Friday, December 12, 2014

Yarmouth Digital Media Presents: HMS Pig Race 2014

Top selling advisor groups from Frank H Harrison Middle School's fall magazine/cookie dough fundraiser compete in a pig race to win a pizza party. The newly founded Yarmouth Digital Media Club* created the following video which provides a look inside the HMS pig race. Enjoy.


*Yarmouth Digital Media is a project funded by the Yarmouth Education Foundation.

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Student art work on display at Central Office

By Anders Corey
 Anders Corey, 7th grade student, and Caroline Chittum, 8th grade student, both have paintings on year-long display in the conference room at Central Office.

Anders' piece is a tempera painting of a trout jumping. Caroline's work is an acrylic painting of apples in a barrel titled, "Picked with Love."

Both pieces demonstrate these students' amazing talent and artist's eye. The conference room display is a new, in addition to the rotating hallway displays of student art at Central Office. Please make sure to check out this art work when you're at central office!
                                                                                   
By Caroline Chittum

Monday, December 1, 2014

Emma Pazar surpasses fundraising goal for the MJ Fox Foundation

Emma Pazar has surpassed her goal of raising $1000 for the MJFox Foundation for Parkinson’s research! Thanks to the support of many people who visited her site, Emma now has the time to reflect on her mission, and how it feels to contribute to this important research. 

Emma sold her duct tape bookmarks at the IDEXX craft fair recently; this was another way that she was able to raise awareness for her cause. 

Please check out Emma's inspiring  link to learn more about her wonderful efforts.  
Emma Pazar

Monday, November 24, 2014

Congratulations to Franz-Peter Jerosch

Franz-Peter Jerosch, an 8th grade student at HMS, has qualified for the U.S. Pairs Championships in Greensboro, NC on January 17 - 24. He and partner, Lindsey Stevenson (15 years old from Southboro, MA), are the U.S. Figure Skating Eastern Sectional Juvenile Pairs Silver Medalists.

Franz-Peter and Lindsey (far left) on the podium.

Sunday, November 23, 2014

YEF Grants Awarded to Randy Dehetre and Bob Gross

Randy Dehetre and Bob Gross were visited by the wonderful YEF Prize Patrol on 11.21.14 They were thrilled to receive YEF grants for their work!

Randy's STEAM lab received a grant that will allow the 6th grade students to learn about “Pneumatics and Hydraulics: Harnessing the Power.” Students will discover the differences between these two technologies, and will be able to distinguish when one system would be used over the other. Students will work with "Fischertechnik Pneumatic 3" kits and teacher built hydraulic models. Essential learning will focus on experiments with fluid pressure, an introduction to a simple formula for calculating pressure (P=F/A), and taking measurements using appropriate units for fluid pressure. Students will be encouraged to dig deeper by analyzing the parts that make up the two systems, think critically as to how these systems achieve work, and use this knowledge to build working pneumatic and hydraulic models that solve a problem. 

Bob's 7th and 8th grade Think Lab groups received a grant that will allow them to design and build boats out of one sheet of plywood.  Since the beginning of the school year the students have been exploring why boats float and how the volume of displacement determines the weight that a boat will hold. They have constructed boats out of clay and heavy stock paper waterproofedwith duct tape. From this exploration the students have asked if they can actually build boats. After some some mathematical and online research, the groups determined that a boat built out of one sheet of plywood could float comfortably with a 200 pound person in it. Students will be able to build a workable small boat and then use that boat to study the displacement weight of the water.  Based on their calculations, they will be able to determine where to place the water line on the hull.  This hands on project will allow the students to begin with design, build a small boat, and then test their calculations on something that they can enjoy using once the project is complete.

Congratulations to Randy, Bob, and their students!

Randy Dehetre

Bob Gross

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Mr. Brann In Action

 Mr. Corey captured this impressive action and priceless quote during 6th grade intramurals today as Mr. Brann played knockout with the students:

 "Mr. Brann is so good.  He hasn't missed a swish. He is wicked good!"  - 6th grade observer

Not many principals receive this kind of praise and admiration!

                                                                       
Mr. Brann in action

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

The Future of Food

Merry Stuhr shared the following information about a trivia event called, "Chew on This."


