December 17-21

Happy Holidays! Enjoy jeans all week!

Monday
College and Career T-Shirt Day: Wear your college or career t-shirt. Please make sure that the college or career is visible on the shirt.

Forker - MAP Skills Webinar 3pm


Fire Drill - 9:45
IEP/504

Gifted Testing 1st-3rd periods

Tuesday
Faculty and Staff- Pick out your best Ugly Sweater and wear it with Jeans on December 18! FFA members will be voting on their fave and the winning teachers will be announced on December 19!

RTI

Gifted Testing 1st-3rd periods

Wednesday
Differentiation PL during 2nd planning

Food truck during teacher lunch

Gifted Testing 1st-3rd periods

Thursday
Collaborative Meetings

Schoolwide house party 7th period
   Please provide details about what you are planning to do on this spreadsheet
             House Party Sign Up

Friday
teacher work day
Student holiday

MAP Assessment Data Update

There is now a new guide to the MAP website on how to use the Achievement Status & Growth reports, which will be very useful in analyzing your GROWTH data from Fall to Winter 2018.

The Quadrant charts, in particular, are more modern and intuitive.

Check them out here.

21st Century
21st Century will NOT meet after school on Thursday, December 20. 21st Century will meet every morning this coming week and in the afternoons, Monday-Wednesday.

ELA Teachers
Submit Spelling Bee names to Marty before break

Avid
I have just received our AVID library. If you are interested in reading up on AVID instructional strategies and practices for you content, please stop by and check it out. Also, don't forget to check out the AVID folder on the PLC page to learn about new WICOR strategies you can incorporate into your classrooms.

December 10-14

Monday
Hilsman Band Concert @ 6:30 in the Cedar Shoals Theater. We will be selling hot dogs, soft drinks, and chips for $1.00 each. Support our band!

504/IEP

New Panther Cohort Meeting 4:00-5:00

MAP Make-up testing be on the lookout for email details Tuesday

RTI
6th Grade Parent
Pact Game Night 6:00-7:00pm

Wednesday

Collaborative Plannings

SET Fundraiser Night at Fatz Cafe 5-8

Vertical Team Meetings after school

Thursday
Students and parents: The last art club of this semester will be held on Thursday, December 13th until 5:30. If your child is interested, please have them see Mrs. Garland for a parent permission form. Thank you!

SMART Training-Skinner, Fassbender, Aqui, and Forker out

Collaborative Plannings

Avid Site Team Meeting 4:00-5:00

Basketball at HMS 4:30

Friday

IEP/504

Grade Level Meetings

Friday no fight dress down day

Fire Drill 9:45

Art
Don't forget! Follow @hilsmanmiddleart on Instagram to see student work!

21st Century
21st Century will meet in the mornings during the weekdays, December 3-20.
21st Century will meet in the afternoons during the weekdays, December 3-19.21st Century will not meet in the afternoon on December 20.

ELA Teachers
Please have your spelling bee names to Mrs. Marty before the break

Girls' Soccer
Forms due to Mrs. Marty by December 17th. Please complete teacher recommendations by then.


Looking Ahead

Faculty and Staff- Pick out your best Ugly Sweater and wear it with Jeans on December 18! FFA members will be voting on their fave and the winning teachers will be announced on December 19!

Grade Level House Parties December 20th

December 3-7, 2018

Binder Checks

You should have received a new binder score card for December binder checks. Due to the break, we will only have 3 weeks of checks. Also, you will notice that Spanish is no longer on this month's score card. Due to special circumstances, this content will not perform checks. Due to the break, we will also modify our date for our December dress down day to happen towards the end of break.

Science and Energy Team

Fatz Cafe on Lexington Road will host a Spirit/Fundraiser Night for the Hilsman Science & Energy Team on Wednesday, December 12.

21st Century

21st Century will meet in the mornings during the weekdays, December 3-20. 21st Century will meet in the afternoons during the weekdays, December 3-19. 21st Century will not meet in the afternoon on December 20.

Girls Soccer

Any girls interested in playing soccer need to pick up a packet in the front office

Monday

MAP Session Roster Checks - am planning 6th & 7th grade
       - See slides 9-11  MAP Test Training 

Binder Check Dress Down Day- Students with 250 or more points are able to participate. Please make sure students are following our school dress code.

