Newsletter – March 6, 2015

Parent Newsletter – March 6, 2015 February Stars of the Month Dear Families, Pictured above are the HMS Stars of the Month for February 2015. Stars of the Month are chosen by their team of teachers for many reasons, including but not limited to academic achievement, collaboration with others, improvement, character, and more. These students enjoyed a nice breakfast ceremony this morning, and also had the chance to participate in the half court basketball shot contest. Eighth grader Trevor Lopez successfully hit the half court shot, winning twenty dollars! Also, eighth grader Hannah Forrest won some money playing HMS Plinko. We are very proud of our Stars of the Month! Every student that is chosen as a Star of the Month has his or her picture displayed in our Tower Lobby display case. The group photo (above) is also featured in the Seekonk Patch. The names of all of the Stars of the Month for February are included in this edition of the newsletter. The 10th Annual HMS Idol took place last Friday evening. This was a wonderful evening for the students that competed, as well as their friends and families that were there to support them in the audience. Congratulations to Katie Roslonek, our HMS Idol for 2015. Katie sang “Black Horse and the Cherry Trees.” I would also like to congratulate our runner-­‐up, Katerina Mihailides. Katerina sang “Rolling in the Deep.” The third place winner this year was Maia Millard, singing, “Lips are Moving.” Katie Roslonek will have many responsibilities over the next year as our HMS Idol, and will be making appearances at many events including our 8th Grade Promotional Ceremony, home basketball games next season, and more. I am very proud of all of the students that worked so hard rehearsing throughout this school year for their big night. The show was outstanding! I would like to thank Mrs. Terri Latimer, as well as all of the staff that assisted her in organizing and producing HMS Idol. I would like to also recognize the HMS Dance Team, and their advisor Mrs. Brittany Montagna for their stellar performance this year. This group has been working very hard as well throughout the year, and all of that work has certainly paid off. This week’s newsletter includes the Honor Roll for the second quarter of the school year. Congratulations to all of the students that made Honor Roll. Everyone in the HMS Community is very proud of these students. Baseball and softball tryouts begin the week of March 16th. A permission form must be completed and signed by the parents of all students that would like to tryout. Hard copies of the packet have been made available to the students during lunches. Also, an electronic copy is available on the Principal’s Page of our website. All signed packets must be turned in to the main office no later than Thursday, March 12th. We are not able to accept the permission packets beyond that day. Also, in order to be eligible to tryout, students must have a current physical on file with the school nurse. The third payment for eighth grade students planning on going on the class trip to Washington DC is due on Thursday, March 26th. Next week. Mr. Holden will provide the students that participated in the Calendar Fundraiser with a slip that indicates the balance that is due for the student, taking the Calendar Fundraiser into account. We have been drawing the names of the Calendar Fundraiser winners on a daily basis. The winners of the raffle can be found on the Principal’s Page of our website, and is updated daily. I would like to recognize eighth grade student William Ott for his accomplishments, winning the HMS Geography Bee for three consecutive years. William is now on his way to the statewide competition. Good luck William! Thank you to Mrs. Libby for organizing and facilitating the school-­‐
wide geography bee once again. This week, we have been preparing for the PARCC test by running trials with all three grades. The actual PARCC testing window for our school will begin on Monday, March 16th. This edition of the newsletter once again includes the schedule for the PARCC test. There will be a School Council meeting next Wednesday, March 11th at 4 pm in the HMS Library. Also on that evening, the HMS PTO will meet in the library at 6 pm. Don’t forget to follow our school on Twitter for news, updates, and information. Our school’s Twitter handle is @HurleyMiddle. You can also follow our Guidance Department @KHMSGuidance, and our library @KHMSLibrary. The dance that was originally scheduled for this evening, March 6th, has been postponed. With all of the snow on the property, it seems much safer to hold off on this dance until the weather warms up and some of the snow and ice melts. I don’t feel that it would be safe for students to dismiss from the dance with all of the snow that we have around the building and parking lots, as visibility may be difficult at night, and there is not a lot of room available for students to walk out to their parents’ cars. The next regular school dance will be held on Friday, April 10th. Following that, we have added a dance for Friday, May 1st. The 8th Grade Semiformal Dance is scheduled for Friday, May 29th. Have a great weekend! Sincerely, Dr. William V. Whalen III Principal @DrWhalen3 Dr. Kevin M. Hurley Middle School
