Hocker Grove Family Newsletter
October 27, 2020
SECTION 1: NEW/UPDATED INFORMATION THIS WEEK
Hocker Grove Fall Family Engagement Night- Thursday
Please see the flyer below for details on the Fall Family Engagement Night taking place this Thursday, October 29 from 5:00-7:00 pm. We hope you'll consider joining us to have your student's school pictures taken, grab some food, school supplies, make a custom backdrop for your student's remote learning space, and other activities. in the event of rain, we will still have the pictures inside, but we will pair down some of the other activities.
The four community sites (note one changed location) are:
Oak Hills Presbyterian Church 5638 Goddard St. Shawnee, KS sign up
Sylvester Powell Community Center 6200 Martway St. Mission, KS sign up
Trinity Lutheran Church 5601 W 62nd St, Mission, KS sign up
Arrowhead Day School 6601 Santa Fe Dr. Shawnee Mission, KS sign up
Families are encouraged to pick the location closest to them and select a time through the sign-up genius link corresponding to the appropriate location above. This event is for all students and their families- remote and in-person.
While we will offer a make-up session for pictures later in the year, Fall Family Engagement Night will be our main opportunity for students to have their school picture taken for family orders and the yearbook.
Update on HG Move to Hybrid
We had a great first day of hybrid learning yesterday. Thank you to all families for your work with hybrid (at-home) students and for getting your hybrid (in-person) students to school at a later time than usual to accommodate the staggered start time.
On October 28, our Hybrid (in person) and Hybrid (at home) students will switch with Group A students learning from home and Group B students coming to school for Wednesday and Thursday. All hybrid students will learn remotely on Friday. Option 2 students will not experience a change.
It is important that all hybrid (at-home) students log into their Eagle Hour classroom as that is the place we are taking attendance for the day and meeting the state requirement for a live check-in with students each day.
Teachers sent communication on Friday about what to expect for your student's classes during hybrid (at home) days. If you didn't see an email from any of your child's teachers, please feel free to reach out to find out what those days will look like moving forward.
Opportunity to Change Learning Model
SECTION 2: STILL RELEVANT
Important Upcoming Dates
October 28 First Day of Hybrid Learning for Option 1 Group B students
October 29 HGMS Fall Family Engagement Night 5:00-7:00 pm
November 6 End of 1st Quarter- No School PreK-12, Teacher Workday
November 9 Start of 2nd Quarter
November 12 Parent-Teacher Conferences PK-8, Evening
November 13 No School PreK-12 for Parent-Teacher Conferences
November 19-30 Learning Model Change Window open in Skyward
November 23-27 No School, Thanksgiving Break
Updated District Calendar available at https://bit.ly/smsdcalendar
School Supply List
Food Service welcomes every student to enjoy FREE & SAFE school meals.
FREE meals are offered to all SMSD students regardless if they are learning remote, hybrid, or in person. This includes breakfast and lunch meals. Meals are funded entirely by USDA as part of their Summer Meals Program extension. These free meals will continue through the end of the 2020-21 school year. We encourage families to continue to apply for free and reduced meals. Qualifying may allow for other support through the district.
Students will receive their in-person meals at no cost during the days they are in school. Any extra ala carte purchases the students make will require money to be on their food service account.
Remote meals pick up are on Fridays from 6:30-7:45 a.m. These new pick up times are effective on Friday, Oct. 23, 2020. This time change is necessary in order to keep the students safe as we transition to in-person students on Fridays. We apologize if this is inconvenient and realize this isn’t ideal for some families. We remain committed to serving all students.
Meals are prepared with the utmost of care to ensure each child's safety. The Food Service department and employees take food safety and the health of all students and staff seriously. We continue to follow all health department food and COVID-19 guidelines including:
- All employees wear masks
- Gloves are worn and changed frequently
- Proper handwashing followed
- Acrylic shields are used to ensure social distancing for the cashier and in food preparation areas
- High touch areas are disinfected regularly
- All side dishes are individually packaged
- Entrees are served to students upon request
- Disposable compostable trays, individually wrapped silverware and individual condiments are utilized
- Cashiers utilize software to charge elementary students and secondary students will use ID cards with scanners instead of pin pads
Please contact the Food Service office with questions at (913)993-9710 or foodservices@smsd.org.
The school breakfast & lunch menus, remote meal information and other nutrition information are available on the district’s website at https://www.smsd.org/about/departments/food-service.
In order to reduce contact time at school and to ensure adequate supervision of students, no student should not arrive to school prior to 8:20 am unless they remain in the car with their parent. Doors to the building will opened at that time.
Bus riders will be released from buses one bus at a time by an adult as the flow of traffic allows for proper social distancing.
Bell Schedule
SECTION 3: MAINSTAY NEWS
Checking Out HGMS Library Books
Follow these steps to getting the latest releases or your favorite title!
- Open your Chrome browser and type in www.gofollett.com
- Type in “Hocker Grove Middle School” and then “Log In”.
- Log in with your student ID # and the SAME password you use to log in to your MacBook.
- Once logged in, you can either search for a specific title or subject, or you can browse the titles shown.
- Click on a title and click “Hold” to reserve it.
- BEFORE YOU COME TO SCHOOL: Check your student's Destiny account. If the book(s) is checked out to your student, then it is ready for pickup. If it is NOT showing as checked out to the student with a due date, it is NOT READY.
- Requests (holds) will usually be filled within 24 hours.
- It is NOT a same day pickup.
- The office is open 8am-4pm M-F.
- If students have an overdue HG book, they will not be allowed to check out additional books until it is returned; all holds will be deleted. Overdue books will also show on the student account. If you wish to make arrangements with Mrs. Edds to hold a book to be picked up when you return the overdue one, please email Mrs. Edds at CarolEdds@smsd.org.
- If a hold has disappeared AND a student does not have any overdue books, that means the book was not found and the hold was deleted.
- Students are allowed a MAXIMUM of 2 books at this time. The checkout period is 3 weeks.
- A blue crate for returned library books is now on the table in the office.
Observer Accounts for Parents in Canvas
If you would like to become an “observer” of your student in his/her Canvas courses please follow the directions below.
Canvas Parent Directions:
- Download the Canvas Parent App from the App or Google Play store.
- Follow the Canvas instructional guide here to setup your observer account.
- To find your student’s “Pairing Code”
b. Click on “Settings” > then click on “Pair with Observer” (Right side)
c. Enter this “Pairing code” when prompted in your Canvas Parent App.
i. Note that each parent needs a different code, therefore repeating this process to generate a different code
ii. If more than one student, you will be prompted to “add student” on the app. Repeat the process to generate their observer code.
COVID-19 Resources
Hocker Grove Middle School
Email: ChrisKase@smsd.org
Website: hockergrove.smsd.org
Location: 10400 Johnson Dr, Shawnee, KS, USA
Phone: 913-993-0200
Facebook: facebook.com/HockerGroveMiddleSchool
Twitter: @HockerGroveMS