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Dr. Kevin M. Hurley Middle School Parent Newsletter

Education…A Journey Without End November 4, 2011

Visit our web page at http://hms.seekonk.sharpschool.com/ This newsletter will be sent out weekly by e-mail to keep you informed of programs and events at Hurley Middle School. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns at jfargnoli@seekonk.k12.ma.us.

Upcoming Dates: November is Family Literacy Month

November 7 – School Committee meeting @ 7 PM Seekonk High School

November 8 – Teacher In-service day – NO SCHOOL for students

November 9 – 1st quarter ends

November 10 – Picture Retake day - Please note that this is a change of date

November 16 – PTO meeting @ 7 PM in the library

November 17 – 8th grade parent meeting for high school transition 7 PM at the Seekonk High School library

November 18 – Reports Cards will be issued to all students

November 21 – PTO sponsored Jump-a-Thon

November 21 – School Committee work session @ HMS library

November 22 – PTO Jump-a-thon

November 24 – 27 – Thanksgiving break

November 29 – School Council meeting 6:30 PM @ HMS library

December 1 – Tree Lighting ceremony at town hall @ 6 PM

December 2 – Grade 6 Progress Reports will be issued

December 5 – School Committee meeting at SHS 7 PM

Devember 7 – Band Parents Association meeting @ 7 PM in the band room

December 13 – Holiday Band Concert grade 6 @ 6PM, Grade 7 @ 7 PM, Grade 8 @ 8 PM

December 15 – Mid term progress reports issued to all 7th and 8th graders

Family Literacy Month Celebrates the Importance of Reading – Please see the attachment from the Department of Education

Grade 8 Parents You are invited to a

QUESTION & ANSWER NIGHT FOR GRADE 8 PARENTS Thursday, November 17th in the SHS Library

7:00-8:30 PM Interested in finding out more about Seekonk High School?

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Information on Seekonk High School courses, programs, athletics, and clubs will be presented

A tour will be available after the presentation if interested

SCHOOL PICTURE RETAKES AND ABSENTEES LIFETOUCH WILL BE AT

DR. HURLEY MIDDLE SCHOOL,THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2011 IF YOU WISH TO HAVE YOUR CHILD ‘S PICTURE RETAKEN, PLEASE SEND IN THE ORIGINAL

PACKAGE. IF YOU WISH TO PURCHASE A PICTURE PACKAGE, ENVELOPES ARE AVAILABLE IN THE SCHOOL OFFICE.

IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH YOUR PACKAGE OR WISH TO REQUEST A REFUND PLEASE CALL the Life Touch office @ 401-828-5220. DO NOT JUST SEND THE PACKAGE TO THE SCHOOL.

Congratulations to Hurley’s Girls Soccer team On Saturday Oct 22nd the Hurley Middle School girl’s soccer team participated in the Wheeler Middle School Soccer Tournament. Our team, with 2 goals made by Emmalee Sanders won their first game with a score of Seekonk 2 Moses Brown 0. Assists were made by Allyson Patterson and Paige Silveira and the players of the game were on defense, Rachel Crafford, in midfield, Paige Silveira, and in the position of forward, Allyson Patterson. The second game resulted in a score of Seekonk 2 Wheeler 0. Goals were scored by Emily Ferreira and Anne Silveira with assists by Sara Houle and Emmalee Sanders. The player of the game for defense was Lauren Abbott, for midfield, Hanna Lopes, and in the position of forward, Emily Ferreira. The athlete to be recognized as the player of the tournament was Allyson Patterson with a shout out to Hannah Machado who had two shutouts in goal. The DR. KEVIN HURLEY MIDDLE SCHOOL GIRLS' SOCCER TEAM was the winner of the Wheeler Middle School Soccer Tournament Champions and they brought their trophy back to HMS to proudly display. Congratulations on a tournament well played!

The girls went on to complete their season with two very good games against Taunton Catholic Middle School. On Oct 24 they won with a score of Seekonk 5 Taunton 1 with Emmalee Sanders 3 goals, Anne Silveira, Allyson Patterson, and Emily Ferreira each had 1 goal along with Paige Silveira and Allyson Patterson who each had an assist. On Wednesday, Oct 26 at their final home game the won with a score of Seekonk 6 Taunton 0 with each of the following scoring a goal: Emmalee Sanders, Allyson Patterson, Paige Silveira, Emily Ferreira, Anne Silveira, and Rachel Crafford. Kathleen Santos, Allyson Patterson, and Emmalee Sanders all had an assist in the game.

The players worked hard all season long. This hard work was seen in the last two games. They played the best game of the season on Wednesday. They put all aspects of the game together. It was a very entertaining game to watch.

Coach Seward would like to thank the players for their hard work and dedication. They showed continued progress and improvement all season long. He wishes the very best of luck to

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the eighth graders and hopes that they continue playing soccer. To the sixth and seventy graders, keep playing and he will see you next fall.

