Dear Families in the Middle,

Have you heard about POWER UP!? Our Hudson Community is launching a 
TRY FOR 5 COMMUNITY CHALLENGE! Your middle school student has been encouraged to track their consumption of fruits and vegetables during the week of May 8 -14. Just raising awareness and taking the challenge earns our learning community funds for health promoting experiences and activities! Check out the website: powerup4kids.org for more information and to register for prizes.

Celebrating more HMS students and staff...
Future Problem Solvers

Students from all over the world compete in various components. At HMS, we have only competed in the Scenario Writing portion of FPS. Students write a futuristic, creative story (set at least 20 years in the future) 1500 words or less related to one of the year's topic choices. Wisconsin's State Meet was held in Green Lake. 

Anya Getschel earned 2nd Place in the Junior Division (grades 4-6) for her scenario on the topic of Animal Treatment.  

Kenzie Korent earned 3rd Place in the Middle Division (grades 7-9) for her scenario on the topic of Intellectual Property. 

Mrs. Angela Goebel, one of our Middle School Counselors, was recently elected Wisconsin School Counselor Association (WSCA) Assistant Board Chair by the Board of Directors. Proud of her grace, compassion, and leadership and thankful her work will continue to enhance our middle-level learning community. Congratulations Angela! 

HMS has initiated WALKING WEDNESDAY May 4, 2016. Students and staff seem to enjoy the refreshing start to the school day. Thanks for the team effort to provide music, supervision and optimism (device free!) for this effort! See you on the track Wednesday, May 18 at 7:15 AM. 

Thank you for joining us in celebrating student learning by coming to our Academic Open House last Thursday evening. What a wonderful museum of learning we enjoyed! 

On May 14 (Saturday), the National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive will take place nationally. Last year, Hudson area residents broke the record of pounds donated in our community! 80 Million pounds of food were collected nationally and 20,000 pounds were collected in the Hudson community. All the food collected helps families in the hudson area. Please consider placing non-perishable items in or at your mailbox Saturday morning. Thank you! 

Dear Families in the Middle,

It's National Teacher Appreciation Week May 2 - 6! Recognizing we've all had teachers we appreciate, Chelsea Belville (our School Social Worker) and I thought you'd enjoy the following blog post below. We hope you'll consider trying Dr. Fay's tip and taking it a step further by sending a quick e-mail or leaving a phone message for a teacher you and your child admire and appreciate. Thank you!

First of all I’d like to apologize to the many teachers of my youth who put their heart and soul into trying to maintain order with me sitting in their classrooms. I wasn't a downright malevolent child. I simply liked to keep things entertaining by continuously testing the sense of humor of my instructors. My tenth grade biology teacher passed the test with flying colors as he reacted to the cadaver frog I'd managed to hang from the ceiling tile above my desk. "Mr. Fay," he replied with a dry smile, "life around here would be so dull without you."

Like many of my teachers, he managed to see the good in me even when I couldn't see it in myself. Great teachers are like that. Somehow they manage to use their x-ray vision to spot the gifts in even the most difficult kids.

Let's send a big thanks to educators by helping our kids view them with great respect. A powerful strategy for achieving this goal involves allowing them to overhear us talking positively about their teachers. You've probably noticed your children's eyes glazing over as you've tried to lecture them about some essential truth. In contrast, you've seen how closely they listen when they see that you're trying to have a private conversation!

Experiment with this: At least twice a week intentionally let your children overhear you saying something positive about their teachers. Do this for the rest of the school year.

Springtime can be tough for both teachers and their students. Keeping things positive can go a long way toward helping your children learn while showing teachers that we appreciate their hard work and dedication.


Dr. Charles Fay