Students at HCMS answered over six hundred fifty “Santa Letters” this year from the Cesar Chavez School, located in the Back of the Yards area in

downtown Chicago. Students, staff, administration, parents, and community members, adopted the letters of students in this high poverty area of the city. The

sixth grade advisory rooms sorted, bagged, and loaded the gifts onto a truck bound for Chavez School.

We are so proud of the hard work that went into making this project a success.

“Santa Letters”Volume 13 Issue 5 January 2015

Hickory Creek Middle School

22150 S. 116th AveFrankfort, IL 60423

815-469-4474

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Happy New Year! We hope everyone enjoyed the winter break, and had the opportunity to share in some family fun. As we continue with the school year, we are proud of the student successes during the first part of the year, and we hope to expand on them. There are a host of activities planned for the second half of the year. Please take the time to review the HCMS January calendar and website for upcoming events.

The winter months of school create a unique situation for parents and students. The honeymoon is over. Well past the excitement of new clothes, new friends, and new teachers, the heady days of autumn are long gone. The holidays will come and go and now we are all facing the reality of school with the same friends, the same teachers, and the same rhythm. The months of January, February, and March are the times when teachers and their students get cabin fever. What can parents do to help their young adolescents stay interested and alert in these between times?

1. Plan a family outing -- skiing, skating, sledding, or just hiking some new territory. Whatever the weather in your backyard, get out and get active. Go bowling, go swimming, or play tennis. The point is to do something different, something physically stimulating, and do it together as a family.

2. Do something refreshing. Visit a museum, tour an historic spot, attend a lecture, or see a movie. Again, the focus is on doing something different and doing it with others. Often the best places are those closest to where you live. Have you been driving by the same museum for years without every stopping?

3. OK, neither of the above ideas sounds good? Then make your own fun at home. In the middle of the winter? Turn off the TV and get out your favorite board game. Pop some popcorn and have a night of it. Or, rent a couple of movies by the same director and make a movie festival in your own home.

The trick to each of these ideas is to make something out of (almost) nothing. Change your focus, break out of your lethargy, and have a great time. If home is exciting and your young adolescents feel connected to you, that will carry over to school. All of a sudden, it will be Spring!

Dr. Kevin Suchinski, Principal

April Mahy, Assistant Principal

Sean Rhoads, Assistant Principal

Nurse’s NotesWith the arrival of cold and flu season and with an increase in influenza-like illness reports, the Will County Health Department is recommending increased awareness and action to help control and prevent the spread of influenza (flu), toward keeping our students and community safe and healthy To prevent widespread flu in the school, we recommend that your child stay home from school if experiencing flu-like illness symptoms. Since influenza is primarily spread by direct contact with nose and throat secretions, there are measures we can all take to reduce our chances of becoming sick with influenza and other similar infections. Symptoms of the flu include fever (100 degrees Fahrenheit or greater), cough, sore throat, a runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, and feeling very tired.

Your child should stay home if he/she is sick until at east 24 hours after there is no longer a fever or signs of a fever (without the use of fever-reducing medications).

Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue away after use and wash your hands. If a tissue is not available, cover your mouth and nose with your sleeve, not your hand.

Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze or sneeze. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth. Germs are spread this way. Do not share eating utensils or drinking containers. Persons should not share straws, cups, glasses or water bottles used during sports or recreation, etc.

Try to avoid close contact with people who are sick.Get your child and family vaccinated against seasonal flu. Vaccination is recommended yearly for everyone 6 months and older. VISION AND HEARING SCREENINGSWe have completed Vision and Hearing Screenings at HCMS. If your child did not pass the screenings, you will be notified, and asked to take your child to a doctor for further evaluation. If you do not hear from me, assume that your child did will on the screenings.

Guidance and CounselingPeer Pressure

As our students move up through the grades, they face many new

challenges. In middle school, peer pressure is a big challenge our students

deal with daily. Many decisions they are faced with do not have significant

consequences, like should I go out for softball or the drama club, while

others do have serious consequences, like should I cut class or try alcohol at

a party. Sometimes our middle school students can become very confused

when making decisions while being pressured by their peers. Why do our

students give into it? Maybe they want to fit in with a certain group,

perhaps they want to look cool, or they just want their peers to stop making

fun of them or maybe everyone’s doing it and they feel like they don’t have

any other choice.

*Ask your student what kind of peer pressure they have faced - how did

they handle it? how did they feel about their choice? would they have

done anything differently? Share your own experiences with peer pressure

to let them know you get it

*Not all peer pressure is negative – remind your student that sometimes

their peers pressure them to do something they may not be comfortable

with – like trying out for the play, a sports team or to join a study group. It

may mean that their peers have more confidence in their skills than they

have in themselves.

