TIGER NEWSHickory Creek Middle School

22150 S. 116th AveFrankfort, IL 60423

815-469-4474

March Issue2017-2018 School Year

HCMS Happenings

HCMS Happenings

Nurse’s NotesFrom Nurse Schipiour INJURIES

Please have your child see the nurse with any new injuries or limitations. Provide a doctor’s note for any missed school and for the restriction or limitation needed. In order to resume participation, a student with a restriction will require a follow up doctor note to release them from the restriction unless the release date is stated on the initial note.

NURSE VISITSPlease take the time to discuss with your child that the school procedure is to first see the nurse before calling or texting home on their personal phones. Students are allowed to call home from the nurse’s office.

PHYSICALSAll incoming 6th grade students require an Illinois physical exam with up to date immunizations and an Illinois dental exam. We are accepting completed forms for the 2018-19 school year.

COLD AND FLU SEASONWe are continuing to see cases of sore throats, upset stomach, and flu like symptoms. Please allow your child adequate time for rest before they return to school.

From the Guidance & Counseling Office-

As our students become teenagers, they may experience stress and can benefit from learning stress management skills. Most teens experience more stress when they perceive a situation as dangerous, difficult, or painful and they do not have the resources to cope. Some sources of stress for teens might include:

Some teens become overloaded with stress. When it happens, inadequately managed stress can lead to anxiety, withdrawal, aggression, physical illness, or poor coping skills.

Parents can help their teen in these ways:

● school demands and frustrations● negative thoughts and feelings about themselves● changes in their bodies● problems with friends and/or peers at school

● separation or divorce of parents● chronic illness or severe problems in the family● death of a loved one● taking on too many activities or having too high

expectations

● Monitor if stress is affecting their teen's health, behavior, thoughts, or feelings

● Listen carefully to teens and watch for overloading

● Learn and model stress management skills● Support involvement in sports and other pro-social

activities

Stud

ent C

ounc

ilStudent Council assisted Grand Prairie with their annual

canned food drive. All of the collected goods were delivered to Frankfort’s food pantry.

Student Council in Action

Student Council February HCMS Programs &

ContributionsUpcoming meeting

March 1st- Maroon and Gold DayMarch 8th-March 15th-March 22nd-March 29th-

Student Council was a proud sponsor of promoting HCMS reading and the 2018 Illinois Rebecca Caudill Program. This year and Student Council contributed toward the food for the after school voting celebration, held on February 23rd. Thank you Student Council!

Monday, March 5th2:30-3:30

March Theme Thursdays

Hickory Creek’s 10th Annual Talent ShowThe Hickory Creek 10th annual Talent Show was a huge success! With over 33 amazing acts! Through concession sales and donations at the door, we raised over $1,500 to help find a cure for GM1! Thank you to all the contestants for all of their hard work. The winners were.....

Dance (tie)Daniel and Jack McVeigh

&Elise Rachoy

Instrumental GroupSelden Nevinger, Eddie Nicholson, Seth Carl, Andy Draus

Instrumental SoloEddie Nicholson

Miscellaneous Maddi Neary and Riley Borden

Vocal Group with InstrumentsMadison Rogers and Sarah Alexander

Vocal Solo with a backtrackPaige Jahovic

Vocal Solo with an instrumentDavid Baer

Judges ChoiceNathan Huizinga and Jack Greenawalt

The February “Glow Gala - HCMS Hearts Glow for Jenny” was a huge success! Students and staff turned out in great numbers to support the HCMS benefit for Jenny and The GM1 Foundation. NJHS & Peer Helpers planned and organized the event, which included Mr. Wonder as DJ. The games, raffles, dance, and Valentine grams, brought in over $5000 in donations. We are still awaiting our final totals and can’t wait to make an official announcement

Jenny & The GM1 Foundation

Book Notes from the Library March 2018

everyday! It’s important!Follow us on twitter!@HCMSreads #hc157c

February Donuts & Discussion

Full Cicada Moon by Marilyn Hilton

2018 Rebecca Caudill Voting Celebration

233 readers! 1505 books read!

HCMS winning books:

#1 Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt

#2 I Will Always Write Back by Alifirenka & Ganda

#3 A Night Divided by Jennifer Nielsen

40 book challengeSamantha DeFily

is the first student to

complete our

40 book challenge!

She read from a variety

of genres and hasn’t

stopped yet!

Samantha has earned

unlimited and fine-free

book check- outs for the

remainder of her time

here at Hickory Creek!

Congratulations and

well done, Samantha!

