June 5, 2020
Dear HMS Families,
We are proud of our students and grateful for your support during the challenges we have all faced together this spring.
We share the important information in this newsletter with you in preparation for the last week of school. Our hope is that it will help things to go smoothly for your children and for you, and that it will enable you to understand the structure for next week and plan ahead a bit.
We have also included some wonderful updates on adventures in distance learning.
We send our best wishes to all,
Joan Adler and Tom McDowell - HMS Administrative Team
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Important Updates:
Placement Information and “Step Up” Day
- Rising 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students will receive an email from their new homeroom teacher on Tuesday, June 9. The email will include a link to your child’s Step Up Day Google Hangout, which students will join during Step Up Day on Wednesday, June 10. Students will have time to meet with their new teachers during this time. Please remind your child to be on the lookout for this email.
- The students’ full schedule will be available on the parent PowerSchool portal sometime during the week after school ends. We will email you with instructions when you can access them.
- For our current 8th grade students, their new 9th grade teachers will also send links to video introductions on Step Up Day.
Parent Portal and progress in Unified Arts Classes
- A reminder that the PowerSchool portal will be in flux as teachers complete the process of sharing student progress.
- Unified Arts teachers will use the codes “PDL” to indicate “Participated In Distance Learning” and “DNP” to indicate “Did Not Participate” in distance learning.
Yearbooks
The delivery date for our HMS yearbooks has been delayed due to the pandemic. We will be in touch about a process for pick up as soon as they arrive. There is still time to order this collection of memories.
Technology, Library Books, School Supplies, and Athletic Uniform Collection
Please see the letter about this process (shared with you last week) if you have questions about this.
Locker Clean Out
Please review this information, which was sent out on May 26:
Parents will be able to pick up items from lockers by mid to late summer. We have to postpone this given the construction at HMS. If there are items that are "must haves" for families (for example, if your family is moving from Yarmouth in June or July), we will retrieve those items from the lockers so you can pick them up. We will work out a structure for the locker clean out and send the plan to all of you.
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Adventures In Distance Learning - ENJOY:
Legenda!
We are thrilled to share Issue 24 of Legenda, the remarkable HMS literary magazine (attached at the end of this email)! Please take some time to peruse this beautiful work of art, which is visually stunning and nourishing for the soul. CONGRATULATIONS to our creative, talented team of writers and artists, AND their fearless leader, Charlotte Agell! Huge gratitude to Maddie and Leo Nieter for lending their design expertise to Legenda - we are so thankful for their work and support of this effort!
A Message from The HMS Civil Rights Team
This important team of committed students and their advisors, Laura Mike and Charlotte Agell, want to encourage HMS students to reach out to each other over the summer. Surprise two or three friends each week with a phone call or FaceTime. Even if they miss your call, they will know you care. It is a small act of kindness and can bring on a smile. Let's stay connected! CRT Members: Bella Farnsworth, Catelyn Coolidge, Claire Arnold, Maddie Fleming, Fionna Moran, Ingrid Isaro, Natalie Waloven, Anna Tati Pambou, Devyn Doyle, Eli Snow, Esther Bolese, Moses Padwe, Sally Higgins, and Mayank Singh. We appreciate the work of this team!
Our Friends At Bay Square
Our wonderful friends at Bay Square sent photos to share the joy the residents felt when they received the most recent letters from their 5th grade pals at HMS! The residents shared how much these letters meant to them and described them as a “breath of fresh air!” Thanks to our special 5th grade students, Kelly Conley, and the 5th grade team for fostering these nurturing friendships:
Coronavirus Art
We are proud of our students who participated in this informative effort sponsored by the Yarmouth Community Coronavirus Task Force. Our thanks to Jennifer Charrette for her work on this important project! We know you will enjoy a sample of this art provided by Gwyneth Powderly. We wish we could share all of this art work with you!
Our Incredible PTO
HUGE thanks to our PTO for the gift of summer reads and DOS games that they are generously providing to every 6th grade student! Our heartfelt appreciation to our PTO and Royal River Books for making this happen for our kids.
Thank you to YEF
We are thankful and continuously amazed by the work of the Yarmouth Education Foundation and the dedicated community members who make up this group!
Oyster Update - A message from YEF
We have exciting news! The oysters that were part of the second phase of the Yarmouth Shellfish Nursery grant (funded by YEF in 2017-18) have grown to maturity and are now ready for harvest. Thanks to the dedication of multiple seventh-grade classes at HMS and a strong team of core volunteers of the Nursery Staff, along with the help of local oyster farmer Thomas Henninger of Madeleine Point Oysters, these oysters will be available for sale through a partnership with Maine Oyster Company. The oysters will be delivered weekly to pick up at the Rowe School Parking lot between 12-1 PM each Saturday. Supplies are limited but will be offered on an ongoing basis, as long as there are oysters to sell. Please visit this link to purchase your oysters and take a minute to watch the oyster movie project. For more information about the Oyster grant please see: Grant in Action: Shellfish Nursery – Part 2!. Finally, you can see some of the people enjoying these delicious oysters on the Yarmouth Education Foundation Facebook Page.