Week of April 30th

From the Kindness Gurus: 

In today’s world, one of the best things we can do for our school and students is to teach, foster, and celebrate kindness. Kindness has been proven to support student achievement, better school climate, and reduce discipline issues.

That’s why our school is participating in the Middle School Kindness Challenge.

By accepting the Challenge, we have become part of a new and growing movement of educators, students, and concerned citizens everywhere who are making kindness commonplace for every student in America.

If you haven't already, please take a moment now to sign up for our school’s Challenge: Kindess Challenge

To meet the Challenge, we need at least 50% of our school’s teachers and specialized instructional support personnel (e.g. counselors and social workers) to participate.  Every adult at Hilsman can register for the Kindness Challenge.  

We need ALL of you to make our 2018 Kindness Challenge a success!  That said, please take a moment to login and select a kindness lesson to include by content in your plans for Tuesday.  There are many quality, engaging ideas to choose from.  We would love to film your class in action and get some pictures to share out, so let us know if you are willing to invite us to your class and which period.  

Please see Forker, Hogan, or Moore if you have questions or need support.

From the IC: 
We will take the Reading Inventory as a whole school Monday morning during extended homeroom. Encourage students to do their best as always.  In addition, please set your rooms up in a similar fashion to Milestones; we want students to take this seriously to show how much they've progressed this school year.  Once testing is complete, we will pick up with the regular schedule.

7th and 8th grades will take the Math Inventory on Tuesday, while 6th grade will take it on Wednesday.  Again, we will be in extended homeroom and pick up with the regular schedule once we're done.

From Coach Pullen: 
Field day is next week. The dates are Wednesday, May 2nd is 8th grade, Thursday, May 3rd is 7th grade, and Friday May 4th is 6th grade. Parents are welcomed to stop by. 

From Gonzalez: 

EOY Device Collection Dates & Checklist for Planning Purposes: 

Teachers, please remember to follow the checklist (and charge your devices/cart) at least a day prior to bringing them to the media center.

*Thursday, May 10th: 6th & 7th HR teachers and 6th & 7th grade small EXC groups send devices, chargers, and carts to the MC during HR. Complete checklist day before.

*Friday, May 11th: 8th HR teachers, Connections, Foreign Language, Read 180, Team Gora, and 8th grade small EXC groups send devices, chargers, and carts to the MC during HR. Complete checklist day before.

Ms. Moore: 
Upcoming event: Rising 6th graders will visit May 8th.

From Ms. Hughes: 

21st Century Family Night

Wednesday, May 9

5:00-6:00 pm

Performances by:  Math & Music, Music Class, STEP Team

Classroom Gallery Walk

Receive Summer Learning Resources

From Marty:
IB Academies are set for Friday of this week. Also, Ms. Marty needs a list of all gifted and advanced content students at risk of failing any classes for the year.

From Lawrence:
Any Teachers, Staff, or friend to the Hilsman Community interested in performing with the HMS Chorus on Thursday, May 10th at 6:30pm please contact Mr. Jonathon P. Lawrence, Director. 

Monday:
Reading Inventory as a whole school - extended homeroom
11:30 am Instructional Leaders Meeting

Tuesday:
Math Inventory (7th & 8th grades) - starting @ 8:25am extended homeroom
Kindness lesson in content classes
2:00 Hogan SMART Steering Committee Meeting

Wednesday:
Math Inventory 6th grade (starting @ 8:25am extended homeroom)
8th Grade Field Day
4pm Faculty Meeting
4pm 6 week review at BOE (Tolbert, Forker, & Hogan)

***8th graders leave for DC @ 8:30pm

Thursday: Happy birthday, Mr. Spinks!!!
7th Grade Field Day
2:20pm RTI Coordinators' Meeting @ HTE

Friday: Afternoon activity schedule
6th Grade Field Day
IB Academy

Week of April 23rd

Happy Friday Teachers!