Student Council News The Student Council has a busy fall on the horizon! Recently, the organization has

conducted a canned food drive to benefit Doorways Food Pantry. In the coming weeks, students will be preparing to host Spirit Week in addition to participating in the local "Holidays are for Kids" Toy Drive. This year's representatives have several new ideas for charities that are in the works, so stay tuned...

This year's Student Council is composed of the following students:

6th Grade Hayden Gill Andrew Lancellotti

Ryan Riordan Alexia Desrochers Sara Mallon

Julia DiPietro Andrew Magnotta

7th Grade Morgan Anderson River Glenn Madison Paine

Haleigh Silva Nick Albuquerque Matt Heaney

Hannah MacDonald Roland Tinley

8th Grade Rachel Crafford Cal Harrington Leah Noelte

Zach Soares Jill Downing Riley Glenn

Hannah Machado Annabel Schneider Mason Bernard

Hurley’s Heros Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

Hurley's Heroes Successful Again! Of the 6000 walkers (survivors, patients, family and friends) who "braved the storm" and walked Sunday morning for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk at Roger Williams Park, 50 of them were Hurley's Heroes. After t-shirt and pinnie sales, a Charity Night (thanks to Chardonnay's Restaurant for donating $350.50), online donations and can collections, the

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team has raised $5440! Thank you to all who participated and/or donated. Online donations can still be made at: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/Hurleys_Heroes Any team member who did not attend the walk but needs to turn in donations collected, should send a check along with your registration information to: The American Cancer Society, Providence MSABC, 931 Jefferson Blvd. Suite 3004, Warwick, RI 02886. Your donations will fund mammograms, treatment, research and support for breast cancer fighters. And, one day, we'll be able to say we were part of the cure! Hurley's Heroes is ranked #17 out of the top 100 teams participating!!!! From our School Nurse

FALL SAFETY TIP Fall leaves are beautiful to look at, but they also hold the potential for injury for kids. A

pile of leaves might cover hidden dangers, such as the sharp ends of the rake, hard toys or rocks. Landing on any of these objects could result in a serious injury. Leaves piled on the side of a street also present a risk for kids. A child playing in the leaves could get struck by a car. Burning leaves are another hazard if burning is allowed in your area. Keep kids away when you burn leaves to avoid accidental burns.

FLU CLINIC INFORMATION The Seekonk Board of Health will be having a Flu Clinic on November 8th for Seekonk

residents only. This is for residents 9 years of age and older and it is by APPOINTMENT ONLY. If you are interested or have any questions, please contact the Board of Health at 508-336-2950. Their hours of operation are: Mon, Tue, Thu 8:30-4:30, Wed 8:30-5:30 and Fri 8:30-12:00

The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Recommends a yearly Flu Vaccine for everyone 6 months of age and older as the first most important step in protecting against this serious disease. For more information on fall safety and flu information go to CDC.gov

Jill M. Dumont, RN, BSN School Nurse

HMS PTO The team shirts that were ordered will be distributed to the students on Monday during lunch.

The magazine fundraiser was a huge success!!! Thank you, thank you to all the students and parents that participated!!! The PTO will have more money to answer Teacher's request for classroom supplies this year, along with the 6th grade social, 8th grade dance, field day and the many other events that the PTO funds support. I'd like to announce our big sellers. Our two biggest sellers were Collin McDermott and Chloe Lunnie who will be receiving a Vera Bradley backpack and a $50 gift certificate to Best Buy.

The second tier of winners had to sell over 10 subscriptions. These winners will get to pick an awesome prize from the prize table. The winners are Michaela Ludwig, Heliegh

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Santos, Kelsey Gelotte, Alizabeth Almeida, Alexis Rocha. Hayden Gill, Lindsay Guertin, John Campopiano, and Connor Lanoue.

The third tier of winners sold 6 or more subscriptions. These winners will all get a free night of no homework. A homework pass !! Winners are Jack Doorley, Jacob Dezotell, Kaitlyn Danner, Kathryn Calverley, Eliza Dantos, Peter D'Ambra, Claudette Elkowry, Ben Bradley, Andrew Lancellotti, Leah Noelte, Nathan Girard, Nicolas Albuquerque, Eric Leitao, Holly Carroll, Emily Balasco, Jacob Koutros, Jessica Lynn sweet and Kaitlyne Silva. Prizes will be distributed on Thursday Nov. 10th at lunch. Congratulations to all the winners!!!

Ski Club Ski season is right around the corner! The Hurley Middle School Ski Club will hold its sign

up meeting Wednesday, November 9th from 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM (approximately) in the HMS cafeteria. This informational meeting will explain the program to first-time participants and families, including safety measures at Mt. Wachusett and assistance with any questions. Please make every effort to attend. Students and parents/guardians are encouraged to attend.

On Friday, November 4th, students interested in joining Ski Club will be handed an informational packet that includes all necessary forms, including the Mt. Wachusett student program, bus information, medical forms, etc. For the sake of time, please complete these forms prior to Wednesday night's meeting.

