Hines Herald February 2020

News from Hines Middle

Home of the Spartans

Points of Interest

02/03—Volleyball at HMS vs MPMS,

All Games Begin at4:30 PM

Cost $1.00 + Concessions

Full schedule—Page 3

02/06 — Fundraiser begins

02/17 — Presidents ‘ Day —

Schools Are Closed

02/20 — Fundraiser due

02/21 — Sweetheart Dance, 6-8 PM

(more dates and activities located on page 3)

Please Sign In at our main

office upon arrival to HMS. Please join our PTA.

Thank you !

Important Numbers Office: 591-4878, press 5

Fax: 591-0119

Clinic: 591-4878, press 3

Cafeteria: 591-4878, press 4

Table of Contents

Communication…………...2

Dates to Remember……..3

FOCUSED on HMS….. .4-7

Greetings Spartans!

Cultivating Togetherness is our new “buzz” word used in understanding, working togeth-er, and building each other up.

We hosted our first gathering together on Thursday, January 30th with a free dinner and information on ParentVue, Living Tree, SafeSchools, Google classroom, and other programs available to keep us all “Cultivated” so we are on the same wave of “Togetherness” in communicating with parents, students, teachers, and the community.

On February 21st we will have our First Annual Hines Middle School Sweetheart Dance as our event in celebrating “cultivating together-ness” .See page 4 for details.

Speaking of successes, Hines students Shyzear Brown and Alaniah Robinson attended the Newport News School Board meeting held January 21st . Shyzear opened the meeting with the invocation and Alaniah led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. (They are at the very center of this picture.)

The Newport News Public Schools Student Art Exhibit opens February 1st at the Downing Gross Cultural Arts Center. The opening ceremonies are 1-3 PM on Saturday. One of our talented Spartans artwork is on the flier and poster — Congratulations to Paris Dunbar! This exhibit will be open daily from 10 AM—4 PM, and closed on Sundays, thru March 9th. Hines has many students’ artwork highlighted in the exhibit.

Take time to visit the Art Exhibit and celebrate other cultural events. Celebrate your heritage and take time to “Cultivate Togetherness” during Black History Month and in your daily life. Broadening horizons and learning something new and informative is always something to celebrate!

HMS Agenda

Use of the HMS agenda is required and serves as the primary method of communication between home/school and school/home. Student homework and notes to and from your child’s teacher can be written in it daily. Family members are expected to check the agen-da each night. Agendas cost $3.

Connect 5

Connect 5 is the system that makes computerized phone calls to families about important events. Please provide regular updates of your email addresses, home and cell numbers to the main office so that you will receive Connect 5 communication.

Conferences Face-to-face meetings are requested by families and by the school. In addition to an individual meeting with your child’s teacher, conferences are a great way to assemble a group of people to discuss your child’s successes or areas of concern. Contact your child’s teacher, counselor, or administrator to request a conference.

E-mail and Letters/Post Cards

E-mail is an efficient way to communicate about your child’s academic performance or for other reasons. Please allow 24 hours for a return e-mail from your child’s teacher/school staff.

Letters and post cards are additional ways a teacher or school staff might communicate about a student’s good behavior, academics, or citizenship. Letters from Hines will be sent home throughout the school year. Current addresses are requested; postage costs for undeliverable or returned mail add up!

ParentVue

Parent Assist. Please sign up for this valuable tool in keeping up with your child success with ParentVue. There is also StudentVue for students to see their grades so they can keep themselves on task and up to date (building responsibility is a CCC Character Trait).

Telephone Calls We have telephones in our classrooms. When you call to speak with your child’s teacher, you will be transferred to that teacher’s voice mail or a secretary will take a message and give it to the teacher. Please allow 24-48 hours for a return phone call.

Facebook, Twitter, and Hines Home Page

Please visit our Hines Home Page. There is a wealth of information on this page. Please check Hines Facebook for announcements and get a visual image of

good things happening at HMS.

NEW — The Living Tree APP This new Engagement tool will be a very useful communication tool in learning about activities and what is happening in your student’s classes and communicating with his/her teachers. TBA

Safe line - See Something, Say Something

Our See Something, Say Something safe line is checked daily and our school staff works tirelessly in partnership with our students to ensure that HMS remains Safe. Please call 283-7855 to anonymously report incidents of unsafe behavior including bullying occurring at school or on the bus.

LOST AND FOUND Lost and Found items will be donated on the last student day of each month.

Please claim your lost items before January 31st!

