Volume 2015, Issue 7 Febraury 2016

Hickory Creek Middle School

22150 S. 116th AveFrankfort, IL 60423

815-469-4474

Nurse’s NotesCOLD AND FLU SEASON IS UPON USWe are continuing to see cases of coughing, fever, and sore throat. Please keep your child home from school if he/she is ill. Sick children should NOT RETURN TO SCHOOL until at least 24 hours after symptoms have subsided (without the use of medication). Good hand hygiene is the best way to prevent transmission of germs-- Washing with soap and water for 20 seconds.

MEDICATIONAll medication given at school (including over the counter Motrin, Tylenol, etc.) requires the district’s School Medication Authorization Form to be filled out, signed by a parent and physician, and kept on file in the nurse’s office. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

PHYSICALSJust a reminder that all incoming 6th graders require a physical exam with updated immunizations. Call your physician now to make an appointment, we are accepting completed forms for the 2016-17 school year

Susan Schipiour, RN 815-469-4474

Guidance and Counseling

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Book Notes from the Library

The Frankfort Education Foundationand Hickory Creek Middle School

proudly present

TIM GREENWednesday, February 3, 2016

1PM and 6PMHickory Creek Middle School

2016 Caudill CelebrationVoting, Pizza & Prizes

When: Wednesday, February 17, 2016 2:30-4:30PMWhere: HCMS-south gym, main hall & libraryWho: Any HCMS student/staff/parent who has

read 3 or more 2016 nominated Caudill titles

(students must be listed on a teacher's chart!)Why: To help choose the winning title for the

state award and to celebrate READING!

All reading must be completed by February 10, 2016

Official judge list will be posted during lunch 2/11-2/16

Tim Green’s mission is to spread his message about the importance of

education and reading. Please join us for one of the presentations!

Thanks to Kumon Math and Reading Center of New Lenox and the Blankenburg Family for their generous donation towards this event!

Student Council

Student Council will meet from 2:30-3:30 on the following dates:Thursday, February 4 and February 18On Monday February 29 we will be going to the Frankfort Food Pantry again.

“Theme Thursdays”February 4 -Country DayFebruary 11- Jean DayFebruary 18--Red and Pink DayFebruary 25- Crazy Hair Day

Student Council Board Members :

President: Brandon Hudson

Vice President: Abby McCreary

Secretary: Mia Kling

Treasurer: Trenton Lyke

8th grade reps: Elizabeth Martello & Victoria Jackson

7th grade reps: Mallorie Austin & Rebekah Stryjewski

6th grade reps: Cora Goodwin & Maddie Willis

8th grade Starting the new year off RIGHT!

This is a big month for 8th graders as they eagerly await their high school placement schedule. LWE will be at HCMS on the 4th to talk to students and later on in the month, students are invited to LWE to set up their schedules for their freshman year as well as sign-up for activity information. Make

sure you mark those dates in your calendar!

ELA - 8th graders are finishing up several Literature and Informational texts that are linked to Black History Month. Next we are continuing our study of adversity through reading The Diary of Anne Frank and Night, by Ellie Wiesel.

SS- We are currently studying WWI and how America became involved due to our alliances although we did our best to stay out of the war. By the end of February, we will have reviewed the Jazz Age and the Great Depression.

Math honors: February is factoring fun month with polynomials and quadratics!

Math 8: We will be working on translations, reflections, rotations and congruence of triangles. Looking at it from any angle, math is fun!

SCIENCE- Elephant Toothpaste, Instant Light, Alka-Seltzer, oh my! Eighth graders are studying the exciting unit on Chemical Reactions. Be sure to ask your scientist about the many labs and reactions that they have witnessed throughout this unit. (See photos of them in action on the next slide.)

Congratulations to the participants in the geography bee; Especially Alec Ogarek for taking the title this year! We look forward to the upcoming Spelling Bee this February.

7th grade Seventh grade has begun to study our United States Constitution!

Question 1: What do the stripes represent on our flag? What do the colors represent on our flag?

Three seventh grade students participated in our geography bee this month! Congrats to all, they did fantastic!

