Thanks to YEF for bringing Google Expedition to Yarmouth!

Alice Barr, Mike Arsenault and Cathy Wolinsky

Once again our district is immensely fortunate to benefit from the tireless efforts of the Yarmouth Education Foundation! 

YEF awarded Yarmouth Technology Integrators, Alice Barr, Mike Arsenault and Cathy Wolinsky, a grant to purchase Google Expedition, which will be used to enrich the learning experiences of students  K-12. 

The excerpt below, from the YEF grant, explains how we'll use Google Expedition:

“Google Cardboard” is a virtual reality (VR) headset which immerses you in the video or picture so you can see a 360 degree view of an image or video. Put on the headset and you are instantly inside the media. Turn your head and look around to see in all directions. Google Expeditions allows a teacher acting as a “guide” to lead classroom-sized groups of “explorers” through collections of 360° and 3D images while pointing out interesting sights along the way. Students can explore coral reefs, go to refugee camps, and watch art come to life. The sites are all over the world and include Versailles, the Great Barrier Reef, and Machu Picchu. The expeditions also include tours of the human body and its systems.

Our thanks to Alice, Mike, and Cathy for their idea to bring this technology to Yarmouth and to YEF for their on-going work to enhance our students' experiences throughout our schools. We greatly appreciate your work and your commitment to Yarmouth children!

The HMS Library hosts Harry Potter Week

Our thanks to Merry Stuhr, Nancy Castonia, and Tracy Weinrich for creating this special week for our students and staff! Thanks to Merry for sharing this write up, which describes the magic perfectly:

Harry Potter Week

In anticipation of the film release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (J.K. Rowling's magical world moves to the U.S. and takes place years before Harry Potter), the library hosted a Harry Potter Week from November 14-18!

This magical week featured:
• a special Fantastic Beasts window, created by Nancy Castonia
• a daily Harry Potter trivia question (this required research from all but the most extreme HP fans)
• draw your own Patronus on the whiteboard table (for those who didn't know what a Patronus is, this was a pretest for the daily trivia contest.)
• make your own Harry Potter bookmark with one of the highly inspirational quotes from the Harry Potter books 
• students were invited to wear their Hogwarts House colors on Thurs., Nov. 17th (Merry included this essential NOTE: If you don't know your House colors, and want to know which House the Sorting Hat would place you in, please contact me for assistance! I have the perfect way for you to find out!)
• a photo opportunity for interested students: Nancy has made a giant "frame" that is based on the Wanted posters from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. This was amazing-the kids loved it! 

Much learning, adventure, magic and fun was shared by all! 

Nancy and Merry

David Shaffer visits the HMS Symphonic Band

 Thanks to Mr. C. for arranging Mr. Shaffer's visit and sharing the details of this exciting experience:

On November 17th, 7th and 8th grade students in the HMS Symphonic Band welcomed Composer, David Shaffer, who engaged the students in a clinic. The band has been working on a variety of music this fall, including "Promise of a New Sunrise" composed by Mr. Shaffer. 

Director/Composer David Shaffer

 Mr. Shaffer visited our school and other schools in Maine, conducting his music and helping the band to improve their technique and sound. A long time college band director from Ohio, Mr. Shaffer now lives in Boston. He complimented our students on their willingness to learn and improve, as well and their focus and response to his conducting and requests.

The students were excited to have this special visit and came away with a better sense of how to play their music at a higher level of ability. Also, the chance to have a real live, composer visit with us is a rare treat for the band.

Thanks to out students and Mr. Shaffer for making this clinic a highlight of the fall for the HMS Symphonic band!

 

Maine Biotech Day

Morgan Cuthbert and Jay Harrington filled us in on this exciting opportunity for 7th grade science students:

Dr. Norman Moore

The 7th grade science classes were fortunate to host Dr. Norman Moore from the Alere Medical Company. Dr. Moore is an expert on infectious diseases. He discussed the importance of finding the root of specific diseases in order to develop appropriate treatments. He created the patent on a device to detect the strand of bacteria that causes pneumonia so medications could be tailored to treat this illness. 

Dr. Moore shared stories about his work lecturing around the world. His talks focus on infectious disease and working to control/exhaust outbreaks. Stories of 15 foot tapeworms and MERS captivated our students. Dr. Moore provided an exciting look into the field of biotechnology, from immunology to ecology. He lit a spark for some of our students interested in pursuing the field in the future. 

Our thanks to Dr. Moore for he presentation and to Agnieszka Carpenter, from Bioscience Association of Maine, for including HMS in this exciting opportunity!

 

Cathy Flanagan wins YMCA Staff Excellence Award

Congratulations to Cathy Flanagan, HMS Educational Technician, on receiving the YMCA Staff Excellence Award for her work as the Camp Director of Pineland. Recipients of this honor demonstrate their commitment to thinking, acting, and communicating in a caring, honest, and responsible manner on behalf of children and service to community. 

 Cathy and her nephew Will, also a member of the Pineland staff

As the write up for this prestigious award notes, "Cathy is beloved by campers, parents, and staff alike. She has a special way with children, and counselors say that they return to camp each summer because they love working with her. In fact, nearly all of the counselors started as campers themselves, nurtured and mentored by Cathy. Cathy works diligently with her staff to create a safe and supportive camp experience where kids learn new skills, develop character, and make lifelong friends....Cathy's dedication to her campers ensures that they truly have the opportunity to discover their potential."

