Howards Grove Middle School
Parent/Guardian Newsletter Vol. V
At Howards Grove Middle School We Believe In:
Respect
Responsibility
Integrity
Appreciation
Important Events
No School, December 25-January 2. Classes Resume on January 3rd. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
January 8, PTO Meeting 5 PM, iReady Winter Diagnostic Begins
January 10, Incoming Freshman Meeting for 8th Graders, 6 PM HS Center for the Arts
January 15, School Board Meeting 6 PM
January 19, End of Semester One
Principal's Message
Hello everyone, please enjoy this month's Newsletter. Below you will be reading about the wonderful learning occurring at the Middle School. In addition, we are excited to have our pilot classrooms up and running for our trial of new furniture as we work through the process of building a new middle school. All students and staff will be working in these spaces over the next month and a half to provide feedback on our best next steps in purchasing. As I reflect on our year in 2023 and look to 2024, I am grateful for all of our students, families, and staff. It is truly a pleasure being a part of a wonderful school and community. I wish everyone an enjoyable holiday season!
Angie
Intervention
Please remind students to have earbuds at school and chromebooks charged. New earbuds make a great stocking stuffer.
Remind students to get plenty of rest and eat a good breakfast each day during testing. Please talk to students about the importance of trying their best. We look for personal growth from fall to winter. Thanks so much for your support.
8th Grade High School Planning
Dear Current 8th Grade Students, Parents & Guardians:
It seems hard to believe, but it is time to start the planning process for your student to enter High School next year. Please see the information below on upcoming events and relevant information for the high school transition.
Incoming Freshmen Parent Meeting - SAVE THE DATE! With any transition comes many questions and new information. In preparation for next year, parents are invited to attend an informational meeting with the High School Principal, Mr. Jon Hess, and the High School Counselor, Mrs. Krista Neave, on Wednesday, January 10th at 6 PM in the Howards Grove Center for the Arts. We will discuss HS expectations, schedules, graduation requirements and much more. This meeting is for parents only and is optional. Students will have their own orientation meetings.
8th Grade Classroom Presentations- Students will begin high school discussions in their ELA classes with Mrs. Luecke and Mrs. Neave (HS Counselor) the week of January 8th. The information shared will be similar to that shared at the parent meeting. Students will also receive their course scheduling packets during this time. Please check with your student to make sure they have brought this home with them.
High School Course Selection Meetings- Through the parent and student meetings, families will receive a lot of information regarding high school. The next step is an individual meeting for each student and parent/guardian with Mrs. Luecke to work through your child’s freshman year course selection sheet, start developing their four-year high school plan, discuss the ACP platform, and answer any questions you may have. Please be on the lookout for a sign-up link in the coming weeks to schedule a date/time for this meeting. We very much look forward to beginning discussions regarding high school in January.
We hope everyone has a relaxing and revitalizing winter break.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Jessica Luecke
Middle School Counselor
Mrs. Krista Neave
High School Counselor
Counselor's Corner
Hello HGMS Families!
Please be sure to carefully read the information included in this newsletter regarding our upcoming 8th Grade HS Planning. I can't believe we are already at the point of HS discussions, but here we are! You will note in that information it states to watch for an upcoming sign-up link sent by me. That link will be sent Friday, December 22 through Skyward messaging, so please be sure to watch for that communication! It's such an exciting time! Have a wonderful holiday break, and Happy New Year!
Mrs. Luecke
Student Council
Right before Thanksgiving, the Middle School Student Council ran a food drive to help stock the shelves at the Sheboygan County Food Bank. We would like to thank everyone who donated food items for this. With your generosity, we were able to collect 695 pounds of food to help people in our local communities!
Mr. McMullen’s Homeroom led the way with 223 food items, and he was honored as our 2023 Turkey Teacher! At the end of the week, Mr. McMullen got to wear our turkey costume for the day and make his debut entrance at our Fall Assembly!
The council has been busy working on events to make spirits bright in December. They have planned many different events for this last week leading up to Winter Break. Some of these fun events are spirit dress up days, cookie decorating, a name that tune game, find the elf scavenger hunt, and a movie and popcorn afternoon for all of the middle school students in the gym. We look forward to what the new year will bring.