It's National Geography Awareness Week, and this year's theme is "The Future of Food." The HMS Library is observing this with a school-wide trivia event we're calling, "Chew on This." Daily questions tie into national and international issues surrounding food, such as genetic modification and fair trade.  Each day the question will be different and most will require a tiny bit of research.  While the trivia event is designed to be fun, our ultimate hope is to raise awareness so that students will be able to make informed decisions where food is concerned.  The food choices we make are not always black and white……even when it comes to something as seemingly basic as chocolate!

                                                                                   

Monday, November 17, 2014

HMS Students Present at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute Annual Conference

On Thursday November 13th, Duncan Birkbeck, Olivia Feeley, Michael Guertler, Sophie Walsh, and Sam Marjerison represented the Frank H. Harrison Middle School Green Crab Group at the Annual Gulf of Maine Research Institute Conference.  The students did an amazing job describing their results that they concluded from the Pogey Cove Clam Study that they conducted with the DownEast Institute and University of Maine Machias Professor, Dr. Brian Beal.  


The group received a round of applause as they left the conference for their efforts on raising awareness of the effects of the European Green Crab on the soft shell clam industry in the State of Maine.  

6th grade students study gravity

Mr. Dehetre shared the following information about the study of gravity and tribology:

The 6th graders in Mr. Dehetre’s STEAM class have to work their way through an interesting challenge. They need to build a wooden race car that is solely powered by gravity. Students race their finished cars down the ramp outside of the STEAM lab with the hopes of making it to the bottom of the ramp in less than 5 seconds. 

Along with learning about gravity, students will also study tribology (friction), and the use of lubrication to reduce the amount of friction acting upon their speedy cars. Does this work include math? You bet! After the races, students use the data they collect to determine speed in feet per second and miles per hour. Their car speeds are then compared to their own walking and running speeds. Combining fun with learning works every time! 

                                                                              

Sunday, November 16, 2014

6th Grade students perform Double Trouble

The cast and crew of the 6th grade play Double Trouble outdid themselves with their hilarious performances, and wonderful sets, special effects, and lighting for this show! Every student involved in the production worked extremely hard, putting in many long hours to ensure a fun and entertaining evening; they delivered exactly that!

Sincere thanks to Kathy Gardner for her on-going support of our plays; we couldn't do it without her.

Special thanks to our amazing parent volunteers for their assistance with this whole process from the auditions all the way to the shows.

Thank you Deb Sevee for ALL you do for each one of our plays! We're grateful for everything that the entire Sevee family contributes to HMS theater!
The cast and crew of Double Trouble

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Literary Cafe

Teen Read Week is an annual event held nationwide every October.  It's purpose: to celebrate reading! HMS celebrated Teen Read Week from October 14th to the 17th.  At Harrison Middle School, this means a Literary Cafe for our teens (7th and 8th graders).  For one special week our library is transformed into a cafe-like setting, complete with lamp lighting, jazz music, food and READING!  Parents bring a wide variety of goodies for students to enjoy while also devouring a book. We celebrated our 9th year of Literary Cafe in this same delicious way!


District II Chorus and Band results

Mrs. Grover and Mr. C. shared the following, exciting news about the District II auditions: 

Congratulations to the HMS students who successfully auditioned for the District II Honor Festivals. We're proud to have HMS represented by our hard working, talented musicians and singers!

Band students who made the 2015 District II Honors Band:
Hannah Zimmerman, Flute
Vicky Williams, Flute
Ceanne Lyon, Oboe
Eli Anderson, Bassoon
Franz Jerosch, Clarinet (1st Chair; high score)
Grady Welsh, Clarinet
Natalie Bourassa, Clarinet
Larare Merchi-Rossini, Trumpet
Parker Rollins, Trumpet
Jackson Rollins, Percusion
Wyatt Bates, Percussion
Hannah Grant, Violin
Abby Van Longhuyzen, Cell0
Zoe Hardel, Cello

Chorus students who made the 2015 District II Honors Chorus 
7th Grade Altos
Caroline Grant
Adrianna Whitlock
Andrea Mwindu
Emi Schneider

8th Grade Altos
Gabriella Colby-George
Claire Scott
Marie LeBlanc
Paige Reinfelder
Vicky Williams
Sophie Belisle-Haley