HMS Spartans are Always:

Responsible —Respectful—Resilient—Reflective

Feb 3 Volleyball vs Passage at HMS, 4:30 pm

Feb 5 Volleyball vs Dozier at DMS, 4:30 pm

Feb 6 Fundraiser begins

Feb 10 Volleyball vs Passage at MPMS, 4:30 pm

Feb 11 & 12 Tryouts for Spartans' Got Talent Show , afterschool

(*get your permission slip from your grade level administrator and return to Ms. Kirsteatter by February 6th)

Feb 12 Volleyball vs Dozier at HMS, 4:30 pm

Feb 17 Presidents’ Day — Schools are Closed

Feb 19 Volleyball vs Gildersleeve at HMS, 4:30 pm

Feb 20 Fundraiser due

Feb 21 First Annual Sweetheart Dance, 6:00-8:00 PM

Feb 24 Volleyball Quarterfinals, TBA

Feb 26 Volleyball Semifinals, TBA

Mar 2 Volleyball Final at WHS

Mar 14 State Archery Tournament in Dozwell, Virginia — Good Luck Avarie!

HMS Notes and Reminders

Students are welcome to enter the building at 7:50 A.M. daily. Please avoid picking your children up before school dismisses at 2:55 P.M. ID is required for all student pick-ups. Safety is first!

Please join our PTA-we need you! Your children will benefit from many GREAT PTA sponsored activities this school year! Al-so, please save and send in Box Tops!

Please access our Hines Herald school newsletter @ http://hines.nn.k12.va.us/newsletter.html .

Please join our Facebook site (http://www.facebook.com/HinesMiddleSchool) for updates and announcements.

Hines Middle School Dates to Remember

CULTIVATING TOGETHERNESS PARENT WORKSHOPS

Parents,

Teachers will be available to help you help your students in English and/or Math.

Come to an Hour of Power on the 2nd Thursday of the Month for English from 6-7 PM and the 4th

Thursday of the Month for Math from 6-7 PM.

Hines PTA New officers for this year’s PTA are:

Casey Boland — President

Theresa Bedsaul — Vice President

Jessica Perry — Treasurer

We are always looking for more volunteers at HMS! PTA participation doesn't end at elementary school — we need your help and your expertise in helping our PTA, students and staff. It is your support (our HMS families) that allows us to support Hines Middle School students, faculty/staff and families. We ap-preciate YOU ALL!

Pease contact our PTA at hinesmiddlepta@gmail.com

FOCUSED ON HMS!

Membership is one way of sup-porting your PTA — Other ways you can support our PTA are:

Link your VIP card from Harris Teeter —

an easy way to support the PTA

Keep sending in your Box Tops !

Get the Shoparoo App and link it to Hines PTA and snapshot your receipts

Check out our Facebook page!

https://m.facebook.com/hinespta

FOCUSED ON HMS!

Spelling Bee

Sixteen Spartans participated in our HMS Spelling Bee on Jan-uary 14, 2020. Samaria Clark and Tazaria Jackson were the final two participants and they sparred back and forth for about 6 rounds when Samaria prevailed by spelling correctly: therapeutic. Congratulations!

Samaria will represent Hines in the Regional Spelling Bee held at WHRO in Norfolk, VA on Saturday, February 15th. In the event that she would be unable to participate, Tazaria would represent HMS. If you want to watch the results they will be aired on PBS WHRO channel 15 on February 29th at 5 PM

Hines will host their 1st Annual Sweetheart Dance. This is not your typical school dance in that students must invite their Mother, Father, Aunt, Grandmother, Godmother, Stepmother, Uncle, Godfather, Stepdad, Grandfather, or Legal Guardian to be their guest date for the evening. Guests must be 18 years of age or older, and not currently a high school student.

Date: February 21st, 6:00-8:00 PM

Attire is semi-formal.

Cost is $5.00 per couple

FOCUSED ON HMS!

What is Happening in your Library?

Welcome to your Hines Library Me-dia Center where students come to learn, read, chill at the Maker Space Jigsaw Puzzle station, etc.

Something POSITIVE is always happening in the Library!

February is National Black History Month. Take time to check out the many displays in the library! There are picture books, novels by African-Americans, poetry and music, biographies, and books on civil rights.

Students are encouraged to use the online elec-tronic library database to search for books; espe-cially if they are doing research or looking for spe-cific materials. They may access the database from any computer, even from home by selecting the Library tab on our Hines Home Page. Students, please notice that our Catalog/Database has a new improved look that we think is more user friendly and should make it easier to find what you are looking for!

