Howards Grove Middle School
January Parent Newsletter, Volume IV
Important Dates
January 10th, MS Musical Auditions @ HG Center for the Arts 3PM-4:30PM
January 10th, Special Board Meeting/Working Meeting 5PM
January 11th, MS Musical Auditions @ HG Center for the Arts 3PM-4:30PM
January 11th, MS 7th/8th Grade Boys Basketball @ Cedar Grove 4PM
January 13th, MS 7th/8th Grade Boys Basketball @ HG 4PM
January 17th, School Board Meeting 7PM
January 18th, MS 7th/8th Grade Boys Basketball @ HG 4PM
January 20th, 5th/6th Grade Movie PM
January 20th, MS 7th/8th Grade Boys Basketball @ HG 4PM
January 21st, NO SCHOOL, Grade/Report Day
January 25th, MS 7th/8th Grade Boys Basketball @ Oostburg 4PM
January 27th, MS 7th/8th Grade Boys Basketball @ HG 4PM
Principal's Message
I hope this greets everyone with hope and wonder for the New Year. It is fascinating to me that our school year is nearing the half way point. Our semester end is soon approaching, January 20th (this is a change from the original published date of January 19th). I would encourage all families to check Skyward for updates on student progress. As we continually work to support student learning, if there are any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to your student's teacher(s). A reminder that there is no school on January 21st.
With the winter weather upon us, I give a gentle reminder to families to be sure students are dressed appropriately for the weather. Students do go out for recess unless the air temperature is below zero degrees. Recess is about twenty to thirty minutes each day, so a warm coat, hat, and gloves are appropriate. Most often students enjoy the outdoor break each day. We would like to keep them safe and warm.
Cell phone use is a continued challenge here at the middle school. We ask that all students keep their cell phones in their lockers during the school day. Cell phones should not be in the classroom unless requested by the teacher or staff member. If your student is sick, we ask that the student come to the office so that we are able to communicate with you appropriately. We ask that if your student texts you stating they are ill, please help redirect them to the office. We'd greatly appreciate it.
Below are the grade level virtual learning plan links should your son or daughter need this option:
I wish you all a wonderful New Year and look forward to our continued partnership in education. Thank you for all you do to support your child and our school.
“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” – Henry Ford
Counselor's Corner
Happy New Year HGMS Families!
January brings another new unit of study for our 5th and 6th grade Life Skills students! This month we will be focusing on the topic of emotions. Students will learn how to identify and cope with their own emotions by looking at their triggers, internal responses, symptoms, coping skills, and ultimately their outward reactions/release. This topic/unit of study sets the foundation for our upcoming February unit of Mental Health and Wellness, which I will send more details about later this month.
8th grade students and families continue to be busy with their High School Course Selection meetings and decision making. By then end of this month, all of our 8th grade students will input their course requests into the Skyward scheduling system so that our High School Counselor can begin the scheduling process! We will also be completing our Aimsweb Winter Benchmark screening for grades 5 - 8 later this month.
Finally, a quick note about Mental Health and Wellness. Statistics, as well as my own observations in our own school, show that the months of January and February tend to bring a raised level of mental and emotional struggle for students. There are a lot of possible reasons for this, such as the winter months, coming off the Holiday season, etc. Whatever the reason, we tend to see even higher levels of anxiousness and down feelings than we already do. It is important to establish open and safe conversations about mental health struggles at home. Students want to talk about their feelings, they just often don't know how! One great resource for families to learn more about how to recognize struggles and have those conversations is the Mental Health America of Sheboygan website (https://mhasheboygan.org/).
Also, SAVE THE DATE for a Community Mental Health and Wellness Night on Tuesday, February 22nd (6:00 - 7:30) that will be held at the Howards Grove Center for the Arts. More detailed information regarding this amazing event and opportunity will come out later this month!
Student Council Update
Student Council Update:
The student council had a fun December! We hosted a food drive/hygiene drive from November 29th- December 17th to help support the Sheboygan County Food Bank. Because of the generous donations from our families, we were able to raise over 1,140 pounds! Way to go! In the coming weeks, we will be celebrating our efforts by taping some teachers to the wall! Additionally, students earned ice cream sandwiches and extra recess time before break. The 8th grade brought in the most this drive, so the students enjoyed some hot chocolate as a “thank you” as well!
On December 17th, the student council hosted a holiday movie for all 5th-8th grade students. We had 140 students attend this awesome event! The students enjoyed some free popcorn and a movie while relaxing in the gym with their pajamas, blankets, and good friends! Lastly, the student council continued to spread some holiday cheer by decorating cookies for the whole school as well as hosting several fun dress-up days.
As the first semester wraps up in January, the sixth graders will have an opportunity to learn about the mission of our student council. New members will be welcomed as the second semester begins. We hope to see some enthusiastic new members join our team!