If you cannot attend this meeting, please send all completed forms (including checks/payments) to Mr. Sandstrom's room (114) no later than Friday, November 14. No forms will be accepted beyond the November 14 deadline.

The Ski Club runs every Friday from January 6 - February 10. The buses depart from the school promptly at 3 PM and leave the mountain by 9 PM.

While Ski Club will make every effort to take every student, this is a very popular club. If we do not have enough space for all students on the buses and no alternative method of student transportation exists, we will conduct a lottery to determine which students make the club. We look forward to seeing you at Wednesday's meeting! Think snow! Michael Sandstrom and Sean Meagher

Earth Club News The Earth Club met for the first time this year to organize our recycling efforts at

HMS. In addition to glue stick/bottle recycling in the classrooms, we will also collect empty drink pouch containers and chip bags in the cafeteria. These items are sent to a recycler who pays a per unit fee. The proceeds are then donated to the PTO general fund. Students are encouraged to keep our school “green” by depositing their used items in the appropriate bins!   

From the Library The PTO sponsored the Scholastic Book Fair that was held in the library last week. It

was great to see students excited to purchase something new to read! Thank you to Mrs. Sue Rutter for organizing this event and thank you to the students and staff members for supporting the Fair!

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A note about research: The Internet is a wonderful tool, but students need to use a healthy amount of skepticism when using it for academic research. There is no guarantee that the information accessed on a website is accurate and with millions of websites available, it is sometimes difficult to determine which site to use. I maintain a list of “Recommended Websites for Research” on my library website  (http://hms.seekonk.sharpschool.com/For Students/library) and encourage students to use these sites before searching for their own. I also caution students about using Wikis. Wikis are websites that are produced quickly, usually by a number of contributors. The problem with Wikis is that we do not know if the contributors are knowledgeable in the subject in which they are writing about. Some examples of Wikis are Wikipedia, Wiki answers, yahoo answers, Chacha and answers.com.

Seekonk Public library It is hard to believe that school has already been back in session for two months and that

the holidays are just around the corner! The Seekonk Public Library has events to help you get ready and get away from all of the

holiday madness! Join us for these events in November: Saturday, November 12, 2:00 pm - SHOWTIME! BROADWAY MUSICAL REVUE Lori Maciel, Lois Conboy, and Philip Campbell formed Showtime! to bring Broadway's finest music to southeastern New England. This event will be fun for the whole family. Children and adults alike will be dancing in their seats as Showtime! Perform perennial favorites from shows such as Show Boat, The King and I, My Fair Lady, Oklahoma, South Pacific, Babes in Arms and many more.

Thursday, November 10, 6:00 pm - MEDITATION WORKSHOP Local educator and practitioner, Khipra Nichols, teaches this beginner workshop for those who are interested in both the practical and spiritual benefits of a regular meditation practice. The workshop will feature simple but powerful meditation techniques like yogic breathing, guided visualization, and readings about the philosophy of meditation and peace of mind. We will cover the three major interests of new students: meditation basics, creating a daily practice at home, utilizing creativity and meditation for achieving goals. Free and open to the public. Registration is not required.

Wednesday, November 16, 6:00 pm - MIDWEEK MOVIE Take a break and enjoy a classic film about Thanksgiving with us. We can’t tell you the title here, but Steve Martin and John Candy will do whatever it takes to make it home for Thanksgiving-whether that means taking a plane, train, or automobile. Join us as we view this 1987 John Hughes film just in time to get you ready for the holiday gatherings. Free and open to the public. No registration is required.

Wednesday, November 30, 6:00 pm - HOLIDAY CRAFTING WITH NATURE November and December would not be complete without pine cones and the smell of Evergreens! Join Michelle Gario and Joanne Englund to make a swag from

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nature’s best offerings of the season. The ladies will guide you through the basics of making swags, but your finished product will be your design. Space is limited. Registration required.

We have attached a full list of our November and December events! Email or call us at (508)336-8230 ext. 130 if you would like more information.

Stop & StopA+School Rewards Program

Please register your Stop & Shop card and become part of the A+ program. All you have to do is:

Log on to www.stopandshop.com/aplus to register online OR

Dial 1-877-275-2758 to register your card over the phone After you register your card, each shopping trip at Stop & Shop using your Stop & Shop Card earns CASH for our school! Remember, even if you registered your card last year, you must re-register this year for our school to receive credit. Attending to this simple process makes a HUGE difference to our school. We need your support. Please be sure to register your card to benefit HMS using ID # 07074.

Thank you for helping our school!

My Coke Rewards for Schools It’s easy to donate:

• Purchase your favorite Coca-Cola products to get codes (they’re on hundreds of different packages, in a variety of sizes and flavors).

• 2 Go to mycokerewards.com/school & sign in (register if you aren’t a member). • 3 Enter your codes to collect points – then search for our school to donate points. • 4 Enter the amount of points you’d like to give, and then click “Donate”.

For more information and to start turning My Coke Rewards points into rewards for our school please check out... mycokerewards.com/schoolsour s 

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