650 Newman Ave.
Seekonk, MA. 02771
508 - 761 - 7570
www.seekonk.k12.ma.us
Dr. William V. Whalen III
Principal
Mrs. Mary C. Westcoat
Assistant Principal
March 2015 PARCC Schedule Performance-­‐Based Assessments Grade 6 ELA March 16, 17, & 18 Grade 7 ELA March 19, 20, & 23 Grade 8 ELA March 24, 25, & 26 Grade 6 Math March 27 & 30 Grade 7 Math March 31 & April 1 Grade 8 Math April 2 & 7 Make-­‐Up Period will take place March 17 – April 10 as necessary PARCC (EOY) End of Year Assessment Window: Grade 6, 7, and 8 – Two Sessions for ELA Grade 6, 7 and 8 – Two Sessions for Math May 11th through May 24th (Exact schedule to be determined) Grade 8 Science MCAS Window: The Testing Window is May 5th through May 19th (Exact schedule to be determined) Stars of the Month FEBRUARY Grade 6 Ethan Gallishaw and Rebecca Santos Jackson Kinney and Emily Marino Grade 7 Ryan MacDonald and Sophie Percival Sarah Lisa and Aleksander Diarabian Grade 8 Khola Siddiqui and Trevor Lopez Diana Carney and Casey Merola Encore Rachele Papineau, Nicole Kach, Natalie Kach, and Hannah Forrest HMS IDOL 2015 – Katie Roslonek HONOR ROLL – 2nd QUARTER 2014 – 2015 HIGHEST HONORS GRADE 8 Justin Cardoza, Katelyn Charron, Thomas Ciolfi, Cedrick Gustave, Sara Letourneau, Kiarra Morales-­‐Sandoval, Aditi Patel, Deirdre Rocha, Ethan Santos, Lauren Shanahan, Bethany Smith GRADE 7 Bailey Adams, Matthew Anghinetti, Amelia Biggs, Amy Botelho, Jacob Calamar, Laura Catalano, Jaimee Deslauriers, Elizabeth Dyson, Page Fecteau, Kaylee Fonseca, Christina Gennari, Allison Houle, Madison Khan, Jessica Kogut, Grace MacDonald, Brendan Morales, Ariel Nault, Sophie Percival, Jordan Pina, Benjamin Pope, Tiffany Rainho, Abigail Tenreiro, Olivia Tortolani, Joshua Valente GRADE 6 Gerard Ayotte, Hailey Bodick, Grace Borden, Elizabeth Bradshaw, Andrew Cabral, Christina Chen, Katherine Corbett, Faith DaSilva, Jessica Elkhoury, Emily Fasteson, Ethan Gallishaw, Nicholas Jankowski, Destini Langlois, Sarah Lezy, Alexander Medeiros, Jared Moran, Kyle Oliveira, Kailee Peterson, Bethany Pucino, Trey Ramos, Emily Rieben, Brady Santoro, Madison Sirois, William Smith HIGH HONORS GRADE 8 Stephanie Allen, Cheyenne Ayotte, Isabella Bartlett, Mykenzie Beland, Rachel Bennett, Devon Bento, Lillian Birch, Erin Broadmeadow, Collin Brown, Sarah Cabral, Diana Carney, Marissa Carney, Logan Casala, Nathan Costa, Jenna Dunphy, Emily Ferrick, Hannah Forrest, Haley Fournier, Cameron Garabian, Sophia George, Robert Gerardi, Kaitlyn Gorton, Morgan Halpin, Jun Hong, Sabrina Howarth, Emily Jankowski, Alex Killeen, Olivia Klegraefe, Abigael LaFleur, Christopher Lane, Megan Loiselle, Trevor Lopez, Benjamin Lunnie, Julia Medina, Casey Merola, William Ott, Abigail Pacheco, Saarah Papineau, Pritesh Patel, Aidan Perkins, Kaitlyn Provazza,Gianna Repoza, Hanna Saisselin, Kelley Shanahan, Khola, Siddiqui, Matthew Silveira, Samantha Silveira, Nicole Simas, Olivia Soares, Hannah Stoepker, Hunter Studley, Kathryn Vasu, Morgan Viccione, Madeline Whelan GRADE 7 Raina Abatecola, Megan Accardi, Macy Anderson, Madison Bedrosian, Tyler Benson, Nicole Campatelli, Lyla Carvalho, Giana D’Ambra, Elise Dezotell, Aleksander Diarbian, Mia DiBiase, Chance Dinkins, Charlotte Drainville, Matthew Frias, Ryan Gill, Lindsay Grilo, Marcus Hoskins, Henry Jordan, Nicole Kach, Erin Keough, Jacob Klang, Emily Ledoux, Charles Lehourites, Elijah Leonard, Jessica Leonard, Molly Loiselle, Ryan MacDonald, Brian Martinez, Sydney Mello, Lyndsey Menard, Katerina Mihailides, Edward Monigan, Joshua Morra, Eli Morrison, Kevin Moszkowicz, Jack Murphy, Jaden Pappas, Meredith Paris, Isabella Paterson, Ryan Pelletier, Katherine Perry, Zachary Read, Meredith Riordan, Jake Rose, Jenna Sevigny, Robert Sheahan, Elizabeth Sicard, Madison Silva, Isabelle Soito, Macayla Sousa, Robert Strycharz, James Tenreiro, Catherine Testa, Daniel Thibault, Jacob Tousignant, Vianne Turcotte, Austin Wellman, Jocelyn Wozny, Taylor Zapata, Eric Zirkel, Logan Zonfrillo GRADE 6 Mackenzie Allen, Brydon Anderson, Madison Armell, Emma Auger, Kyle Blanchard, Tara Botelho, Collin Braga, Serenna Cabral, Nathan Clarke, Shauna Contois, Alex