Hickory Creek Newsletter
January 2023
School Goals 2022-2023
- We will continue to provide rigor and opportunity for academic growth to all students in grades 6th - 8th.
Social/Emotional Goal:
- We will support staff and student social and emotional needs and enhance the opportunity for growth in relationships.
Communication Goal:
- We will increase opportunities for family engagement both during the school day and through extra-curricular activities.
Safety Goal:
- We will provide a safe learning environment for staff and students in grades 6th - 8th.
Hickory Creek December Pictures
Important Dates
January 1st - 9th - No School
January 11th and 12th- Candor Health Presentations to 6th Graders in Purpura, Ford and Ziemba Health Classes.
January 13th - End of Quarter 2
January 16th - No School MLK Day
January 17th - Quarter 3 Begins - New Encore classes
January 17th - Spelling Bee after school
January 18th - Chorus Booster Hot Lunch
January 18th - Fastbridge Universal Screener in Reading
January 19th - Fastbridge Universal Screener in Math
January 20th - Quarter 2 Report Cards ready for viewing on Power School - Celebration Assembly and Honor Roll certificates distributed.
January 25th - FSP Hot Lunch
8th Grade Graduation Date Announced
Emergency Snow Day Learning Plan for Hickory Creek
- All students will be expected to log in to their Tiger Time Teacher's TEAMs page by 7:45 A.M. for attendance and announcements.
- After Tiger Time, students will attend 30-minute single classes (60-minute blocked classes) throughout the rest of the morning by virtually logging in to each teacher's TEAMs page. The "Virtual Bell Schedule" is attached below.
- All students will be given a lunch and study break from 11:50 A.M. - 1:00 P.M.
- From 1:00 P.M. - 2:30 P.M., students will not be required to be online with teachers unless they have specific questions or are invited to a small group learning opportunity for a specific class. Teachers will be available through Microsoft Chat during this time for any questions that students may have from their morning work.
- During the morning hours, attendance will be taken for each class, students are expected to attend by being on-time and having their camera on, actively participating. If your child will not be in attendance on this day, you will need to call them in to our office so that their attendance can be recorded. These will be learning days and curriculum will move forward, just done virtually.
Attendance at Hickory Creek
If your child is going to be out for an extended time, please complete the attached form and have your child bring it to each teacher, while collecting missing work, and get it signed. https://4.files.edl.io/bbab/08/21/20/144043-e70fd2b5-79e5-4142-8807-65560fc63082.pdf
Remembering Lanyards
Students who leave their lanyard at home will sign out a loaner lanyard for the day from the front office and be expected to return it in a basket in the office before leaving the building.
Students will be tracked each time they need a loaner lanyard. By the 3rd time in a quarter that they request a loaner- Mr. Crockett will call home.
Students who have lost their lanyard & ID will have the following options:
1st Time – free replacement for lanyard and ID.
2nd Time – Charged $3.00 to My School Bucks and a replacement will be given.
3rd Time – Charged $3.00, a replacement given and a meeting with Mr. Crockett with parent notification
4th Time – Charged $3,00, a replacement given and a consequence from Mr. Crockett. Progressive discipline will follow with any infractions after this incident.
When Quarter 3 begins on January 17th, student lanyard checks will be continuous, until the end of the school year. During the second semester this year, there will not be Quarterly resets. Thank you for your support.
Fastbridge Testing
6th Grade ELA
6th Grade Math
6th Grade Science
6th Grade Social Studies
7th Grade ELA
7th Grade Math
Core math finished up adding and subtracting integers and will be studying multiplying and diving rational numbers before moving into solving expressions and equations.
Honors math finish our 8th grade unit of real numbers and Pythagorean theorem before break and we will be working on solving expressions and equations covering both the 7th and 8th grade standards.
7th Grade Science
7th Grade Social Studies
8th Grade ELA
8th Grade Math
Eighth grade students in honors math will continue to explore the Real Number System in the first half of the month, exploring simplifying and computing with irrational numbers in radical form. The second half of January will include a study of the properties of exponents and the use of scientific notation to express numbers of all magnitudes.
Eighth grade students in regular math will begin to study functions. During January, students will learn what a function is and how to use graphs of functions. Students will also compare the properties of two functions.
8th Grade Science
8th Grade Social Studies
Spanish
The 8th Grade students will finish up their unit about leisure activities and places. We are closing in on the midpoint of this year-long class so the students will be taking a mid-year placement exam to help determine next year’s recommendations for Lincoln Way East. Students will also begin our fun family unit 5. We look forward to creating family trees and learning more about our students. This unit they will be assessed on listening and writing.
In 7th grade Spanish, the students have started to learn some grammar topics. They learned about subject pronouns and conjugated the verb SER. This allowed them to be able to describe themselves and other people. They will end the quarter learning about locations and objects in the classroom.
