Harmony Newsletter

This Friday (tonight), Loudoun Valley is hosting Woodgrove in the first round of the VHSL Region Football playoff. Both principals have asked us to share their expectations for attending games in their stadium(s).

• No outside food or drink is allowed

• No signs/posters are allowed

• Noisemakers are not allowed at indoor athletic events

• No backpacks or equipment bags will be allowed inside the stadium or the gym or gym lobby/hallway areas - keep them at home or in your car.

• No balls, footballs, sticks, skate boards, frisbees, etc. are allowed inside the stadium or the gym areas.

• No throwing and/or playing any games on campus – including inside the stadium or gym or gym hallway areas during the games.

• If you come to the games you are expected to sit in the bleachers/ stands, watch the games and support the Valley Viking or visiting teams; walking around in groups is not allowed - parents will be called for pickup if this occurs.

• Please carry out your trash to the nearest trash receptacle to assist our custodial staff with clean-up at our large events.

Here is the full link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fg8qbm4tR-yFOZUqED-5fxmXLbN-_7sTQBhmkRdhhgE/edit?usp=sharing

Nov 19 - 8th Grade Signs of Suicide presentations start

Nov 19 - Family Book Club (6:30 PM)

Nov 20/21 - Hearing and Vision Screenings (Mostly 7th Graders)

Nov 22 - Deadline for 8th Grade Baby Photos (see article below)

Nov 24 - Latin Club Field Trip

Nov 27-29 - Thanksgiving Break - no school

Dec 6 - 5th Graders to Visit Harmony (10:00 to 11:30)

Dec 12 - 8th Grade Music Dept to perform for 6th and 7th Grade (PM)

Dec 13 - Woodgrove HS to perform for our 8th graders (AM)

School Website Link

This year we have completed: bus evacuation drills, two lock down drills, four fire drills, and an earthquake drill. We also reviewed these "Safety Scenarios" in Advisory. We did a fire drill on Nov 13. Contact names are below for any questions.

• School Security Officer, (SSO), Josh Stillwell (joshua.stillwell@lcps.org)
• School Resource Office (SRO), Loudoun County Deputy Chris Salter (christopher.salter@loudoun.gov)
• 7th Grade Dean and School Safety Contact, Justin Dailey (justin.dailey@lcps.org)
• Principal, Eric Stewart (eric.stewart@lcps.org)

School Phone is 540-751-2500 (then dial zero to reach the main office)

Recently our school was visited (unannounced) by the Health Department. They were completing their surprise Food Inspection. And, as we do each year, WE PASSED. Congratulations Nancy James (cafeteria Manager) and entire crew. Way to go Nancy, Gary, Jill, Sharon, Sonia, and Claudia.

(They looked for things like protection from contamination, proper temperatures, approved food sources, good hygiene's practices, safe food and water, and several other areas.)

This week, an LCPS undercover security team member showed up to test us. This individual tried to get in the back door and then the cafeteria door. They even had a fake badge.

A HUGE shoutout goes to staff members Karen Grubbs (for notifying security quickly that something just didn’t look right) and then cafeteria manager Nancy James (who accosted the fake and sent her around the school to check in appropriately as well as alerting school Security).

Security enthusiast, Josh Stillwell, was able to find the fake and once again we passed the big test. Josh told staff he appreciate everyone involved and told them they’ll be back again and to always be on alert.

All students and staff, if you see someone inside the building without a badge or visitor sticker it is okay to ask, "How can I help you?" It could be a decoy. We are all here to watch out for one another and if you see something that seems odd let security or admin know. Keep up the great work. See Something. Say Something.

This was written to Ms. Hunt about the 7th grade class History Project (currently in history they are learning about industrialization and immigration during the late 1800s- early 1900s. Their unit project addresses how immigration has shaped, and continues to shape, the U.S.).

"I'm Evie's mom. I helped her print some photos of family members for her project tonight, and it did lead to some meaningful discussion about our family history! In fact, we have a big binder full of information about a bunch of our family lines that has been assembled by various people over the years, and we pulled it out to look up a few things.

When we did, we realized that we actually have quite a bit of info about Evie's great-great-grandfather's immigration to the United States. We have the dates and ports of his travel, and the name of the ship (the Adriatic of the White Star Line). He arrived in New York in 1910, and tonight we found his Ellis Island passenger record online. We have a short but clear explanation on why exactly he left (Evie was very excited about this), as well as a portrait of him in the Swedish army from before he left. We also have a photocopy of his naturalization certificate when he finally got citizenship in 1918.

First of all, this was a wonderful family experience, so I wanted to thank you for assigning this project. I was able to order my history-buff father a copy of his own grandfather's passenger record from Ellis Island, which he'd never been able to find before. It was really meaningful, thank you!"

Parents / Staff,

This is a reminder that at Harmony we do not have parties nor show movies the week before any holidays. We will do the same this year. It is important for us to have fun but if we are showing movies and have parties before every holiday, those all add up and it gives extra reasons to not come to school because as we have heard kids say about other schools, "We aren't doing anything. Why go?"