Correia, Benjamin Correia, Madison Costa, Noah Cristino, Mersadies Crompton, Veronica DeMoura, Jenna Desmarais, Kelsey Dias, Gianna DiBiase, Mia DiPippo, Joshua Ferrara, Mya Ferreira, Makenzie Finnegan, Nathan Fournier, Perry Francis, Sierra Frausto, Mackenzie Gingras, Kennedy Hall, Emma Hill, Katana Hollins, Vanessa Jacome, Liya Khan, Jackson Kinney, Matthew Kugel, Jonathan Labossiere, Isabella Lachance, Megan Langlois, Patrick Lei, Jackson Leonard, Madison Lezy, Victoria Luis, Ella Lyon, Sarah Mace, Jamie Majkut, Madison Mancini, Arron McDermott, Aidan Metivier, Amelia Mignacca, Rachele Papineau, Lauren Paulo, Olivia Penacho, Kaylie Pereira, William Pezzulli, Tyler Pimental, Grace Prew, Alice Santana, Bianca Sebastiao, Isaiah Smith, Caleb Steele, Alejandro Tabares, Anika Toprac, Jack Tortolani, Lauren Tortolani, Caroline Turenne HONORS GRADE 8 Daniella D’Amico, Sabryna Darocha, Hannah Desmarais, Sarah Elderkin, Brady Fournier, Evan Lima, Brooke Michaud, Evan Pacheco, Ethan Paiva, Angelo Passarelli, Kaitlin Roslonek, Abigail Sampson, Shelby Sloane, Sean Westfield GRADE 7 Blake Anderson, Alea Campagnone, Kileigh Clifford, Joshua Contois, Mason Correia, Daniel Cruz, Zachary Cunha, Tayla Handy, Kendra Heath, Samuel High, Miguel Jorge, Charlotte Millette, Mariah Nugent, Samuel Parks, Vivek Patel, Seth Pina, Toni Silva, Christina Tetreault, Juliya Tolman, Liam Whelan GRADE 6 Jacob Barreira, Loukas Bitsakis, Lukas Boudreau, Christoper Cruz, Sydney DaLuz, Maria Duggan, Zachary Francis, Ashton Lamarre, August Montgomery, Madison Natale, Sydney Pardi, Jacob Pegoraro, Karicia Pimentel, Julia Rickard, Nicholas Rufful, Brandon Ruiz, Brenden Santos, Tyler Sceeles, Adam Schneider, Patryk Strzalka, Megan Viera-­‐Hicks, Zoe Walker, Kila Yan William Ott Named Massachusetts National Geographic State Bee Semifinalist by National Geographic Society William Ott has been notified by the National Geographic Society that he is one of the semifinalists eligible to compete in the 2015 Massachusetts National Geographic State Bee, sponsored by Google and Plum Creek. The contest will be held at Worcester Academy in Worcester on Friday, March 27, 2015. William has qualified to participate in the Massachusetts Bee all three years he has been a student at Dr. Kevin M. Hurley Middle School. This is the second level of the National Geographic Bee competition, which is now in its 27th year. School Bees were held in schools with fourth-­‐ through eighth-­‐grade students throughout the state to determine each school champion. School champions then took a qualifying test, which they submitted to the National Geographic Society. The National Geographic Society has invited up to 100 of the top-­‐scoring students in each of the 50 states, District of Columbia, Department of Defense Dependents Schools and U.S. territories to compete in the state Bees. Each state champion will receive $100, the “National Geographic Atlas of the World, 10th Edition,” a medal, and a trip to Washington, D.C., to represent their state in the National Geographic Bee Championship to be held at National Geographic Society headquarters, May 11-­‐13, 2015. The national champion will receive a $50,000 college scholarship and lifetime membership in the Society. The national champion will also travel (along with one parent or guardian), all expenses paid, to the Galápagos Islands, where he/she will experience geography firsthand through up-­‐
close encounters with the islands’ unique wildlife and landscapes. Travel for the trip is provided by Lindblad Expeditions and National Geographic. Visit www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee for more information on the National Geographic Bee. National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo WILD will air the 2015 National Geographic Bee Championship final round, moderated by award-­‐winning journalist Soledad O’Brien, on Friday, May 15, at 8 p.m. ET. The final round will be aired later on public television stations. Check local television listings for air date and time in your area. Here's a glimpse into an 8th grade art class in the morning with Mrs.
