HMS Newsletter March 2024
Go Hawks
Contact Information
- Orin P. Wear, Principal: 892-9402
- Brian Beaudry, Assistant Principal: 892-9403
- Amy Hina, Administrative Assistant: 892-9401
- Chloe Palmer, Office Secretary: 892-9400
- Adam Gehrke, Safety Resource Officer:
- Tanya Boehm, Safety & Security Coordinator: 892-9404
- Virginia St. John, School Nurse: 892-9406
- Matthew Rush, School Counselor: 907-892-9407
- Camile Rusher, Registrar: 892-9479
Email: hms@matsuk12.us
Website: www.matsuk12.us/hms
Location: 12501 Hawk Lane, Houston, AK, USA
Phone: 907-892-9400
Principal Monthly Message
Houston Middle School Families & Friends,
March is here and the sunshine grows stronger and stronger each and every day! Our outdoor sports enthusiasts have been waiting for longer days and warmer temperatures to arrive and it's starting to happen. Have fun and be careful out there!
March is a busy month at Houston Middle School. There are lots of activities happening and important dates to remember. Please take a few minutes to read over our March newsletter. As always, if there are questions, comments, or concerns, please call the school or make an appointment to see any of our teachers.
The end of 3rd Quarter ended on Thursday, March 6th , 2024. Official reports cards will be available and uploaded to Parent-Vue and Student-Vue the week of March 20th! Have a wonderful relaxing spring break!
Have a Great March & Go Hawks
-Orin P. Wear
Congratulations to the following students:
Natalie Funner
Sonny Hood
Remy Farley
Wyatt Freeman
Paxson Lee
Kalyn Stemmons
Peyton Maxwell
Scarlett Jacobs
Horatio Sasui
Dakota Hunsaker
Blade Christensen
GO HAWKS!
Upcoming Events
Music Department News
Tuesday, March 5th is the Houston Area Band Festival!
This will feature Big Lake and Meadow Lakes Elementary Schools, Houston Middle School and Houston High School. Every school will get the chance to play for everyone, showcasing different music selections while inspiring the younger bands to look forward to their future music experiences. The concert will end with a large, combined performance by all schools!
The concert will be held at Houston Middle School and will start at 6:30pm. Come show support for your local band programs and enjoy listening to some fun music!
Boundary Exemption Applications Due
Any questions that you may have can be directed to each school's registrar, Camile Rusher at HMS and Amanda Nicoll at HHS.
Spring Break 2024
Spring Break is Thursday, 3/07/24 - Monday, 3/18/24. School will resume with late start (8:45am) on Tuesday, 3/19/24. Please enjoy your much-deserved break!
Day Light Savings Time
Please remember to set your clocks forward by one hour on Sunday, 3/10/24. It officially starts at 2:00 AM Alaska Standard Time.
Title 1
Title I survey results are in!
Hello Hawk Families. We have the results of the last Title I survey for your reading enjoyment. If you would like to see these results please contact the front office. The district wide results are available on the MSBSD website. If you have questions, please reach out to Tanya Boehm at 907-892-9485. We are always looking for more people who would like to give input. In April we will once again be looking for willing participants to give input for our FY25 Title I budget for Houston Middle School.
We would like to thank everyone who participated in the chili cook off! It was a very successful evening! The winner was #3 sweet, smokey, and spicey!
Counseling Corner
Greetings Hawk Parents and Guardians,
This month 8th grade students are beginning to show some excitement, and for some, anxiousness as they get prepared for the beginning of their high school career. Our High School Counselors recently joined with me in assisting 8th grade students in choosing their high school elective courses. With the exception of a few, most students were able to select their classes in student view electronically. We had about eight students that were not here on those days but were able to fill out their choices on paper. Those course requests forms that were filled out will be given to the high school counselors this week to complete their 2024/25 class schedules.
Next month the 6th and 7th grade will also be selecting their electives in Student Vue. Also next month, we will be setting up dates for 5th grade students from Meadow Lakes, Big Lake and Willow elementary schools to come visit for our annual tour as well as select their elective choices. If you are a parent that has a student coming to us from anywhere other than our three feeder schools, you are most welcome to join us either on the dates set for our feeder schools or you are welcome to call and set up an individual family tour. Please look for tour dates in next months newsletter.
Thank you and Happy Spring Break!!!
