September 11, 2015
Dear Parents,
Calendar of Events for the Week of September 14-18:
Monday, September 14th: 7th grade football @ Canyon Vista MS 5:30PM
Tuesday, September 15th: 8th grade football vs. Canyon Vista MS at Dragon Stadium 5:30PM
Wednesday, September 16th: 6th Grade Back to School Night 6-8PM. General Meeting in the cafeteria at 6PM then class and teacher visits following.
Thursday, September 17th: 7th Girls VBall @ Canyon Vista 5:30PM, 8th Girls VBall vs. Canyon Vista 5:30PM
Friday, September 18th: Stony Point HS Homecoming football game 7PM Reeves Athletic Complex
Friday September 18th and Saturday September 19th: 8B Girls VBALL tournament at a location/times TBD.
STONY POINT HS HOMECOMING FOOTBALL GAME NEXT FRIDAY, SEPT. 18th
All Hopewell MS students and families are welcome to attend this exciting Stony Point Homecoming football game at Reeves Athletic Complex starting at 7PM. All our Hopewell students have to do is show up to the game, bring their school spirit, wear their Hopewell T- shirt and bring along a parent/guardian to cheer on the Tigers as they take on rival the Round Rock HS Dragons. Parents attending and students attending without their parents will need to pay full admission price. There will be announcements made during the game, recognizing Hopewell MS. Please join in the fun and excitement and take in a great high school football game and cheer on the Stony Point Tigers!
7th and 8th BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT RECAP
Thank you Hopewell parents for attending our 7th and 8th grade Back to School Night on Wednesday from 6-8PM. It was great to see you all and hopefully you all had a great experience meeting your child’s teachers, hearing about their class structures, expectations and curriculum. If you have any further questions, you are welcome to contact them via email or phone. Hope to see our 6th grade parents at their Back to School Night next Wednesday from 6-8PM. General meeting in the cafeteria at 6PM with a special presentation by our WEB (Where Everyone Belongs) student leaders and two teacher sponsors then off to classrooms to visit the teachers and stars of the show!
FOLLOW THE PRINCIPAL ON TWITTER@KarlWaggoner
HOPEWELL GRADING POLICY HIGHLIGHTS
This Hopewell Grading policy can be viewed on the Hopewell MS website homepage along with our new Hopewell Honor Code. Our purpose in developing a standardized, consistently applied grading policy to so that ALL students in ALL grades are being graded the same way by ALL teachers. We do not want one math teacher grading one way by having test count 75% of the grade and another teacher grading the same test but counting it 50% of the overall grade. Below are some of the new grading policy highlights for your review. We will continue to monitor it, adjust it as needed, and ensure that our students are being assessed accurately for what they are learning.
- 6th-8th Grades: 50% of the grade is formative assessments (quizzes, homework, daily grades, warm-up grades, participation etc..) and 50% is summative assessments (unit tests, projects etc...)
- < >of TEN formative assessment grades per six week grading period andMINIMUM of TWO summative assessment grades per six week grading period. < > will count no more than 10% of the formative assessment grade. The focus is on grading for true authentic mastery of the learning and not taking off points for behaviors such as not putting a name on the paper, doing the work in pen instead of pencil for example. Grading penalties skew the true picture of what the student actually has demonstrated that they know. If a student receives a 90% on a test then they have demonstrated that they know 90% of the tested learning targets or objectives. If 20% points are taken off for being late or done in the wrong writing mode then the new grade of 70% is not an accurate reflection of the student’s learning. Consequently, giving points for extra credit is not an accurate reflection either. We will work in extra credit as an extra grade or will use some other means to reward student extra efforts.
- Make sure that opportunities are provided for students to re-take tests to show mastery of the concepts that are taught. Students will be allowed to raise failing grades to a max of 70% credit for re-takes on tests, quizzes and homework.
WE NEED MORE WATCH D.O.G.S. (DADS OF GREAT STUDENTS)
There are two primary goals of the Watch D.O.G.S. program:
- To provide positive male role models for our Hopewell MS students and demonstrating by example and presence that education is important.
- To help provide Hopewell staff and administration and extra set of keen eyes and ears to help enhance security, reduce bullying at Hopewell MS, and to lend students a hand when they need help opening up a locker or giving them directions on where to go, and to be a positive male influence.If you have some time in the mornings from 8AM-10AM for a two hour shift we could use your help!Please email Karl at karl_waggoner@roundrockisd.org if interested or for more information. Thanks Hopewell MS dads!
PLEASE JOIN OUR HOPEWELL MS PTA! Your PTA needs YOUR Membership!
If you have not yet joined PTA please think about the benefits you offer the children of our school if you sign -up. PTA advocates for your children, provides books for the library, puts on the much anticipated student dances twice a year, covers the costs of recognizing your children when they achieve great things at school, sells the spirit-wear that keeps our school pride alive and well, plus sells the snacks at game days so our kids can be enthusiastic supporters of our Teams! The form to complete for your Membership subscription is available here:
then just send it into school with your $8.00 per person and you can know that you are helping our children this year!
NEW COOL APP FOR SMARTPHONE TO SUPPORT HOPEWELL MS!
This is such a cool app for your smart phone or tablet computer! It’s such an easy, no-hassle way to raise money for our school by snapping a picture of a grocery receipt or other receipts. Depending on the number of supporters and how much the app is used, we could receive a substantial amount of money for our kids at Hopewell MS! ALL raised money will go directly to the student activity account to be used for student rewards, books, supplies, programs and events etc….It’s easy, efficient and profitable. Check it out!
REFLECTIONS Art Program and Competition - Coming soon!
The National PTA Reflections program supports student success and serves as a valuable tool for building strong partnerships in your school community. We want to participate in that and celebrate arts learning in our school community with Reflections.
National PTA Reflections welcomes all grades and abilities to explore and be involved in the arts. Annually, thousands of students will reflect on a common theme and create original works of art in the visual arts.
The theme categories of dance choreography, film production, literature, music composition, photography and for the 2015-2016 school year is Let Your Imagination Fly.
Our 8th Grade Chair and 7th Grade Co-Chair for Reflections will be starting to promote this program within the next two weeks at school. Put your thinking caps on and LET YOUR IMAGINATION FLY! How could you enter this program?
GET EXCITED, talk to your friends, work alone or together to create something to best represent you!
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Karl
Karl
