Hamilton Headlines

News and notes from
Hamilton Middle
December 2, 2021
Vol. 3, Issue 18
No School Monday
December 6
December Principal Update
By John Burkholder
It is already December and we are well on our way to the end of the first semester of the school year. Our students continue to Reconnect to being back to full in-person schooling, getting reacquainted with the processes of going to school with over 700 classmates on a daily basis. In my estimation the process to Reconnect with in-person schooling will take the full school year for all of us, adults and students alike.

We cannot underestimate the strength of the patterns and new ways of thinking and doing that we all fell into throughout this pandemic. For the vast majority of our students, spending over a year almost exclusively in virtual learning resulted in changes to the ways in which they participate in learning, and in the ways in which they navigate the social and emotional aspects of a shared schooling environment. We are thus intentional about Reconnecting our students, offering many opportunities for them to work in-person and together (like in many of the photos in this newsletter), learning once again how to ask for help when it is needed (without using the Chat function), and developing a stance of self-advocacy and problem solving. Our students have not had to access these skills on a consistent basis on a full campus in quite some time. When students are facing a struggle in their learning or relationships with others, our response tends to be, 'What can you do to address or solve this issue?' Our students almost always know how to answer this question, but it takes some time and some reminders for these paths in the brain to once again become automatic.

Our work to Reconnect our students to in-person schooling will take us through to the end of the school year. This process to Reconnect will result in students once again becoming self-directed learners who advocate for their needs while returning to expected and desired trajectories of academic and social-emotional growth. It's a journey for sure, but we will all get to where we need to go! Happy December!
Concerts Are Coming Back!
We have the go ahead from the district to have in-school live events under certain circumstances. As such, we will be reintroducing concerts and performances back to our campus, albeit through a measured and slow rollout. Kicking things off will be 7th and 8th grade Band concerts on the evening of December 16. These concerts will not overlap as a single concert like we have done in the past, but will instead be scheduled as two separate events on the same evening. Attendance will be limited and appropriate spacing between fully masked family units will be required. Families of 7th and 8th grade Band students are being contacted separately with specific event information.

We will take what we learn from the Band concerts on December 16 and work to plan additional music and performance events as we head into the new year. An exciting development for sure!
More About Picking Your Child Up Early From School
For a variety of reasons, we have a larger number of students getting picked up early from school for appointments, etc. Please know that if you are picking up your child during their scheduled lunch/recess period, you should plan for extra time. Locating your child during lunch/recess and getting them to you at our main entrance may take as long as 15 minutes. For your reference, below are the scheduled lunch/recess times:

Sixth Grade: Monday: 11:02-11:43; Tuesday-Friday: 11:38-12:31

Seventh Grade: Monday: 10:25-11:06; Tuesday-Friday: 10:49-11:42

Eighth Grade: Monday: 12:13-12:54; Tuesday-Friday: 1:01-1:54
Advanced Learning Resources
The Advanced Learning Department has developed extension lessons for ELA, Humanities, Math, and Social Studies. These lessons began the week of September 20th. The extensions contain mini-lessons with videos and Google Form Checks for Understanding that cover the topics for the week. The Checks for Understanding are automatically scored and can be taken multiple times.

Please note: many of the links and lessons require an MMSD email account due to educational copyright law. Please have your student log into Chrome to access the lessons.

For more information and links, click on the below Advanced Learning button.
Personalize Your Child's High School Experience
Most of you know that if you live in our attendance area, your child matriculates from the friendly confines of Hamilton Middle, to 9th grade at West High School. But did you know that your child's high school experience can be personalized and that West is not the only option? The first step in personalizing your child's high school experience is knowing about available options. To learn more about the options your child has for high school, click on the below OPTIONS link. In addition, the school district invites you to attend a live Zoom meeting on the evening of December 8 to learn more about the options for high school. Information for the live Zoom meeting in both English and Spanish can be found in the below ZOOM links.
UW Department of Psychiatry Brain Research Opportunity
The UW Department of Psychiatry and BRAVE Research Center are looking for youth ages 10-16, accompanied by a caregiver, to participate in two neuroscience research studies:

1) Emotional Development Study, and,
2) Parent-Child Learning Study.

Study visits include clinical interviews, MRI brain scans, surveys, and various computer games/tasks. All visits take place outside of school hours at a clinic on the West Side. Families are compensated after each study visit. Because of the MRI scans, eligible youth cannot have braces. Earn a $10 Amazon gift card for completing a brief online screening form to see if you’re eligible to participate in either of these studies.
 
See the below link for the flyer for the studies, screening form, and contact information for any questions you may have.
Hamilton Quick Links:
PTO
Badger PreCollege Summer Opportunities
It's time! Applications for many Badger Precollege summer programs are officially open to students in all grades, K-12. What can your student do at UW–Madison this summer? Just about anything! Click on the link to learn more, and be sure to scroll through the entire linked page to know all the options for middle school aged students.
Upcoming Dates of Interest
Mark your calendars for these upcoming dates:
December
  • 6-No School: Staff Training Day
  • 20-31-No School: Winter Break

January
  • 3-School Resumes
  • 17-Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday
  • 21-No School: Grade Reporting
  • 21-End of First Semester
  • 24-Beginning of Quarter 3
Photo Finish
All Hamilton campus photos in this edition of Hamilton Headlines were taken today and represent some of the great diversity of learning opportunities afforded to our students.
Hamilton Middle Website