HDMS Newsletter

The holiday season is upon us! The annual Turkey Trot was held on Monday, November 25th. The weather cooperated and provided for a great afternoon outside! Congratulations to all the grade level winners. The top boy and girl finisher for each grade took home a turkey. Second place finishers were awarded pies. Third place won cookies. The top 5 finishers for both boys and girls in each grade level won Turkey Trot T-shirts. A special shout out to all the advisories for collecting canned and non perishable food items for the Hillsboro food pantry! Over 500 items were collected! It was fun to be able to host the all school assembly in the gym after the Turkey Trot to recognize the top finishers for each grade level. The students did a great job supporting and cheering on their classmates. It’s fun to be able to fill the gym with all that enthusiasm and noise!

The month of December always goes by very quickly! The 2nd quarter and first semester end on January 22. The 8th grade class will host their Market Day on Monday, December 16, 7:30 am - 9:00 am. 8th grade students have been studying the stock market in social studies and math classes. Students will create a business plan to market and sell a product. HDMS staff and students will have the opportunity to purchase items that are for sale that morning.

The last day of school before the holiday break is Friday, December 20. School resumes on Thursday, January 2, 2025!

On behalf of the HDMS staff we wish you and your family a wonderful holiday season!

Go Hillcats!

HDMS Administration

ELA -Our 8th-grade students are diving into the timeless classic A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, engaging with the story in multiple ways to deepen their understanding of its themes. In addition to reading the original text, students are analyzing various adaptations, including a play version, to explore how different formats highlight key ideas like compassion, generosity, and personal transformation.

Science - In our science class, we are learning about the law of conservation of mass and how to balance chemical equations. We are discussing the differences between physical and chemical changes, as well as performing various chemical reactions while identifying what is going on during these reactions on the molecular level.

This November, The Kindness Project helped to collect and deliver over 600 items to the food pantry! In December the Kindness Project created a Staff Scavenger Hunt to learn more about our wonderful staff, and in January they are hosting a FREE movie night at the HDMS cafe, January 31st at 6:00 to watch Inside Out 2!

Math - Students are working on how to calculate tax, tip, discount, markups etc. This week they will be applying their understanding by creating menus and "dining out" at a peer's restaurant and have to calculate total cost, food tax, and include a tip. This targets the standard: 7.RP. 3 Use proportional relationships to solve multistep ratio and percent problems. Examples: simple interest, tax, markups and markdowns, gratuities and commissions, fees, percent increase and decrease, percent error.

Social Studies - Student are wrapping up their study of the US Constitution with a focus on Amendments 4-8, known as the 'rights of the accused'. We are investigating the Judicial Branch's role in upholding these rights, as well as investigating some historical rulings from the court.

Science - We are currently finishing up our earthquake structures. students will be learning about structures and properties of matter, chemical reactions as well as phases of matter. After the holiday break we will continue with states of matter and describing matter...This will lead us into atomic structure and learning about atoms, elements and the periodic table.

ELA - In 7th grade students have just finished our unit of study on "Zane and the Hurricane". This book study concluded with the students designing board games as summatives to demonstrate their level of comprehension with the text. Students were responsible for creating a board game that visually represented important scenes from the story, including game pieces and character cards thoroughly describing each major character, creating question cards about significant events and quotes using text evidence, crafting detailed instructions, and ensuring their writing mechanics were on point. They did a terrific job with this and I'm very impressed with what they were able to design! Our next unit of study will revolve around informational reading and writing where students will be studying various ways on how to read, comprehend, organize writing, paraphrase, research using credible sources, and cite sources.

Students in grades 7 and 8 have been busy designing and creating in Media Lab. Students were responsible for painting, weaving, and constructing baskets. Great work!

In 6th grade, students took the Science Buddies Challenge and used the Engineer Design Process to create marble runs. There was a lot of collaboration and construction!

The library will be hosting a Holiday Design Challenge. Students can design their own holiday sweater! Stop by the LMC to pick up a template.

Math - December is all about order of operations and evaluating variables in expressions with

substitution.

ELA - This month, students will conduct research and write an informative essay on a famous person of their choice. They'll apply their knowledge of text and paragraph structure, author's purpose, and grammar and mechanics.

6th graders also attended a field trip to Everett Arena and Red River Theatres. They ice skated together in the morning, and in total, 38 students skated for the very first time! In the afternoon, they gathered at the movies to watch "Hoot" together, which is directly connected to their Social Studies, Science, and English Language Arts curriculum.

Science - Students will start studying symbiotic relationships.

Social Studies - Students will be starting their unit on Mesopotamia, home to the ancient

civilizations of Sumer, Assyria, and Babylonia, and the birthplace of math and astronomy.

8th grade - we are in need of baby photos! We have several, but are missing more than half. If you want add-ons, please use the coupon code previously sent before the end of December to get your yearbook for FREE. You will get a FREE yearbook if you do nothing. The 8th grade info sheet will be shared with students this week. Please fill this out ASAP.

6th and 7th graders - order your yearbook today! The basic yearbook is $25. You can order using the paper forms found in the office or Mrs. Drew's room, or order online using this link https://yearbookforever.com/school-store/n3Ns4TRfuW8bqyPq4TuzYt39

The yearbook needs your help with sports photos! Please email Mrs. Drew at jdrew@hdsd.org with any good photos from this year and 2024 baseball and softball.