Hickory Creek Monthly Newsletter
February 2022
Hickory Creek Wants Your Input on the Illinois 5 Essentials Survey
Important Dates in February
February 9, 2022 - School Geography Bee @ 4:00 P.M.
February 21, 2022 - No School
Picture Highlights from January
6th Grade
6th Grade ELA
ELA students will begin reading, The Watson’s Go to Birmingham. Honors students will be reading, Hidden Figures-to kick off 3Q. The students will engage in different activities about the Civil Rights Movement to gain background knowledge of this period of time in our history and connect it to present day. This will lead our classroom discussions to reflect our 3Q Essential Question: “How do life experiences shape the people we become?”
6th Grade Math
Math students are learning to write and evaluate algebraic expressions. They will also learn how to write expressions based on real world situations. Honors classes are finishing up the equation unit. They have learned to write, solve, and graph equations. In the upcoming weeks students will learn about negative rational numbers. In this unit they will learn about negative numbers and their value on a number line.
6th Grade Science
Students are continuing to work on the Chemistry unit. We just wrapped up talking about how molecules/atoms act when thermal energy is added or removed to the different phases of matter. Soon, students will be looking into the Periodic Table of Elements.
6th Grade Social Studies
7th Grade
7th Grade ELA
Seventh grade ELA will continue our exploration of poetry by reading “Paul Revere’s Ride” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Not only will students analyze this narrative poem, but they will also make comparisons between the poem and primary accounts of the historical event.
Later in the quarter, students will begin their third-quarter novels, Navigating Early and Murder on the Orient Express.
7th Grade Math
Math is right in the middle of the Integers unit. We have finished adding and subtracting and will move on to multiplying and dividing in Quarter 3.
Honors math is continuing working on our Expressions and Equations units. These units incorporate some of our 8th grade standards as well.
7th Grade Science
Our next unit is Life Science. Students will learn about chemical reactions in the body and how all the body systems work together so we can carry out our daily lives.
7th Grade Social Studies
8th Grade
8th Grade ELA
Students will study this question through the reading of the novel, Night. All students will receive a copy of this text. We will also continue to explore short stories and informational text that fit with this theme. A focus will be placed on Black History and poetry this quarter as well.
8th Grade Math
This month we are working on Pythagorean theorem as well as exponents and scientific notation in the academic level classes. Let’s get ready to see how these topics show up in real life situations!
Honors math students will begin the month by exploring the relationships between angles produced as a result of the intersection of two or more lines. They will then begin the Quantities and Relationship unit which provides students with an overview of a variety of function families.
8th Grade Science
8th Grade Social Studies
PE and Encore
Spanish
8th grade Spanish students finished the quarter strong with a speaking assessment to talk about place they go. They did fantastic adding details about when, with whom and what activities they do. They are now learning how to make plans by saying what they are going to do and inviting others along.
We are glad to welcome our new 6th and 7th grade classes to Spanish! They will begin the quarter talking about what they like to do in their free time.
Art
We are happy to welcome our new 6th and 7th grade students to art this quarter. Students will create a variety of projects utilizing different mediums, focusing on all aspects of the artistic process, including planning, producing, revising, and reflection.
The new 8th grade students will be starting a semester of Drawing and Painting.
Music
The new 8th grade students will be starting a semester of music focusing on Music Production.
STEM
PE
Shaughnessy and Connolly’s classes will be back in PE doing units of Basketball, Volleyball, Dance, and TchoukBall.
6th Grade SEL
7th Grade SEL
8th Grade SEL
Library News
Library
Caudill voting will happen this month! All students and staff who have read at least 3 of the 20 nominated titles are invited to vote and help choose the state-wide winner.
HCMS has 7 students (as of this writing) who have read all 20 titles: 8th graders Alyssa Bell and Tori Beecham (2 years); Faith Hummitsch, Griffin Chojnacki and Emily Skopek (3 years); 7th grader Sam Lee (2 years) and 6th grader Kailey Khan. Congratulations on this major accomplishment!
Stay tuned for the winning titles from HCMS and the state!
Check out the library for some books celebrating Black History month throughout the month!
Cheerleading
Wrestling
Boys Basketball
7th Grade Boys finished their regular season record of 16 – 3. The boys played a great Regional series but fell short in the second round of Regionals as they lost to Mokena. The future looks bright for these boys.
8th Grade Boys finished their regular season record of 6 – 12. They are ready for regionals and look to conquer some hardware on their final road in their season.
The 6th grade Tigers finished the regular season 9-3. They headed into the conference tournament on a 6-game winning streak! They played Spencer Crossing in the first round. The boys played a great game winning by the score of 44-20. The next game was a matchup for the ages. The boys won a thrilling game against Hilda Walker in overtime. The score was 32-30. What a game! The championship game started out hot. The boys controlled the game from start to finish. Winning the championship by a score of 37-27! The boys had a great season. Coach Six was incredibly pleased with the outcome of the season. These 6th grade boys worked hard all year! Go Tigers!!
Girls Volleyball
Music Programs
Band and Orchestra
Chorus
Over 50 chorus members are currently preparing vocal solos and ensembles for the IGSMA Solo-Ensemble Contest on February 12.
