Week of 10/21 - 10/25
Embedded Files
A Message from Dr. Clapp
Classroom Peeks
Happenings
Drive to Thrive
Get Involved
Community Clicks
Upcoming Events
Dear HKMS Families,
I am very excited to announce that our HKMS Peer Leaders group, lead by Dr. Baca will be partnering with the 300 Boodle Brigade, a West Point Parent group, that organizes and ships care packages to active duty military all over the world. The Peer Leaders will be collecting personal items, food items, fun stuff, and homemade items to comfort our soldiers and sailors during the upcoming holiday season. The care packages cost $24 to ship (flat rate), if you don't have time to shop, we are asking for families, neighborhoods, businesses, etc. to "adopt a box" by picking up the shipping costs. Please see the flyers in the "Get Involved" section below for a full list of requested items. In honor of Veterans Day, we will run an on-site collection here at HKMS between now and November 12th. Please consider making a donation to this important drive.
Speaking of Veterans Day, I am honored to report that several veterans from our local VFW lodge 10059, along with several other vets from our school community will be speaking with students about their years of service on November 12th. We will have a special schedule in which student will rotate through a few talks from these heroes. We hope everyone wears red, white, and blue on the 12th and brings in some items for the Boodle Brigade care packages!
This week, the PTO sponsored our first Principal's Coffee where we want to insure that you "never worry alone." This mantra came out of the excellent book, Never Enough by Jennifer Wallace. This year we are centering our conversations around ideas presented in the book, mostly about the stress that comes from raising a middle school child in affluent communities. As Wallace states, "...the parents most at risk for anxiety and depression in these competitive communities are mothers with children in middle school...[who] have the highest levels of stress, loneliness, and emptiness, as well as the lowest levels of life satisfaction and fulfillment" (p. 88, emphasis added). While not a traditional book club, where you would discuss a whole book at once, we will be breaking the book into manageable chunks and offering alternative articles, videos, and podcasts, that can convey the information we plan on discussing throughout the year. Our next PTO coffee will be on January 30th when we will discuss chapters 1-3 (pp. 1-76). The Easton Public Library has 20 new copies they are itching to lend out! Keep in mind that this is also the book chosen by Dr. McKinnon for the district-wide book talk happening on October 29th at Joel Barlow High School at 5:30pm. Don't miss this important conversation!
It was a wonderful five-day week of middle school teaching and learning (our first five-day week since 9/12 - 9/16), and it shows in this edition of the family newsletter. Check it all out and so much more below.
Wishing you all a lovely fall weekend!
Sincerely,
Steve Clapp, Ed.D.
Grade 6
Mrs. Piacente's young scientists are using "Gimkit" (an app does virtual experiments) to run experiments on particle interactions. Students control a variety of variables, like temperature (the constant), and make observations about how the changes affect how particles interact.
"Sign Posts" are literary devices authors use to signal significant events in plot and character development. Mrs. Burke teaches her students to identify various sign posts to help understand the author's purpose. These student are making posters of each of the signposts they learned about with examples from current books they are reading.
Sixth grade French classes played charades to practice talking about sports and musical instruments.
Grade 7
Seventh graders designed "one pagers" about their global studies book club books and they are on display in the 7th grade hallway.
Mrs. Rose's social scientists are completing their argument essays this week. Seen here, student are working on their counterclaims.
Grade 8
In science, students are simulating, then observing, and noting how the forces of motion behave when variables like weight, speed, and incline are adjusted.
Social studies students are putting the final touches on their skits about the experiences of various groups of people (loyalists, patriots, indigenous inhabitants, slaves, etc.) who lived in the colonies during the American Revolution.
FPAs
Tennis anyone? Mr. Breyer's PE students are taking advantage of the beautiful new courts and amazing weather this week!
When the instrument is your voice, having student-led the warm ups (seen here) in chorus class is a great way to build comfort and confidence!