If you know Cathy, you understand that every word above describes her to perfection. You also know that she's not the least bit interested in the limelight and that it took considerable effort to convince her to share this exciting news : ). The HMS community of students, parents and staff truly love and appreciate Cathy for who she is and all she does. We have been the very fortunate recipients of her work for many years; we're incredibly proud of her achievement!

HMS Yogis

 Susan Parr arranged for our students to participate in Yoga instruction at HMS:

Fifteen HMS students attended the first of four yoga classes this week with instructor Erica Marcus! The theme was "Strength" and the students tested out their physical, emotional and mental "Strength" by practicing varied yoga postures and positive affirmations. We are STRONG. We are CAPABLE. We can do ANYTHING we set our minds to! 

Thanks to Susan and our students for this inspiring message and practice!

HMS Yogis

 

6th Graders bring Bye Bye Birdie to the HMS Stage!

The 6th grade cast and crew of Bye Bye Birdie

Tom McDowell shared this great review of the 6th grade show:
  
The 6th grade cast and crew of Bye Bye Birdie did a fantastic job in front of large crowds at two performances on Saturday! It was clear to the audience that the performers and backstage crew put many hours of hard work into this production, and it paid off with an engaging, humorous, and heartfelt performance.

We are ever grateful to Betsey Reinsborough, our exceptional HMS Director! Her unparalleled direction guided our students through their collaborative work on the play, and equally important, they had loads of fun doing it.

Many thanks to Betsey's supporting cast, including her mom, HMS's own Liz Reinsborough, who was there for every step of the production and performance, and her dad, Tom, who shared his expert carpentry skills as handyman-in-chief.

Our gratitude to Kathy Gardner for handling the many details necessary to create this show, to Isabel Bates and Emily Corson, for their help with auditions and backstage support, and to all of our parents who made this play possible. Well done everyone!

HMS PTO's Spooky Halloween Extravaganza!

Kyla Winchester

Our amazing HMS PTO reps brought their vision for an awesomely fun and spooky Halloween evening to the HMS cafe on Friday, 10.28!

Our 5th and 6th grade students turned out dressed for the theme, played games, sang, participated in a dance-off and costume contest, and generally had a hilarious, creepy time enjoying the decorations and amazing music provided by HMS DJs Evan and Ty Luca-our thanks to both of them!

 

The awesome decorating team ensured just the right atmosphere for the evening-we're grateful to Will McDowell, Trent Richard, Michael McGonagle, Spencer Moore, Carter Lucca, Maggie Ralph, Fiona Bergen, Lexi Clark, Anielka Waldron, Margo Patch and Sophie Smith, for the time and thought they put into this party!

Pizza, snacks, and Halloween goodies bags were enjoyed by all-thank you Rob Anderson and Michele Lucca! 

 

Sincere thanks to all of our chaperones for making this night possible. Our appreciation to Melina Roberts, Laura Coroi, Stacey Pardales, Jess Smith, Alison Moore, Kim Tippie, Jesica Garrou, Michele Lucca, Charlotte Brennan, Meghan Haugevik, and Stephanie Robison. 

Jess Smith, Stacey Pardales, Jesica Garrou, Melina Roberts and Michele Lucca

Our thanks to everyone who stayed to clean up! This includes some student volunteers: Darby Brennan, Liam Hickey, Owen Redfield, Evan Lucca, Ty Lucca, Carter Lucca.

Finally, our gratitude to the HMS PTO for the time and energy they put into this event with the goal of adding PTO fundraising at the middle school! We're looking forward to making this event an annual celebration!

Melina Roberts

District 2 Middle School Honors Choir!

Kimberly Grover shared the following, exciting news about the exceptionally high number of HMS students accepted to the District 2 Middle School Honors Choir! Congratulations to Kimberly and her students!

Congratulations to the following 30 HMS students who were accepted, through individual auditions, to the District 2 Middle School Honors Choir!!! 

This represents a lot of dedication, focus, practice, and hard work as well as talent.

Students will attend the 2017 District II Honors Vocal Festival at Windham High School on January 27 and 28, 2017.

  

7th Sopranos

Hillary Connor
Fiona Brown
Elena Schlax
Tori Kendeigh
Lexi Inger
Maddie Emrich-Shanks 

Maren Found

Maya Panozzo 

Caroline Meehan

  

7th Altos

Marin Cowell
Ella Doxsee
Delaney McDonough 

Emily Mickool

Olivia May

  

7th Baritones 

 

Tyler Lucca
Isaac Grondin
Milo Wiebus
Ethan Bolles
Jared Conant
Krisztian Kovacs 

Nicolas Mogul-Campbell 

Galen Skinner   

 

8th Sopranos  

Eleanor Zimmerman 

 

8th Alto 

Izabel Cox-Faxon 

Lydia Dustin

Abigail Hill
Calin McGonagle 

8th Baritones  

 

Evan Lucca 

Max Kemplar 

Miles Hagedorn

Cheryl Lambert is published!

Cheryl Lambert

We wanted to share the exciting news that Cheryl Lambert, HMS Health Science teacher, has been published in the Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance. Cheryl wrote this article before joining us at HMS. 

Congratulations, Cheryl! 
Enjoy: 
Technology Has A Place In Physical Education