THE VIKING
Hinesburg Community School - November 22, 2019
The Principal's Corner
Dear Families
During the Thanksgiving season we want to thank you your support, for sending us your beautiful, talented children and for working with our staff to ensure their success. None of us can do it alone, so we appreciate your collaboration with us to help us educate your children.
We specifically want to thank those of you that serve as classroom volunteers or student mentors. Finally, we want to give a loud shout of thanks to PiE for their recent work around placing a food donation bin at Kinney Drugs for snacks for needy children, and for their efforts funding teacher PiE grants that provide equipment and experiences for our students. You all help make HCS a better place for both students and staff!
On behalf of Hinesburg Community School we wish you a happy and healthy Thanksgiving and send you best wishes for a holiday filled with family, friends, love and laughter! We look forward to seeing your children on Monday, December 2nd.
Warmly,
Suzan & John
Dates to Remember
Thanksgiving Recess - NO SCHOOL
Tuesday, December 3
Early Dismissal Day (1:45)
Tuesday, December 10
Early Dismissal Day (1:45)
Friday, December 13
Student Council Middle School Dance (Grades 6-8)
Tuesday, December 17
Early Dismissal Day (1:45)
Monday, December 23 - Wednesday, January 1
Winter Recess - NO SCHOOL
HCS Has Awesome Students!
Hinesburg Community School would like to recognize three students who have gone above and beyond to help hungry children in our school community. As part of their Personalized Learning Plan project (PLP), seventh-grade students Ezra Dziurzynski, Kate Roberts and Sage Peterson have been working hard to raise money to purchase food for HCS students in need.
In addition to putting a posting in Front Porch Forum and canvassing neighborhoods in Hinesurg, they designed their own website to spread the word and raise money. They managed to collect an impressive $505.00 worth of community donations! The girls then went to Lantmans, where they purchased $330.00 worth of groceries. After separating the groceries into 15 equal bags, they brought the food items to the Hinesburg Food Shelf. The students donated the remaining $175.00 to HCS to make snack packs for needy students. What an awesome group of students!
Frozen JR- Tonight and Tomorrow!
SCOOTER MACMILLAN
Staff Writer - The Citizen
The first snow and freezing temperatures have arrived, and the Hinesburg Community School is opening its production of “Frozen Jr.” right on cue.
Niel Maurer has all sorts of warm and fuzzy feelings about this show, his cast and the army of volunteers involved in putting on the show. It’s the story of the love between two sisters, one of whom has an out-of-control ability to freeze things. What excites Maurer is that the rights to perform “Frozen Jr.” have just been released this year, saying it’s great to do a show that’s so popular.
“It’s so well known that kids have it on their pajamas,” he said.
It’s even on soup cans. Campbell’s has a line of “Frozen” soups that are condensed – but not frozen.
The show itself is a rich stew of warm and wonderful messages. Maurer said it is about how you can be different and accepted; and if you don’t accept your difference, “it’s going to rob you of your happiness.”
The story is also about a sister whose love is so strong that she braves snow and ice to save her sister.
Good for all ages
Maurer is also thrilled to be directing a show that appeals to all ages but is appropriate for the youngest among us.
“I have a lot of people ask me, ‘Can I bring my 3-year-old?’” Maurer said. “This show is so wholesome, it hurts.”
“The musical includes favorite Frozen songs such as “Love Is an Open Door,” “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” and “Let It Go,” as well as wonderful new songs from the Broadway production,” Maurer said.
This is Maurer’s eighth year of directing shows at Hinesburg Community School. Shows he’s done with 6th-8th graders at Hinesburg Community School include “Annie,” “Into the Woods,” “The Sound of Music,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin” and “Willy Wonka.”
Eighth-grader Nisha Hickok is playing Anna, a young princess who faces chilling dangers to rescue her sister, Elsa. The story is about how love can warm the coldest heart, both literally and figuratively.
“The cast has been really energetic,” said Hickok. “They’ve been very inclusive.”
A ‘Frozen’ family affair
Appropriately, for a story about two sisters, Hickok’s older sister Asha is the choreographer. Asha, a senior at Champlain Valley Union High School, is choreographing the production for her graduate challenge.
Asha said that it’s been good to see her sister on stage. The teen was once a student at Hinesburg Community School, appearing in Maurer’s productions during her middle school years.