Tuesday

MAP Test Training - am planning 6th & 7th grade

Wednesday

Building Wide - Testing Schedule
MAP Testing - LANGUAGE - 6th & 7th grade
8th Grade - SMI

HMS vs. Coile Basketball at Hilsman- girls 4:30, boys 5:30
Faculty Meeting in Media Center

Thursday

Building Wide - Testing Schedule
MAP Testing - MATH - 6th & 7th grade
8th Grade - SRI

Friday

Building Wide - Testing Schedule
MAP Testing - READ - 6th & 7th grade
8th Grade - ZAPP Zeros, Make-up, Extension

No Fight Dress Down Friday!

Upcoming Dates:

12/14 Fire Drill & No Fight Dress Down Friday

12/20 School Wide House Party 
12/20 Biggums BBQ Food Truck

12/10 6:30 Band Concert at Cedar Shoals 

November 26-30

Good Sunday Panther Nation!

I sure hope that you enjoyed your family and got plenty of rest over the break. It was much needed but now it is time to return back to the business of teaching our young people. I did not send out any correspondence as I wanted our team to truly unplug and enjoy the time away from work. Well, today is officially the return of the emails! The next few weeks are going to be packed with many observations, professional learning, and school activities. Please plan accordingly. Several members of our team will be out this week. It is important to be sure you are on time and present at work.

Teachers, it is important that you read your emails and adhere to any deadlines set by the administrators or the district. I also want to remind you that your grade book must be updated every 7-10 days. This week I am expecting grade books to be updated no later than Wednesday, November 28th by 4:00. In order for us to hold parents and students accountable for grades, we must provide them with the necessary information in a timely manner. If you have students that are currently failing your class, please contact the parents and ensure that you have provided students with remediation opportunities. 

I do want to thank you for the quality instruction that was observed prior to our break. I performed several walk-thrus and the instructional delivery in the classes was at an all-time high! Students were engaged and it was evident that the AVID instructional strategies were being implemented with fidelity. Keep up the great work! Remember you are the most important factor in the education of our students. Professional Learning will resume this week. Be sure to arrive at your collaborative plannings on time and prepared to engage in the training. 

Lastly, let us continue to hold students accountable for their behavior and learning. Stay firm, fair, and consistent with our expectations. There is to be NO movement during the first and last fifteen minutes of every class. Do not continue to allow students to come to the office for ice or to make phone calls unless there is an emergency. Also, please be reminded that we have a NO cell phone use rule. Students are being permitted to use phones to listen to music and play games. If you want to create a relaxing environment in your class, you are encouraged to play music from your computer. Allowing students to use their phones is unacceptable and must not be allowed an ANY class. Instruction should be provided from bell to bell. Again, I have observed some great lessons, keep it up! Be consistent! I look forward to our return to school tomorrow. Get ready!

Announcements

Yearbook
We are in need of a teacher to help with the yearbook. Please consider helping out so that we can have another great yearbook!

Girls' Soccer
Any girl interested in trying out for soccer should see Mrs. Marty

ELA teachers
Please submit your names for Spelling Bee before the holidays

Binder Checks
Due to Thanksgiving break, we will need to modify the points required for dress down. Teachers need to make sure they have been consistent with checking binders. Remember this is an expectation and not an option. Consistency is the key!

The Week at a Glance

Monday
IEP/504s

Tuesday
Enter data into Branching Minds
Forker out for training (9-12)
Math FNT PL during plannings

Wednesday
Collaborative Plannings
Forker out for training (all day)
Equity Training 
PL Walk-thrus

Thursday
Collaborative Plannings
Sport: Basketball HMS vs. BHL (Girls-4:30, Boys-5:30) at BHL


Friday
IEP/504


Upcoming Dates

Map Training  Dec  4 am plannings

MAP Testing   Dec 5-7

RI - Dec 5-7
Coherence Visit January 

Week of 11/12-11/16

Quote of the Week: Success does not come by what you do occasionally but what you do consistently. 

We have one more week until a restful break! Thank you all for your commitment and work last week. We experienced
some great professional learning and all worked to be on time last week! Shout out for last Friday! 97% of our team was present and signed in by 8:00! Let's keep it going this week!

Focus Note Taking is a strategy that we agreed would be implemented school wide to help our
students increase in the area of literacy. Although the foundation of note taking can be
used in all contents, the format may differ. It is the expectation that all contents will use FNT.
It is not the expectation that it is to be perfect! This will come with time as we continue to engage in the process.