7th Grade Sopranos
Tasha Powers
Ashlyn Feeley
Emily Corson
Alexis Nisbet
Cloe DeCristoforo
Tessa Piker

8th Grade Sopranos
Olivia Feeley
Alexandra Manthorn
Hannah Zimmerman
Zoe Hardel
Tiffany Calder

Baritones
Liam Ireland
Eli Anderson
Sam O’Donnell
Jack Jones
Wyatt Bates
Zachary Mogul Campbell
Will Moffatt
Phillip Bock
Michael McNeil




Monday, November 10, 2014

Washington County Educators Visit HMS

A group of administrators from Washington County Maryland visited HMS on Monday, November 10th to gain insight into the 1:1 laptop program in 7th and 8th grade. They have some 1:1 environements in their district but are seeking to improve access for all of their students.  As part of their visit to Yarmouth they met with 7th grade teachers, 8th grade students, Instructional Technology Integrator, Mike Arsenault, and principal, Bruce Brann.

Washington County Educators Meeting With 7th Grade Teachers
Washington County Educators Meeting with 8th Grade Students
After visiting HMS the group visited Yarmouth Elementary School and Yarmouth High School.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

8th Grade students experiment with Digital Photography


Elaine Fletcher, HMS art teacher,  shared this information about the fascinating 8th Grade Digital Photography Unit:

In this unit students learn some of the ways to compose a quality photograph, shoot a photograph, and manipulate a photograph in an editing program to improve it if necessary. Students watch a video on composition, practice identifying elements of quality photo design, and have four shooting sessions.

Once the students have a number of photos loaded onto their laptops, they learn to edit photos for quality and/or mood. They evaluate their photos and go through the process of deciding on their ten best. Then they narrow their choices down to their 3 best photos, and these photos are printed. Finally, students select one photo to demonstrate, through a written form, their understanding of what elements of quality composition are present in that photograph that help determine its high quality.

The photo below was taken the morning after I put up the photo display (nearly all HMS student work is displayed). The photo display always draws a crowd of interested onlookers. I took the photo through the glass case in the art room. In the foreground are 6th grade mask sculptures, in progress-  they often draw lots of viewers, too!
                                                                         

                                                                               


                                                                       

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Samsung Challenge work continues at HMS

Last fall, some students in Mr. Cuthbert's 7th grade class accepted the Samsung Challenge. Their project involved an investigation of the invasive European Green Crab, and its impact on our environment. These students were honored by Samsung for their work. They were named one of fifteen finalist groups nationwide in the company's Solve for Tomorrow Science and Technology Competition. 
 These students were invested in spreading awareness about this issue, and trying to find some answers to the problem. In June, the students, with the help of Dr. Brian Beal, a professor at the University of Maine Machais, put a small experiment in place in Yarmouth's Pogey Cove. They planted small plant pots into the ocean floor at low and high tide. Each pot contained 12 juvenile clams. Some of the pots were covered with a flexible mesh, others were protected with a more rigid wire screen, and one plot was left unprotected.
On Monday, October 19th, the pots were pulled, and the results recorded to measure the the growth of the clams and their survival rate from predators. Students carefully took each experimental pot and removed any netting before spraying the mud, clams and crabs with hoses to sift away the muck, and see what each pot contained.
The students found that the clams were ravaged by the crabs, and by the milky-ribbon worm, a native predator that also showed up in many of the experimental pots.
Less than 10% of the clams survived, but there was a glimmer of hope scattered among the shattered shells. Hundreds of tiny, native clams were also found growing in the pots, a sign that with some protective measures, the clam population could rebound.
Please click on the link below to learn more about this study: 

HMS students share information about their work with students from YES

HMS students working at Pogey Cove

Maine Skaters Medal

Maine Skaters Medal at 2015 New England Regional Championships

Burlington, Vermont – The North Atlantic Figure Skating Club (NAFSC) is proud to report that Franz-Peter Jerosch earned a medal this week at the 2015 New England Regional Figure Skating Championships. Franz, an 8th grade student at HMS, earned the Silver medal on Monday in Intermediate Men. He will now advance to the U.S. Eastern Sectional Championships, the next qualification stage for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.


Franz (on the left) standing on the podium. Congratulations and great skating at the Sectionals.


Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Brie Hathcock brings the "Bountiful Bowl" to HMS

Brie Hathcock, one of our 7th grade students, had an inspired idea that she wanted to put into action.

Brie met with Assistant Principal, Joan Adler, and Yarmouth's School Nutrition Director, Blair Currier, to ask if there was a way to donate the fruit and unopened drinks, yogurt and cheese that students don't eat during lunch to those who could use it. Thanks to Brie's advocacy, and the help of Kathy Lathem, the head of the HMS Nutrition Team, Brie's idea came to fruition.

Students can leave these items in the HMS "Bountiful Bowl" located in the cafe. Our Nutrition team donates this food to the local food pantry. Our congratulations and gratitude to Brie for pursuing this idea to help our community!
Brie Hathcock

Monday, October 13, 2014

Charlotte Agell's work featured at benefit art exhibit

Charlotte Agell, communications/talents program teacher, recently sold two of her paintings at the Brunswick Art Exhibit.

Congratulations, Charlotte!

To the Lighthouse



Harpswell Sound

6th Grade students study geology

Ragan Bartlett, sixth grade science teacher, provided the following information about an engaging field trip:

The sixth grade students went to Mt. Apatite Park in Auburn, Maine to conduct a geologic exploration of the area. The park features great hiking, lots of native tree species, and some fascinating, old feldspar quarries. The students completed a scavenger hunt for trees and shrubs on the hike up; they also had the opportunity to rock hound in the rock dumps. 
                               
                                                                    
In addition to feldspar, the students collected mica, quartz, lots of garnet, and some black tourmaline.

Thanks to all of the parents who chaperoned this exhilarating expedition. The students came home feeling excited about the samples they collected, and all that they learned!

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Sherry Lapointe works to raise awareness about Ovarian Cancer

Sherry Lapointe is a twenty year veteran Occupational Therapist for the Yarmouth schools. Sherry has been working tirelessly to share information about her battle with ovarian cancer in order to raise awareness, and educate our community and state about this disease. 

September is Ovarian Cancer awareness month. Teal is the color of Ovarian Cancer awareness; TEAL stands for Take Early Action and Live. The HMS staff joined Sherry's efforts and wore the color teal every Friday in September in recognition of the awareness campaign. The boys' soccer team sponsored an Ovarian Cancer Awareness game on Saturday, September 27th. 

We thank Sherry for all she's doing to raise awareness about ovarian cancer. Please see the information, photos, and Forecaster article below to learn more about Sherry's efforts, and our community's involvement with this cause.  

From Susan Robbins: 

YHS Students, District Staff & Coaches,
The boys soccer team is sponsoring a Ovarian Cancer Awareness game this Saturday Night vs. Waynflete at 6:00 p.m. September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness month and Teal is the color of Ovarian Cancer Awareness, it stands for Take Early Action and Live.

A portion of the gate receipts will go directly to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund to fund research, support awareness events, advocate for better ovarian cancer screenings and treatment, and provide education and information for all those who seek it. A donation box will be set up at the gate for additional donations to the fund. Our boys soccer players will be wearing teal shoe laces during the game, we hope you will join us and wear TEAL to the game! For more information please visit www.ocrf.org or www.ovarian.org.

Did you know? Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death women with any of the gynecologic cancers. In women age 35-74, ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths. An estimated one woman in 71 will develop ovarian cancer during her lifetime. The American Cancer Society estimates that there will be over 22,000 new cases of ovarian cancer diagnosed this year and that more than 15,000 women will die from ovarian cancer this year.

When one is diagnosed and treated in the earliest stages, the 5-year survival rate is over 90%. Due to ovarian cancer's non-specific symptoms and lack of early detection tests, only 19% of all cases are found at this early stage. If caught in stage III or higher, the survival rate can be as low as 30.6%.

