Waggoner's Word September 26, 2014

Waggoner’s Word September 26^th, 2014

Dear Parents,

Calendar of Events for the Week of September 29^th-October 3^rd:

Saturday, September 27^th: Hopewell Cross Country Lakeside 5K Challenge Jonestown Cross-Country 8:30AM-Open to all-$20 entrance fee

Saturday, September 27^th: A Team Girl’s Volleyball Tournament @ Deerpark-8^th Grade @Canyon Vista-7^th Grade

Monday, September 29^th: 7^th FB vs. Ridgeview @ Dragon Stadium-5:30PM

Tuesday, September 30^th: 8^th FB vs. Ridgeview @ Cedar Ridge HS-5:30PM

Wednesday, October 1^st: 7^th and 8^th Grade Fall Band Concert 7:00PM in the cafeteria

Thursday, October 2^nd: 7^th Grade Volleyball vs. Deerpark  8^th Grade Home-5:30PM, 7^th Grade @ Deerpark 5:30PM

Friday, October 3^rd: School Pictures/Students will need their order form and money on this day.

Friday, October 3^rd: School Dance-6^th Grade 6:00-7:30PM, 7^th & 8^th Grades 7:30-9:00PM. Admission is $5.00 at the door.  School dress code is enforced. Students must have their school ID’s in order to get in.

Saturday, October 4^th: Hopewell Cross Country @ McNeil Invitational @ Old Settlers Park

On Wednesday, we held our first Pep Rally for our fall sport teams and it was a great success.  The students were all actively engaged in the Pep Rally led by our exceptional Hornet Cheerleaders!  Our 7th grade class took Spirit Stick Honors for cheering the loudest!  Great going 7th grade!  Next time maybe it will be 6th or 8th grade.  Hopewell certainly has a TON of school spirit and it was loud and clear Wednesday!

Also on Wednesday, we had our first professional learning / professional development afternoon accommodated by student early release.  Carving out time for staff to meet together as a large group, then breakout into smaller groups is always a challenge.  The early release days provide that sacred professional learning / professional development time and our staff are grateful to RRISD for providing that time.  We heard a presentation on disseminating STAAR data in meaningful, relevant orientations and templates so our teachers can help ensure that ALL students are successful on the STAAR assessments.   Members of the RRISD Curriculum and Instruction / Assessment Team were on hand to provide that crucial data review workshop to the Hopewell staff.   It was a great staff learning time and relevant tools were given to the staff to take our students to the next level of achievement. 

Speaking of Relevance:  Our staff will be using prior STAAR data to inform them on where to focus and specifically target their instruction, but it will not drive their instruction.  Teaching the Texas Essential Knowledge Skills through delivery of Rigor, Relevance and Relationships will be our school – wide instructional focus this year.   It’s crucial that our staff make learning meaningful and purposeful for our students.  It helps to hook our students into the learning experience and actively engage them in the everyday lessons and objectives that are taught.  We will ensure that all staff is teaching key 21^st Century Learning skills such as: Student collaboration in class discussions and activities, project based learning opportunities and technology integration to enhance the learning in all classes.  We as administrators as we conduct our teacher observations will be looking for evidence of both Rigor and Relevance.  You can help support our efforts at home by asking your child to provide real world examples on their homework, projects, and assignments.  It will help them to continue to think critically and relate their learning to the real world.  This will help prepare them for high school and beyond.

We will be hosting a Veteran’s Day Assembly for our students on November 11^th to celebrate all the Veteran’s who have served their country over the years.  It’s important as young Americans that our students take time to honor our Veterans who have given so much for our freedom.  We will be having our band, orchestra, choir, and theater department performing patriotic pieces, we will also have a Veteran that will be our guest speaker, and our student council president will be giving a short speech and introducing our speaker.  This event is open to our Hopewell community and any Veteran so if you have the time, you are welcome to join us.  The times have yet TBD but will probably be the first hour of the school day.  More info will be coming your way regarding this important assembly for all our students and staff.

Please remember to join PTA if you haven’t already!  Please encourage your friends who have Hopewell Hornets to join as well.  PTA is really the life-blood of our school and we cannot do the things we do for our kids without their support.  The dues are only $8.00 and additional information can be found on the Hopewell School Website by hitting the PTA quick link on the left hand side. Click on Forms and Documents then click on the 2014-2015 HMS PTA Membership Form.  Easy as that!  Thanks for your support of PTA!

Hope everyone enjoys this great fall weather this weekend!
Karl

Waggoner's Word - September 19th, 2014

September 19th, 2014

Waggoner’s Word

Dear Parents,

We will have our first Stinger Team Pep Rally next Wednesday to celebrate the good choices our students have been making at school the past several weeks.  What a great way to begin the school year by recognizing appropriate behavior.   I am witnessing exceptional behavior that our students are displaying both in classes, in the halls and in the cafeteria during lunches.  Good communication is certainly a key to the success of any school or organization. Mr. Meave and Mrs. Fleischmann our two Assistant Principals met with all Hopewell students Thursday to review our expectations so that the students, teachers, and administrators are all on the same page.  Some expectations covered in the grade level assemblies on Thursday included: dress code, hall/class/cafeteria/common area behavior, attendance and tardies, bus riding, among others.   Please help us by reinforcing these appropriate respectful behaviors at home – it makes all the difference and helps our children grow up to be successful and productive citizens.