A rain plan was developed for every grade level. Due to the physical layout of our building
we must have a plan for students when it is raining. Team leaders should have identified
pecific classrooms to host Connections in the event of rain. I understand that this may be
inconvenient for some but we are going to do what is in the best interest of the students.
I am working with Joe Dunnagan on a plan to build a temporary covering and to purchase umbrellas to minimize the interruptions to Fine Arts classes. It is my hope to have this completed upon our return from the Winter Break.

Let's continue to focus on the positives and work to move our students forward. Remember, it takes a village! I am most grateful for the work that you do with our students.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!  Hang in there!

Announcements

Team Gora

Team Gora's annual fruit sale is going on now through November 15. Please see Mr. Dorsey
if you would like to check out the options or place an order. All funds go towards opportunities
for our students to participate in Community Based Instruction field trips.

Art

Follow the Hilsman Art Instagram Page!

Gifted

Final call for completing the gifted module. Thanks to Mr. Hussain and Mrs. Page for completing
the module. After this week, anyone having not completed the module will attend a WOW session in
December.

ELA teachers need to make sure to finish their classroom spelling bees before winter break.
You may send 2 students per class period to the school bee.

Sunday

Happy Birthday Mr. Englesen!

Monday-Please wear your College Shirt

Happy Birthday Mrs. Page!

Counselors in 6th grade Science classes for Signs of Suicide Lessons

Advisement during lunch periods (Ms. Moore will be sending out an email)

IEP/ 504s

Binder checks
College and Career T-Shirt Day
TKES Walk Thrus/Observations

Tuesday-Jeans

RTI/ Branching Minds

Binder Checks
Tolbert Out (Principal's PL)

Wednesday-More Jeans

Winter Orchestra Concert

District Meetings

Collaborative Plannings

Binder Checks

Thursday-Jeez, more Jeans

America Recycles Day: Hilsman will collect aluminum cans and used health and beauty product
containers. These items will be sold and the money earned will be donated to the Food Bank of

Northeast Georgia and UNICEF.

Collaborative Plannings

Binder Checks

HMS vs. CMS at Clarke Middle  (girls 4:30, boys 5:30)
SMART Coaching Meeting 9-11:30

Friday-Sunshine Jeans 5.00

Fire Drill 9:45am
IEP/504s

Binder checks
FNT PL for Math Teachers during AM plannings

Week of 10/29

Good evening Panther Nation! 

Quote of the Week: 

Wow! What a beautiful weekend! It had a gloomy beginning but it ended with perfect weather! I hope the one day break allowed you to temporarily catch your breath! We have a few more weeks and then you are off to a week long break! Thank you all for last week! The Field Days were great! I know it was tough not having a planning period for most of the week but your commitment to keep kids first definitely showed through the sacrifice you made! The students had a blast and for the most part were well behaved throughout the building! Thank you coaches, volunteers, and the entire Connection Team for organizing such a fun event!

This week we are back at it! I can not stress the importance of teaching to reach every student. The use of different high yielding instructional strategies will help provide differentiated instruction to your students. It is expected during observations that you are using many of the strategies shared with you from our AVID Team. It is also expected that all teachers are are using Focus Note Taking and Critical Reading Strategies as these are the strategies we agreed to implement in our School Growth Plan. We will speak to this more this week during Collaborative Planning. 

Our binder system is working! Thank you to everyone that is consistently checking binders. This is a reminder that binder checks are not optional. ALL teachers are expected to conduct binder checks and sign off on the student forms. We will be taking binder checks to the next level in a few weeks. 

Administrators presence will be heavy in all of the collaborative plannings and RTI meetings. We will also begin conducting data analysis using a specific protocol to help us identify what we are doing well and how we can improve student learning. Please make sure that the data progress monitoring sheets are updated before Tuesday so that we can dig deep in the data. Our first Coherence Visit with Dr. Means will take place on January 9, 2018 at 1:30. I have no doubt in my mind that we will be ready to share how we are implementing our SGP and how our students are showing improvement. However we must be consistent with our practices and working diligently to do what is in the best interest of our students. You all work hard but we must make sure that our work is transferring to our numbers! Yes we are more than a number but at the end of the year, that number defines our success! I challenge the entire staff to teach like a champion for the next 27 weeks! We can do it! Let's go Panthers!

Principal Tolbert

Announcements

Welcome Mr. Brock, Mrs.Wood, and Mr. Jones to the Panther Nation! We are a family at HMS and super excited to have you all join our team! Staff take a moment and stop by their class or send an email to welcome them to Hilsman 2.0! Thank you to the teachers and staff that served on the interview committee! You selected the cream of the crop!

