HMS Mock Election (Campaign 2012)

HMS students and staff voted on Wednesday in the HMS Mock Election (Campaign 2012). Voting booths were borrowed from the Town of Yarmouth and specimen ballots were used.

Mrs. Newick and the 7th grade teachers and students set up the mock election to help the students become more aware of the voting process. This activity directly related to the civic/government learning area outcome in social studies.


Students and staff at the voting booths.

Results:
President/Vice President:

•  Johnson/Gray (Libertarian) 4 votes
• Obama/Biden (Democrat) 313 votes
• Romney/Ryan (Republican) 100 votes
• Stein/Honkala (Green Independent) 4 votes

United States Senator:

• Dalton (Non-Party) 7 votes
• Dill (Democrat) 39 votes
• Dodge (Independent for Liberty) 4 votes
• King (Independent for Maine) 228 votes
• Summers (Republican) 28 votes
• Woods (Independent) 129 votes

Representative to Congress:

• Courtney (Republican) 93
• Pingree (Democrat)297 votes

State Senator:

• Tyll (Republican) 131 votes
• Woodbury (Independent) 266 votes

Representative to the Legislature:

• Cooper (Democrat) 292 votes
• Hough (Republican) 124 votes

Register of Probate:

• O'Brien (Democrat) 339 votes

Question 1: Citizen Initiative: Yes 382 to 84
Question 2: Bond Issue: Yes 264 to 159
Question 3: Bond Issue: Yes 317 to 103
Question 4: Bond Issue: Yes 285 to 161
Question 5: Bond Issue: Yes 338 to 108

Special Referendum Election:
Article 2: Yes  354 to 131
Article 3: Yes 264 to 164

Harvest Luncheon

The HMS PTO provided a Harvest Luncheon for staff on Wednesday, October 24.

It was truly appreciated by all and all eaten!

Thank you HMS PTO and all parents who supplied the food and beverage.

Visiting Poet Laureate

Martin Steingesser, Portland's first poet laureate,  gave a performance and workshop to the 7th grade on Wedsnesday in the library. He shared some of his poems and then lead the students in poetry writing. 

A collection of his poems, Brothers of Morning, is published by Deerbrook Editions (North Yarmouth, ME, July 2002). His poems have been cited in a number of national competitions, including the Northeastern States Poetry Contest, First Place, 1985; one conducted by Westminster College, in Salt Lake City, Second Place, 1989-90 (May Swenson, judge); The Margurette Cummins Quarterly Broadside Award, Amelia Magazine, First Place, 1997; 1999 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards, Patterson Literary Review, Finalist; Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance 2000 Poetry Competition, Second Place; Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance 2003 Poetry Competition, Second Place.

He says, "Writing and presenting poems is a way I touch and make present a sense of grace I want in my life. I remember once being intrigued by Wallace Stevens saying poetry was a sacrament in his life. It has come to that. There are moments I love in poems I have made.when they are given, when windows, doors, walls blow off, and I am in a warm, boundless space with whoever is listening" 

 Martin working with the 7th grade teachers.

      Martin working with 7th grade students.
 

Teen Read Week comes to HMS!

 In honor of National Teen Read week (October 15th-October 19th) HMS is holding the seventh annual Literary Cafe in the HMS Library. The library is decorated for the occasion, and offers cozy, inviting, reading nooks for our seventh and eighth grade students to access as they spend some time engrossed in their favorites books. Enjoying a snack and some hot chocolate complete this special celebration. Thanks to all of you who have donated treats for this occasion!

Not Your Typical Physical (Education)

Imagine being blindfolded and having a classmate talk you through this course. If you bump an object, you must do a 360 and then continue. And, you must pick up certain objects from one place and put it down in another.

This is not the typical physical education class that you see in most schools - it is the program that we offer students.

This unit of study is Team Building. This particular activity is called Mission Impossible.

The Essential Learning for this unit is:

1. Students will demonstrate safe, respectful and responsible behavior as they cooperate  with their peers to complete a variety of team building initiatives.
2. Students will use respectful conflict resolution and communication skills as they work together in the team building process. 