Thank you for a great week of testing. The learning environment was calm and all went extremely well for you and the students. Dr. Means expressed in an email to you how impressed he was with the environment! Great job and thank you for keeping Hilsman grounded this week. As we continue with testing, I want to encourage you to continue maintaining a positive school climate. Testing can cause a lot of anxiety for everyone. Please continue to push through until the end.

Mr. Gilbreath will meet with our staff during the May faculty meeting to discuss our transition to Gaines. I have confirmed room assignments and we all have a space. I will begin sharing your room numbers and arranging times for teams to visit the school for a tour. As of now, we are on schedule to move into Gaines early June. I suggest that you begin purging items to help make your packing a little easier. According to Mr. Gilbreath, boxes should be delivered within the next 10 days.

There are a lot of questions regarding scheduling for next year. I have not made any decisions other than we will return to teams next year. This was decided due to the overwhelming feedback you provided in the survey sent about a month ago. I have drafted some plans but nothing is concrete. I am waiting on a number of decisions to be made at the district level to avoid having to do double work. I would also like to have a better idea as to how we will implement AVID. Please know that I will not move or make any decisions related to your placement without personally speaking with you and consulting SILT. If you have concerns, please see me to avoid unnecessary worry!

I realize that this is the time of the year where we are all a little "extra" due to rising discipline issues, uncertainty about next year, and from working extra hard. Please know that I will answer any questions that I have the answers to for you. You are welcome to email and/or schedule a time to meet with me to discuss your concerns. As always, I appreciate the work that you do and your commitment to Hilsman. Here is to another great week of testing and a great weekend!

Ms. Tolbert

From Mr. Dorsey: 

Clarke County's Relay For Life event will take place at Cedar Shoals High School on May 11 from 6 pm - 12 am. Click the link below to join Hilsman's team and please feel free to share our team page with friends and family to help raise money for the American Cancer Society.

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/hmspanthers

Also, please continue to support our team efforts and pay $5.00 to wear your jeans on Fridays! The RFL fundraising app also takes credit cards!

Monday:
11am Instructional Leaders Meeting
2nd Planning - Kindness Challenge in the PL Room with Forker and Moore

Tuesday:
Milestones EOG - Math Section I
6:30pm Spring PTO Meeting

Wednesday: Administrative Assistant's Day
Milestones EOG - Math Section II

Thursday:
8th Grade ONLY: Science
State FFA Competition

Friday:
8th Grade ONLY: Social Studies
12:00pm SMART Team Coaching Session (Tolbert, Chester, Hogan, Rohrbach, Ward, Siegmund)
State FFA Competition

Saturday: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. AQUI! 

Week of April 16th

Happy Friday! It has been a busy week. A huge shout out to Mr. Forker, Mrs. Marty, and the rest of the team that helped to make the House Ceremony a success. It was a great way to end the day. The students were well behaved and had a lot of fun. Next week we will begin testing. Another huge shout out to Mr. Forker and his testing team for ensuring that we are all prepared and ready to administer the test! Remember that it is important to be present at work and on time! No personal leave will be approved during the time of testing. 

With all of the shout outs for Mr. Forker this week, it is impossible not to show appreciation to him in honor of Assistant Principal's Week! Mr. Forker, thank you for the work that you do to help Hilsman operate successfully everyday! YOU are important to Hilsman and know that not a day goes by that you go unnoticed! We appreciate you sir!

Although we are testing next week, please remember to continue delivering instruction. Observations will be conducted and hopefully finished before the end of next week. We are asking to please remain firm, fair, and consistent! Discipline is important to us however if it is not a tier 4 incident, I am asking team leaders to please intervene before calling for an administrator. Stay Strong and hold up four fingers! It is almost over! WE can do this! Cheers to a great weekend and hats off to a terrific testing week! See you all Monday!

Ms.Tolbert

From Ms. Brinkley: 
Please turn in all student summary sheets and connections preference forms by the end of the week.

From Mr. Dorsey: 

Clarke County's Relay For Life event will take place at Cedar Shoals High School on May 11 from 6 pm - 12 am. Click the link below to join Hilsman's team and please feel free to share our team page with friends and family to help raise money for the American Cancer Society.

