Dr. Kevin M. Hurley Middle School !! 650 Newman Ave ...seekonk.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_232884/File/16-17...Dr. William V. Whalen III Ms. Alexis A. Bouchard Principal

The Seekonk School Department does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, sex, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or disability in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations.

Dear HMS Community, I can’ t believe that the holidays are already here and we are about to begin school vacation. When we return to school on January 3, 2017, there will only be twelve days remaining in the second quarter of the school year. Grades close for the quarter on January 19, 2017. Beginning on January 20th, the third quarter will begin, and students will start their second semester Encore schedule. Our annual State of the School Address is scheduled for the week of January 17th, and I will be providing more information about these mid-‐year assemblies for the students and staff in the upcoming weeks. After vacation, our HMS Warriors and Lady Warriors will be hosting our third annual basketball tournament at the school. This is a friendly, yet competitive tournament involving teams from our Massasoit League of Middle Schools, and other schools from the surrounding area, including Rhode Island. The tournament is set to take place on the weekend of January 28th and 29th. We will be posting the bracket for the tournament on the Principal’s Page of our website as we get closer, and will update it throughout the tournament as well. We are hoping that many members of our school community, including parents, teachers, and students, will come out and enjoy the action while supporting our teams. I would like to welcome our new Drama Advisor, Mr. Christian O’Brien, to HMS. The Drama Club will start up after school vacation, with sign ups held the week that students return. The drama club sessions will first begin after school on Mondays and Wednesdays with an introduction to theater including an overview of its evolution and how it plays relevant to today’s society and culture, using classic and modern film and television as examples. Students will learn and explore various theater games and improv activities to reinforce the fundamentals of storytelling, listening, and script analysis. There will an introduction to basic technical theater, from set, costume, light and sound design. From there, based on the students' interest and talent, Mr. O’Brien will select a play that will open in May (TBD). Auditions will take place late January or early February. The play will probably be a comedy with the possibility of musical numbers. This edition of the newsletter includes some biographical information on Mr. O’Brien. I wish everyone in the HMS Community a happy and healthy holiday season. I hope that you enjoy this precious time with your family and friends. I am looking forward to an awesome second half of the school year as we begin 2017! Don’t forget, you can receive updates about academics and extracurricular activities at our school by following us on Twitter @HurleyMiddle and @DrWhalen3. If you are not following, we urge you to sign up and create an account. It’s easy! Sincerely, Dr. William V. Whalen III Principal

@DrWhalen3

Dr. Kevin M. Dr. Kevin M. Hurley Middle SchoolHurley Middle School 650 Newman Ave.650 Newman Ave.

Seekonk, MA. 02771Seekonk, MA. 02771 508508 -- 761761 -- 75707570

http://hms.seekonk.sharpschool.com/http://hms.seekonk.sharpschool.com/ Dr. William V. Whalen III Ms. Alexis A. Bouchard Principal Interim Assistant Principal


Hello Hurley Families,

I could not be happier about how well this week has been leading up to the December vacation. I am proud of how well students have stayed focused and continued to demonstrate The Warrior Way! Thank you to all the teachers and staff for all your patience and efforts this week. I hope that everyone enjoys a restful vacation and comes back rejuvenated to begin the New Year! It will be a busy return as the annual State of the School assemblies will take place the week of January 16th. I look forward to speaking to students along with Dr. Whalen, our SRO Perry, and the 8th grade Student Leadership Team.

Also, beginning the New Year we will be enforcing a new rules for students who do not sign up for the late bus on Monday’s and Wednesday’s. Every Monday and Wednesday students are reminded to please sign up for the late bus during lunch. Many are not signing up and/or not completing the required information on the form in order to take the late bus. When students do not sign up it causes problems with the bus routes, and not having emergency numbers listed is a safety concern. After vacation if a student does not remember to sign up after they are reminded at lunch, a written warning will be issued. The second time this happens the student will not be able to take the late bus home, and parents will need to come to the school to pick up your son/daughter. I have informed students of this new rule this week and will also remind them when we return. Please continue to communicate with your son/daughter about whether they are staying after on a Monday or Wednesday so students can plan to sign up during lunch. As always thank you for your support.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy New Year! Ms. Bouchard Interim Assistant Principal


8th GRADE MATH Students are currently working with mathematical transformations using manipulatives, measuring tools, and technology. They are investigating properties of translations, reflections, and rotations both on and off of the coordinate plane, using their observations to make conjectures and reason about applications of transformations in real life.

After vacation, we will extend our work with congruence and similarity to include dilations, angles formed by parallel lines and a transversal, triangles, and scale factors.

STANDARDS FOR MATHEMATICAL PRACTICE

1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. 2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively. 3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others. 4. Model with mathematics. 5. Use appropriate tools strategically. 6. Attend to precision. 7. Look for and make use of structure. 8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.