8th Grade
ELA
8th grade has been hard at work in Readers and Writers. Students were tasked to find information to help support both sides of an argumentative topic. Our topic was whether or not teens should have control of their social media/technology use. They needed to find information in favor of the use of social media, and against social media. We worked on formatting their research into a well rounded argumentative position paper. Students could pick whether or not to be for or against social media. We discussed and explored topics such as cyberbullying, addiction, data, building connections, creativity, and more. Once our papers were written, revised, and edited we took time to pull out the best ideas from our papers to create a speech to present our ideas. 8th grade has been rocking this writing unit, and has produced really wonderful papers and speeches!
Math
The months are certainly flying by and so are our learning modules for the 8th grade math students. Eighth graders are now able to use similar triangles to explain why the slope is the same between any two points on a non-vertical line. They’re able to determine the slope of a line and use it to find additional points. They know how to write equations of a line when given a graph or a table of values, calculate the unit rate, and determine whether the graph should be continuous or discrete. Finally, students have successfully learned how to identify and compare proportional relationships presented in different ways. Great job 8th graders. Make 2024 as great as 2023.
Algebra
Algebra students recently completed a chapter on exponents and exponential functions. A few of the key aspects of this chapter were students learning how to multiply and divide monomials using the properties of exponents. Students discovered how to evaluate, rewrite, and solve expressions involving rational exponents. While students already had a general understanding of scientific notation, they learned for the first time how to multiply and divide numbers that were given in scientific notation. These students also discovered how to graph exponential functions while also learning more about growth and decay problems, geometric sequences, and recursive formulas.
7th Grade
Readers and Writers
In Readers and Writers students have been working with reading partners to study how authors develop characterization in novels. In the first part of the unit, students were asked to investigate the perspective of different characters and to think about why these characters viewed things the way that they did. We are now just finishing up the second bend where students are studying their author’s trademarks and the reasons they use these techniques. We will be ending the unit with a video project that presents their author to the class.
Math
The students are really gaining confidence in their math skills. My goal every year is to have students believe that they can perform well in math class. This is a subject that usually students love or hate. I am seeing really good things, in terms of effort and attitude in class towards math. Thank you parents for working with me to reach that goal. Statistics show that students make more money in their jobs if they excel in math. Currently, we are solving real-world problems, using decimals, fractions, and percentages. Students are looking for clues in the word problems to solve. This is not an easy task, but they are trying, which is all I can ask. After the holidays, the class will switch gears and study Geometry.
Algebra
Equations, equations, equations! That’s what you think of when you hear algebra. Well, that’s exactly what we learned to solve. All types of equations. Ones with the variables on one side of the equation and others on both sides of the equation. We are using the associative, commutative, and lots of the distributive property. There are a lot of skills being used from previous years and the students are doing great!! I am enjoying working with this class as well.
Before the holidays we will study area, perimeter, volume, circumference and then pick up algebra in January.
Science
In 7th grade science the students are learning about cell structures and how cells function. “Cells, cells, they are made of…” (the 7th grade students should be able to fill in the blank for you). We are investigating the parts of the animal cell by looking at human cells under the microscope. We are also exploring plant cells by taking cell imprints of a spider plant leaf and viewing onion cells on a microscopic level.
Social Studies
The students have been learning about events of the 1800s that led up to the American Civil War: Westward Expansion, slavery, Native American/Colonist conflict, Industrial Revolution, political tension, 1800s lifestyle, social changes, statehood diplomacy, and “cutting edge technology” of the time. Soon we'll be learning about the events at Fort Sumter that kicked off the beginning of the war between the North and the Southern States. Obviously slavery was a central point in the tension between our nation, but as a class we will explore other societal changes that resulted in the deadliest war in American history.
6th Grade
Reading
Sixth graders are exploring more about reading nonfiction texts in our Tapping the Power of Nonfiction Unit of Study. We are learning that nonfiction reading skills are essential to students’ achievement in virtually every academic discipline. In order to be successful in science, students need to read science books and articles. To study history, they need to be skilled at reading all kinds of primary and secondary sources. Nonfiction text is essential to teach in reading class since it helps children develop critical thinking and analytical skills, as well as the ability to read and understand complex texts. More so, nonfiction can help students develop knowledge of their environment and society as they begin reading more content-specific text.