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/hmspanthers

Also, please continue to support our team efforts and pay $5.00 to wear your jeans on Fridays! The RFL fundraising app also takes credit cards!

From Ms. Hughes: 

In today’s world, one of the best things we can do for our school and students is to teach, foster, and celebrate kindness. Kindness has been proven to support student achievement, better school climate, and reduce discipline issues.

That’s why our school is participating in the Middle School Kindness Challenge.

By accepting the Challenge, we will become part of a new and growing movement of educators, students, and concerned citizens everywhere who are making kindness commonplace for every student in America.

Please take a moment now to sign up for our school’s Challenge: https://program.kindnesschallenge.com/s/login/SelfRegister?school=9/zBUwtxN5BFlai4TjkSDg+5uMQ6n66ifZ103Z8Vq5Q=.

To meet the Challenge, we need at least 50% of our school’s teachers and specialized instructional support personnel (e.g. counselors and social workers) to participate.  Every adult at Hilsman can register for the Kindness Challenge.  We need all of you to make our 2018 Kindness Challenge a success!

Thank you for signing up. You will be receiving more details on our Challenge soon!

Yours kindly,

Your Kindness Captain Team (Forker, Hughes, & Moore)

HMS Milestones Training FY18

Milestones at a Glance  

Monday:

       7:45 - 8:10 Come to Forker's Office for Materials
Milestones Dry Run/Secure Practice  Extended Homeroom (8:25 - 9:20)

            Provide students with devices.   

                   8:35 - Teachers to small group locations.              

                    8:45 - Students to  small groups              

                     8:50 - Have students log-in and participate in secure practice test 

                                     

                               Here are the directions:  Secure Practice Directions (if you want a paper copy, come see Forker                                        by 8:10 Monday morning)

                     9:15 - Send students back to homeroom to return devices

Grading Window OPEN

4pm PDS Community Conversations with SILT 

Tuesday: MILESTONES ELA SECTION I
    Testing Schedule

*Progress report period ends

Wednesday: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. NAUGHTON!!!

Thursday: MILESTONES ELA SECTIONS II-III
   Testing Schedule

Friday: 

Saturday: 

8:30am - Noon: Saturday School

Week of April 9th

Regarding Observations and Mid-Year Conferences:
By now, everyone should have had their Mid-Year Conference with Ms. Tolbert and/or Mr. Forker.  If you have not, please see Ms. Tolbert and/or Mr. Forker directly ASAP.

Please be sure to log in to TrueNorthLogic and  sign off on your observations and mid-year conference.  Let us know if you need help/

From Ms. Ward: 

PSP will meet next week on Monday April 9th and April 10th.  April 10th will be the last day for PSP.  The focus of PSP next week will be Review for the Georgia Milestone.

From Mr. Dorsey: 

Clarke County's Relay For Life event will take place at Cedar Shoals High School on May 11 from 6 pm - 12 am. Click the link below to join Hilsman's team and please feel free to share our team page with friends and family to help raise money for the American Cancer Society.

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/hmspanthers

Also, please continue to support our team efforts and pay $5.00 to wear your jeans on Fridays! The RFL fundraising app also takes credit cards!

From the IC: 

UPDATE ON RI/MI: 

Based on survey data and in consideration of the diverse needs of our students, we will administer the Reading Inventory and Math Inventory on a testing schedule as a whole school. Ms. Fassbender will assess her students.  

RI: April 30th

MI: May 1st

*The window for RI/MI closes after May 4th so we will get make-ups taken care of prior to that date.

From Ms. Hughes: 

Fatz Breakfast & Silent Auction Fundraiser on Saturday, April 14 

Purpose:  Fundraiser for Science & Energy Team field trips and service projects

Date: Saturday, April 14

Location:  Fatz Cafe on Lexington Road in Athens

Breakfast Served:  8:00-10:00 am

Silent Auction Bidding Ends:  10:00 am

Menu:  Pancakes, Sausage, Fruit, & a Beverage

Tickets:  $10 for adults, $6 for children

Tickets can be purchased in advance from any Science & Energy Team member or purchased at the door.

