WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13TH IS A HALF DAY FOR ALL STUDENTS. DISMISSAL WILL BE AT 11:05AM

ATTENDANCE MATTERS CAMPAIGN: Haverhill Public schools has partnered with an organization called Haverhill Promise and is running an Attendance Matters Campaign for the rest of this calendar year. What this means is that each week for the rest of 2023, if your student is in school every day on time, they will be entered into a raffle to win a prize. If they miss a day one week, that is okay, because they can be entered into the next week’s raffle. Hunking will have 4 winners school wide each week. This contest will run every week until Christmas break. The importance of this contest is that being in school daily is the first step to all students being successful in school. 

HUNKING THEME OF THE MONTH: We are embracing the theme of Generosity throughout the month of December. Generosity is the quality of being kind and generous. Generosity is the willingness to give help & kindness, especially more than is usual or expected. Staff will be on the lookout throughout this month for the students that they feel most personify the theme of generosity. 

Congratulations to all of the award recipients for November’s theme of Gratitude!

COMMUNITY HAPPENINGS: 

YMCA Afterschool Program: 

WINTER CONCERT SERIES:

8th Grade Fundraisers (last ones for 2023!)

• It’s a hard ask this time of year, but we would appreciate one small item as a Raffle Basket Donation!!! Click here to donate items.  Items should be sent to the office between Nov. 20th-Dec. 15th. Baskets to be showcased a week before our next Restaurant Fundraiser at G’s in December.
• G’s Restaurant, Don’t make plans the day after Christmas. Keep the festivities going and dine at G’s on December 26th from 4-9pm
• Ski Bradford Signs (with every purchase of a handmade wooden 4″x18″ wooden sign, $10 will be deducted from your child’s trip balance. Email: Rebecca@rebeccagilbertdesign.com to order.

WASHINGTON, DC GRADE 8:

• Update: 100 students registered! Once you have registered, your student will be added. However, just registering with no payment does not hold your spot. Please make the $125 non refundable payment today.   Check the DC google classroom for updates! 

Dates/Info to remember:

• January 24th- 6pm at Hunking /Held to answer questions and allow for any last minute signups. Nurse leader will be here to discuss medication.
• Feb. 9th-2nd payment $225 (deadline to sign up)

• District Permission Slip AND Student Participation Contract are needed once students are registered. Return signed to homerooms. Hard copies have been provided to homerooms. Questions????- Megan.arivella@haverhill-ps.org

PTO NEWS:  

• There’s still time to donate to Heroes & Helpers! This program, formerly known as “Shop with a Cop” is a need-based program for middle school students. Selected students are given $100 spending money and are paired up with a Haverhill first responder to go shopping for their families. All funds donated through this collection will go to sponsor children and families in need: https://heroes-and-helpers-2023-holiday-season.cheddarup.com

NEWS FROM GUIDANCE:

Meet your school counselors!

Grades 5 and 6: Sarah Petrick  sarah.petrick@haverhill-ps.org    

Grades 7 and 8: Terri Carney   terri.carney@haverhill-ps-org

NEED A WORK PERMIT? 

https://www.haverhill-ps.org/work-permit-information/

Haverhill High School

https://hhs.haverhill-ps.org/

HHS Programs:

Classical Academy: https://hhs.haverhill-ps.org/classical-academy-3/ 

Apply: CA One-Pager (updated fall 2020)

Career Technical Education (CTE): https://cte.haverhill-ps.org/ 

Apply: https://haverhill.go2cte.com/

Early College Information:  https://hhs.haverhill-ps.org/early-college/

Students can begin taking Early College Classes in 10th grade! 

Whittier Tech 

https://whittiertech.org/

Apply: https://whittiertech.go2cte.com/

Information on Private Schools

Private School Info 23/24

FROM: ML TEAM- Hanukkah also known as the Festival of Lights is an important Jewish festival that runs for eight days (this year started on December 7th to 15th ). The religious holiday is a celebration of Judaism. People celebrate by lighting candles, gifting presents, and eating traditional Hanukkah food, such as latkes. HAPPY HANUKKAH !

EDUCATIONAL HAPPENINGS: 

Kindergarten: We are so happy that our gingerbread people were found! School Resource Officer Figueroa and Captain Tracy were kind enough to return them to us. They definitely had an exciting adventure while they were running around town!

Grade 3 has been working hard in Math and will be taking the district-wide Benchmark-1 test over the next 2 days, completing it by Tuesday 12/12.  We teachers are so proud of how our students are learning to document their problem-solving strategies and how to show their work!

Grade 7 Social Studies- Students spent time learning about the global water crisis. They started by researching the lack of clean water in India. We then spent time exploring issues related to water in America. We then brainstormed solutions to help mitigate the water crisis. 

Science-Students practiced analyzing/interpreting data and constructing explanations by Thinking/Reading/Writing about Limiting Factors/Population Size/Carrying Capacity of Threatened and Endangered species using true scenarios and graphs.

Grade 8- This week Gr. 8 students wrapped up our school tour with a visit to Whittier Tech. Please be mindful of application deadlines in the upcoming weeks. 