The girls’ family connection to “Frozen Jr.” runs deep, with their father Miles Hickok building sets and mother Tia Ganguly working on hair, makeup and costumes.
“With Asha going off to college, it gives them a chance to be together,” said their mother of the sisters. “They’re already very close and it’s a nice experience for them to work on something together.”
Her daughters have sung together for years. Asha plays the guitar and piano and her husband plays guitar.
“I can’t remember a time that music hasn’t been a part of their lives,” Tia Gunguly said. “Music is a big part of my family.”
General admission tickets are available in advance at the Hinesburg Community School office or at the box office at performance time.
Performances of Disney’s “Frozen Jr.” are at the Hinesburg Community School at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 22, and at 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 23.
Congratulations to the HCS Spelling Team!
Already District- and Regional champions,
HCS Team Spellers rank #4 in the State!
Congratulations to HCS’s all-6th grade Spelling Team on a very successful season:
Sophie Frost, Makayla Johnson, Stephanie Miskavage, Gigi Provost, Piper Thompson, William Wallace
If you’ve never attended a Team Spelling competition it might be hard to imagine what it’s like. Now, picture a nearly S-I-L-E-N-T auditorium as spellers and families alike hold their breath, word by word, letter by letter, for 300 words in 12 rounds, and you might get a sense of how I-N-T-E-N-S-E it is.
Over the season, the HCS team defeated six teams: Williston, Charlotte, Shelburne, Brattleboro’s Green Street School, Orwell, and Windsor.
In the state competition, each team could achieve a total of 144 possible points. Team HCS was the only team to score 100% of their regular (published study list) words correctly. This is a testament to the amount of work our students put into preparing for their competitions all season. The match was very, very close, and, in the end, came down to bonus words -- the words that are not included on the study list, so students are unable to practice them in advance. Final scores were:
138 points for Main St. School (Montpelier)
130 points for Cambridge and Newbrook (Newfane)
128 points for Hinesburg
82 points: Windsor
So, after a challenging season, what do our Team Spellers want?
More competitions! Seriously. They want more opportunities to compete academically. VPA’s Team Spelling program is an outstanding example of academic enrichment for students looking for additional challenges outside each school’s grade-level curriculum.
Look for information about HCS’s individual Spelling competition – the Scripps school-level Spelling Bee coming soon! A link to the study list will be available by mid-December through classroom teachers and Athletic and Activities Director, Chris Shackett. The Bee will be open to 6th-8th graders. We hope to arrange grade-level Bees for 4th and 5th graders, too. Contact Kristin Miskavage at KZeeMiskavage@gmail.com, if you want to be added to a mailing list for information as soon as it’s available.
HCS Spelling Team Pictured Below
National Geographic GeoBee
The GeoBee is an individual competition open to all interested 5-8th students in January. Students who are serious should consider using the study materials available in the National Geographic Study Corner.
World Language Concert!
What: Elementary World Language performance
When: December 11th at 1:30 pm
Where: At the Gymnasium
Who will perform: All students 1st-4th grades in World Language classes.
Audience: Families and K-4th students
👇 Fifth Grade Students Disassembling Chromebooks 👇
World Kindness Day at HCS
Several HCS educators wore cardigans to celebrate World Kindness Day on Wednesday November 13. They also joined the #cardiganday trend of wearing a cardigan sweater to celebrate the kindness of Fred Rogers.
About Us
Suzan Locke, HCS Co-Principal, Grades K-4
482-6299, slocke@cvsdvt.org
John Pontius, HCS Co-Principal, Grades 5-8
482-6298, jpontius@cvsdvt.org
Alicia Kurth, HCS Special Education Administrator
425-6285, akurth@cvsdvt.org
Email: hcsinformation@cvsdvt.org
Website: https://www.cvsdvt.org/hinesburg
Location: Hinesburg Community School, 10888, Route 116, Hinesburg, Vermont, USA
Phone: 802-482-2106
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Hinesburg-Community-School-125786304154731/
The Viking Newsletter is published bi-weekly, when school is in session. It is available on our web site and is also delivered to email via Blackboard Connect. If needed, a hard copy can be provided for your child to bring home. The Viking includes upcoming events, after school opportunities, notes of interest for parents and the community and updates from our school administration.