Hickory Creek Middle School, 22150 116th Avenue, Frankfort, IL 60423 Phone 815-469-4474 FAX 815-469-7930

Kevin Suchinski, Principal

April Mahy, Dean of Students

Christine Mullin, Interim Assistant Principal

Volume 10 Number 9

May, 2012

What better time of year to learn about America’s favorite pastime! The HCMS seventh graders will start “spring training” by studying the sport of baseball during their Advisory class. This fun and excit-ing unit will end with a field trip to a Joliet Slammers Minor League baseball game on Wednesday, May 23rd. Upon the completion of this unit, students will have a better understanding of baseball, its history, and its impact on our culture.

During Advisory, students will complete a variety of lessons, integrating many subject areas all revolv-ing around the theme of baseball. The lessons range from understanding how to compute baseball statistics, reading about the history of baseball and biographies of players who impacted the game, and using figurative language to create baseball poetry. This Advisory unit is designed for students to appreciate the sport and incorporate their creative thinking skills throughout.

Pack some peanuts and Cracker Jacks …. And root, root, root for the Slammers!

CELL PHONE USE PROHIBITED IN SCHOOL ZONES

Per Public Act 096-0131 (effective 1/1/2010) cell phone use (including but not limited to talking, texting, internet browsing, etc.) is now prohibited in school zones when operating a motor ve-hicle. Fines and/or suspension of one's drivers license is possible, and while the law has been in effect for over a year, we are still

seeing significant numbers of individuals using cell phones while driving through a school zone, dropping off or picking up children, and generally coming and going from our schools. Per the law, hands free devices are allowed in some instances, but virtually all oth-er hand held uses are prohibited (with a few extreme exceptions). For the safety of our chil-dren, staff and other motorists, please do not use cell phones in school zones (unless your car is parked and your engine is turned off)!!! We will be asking the Frankfort Police to ramp up enforcement of this law, so please be advised to not use cell phones in a school zone. Thank you for your cooperation.

When the weather is warmer, many students walk to and from school. It is important that students cross 116th Avenue with the designated school crossing guard who is located the corner of Sandalwood Drive and 116th Avenue. There is no designated crossing guard at 116th Avenue and Laraway Road. We highly recommend students utilize the pro-vided bus transportation instead of crossing at this very busy unsupervised intersection.

We would like to encourage you to frequently check the Virtual Backpack on the district website www.fsd157c.org for school and district handouts.

Dental Examination Requirements The Illinois School Code requires that all students in kindergarten, second and sixth grades have a den-tal exam performed by a licensed dentist within 18 months prior to May 15th of the school year. The ex-amination form must be filled out, signed by the child’s dentist and be on file with the school nurse. If your child is unable to obtain a dental exam, waiver forms are available in the school health office.

Tdap and Physical Examination Requirement Beginning the 2012-13 school years, a Tdap immunization will be required for all students entering 6th and 9th grade, regardless of the interval since the last DTaP, DT or TD vaccination. Your child will be ex-cluded from attending school, if written proof of the vaccination is not presented to the school nurse PRIOR TO the first day of school. A completed physical examination form will also be required, PRIOR TO the first day of school, for all children entering 6th grade next fall. Your child will be excluded from school if the appropriate forms are not completed, signed by physician and a parent, and turned in to the school nurse prior to the first day of school.

Scoliosis Screening Scoliosis refers to an abnormal “side to side” curvature of the spine. It usually develops during the pre-puberty stage of a child’s development when they are undergoing a rapid growth spurt. The cause of scoliosis is unknown, but it often seems to run in families. Girls are more likely to develop scoliosis than boys are. It is not preventable, but early detection and treatment during a child’s growing years, is the best way to halt the progression of the disease. Please be sure that your pediatrician includes a scoliosis check, each time they examine your child. There are also some “clues” that a parent can watch for: uneven shoulder levels, one shoulder blade more prominent than the other or both shoulder blades very prominent, a waist line that appears uneven, one hip more elevated than the other and/or the student may lean to one side.

Medications at School The last day of school, this year, will be June 5th. If your child presently has medications in the Nurse’s Office, at school, please be sure to pick them up from the nurse by the end of the day, Friday, June 8th. After that date, any medications or supplies remaining in the Nurse’s Office, will be discarded.

Arlene Pawlak, R.N.

Happy Summer!