Because there is no reliable screening test, fewer than 20% of cases are caught at early stages.
Symptoms of the disease seem similar to many other conditions: 

• Bloating/swelling of the abdomen or sudden weight gain
• Persistent abdominal or pelvic pain or pressure
• Difficulty eating or feeling full quickly 
• Increased need to empty the bladder

EARLY detection increases survival rate. The lack of public awareness and education about ovarian cancer is an important issue in our society today and impacts our mothers, daughters, aunts, sisters, friends, etc. For more information please visit www.ocrf.org or www.ovarian.org






Sherry and her husband Gary with Yarmouth Captains



 Link to Forecaster article
http://www.theforecaster.net/news/sports/2014/09/28/waynflete-rallies-tie-yarmouth- ovarian-cancer-awar/211346 

Sherry with the HMS staff



 

Friday, October 3, 2014

Elaine Fletcher's work featured in MECA art show


Elaine Fletcher, HMS art teacher for grades 5 through 8, shared the following information about an exciting art show that opens today (Friday, 10.3), at the Maine College of Art in Portland. 

Elaine will have an oil on canvas (18X18) painting in the show, titled September Afternoon, Jericho Bay. Elaine created this picture from a view captured at the 2013 Maine Art Education Association's Fall Conference at Haystack.

The art show features works in different media by Maine art teachers, and runs from now until October 26th at the Zand Head, and Hall Galleries at MECA, 522 Congress Street, Portland. The show provides is a wonderful perspective on the way Maine art educators, "Practice what they preach", and a great chance for educators to offer their work for viewing and sale to the public.

September Afternoon, Jericho Bay

First Friday Artwalk takes place tonight, 10.3, from , 5-8 PM; it's a great night out in the city!


Sunday, September 28, 2014

6th Grade STEAM students launch into the new school year

 Mr. Dehetre shared the following information about an exciting project:
 
Sixth grade students in Mr. Dehetre's STEAM lab began the school year by building solid propellant rockets from scratch. The photographs below show students making the parachutes for their rockets' safe recoveries. Once built, students will launch their rockets in Winslow field. Rocketry is just one of several activities that support our students' learning about gravity, trajectory, and tribology (the study of friction.)

Monday, September 22, 2014

Color by PTO



Thank you to the PTO for purchasing tie-dye supplies for the 8th grade! Students tied their own shirts (and we made a few extra for any new students who move to Yarmouth throughout the school year). We dyed all 150 last week - a different color for each homeroom class.  This is a unique experience in the middle school for 8th grade students that they look forward to at the start of each year. It is an excellent team building activity! 

The 8th grade students and teachers wear the tie-dye shirts periodically throughout the year on field trips and other 8th grade activities.  Many high school students still wear their tie-dye t-shirts from years ago!  Last Friday the 8th grade wore the shirts on the walking tour of Main Street in Yarmouth.  On Friday, September 26th, the 8th grade students will be wearing their t-shirts at Popham Beach for our Coastal Cleanup field trip.

Friday, September 12, 2014

School supplies for St. Bahkita

Paula Vicenzi provided this wonderful update on our sister school in St. Bahkita, Uganda (please see previous posts on May 28th, '12, November 13th, '12, April 13th, '13, May 15th, '13, and November 9th, '13  to learn about the history of our relationship with St. Bahkita).

HMS students participated in a LifeTouch school fundraiser last last spring. Lifetouch donated $2.00  to HMS for every student who had their picture taken, regardless of whether the pictures were purchased. As a result of this effort, we donated $772.00 to the St. Bahkita School to be used for school supplies.

Charlie Roscoe, founder of Schools for Refugees (http://schoolsforrefugees.org/), sent the pictures below showing the teachers and students with their new school supplies. We'll keep you updated on news from St. Bahkita throughout the year.




Tuesday, August 19, 2014

The Summer Library Experience at HMS

 Please check out the information below about our summer library hours, shared by HMS Librarian, Merry Stuhr. Our library was a busy place over the summer months, thanks to these special opportunities for our students to visit, relax, and read in the cool comfort of our beautiful library!

Summer in Maine means beaches, barbecues, camps, and much more.  For students at HMS, it also includes open library times at the HMS Library!  Every other Wednesday during the summer, the HMS Library opens it doors to give all our students, from incoming fifth graders through outgoing eighth graders, an opportunity to check out books or to simply hang out with friends and read!  This is made extra special by being exclusively for our students.  (The Merrill Memorial Library is a great place for a family library experience.)   
For students who can't make it in, there's always the HMS Library's collection of eBooks on OverDrive, available 24/7.  All they'll need is an eReading device like a Kindle, Nook, iPod, smartphone, etc., and internet access to initially download the book for a two-week loan period. (Login asks for library card number, which is their HMS Library number, and PIN, which is last name, all lower case.) 