Blue Team

ELA:-Blast off! Last week’s Test Prep was on Neil Armstrong’s landing on the moon. This week’s focus is on a nonfiction article in Scope magazine entitled, “Disaster in Space.” It is the story of Apollo 13. Students have been working with a partner to complete packets utilizing the following reading comprehension skills: identifying central ideas and details; summarizing; identifying mood and tone; identifying nonfiction elements; text features and structures; and completing close-reading and critical thinking questions. The “reward” will be watching the movie Apollo 13 Friday afternoon. During the movie, students will be completing a Venn diagram comparing the details in the movie vs. the article. This will be a nice segway into the solar system, their next unit in science. Science Organ day is my favorite day of the year. It allows the kids to really see and touch what we have been learning. As a review for the unit test on Thursday, the students observed the levels of life in stations. The simplest form of an egg, they were able to see the parts and some “play”. Tissues are next and a chicken wing allows them to see all the different tissues in a system working together. Finally was the organs, where we could see their complexity and how they might be different in different organisms. It was a great and smelly day. We will end our unit with a focus on keeping our bodies healthy and the importance of fitness. When we return from break we will start the Astronomy Unit.



Math: Students finished up their work on adding and subtracting rational numbers. When we return, we’ll begin work on multiplication and division. On Wednesday, students used the online program Mathletics.com for practice and reinforcement. Some even had the chance to compete with others in live time while solving math problems! All students have their log-in information, in case they’d like to use the program over vacation. During Supercore, we explored the problem solving strategy of drawing a picture, using that strategy to solve real world problems. As a reminder: students will need a calculator from time to time after the break. Although many use the TI34 scientific calculator, any basic calculator will also be fine. Social Studies: Happy Holidays! I can’t believe the Holiday Break is already upon us. Students have been working so hard to finish up the Egyptian Unit before heading off to spend with their families and loved ones and I’m so proud of their work ethic :). When we return from break, students will get back their Unit Tests and will start right away on making their Egyptian Board Games! Look out for invitations when we return from break about the Egyptian Game Board Night happening on January 12th. You’ll have the opportunity to enjoy a night with music, food, and friends as you play the board game that your son/daughter created! It’s a great time and we look forward to seeing you there! May your Holiday Season be filled with peace, happiness, and laughter!

Blue Team Spotlights

Congratulations to the following students for achieving Spotlight status for the month of December! They were chosen by their Core teachers for showing outstanding effort, attitude, improvement, citizenship, academics, or all of the above! They will be treated to a celebratory pizza party (along with their parents) on Thursday, January 5, 2017, from 5:30-6:30.

Alex Cordeiro

Aurora Dumont Emma Hindle

Valerie Lamanuzzi Luis Landeverde

Emily Pedro


HMS Drama Advisor: My name is Christian O'Brien. I'm a BFA graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and a SAG-‐AFTRA member since 2009. I love performing arts of all levels of talent and am very excited to be advising students at Hurley Middle School! A Message from Mrs. Grande, Director of Bands THANK YOU to all the HMS Band Students and Parents for all your gifts and well wishes. I may be a few pounds heavier in the new year... HAH I wish all of you a wonderful, restful holiday break. DON'T forget to take your instrument HOME over the break! See you NEXT year!


PHYSICAL EDUCATION NEWS Ms. Skodras & Mr. Pellegrino

We hope that everyone has a happy,

healthy holiday!! Try and stay active!!

6th- Track & Field 7th-Baseball/Softball 8th-Lacrosse


World Language news – Sr. Dilworth Boas Festas! ¡Felices fiestas! I hope everybody has a relaxing, enjoyable, and safe break, and I look forward to seeing you when we come back in a brand new year. Tchau! ¡Nos vemos! See you next year!

All students who are applying to a private high school or Bristol County Agricultural High School must submit a transcript request form to Mrs. Lehane in the guidance office. All transcript request forms that have been received by Mrs. Lehane have already been mailed to the prospective schools. Mrs. Lehane emails each parent the day that the application is mailed to the school. If you have not received an email from Mrs. Lehane, then she has not received a transcript request form: therefore, your application may be incomplete. All students who are applying to Tri County Regional Vocational High School must submit their application online. Parents and students must log onto: https://tri-county.go2cte.com/. Students’ transcripts will be uploaded to the Tri-County application upon the completion of quarter two, late January or early February. Students will be interviewed the second week of February.