P- Pride

A—Attitude

W—Work

S—Service

APRIL Awards

Abby Christensen Abigail Grybas Abigail Olsen Alexa Mikrut Allison Goldsmith Ashley Williams Audrey Vanderpool Austin Murray Ava Grunert Bethany Nelson Christian Gulde Christina Keller Cody Hogan Cole Cunningham Corbin Moore Des Shelton Dominic Tagler Eion Hurley Emili Dobronics Emma Albers-Lopez Gino Savaria Grace Doyle Grace Lewis Jacob Henstein Jacob VanderWoude Jake Pomykalski Jake Sons Jake Welker Joe Hertz Koby Culbreath

Krista King Lauren Bruns Lena Searcy Marie Meyer Mark McCauley Matt Mrozowski Meghan McGonagle Michael Piunti Mikaela Conces Miranda Schor Nicky Piunti Niki Ketsios Noah Baker Paige Skopick Paige Spacek Raed Farhoud Raven Whaley Reilly Bell Rhiannon Kazmierczak Riley Clarey Ryan Bortscheller Ryan Gold Shannon O'Brien Spencer Martin Stephanie Zobel Sydney Zeller Tori Green Trevor Lewandowski Tyler Klimek

Summer is quickly approaching and now is the time to make sure all your stu-dent(s) books are returned, and fines (both overdue library materials and re-placed IDs) are paid, as well as any textbook damage fines, which will be as-sessed soon. This is especially important for 8th graders who must have their accounts completely paid up before the Great America trip on Tuesday, May 29th. Please encourage your student to take care of any payments as early as possible! If you are looking for a summer reading list for your student, please feel free to send them to the LMC to see me. I have plenty of lists that I can offer them, including the 2013 Caudill list, 2013 Abraham Lincoln Award list (for high school students) and the state of Illinois Read for a Lifetime list (for high school students). Or I will be more than happy to compile a list based on your requirements. Feel free to contact me at any time! Happily, our 2013 Rebecca Caudill grant was funded by the Education Founda-tion! Our voting celebration will take place on Friday, February 22, 2013. We will once again be requesting your help with prize and food donations. Feel free to drop off any donations during summer office hours; just identify them as “Caudill party donations” and they will be delivered to the library. I have included the 2013 Caudill list with this article. Have a safe and relaxing summer! Happy Reading! Marybeth Raynes

April nationally marks Autism Awareness Month. In order to honor our students with autism, as well as students with other disabilities or medical concerns, Hickory Creek is spending the next several weeks raising awareness. We are focusing on sev-eral different disabilities that afflict our student population. The goal is to raise awareness, educate our students on facts related to each disability, and have a little fun. The first week a puzzle piece (symbol of autism as noted by Autism Speaks) was hid-den in each grade level wing. Students who found the puzzle piece brought it to the main office with a fact about Autism to receive a prize. The second week the school focused on diabetes. The universal symbol for diabetes is a blue circle. Several circles were strategically placed throughout the common areas of the building in order for students to find them and keep track of a total count. The students were given an opportunity to cast their guess in the main office for an opportunity to win a prize. Subsequent weeks will focus on: muscular dystrophy, learning disabilities, hearing impairment, epilepsy and visual impair-ment. Each week is marked with a morning announcement introducing the focus for the week, followed by daily advisory an-nouncements to share facts related to the disability or medical condition, and a school-wide activity to add a little fun and en-courage the students to learn and focus on the disability or medical concern of the week.

2013 Caudill Nominees

Anything But Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin

As Easy As Falling Off the Face of the Earth by Lynne Rae Perkins

Black Radishes by Susan Lynn Meyer

Born to Fly by Michael Ferrari

Bounce by Natasha Friend

Countdown by Deborah Wiles

Dark Life by Kat Falls

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

How to Survive Middle School by Donna Gephart

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur

Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes

One Crazy Summer by Sharon Draper

Shooting Kabul by N.H. Senzai

Smile by Raina Telgemeier

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger

Trash by Andy Mulligan

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm

The Year Money Grew on Trees by Aaron Hawkins

Read three or more by Friday, February 8, 2013 to qualify as an official judge! Write a short summary (five or six sentences) of titles you read over the summer so you can discuss the book with next year’s teacher! Let’s set a record for kids who read all twenty titles!

The year is coming to an end for the I.I. Team. The 8th grade I.I. students had the opportunity to visit their soon-to-be school, Lincoln-Way East, at the end of April. For the month of May, we have two more trips planned before the school year comes to an end. The students will be visiting the Dollar Store and the Transition House. Parents are invited to attend the Transition House with their child for our last trip there. Also, we are going to have another I.I. Presentation at the end of the year where parents, students, and staff members are welcomed to attend.