*Get to know your student’s friends and their parents – this will help you

get to know who your student spends their time with; it will help you

gauge what types of people your student is choosing and if they are a

positive influence on your student.

*If your student is ever faced with a situation that they have a difficult

time getting out of, offer them the excuse to blame you – they can say “my

mom would kill me if she ever found out I did that! They always find out”

or “if I get caught, my dad will for sure call your dad”.

Keep communicating with your student. Encourage them to talk to you

about peer pressure. Praise the good choices your student makes. Discuss

the not so good choices they make, and help them figure out what a better

choice would have been in that situation.

Student Council

Student Council members, Ashley Hahn and Paige

Chambers are always willing to lend a hand.

Student Council has been busy this month serving

others! ❖ Supplied and packed 24

backpacks full of school supplies for Chavez School.

❖ Made goodie bags for the residents of the Frankfort Terrace Nursing Home.

❖ A group of about 45 students will be traveling to the nursing home with Dr. Suchinski and Mr. Rhoads to bring some holiday cheer to the residents. They will be playing BINGO and singing carols together.

Book Notes from the LibraryThe HCMS Rebecca Caudill Young Reader’s Book

Award Voting Celebration is almost here!

All reading must be completed by Friday, February 6, 2015. In order to qualify as a judge and have voting (and party!) privileges, students are required to read three or more titles from

the 2015 nominee list. Students who do not meet the requirements will not get the opportunity to vote for their favorite book and will remain in class while “official judges” attend the party and help choose the winning title

for the whole state! Read on HCMS!

Haste Makes Wastewhen it comes to printing! Please help students become more ecologically responsible in this one small way: before printing anything at school, spell

check it, proofread it, choose only the parts (pictures, paragraphs) you actually need, perform print preview, and know where you sent the print job in order to help reduce paper waste. Thanks

for helping our planet!

Frankfort Public Library Book TalksMs. Sarah and Ms. Laura visited HCMS in

December to share some great books with our students. Here’s the list of books they shared:

The Iron Trial by Holly Black & Cassandra ClareThe Taking by Kimberly Derting

Swagger by Carl DeukerBetter Off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg

The Nethergrim by Matthew JobinI Kill Giants by Joe Kelly

Eight Keys by Suzanne LaFleurThe Young Elites by Marie LuIn the After by Demitria Lunetta

The Prince of Venice Beach by Blake NelsonA Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

The Kiss of Deception by Mary PearsonShadow on the Mountain by Margi PreusThe Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

The Watch that Ends the Nght by Alllan WolfThe Family Romanov by Candace Fleming

We love having the library ladies come twice a year to share great books with us! HCMS library owns all the books they shared, as does the FPL. Read one today!

Happy Reading!

8A - Hall of Famers

Thank you to all of the Hall of Famers that acted as Secret Santas this year! HCMS students and their families are always so generous, and this year was no exception. Hall of Famers collected numerous gifts for the students of Chavez School. We’re quite sure they will be very excited with the gifts they receive from “Santa” the week of December 15. Thanks again for all of your support for this worthy cause!

Not pictured: Connor Knuth, Owen Nagle, Scott Schipiour, Libby Villa, Jeremy Wilson

8B - TNT

8C - Mighty Ducks

Thank you for your generosity!On Wednesday, December 10th, Students

delivered their Santa Packages to the 6th grade

elves. These Santa Packages will be delivered

to Chavez School the week of December 15th.

HCMS students and families are always so

generous! Thank you again for all of your

support!

Emily Hasson, Chase Blatzer, Matt Judd, Tyler

Gritzenbach, Elana Pomes, Gabby Slaviero, Brenna

Konstanty (not pictured Isabel Passarelli and Macie

Nuzzo)

Hannah Nuzzo, Kathleen Cheney, Megan Parker, Kaitlin Wafford,

Jeremy Reda, Amanda Miller, Paul Malito

Max Gilmore, Sarah Kamal,

Maggie Land

Abby Matone, Alex

Villagomez, Josh Bruns

7A - Navy Proud

Team 7A would like to wish all of our students and their families a wonderful

holiday season!We have been celebrating the holidays all

month long.

Several of our students and their families participated in the Secret Santa project and

sent gifts to students at Chavez School. Not only did we send toys, clothes, and

books… but we sent smiles and plenty of holiday cheer!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY!

We also celebrated the holiday season by attending a theater

production of “A Christmas Carol” at the Rialto Theatre.

