The Hive

Dear HMS Families,

We had a busy week back, but it has been so fun to have the kids back on campus with us. We have been asking everyone about their breaks and what they did so it has been fun to catch up with them and hear their winter break stories.

The end of the semester is upon us and below you will find some information about what to expect. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions.

We hope you have a great weekend!

With Kindness,

Bess & Sid

It is hard to believe that the end of 1st semester is coming up quickly on January 22nd! It is really helpful to check-in with your student around their grades to make sure they are what you are expecting to see reflected on their report card. We like to be as proactive about this as possible and make sure we are all on the same page.

We will be printing and mailing report cards to families on January 29th. However, on this same date you can also login to your Skyward family access to digitally see your child's report card.

Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.

Students will be able to access their student schedules on Friday, 1/23 through Skyward family access. We will also have printed schedules available for students on Monday, 1/26. Most of our student's schedules stay the same for the most part. We do not change year long classes in the middle of the year, but the period they are in might change. If your child has a one semester elective, they will have different classes next semester.

I say this at the beginning of the year and at the start of second semester - building student schedules is an incredibly complicated process - more than I could ever imagine. For us, it's especially complicated because we are a small school and some of our classes are only offered during one period a day. We cannot change anyone's schedule because all of our spaces are full. We try our best to accommodate with what students forecast for, but not all students are able to get their first selections. I hope we have shown you that we try to work with families as much as possible and I wish we could accommodate everyone's schedule requests. We really appreciate your understanding.

If you notice an error on our part - for example, if a student has two math classes - please email or counselor, Ben Nelson (ben.nelson@hocksd.org).

For the past couple of years, we have implemented a tardy policy. You can find this policy in our HMS Handbook. Our front office has been working with students for the past two years around tardies and the consequences of those tardies. We take a proactive approach around this, providing warnings to students and communicate what the consequences are for excessive tardies.

Currently that consequence is that when you get seven tardies, you get a lunch detention. We communicate to families of students we are worried about throughout this process. We wanted to communicate to all of our families that starting in second semester, students will be receiving lunch detentions for having seven tardies, including those tardies accumulated for 1st period.

Our leadership class is working on a January fundraiser to raise money for our new hornet mascot costume. We have been in need of a new one for the past couple of years and a group of students worked really hard to purchase one that would last us for awhile and be used to engage with students.

Their fundraiser idea is to sell Duct Tape and see what grade level can successfully tape Mr. Slom to a wall during lunch. As you can imagine, they are very excited to see this happen! We appreciate Mr. Slom always being willing to participate in these activities.

We just wanted to give everyone a heads up if your child comes home asking to participate in the Duct Tape Challenge. :)

Upcoming Sports Registration - Boys Basketball 1/26/26

Boys basketball registration is currently open and tryouts will begin Monday January 26th. Please make sure that your athlete has a current physical on file, and all forms are signed through FinalForms prior to the first day of tryouts.

Boys Basketball is open to 7th and 8th grade students. We will have 3 teams and not all athletes who try out will make a team.

Open Gyms in preparation for the upcoming boys basketball season will begin next week. They will run for two weeks on the following days - Tuesday Jan 13th, Thursday Jan 15th, Tuesday Jan 20th, and Thursday Jan 22nd. Open Gym will be from 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm and you must have your own transportation home.

Before winter break, we had spirit week and 8th grade won! Winter break was amazing but we’re back in school now with semester two coming. Leadership is working on making the hallway welcoming. MLK day is coming up and we will have a day off for that. We cannot wait for second semester!

The Hockinson PWT is excited to continue supporting the students and staff at Hockinson Middle School this year! In partnership with school administration, we are raising funds for two important initiatives: Staff Appreciation activities HMS Staff Hospitality and new Recess Equipment HMS Recess Equipment.

• Our fundraising goal for staff hospitality this year is $2,500.
• Our fundraising goal for recess equipment this year is $300.

Your support makes a big difference in creating a positive, engaging environment for our students and showing appreciation for our hardworking staff. We would love your help in contributing to these important fundraisers, thank you for being part of our community!

January

School Board Appreciation Month

January 5th School Resumes

January 16th & 17th LCRMEA 8th Grade Honor Band

January 19th No School - MLK Day

January 23rd No School - Semester Break

January 29th HMS Clark Jazz Festival

January 30th Carnation Sales Begin

January 30th PWT Binglow

January 30th Semester 1 Academic Awards

February

February 6th & 7th North County Honor Band

February 6th Mini Spirit Day - Super Bowl

February 13th - 15th All-State Honor Band

February 13th Carnations Delivered

February 13th Mini Spirit Day - Valentine's Day

February 16th-20th No School: Mid Winter Break

We really try to post one thing a day that is student centered. If you are curious what we are up to throughout the day, please consider following our Facebook or Instagram accounts. We love to give you all insight to all the amazing things that happen here.

We have such an awesome community and it's wonderful to be able to celebrate it!

We teach, guide, and support students and our community by creating a safe environment where we learn and grow together.

School Hours: 8:50am-3:20pm

Wednesdays: 1 Hour Early Release

Office Hours: 8:00am - 3:45am

Email: bess.colpron@hocksd.org
Website: https://hms.hocksd.org/
Location: 15916 NE 182nd Ave, Brush Prairie, WA, USA
Phone: 360-448-6440
Facebook: facebook.com/HockinsonMS/