February 2017
HMS Principal’s Newsletter
Mix it up Day!!!
Friday February 3rd was MIX IT UP DAY at Hampstead Middle School.
The Anti-Bullying Committee along with the 6th grade school counselor, Mrs. Karpinsky, sponsored a "mix it up" spirit day for staff and students. They asked everyone to "mix up" their wardrobe or hair.
ABC students continued “Mixing it Up” during 5th and 6th grade lunches. The lunch tables where in a different formation and music was playing when students entered the lunchroom. They “mixed up” where they usually sat by randomly picking a color and sitting at the coordinating table. The tables were covered in paper so that students could draw, color or play tic tac toe. ABC members sat with the students and facilitated questions/conversations. We challenged the students to “mix it up” by trying something new.
It’s was a simple call to action: take a new seat in the cafeteria. By taking a risk, this one day, students crossed the lines of division in a safe, controlled environment, met new people, and helped build an inclusive and welcoming school community.
Why "Mix it Up" Day...each day thousands of students stay home from school because they are being bullied. ABC wants everyone to know that they have a voice inside of them that is important and that their voices have a lot of great ideas that could change how people act and what they say. ABC wants everyone to think about how they can inspire others, because when you inspire others you make a difference. When you make a difference you make a change for the good.
ABC member, Jake Hutchings (6th grade) said it best, "this is a great idea because it is fun to see other kids personalities and what you have in common with them, and hopefully start a new friendship."
Guidance News
Mrs. Karpinsky continues to teach the Guidance UA Course, Transition and Growth, with 5th grade students. This quarter, Mrs. Karpinsky is teaching Mrs. Couture and Ms. Cumming’s homeroom students. Topics to be covered over the next couple of weeks include Growth Mindset, bullying, respect, empathy, goal setting, self-advocacy and more.
Students were excited to participate in and support the Anti-Bullying Club’s Mix It Up Day event and helped create posters to promote the event around school.
Mr. Mailloux continues to work with 8th grade students to prepare them for the transition to Pinkerton Academy. Recently, he has been working on the course selection sheet process with all 8th grade students. The next big step in preparing HMS 8th graders for the transition to Pinkerton Academy comes on February 22nd, when Pinkerton Academy School Counselors visit with all HMS 8th grade students!
The School Counseling Department continues to support the HMS advisory program. Recent topics include conversations with students about the Mix It Up Day event. The goal of Mix It Up Day is to continue to build and support an inclusive and welcoming school community. Some ways students were encouraged to Mix It Up included working with a new friend on a project and sitting with new friends at lunch. By taking a risk, this one day, students can cross the lines of division in a safe, controlled environment, meet new people, and help support a positive school climate.
This week during Advisory, students will participate in career exploration activities ahead of HMS STEAM Family Night, being held on Tuesday, February 21st, and national Engineers Week.
Music Department Updates
- The HMS Jazz Choir traveled to Clark Creative Recording Studio in Amherst, NH this past Saturday to learn about sound engineering, mixing, mastering, and the recording process. The singers did it like the pros on Saturday as they recorded a full studio album that will be released at the Spring Choral Concert. Producer Mike Clark, an engineering teacher at Hollis Brookline High School, demonstrated editing and recording techniques. We look forward to the release of this studio album.
- We have six students from HMS that have been accepted into the New Hampshire Music Educators Association's Elementary Honors Choir. The festival and concert is scheduled for March 31st in Concord. Isabella Charlebois, Megan Howard, Jake Hutchings, Jonathan Uber, Zoe Sternberg, and Kaileigh McMeniman will represent Hampstead.
- The Little Mermaid Musical is going extremely well. There are 85 performing actors/actresses and 25 students on Stage Crew. The production has been growing every year -- thus, the show will be held in the HMS gymnasium this year on March 23rd and 24th, both at 7pm. A Saturday matinee has just been added due to the volume of tickets sold already. In addition to Mr. Fisher and Mr. Robins, we are lucky to have Mrs. Cindi Verrill, Mrs. Jenna McMahon, and Mrs. Kim Downey on our team this year, along with countless parent volunteers helping with props, costumes, advertising, and tickets.
- The 7th and 8th Grade Band and Chorus ensembles are preparing for the NH Large Group Festival on March 11th in Litchfield. The groups will perform for adjudication, sight read, and clinic with renowned music educators from across New England. There is a mock-festival held at HMS on March 7th at 6:30pm. Best of luck to both ensembles!
