20th - make up date (if needed)

If you have questions please contact:Head Boys Coach Cyle Ford –

cford@fsd157c.orgGirls Coach Bridgett Flynn –

bflynn@fsd157c.org

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HCMS Girls Varsity Volleyball: Regular Season Record 16-5

VARSITYPeyton Arthur 15Georgia Brolley 1Sydney Buchanan 29Niamh Canny 6, 32 (L)Lilly Dockemeyer 10Riley Drzewiecki 16Gabby Dzioban 14Shay Parchem 24Hayven Smith 26Mia Telecki 7Averi VanderWoude 2, 31 (L)Maddie Yacobozzi 11

Head Coach: Cristina Vallejocvallejo@fsd157c.orgCongratulations on your 2nd Place

finish in the DPVC Tournament!

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HCMS Girls Jr. Varsity Volleyball: Regular Season Record 8-10

Jr. VarsityAva Arndt #15Mackenzie Bacha #3, 33 (L)Olivia Bohren #22Daisy Egbutu #23Lauren Hughes #25Ella Jensen #11Kyndal James #10Samantha Kenny #9Ava O'Keefe #20Gianna Paliga #8Rylin Rimsnider #12Victoria Tagler #13

Head Coach: Sheryl O’Rourkesorourke@fsd157c.org

Student Council in Action

Busy working on posters for Around the World

Stud

ent C

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il Decorating classroom doors and student lockers

Grand Prairie's Food Drive Donations

Student Council members loaded the Grand Prairie Food Drive donations and delivered the much-needed food items to the local food pantry.

Even Stripes the Tiger gives HCMS Student Council popcorn two thumbs up. These student council volunteers were great help during the volleyball season.

The

PozS

quad

Meeting Dates & Times

Our meetings will be held inMs. Vallejo's room – 1810.

March Meetings:Monday, March 9th, & 23rd

Advisors:Michelle Matz – mmatz@fsd157c.org

Cristina Vallejo –cvallejo@fsd157c.org

Twitter: @pozsquadInstagram: @pozsquadhcms

Kindness Week is in the books!!

What does kindness look like.....

At School?At Home?

In our community?On Social Media?

In our Sports & Activities?

Geography Club Students Prepare Posters & Activities for Their First "Around the World Table"

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The Geography Club students continue to expand their geographical and cultural knowledge of the world. Students will host a table at the "FSP, "Around the World" Celebration to be held on Thursday, March 12, 2020.For more information: Pam Swierczewski(pswier@fsd157c.org) or stop by Room #2818

Geography Club MeetsWednesday

Time: 2:15-3:30Room #2818

Members of the HCMS Geography Club have been planning and creating visuals for their first "Around the World" table they will be hosting Thursday, March 12th. Stop by the booth!

Best Buddies is an international non-profit organization dedicated to establishing one-to-one friendships for intellectuals with developmental disabilities. Best Buddies meets once a month to help develop these friendships and set time aside to learn more about our peers. At our April meeting, we worked on team building skills and uniting our friendship bonds.

Amy Cumbee: Program Adviseracumbee@fsd157c.org

Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 10th from 2:30-3:30.Be

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Hickory Creek Best Buddies

This month, Best Buddies created posters for "Kindness Month". The "Bold Movement" theme posters encourage students to stand up for those who may not be able to stand up for themselves.

Tech

Clu

bTech Club

Tech Club

Students are enjoying the new "free choice" format and are

having fun exploring computer programing,

robotics, engineering, circuitry, animation, 3D design, and more!

MARCH 11TH Tech Club Celebration!!!!

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HCMS Chess Club was hoppin' this month! Our team traveled to LWE, where we learned some pointers from the high school chess team and got a chance to see some of our old friends!

13 of our students are preparing to compete at State on February 28 and 29th. We are working on strategy and algebraic notation. Our Tigers are sure to represent us well in Peoria!

The Hickory Creek Mathletes are off to a great start! The team competed in Momence on February 5th and took home more plaques to fill our trophy case! Sixth and Eighth grade teams took first place and Seventh grade took third place! Our mathletes have made our school so proud!!

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Tentative Schedule for March

Grade 6

3/4: Practice (ICTM) (2:30-3:30)3/18: Practice (ICTM) (2:30-3:30)3/25: ICTM Competition (Mail-in) (2:30-4:00)

Grades 7,8

3/3: Practice (LW/DPVMC) (2:30-4:00)3/10: Practice (LW/DPVMC) (2:30-4:00)3/12: DPVC Competition @ Troy Middle School (2:30-6:00)3/16: LW Competition @ LWE (5:30-8:00)3/17: Practice (ICTM) (2:30-3:30)3/25: ICTM Competition (Mail-in) (2:30-4:00)

Service Hour Reminders

• 5 Service Hours Per Semester is required of all NJHS Members **ALL SERVICE HOURS FOR THIS SCHOOL YEAR ARE DUE BY MAY 8TH!**

• At least 4 hours need to be HCMS or FSD157c School Hours.

• If you choose to do 1 Community Service Hour, it needs to be a Registered Non Profit Organization

• *Service Hour sheets can be printed from NJHS Microsoft Teams or stop by Mrs. Sandowski or Mrs. Bartolomeo's classroom for a copy.

Faculty Advisers: Johanna Bartolomeo & Suzanne SandowskiAdministrative Adviser: Tricia Dotson

Meeting Dates & Times

Executive Board Meeting:Friday, March 6th, 2020(7:15 – 7:40AM)

General Membership Meeting:Friday, March 13th, 2020(2:15 - 3:15PM)

Peer Tutoring & Homework Assistance

Available on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:15 – 3:15PM.

Students can come whenever help is needed and be assisted by one of

our members.

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We will be starting our IAR incentives next meeting.

Reminders for New NJHS Applicants

NJHS applications have been distributed to all qualifying HCMS students. Applications are due no later than 2:30 p.m., Friday, March 13, 2020. No late applications will be accepted. All applications must be submitted in person to either Mrs. Bartolomea (Rm 1503) or Mrs. Sandowski (Rm 1714)

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y NJHS hot lunch parent helpers! Thank

you to all the

parents who

helped with hot lunch!

NJHS Members Assist with Caudill Celebration!

NJHS members contribute hundreds of hours of service to Hickory Creek Middle School and the Frankfort community. Students assisted with the HCMS 2020 Illinois State Rebecca Caudill Celebration, serving pizza and helping students with activities during the party.

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February Newsletter HCMS student contributing writers and photographers:

Ja'mel BakerBella BorelliMax Bacon Michael LeeJoaquin TsoukatosKassidy LongAbigail KohlerRussel Skibinski

Educ

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Please join us on Friday, March 6th, for the

Education Foundation fundraising event.

Community, family, and staff, supporting

excellence in education.