Students, we hope you were able to find a good book to read over your Winter Break. Read the cereal box, the directions in a recipe, ( You get to eat the rewards for a successful outcome if you read and followed the directions correctly!), turn on the captions on your TV and read what is happening, Reading is Reading!

To those of you that do love to read — let Ms. Lee know what you read and why you liked it. Bring the book in and let Ms. Lee take your picture with the book for a

new Reading Wall Bulletin Board!

If you have overdue books, please turn them in and check out something new or different in January. Also, read something out of your comfort zone try a different genre and expand your reading vocabulary.

Thank You

and Enjoy Reading!

Recognizing the social nature of middle school students and capitalizing on their need to move and do, Newport News middle schools offer a variety of enrichment activi-ties that expose students to higher level thinking, real world application, and fun. While a school staff person serves as the club or activity sponsor, students are en-couraged to become actively involved in establishing agen-das and goals, recruiting and organizing its activities. Every club and activity offers students numerous oppor-tunities to develop and hone their leadership skills, and explore and develop new talents to highlight their strengths. Most clubs and activities are held after school, 1 day a week. To ensure that all students have the opportunity to participate, bus transportation is provided for all activities.* (*Excerpted from the NNPS Middle School brochure.)

Clubs and Activities available at Hines are:

Anime` Archery Art Club

Board Games Book Club BLOOM

CAS Caring Animal Society Drama

FCCLA GEMS NJHS

Hip Hop Dance Pep Band Robotics

SCA STEP Team Yearbook

Youth Development Girls Drama..I can’t even

Modeling Club Social Club — Gaming U-tube

Morning Show and Library Helpers—meet in the morning

Sports Clubs: Volleyball is ending and Basketball begins in March.

We encourage all Spartans to participate in an activity. Afterschool Activities began at Hines on October 3rd. Please make sure to know which day/days that your club or activity meets, that you know which bus to take home as stops may be different from your regular bus and re-member to bring your signed permission slip and to stay for your activity. Afterschool activities end at 4:30 PM.

Spartan Scholars Academy meets Monday thru Thursday afterschool from 3:15-5:30 PM. This program focuses on English and Math with tutors available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The Academy began Sept 30th. Applica-tions are available from your home room teacher. Please turn in completed applications to your home room teacher or Catherine Anderson.

FOCUSED ON HMS!

Hines Archery News

On January 27, 2020 our Spartan Team competed at the 2020 Regional Archery Tournament at Achievable Dream Middle/High School. They had been practic-ing since early October, preparing for this day. Avarie Cannon placed 3rd in the girls scoring and 9th among both boys and girls. She will represent Hines at the State Tour-nament to be held on March 14th in Dozwell, Virginia on March 14th! Congratulations to our whole team for their endurance in practice and performance! Members of our team were:

Jonathan Alvarez-Mejia Kellen Armstead Braden Ballard Avarie Cannon Randy Daoud Saniya Edmonds Jermaine Frazer-Carrington Cayden Garcia-Santiago Alessandra Garcia-Santiago Jaiden hall Niolysha Hernandez Bryan Hutson Tazaria Jackson Akiyah Joyner Aaron Kiss Dylan Mallol Montez Martin Daniel Metheny Sneha Shah Steven Slabaugh Skye Vicens Pippa Webster Natalie Whitehead Our team was coached by Amber Throckmorton. Thank you All for your Participation!

All-City Science Fair News

The All-City Science Fair was held at Heritage High School on Saturday, January 25th. Congratulations to the following Spartans who participated and their award:

Shyzear Brown—8th grade

2nd Place, Behavioral Sciences

Riley Journell—8th grade

1st Place—Chemistry

Paris Dunbar—8th grade

Honorable Mention, Chemistry

Erick Marentes-Vargas—6th grade

Honorable mention, earth Science

Owen Harrell—6th grade

Honorable Mention, Earth Science

Tayla Hill—6th grade

2nd Place, earth Science

Akiya Joyner—7th grade

1st Place & Rotary Scholarship, Earth Science

Aiden Jacobs –7th grade

2nd Place, Environmental Science

All of the above students have the ability to participate in the Tidewater Regional Science Fair held at ODU.

Congratulations To

Indya Desaro-Raynal

And

Steven Slabaugh

For making All-District Band!

And

Cayden Sierra

for making All-City Band!

Rising 6th grade students and their parents are invited to Middle School Night on March 19, 2020.

Visit your middle school and get a tour of the school and learn about rising to Middle School academically and socially thru clubs and other activities.

FOCUSED ON HMS!