There will be a pre-festival performance on Tuesday March 7 at 7PM in the HMS Gym.
Show your support of the HMS Musical production of Little Mermaid, Jr. and order a shirt!!
Production T Shirts for this years production of “The Little Mermaid” are available for purchase by cast, crew or family members. They will be royal blue, short sleeve, performance (Dri-fit) t-shirts with a 3 color logo on the front and the cast/crew list on the back. Cost of the shirt is $15 . Please make checks payable to “Hampstead Middle School” T-shirt Order forms are due to Mr. Robins NO LATER THAN Monday February 20, 2017.
If your form is not turned in by the February 20, you WILL NOT be able to order a shirt.
Available Sizes: Youth M, Youth L, Youth XL; Adult Men S, M, L, XL, XXL (+$2); Adult Women S, M, L, XL, XXL (+$2)
Please find forms on our website, or stop by the main office.
Detach and return to Mr. Robins NO LATER THAN February 20, 2017
Art News
Thank you to eighth graders and their families that attended the Immigration Integration Art Show at the Central School. Our project and art show were a great success.
Eighth graders are currently practicing printmaking, seventh graders are learning watercolor painting techniques, sixth graders are getting know themselves better through a self portrait and writing project, and fifth grade is putting color theory to the test.
7th grade art students participated in a STEAM activity creating slime.
HAWK AWARDS
Quarter Two
On February 3rd, the entire middle school student body celebrated students who received the "HAWK" award given by teachers for students demonstrating exemplary character traits such as, Respect, Responsibility, and Friendship. Students received compliments, certificates and gift cards. The HMS ABC Club (Anti-Bullying Club) also organized an all school activity after the awards.
Congratulations to all of our awardees!
8th Grade- Sarah Manning, Ryan Dane, Zachary Lizotte
7th Grade-Colby Wong, Elizabeth Crump, Quinn Mailloux
6th Grade- Gareck White, Julianna Megan, Sarkis Aprahamian
5th Grade-Aiden Dowd, Ava Bennett, Reagan Peabody
Library News
Grade 8 Research
In preparation for the American Legion Oratorical Presentation, students have been learning about the research process, skills, and tools. Students learned about the benefits of using academic databases over Google.In addition, they had the opportunity to explore topics, discuss primary source images, and complete a plagiarism simulation.
The image is just one of the slides that was gone over with the students. To see the full slide show, visit the library website. The library site has the links to databases along with other resources. It is found under the "Student Life" tab off the HMS website.
The link to the full slide show is at: https://docs.google.com/
Family Consumer Science
Despite all the snow days and delayed openings this quarter we managed to get our first food lab in on Valentine’s Day. We found several ways to create Valentine’s Day food shaped as hearts and flowers. Here is a collection of some of our creations.
5th Grade News
The fifth grade will be going on a field trip to the Palace Theater on March 8th to see the Wizard of Oz play.
On Wednesday, March 22 Grade 5 will be holding the Egypt Museum in the café from 9-10 am. Students will have on display research work, projects, and slide shows about what they learned on a specific topic of Egyptian culture. Families are invited to learn about this ancient civilization by visiting the museum and listening to the knowledge the students have on the subject.
Three of our HMS teams advanced to the Tri-County basketball semifinals. Girls A and Girls B teams had a strong season both placing 3rd in the regular season. The Boys A team captured the Division 3 Tri-County Championship with an exciting win over South Meadow. The spirit squad competed in the Tri-County cheer competition bringing home the 2nd place trophy. Co-ed volleyball is well underway. This is an intramural non-competitive 4 week season. Spring sports will be starting the week of March 27th.
The HMS volleyball team opened their season with wins over Windham and Hooksett. The week of February 20th will feature home games against Pelham and World Academy of Nashua.
HMS has over seventy-five 7th and 8th graders on the volleyball squad.
8th Grade Updates
The 8th graders just completed a very involved independent study weather project. They shared their final work in a gallery walk earlier in the month. They collected some very impressive weather data for various parts of the United States and learned how to forecast weather using radar.
National Junior Honor Society
"RED OUT" DAY
The National Junior Honor Society is holding a "RED OUT" day on Wednesday, February 22nd!
* Wearing Red shows our support for Healthy Hearts!
* February is American Heart Month- Show your support to a "Healthy Heart" and wear Red !
* Red items will be sold in the lobby!
WINTER SPORTS AWARDS BANQUET- POSTPONED UNTIL MARCH 8TH!