There is one last afternoon that the HMS Library will be open this summer, and it's just around the corner:  Wednesday, August 20, from 2:00 - 4:00. Students may pop in to quickly check out books, or they may stay for the full two hours.  May you enjoy reading......all year long!


 Incoming fifth graders enjoying the new HMS Library "comfy" chairs recently obtained with a grant from the Yarmouth Education Foundation.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Mike Arsenault blogs about Project-Based Learning




Project-Based Learning: Connecting With Your Community

Today's guest blog is written by Mike Arsenault, Instructional Technology Integrator at Frank H. Harrison Middle School inYarmouth, Maine.
 
 These engaging tools surround us, and have the potential to change how we interact with one another, but more importantly, the community at large. Classrooms and learning opportunities within those classrooms are becoming more and more collaborative. Student collaboration typically happens student-to-student, student to teacher, and student to community.
We can't forget the community. The community connections can be local people or anyone in the world with tools like Skype, Google+ Hangouts, email, phone calls and more. The community offers us support, but also can provide students with important insight into what is needed as they enter the workforce. The relationships created between students and the community may even inspire community members to learn from students and become more innovative.

In the last few months I have been fortunate to see some great student presentations of exemplary projects. Frank Harrison Middle School (Yarmouth, ME) was a national finalist in this year's Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest. As part of this contest we presented our work alongside the other 14 finalists at the SXSWedu conference. As I watched the presentations I noticed that each one included collaboration with outside experts in their community.

A few months later our students were invited to present at the 2014 Maine STEM Ecology Summit. Once again...as I watched other schools present their work I noticed that these projects included partnerships, typically with local universities and colleges.

This year we have placed an emphasis on creating opportunities for our students to work with people outside of the school. This started in December as we took part in the Hour of Code activities. The Hour of Code initiative was started by Code.org and backed by many companies and celebrities. Its focus is to demystify computer science and to create an opportunity for students to gain exposure to writing computer code using online tutorials during Computer Science Education Week. We contacted local companies to request that they share their coders to work with our students as they completed the tutorials. To build excitement for the project several of these professionals visited our Math classrooms the week before Hour of Code and spoke with our students about their jobs and what they did on a day-to-day basis.

The project we completed for the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest exploring the effects of an invasive species, the European Green Crab, is having on the Maine coastline was also a great example of students working with outside experts. As we started the project a European Green Crab Summit was scheduled in Maine. Our students went through the list of presenters to learn about their research. We contacted each of the presenters and requested that they meet with our students to help them with their work. As our group worked on the project they were connected with: three university professors doing cutting edge research, our town manager and the president of the Maine Clammers Association.

After seeing the great presentations at the 2014 Maine STEM Ecology Summit I tweeted how impressed I was with them. I received a reply asking, "Rural schools have a difficult time doing this and being a part of programs...advice?" My advice to teachers looking to add external partnerships within their schools is simple... ask for help.

Most people in industry and higher education are excited about what they do and enjoy sharing their expertise with K-12 students. When you ask have a good idea of what you want from your partners. People are much more willing to help you if they have a clear idea of your expectations.
Teachers must also be willing to meet with these individuals at a place where they are comfortable. In our experience with the European Green Crab project our students met with some of our external partners face to face. Other partners due to distances away from our school were not willing to travel to work with our students. We used tools like Skype, Google+ Hangouts and simple audio only phone calls depending on the tech savviness of each partner. These people are helping you so you must be accommodating to their needs.

Connecting students with outside experts can create a much more powerful and real learning experience for your students. Experts in the field bring their experiences to our students in ways most classroom teachers cannot. That connection to a unit of study will increase student engagement and make the learning much more long lasting. It takes time to cultivate these connections but the time is well worth it.
Connect with Mike on Twitter.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Legenda arrives!

Congratulations, appreciation and WOW, to all of our students who contributed to this year's Legenda! We're inspired and mesmerized by your beautiful, creative, work. 

Our sincere thanks to everyone who submitted work to the HMS magazine this year. We appreciate your participation and interest in this publication. We're looking forward to seeing your work in the on-line version. 