8th Grade
Readers' Writers' Workshop
With a New Year, the 8th grade begins a new unit in Writing Workshop, journalism. This type of writing not only prompts the students to write with new techniques, but also asks them to evaluate the ordinary world and ‘spy’ stories under those daily activities. Students are learning that journalism requires the basic ‘5 Ws’: who, what, where, when and why. These ‘5 Ws’ must be included within the first few lines of a quality journalism piece. Students are also learning that journalists must be written in a concise manner while still engaging their readers with high-quality writing. As this unit progresses, students will need to pick a local topic to research. As part of their research, they will need to interview someone connected to their topic, so be prepared, this may mean you (one of our readers)! Once students have their articles complete, they will work within a group to create a published newspaper that will be distributed to the other buildings and staff in the district.
8th Grade Algebra
Who hasn’t heard of Mr. Kalk and his famous reward parties? Every math class looks forward to celebrating the successful completion of a particular area of study. Recently, eighth grade Algebra students completed a chapter on exponents and exponential functions. To celebrate their hard work during this particular area of study, students planned a Waffle Wednesday party. They brought in waffle irons, batter mix, maple syrup, and plenty of toppings. With their stomach’s full, and their heart's content, they’re ready for the challenges of the next chapter and already dreaming of what the next classroom party could be.
8th Grade Math
Math students have been learning a lot about graphing linear equations. They’ve been interpreting and graphing proportional relationships, finding slopes of lines, and most recently have been constructing functions. Soon they’ll be working on solving systems of linear equations using graphing, substitution, and elimination methods. A reward party for them is in the not too distant future. Can anyone say Ice Cream Sundaes?
Science
We have entered our life science studies. In the curriculum we are studying "Human Body Systems" (Skeletal, Muscular, Circulatory, Respiration, Digestion, and Excretory). As we study each human body system, we will be comparing that system to the frogs like body systems. The big lab for this unit of study is frog dissection which will take place on January 18th. The students are really getting excited about the dissection experience. We will have a unit test on the body systems on January 20th. Exciting stuff in science class.
7th Grade
6th Grade
We have switched back to US History and are currently discussing how the US Constitution sets up our government and divides the power. We will then be moving into the Bill of Rights and developing a 6th grade student bill of rights in the process. Please take the time to discuss these topics with your students. Ask them what they think are some rights all 6th grade students should have. Also, please reach out if you have any questions. Finally, remember, your student has access to our online textbook for social studies at www.savvasrealize.com.
Readers’ Writers’ Workshop:
We are moving into historical fiction book clubs! The students will be engaging in conversations about many things related to this genre. They will be discussing the different characters’ relationships as related to the historical events, how those events impacted the characters, and common themes throughout their books and history. A main focus of this unit will also be to progress our listening and speaking skills as individuals and groups. Prior to winter break, the students celebrated all that they learned with some creative song writing. Here are a few fun photos of this learning activity.
Math:
Prior to winter break, all 6th grade students finished up a unit on decimal operations. Upon returning to school, we have implemented a new warm-up routine into our math class. Each day, the students will complete about 8-10 review questions to begin math class. These questions are a spiral review that will help keep previous knowledge fresh in their memories. We refer to this warm up as our “Bell-ringer.” You will see this listed on the homework page, but please know that time is given in class to complete the work. In the Block 1 math class, the students have entered a unit on solving multi-step equations and inequalities. This work is building on what they worked on earlier in December. The 2nd and 3rd Block math classes have started a new unit on ratios and unit rates. We will be talking about how unit rates apply to shopping and finding the best deal. You can ask your child to help calculate the unit price for some of your basic grocery items. Is the “Family Size” bag of Doritos really a better deal? Does Costco really save you money??? These are the questions that keep us up at night. :) I hope you and your child have fun with this!
5th Grade
Reader's Writers' Workshop
We are currently enjoying our creative side as writers through our poetry unit. We’ve explored Acrostic, Limericks and will be working with Sonnets, Haikus and more. We have acknowledged that word choice is critical and we are working hard to improve our vocabulary.
We continue to work with mentor sentences; noticing what’s good about them, labeling parts of speech, revising and imitating them.
Math
Social Sciences
In Social Science, we are switching gears from Social Studies to Science. Prior to Winter Break the fifth graders wrapped up their Native American Unit with informative presentations about the different cultures and regions. We saw some very clever models, posters, mock artifacts, and slideshows. Each of the cultures had to use what was available in their environment to survive. They had to be creative to design functioning tools and advance technology. The same challenges our Native American were faced with are going to challenge our students as we start our next Science unit. Fifth graders will be putting their creative abilities to the test as we learn about the Engineering and Design Process. We will be ending the unit with a STEM team project and competition.
Howards Grove Middle School
Email: ahouston@hgsd.k12.wi.us
Website: www.hgtigers.org
Location: 507 Kennedy Avenue, Howards Grove, WI, USA
Phone: (920) 565-4452