HCMS Students Cast Their Votes for the

2018 Illinois Rebecca Caudill Book Award

HCMS students joined with other schools and libraries around the State of Illinois to cast their votes for their favorite book nominee. in the annual 2018 Rebecca Caudill student choice award. HCMS winning books:#1 Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt#2 I Will Always Write Back by Alifirenka & Ganda#3 A Night Divided by Jennifer Nielsen

A special thank you to the following parents and staff for helping to make the voting celebration such a success:Jen DoreCori ChojnackiDeanna CaudillDeanna SteinhauserHana YassinBrooke DrzewieckiRenee GradyTara O’HeaWilliam SeidelmannLaura DyokasLexi OrleckChristine Schlecter

Thank You Parents & Staff

8th Grade

8th Grade

Social Studies: March is an exciting time in Social

Studies as the curriculum focuses on the 20’s and 30’s as a prelude to WWII. Congrats to the students who won in the Econ Poster Contest sponsored by Econ Illinois. We are looking for ward

to

ELA:Honors ELA students have been working hard reading, dramatizing, and analyzing Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. They have focused on tracking the theme of control, character and plot development, and author’s craft.

ELA students have been studying the literature standards and making connections with the Essential Question, “How are the decisions we make in life affected by fate and circumstances?”, through short stories. Students will begin to apply the Essential Question to the Holocaust while reading the memoir Night by Elie Wiesel.

Science:Students have studied forces and interactions to

help them to investigate the question of “How Will it Move?”. We will now be investigating the

components of force and motion to better explain the physical world around us in the

coming weeks.

Math:Eighth grade students will be taking a close look at line and angle

relationships. When lines intersect, they create a variety of angle pairs that may be congruent or supplementary. The students will then

explore systems of linear equations. This is an essential skill in the eighth grade math curriculum.

Students in honors math will be further investigating quadratic functions. They will learn how to gather evidence from a quadratic equation and use this evidence to draw conclusions about its graph.

Seventh Grade Team 7A

Mrs. Clousing

Mrs. Dyokas Mrs. Stein

Mrs. Ruffing Mrs. DeHaan

Mrs. Donovan Ms. Hardy

Mr. Finan Mrs. Gatsios

Stay Gold!

Team 7B

Team 7BMrs. Bunnell

Mrs. Klutcharch

Mrs. Niendorf

Mrs. O’Brien

Mrs. Reiser

Sev

enth

Gra

de

Social Studies: Constitution Study is underway… students have been learning the history of the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and

the Articles. Students will take the Final Constitution test before spring break. Please continue to review at home and use your

bluebook as an extra practice resource.

ELA: Students are continuing to answer the question, “What is more important the journey or the destination?” while

reading their novels. The students have been analyzing song lyrics, figurative language, and the significance of dialogue

and theme with all their texts. All classes are pairing texts in order to compare and contrast a variety of structural and

literary devices. Regular ELA classes have focused on using their vocabulary words in narrative writing, while the Honors

classes use their stems in everything from Netflix Mystery proposals to informational pieces on transcontinental railway

travel.

Regular Math: Students are currently working on the expressions and equations unit. They will finish this

prior to spring break and returning with a probability unit after break

Honors Math: Students are finishing their geometry unit and will begin to tackle statistics and probability

from their course 3 book.

Science: Students are investigating what is going on inside of them in the Life Science unit. They have completed the digestive

system and circulatory system. Students are currently using their chemistry skills to collect evidence about what is in the air they

breathe in and what is different about the air they breath out. They are learning how all these systems interact and depend on each

other in order to have a healthy body.

Sev

enth

Gra

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6th

Gra

de

Jaclyn Brendlinger-Math

Carolyn LeGrand- Math

Karissa Fletcher- ELA

Renee Grady- ELA

Pam Swierczewski - Social Studies

Rebecca Schumacher-Science

Colleen Reiser - ELA Co-taught & Reading Support

Team 6BTeam 6A

Tea

min

g

Diane Jeglinski- Math

Maggie Sayles- Math

Ellen Hogan-Math & Co-taught

Mary Kay Bohms - ELA

Sean Bouck - ELA

Tara O’Hea-ELA Co-taught & DI

Erin Nemeth - Science

Suzanne Sandowski-Social Studies

Cherie O’Brien- Math Support

Discovering

21st Century Skills

Investigating

Col

labo

ratin

g

Problem Solving

6th

Gra

de

Science:Students have begun our Earth and Space Science Unit. We had students make scale models of the solar system, use computer-based programs to show how mass and distance affect gravity, and finally students will be using the CER format on explaining Earth’s seasons. Next up, students will be doing labs on understanding how water has shaped our Earth!

