Thanks to our HMS Nutrition Team!

HMS Nutrition Team: Cari Fulton, Tracy Gilbert, Nikki Davoren, Kathy Lathem, Donna Gordan, Blair Currier

The HMS students and staff are grateful to our Nutrition Team, led by Kathy Latham at HMS, and Blair Currier, district-wide. These dedicated professionals take care of every aspect of meals at HMS, preparing and serving nutritious, delicious fare with kindness, patience, and attention to individual needs. 

 

Our students' understand and appreciate all this team does for us every day, evidenced by the thank you notes shown in the photo. We all know how fortunate we are to benefit from the Nutrition Team's commitment to their work and care for our school. We're thankful for all they do for us!

Hour of Code

 

 

HMS participated in the annual Hour of Code, held early in December. Mike Aresenault shared the following description of this engaging learning opportunity:
The Hour of Code takes place each year during Computer Science Education Week (December 5-11). Computer Science Education Week is held annually in recognition of the birthday of computing pioneer Admiral Grace Murray Hopper (December 9, 1906). 

The Hour of Code started as a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify "code", to show that anybody can learn the basics, and to broaden participation in the field of computer science. It has since become a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries.

Computer Science is Changing Everything:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJqSu1IbcHg&index=1&list=PLzdnOPI1iJNfpD8i4Sx7U0y2MccnrNZuP

Students at HMS will participated in Hour of Code during their Math classes. There were many tutorials for each student to choose from at https://code.org/learn 

Each year Code.org and their partners add new tutorials to their site. This year some of the highlights are:

Moana: Wayfinding with Code Minecraft Hour of Code
Make Music with Scratch Gumball's Coding Adventure and many more

There are 172 different tutorials that can be found on the Hour of Code site from partners such as Kahn Academy, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Scratch and Disney.

To make it easy for all students to access the Hour of Code site Mike placed a direct link to the tutorials on the HMS Web site under Students>Hour of Code. 

Jay Harrington's Dine and Discuss sessions continue

Jay Harrington

Jay Harrington, 7th grade math and science teacher, continued his Dine & Discuss sessions at HMS this fall. These meetings about formative assessment in teaching mathematics are a great fit with our faculty focus on formative assessment practices across content areas. Jay is a terrific resource for us regarding this work. He enjoyed hosting these meetings and expressed his thanks to the HMS Nutrition Team for catering this event and providing the delicious spread.

Specific information about this learning:

Please join ATOMIM for 2 evenings of great math, activity and discussion.  

What are the sessions about?

The ATOMIM Board, in cooperation with the Maine Department of Education, was pleased to offer a two-session fall Dine & Discuss series titled "Formative Assessment meets Formative Instruction: Strategies that provide a window into the student mind."

• • Link formative assessment and formative instruction through 5 key elements
  • Learn about practical strategies that increase student engagement and provide important information about students’ mathematical thinking (ie Math Discussion Prompt Cards, Concept Cartoons, Troublesome Knowledge Hinge Point Questions, and more!) 
  • Network with other educators to share ideas
  • Receive a book of 75 strategies for use in the mathematics K-12 classroom  
   
• Over 150 attended the first round last spring and teachers of all age groups provided positive feedback:
• 
  "I had a great time! A good mix of independent reading/thinking, small group discussion, whole group discussion, and hands-on activities. Can't wait for the next session!"
   
• "The sessions were really informative and easily applicable to students of all ages and learning abilities. It was helpful to see how the strategies can be employed."
  
  "LOVE the hands-on activities! Strategies to bring back to the classroom are KEY! Thank you!!"

The smooth sounds of HMS Jazz Night

 Congratulations to the 6th grade Jazz Band and the 7th/8th grade Jazz Band for a fantastic evening of music last night! The 6th grade Jazz Band, with a 70's Disco theme, played a robust set of songs, including one written by our own Mr. C.

The 7th/8th grade Jazz Band hit their stride on all four selections, including a jazzy take on Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein". Thank you to the jazz bands for getting our concert season off to a swinging start!

Shellfish Nursery Updates

 Morgan Cuthbert and YHS students Connor Senger, Ben Cox-Faxon, Clementine Blaschke, Grady Welsh, and Duncan Birkbeck submitted their work on the Yarmouth Shellfish Nursery to the Lexus Eco Challenge: Land & Water. They were announced as one of the winning teams in November-congratulations to all on this important, on-going work, which will have a positive and lasting impact on our community!

We're proud to share an article about the Shellfish Nursery with an update on Morgan and the students' work from the recent issue of MEA Maine Educator Lessons in Mudflats

Thanks to Allison Flowerdew for these wonderful photos!

 

 

 

 

 

The Most Wonderful Time of The Year-Makerspace : )

Matthew Gautreau enjoying Makerspace

The HMS Library was excited to host the Annual Makerspace event again this year! This event is wildly beloved by all the fifth graders who have participated in past years. 

 

A Makerspace is a place where people are free to create and innovate using a variety of materials and tools in their own way. This is the heart of true innovation and our students took advantage of every moment they had to dream, play, imagine and design-the results were spectacular!

 

Our thanks to to all of you who donated items to make this year's Makerspace a reality for our students! Special thanks to Merry Stuhr, Charlotte Agell, Tracy Weinrich and Bob Gross - the HMS Makerspace Team!

 

To get a true sense of this activity please visit last year's site and stay tuned for this year's photos coming soon.

Thanks to our HMS Maintenance Staff

HMS Maintenance Staff: Barbara McNeil, Gloria Groves, Maryann Anthony, Bill Allen

The HMS community is grateful for the work of our Maintenance Staff! We appreciate all they do to ensure the upkeep of our building and attend to the needs that arise on a daily (minute by minute!) basis.

Barbara, Gloria, Maryann and Bill work tirelessly and  proactively to keep HMS shining like a brand new school. They respond quickly and professionally to all challenges, check in with staff about our school's needs, and always keep an eye out for the well being of our students.

Together they make sure we know about everything from students who may not have a ride home from school to anything in our building that requires an upgrade. Their communication and contributions enable us to provide a safe, comfortable, wonderful environment for students to learn. We're fortunate that they are part of our community!