Matt Rush, LPC
Middle School Counselor grades 6-8
Houston Jr/Sr. High School
(907)-892-9407
Nurse Office News
After Spring Break a Growth and Development video will be shown to all 6th grade students. Girls will view the video Straight Talk about Puberty for Girls and boys will view the video Straight Talk about Puberty for Boys. If parents would like to view this video content, please contact Nurse St. John at (907) 892-9406 or by email at virginia.stjohn@matsuk12.us. Parent permission slips will be sent home prior to spring break. Parents will be required to opt in for students to be able to view.
This is a great reminder that your student(s) may begin to ask questions about health and puberty. Kids Health is a great resource you can access via the internet and may help with the conversation at home.
https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/talk-about-puberty.html
Also, Health screenings will continue through March and April. A reminder, Alaska state statutes require school nurses to do health screenings on all 7th grade students, students new to the District, and those students with no screening data within the last 3-4 years (due to COVID, etc). The health screen includes height, weight, hearing, vision, blood pressure, pulse, and dental. This will typically be done privately in the nurse's office, students are fully clothed, without other students observing. You will be notified ONLY if something abnormal requires a provider referral.
Thank you for letting us keep your student(s) safe and healthy!
Virginia St. John, BSN RN - Houston Middle School Nurse
Matanuska -Susitna Borough School District
Ph: 907-892-9406 l Fax: 907-892-9460
HMS Sports Info
Sports Scheduled Dates and Times are Subject to Change at any time.
All participation forms and physicals must be submitted in Big Teams to participate in any practices. The cost is $50 for HMS students and $100 for non HMS students. You can pay online under the "pay fees" tab in Parent Vue that links to school pay or with cash or check made out to Houston Middle School in the front office. Please contact your student's coaches with any questions regarding game times, changes, locations and practices.
6th Grade Volleyball starts March 4th! Practice will be from 2:30-4:00. Practice calendar will go home the first day of practice. Join the 6th grade volleyball class in Remind to receive info. and updates!
Here is the link to join the class: https://www.remind.com/join/af6bb64
Game days are:
3/26@ Colony Middle
4/2@ Houston Middle
4/4@ Teeland Middle
4/11@ Palmer Middle
NYO is happening for grades 7-12.
Practice is Monday-Thursday from 3-5pm in the upstairs gym at the high school. Students must be signed up in BigTeams, pay their fee, and have a current physical on file in order to participate.
Events are as follows:
March 23rd , 2024 -Mat-SU SRNYO Invitational at Houston High School
April 12th-13th,2024- SRNYO Mat-SU Regional meet at Houston High School
April 25th -27th ,2024-State SRNYO Tournament at the UAA Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage. - you must place in the top 3 of your event to qualify for the state competition.
Any questions on how to sign up? Contact Coach Zavorka @ (907)892-9429 or sommer.zavorka@matsuk12.us
Other HMS News
Chess Club
Did you know that HMS has a chess club and that we are preparing for the district-wide middle school competition in April? There is still time to join!
Talk to Mr. Ames for more information!
March Spotlight on Literacy
Family Literacy spotlight for March: comprehension strategies: how to support or guide students in improving their comprehension and understanding.
Here are Spotlight on Literacy links: Science of Reading Playbook is a resource tool designed for Parents, community members and staff to access.
My literacy spotlight for the month of March is: Comprehension and what true understanding of reading is asking readers to do. There are a lot of discussions on what it means to be a good reader. A big component of this question is what pieces readers have to do in order to understand at the word level, sentence level and passage level as well as the author's intent. Believe it or not, there is a science to this and brain research on what cognitive load we are doing. A visual to represent all the pieces centers on this visual below. Scarborough's Reading Rope. It is multifaceted and complex.
Experienced teachers know that true literacy is much more than just being able to sound out the letters on the page. Skilled readers need to be able to master both what the words are and what they mean. To do this successfully, they bring together various skills like vocabulary, language structure, and verbal reasoning. The Scarborough’s Reading Rope model can help educators better understand what it truly takes to create skilled readers.
What is Scarborough’s Reading Rope?
Your child's Teacher is applying this understanding to ensure your child is working on the areas that they may not have developed well at this point.
Please feel free to contact Deb Pomelow at Houston Middle 892-9496 for more helpful hints and suggestions: Next month Comprehension: what students are monitoring for themselves while reading and the impact of think-alouds.
Deborah Pomelow
Grant Manager/ Literacy Coach
HMS Mon. AM 7:15-12:00, all day Tuesday and Thursday 892-9437
Meadow Lakes Mon. PM 12:15-3, all day Wednesday and Friday 907 352-6182