6th graders finished the unit on personality traits with a speaking assessment. They showed all they learned and used many details to describe themselves and their interests. They finish the quarter learning how to talk about their class schedule.
Art
8th Grade Art Students are finishing their Sculpture and Design class in January. The semester will culminate with finishing touches on their action figure and ceramic house projects. Some students may also work on a sculpture of their choice before moving on the 2nd semester. In mid-January, the 8th grade Art classes will shift to a focus on drawing and painting. Students will begin by studying chiaroscuro shading, a technique developed during the Renaissance.
7th Grade art students will finish quarter 2 by creating a still life drawing focused on developing observation skills and applying color techniques.
6th Grade art students will finish quarter 2 by glazing their coil pots and finishing their color/balance projects.
Music
8th Grade Instrumental Music will be finishing the semester up with a small group performance using a variety of instruments that we have learned to play this year.
8th Grade Video Production Class will be finishing the semester up with their last episode of Tiger TV and individual news stories.
7th Grade will be finishing the quarter with a guitar unit, where they will be exploring many different genres of music while learning about melody and harmony.
6th Grade will be finishing the quarter with a Ukulele unit, where they will be exploring many different genres of music while learning about melody and harmony.
STEM
The 8th Graders are finishing up the first semester with a Coding and Robotics career research project. They will pretend to be a corporation looking to hire in the coding and robotics field.
The 7th Graders are creating an original short video using the WeVideo software for their final goal.
The 6th Graders are learning the final STEM concept of Robotics with our classroom Makey-Makey and Micro:bit processors. Also, Sphero and Lego EV3 robots.
PE
Ford, Ziemba, and Purpura’s Health classes will be finishing their last units in health; Safety, Body Systems, Sex Education.
The 6th graders will also be getting a lesson on Reproductive Systems from the outside organization of Candor Health.
There will soon be a flip flop in health classes in the 3rd quarter. Connolly and Rodgers will be starting health. Ford, Ziemba, and Purpura will be returning back to PE.
Tiger Time Advisory
Tiger Time
- Monday - Tiger Time TV viewing
- Tuesday - Executive Functioning Skills
- Wednesday - "WIN Day" - What I Need Help With Day
- Thursday - SEL Lessons based on the Second Step Curriculum
- Friday - Team Building
Second Step Social and Emotional Lessons for the month of November
6th Grade Lessons
Lesson 20: You’re Changing
Summary
In this week’s lesson, your child will examine changes they’ve gone through and how those changes can affect their relationships.
Question
Share how one of your friendships or relationships has changed over time. Ask your child to share how some of their friendships have changed since starting middle school.
Lesson 21: Why Conflicts Escalate
Summary
In this week’s lesson, your child will identify behaviors that can cause conflicts to escalate, so they keep them from becoming more serious.
Question
Tell your child about a time when you played a part in escalating a conflict. Explain what you wished you had done instead. Ask your child if they are part of a conflict right now that they need help with.
Lesson 22: Considering Multiple Perspectives
Summary
In this week’s lesson, your child will learn how to view situations from multiple perspectives so they can better avoid and resolve conflicts.
Question
Tell your child about a time when your view of a conflict changed because you were able to see it from another person’s perspective. Ask your child if they have changed their view about a conflict lately.
7th Grade Lessons
Lesson 14: Emotions Matter
Summary
In this week’s lesson, your child will learn how their brain handles strong emotions and brainstorm positive and negative decisions they might make when they feel a strong emotion.
Question
Ask your child about a negative decision they recently made because they were feeling a strong emotion. Help them think about how they can turn that negative decision into a positive one if they feel that emotion again.
Lesson 15: Feel, Think, Do
Summary
In this week’s lesson, your child will distinguish thoughts from emotions. They will also analyze how emotions affect their thoughts, and how their thoughts can influence the decisions they make.
Question
Ask your child to explain the difference between an emotion and a thought. Take turns expressing sentiments aloud and having the other person identify if the sentiments are thoughts or emotions. (For example, Emotion: “I’m so mad at the coach for not putting me in the game.” Thought: “That’s it—I quit!”)
Lesson 16: Unhelpful Thoughts
Summary
In this week’s lesson, your child will distinguish between helpful thoughts, which are thoughts that can help them make good decisions, and unhelpful thoughts, which are thoughts that can lead to negative decisions.
Question
Tell your child about a helpful thought you recently had and the decision you made because of it. Ask them to share a helpful thought they had as well. If they can’t think of anything, point out something positive they did recently and help them identify the thought that went along with it.
8th Grade Lessons
Lesson 12: Be Inclusive and Ask for a Change
Summary
In this week’s lesson, your child will explore two more strategies—making school more inclusive and asking for a change—to disrupt bullying and harassment.
Question
Continue your discussion from last week with this week’s strategies. Ask your child to share their ideas about what they could do to disrupt bullying and harassment.
Lesson 13: Stand Up for Change!
