We are inviting all families to our Meet the Teacher Night. Our night will be organized by grade level using the details listed below. Please enter the building through either the North Entrance C or South Entrance O. You can park on the north or south side of the building.

• Grade 5
• Meet in the Cafeteria for a grade level meeting from 6:00-6:30.
• Meet and Greet with teachers in the classrooms from 6:30-7:40.
• ALL 5th Grade Parents: Meet in the Band Room with the Music Teachers from 7:45-8:00.
• Grades 6-8
• Follow your child's schedule (NOT homeroom) from 6:00-7:30. You'll visit each classroom for 8 minutes with a 4 minute passing period.
• Grade 6: Meet in the Cafeteria for a grade level meeting from 7:30-8:00.
• Grade 7: Meet in the Auxiliary Gym for a grade level meeting from 7:30-8:00.
• Grade 8: Meet in the Main Gym for a grade level meeting from 7:30-8:00.
• Please keep in mind that this is not 1 on 1 parent/teacher conferences. If you'd like to speak with a teacher about a question or concern, please reach out to them directly. They will be happy to answer your questions and talk to you.

It takes at least 4 people to help the car rider pick-up process go smoothly each afternoon. If you would like to volunteer to help us for 10-15 minutes after school each day, please contact me. We've had a few great volunteers in the past who really helped us serve our families well with this process. It would be helpful if we had a few more volunteers for the new school year. Thank you for your consideration.

Pending Board approval at Wednesday's Board meeting, Mrs. White, the DC Trip Leader, will be sending out an informational video and the link for students to sign up and pay for the trip. All payment will go through Classic Tours, the company we use to facilitate the trip. This is an optional field trip open to all 8th grade students who are in good standing with their school behavior and attendance throughout the year.

Last year, we announced we were changing our annual Bradford Woods trip for 6th grade students to Camp Tecumseh. The trip will occur a little later in the fall, so information will be coming out in a month or so. Mrs. Williams (6th Grade Science Teacher) and Mrs. Beechler (Secondary Instructional Coach) will be leading the trip this year. We will provide more detailed information soon.

If your child sold boxes of Pork Burgers last year for the fundraiser, then he/she raised some money toward the overall cost or paid for the entire trip. We have a record of how much each student sold and will apply part of the proceeds raised ($5/box) toward their balance due.

It's important for teachers to collaborate and take time for professional development. Our teachers are organized in two different ways. Each teacher serves on a Grade Level Team that focuses on serving the needs of each student in a grade level. Teachers also serve on a PLC (Professional Learning Community) that is organized by subject area. PLCs focus on curriculum, assessment, analyzing student academic progress, and meeting our school-wide learning goals. Providing this consistent time each week on Wednesdays helps us ensure our teachers have time to focus on students, learning, team-building, and growing professionally. We appreciate the community's and district's support in making this time a priority.

We will be having students complete their beginning of year NWEA tests in reading and math on Tuesday, August 20 and Thursday, August 22. We will use our special 2-hour Delay schedule like we did on the first school day. The day will begin at 8:00 like normal for students, except they will start their day with homeroom at 8:00 instead of first period. Then they will have plenty of time, usually about 90+ minutes to take their time and do their best on the test. This information is one data point, among a few, that helps to inform how best we can challenge and support each student this semester. Students will begin the day in their homeroom groups for the testing. We will then follow the 2-hour delay schedule for the rest of the classes starting at 10 after testing is completed.

All families will receive a score report with your child’s results after all students have completed testing. NWEA provides a consistent data point for students as they progress through each grade level and compares their progress with other students across the country in reading and math. If you have any questions about your child’s progress in math or English/reading, please contact your child’s teacher.

If you'd like me to add you to my daily announcements parent email list, please email me and simply write "add" in the subject line. Anytime you want me to remove you, just email me "remove" in the subject line. All daily announcements are also available on Canvas for students and posted on our middle school webpage (click here).

Indiana's Immunization Law requires students entering 6th grade to receive Tdap and Meningitis immunizations.

A letter was sent home with your child Friday if he/she is needing these immunizations. Please ask your student if they received this letter. These immunizations must be received by the 20th day of school, which is September 3, to avoid being excluded from school on September 4.

If you have an appointment scheduled to receive immunizations after September 4, your provider will need to fax a note to the school stating your appointment date. The fax number is 317-984-3540. If you have any questions, please contact our clinic at 317-984-3547 x2020.

As part of our Reaching New Heights vision (formerly known as the Ford NGL Transformation Process) for helping all students in grades K-8 experience career opportunities and work-place perspectives prior to high school, we are excited to announce that the LifeLine Helicopter of IU Health will be visiting HHMS on the morning of September 10. This experience is specifically for 4th and 8th graders to learn more about various emergency healthcare response and first responder career opportunities. We will have professional personnel, agency vehicles, and other resources from Jackson Township and Cicero Fire Departments, along with other first responders, providing career information and answering questions for our students. We are really excited about this experience. It's important for our families to know about this event ahead of time because we know seeing emergency vehicles at the schools can cause concern when you're driving by and people post about it on social media asking why they are here. This is a PLANNED educational experience for our students.

The Portrait of a Graduate (POG) framework, included each week at the bottom of this newsletter, outlines and guides our planning and design process for learning experiences like the one described above. If you'd like to learn more about the process of developing our own POG called Reaching New Heights and the collaborative and creative work that our very own HHMS students demonstrated on behalf of all students and staff at HHSC, click here. The process this team of students, and several other middle school students, completed models the very types of learning and teamwork we are developing for all students over the next few years.

Students currently in middle school and younger will be following new graduation and diploma requirements once they enter high school. The 3 brief videos and the comparison chart listed below will help explain these proposed changes and the process.