Monday Morning Meeting
The homebase of Mrs. Rose and and Mrs. Kovlakas circled up this Monday to reflect on students' most memorable part of their weekend. With so many students being involve on teams who had games, Mrs. Rose's favorite follow up was, "...and how did you support your team?" It was a lovely and bonding conversation!
This week's episode of "The Den" Student News
This week's episode of "The Den" Student News
Click on the image to launch the video!
8th Grade Class Council
8th Grade Class Council
A (almost) 50-year tradition is being cooked up by this year's 8th grade class council. Under the tutelage of Mrs. Kovlakas and Mr. Dolecki, over sixty 8th-graders are planning out the upcoming Pancake Breakfast! Be there on December 7th and spread the word to the entire Easton community! We need your help to bring this beloved tradition back to life!
Parent Coffee
Parent Coffee
Sponsored by the PTO
This week we held our first parent coffee. We had a chance to preview the book Never Enough by Jennifer Wallace, which is the selected text for Dr. McKinnon's district-wide book club. It was a great conversation as we strive to gather together so we "never worry alone." Plus there was Starbucks!
A Free Evening Event for Parents
A Free Evening Event for Parents
Sponsored by the PTOs and PTAs of ER9
Date/Time: Thursday, November 7th from 7 to 9 pm in the Barlow Auditorium.
Program Description:
Join local experts Dr. Melanie Pearl and Niro Feliciano, LCSW as they focus on understanding the root causes of worry in today’s youth, as well as the impact a parent's anxiety may have on their kids. Come learn what you can do to stop the cycle of anxiety both for yourselves and for your kids and how to identify when to seek help. This talk will also include strategies to help facilitate more adaptive coping and resilience.
Cost: Free but registration required.
Format: Presentation followed by a Q&A session.
About the Presenters:
Dr. Melanie Pearle is a child psychologist who lives and practices in Ridgefield for the past 12 years. Her practice includes providing psychological, behavioral, and educational services to children, families, and schools. To learn more, visit https://www.drmelaniepearl.com
Niro Feliciano – LCSW, frequent contributor to The Today Show, co-founder of a multi-specialty mental health group, Integrative Counseling and Wellness Group in Wilton, CT where she treats anxiety in adults and adolescents. To learn more, visit https://www.nirofeliciano.com.
Our awesome bus company, First Student, ran bus evacuation drills this week. These drills help our students and drivers practice what to do in case of an emergency on the bus. Practice = Prepared!
NEW CLUB ALERT!
COMING IN JANUARY!!!!
Extra-Curriculars Pic of the week!
Extra-Curriculars Pic of the week!
The winners of the Pokemon Club's drawing contest!
At HKMS we believe all student can thrive when intentionally challenged and properly supported. Our Drive to Thrive section highlights just one of those ways!
The Grade 8 Stock Market Challenge is happening as we speak!!
For our October Stock Market Challenge, we have 21 participants. Our current leader is Teddy. He has made around "$5,000" with a very diversified portfolio!
Current Leader: Teddy ---His portfolio is pretty diversified!
Here is one of the investment research tools they use:
Here is a snapshot of our leaderboard:
2024 prizes for winning students
2024 prizes for winning students
3 Grand Prize winners receive $20,000 (one student from each age group)
24 winners receive $5,000 (eight students per age group)
239 winners receive $500 (at least 53 students per age group)
10 randomly selected participating schools win $5,000 in tech equipment
A Message from Easton's Energy & Environment Task Force
What is way better than going home and playing video games? The ECC!
The Easton Community Center's Teen Center offers amazing afterschool programs designed to engage young adolescents. We have a group of 20-25 students who walk over everyday. Please check out their offerings at: https://eastoncommunitycenter.com/teen-center/
Our local VFW 10059 is sponsoring HKMS to participate in this years "Patriot Pen" Essay Contest on the theme "My Voice in American Democracy." The images here are linked to the online submission forms and additional information. I hope we have lots of students show off their writing skills this year!
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