Reminder: Early release on Wednesday, September 24th at 1:30PM.  The RRISD buses will be running their routes accordingly.  Wednesday will be an afternoon of professional learning time for our staff.  The teachers will work in their Professional Learning Communities collaborating to design engaging lessons for your children.

 If you have not yet had the opportunity to join our Parent Teacher Association please do so as soon as you can.  The dues are only $8.00 for the school year no matter how many Hornets you have at Hopewell!  Great deal – Great cause.  Our PTA president, Amy Hinds and her parent board are second to none in Round Rock ISD.  They volunteer many, many hours to help us deliver an extraordinary school life experience for all our students.   These dues will be used to provide enriching educational experiences and help ensure that Hopewell stays a very special school.  There is a flyer attachment with more PTA information on this newsletter.  Thanks

If you have some volunteer time to give to Hopewell it would be greatly appreciated.  Our WATCH DOGS organization helps to keep a safe learning environment for all our students and staff.  Their vigilance and support are extraordinary and gives great peace of mind to everyone at Hopewell.  They truly MAKE A DIFFERENCE at Hopewell.  If you can shake away for a few hours a week and help us out, please get in touch with Herb Cowan @ 512-705-9200. Thank you!

I mentioned last week in my initial Waggoner’s Word that as a staff, our mission will be to provide a learning environment that will focus on Rigor, Relevance and Relationships.   For the next several weeks I will briefly target one of those attributes to keep you in the loop.  When I speak about academic rigor, I mean that we as teachers want the learning and instruction to be appropriately challenging for our students.  It’s crucial that we provide a strong foundation of the basic knowledge skills in each subject area and that we ensure that our students can recall and demonstrate that basic knowledge of facts.  Understanding the steps to solving a multi-step math problem and being able to arrive at the correct answer for example is an important step in their journey to learning math.  However, we are seeking a deeper understanding and comprehension of the material for our students.  We want our students to be able to apply their learning and demonstrate a deeper knowledge of the meaning to a particular math problem.  An example of rigor is the inclusion of more critical thinking activities throughout the instruction process.  Warm-ups, daily work, home work, quizzes, projects, will all include more application aspects as well as challenges to synthesize what they have learned. In other words, shifting  concrete learning and moving it to a different more abstract level to achieve that deeper understanding goal.  We can never abandon the basic skill / fundamental learning experience- that’s a crucial element and is the foundation to which a more comprehensive understanding of the learning is allowed to occur.  Learning is not always easy and certainly takes engagement on our student’s part.  Our teachers are tasked with providing engaging, collaborative and interactive lessons to ensure that our students are motivated and engaged in the learning process.

One way you as parents can help at home with rigor is to provide an “Accountable Hour” of study where students are required to do school work or read for at least a hour.  Have a quiet place for your child to do their school work and remove any distractions such as the cell phone and TV.  If they are done with their homework, have them read a good book or a magazine for the balance of that hour.  Getting your child in the habit of doing their work for at least an hour every night Monday – Thursday will help them establish a deeper understanding of the topics covered in their classes.  It’s also important that students have ample “down time” each evening after a rigorous day at school.  Just like us as adults, they too need to rest their brains.  They need time to be a kid.  Lastly, students in middle school require at least 8 hours of sleep a night.  Please make sure that when lights are out – their phone and computer are off too!

The Hopewell MS counseling program is led by Michael Mohr and Maricela Galindo.  They work to improve student skills through guidance lessons as well as through individual and small group counseling education. You and your children can help us establish program priorities for the school year by completing the parent needs assessment survey and the student needs assessment survey.  You can find the Parent and Student surveys under the Counselor’s Corner tab on the Hopewell MS website.  Next week is also Education Go Get It week here at Hopewell; our students and counselors have planned many exciting activities throughout the week.  For more information on EGGI week please visit the Counselor’s Corner link on our website.

This is from Coach Cacciatore: our Hopewell Cross Country team will be running this Saturday at the Vern’s 5K in Georgetown.  It’s an open event so all are welcome to run.  Go Hornets!

We are making announcements this week to our students that they are not to cut across the parking lot between Hopewell and Union Hill before or after school.  Parents and staff both park in that middle lot and combining students and cars in that area is a real safety issue.  Please help us by telling your child to use the sidewalk and walk around when moving between schools or to get to and from school.  Also, remember that the speed limit along the perimeter road off Gulf Way is 10MPH.  Please make sure that you are observing that speed limit and that you are not using your cell phones in our school zone.  Just a gentle reminder to help keep our students safe at Hopewell and Union Hill.  Thanks!