Summary
In this week’s lesson, your child will develop a plan for challenging the factors they see around them that can enable bullying and harassment.
Question
Ask your child to tell you their plan and discuss how you can support them in enacting it.
Lesson 14: Understanding Stress and Anxiety
Summary
In this week’s lesson, your child will examine how they feel, what thoughts they have, and how their body responds when they’re stressed.
Question
Ask your child what they do or feel when they’re stressed. These signs will help you notice when your child is stressed, so you can ask them how to help or support them.
Nurse Updates
From the Desk of Nurse Tammy
-Please remind your child about the importance of hand washing to prevent the spread of illness.
-It is important that we have correct contact information in PowerSchool. During the Winter break would be a perfect time to ensure all numbers listed are correct and remove any numbers that are no longer in service. Updated numbers and Emergency contacts are needed for prompt care of students.
-If you have Eye and Dental forms to turn in for your 6th grader or new student, please do so.
Library News
Happy New Year! Our 2023 Caudill vote will take place next month in February. All students and staff who have read three or more titles from the 2023 list by 2/17 will be eligible to vote for one favorite book and help choose the winning title for the state! There is still plenty of time to get some significant reading done and 20 great books to choose from. Read on, Tigers!
Here’s the form to fill out for each title you read from the list. You can also find it on your ELA teams page and Mrs. Raynes’s teacher page.
Extra Curriculars
Band and Orchestra
Chorus
Varsity Chorus, Advanced Choir, and Show Choir all had a wonderful time performing in December! We started off with the Frankfort Tree-Lighting, singing for the community, followed by performances at all three district schools. We had fun at our winter bowling social (thank you to the Chorus Boosters!) and a beautiful evening of dinner and theater for a performance of “The Sound of Music” at the Paramount Theater. Thank you to everyone who made the first part of the year such a success!
We will be taking 6th grade chorus members starting the week after winter break on Tuesday, January 10 and new 7th and 8th grade chorus members starting on Thursday, January 12. Contact Mrs. Walton if you are interested in joining. All of our choruses will be preparing for the I.G.S.M.A. District Contest as well as getting ready for auditions for the spring musical “Shrek The Musical”. Auditions are open to all HCMS students and will be held on January 23-26. Information regarding auditions will be available after the break.
Student Council
In December, Student Council created sock cupcakes and cards for a local nursing home. We also hosted a holiday spirit week during the last school week of 2022.
Our next meetings will be Tuesday, January 17th for 6th graders and Tuesday January 24th for 7th and 8th graders. We are looking forward to what 2023 brings for Student Council!
POZ Squad
Our January meetings will take place on January 18th and January 25th.
Best Buddies
National Junior Honor Society
On Friday, December 9th, 2022, we had our member meeting. We reviewed requirements for service hours and played a fun winter trivia game. Applications for the Outstanding Achievement Award will be open soon as we wish you all luck!
Our next meeting will take place on: Friday, January 20th. We are looking forward to welcoming our new 8th grade members at this meeting.
Finally, we will be taking our group photo for the yearbook afterschool on Monday, January 23rd.
Geography Club
Mathletes
Tech Club
Tech Club will be meeting every Thursday in the months of February and March. Tech Club offers students the opportunity to learn and dive deeper into the world of coding and robotics, as well as engineering and design.
If your student is interested, please fill out the form linked below:
Chess Club
All levels of players are welcome to attend, and we work on the basics of the game, strategy, and sportsmanship—all while having fun.
Tiger TV
Tiger TV is HCMS’s AV Club! We live stream games and events. We also produce a weekly broadcast with many great segments such as: Week in Review, Upcoming Events and Announcements, Joke of the Week, Teacher Feature, Special Feature, Random Facts with Humans, and more. . There are five production teams and many students that are in the club, to stream, take pictures, and create video edits. To see a list of all the students please check out our TEAMS page. We also have a YouTube Channel where we post our weekly broadcast, plus individual features from past episodes. Please check out our channel and subscribe using the link below.
Cheerleading
7th and 8th Grade Boys' Basketball
7th Grade team leaders in scoring are Jack Murphy, Marcus Gordon, and Jimmy Hellrung. The 7th grade boys basketball record is 11-3.
The 8th grade team leaders in scoring are Aaron Stauffacher, Evan Riiff and Cooper Johnson. The
8th grade boys basketball record is 13-1. Both groups are past the midway point of their season and have outstanding success so far.
6th Grade Boys' Basketball
Girls Volleyball
Students of the Month for December - Trustworthiness
6A-Rachael Przybyia and Brady Sanderling
6B-Demoine Harvey & Kinsley Thom
7A-Maddie Sweet & Blake Wortel
7B-Marcus Gordon & Julia Scibor
8A-Brayden Swiech & Grace Rattigan
8B-Macie Duncan & Andrew Creech
ENCORE-Ellery Johnson & Siena Williams
PE-Emily Scaletta & Landon Kociolek