The eighth graders are looking forward to graduation and high school. During the busy month of May, in addition to their regu-lar activities, they are working on a major research project using the materials available in the Library of Congress. This web based project has them researching the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and compiling a scrapbook of “memories”. Complementing their research, the class has also read and discussed either, Farewell to Manzanar or Thin Wood Walls in literature circles.

The seventh graders have been researching and learning much about alternate energy sources, especially solar energy. We are in the design phase now but will soon be busy finishing and testing our projects. This has been a fun, hands-on unit for the stu-dents with some interesting surprises thrown in. We are also currently reading a new novel for our second round literature cir-cles. After the “book talks” given by each literature circle group many students requested a book from the previous circle that they hadn’t chosen last time – their peers really “sold” them on these books.

The sixth graders completed a very successful trip to the Adler Planetarium on April 19th. The students’ Black Hole projects will be finished and presented as we turn our attention to a topic closer to home – Earth Science, studying rocks and minerals. Each student will also finish and present a mineral project in May. Conservation and biodiversity experiments will also begin during Earth Week and continue for the rest of the school year for the sixth grade class.

Parents, it has been a great year in Everest this year and we look forward to next year! See you in the fall!

The HCMS Student Council will be sponsoring a Cystic Fibrosis walk on Friday, May 25th. The sixth, seventh and eighth grade students will be walking during their Encore classes in school. A speaker on Cystic Fibrosis will also present new ad-vancements and research on the topic. Students will be collecting pledges among their family and friends for the continued research on cystic fibrosis. We do not encourage students to go door-to-door. All pledges will be due by May 25th. Please watch for a letter and pamphlet to come home with your child in early May.

Dates to Remember May 15th: Field Trip to Brookfield Zoo

Week of May 20th : Catapults due (optional)

Science classes will be dissecting sheep eyeballs in May. All 6th grade students will have the opportunity to build a catapult for Social Studies classes and launch marshmallows in May. There will be more information coming home with your child closer to the dates of the project and the Brookfield Zoo field trip. As the year comes to an end, we will be preparing them for seventh

Kaylee Williams and Allison Mauriello were both state winners in the 2011-2012 Economics Poster Contest. The judging pro-cess for state-level winners is very difficult. Not only are thousands of drawings received accurately depicting one of the six economic concepts, but a decision must be made by the three state judges. Images of the twelve State Winners’ drawings, along with a list of the state honorable mention entries, has been posted on the Econ Illinois web site at: http://www.econed-il.org/icee/econposter_12.shtml. Kaylee and Allison will have their drawings featured in a 2012-2013 Economic Literacy Cal-endar. Congrats, Kaylee and Allison! Kate Wardenburg was selected a state winner in the Letters About Literature contest. Her letter was chosen from thousands of letters to represent the seventh and eighth graders of Illinois in the national competition in Washington D.C. Kate will be rec-ognized at a ceremony in Springfield later this month. We wish her the best of luck at the national level contest that takes place at the end of April. Way to go, Kate!

Chorus - Mrs. Walton Congratulations to the HCMS Varsity Chorus, Advanced Choir, and Show Choir for their fantastic performances at the IGSMA State Choral Contest! Our last event of the year will be "Music In The Parks" on May 26, 2012.

The cast and chorus of the annual HCMS spring musical, "Once On This Island" is hard at work learning songs, dances and scenes. This show is a "must-see" - put the dates on your calendar now!

Performances of "Once On This Island"

May 18, 2012, 7:00 p.m.

May 19, 2012, 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

May 20, 2012, 7:00 p.m.

Spanish - Mrs. Justus (Ms. Pretto) and Mrs. Conroy ¡Feliz mayo! (Happy May!)

During the remaining weeks of fourth quarter, students in sixth grade Spanish will be continuing their focus on the vocabulary of the classroom, colors, the body, adjectives of description with the verb ser, as well as the verb tener when describing age. Sixth grade students will also be working very diligently on their country presentations as well as continue to review the geogra-phy of Spanish-speaking countries this month.

Students in seventh grade Spanish will be learning to count from 100 to 1000, how to describe school supplies and articles of clothing, as well as use adjectives of color. They will also be working on their personality bags (Bolsas de personalidad) which is a great way to help them to summarize what they've learned during their 9 weeks of Spanish this year, as well as give them a chance to express their personality in Spanish. We will be asking that each student bring in a small gift bag with handles to help begin their project.

