Your daughters’ teachers will focus on the girls’ motivation, the key source of engagement, as we continue to offer a spring filled with challenge, curiosity, creativity, cooperation, self- reflection, and recognition. Master Teacher suggests the following tips to parents for helping your daughter thrive and remain successful during the spring. I would also add that having conversations about reports cards at the end of the year can be extremely beneficial when focusing on what went well for each child, what didn’t work out as she would have liked, what strategies might need to be changed for the start of the next year, and support that can be given over the summer.

8TH GRADE COMMUNITY SERVICE: Eighth graders will meet at St. Mark’s on Saturday, April 1 from 8:45 a.m.-12:00 noon. Instead of traveling off campus for our community service, we’ll engage in a high-energy meal preparation for refugee villages in Haiti which will be followed by both a film and discussion groups on world hunger. As this is a required event for our students, please contact me if your eighth grader has a schedule conflict. Girls who are unable to attend must make up the three community service hours missed. They may either choose a service project of their own, or I can provide suggestions and opportunities. Click here to download flyer.

7TH GRADE COMMUNITY SERVICE:  In addition, our seventh graders, their peers from St. Mark’s, their advisors and I will be spending the morning of Saturday, April 8 at Goodwill Industries, completing their required community service hours. The girls are to meet at St. Mark’s at 8:15 a.m., and we will return there for pick-up at 11:30 a.m. They should please wear jeans (no shorts or leggings) and closed-toed shoes. You received information about this event at your conference on March 23. As this is a required event for our students, please contact me if your seventh grader has a schedule conflict. Girls who are unable to attend must make up the three community service hours missed. They may either choose a service project of their own, or I can provide suggestions and opportunities. Click here for more information.

 

EIGHTH GRADE CONFERENCES: Eighth graders and their parents will meet with their advisors on Monday, April 3 for spring conferences. This meeting will provide time to reflect on the year and make course selections for ninth grade.  

FIFTH GRADE OLYMPICS: Moving ahead, we are looking forward to the Fifth Grade Olympics on Friday, April 7. Fifth grade parents are invited for all or parts of the day and should gather in Penson Gym (not the girls’ classrooms except for team moms) for the opening ceremonies which begin at 8:15 am. Fifth graders will come to school ready to participate in Olympic competitions designed by the P.E. Department. Each girl will be assigned a country and will compete both individually and as a member of that team for the day. Please have your fifth grader report to school at the regular time wearing her country’s t-shirt, P.E. shorts, and tennis shoes. The T-shirt will be given to each girl prior to the event.  Goff’s Hamburgers will be catering lunch for the girls and faculty in Tarry House; more details are coming soon.

CHEERLEADER TRYOUTS FOR CURRENT 8TH GRADERS:  Cheer tryouts for rising ninth graders (yes, that’s already your daughter, eighth grade parents) are coming up soon!!! 

Interested eighth graders who are interested in trying out should attend the information meeting on Monday, April 3 at 6:30 pm in the St. Mark’s Commons. Mandatory clinics at St. Mark’s in Hicks Gym on Monday, April 10 and Tuesday, April 11 from 6:30- 8:30pm. On Wednesday, April 12, there will be an optional (but highly encouraged!) practice time with seniors from 5:00-6:30 p.m. OFFICIAL TRYOUTS will begin that night (Wednesday, April 12) at 6:30pm! The 2017-2018 squad will then be announced Thursday after school. If you have any questions about tryouts or just about cheer in general, feel free to contact any of the rising senior cheerleaders: Morgan Fisher, Beth Ryan, Shannon Dorey, Sophia Silva, Kaleigh Beacham, or Eliza Parker. With questions about logistics, email Coach Kiki Pennington.

GRANDPARENTS’ DAY: Your parents have received an invitation to our Middle School Grandparents’ Day, and we hope they will be able to join us and attend classes with your daughters. Seeing their granddaughters and our teachers “in action” is always a real treat. Middle School Grandparents' Day is from 8:15 a.m. until 11:15 a.m. on Wednesday, April 12. We have scheduled two classes for your parents to visit and a refreshment break in advisories at 9:50. I encourage our visitors to wear comfortable clothing and shoes as our campus is quite spacious. Your daughter will report to her A period class at 8:00 a.m. without her grandparents. The girls who have visiting grandparents will then pick them up in the LLARC between 8:45 and 8:55. The morning’s schedule is stated below.

8:15-8:45        
Grandparents arrive at Forest Lane Parking Lot and drive to front entrance of the  LLARC. Valet parking will be available. They then enter the LLARC, pick up nametags, and enjoy some light refreshments and a video in Hicks Meeting Room. Your daughter will come to pick up her grandparents around 8:45 and escort them to her class.