Health Education News I would like to wish you all very happy Holiday season! Also, I would like to thank the parents who sent in Holiday goodies this week as well as the PTO for the wonderful Holiday Luncheon they provided last week. 6th Grade: We have begun our Substance Abuse unit. We have been learning about Inhalants and will move onto Tobacco. During this unit, we will also be learning about the dangers of using these substances, how to deal with those social pressures (peers, family and media) that may influence adolescents to use such substances, and learning to make responsible decisions in pressure situations. At the end of this unit students will be able to:

• Explain the difference between long-‐term and short-‐term dangers of using inhalants • Explain what sudden sniffing death is • Demonstrate the ability to use refusal skills • Identify internal and external influences that may lead to risky behavior such as

experimentation with inhalants and tobacco • Explain addiction • Identify the link between using tobacco and disease • Demonstrate decision making skills by using the responsible decision making model

MA Frameworks Standards covered: • Disease Prevention & Control (8.5) • Tobacco, Alcohol and other Substances (10.5, 10.6, 10.7, 10.8)

National Health Education Standards: • Standard #1: Core Concepts • Standard #4: Interpersonal Communication • Standard #5; Decision Making • Standard #7: Self-‐Management

7th Grade: We have finished our Mental Health unit. Students will receive their Stress Management Plan next week. My 7/Orange class has already begun this in-‐class project. This project will help students be proactive in working on coping/eliminating their stress that they have already identified in a homework assignment titled “Top 10 Stressors.”. This project will count as a Classwork grade. Due date for this project (along with rubric and project description) will be posted on The Portal. At the end of this unit students will be able to:

• Identify stressors in their life • Identify symptoms of stress • Explain healthy and unhealthy ways to reduce stress • Explain the effects of long-‐term stress can have on our bodies • Identify who should be in their own personal support system

MA Frameworks Standards covered: o Growth & Development (1.8) o Mental Health (5.8, 5.8, 5.11, 5.16, 5.17, 5.19) o Violence Prevention (11.2) National Health Education Standards:


o Standard #1: Core Concepts o Standard #5: Decision Making o Standard #6: Goal setting o Standard #7: Self-‐Management o Standard #8: Advocacy 8th Grade: Students are finishing up with our Substance Abuse Unit. We have been learning about various drugs including over the counter drugs, prescription drugs, club drugs, street drugs and narcotics such as Heroine. We have also discussed the difference between responsible drug use, drug misuse and drug abuse. We will finish the unit talking about refusal skills and mapping out decisions. FINAL EXAM SCHEDULE WILL BE POSTED THE WEEK OF January 9th. Those dates will be posted to The Portal as well as parent newsletter. At the end of this unit students will be able to: o Explain the difference between responsible drug use, drug misuse and drug abuse o Identify the different classifications of drugs o Explain the effect of marijuana on the brain, particularly the adolescent brain o Accurately respond to scenarios using the decision-‐making model taught in class o Explain the difference between “snitching” and reporting o Describe the stages of addiction o Identify internal and external factors that influence decision to use or not to use drugs. o Identify physical, emotional/psychological and social effects of using drugs MA Frameworks Standards covered: o Tobacco, Alcohol & Substance Use/Abuse Prevention (10.5, 10.6, 10.7, 10.8, 10.9, 10.13 National Health Education Standards: o Standard #1: Core Concepts o Standard #4: Interpersonal Communication o Standard #5: Decision Making o Standard #7: Self-‐Management o Standard #8: Advocacy


From the Library… Middle Ages Research The library was a very busy place this past week! Both Orange and White team social studies classes were in the library, researching various Middle Ages topics. Mrs. Pellegrino, Mrs. Yttredahl, and I planned fun, game-based activators that reinforced the research skills that students utilized during the period. Students utilized NoodleTools to cite all sources, evaluated and selected their digital resources, and learned to take notes using NoodleTools notecard feature. Here are some pictures from the week, including the scoreboard keeping track of “bragging rights” for the team-vs.-team activator competition (as of end of day Wednesday).

Vacation Week Boredom Busters Looking for something to do over winter break? Check out these ideas! Try computer coding! The Hour of Code week is over, but the tutorials and games are still available on the code.org/learn website! Students can choose from some fun block-based computer coding activities such as Minecraft, Angry Birds, Scratch, and more! The tutorials take you step by step through building your program, so this is something that students can do independently! Coding uses higher level thinking skills (“computational thinking”) and teaches students to solve problems (and, it’s fun!)


Check out an eBook! Forgot to bring your library book home? If you have an e-reader or tablet and a Seekonk Public Library account, you can check out an eBook to your device! There are many great titles that are available to download. Best of all, it’s free! Go to http://www.seekonkpl.org/downloads/ and choose from Overdrive, Freegal, or Axis360! Happy Holidays to All! Mrs. St. Michel, MLIS [email protected] Twitter: @khmslibrary

Documents

Dr. Kevin M. Hurley Middle School !! 650 Newman Ave ...seekonk.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_232884/File/16-17...Dr. William V. Whalen III Ms. Alexis A. Bouchard Principal