Students in eighth grade Spanish will be learning vocabulary to help them to talk about feelings, giving advice, ask for give opinions, ask for and offer help in a store, saying where you went and what you did, and use vocabulary in conversations when talking on the phone. In addition, they will also be continuing their grammar study of verbs with reflexive pronouns, stem-changing verbs, affirmative and negative informal commands as well as continue practicing with stem-changing verbs. Students will also be introduced to the verb costar in numbers to one million, demonstrative adjectives and comparisons, the verb quedar, the preterite of -ar verbs and the verb ir. I am so proud of the progress of the eighth graders have made this quarter! They will be taking the final exam over Chapters 4 through 8 at the end of the quarter, so it is extremely important to encourage them to do their best work until the end of the year.

Technology - Mr. Smit and Mr. Vonch EIGHTH GRADE PARENTS: Please send in a baby picture of your son or daughter by Friday, May 4th to be included in the graduation slideshow. All pictures will be returned to the student or the image can be e-mailed to Mr. Smit at jsmit@fsd157c.org.

Educational games have been developed and created in technology class by sixth, seventh and eighth grade students. Students have worked on creating educational and fun games through different programs such as PowerPoint, Kodu Game Lab, Scratch, and Jumpcraft. Games have ranged from true/false questions based on facts about students in the class, maze games for students to play and have results charted in Excel, and creating tutorial videos on how to develop educational games with screen record-ing software and voiceover explaining directions. Students have done a great job developing educational games and designing fun and creative games for students to learn from and play.

Art - Mrs. Rogers Eighth grade sculpture students will be finishing their figure sculptures and clay projects through the beginning of May. Later in the month they will be studying the work of Andy Goldsworthy and designing and making their own nature sculpture.

Eighth grade Drawing and Painting students will be focusing on figure drawing and portraits through the month of May.

Seventh grade students will be studying the Principle of Balance and 20th century artist Georgia O’Keefe. They will complete a radial design and a still life project.

Sixth grade students will design and build their own ceramic pottery and create a print quilt.

Band – Mrs. Shoemaker and Mr. Adams The Tiger Band will perform on Monday, May 28 at Breidert Green in Frankfort for the annual Frankfort observance of Memo-rial Day. Students will be responsible for all instrument transportation, so please make sure horns and drums go home prior to the weekend. The Frankfort VFW will provide free hot dogs to all band students after the performance!

Physical Education and Health

Mrs. Luther, Mrs. Rodgers, Mrs. Uelman, Mr. Rigoni, Mr. Perich

HICKORY CREEK MIDDLE SCHOOL‐ May 2012 

 

Wednesday, May 2, 2012         Hot Lunch – Band Boosters 

Thursday, May 3, 2012          5th Grade Step‐Up Night @ HCMS   

Friday, May 4 – Saturday, May 5, 2012    State Science Fair – U of I, Champaign 

Monday, May 7 – Friday, May 11, 2012     Educators Appreciation Week  

Monday, May 7, 2012           Science Fair Participants to The Shedd Aquarium 

Friday, May 11, 2012          II to Transition House 

Sunday, May 13, 2012          Mother’s Day  

Tuesday, May 15, 2012           6th Grade Trip to Brookfield Zoo 

Wednesday, May 16, 2012        Bosco Snack – Athletic Boosters  

Friday, May 18, 2012           II to Magic Meadows Farm  

Friday, May 18, 2012           Spring Musical 7:00 p.m.  

Saturday, May 19, 2012          Spring Musical 2:00 p.m. & 7:00 p.m. 

Sunday, May 20, 2012          Spring Musical 2:00 p.m. 

Tuesday, May 22, 2012           HCMS Talent Show 6:00 – 8:30 p.m.  

Wednesday, May 23, 2012         7th Grade Trip to Slammers Baseball Game  

Wednesday, May 23, 2012        Hot Lunch – FSP 

Thursday, May 24, 2012           8th Grade Celebration  

Friday, May 25, 2012          Early Dismissal 10:40 a.m. School Improvement Day 

Saturday, May 26, 2012           Choral “Music in the Parks” Competition  

Monday, May 28, 2012          NO SCHOOL – Memorial Day  

Monday, May 28, 2012          Tiger Band Breidert Green 10:00 A.M.    

Tuesday, May 29, 2012           8th Grade trip to Great America   

Thursday, May 31, 2012           8th Grade Graduation Lincoln‐Way West 7:00 p.m.  

     

To access athletic event information please go to the Athletic link 

located in Hickory Creek Middle School.