9:00-9:50        
B Period class

9:50-10:15      
Break - Light refreshments will be available in your daughter’s advisory while grandparents visit with her advisor.

10:25-11:15    
E Period Class (grades 5, 7, and 8) and G Period Class (grade 6)

Our classroom visits will end at 11:15, and students will then attend regular classes for the rest of the school day. We ask that the girls stay on campus to eat lunch; regretfully, we do not have enough room in our Dining Hall to invite grandparents to join us for lunch. Grandparents' Day is a delightful experience for all involved, and we truly hope your parents will be able to share the morning with us.

EIGHTH GRADE GRADUATION DRESSES: While our eighth graders have another term to complete before the end of their journey through Middle School, it is not too soon to start thinking about Eighth Grade Graduation on Thursday, May 25.  You’ll receive more details about the event later this spring, but I did want to provide you with requirements for the girls’ dress that day. It is traditional that eighth graders wear white dresses or white skirts and blouses and white shoes to Eighth Grade Graduation. The governing principle at this end-of-year celebration is to dress with modest taste, meaning skirt lengths should be no more than four inches above the knee--no mini-skirts, please. If a dress is strapless or has spaghetti straps/halter top, a sweater or jacket must be worn also. The white is to be a true white, not ivory or off-white, and should not have colored trim. The required white shoes may be sandals but must have a strap around the back of the heel. The heels and soles may not be black or another color, but may be wooden, cork, or metallic.  In addition, adornments on the shoes may not be colored but may be metallic. For comfort and safety reasons, girls must wear flats or heels no higher than two inches. Remember…the girls are walking up and down multiple steps at this graduation ceremony!

INCOMING MEETING FOR PARENTS OF RISING 5th and 7th GRADERS: Those meetings will be held on Tuesday, April 4 for rising fifth grade parents and on Thursday, April 6 for rising seventh grade parents. Both meetings are for parents only of current students and parents and students new to the Hockaday community. You will have time to visit and have some refreshments before we start the meeting at 6:00 p.m. We ask that you please wear your Hockaday nametag. This is a marvelous opportunity for returning parents to meet and welcome new families who are joining our school community. You will also meet parent representatives from the Hockaday Parents' Association and learn about the fantastic academic programs from our Middle School teachers. Click here for the letter to rising 7th Grade parents or click here for the letter to rising 5th Grade parents.

C.A.R.E. CALENDAR: Congratulations to our fifth grade artists! Out of over 300 pieces of art submitted, six of their pieces for the C.A.R.E. calendar (available to children as reminders to avoid the pitfalls of drug and alcohol abuse) will be presented as the artwork for a designated month on this organization’s annual calendar. Those students are Zariah Arrington, Stella Grabham, Rachel Manley, Sofi Sethuraman, Zoe Stone, and Helen Taylor. In addition, their artwork will be on display at an exhibit at NorthPark Center between April 10-23. Let your friends and family members know so they can visit the exhibit and see your work! In addition, the following girls received an honorable mention: Erin Antes, Abby Curtis, Meredith Burkhart, Alexandra Dassopoulos, Paige Glowacki, Nadia Gomez, Tarini Gupta, Taylor Hua, Avery Jackson, Alyssa Kurji, Lily Mckenna, Hayden Marchant, Madelyn Neuhoff, Isabella Sky Pendergrass, Estee Phaneuf, Lauren Shaw, Katherine Shoup, Julia Small, Eva Spak, Emery Stehel, Harper Tagg, Alex Underwood, Ariana Wang, Olivia Zambrano, Elena Zeballos, and Sophia Zhu. Their work will also be on display at NorthPark.

 

EIGHTH GRADE MATH/SCIENCE RESEARCH STUDY: As you recall, eighth grade students participated in a research partnership between Hockaday and a research group from the University of Massachusetts in the fall. The primary goal of the study is to understand what factors in the classroom environments improve students’ interest in science and math, promote positive attitudes towards these subjects and motivate students to pursue science/math-oriented interests in the future. Researchers now will visit eighth grade math and science classes next week with participating students completing two surveys at the end of that visit. In addition, next week eighth grade parents will receive an email containing a link for a parent survey regarding these subjects. The researchers will include this data in their study, so I hope that you will be able to complete the short online survey.

UPCOMING EVENTS:  In addition to the above mentioned events, Middle School choirs and orchestras have upcoming concerts the week of April 10^th; there will no classes on Friday, April 14 due to Easter; all of Hockaday will enjoy Alumnae Day on April 21; and current seventh graders will leave for their New Mexico trip on Sunday, April 23.  

 

My best,