Writing
You have heard the story of The Big Bad Wolf, but have you heard the true story? We have read the book, The True Story of The Three Little Pigs, by Jon Scieszka. Students have learned how to craft a claim defending their viewpoint of The Big Bad Wolf, outline a five paragraph essay using the Boxes and Bullet Essay Structure, and write/share their final draft. Please ask your child to share his/her five paragraph essay with you. They worked hard on this assignment and their writing will impress you! You may find that The Big Bad Wolf is actually trustworthy...or is he?
Math
In 6th grade math, students are in the middle of a unit on decimal operations, primarily focusing on multiplication and division. Students are applying their decimal operations knowledge to solving real-life situations involving decimals, including story problems dealing with money. Students also reviewed the rounding process with decimals since answers dealing with money are rounded to the hundredths place, and decimal division often needs to be rounded to a certain decimal place. Students will wrap up this decimal unit before winter break.
Science
This month the 6th grade science students have been analyzing continental drift. Students used evidence pieces to support continental drift and reenact Alfred Wegener's construction of pangea. Students then created the current plate tectonic map and included the three plate boundaries. To end the unit the 6th grade science students are creating a seismograph.
Social Studies
We recently finished up a debate on the Loyalist vs Patriot positions leading up to the Revolutionary War. They learned that it wasn't as easy of a decision as it might appear to us today. They were able to practice communicating their position by using facts. This week we began researching the Amendments of the US Constitution. We are learning the rights of each citizen. We will eventually discuss the 28th Amendment to the Constitution.
5th Grade
Reading
We are finishing up our book club books and ready to hold book club debates! We will learn how to determine and pick a debatable topic and how to prepare for a debate. The kids are learning that as they read the same book, they develop different viewpoints related to the book. We will practice this skill using examples from our mentor text, Home of the Brave. Each book club group will debate topics they have determined as debatable. I have been impressed with the kids' deep, analytical thinking and their ability to connect ideas about their characters to form interpretations and develop themes. Keep up the good work 5th grade!
Writing
The 5th Graders are currently in The Lens of History: Research Reports for writing. Students have been drawing inspiration and understanding from mentor texts, historical accounts, primary source documents, maps, and timelines to write a focused research report that engages and teaches readers about a specific topic. Students are currently creating a well-organized research paper of a wild animal of their choice. Animals are an important part of our world. Research is an important skill to learn and through the use of animals as a topic students will be creating a research report with in-text citations, multiple paragraphs, and a bibliography with some fun additional pictures and important factual information.
Math
In 5th grade math, students are currently finishing up a unit on Numerical Expressions. Students practiced writing numerical expressions to represent real-life situations as well as solving expressions using order of operations (PEMDAS). 5th graders were also introduced to using grouping symbols, such as parentheses, brackets, and braces, and they also were briefly introduced to exponents. Once our Numerical Expressions unit wraps up, we will be reviewing decimal operations before the winter break.
Science
5th grade science is currently studying sound and light. Last week we dissected the anatomy of a wave and this week the students are connecting those pieces to sound frequencies, amplitudes and tones. After the middle school's holiday concert the students will do a “show and tell” of various instruments.
Social Studies
Each student is presenting a Native American tribe to their class. Research began before Thanksgiving. Mrs. Henschel & Mrs. Halle collaborated with the students in seeking sources to find information from. The students are learning about how the tribe functioned on its own and then how they faced challenges with reservation life.
The School District of Howards Grove does not discriminate in the employment of staff on the basis of any characteristic protected under State or Federal law including, but not limited to, race, color, age, sex, creed or religion, handicap or disability, marital status, genetic information, citizenship status, veteran status, military service (as defined in 111.32, Wis. Stats.), sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, arrest record, conviction record, use or non-use of lawful products off the District’s premises during non-working hours, or any other characteristic protected by law in its employment practices. (Board Policy 4122)