Flower Power & Nature’s Vision Internet Fundraisers End:  Saturday, April 22

Flower Power Fundraiser Link: http://www.flowerpowerfundraising.com/campaign?campaign_id=25913

Nature's Vision Fundraiser Link: http://www.naturesvisionfundraising.com/index.cfm

Nature's Vision Organization Code: 46537

From Forker, Hughes, & Moore:

In today’s world, one of the best things we can do for our school and students is to teach, foster, and celebrate kindness. Kindness has been proven to support student achievement, better school climate, and reduce discipline issues.
That’s why our school is participating in the Middle School Kindness Challenge.
By accepting the Challenge, we will become part of a new and growing movement of educators, students, and concerned citizens everywhere who are making kindness commonplace for every student in America.
Please take a moment now to sign up for our school’s Challenge: https://program.kindnesschallenge.com/s/login/SelfRegister?school=9/zBUwtxN5BFlai4TjkSDg+5uMQ6n66ifZ103Z8Vq5Q=.
To meet the Challenge, we need at least 50% of our school’s teachers and specialized instructional support personnel (e.g. counselors and social workers) to participate.  Every adult at Hilsman can register for the Kindness Challenge.  We need all of you to make our 2018 Kindness Challenge a success!
Thank you for signing up. You will be receiving more details on our Challenge soon!
Yours kindly,
Your Kindness Captain Team (Forker, Hughes, & Moore)
PS - Staff members that register for the Kindness Challenge by Tuesday, April 10 will be entered into a drawing for a prize to be given away at next week's Milestones Training.  

Monday: PLC Day -- See link: April 9th PL Day

Tuesday:
7th Grade Experience UGA Field Trip
3:45 - USA TestPrep support session with Dana Siegmund in PL room

Wednesday:
4pm Faculty Meeting/Vertical Planning

Thursday:
7th Grade Experience UGA Field Trip
5:00pm Panther Cafe/Poetry Night
Milestones Training (Both plannings or after school 4:00 -  5:15 in PL Room) Attendance is Mandatory

Friday:
Literacy mentors
11:00am Skype with Dave Burgess (Teach like a Pirate)  in the UGA room (all are welcome to join)
Principal's Coffee
House Ceremony/ Milestone Pep - Afternoon Activity Schedule

Saturday:
Saturday School
SET Fundraiser at FATZ Cafe

Coming up:

Week of April 2nd

"Our democracy is best served when we encourage students to begin at an early age to pay close attention both to what the text says and to what they feel and think as they read. Not one or the other, but both." - Beers & Probst

A Quick Read: 

Brown v. Board: An American Legacy

PANTHER SHOUT OUTS!

• HUGE SHOUT OUT to Ms. Hughes for planning and executing a successful Family Science Night. We had over 300 participants!!! Ms. Hughes, you rock!
• Ms. Griffith! Thank you for your hard work organizing the spring parent teacher conferences! 
• Dr. Thompson: Your teacher candidates rocked Genius Hour! Our teachers learned so much and appreciated the opportunity to dialogue with the future of our profession.  

Tolbert's Corner

Happy Monday,

I hope you all had a great weekend! Thank you for your hard work last week. Although it was a short week for the students, it was pretty intense for all of us. Parents raved about the conferences and the progress made by many of our students. Again, your work and time were greatly appreciated!

This week we will be conducting your midyear conferences as well as moving swiftly with the second round of observations. Please welcome any member of the BOE as they enter the room to conduct your observations. As you are preparing for your summative conference, please begin uploading evidence into the platform to show the progress made towards your goal. If you disagree with any of the ratings that you have received, please upload your comments or evidence for that standard. It will be considered for your final rating. 

As we are nearing the end of the year, please remain mindful of your professional duties and responsibilities. We are expected to be at work on time. We are expected to respect every student and every student is expected to respect every adult. We are expected to deliver instruction and to help our students achieve success. We will not and can not give up! You are doing a phenomenal job, keep it up.