7B - Army Strong

Happy Holidays! Team 7 “B” Army Strong hopes that everyone is having a restful

holiday break!A special thanks to all students and their families who purchased presents for the

Chavez students this year. The “Letters to Santa” program answered over 650 needy

children’s letters.

On December 15, the seventh graders attended the performance of “A Christmas

Carol” at the beautiful Rialto Theatre in Joliet.

“Today’s performance was extraordinary.” --Allie Reis

“It was a good example of dynamic character.”

--Ethan Lewandowski

“It was a Broadway level performance!”--Sam Cohrs

7C - Air Force

Seventh graders took a trip to the historic Rialto theatre!

“The theatre has a really pretty entrance”- Megan Lemmons

“The performance was funny and fun to watch”

- Maddie Harper

“Seeing the performance was a nice change of pace”

- Zach Melby

6A students have been engaged in research, learning centers, discussion groups, and literature circles for their student selected biographies, during the past few weeks. Our young scientists have been presenting their biome research in science, while our student archeologists’ venture to the ancient wonders of Egypt.

Stars and StripesMrs. Bohms, Mrs. Brendlinger, Ms. Giammarco, Mrs. O’Brien, Mrs. Swierczewski

Team Name: Stars & StripesTeam Colors: Red, White & Blue

Student selected biographies help students learn about history, science, and an Individual’s lasting impact on the world.

What makes a person memorable?

Team 6BTie-Dye Tigers

Mr. Ferraro, Mrs. Fletcher, Mrs. Kline, Mrs. Tarala, Miss Plese

Tie-Dye Tiger students have enjoyed many

different activities this month! Students packed

presents to send to a Chicago school, attended

the Choral concert, Geography Bee, and have

been engaged in their learning through research

and small group work. We are so pleased with

their hard work and effort!

Mrs. Fletcher’s Advisory is certainly

making their mark! Not only did they

bring in the most canned foods for our

annual food drive, but the class also

sold the most popcorn for “Make a

Wish” Foundation. They were treated to

an ice cream social for their victory. Way

to go!

Science students just finished up researching and presenting their Animal

Projects. The students really enjoyed learning about the different animals and

their presentations were wonderful!

Miss Plese’s Social Studies

students enjoyed working in

centers to learn about Egypt.

Students created their own folders

with Hieroglyphic names on the

front. They did an outstanding job

working together!

Tie-Dye Tiger Math students are

enjoying applying their math skills

to real world situations. Most

recently, the students are working

on finding percentages!

6C - Racing StripesMrs. Foltz, Mrs. Fox, Mrs. Jeglinski, and

Mrs. Simpson

This has been a very busy month for our sixth graders. Students have been working diligently on their biographies in ELA. Be sure to ask your child what exciting things they have learned so far. During Science class, students have been gathering information for their specific animal. Mrs. Fox is looking forward to seeing their finished products. Mrs. Simpson has created centers in social studies so that students can learn as much as possible about Ancient Egypt. Mrs. Jeglinski’s math classes have been working on unit rates and percents. Have your student help you determine which item is a better buy or how much you can save. Our students have successfully worked together to separate, label, and bag gifts for the students at Chavez School in Chicago. We can’t be any prouder of our Racing Stripes Team!

Mrs. Simpson’s Ancient Egypt Centers

The Great Pyramid

Mummification

6C Helpers Packing Presents for Chavez

School

Ancient Egypt Research

Team ExplorersThe students on team Explorers have done a great job this month and are ready for 2015! All students

participated in Secret Santa. Seventh grade students attend a field trip and saw “A Christmas

Carol” at the beautiful Rialto Theater in Joliet. Eighth grader Cory Klene plays for the Rolling

Falcons and competed against the staff at Hickory Creek on December 11th. The Falcon took home a

victory and tons of fun was had by all! *Please check PowerSchool and Teacher

Webpages to stay informed of academic progress and current curriculum.

Upcoming Events:● Book Mobile: 1/08, 1/22 ● Transition House: 2/12

The students delivered packages to all Hickory Creek Staff Members as a thank you for participating in Secret Santa this year!

6th 7th 8th

SCI: Biomes SCI: Chemistry/ The Nature of Matter

SCI: Human and Animal Behavior

S.S.: Map Skills/ Life Skills

S.S.: Constitution S.S: Landforms/ Civil War

Curriculum Topics

EverestLast month, 8th grade Everest students went on a field trip to The Challenger Learning Center in Hammond, Indiana to experience a Mars mission simulation as a culmination to our Mars and space exploration unit. During our mission simulation, each student had the opportunity to experience both working in the mission control center as well as working as an astronaut on the space shuttle. The trip was a huge success, and after reflecting on our simulation experience, many students noted that the most important thing they learned was how crucial it was to work together as a team to achieve our goal. Indeed, collaboration and cooperation are lifelong skills that all students will need in order to be successful in an increasingly global community. Way to go, 8th graders, and thank you for a great trip. Mission accomplished!