Term 1 report cards were sent home with all students on Wednesday of this week. Signed copies of the report cards must be returned to homeroom teachers by Tuesday, 12/12. Thank you for your cooperation with this! 

In Math students just completed a district wide benchmark that assessed everything we have learned since school started- be sure to ask them how they did! 

HEALTH CLASSES – All 5th grade classes have been working on the Boston vs Bullies program which is a bullying prevention program developed by the Boston Sports Museum. Students have been learning about what defines a bullying situation as well as what to do if you are a target or bystander. As a fun reward for their hard work, students got to play an educational board game to further enhance their knowledge. They worked cooperatively and had fun!

NEWS FROM OUR NURSES:  The Health Office will continue vision and hearing screening for the first grade. If your child wears glasses, please send them in with your child. Flu and cold season is here. Washing your hands is a great way to stay healthy. Happy Hanukkah!

ATHLETIC NEWS: 

Basketball: Congratulations to both teams for getting off to a 3-0 start. Both teams will be back in action as they travel to Sacred Hearts on Thursday, December 14th with the girls playing first. 

Girls will practice on Monday, December 11th and every Monday. 

Boys will practice on Friday, December 15th and every Friday.

The Hunking Basketball team store is now open!  Support your Hunking Bobcats basketball teams with swag for the entire family.  Product available in men’s, women’s and youth sizes.  Please note that this is a flash store and will close on December 21, so please make sure to get your orders in before then!

https://edgegear.chipply.com/hunkingschoolbasketball/

CLUB NEWS: 

GSA (Gender-Sexuality Alliance): The GSA calendar can be found here. 

LEGO Club: The LEGO club calendar can be found here. Next 4th grade date is December 14th. Next 5th grade date is January 4th. 6th-8th helpers should attend any of those dates possible. Their first free build, which was scheduled for December 21st, has been moved to December 20th, which is a Wednesday.

NJHS: The NJHS calendar can be found here. 

Student Council:  Student council is offering a fun afternoon for grade K-2 as a fundraiser for our council activities!  Permission slips have been sent home with students this week. Here are the details and a link to the permission form.

Fun Afternoon for students in Grades K-2 (Student Council Fundraiser)

When? 

Thursday December 21st from Dismissal to 5:30 p.m.

What will students do?

Create a craft and watch a holiday or winter themed movie

Cost?

$10 for the movie, craft, snack and a drink

*Students who sign-up will report to Mrs. Bielski’s Room (242) at dismissal. 

Pick up for *all students is 5:30 p.m in front of the school. *Due to the time of the event it will be too dark for walking home. 

If interested, please return the permission form and payment to your child’s homeroom teacher no later than Friday December 15th.  

CHORUS: Chorus rehearsals will continue to meet every Tuesday and Friday morning in December at 7:45am. We will not have rehearsal on Friday Dec 22nd. There is still space for any more students who wish to join! Please reach out to Ms. Avalos with any questions or concerns.  

BAND:

Drama Club:  There will be no rehearsal on Tuesday, December 12, we will resume rehearsals on Thursday, December 14, 2023, from 2:45 to 4:45 in the music room for select cast members. Please see Google Classroom for the schedule.  

GRIT:  The NEW round of GRIT starts on Monday, Dec 11 and will take place after school in room 305 and ends at 4:30. New members from grades 7 & 8 have been notified. Members were chosen based on student applications.Each round of GRIT lasts for 10 weeks and the third and final round will be open in March.

Guitar Ensemble:  Our first concert of the year will be Tuesday, December 12th here in the Hunking gym. The concert starts at 6:30pm but our call time is 6 in Mrs. F’s room. Remember if you’re in both Band and Guitar please wear your band attire.  Guitar ensemble members can wear something “festive”.  We will not meet again until after winter break.  

ODDS & ENDS: 

-All students have been issued school IDs. It is required that they bring and wear their ID badges each day. These badges are also used for breakfast and lunches as well as to “swipe” on & off the bus. 

-Please make sure that your student(s) are coming to school daily with a fully charged chromebook. 

HPS has chosen School Device Coverage (SDC) to insure the Chromebooks that students have been issued. The cost of coverage for the year is $20 and includes accidental damage, loss, fire, and theft. As of right now, families have the option to sign up during the month of September (we will let you know if it extends). After sign up closes, only new students will be given a special code to sign up at registration. Our website explains SDC and has instructions on how to signing up online:

https://www.haverhill-ps.org/technology/device-insurance/

Qustodio: a FREE student safety, digital wellbeing platform that helps parents/guardians control their child’s access to the internet on their school issued devices. Qustodio is FREE for HPS Students/Families. More information and how to sign up for Qustodio can be found on our website at:

https://www.haverhill-ps.org/technology/athome/student-safety-and-digital-wellbeing-platform/

-Please make sure that you are sending your student(s) with a water bottle. We have a limited supply of cups and we do not have access to water fountains, only water bottle filling stations. 

SCHOOL POLICIES: Please click on the link below to review Hunking policies including cell phone, dress code, and pick up & drop off procedures: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OOOIPyskLX9WyYSuAWqfyQCB0ZJZ8JFsTTgB_sNW8d4/edit?usp=sharing