Grade Book Updates-Grading window opens on November 8th!

We will run reports to check for updates to teachers' grade book Wednesday. During conferences it was brought to my attention that we are not consistently putting in grades. This is an expectation that we must follow so that we can hold our students and parents accountable too! At this point in the year, grade books should be properly set up and managed consistently. If you have any questions or concerns, please see Tolbert, Brinkley, or Skinner.

News from Marty

All ELA teachers should complete their classroom spelling bee before December. Mrs. Marty sent out an email with the materials.

-Return all GES rating forms (manila forms) that were in your mailboxes a few weeks ago. These are expensive to replace.

-Mrs. Marty is offering a PL session on differentiating in the classroom during second planning Friday. If you are interested, contact Mrs. Marty. All new teachers will need to attend.

-If students are not meeting advanced criteria or gifted criteria, please make sure you put it in the spreadsheet shared with you a few weeks ago. If you have questions about the criteria, please refer to the gifted module for that information. Please make sure you have contacted parents and recorded it in campus under PLP.

-During collaborative planning next week gifted collaborators will be working with teachers to complete collaborative contracts. It will not take the entire planning.

News from Fassbender

Dress Down Day for October's Binder Check will be November 5th! Please be sure to check the binders.

Week at a Glance

Monday-IEP/504 Meetings

Tuesday-RTI/Branching Minds

Wednesday-Collaborative Planning

Pink Out Day at HMS

Thursday-Collaborative Planning

Friday-IEP/504 Meeting

Week of 10/21/2018

Quote of the Week:


Good evening Panther Nation!

Thank you for a great week of conferences. The parents were extremely complimentary of the time and effort put into informing them about their scholar(s) progress. This week we will be another modified week since we are out on Friday. Please make sure that you have planned appropriately to keep our students actively engaged in class. 

We will have a few changes to occur this week! As of Tuesday, Mr. Mosley will move to 8th grade Science, Ms. Fox will move to 6th grade Science, and Mrs. Skinner will resume her responsibilities as an 8th grade Science teacher. Please do not fear, Mrs. Skinner is still our Instructional Coach! The administrators will conduct most of instructional responsibilities for the remainder of the year. It is also a possibility that our new ELA teachers, Mr. Brock and Ms.Woods will begin this week. We are also in the process of arranging a time for Mr. Jones to come and meet the staff. I am excited about ALL of the new changes as we are finally beginning to get into our grove! 

Lastly, I want to remind you all to remember to stay focused on our purpose. We can not change the things that are beyond our control but we can change how we respond to the things! Instruction, collaboration, respect, and consistency are our keys to success. We survived the first 9 weeks of school and we will be sure that the next 27 weeks are filled with our best!

Principal Tolbert


Announcements

On October 31, 2018, we will host a continental breakfast and Pink Out Hilsman in honor of  Breast Cancer Awareness Month! Thank you for your feedback.
WE ARE CELEBRATING RED RIBBON WEEK AT HILSMAN! This is the time each year when schools across the nation plan activities that promote alcohol and drug awareness and prevention. For more information, visit redribbon.org. The theme this year is "Life Is Your Journey. Travel Drug Free." Students can anticipate daily announcements, lessons from their teachers, and informational tables set up at lunch. We will also continue our trend of having dress up days. Tuesday, October 23rd: Mix It Up at Lunch Day. This is an international campaign that encourages students to identify, question, and cross social boundaries. Help students unmask their inner superheroes and encourage them to team up with their peers. Dress like a superhero to put an end to drugs. Students must still wear uniform bottoms. For more information, visit tolerance.org/mix-it-up. Wednesday, October 24th: Unity Day. Hilsman is also celebrating National Bullying Prevention Month. Wear an orange shirt in support of Unity Day to show that we are united against bullying. Students must still wear uniform bottoms. For more information, visit pacer.org/bullying.

School Bus Safety Week

School Bus Safety Week is next week, October 22-26.  This is an opportunity to celebrate and accentuate the safe transportation of our students.  Make sure to show your appreciation for your drivers in a special way on Monday, October 22 for School Bus Driver Appreciation Day!

Week at a Glance

Monday-IEP/504 Meeting

Tuesday-RTI/Branching Minds

8th Grade Field Day

Transition Day

Wednesday-Collaborative Planning

7th Grade Field Day

Thursday-Collaborative Planning

6th Grade Field Day

Friday-No School