Social Studies: As we enter into March, our students are becoming more involved in the use of the “Techbook” by Discovery Education. If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to check out this resource, please ask your child to show you some of its features! Our essential question that we have focused on has been “How do leaders shape a society?” Our study of Ancient India has kept our students intrigued, learning about the emperor Asoka. We look forward to exploring the mysteries of Ancient China.

3rd Q Essential Question: How do life experiences shape who we become?ELA: Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963, is in full swing and the students are digging deep into making character connections and analyzing from many different angles. Students are making inferences as to why an author develops supporting characters and what does that teach us about the main characters. Students will also have the opportunity to compare/contrast events from the novel and clips from the Watsons Go to Birmingham movie!ELA Honors: Students are continuing building their writing skills through multiple types of writing. They have been analyzing pieces of writing as well as creating their own. Students have been making great connections between the novel Wednesday Wars and the Shakespearean play The Tempest. Students are acting out the play and loving it!!

Math: The sixth grade students have completed their integers and coordinate plane unit. We are now working with measurement conversions before starting our Unit 7 on Geometric 2-Dimensional shapes. Students will learn to find the area of parallelograms, trapezoids, triangles, and regular polygons.

We’ve Been Busy Learning

6th

Gra

de

6th Grade Tiger Pride6th Grade Tiger Pride

6th Grader, Joaquin Tsoukatos, Newsletter Student Photographer

The HCMS Newsletter Staff has a new photographer. 6th grader, Joaquin Tsoukatos, loves photography, and can be seen at many of the HCMS events looking for that perfect shot. Much of the photography featured in this month’s newsletter was shot by Joaquinn! What an amazing young talent!

Sixth grade science teacher, Rebecca Schumacher, recently received her National Board Certification in Science/Early Adolescence. National Board Certification was designed to develop, retain and recognize accomplished teachers and to generate ongoing improvements in schools nationwide. It is the most respected professional certification available in K-12 education.

100% of Mrs. O’Hea’s Class qualified as 2018 Rebecca Caudill Judges!

Congratulations!

HCMS Band

Congratulations to the Jazz Ensemble on their Division One rating at the prestigious Jazz in the Meadows Festival!

CHORUS

Congratulations to all of the chorus members who participated in the IGSMA Solo-Ensemble contest on February 11. 34 events received Division I “Superior” ratings and 6 events received Division II “Excellent” ratings. Well done!

Good luck to Varsity Chorus, Advanced Choir and Show Choir performing at the IGSMA District Choral Contest on March 11. All HCMS chorus members will celebrate with a trip to Medieval Times after the contest!

Rehearsals are underway for the 2018 spring musical, “Fiddler On The Roof”. Over 100 students are working hard to bring this classic show to our stage. Performances are May 18, 19 and 20, 2018 - make sure to get this on your calendar!

We started things out with our guitar unit!

Students have been playing basic chords and melodies using classical guitars.

Music production is a digital music class! EachStudent has opportunities to create compositions using a Digital Audio Workstation called: Mixcraft! Our current project is based on Johann Pachelbel's Canon in D!

7th grade music students have been exploring melody and harmony using mallet instruments! During this unit student will compose, perform and listen to music from many different styles and eras.

6th Grade music has been a blast! Student are about to start our two week ukulele unit! During this unit each student will receive a ukulele during class and use them to compose and perform melodies and chorded harmonies!

Gen

eral

Mus

ic

Music Production

7th Grade Music

6th Grade Music

Instrumental Music

ART Making a Masterpiece:8th Grade Drawing and Painting students are working in a collaborative work of art to donate the 157c Education Foundation Auction. Students are reproducing the painting Dusk in Venice by Claude Monet piece by piece.

Inspiration piece: Dusk in Venice, Claude Monet

Each student has been assigned a portion of the painting to complete.

A work in progress: After several days of work the project is coming together nicely. Students are still working on brightening colors and matching up edges.

Building detail of 8th grade work.

Espa

ñol

6th Grade

Our 6th graders have been rocking through each unit successfully this quarter! Currently, we are in our

“Colores” unit where students will learn how to say and spell 11 colors in Spanish. After we finish colors, we will jump into “El Salón de Clase” (the

Classroom). The students are so enthusiastic and

have been really working hard on their spelling and

pronunciation!

7th Grade Quarter

The students have been very busy learning numbers 0-100, reviewing days and months and adding dates

and birthdays to the list. We are now working on having short conversations to say hello, introduce ourselves, tell where we are from and

saying goodbye. The students will create and

present a simple conversation. By the end of the quarter, they will be able to describe themselves and

other people.