Almost 100 students attended the Audition Workshop for this year’s spring musical, “The Addams Family”. Auditions are happening the last week of January with a cast list being posted the first week of February!
Best Buddies
Best Buddies has been working hard at team building activities to help foster our friendships. As we look ahead, we will discover ways to help spread the word about Best Buddies and the importance of inclusion.
Tiger TV
NJHS
We officially inducted three new 8th grade students- congratulations to Tiag Hertsberg, Paige Neiswonger, and Jacquelyn Pepper!
Mrs. Bartolomeo talked about the Outstanding Achievement Award and how to apply for the scholarship. The pillar discussed was “Scholarship”. The officers talked about what it means to be a scholar, and then we finished our meeting with a writing activity that had the members reflect on their academic progress so far and what goals they hope to achieve these last two quarters and beyond.
Our next member meeting is February 11th.
Mathletes
The month of February will bring some exciting competitions for our mathletes!
On February 7th, 8th and 15th, students will compete in round 2 of the ICTM mail-in contest during their regularly scheduled practice days.
On February 14th and 22nd, mathletes will compete in the ILML mail-in competition. This is an extremely challenging contest so help Coaches Jeglinski and Rutovic wish our teams lots of luck!!
Technology Club
Tech Club is starting! All students that have signed up for Tech Club will begin meeting every Thursday after school from 2:30-3:30. Students will complete coding projects in different languages and learn how to use various types of robots and microcontrollers. Any student still interested in signing up should register here.
POZ Squad
PozSquad is excited for February as we prepare for Kindness week!! Be on the lookout for 6 different displays around the building, each one encouraging students to spread kindness all around!!
Student Council
The collection will run from February 1st-February 25th. Students will be bringing their items to their math teacher and the winning class will receive a PIZZA PARTY! Please check your Microsoft Teams page for upcoming meeting dates, and important information.
HCMS Student Council also now has an Instagram account @hcms_student_council and Twitter @HCMS_StuCo. Follow us for updated photos and information. .
Chess Club
State bound students will head to Peoria in February and will enjoy two days of matching, pitting the best minds against one another. We look forward to the challenge and the chance to grow as an intramural!
Scholastic Bowl
Have you ever watched one of those game shows on TV and shouted out the answer to the question before the contestant?
Do you amaze your friends and family with your knowledge of sports, science, history, geography, literature, current events, music, or spelling? Are you that math whiz that can quickly solve equations?
HCMS Scholastic Bowl coaches are looking for individuals, with a variety of different topic knowledge, to help build the next HCMS Scholastic Bowl Dream Team.
What is Scholastic Bowl? It’s a fast-paced, buzzer style competition between teams of five players. You work as a team to buzz in the correct answer before your opponent.
Come join us in Room 2606, to learn more about Scholastic Bowl, on Tuesday, February 1st, from 2:30-3:00 p.m. The official team tryout will be held Thursday, February 3rd, from 2:30-3:30, in room 2606. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Mrs. Sommer or Ms. Grady.
Geography Club
The school sponsored Geography Bee will be held on Wednesday February 9th at 3pm. Live coverage will be provided by our very own “TIGER TV”!
Spelling Bee
6th grade:
Kylie Miller
Sahana Vijayaraj
Juliette Vock
7th grade:
Matt Jansen
Samuel Oyelahan
Jaxson Plutz
Saif Sheikh
Nathaniel Schantz
8th Grade:
Maeve Brown
April Madison
Chase Sanderson
Champion:
Matt Jansen
1st runner up
Sahana Vijarayaj
2nd runner up
Nathaniel Schantz
Students of the Month
Respect Theme - November
6A: Chase Williams & Alex Dobbs
6B: Vinnie Whelton & Sahana Vijayaraj
7A: Trey Austin & Luna Flores
7B: Sam Lee & Leah Sandusky
8A: Camden Storako & Griffin Chojnacki
8B: Brayden Sears & Ella Klaas
Encore: Laura Maldonado-Valadez & Dario Stipcic
PE: Amaya Johnston & Brenden Christoff
Caring Theme - December
6A: Paige Cook & Karsen Thompson
6B: Mason Waddick & Kara Zaker
7A: Alaina Steele & Colin Usher
7B: Grace Frankovich & Costel Usurelu
8A: Tori Beecham & Sabrina Zinsky
8B: Grace Griffith & Kai Spurlark Martin
ENCORE: Maggie Kociolek & Kiernan Hannigan
PE: Landon Kelly & Ava Hurst
This month, we would like to recognize our Students of the Month for January 2022. Each grade level and team selected two students, who encompassed this month’s character trait of Attitude!
Congratulations to the following students who will be pictured in the next month's newsletter:
6A: Samantha Hellrung & Karson Kuzlik
6B: Jules Stasukewicz & Ben Cluckey
7A: Hannah Herring & Nathaniel Schantz
7B: Amber Saldok & Riley Harby
8A: Savannah Williams & Stephen Langdon
8B: Maddie Hellrung & Madison Kohler
ENCORE: Teague Kaiser & Kaia Smuskiewicz
PE: Maura Kelso & Noah Borchert