Mission Control

Onboard the Space Shuttle

Mission Accomplished!

ChorusCongratulations to all of the HCMS choruses on a fantastic Fall season! Our choirs have performed at the annual Fall concert, the Frankfort Tree-Lighting, and at all three schools in our district.

Coming up…*Varsity Chorus and Advanced Choir will take new members during the week of January 5-9. Contact Mrs. Walton if your child is interested in joining - this is the only opportunity to join chorus again for this school year.

*Open auditions for this year’s spring musical, “Mary Poppins” will take place on January 26, 27 and 28, from 2:30-5:00 in the chorus room. Call-back auditions will be held on January 30 from 2:30-5:30. Watch for information coming home the second week of January.

*Lincoln-Way East Choral Clinic/Concert will be held on February 2, 2015.

*Talent Showcase will be held on February 11, 2015.

*IGSMA Solo-Ensemble Contest will be held on February 14, 2015.

Band

Upcoming Band Dates for 2015

January 24-Lincoln Way All Star BandLiberty JHS in New Lenox

February 11-Talent ShowcaseHCMS 4-7 p.m.

February 14-Solo and Ensemble ContestHilda Walker Middle School

March 5-Spring Band Awards ConcertHCMS at 6:00 p.m.

March 14-IGSMA District Band ContestHCMS, Tiger Band at 8:00 a.m.

March 24-Spring Jazz Band ConcertHCMS at 6:00 p.m.

March 27-ISU Jazz Festival (tenative)

April 20-Band CarnivalHCMS from 6:00-7:15 p.m.

Las Clases de Español

6th grade Spanish classes just finished creating themed classrooms using the new classroom vocabulario.

6th grade students are hard at work on their country projects. They are learning how to use Google Presentation. They are able to work on the same presentation as their partner at the same time, on different computers. The teacher can even make comments on their work while they are working. Ask your child to show you their presentation so far!

Art

Art With Meaning8th Grade students designed and built sculptures that represent a character in a bullying situation. Each of their design decisions had purpose and added meaning to their artwork.

General Music

Music classes have been a blast this quarter and each class is working on it’s final unit and projects! Check out what is going on with each class/grade level!

Music Production: We just started our ensemble Unit and we are using the Orff instruments to play melodies, harmonies and compose new music.

Music Production: We just started our Storybook Production Project, where students partner up to create a recorded production of their favorite childrens book. The best part will be traveling to Grand Prairie to share them with 1st and second graders on Jan. 9th!

6th and 7th Grade: We are starting our first Mixcraft Projects! 6th graders our focusing on creating a song using mixcraft while focusing on the tone colors of the orchestra. and 7th graders our making a three part song using production tools within the software!

Physical Education

Hickory Creek students participated in a PE Takeover on Thursday,

December 11th. Coaches and volunteers from the Lincoln-Way Special Recreation Association

(LWSRA) came in and “took” over all of the PE classes. Students

participated in several activities that allowed them to experience some form

of a disability. These activities included Goal Ball, Sit Volleyball,

Disability Awareness, and Wheelchair Basketball.

WHEELCHAIR BASKETBALL

Hickory Creek Students and Staff vs. LWSRA Rolling Falcons

Students and staff came together with the Rolling Falcons for a friendly competition!

Everyone had a GREAT time and we were able to raise

$1000 for the LWSRA!!!

Thank you to everyone that came out to support this amazing organization!!!

TechnologyMr. Smit

8th grade Advanced Tech students have been working hard in Photoshop using different filters. Students have created

sketch style images using filters and layer options as well as using 7 different filters on

the same images.

Athletics

Congratulations to the 6th Grade Girls Basketball Team on the Undefeated Season

and winning the DPVC Conference Tournament! Great job ladies! Thank you for your hard work and playing with character!

Congratulations to the 7th Grade and 8th Grade Girls Basketball Teams on great

seasons. Thank you for your hard work and representing HCMS throughout the season!

Congratulations to our cheerleading team in finishing in 3rd place at the North Pole

Invitational at Lincoln Way North. Congrats girls and thank you for your hard work and flexibility with practice space throughout

the season!

Don’t forget to look out for Intramural Bowling Information!