Sachin VijayarajMarc MoraleAllison Lisota

H

7A: Team GoldMrs. DeHaanMr. FinanMrs. GatsiosMrs. NiendorfMr. Stein

7B: Lucky StarsMrs. BunnellMs. DyokasMrs. O’Hea

Mrs. RutovicMrs. Swierczewski

7C: Lucky CharmsMrs. DonovanMrs. KlutcharchMrs. Wilson

Science:

SIX

TH G

RA

DE

NEW

S Kool Katz

Mrs. BrendlingerMrs. MillsMs. GradyMrs. O’BrienMrs. Kazmierczak

Roaring Tigers Mrs. Kline/Mrs. O’BrienMrs. SandowskiMrs. FletcherMrs. SteeleMr. Ferraro

Top Tigers Mrs. Bohms Mrs. JeglinskiMrs. GiammarcoMrs. Bouck

Fridays are

Team Spirit

Day Wear :

Black Shirts

Fridays are

Team Spirit

Day Wear :

Maroon & Gold

Tie-dye Shirts

Fridays are

Team Spirit

Day Wear :

Blue Shirts

Social Studies: We are learning and exploring the

civilizations of ancient Greece.

Math: Students are learning to evaluate expressions

and solve equations while applying them to real world

situations.

Honors: Students are creating and solving real life

situations using rates and ratios.

Don’t forget to participate in Theme Thursdays!

ELA: Students are starting to study the Civil Rights

movement.

Science: Students are classifying living things and

learning about cell structure.

SIX

TH G

RA

DE

NEW

S

Inquiry, Research,

Discovery, & Learning

Geo Bee Fun!

Letter Writing! Inquiry, Research,

Discovery, & Learning

B a n d

Chorus*Chorus rehearsals

Advanced Choir - Mondays, 2:30-3:30Varsity Chorus - Tuesdays, 2:30-3:30Show Choir - Wednesdays, 2:30-4:30

Upcoming events:Monday, February 1: 4-8:00 p.m. , Lincoln-Way East Choral Clinic and Concert; all HCMS choruses will be participating in this event. The concert will feature HCMS, Summit Hill and LWE choruses. The concert starts at 7:00 p.m. -all are welcome!

Friday, February 5: 2:30-4:00 p.m. - first meeting for all students involved in the spring musical, “The Music Man”

Monday, February 8: 6:30-7:00 p.m. - Parent meeting for families with students that are involved in the spring musical

Thursday, February 11: 4:00-7:00 p.m. - Talent Showcase

Saturday, February 13: all day, IGSMA Solo-Ensemble Contest

Las Clases de Español

6th Grade: We saw new faces in our

classrooms last week as we began a new

quarter. The students are busy learning the letters of the alphabet

in Spanish and preparing to recite

them!!

7th Grade: The 7th graders started the new quarter with a review from

6th grade Spanish. They will be reviewing months, days, and

greetings. The students show their creativity by illustrating the months & season in Spanish on paper plates.

8th Grade: The students are learning about family

members. One of the many Family Tree activities we completed required the

students to create challenging questions for their classmates to answer. The

students conferenced with one another and discussed the correct usage of

vocabulary and grammar. It was fantastic to see all the hard work they put into creating & answer questions

while interacting with their peers!!

ARTFigures in Motion

General Music

8th Grade music Production: This class is off to a great start! During this class students will go beyond general music education further exploring current areas of music technology and production. Students will use music software to create a variety of hands-on, creative projects focusing on music usage in today’s world. Projects include arranging loop-based music in Mixcraft, creating short movie soundtracks, and composing music using various digital formats. Students will also take a closer look at today’s popular music, recognizing traditional musical elements within it. h8th Grade Music Production: Guitars, ukuleles, drums and more—this class has it all! Instrumental Music begins with a 12-14 week guitar unit which builds a musical foundation focusing on melodies, chord structure, and theory by using a variety of songs in many different genres. This unit focuses on guitar performance, teaching students to play music they recognize and enjoy. Students then spend the rest of the class using classroom instruments including the ukulele, world drums, mallets, electric guitar, bass guitar, and drum set to perform in various musical ensembles.

7th Grade General Music: This month marks the beginning of a new quarter! For the first unit we will be working on rhythm and World drumming!

6th Grade General Music: This month marks the beginning of a new quarter! For the first unit we will be working on rhythm and World drumming!

Physical Education

Health Education

All students in physical education are currently in the HCMS volleyball unit. The next unit coming up is table tennis and bowling. Students will have an opportunity to participate in multiple games of table tennis while working with their peers in doubles play. Here they will learn about international & recreational scoring in table tennis. During our bowling unit, students will learn the fundamentals of proper footwork and release when rolling the bowling ball. Also, students will demonstrate proper etiquette while bowling and keep record of their own scores throughout the unit.