To Ms. Agell, the Legenda staff, Pinch Hitters, Tech Whisperer, On-Line Legenda Staff, and Anonymous Graphic Designer, we're truly grateful for everything you did to bring this edition to fruition (see the magazine for the names of these amazing individuals)!

This year's Legenda staff included twenty talented, dedicated students, some of whom are pictured below.




Sunday, June 8, 2014

5th Grade Play-McQuadle: A Dragon's Tale

The 5th grade cast and crew of McQuadle: A Dragon's Tale pulled out all the stops in this charming, enchanting fairy tale about a dragon trying to find his purpose in life. The students worked tirelessly on their performances, and the sets. All of their efforts paid off; the audience loved this show! We commend our actors and crew on the wonderful way they brought this play to life.

Sincere thanks to all of our parent volunteers. We could not do this without you!

We appreciate Kathy Gardner's support of all of the HMS plays-she is a wonder!

Finally, our gratitude to Deb Sevee, and Betsy Reinsborough for their talent vision, humor and patience, and to Pete and Avery Sevee for all of their guidance, help, and time!

Sunday, June 1, 2014

5th Grade Students Bring Great Americans to Life

Our 5th grade students did a remarkable job bringing their Great American research to life during this special evening event!

The students worked diligently to create exhibits that showcased their descriptive writing, and acted as a backdrop for their engaging oral presentations. The students' meticulous attention to their costumes added to the special atmosphere. Parents, family and friends were awed by the hard work that went into each student's presentation, and by their final products.

We applaud these students for their outstanding work on this culminating project! We appreciate all that the 5th grade team, and our HMS support staff did to aid our students with this work.




Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Young Athletes Festival

                                                                        
 


HMS held the second Young Athletes Festival on Friday, May 23rd. We partnered with Lisa Bird and Mark Capano, from Special Olympics, to host this event for children ages 2 through 8 who are too young to participate in the Special Olympics. Our 8th grade students supported our visitors with various activities designed to introduce them to Special Olympics sports through play.

Meredith Hawkins, YHS student, introduced the idea for this event during her 7th grade year at HMS. Please see Meredith's write up below. The festival is a natural fit with our 8th Grade Civil Rights Unit, which the students are currently working on.

We were so impressed and moved by the determination of these young athletes, and by the caring encouragement and support provided to them by our students. Our 8th graders shared that they will always remember this day, and talked about how inspiring it was to work with our young visitors.


Our thanks to Rod Corey for his commitment to this event, and for his leadership and perseverance organizing everything that needed to be done to host the festival, and to Mike Hagerty, Megan Rice, Steve Simonton, Ira Warshaw, and Bill Shardlow for their input, guidance and support. 
 We greatly appreciate Lisa Bird's and Mark Capano's work, and their dedication to providing this opportunity to the young athletes and our students.


Special thanks to Meredith Hawkins, who remains unfailingly devoted to this work; she encourages and motivates all of us, and to Kathy Gardner for her important work behind the scenes.

                                                                  

Finally, we want to recognize our 8th grade students, whose participation at the festival embodies the true essence of community service, and caring for others. They acted as amazing ambassadors; we were proud to have them represent HMS.   

From Meredith Hawkins: 
Hello-

For those of you who are not aware, I gave a presentation on "Spread the Word to End the Word," during my 7th grade year at HMS. "Spread the Word to End the Word" is an ongoing campaign working to raise awareness of the harmful effects of the R-word (retard). Middle school students pledged to work toward banning the R-word from their vocabulary.


After this presentation, I became aware of a Special Olympics day that North Yarmouth Academy hosted, and was inspired to do something similar at our school. In our efforts to bring this experience to Yarmouth, we found out about The Young Athletes program. This program is geared toward children who are too young for the Special Olympics, but would like to participate in a similar event.


On May 24th last year, the Maine Special Olympics, and eighth grade students, hosted the first ever festival for young athletes, ages 2-8, at Harrison Middle School. Eighth grade students assisted the athletes, and cheered them on as they participated in various games and activities. This program complements the Civil Rights unit that eighth graders study in the spring. We're hoping that this will become an annual event and continue as a tradition in the Yarmouth Schools.


If you have any questions, feel free to contact me via email.
 
Thank you-
Meredith Hawkins