So, please send your kids to school right up until the holidays. Help us keep their Chromebooks charged. Help us keep the focus on learning.

From the Weeks of:

VIDEO LINK (Nov 6), VIDEO LINK (Nov 11)

Mr. Weitlich and his Robotics / Tech Ed classes have worked hard designing and building this new Claw Machine. It takes tokens just like the ones in an arcade. Except, it was entirely built at Harmony in our workshop.

It made its public debut at our Awards Nights this week to great fanfare and will now be in our cafeteria. Students can receive token coins for good behavior, good works, and special activities.

You may have seen the state of Virginia's new school rating system. We are all proud in western Loudoun by our scores and ratings. The distinguished rating for Woodgrove HS as well as Harmony and our feeder schools' results show high success and achievement. The success at WHS and Harmony MS speak volumes to the efforts of our feeder schools, all our teachers, and all our and parents.

A BIG thank you for all the hard work and efforts of Hillsboro, Lovettsville ES, Waterford ES, Mt View ES, Round Hill ES, Culbert ES, Harmony MS, and Woodgrove HS communities, families, and staff. Wonderful job!

Our 'Magnificent 7" did an awesome job at the LCPS All-County and performed beautifully at their concert on Saturday (see pics of them with the guest conductor). Special thanks to Mrs. Metallo who took care of our singers so (Ms. Washington) could be guest conductor for the Shenandoah All-County. Tracy (accompanist) and I (Lisa W) had a great time and the students performed well.

Last but not least, the results of the District Chorus auditions are in, and Harmony had 34 students selected! All of our singers worked hard, attended extra practice sessions and showed up to audition on their day off from school. We have the largest number of students selected in the District and we are very excited and proud of their achievement.

We need some volunteers for the 7th grade vision and hearing screenings. If you are able, please sign up below.

Here's the link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050B44ADAC2CA1FF2-53066297-hearing

This week we recognize all staff:

A sweet story about the staff: A teacher brought Duncan Donut Munchkins in this past Monday morning in honor of Veterans Day. She wrote the following on the note left by the boxes, "For all the veterans with gratitude..." Around 10:45, she went to House B and noticed that the box wasn't even opened.

She realized that her message made it seem that the donuts were for veterans only. The same thing happened in House A and House C! The Munchkins were hardly touched. So, she added a note that the donuts were for everyone.

She later said to the administration, "Wow, that says a lot about the integrity and respect of this staff."

Thank you parents and staff for submitting names. If you would like to recognize a staff member, please email eric.stewart@lcps.org)

Please look at the November club calendar and contact the sponsor with questions.

https://www.canva.com/design/DAGVzrJzlEg/Gegl-BsOEAtjDkvt_cGjDA/edit?utm_content=DAGVzrJzlEg&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

This year, the Dean Dozen winners are doing many activities to celebrate their nomination from staff. Recently, they went outside to eat donuts, play volleyball or basketball and participate in a prize drawing. Congrats to all WINNERS.

Put on your tube socks and headbands and come relieve some stress Monday after school in the gym. We’re playing Pickleball, y’all!

Team members shared in their after practice pain, "Annie has bad elbows, and I tend to cheat, but it was a good time. Email me- if we get at least 4, it’s go time."

A few trips to the nurse, a 10 pound bag of ice, some heat, and they were ready to go again. Bring home the gold.

This is from a 6th grader...

Hello Harmony Hornets this is Nathan Lee Hornbaker on November 13, 2024. I was offered a job to be principal for one block and of course I said yes. Then Mr. Stewart said since I was going to be principal, I should come to the juggling club, which he sponsors. So I came extra early to school and learned how to juggle with about 20 other students. It was more fun than I thought and now I am going to join that club.

I dressed like Mr Stewart and I was ready to be a principal. I had my brother's pants, my other brother's white shirt, and a giant tie that went down past my hips. I even talked to my mom about shaving my head so I would look like him. Oh yeah, I got to carry a walkie talkie, make a call on it, and do morning announcements (on the PA system).

In his office he gave me some Chick-fil-a breakfast. I ate some and then we went to look inside classes. After that we had a meeting with the assistant principal and I met a bunch of people including the bookkeeper, the security guy, and the deans. Then Mr. Stewart thought it would be funny if I called my mom and pretended to be him but she knew it was me somehow. Maybe it was when I said, "Natalie, this is not your son. It' Mr. Stewart."

Being a principal was the coolest thing ever! I got to walk around and see him try to make everybody feel welcome and now and then stop by his office to check his 150 to 200 daily emails to see if there was an emergency somewhere. I hope I can do it again so thank you for reading this . Have a great day!

6th Grade Math Teacher, Mr. Lunt, rode the GAP Trail from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, MD during the weekend of Nov 1 with members of his church group. The Great Allegheny Passage winds 150 miles through the mountains of Southwest Pennsylvania and connects Cumberland Maryland to Pittsburgh. Beautiful medallions mark the end points in both Cumberland and Pittsburgh. They roughly rode about 50 mi each day. Congratulations.