Mr. Connolly’s classes are about four weeks into their six week rotation of Health. Mr.

Connolly’s classes will be in Health until mid-February. Ms. Dettman’s classes will be headed

to Health next.

Hickory Creek Middle School wants to thank all students who have brought in their box tops and participated in our box top competition. Winners from each grade level will receive a pizza party for bringing in the most box tops in their grade. Our competition will end March 23rd. Please continue to bring in your box tops to help Hickory Creek raise money to enhance our students education!

Hickory Creek will be running a bowling intramural for all students starting February 11th. Here students will be bussed to Laraway Lanes. The top four boys and girls will have an opportunityto bowl in the IESA statetournament. LET'S ROLL!

Box Tops

Intramurals

Tech Time6th Grade: With our new quarter starting, we are learning how to use text and picture formatting tools in Word. We will then research about our name and create a doc to showcase our findings. We will be ending the month with our Expert project which we will turn into a Podcast using Audacity to record our voices and add sound effects.

8th Grade- Advanced TechOur new semester has begun. Students will be using Photoshop to manipulate digital pictures,

apply design skills and graphic effects. A campaign project will begin at the end of February,

where students will need to create a campaign slogan, motto, poster, speech, and movie.

8th Grade- Computer Design: After completing a graphic design pretest, students are learning how to use tools in Photoshop for the various design projects coming up this semester. After this 2 week unit, we will then start coding a video game using the program Scratch. Students will build characters, levels, and manipulate action blocks, motion blocks, and more to create game levels.

Mrs. Vega

7th Grade:We’ve started the new quarter with Excel graphing skills. We will be focusing on creating tables in both word and excel. We will learn formatting and layout design with our upcoming projects.

Athletics

Wrestling Results for

January MeetsHCMS v. Homer JH: 23-71 Loss

HCMS v. Jefferson MS: 36-72 Loss

HCMS v. Humphrey MS: 64-46 Win

HCMS v. Jane Addams MS: 84-18 Win

Varsity Record: 7-6

Athletics

Girls Volleyball7th grade is off to a great start

with a 5-2 record.

8th grade is heating up as well with a 5-2 record.

8th grade girls volleyball team

Athletics

Boys Basketball

6th grade boys competed in the DPVC tournament on Jan. 23 and

took 2nd place! Their final record for the season was 16-6

7th grade boys played on Jan.23 as well for IESA regional play, but lost a tough game in the first round. The Tigers finished their season as with a record of 7-16.

Athletics

Congratulations to the Cheer team on winning the IESA Large Division State

Competition!

GO TIGERS!!!!

FSP REMINDERS

REBECCA CAUDILL YOUNG READERS CELEBRATION

Hickory Creek is hosting their 2016 Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Celebration on February 17 from 2:30-4:30 p.m. Mrs. Raynes, the school librarian, is looking for volunteers to help with the party. Please sign up using this link.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0e4bafae2fa5fc1-hickory

BOOK FAIR

Hickory Creek Spring Book Fair will be held April 5th – April 8th. Parents are welcome to shop with their students during the day or at the evening Literacy Night. The evening event is on April 5th at 5:30pm. Your child’s day time shopping times will come from their teacher.

We will need volunteers to work book fair. If you would like to sign up and help please go to the sign up genius link below and select the times you are available.

FAMILY FITNESS NIGHT

Coming to Grand Prairie this year on February 19th!

Join us! Family Fitness Night will be 5:30pm to 7:30pm Friday, February 19th at Grand Prairie Elementary. Everyone is welcome! This is a FREE event for everyone in district 157c. Throw on those gym shoes and comfy clothes for a night of competing: Parents versus Kids! Who will be victorious? Our live running tally will tell. There will be ongoing laughter and cleverly disguised educational activities for all. With quick fitness stations, resources, games, food, fun, and recipe ideas for healthy living it is sure to be a great time. The evening will be centered around a spectacular, active play performance by award winning musician, Jim Gill.

Watch the February 1st Parent Booster e-mail blast for any additional details.

FSP MEETING

Our next FSP Meeting will be February 2nd, at 9:30am at GP. The meeting will start with the State of the District presentation and then finish with our normal agenda.