Also attached to Waggoner’s Word is an informational flyer on how you can subscribe as a parent to Remind101 text message service.  Whenever I may need to inform you as parents of an event or a weather related situation, I will send you a text message on your phone.  I promise I will not blow up your phone with texts on a regular basis but only when there is a situation that requires that you are all notified in a timely manner.  Thanks!



I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Stay dry!

Karl

Waggoner's Word - September 12, 2014

September 12th, 2014



Waggoner’s Word



Dear Parents,



I cannot tell you all how very happy and honored I am to be at Hopewell Middle School as building principal.  My career has taken me to wonderful schools and districts and Hopewell is among the best I've ever worked in.  The students are exceptional, very polite, follow the expectations, and are actively engaged in learning.  The teachers are so dedicated, hard-working, innovative, and creative.  The parents I've met are extremely loyal to Hopewell, are supportive and engaged in their children’s education.   Hopewell really is one of the best kept secrets in Central Texas.  The potential is absolutely unlimited here and with some time, energy, hard work on our part, together we will make Hopewell one of the best middle schools in the state.  The administrative support from Dr. Flores, Dr. Rebecca Donald, Annette Vierra, and many others has been absolutely incredible.  THEY ALL support the building administration, trust that the present leadership is built around the best interests of the students, and are dedicated to helping our efforts as they can.  VERY refreshing to land in such a terrific situation and your children will reap the benefits as they journey through middle school, high school, and beyond.   The parents, teaching staff, and administration are an incredible team working hard every day to ensure that your children are growing up both academically and emotionally healthy.

Thank you to those parents that could take time and attend Back to School Night Tuesday night.  We had a great turn out and hopefully you got to meet your child’s teacher, get a feel and sense of how that teacher operates, their demeanor, and attributes of their curriculum.  I will tell you, I have never seen a more organized group of teachers or who work as hard for your children as they do.  Whenever you get some time, take time out and shoot them an email thanking them for their service and for helping your child learn.  That will really help their morale and confirm their hard work and efforts.

A special thank you goes out to Amy Hinds and her PTA board for all they do for Hopewell Middle School.   The number of volunteer hours they do is absolutely staggering and are always willing to take on more if that is what is asked of them.  They just cannot do enough for our school and if you all can, please sign up and volunteer your time for various events throughout our school year.  ALL these efforts are so your children can have a great middle school experience and one that they will look back on fondly.  Thanks again Amy and your board for all you do for our kids at Hopewell.  We truly cannot have the great school we have without you all.

This year, I will be working with the staff on three main points that will serve as our compass as we navigate through the instructional process: RIGOR, RELEVANCE, and RELATIONSHIPS.  You will be seeing those three words throughout your child’s experience at Hopewell.  In my next few Waggoner’s Word email newsletters, I will define each main point comprehensively and how that will benefit your child.  That is the absolute bottom line with me-how will these initiatives benefit your child, give them a deeper understanding of a topic, and prepare them for the next level.

We will be getting out to you through Waggoner’s Word a more detailed definition of our expectations for our student dress code.  The vast majority of our students are following our dress code expectations but it doesn't hurt to remind everyone just what they are.  Next week, the Hopewell administration will be meeting with all the students via grade level assemblies to review the overall behavior expectations so everyone is on the same page.  It’s important that we maintain transparency and consistency when delivering those expectations and also when enforcing them.  

A very special welcome is extended to Sarah Sharp and Jessica Listi to the Hopewell staff family.   Both these talented teachers were hired to alleviate and relieve the large class sizes in 6th and 7th grade Science and Social Studies.  We had classes numbers in the upper 30’s which is unacceptable and again, Central Administration listened to our needs and without hesitation came through with this support.  Our goal is to maintain an appropriate class size so teachers can spend more time with each student to ensure that their learning is efficient and engagement is maximized.  Ms. Sharp will be our new 6th & 7th grade Science teacher and Ms. Listi will be our new 6th & 7th grade Social Studies teacher.  Our counselors will be randomly moving students laterally to the new teacher from those larger classes by the end of this week.  This move will not be major surgery to any child’s schedule if they are chosen to move to the new teacher’s class.  Those students that will be getting a new teacher will be bringing home a letter on Friday (today) informing you of that lateral teacher change.   I know that some students will not want to move however, it’s necessary so that all students can more effectively learn in a more appropriate class size.  Your help, explanations to your children, and support is crucial to the success of this effort.  I assure you, your child would be extremely lucky to be moved into either of these two talented teachers’ classrooms.   Thanks in advance for that support.

Our 7th and 8th grade Hopewell Volleyball teams both played Cedar Valley MS tough in their matches last night but came up short.  I told the coaches and some of the girls that the fact they hung tough against that very good team is a great sign for a very good season.  Good luck to our 7th and 8th grade Hopewell Football teams as they begin their season next week.  7th grade boys are at Walsh beginning at 5:30 and the 8th grade boys are at Dragon Stadium Tuesday vs. Walsh beginning at 5:30.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Looks like cooler weather is on the way!



Karl