Farrow.
They are all working diligently & happily on their art portfolios.
Chris Lane Lilian Birch Kaleigh Medas Red Team News:
History with Mr. Durand – In Social Studies the students
have finished with the geography of Europe and we have moved
onto some historical topics. We practiced a new note taking skill
by using outlines to discuss some topics about Ancient Greece and
Rome. We then moved onto the Dark Ages and feudalism.
Currently, we are in the middle of analyzing primary sources from
1348 about the Black Plague. Students are using these primary
source documents to write an essay. After we finish with the
Black Plague we will move on to the Industrial Revolution and some
other topics before getting to some cultural studies of Europe.
Reminder - Western Europe map quiz is on March 13, Eastern
Europe map quiz is on March 26.
English with Ms Thivierge – One more week of PARCC prep!
The end is near! ;) The kids have been working on hard on PARCCtask simulations; we've worked completely through the Literary
Analysis task, will be finishing up the Research Task on Monday,
and rounding out the week with the Narrative Task, and taking
the practice exam! After PARCC is over, we move back into
poetry - I'm looking forward to seeing how creative they can be!
:D
Science with Mrs. Jones - Red team science students are
currently investigating heat transfer in our atmosphere to answer
their essential question: How does the sun's energy affect the
global patterns of atmospheric movement and the temperature
differences among water, land, and atmosphere? Students have
an understanding of the processes of radiation, conduction, and
convection. They are now applying that knowledge to explain local
and global winds, as will as ocean surface currents and
thermohaline circulation.
Math with Mrs. Handfield
– We have continued to work with
ratios, rates and unit rates. We are talking now about sequences
and expressions, equations and tables. We will also work on taking
our ratio tables, writing equations for them and then graphing
them equations! The students are continuing to use “WKU” and
seeing how it connects here too!
Supercore has been a review of geometry including area and
perimeter, surface area, volume, graphing polygons in 4 quadrants
and looking at nets.
As you can see we are busy busy busy!
I anticipate giving a take home test at some point next week!
Check edline for those details around the 11th of March. The
purpose is so that we can move on to Chapter 12 before the
PARCC test at the end of the month.
Blue Team
EnglishThe Iditarod starts tomorrow! Students have their
musher assignments and should be following the
excitement on iditarod.com. There is a wealth of
cross-curricular information so feel free to explore and
have fun watching the mushers' progress!
@HurleyMiddle Green Team students are knee deep in something other than snow percents! This week, students used a percent proportion to help solve
is/of word problems. For example, what percent of 360 is 72? Students
spent time playing Mrs. Costa's "Train Game" where they had to
successfully work from engine to caboose to solve their percent
problems without becoming derailed! Special thanks to Dylan
Pritchard for the encouragement to make the game. Next week,
students will be solving problems involving percent of increase and
decrease, tips, and commissions.
During SuperCore, classes are working on investigating sample sets
with varying populations. We are discussing using appropriate sample
sizes and the difference between random and biased sampling. Students
were very adamant about NOT asking their parents about their favorite
choice of music! (We wonder why!) Students are also learning how to
make inferences based upon collected data.
Mrs. Costa has been offering an opportunity to earn a homework pass
for math class. She is currently collecting earphones/earbuds from each
student to be used on the upcoming PARCC testing. As students bring
in his or her set, a homework pass is issued. Mrs. Costa has a limited
amount of earbuds she picked up from the Dollar Tree if students need
to purchase one for $1. Inexpensive sets may also be purchased at
Staples, Walmart, Target, and Best Buy. Mrs. Costa loves her Skull
Candy set because it came with different sizes of "buds" and they are
her favorite color red! If obtaining a set is a financial hardship, please
contact Mrs. Costa and a set will be provided to your child.
What a great turn out for the HMS Band fund raiser PAINT NIGHT at the Dublin Rose. There were some very artistic people in the room! A big THANKS for Michelle Riccitelli for organizing this fun night and thank you all for participating. Check out my artistic attempt hanging in the band room! Our next event will be the JAZZ DINNER on Thursday March 26 from 6:00-­8:00. This night features the HMS Jazz Band and the SHS Jazz Band. Our chef for the evening is Mr. Mark Merola. The menu includes baked stuffed chicken breast, green beans, baked ziti, salad, rolls and desert. Order forms will be available next week. All are invited to attend! JAZZ BAND REHEARSAL Monday March 9th after school till 4:00! Mrs. Susan Grande Director of Bands