To learn more about what's offered for students in Physical Education check out Brian Skilling's Teacher Page on the HMS HomePage.

HMS Civil Rights Team

Last year as a Civil Rights Team Program affiliate we had this focus:

• Creating a safer school environment for all students.
• Helping all students understand the terrible toll bullying can take on its victims.
• Encouraging students to stand up for their classmates who are being teased, bullied, or harassed.
• Being part of the solution and not the problem.
• Zero indifference.
• A school with a conscience.

This year we will be a "full-fledged" Civil Rights Team. 

• What is our focus? Bias and bias behaviors, especially those related to the protected civil rights categories.
• Where is our focus? In the school Community.
• What do we do? Address issues of bias in our school community through education, awareness, dialogue, and discussion.
• Who is on the Team? Any student may join the HMS CRT, participation is 100% voluntary.
• What do we call ourselves? The HMS Civil Rights Team - we will develop our slogan and/or logo.
• Meetings: We meet every Thursday from 2:30 to 3:00.

State expectations of our Civil Rights Team?

1. Create a Team Identity: This includes basic education at the beginning of the year. Students need to understand why they are on a civil rights team. They have to want to be there, and they need to believe in the core mission of the Civil Rights Team Project. After that they can come together as a team.
2. Increase the Team's Profile: We think it's important that your school knows about the civil rights team. Everyone should know that the school has a civil rights team; as much as they know that there is a basketball team. Not only should everyone know that the school has a team, but they should know what the civil rights team is for and about. Ideally, everyone know who is on the team and what they do.
3. Identify School Issues: The civil rights team shouldn't be operating under any assumptions. You need to know what's going on in the school. Each school is unique, and so it will take some work to identify the civil rights and climate issues most relevant to your school.
4. Address School Issues: This is the most important thing that civil rights teams do. They need to be active in addressing the important issues in the school. This should not be abstract or indirect; there should be clear activities and projects that take dead aim at civil rights and climate issues relevant to the school.
5. Respond When Thing Go Wrong: Teams should be ready to respond when something goes wrong in the school. Incidents deserve immediate attention. This might mean dropping whatever the team is working on to offer some sort of public and visible response.

This means that we will be focusing on behaviors motivated by bias. For example, was the name-calling motivated by race and color, ancestry and national origin, religion, physical and mental disability, gender, sexual orientation, personal appearance or family status.

Other behaviors that we will focus on are teasing/mockery, jokes, stereotypes and exclusion. Again, through the lens of bias.

Common Core State Standards

 You've probably heard or read about the Common Core State Standards. If you have wondered what it means for students and educators, please keep reading.

Teachers know that, in the 90s, state standards were developed to guide instruction. Each state had its own.  A few years ago, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers began work on national standards to increase consistency.  These new national standards are challenging.

According to the Common Core Web site, the "standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers."

The Common Core site also states that "these standards define the knowledge and skills students should have within their K-12 education careers so that they will graduate high school able to succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing academic college courses and in workforce training programs. The standards:

• are aligned with college and work expectations;
• are clear, understandable and consistent;
• include rigorous content and application of knowledge through high-order skills;
• build upon strengths and lessons of current state standards;
• are informed by other top performing countries, so that all students are prepared to succeed in our global economy and society; and
• are evidence-based.

Where to Begin:
During our 2012-2013 HMS faculty meetings we will focus on Reading Informational Texts and Informational Writing as these two strands run through the curriculum.

Informational Texts

1. Reading Closely and Making Logical Inferences
2. Reading to Determine Central Ideas and Themes
3. Reading to Analyze How Individuals, Events, and Ideas Develop and Interact Over the Course of a Text
4. Reading to Interpret the Language Used in the Text
5. Reading to Analyze the Structure of a Text
6. Reading to Assess the Author's Point of View and How It Shapes the Text
7. Reading to Integrate Knowledge and Ideas and Think Across Informational Text

Informational Writing

1. It Is Especially Important That Information Writers Learn to Sort, Categorize, and Elaborate on Information
2. Writing About a Topic Extends Learning About It - and Therefore, Informational Writing Belongs In and Beyond the ELA Classroom