Tolbert

From the IC: 

We will meet with Dana Siegmund, our designated IT guru, for a USA TestPrep WOW Session.  You have one of two options: This coming Monday morning during first planning OR Tuesday, April 10th at 3:45pm. The session will move along more efficiently if everyone has already created and logged into your USA TestPrep account. Most of you did this with me several weeks ago when we first purchased the program.  Here is a tutorial for those of you still needing an account: 

Creating a USA TestPrep Account for Teachers

This is a helpful link for setting up your classes, also developed by Dana: 

Creating Classes in USA TestPrep

UPDATE ON RI/MI: 
Based on survey data and in consideration of the diverse needs of our students, we will administer the Reading Inventory and Math Inventory on a testing schedule as a whole school.

RI: April 30th
MI: May 1st

*The window for RI/MI closes after May 4th so we will get make-ups taken care of prior to that date.

From Ms. Ward: 

PSP will resume on Monday, April 2nd from 4-6

Saturday School will resume on April 7th from 8:30 - 12:00

From Ms. Hubbard: 

Spring Picture Day at Hilsman is Wednesday, April 4th. Homeroom teachers should have distributed to students the Lifetouch order form that was placed in mailboxes. 

Spring Pictures are prepay only. Parents can pay by cash, check, or credit card online. If paying by cash or check, students will need to bring their payment along with the order form to school to give to the photographer on picture day. If paying by credit card, students will need to bring their order form completed by the parent indicating payment has been made online to give to the photographer.

Students taking pictures will be called by grade level during the morning to report to the Old Gym. Please make sure students have their envelopes with them when going to the gym for their pictures.

Only students who are prepaying for spring pictures may be out of uniform on April 4th as long as their attire adheres to the CCSD/Hilsman dress code. 

From Ms. Smith:

 Plant Sale 2018 (1).jpg

Computers:
      By Wednesday, please let Ms. Tillotson and/or Gonzalez know if you have any computers in your classroom carts that are not functioning. This is to prepare for Milestones Testing.


REMINDER:

End of Grade Test Dates

4/17 -ELA Section 1
   4/18 - ELA Make-Up

4/19- ELA Section II and III

    4/20 - ELA Make-Up

4/24 - Math Section I

         - Afternoon Make-ups
4/25 - Math Section II
        - Afternoon Make-ups

4/26 - Science Section I & II
         - Afternoon Make-ups

4/27 - Social Studies I & II
         - Afternoon Make-ups

Grade 6-7: ELA & MAth

Grade 8:   ELA, MAth, Science, SS

EOC Tests Dates

5/7 & 5/8 - Math EOC

5/9 - Science EOC 

HS Final Exams

5/15 - 5/17 - Span and French Final Exams

From Team Gora: 
Cheer for Our Olympians!!!! - Students from Mr. Dorsey, Ms. Picha , Ms. Zabetakis, and Ms. Gaertig's class will participate in the Special Olympics Area Games at Clarke Central on Wednesday. 


Monday: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MS. RENEE SMITH! 
***School bus emergency evacuation practice in the morning. This may cause a delay in breakfast and arrival to homeroom.
Morning plannings  - USA Test Prep PL with Dana Siegmund (IT Specialist)
11am Instructional Leaders Meeting
4pm SILT

Tuesday:
RTI --> *6th grade team will discuss rising 6th grade visit with Ms. Moore*

Wednesday:
*Spring pictures
SSIP Team out at training: Tolbert, Destefani, Chester, Hogan, Ward, Rohrbach
4pm Faculty Meeting

Thursday:
Hogan out at SMART Training

Meet with Mr. Forker for pre-administration testing training during:

                                 1st and 2nd planning  

                                           or

                                after school from 4 - 5:15

                              Attendance is mandatory. 

Friday:
Hogan out at SMART Training

UPCOMING: April 9th PLC Day - More to come from district office
                        April 11th - EOG Practice Test