The 7th graders are playing “SEIS” to review numbers!

Espa

ñol 7th Grade Extension

The students successfully wrapped up our first unit on “Saludos y Despedidas” (Greetings and Goodbyes) while also tackling some cultural discussions about España. We talked about Spanish-style tapas and spent some time comparing them to our American-style appetizers. Currently, we are in our “Números, Alfabeto, Fechas”

(Numbers, Alphabet, and Dates) unit where students will learn how to talk about and ask about the date, birthdays, email addresses,

and telephone numbers.

8th Grade

The students have been learning a lot of new grammar to be able to create even more detailed sentences. They have learned how to say what they have to do and what they are going to do. They have also learned how to conjugate -AR, -ER, & -IR verbs. The students are moving on to Chapter 5 to now talk about families and being able to

describe themselves and members of their family. We encourage all the students to study vocabulary daily and

continuously review grammar notes due to the more complex topics we are beginning to cover.

Out of the Silo

In the unit Soil Science, students investigated the properties of the inorganic solid components of soil: sand, silt, and clay. They worked to recognize that varying proportions of sand, silt, and clay in a soil impact the ability for crops to grow.Next, the Amber Waves of Grain unit brought students back to their tractors. Now, they must use their tractors to design and engineer a machine that will successfully complete one of the three steps to harvesting crops: Reaping, Threshing, or Winnowing. Students will complete three different challenges within their chosen function and eventually join other groups to create a combine!

Ms. Giammarco6th-8th Grade

Physical Education & Health

Wheelchair

Basketball

Fundraiser

Tuesday, March

20th

A NIGHT OF EVENTS!

-Best seat in the house-Popsicle Sales-Food-Games-Prizes-Half court shot double or nothing!

LWSRA takes on

District 157c Staff &

Students

Physical Education Peer Helpers

Current and

Previous Peer

Helpers created

a fun scooter obstacle course!

Athletics WRESTLING REGIONAL

CHAMPS

5 Champions15 Sectional Qualifiers

AthleticsChess State Tournament

Feb. 23 and 24

Hickory Creek Team - 9th placeGabe Panner - Silver Medal

AthleticsJV Girls Volleyball DPVC

Champions

AthleticsUpcoming Track Tryout Dates

Any questions, email: mstein@fsd157c.org March 8th

ALL 6th, 7th, and 8th graders NEW to track 2:40 - 4:30 PM

March 9th 7th and 8th grade only 2:40 - 4:30 PM

March 12th 6th and 7th grade only 2:40 - 4:30 PM

March 13th 8th grade only 2:40 - 4:30 PM

March 14th Makeup date in case of bad weather

2:40 - 4:30 PM

Mat

hlet

esCompetitions: March 7, 2018 Beecher competitionMarch 14, 2018 Lincoln-Way competition

Practice Reminder: Tuesdays from 2:30-3:30: March 6, 13, 20

Yearbook Pictures: March 1st after school

Momence Competition2/14/2018

Sixth and seventh grade mathletes competed in Momence and performed fabulously! The team members competed in speed, pairs, relay, and team contests. Sixth grade took home the overall first place award. Seventh grade took home the overall third place award. Congratulations to all mathletes!

Upcoming Competitions

Nat

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tyAttention New NJHS Applicants:

NJHS applications have been given to all 6th, 7th, and 8th graders with a cumulative GPA of 3.8 or above. Please go through the application with your son or daughter thoroughly. Only those applications meeting all of the requirements, will be considered by the HCMS NJHS Faculty Council. Admittance into NJHS is a multi-step process and not all who apply necessarily receive membership. While belonging to such a distinguished organization is an honor, NJHS students will be the first to tell you they clock many hours of school and community service, as well as work on projects for the betterment of the school, community, and others. NJHS membership is much more than a certificate. Feeling up for the challenge? The 2018 application are due on March 15, 2018.

NJHS Service Hours Opportunities

National Junior Honor Society

-NJHS Tutoring (Tuesdays, Wednesdays, & Thursdays.) (See Google NJHS Classroom)-March 6th - Grand Prairie Family NIght- March Concessions - See Mrs. Jeglinski or Mrs. Sayles for the tournament openings-See Mrs. Grady or Mrs. Rutovic for after school times to work on PARCC incentives.

Important Dates

March 1st-Yearbook pictures after school

March 2nd: Mandatory NJHS Officer Meeting. 7:15 a.m. in room 2812

March 9th: Mandatory General Membership meeting after school in room 2612. 2:30-3:30

March 15th: Final day to submit new NJHS applications. Due by 2:30 p.m. (must be submitted in person to Mrs. Rutovic-Room 2608 or Ms. Grady-Room 2812) No late applications will be accepted. Faculty Advisers: Stacy Rutovic & Renee’ Grady

Administrative Adviser: William Z. Seidelmann

NJHS is a proud supporter of Jenny and the GM1 Foundation!

Nat

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tyNever Doubt What a Dedicated Group of NJHS Students Can Accomplish! GM1 Dance a Success!

Peer TutoringEvery Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday 2:15-3:15

Planning, creating, organizing, and making great things happen!

Teamwork!

When NJHS members dedicate themselves to a project, amazing things happen at HCMS. February was “Rare Disease Month” and NJHS successfully organized and ran a benefit for HCMS 8th grader, Jenny and The GM1 Foundation.

Nat

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tyWhat Would NJHS Do Without Our Amazing Parents & Staff to Assist?

Our hot lunch days at HCMS help NJHS to earn supplemental funds to help pay for the many NJHS projects and initiatives. We are grateful to our parents who gave up their time to assist. Our deepest appreciation to our February parents ,Diana Gruca, Nesli Eames, Jen Dore, Sue Greenawalt, Lysa Peters, Lori Crabtree, Kristin Seida, Dino Tsoukatos, Christine Carey. Special thanks to Jen Dore, our hot lunch parent chair; Jean Burns, our HCMS office assistant; and Dawn Davis, HCMS Technology Support. You three ladies have made the hot lunch program run flawlessly this year.

Jen DoreBritt StephensTina RombergMrs. DiestMrs. TsoukatosMrs. UlcigraiMary Beth RaynesLaura DyokasCherie O’BrienDiane JeglinskiDiana VinihakisCari ClousingMaggie SaylesBecky SchumacherErin NemethCheryl DonovanLindsay KlineKathy DuffyKendra BuividasSharon KomarckDawn GaertigTammy CirulloMegan HIllDiane Heimlich

NJHS Thanks You for Helping Us Make the GM1 Foundation Fundraiser a Success!

Johanna BartolomeoDawn DavisGail DurocherKaren NelsonSue SchipiorJen BanasMary SophaJosh PurpuraDave WonderEllen HoganKristine BeechamMitch SteinBridget FlynnJoe VonchJen BajdaChristine SchlecterWilliam Seidelmann Lexi OrleckRodney

On behalf of NJHS & the Peer Helpers, we thank you for making our GM1 Foundation benefit and fundraiser a success. Our heartfelt thanks,Stacy Rutovic, Renee’ Grady, & Josh Purpura

FSPHappy March! Spring Book Fairs are just around the corner with Chelsea kicking it off! Chelsa Book Fair runs 2/27-3/2.Chelsea students will shop/visit the book fair once during regular school time. The fair will be held in the North Multi-Purpose Room. STEAM night will be at Chelsea on Wednesday, February 28th from 5:30-7:00PM. This is a fun-filled, educational evening put on by the Chelsea staff and teachers for district families. Book Fair will also been open from 5:30-8:00PM for your shopping convenience.Chelsea Book Fair Volunteer Sign Up Genius Link:http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0448adaa28a3fb6-chelsea8 Grand Prairie Book Fair runs 3/5-3/9.Grand Prairie students will shop/visit during the day during their library time. Family night will be at Grand Prairie on Tuesday, March 6th from 5:30-7:00PM. GP teachers and staff have a fun literacy evening planned for students and families. Book fair will also be open from 5:30-8:00PM on this evening for your shopping convenience.Grand Prairie Book Fair Signup Genius Link:http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0e44aea628a4fe3-grand2 Hickory Creek Book Fair runs 3/14-3/16.Hickory Creek classrooms will visit the fair during their math advisory times- double check with your student on exact date/times. The book fair will also also be open during the FSP "Around the World" event on Thursday, March 15th, from 5:30-8:00PM. Be sure to come out and support the District 157C families who will be presenting/representing countries from around the world. There will be food trucks, prizes, raffles, and more! Hickory Creek Book Fair Signup Genius Link:http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0e4fabab2da2fb6-hickory Please see our newsletter via the link below for additional details and information on book fair and other upcoming events. We can't do any of these events without our great volunteers. All Signup Genius links to volunteer are found above. Please consider volunteering some of your time to make these events a great success for our students and schools. FSP Newsletter Link:https://www.smore.com/hwv29-family-school-partnership-news Our next FSP meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 6th at 9:30AM in the District Office Boardroom at Grand Prairie. We are looking to fill FSP Board positions and Chair positions for the 2018-2019 school year. Come out and learn more about it.