Harmony Newsletter

Happy World Kindness Day. It is a day where we celebrate the power of compassion, empathy, and positive actions. It’s a wonderful reminder that one small, intentional act of kindness can make a huge impact. Acts of kindness can be simple gestures including: smiling at someone as you walk down the hallway, giving someone a sincere compliment, holding open a door, or checking on someone to see how their day is going.

As part of world kindness day, we want to remind students they have until the end of the month to nominate their peers for the Throwing Starfish Award. The nomination form is located in your school counseling Schoology folder. This month we challenge all Harmony students and staff to continue making a positive difference in the lives of others.

Morning Announcement Link

Nov 16 – SCA PJ Day

Nov 17 – SCA (Wear Black and Yellow) Day

Nov 17 - 6th Grade Academic Awards (7 PM)

Nov 18 – SCA Color Wars - Yellow [6], Red, [7] and Purple [8]

Nov 18 - 7th Grade Academic Awards (7 PM)

Nov 18 - 8th Grade Academic Awards (8 PM)

Nov 19 - 8th Grade Guitar Performs at STATE CONFERENCE in Richmond (6 PM)

Nov 19 – SCA Crazy Hair Day

Nov 20 – SCA Jersey Day

Nov 25 to 27 - Holiday / No School

Dec 4 - Round 2 - Spelling Bee - Top 25 from Classrooms.

Dec 4 - Current 5th Graders will visit Harmony MS (10:00 AM to 11:30 AM)

Dec 11 - WHS will perform for 8th graders (AM)

Jan 8 - Parent Coffee (on Internet Safety - 9 AM)

Contact names for questions or concerns are below:

• School Security Officer, (SSO), Josh Stillwell (joshua.stillwell@lcps.org)
• Dean and School Safety Contact, Justin Dailey (justin.dailey@lcps.org)
• Principal, Eric Stewart (eric.stewart@lcps.org)
• School Resource Office (SRO), Loudoun County Deputy Chris Salter (christopher.salter@loudoun.gov)
• School Phone is 540-751-2500 (then dial zero to reach the main office)

Our 8th Grade Guitar Ensemble has been invited to perform at the 2026 Virginia Music Educator Association convention at the Richmond Convention Center on November 19th.

This is HISTORIC as our students are only the SECOND middle school guitar ensemble (and only the eighth guitar ensemble) ever invited to such a performance.

It is an incredible honor as only the best student music ensembles across are commonwealth are invited to perform!

THIS MONTH: 1st Quarter Award Nights are set (see dates above). We look forward to recognizing students for their hard work, consistent A/B grades or All A grades! For Honor Roll, each parent should look at their child's report card in ParentVUE to see if they have earned ALL A's or ALL A's and B's. Honor Roll students are automatically invited to attend the ceremony. No invitations are sent for these.

We do also present Cornerstone Awards. There are for students who were nominated by staff. Students for these awards WILL receive an email notification.

Both events occur at the same time. Dates are listed above. We hope to see you there!

In a note from teacher, Ms. Beth Kursey, to Loudoun Times guest speaker, Ms. Katherine Graham (kgraham@loudountimes.com), we express our thanks to Ms. Graham for speaking to our students.

"Mrs. Graham,

I thought you may enjoy seeing some of what the students wrote during your presentation. You made a great impression, and they thoroughly enjoyed learning from you. We will digest these notes as a class this week and write our thank you notes soon. Thank you again so much for your time.​​"

Students asked a variety of questions, including these:

• What do you like about your job? Favorite part of the job?

• What made you want to become a reporter / editor?

• What is the hardest part of your job?

• What is your favorite or most exciting story you have covered?

• Where do you find your stories?

"Dear Mr. Chris Fairchild and the Harmony Middle School Admin Team,

We wanted to take a moment to personally thank you for being part of Hillsboro Charter Academy’s Veterans Day Ceremony. We truly appreciate you taking the time to join us and help make the morning so special for our scholars, staff, families, and honored veterans.

The HMS Band’s performances were a wonderful addition to the ceremony. We especially loved the thoughtful touch of including the Marines’ Hymn in honor of our guest speaker. It was so kind of the Chris to find out which branch of the military our speaker served in ahead of time so the music could be personalized. That extra attention to detail meant a lot and was such a nice way to honor our guest. Please extend our thanks to all the students for sharing their talents with us!

It was also wonderful to see a few of our HCA alumni participating. There’s something special about seeing former scholars and getting a glimpse of how much they’ve grown since their time at HCA. Seeing those familiar faces was an added bonus to an already great morning!

We are grateful for our partnership with Harmony Middle School and appreciate your support in helping us honor our veterans. Thank you again for being part of such a special celebration!

Thanks again, Megan Tucker and the HCA Team"

BAND CALENDAR:

December 7, 3:45-5:15pm - 6th Grade Band after school rehearsal

December 8, 7:30pm - 6th Grade Band Winter Concert

December 8, 6:15pm - 7th Grade Band Winter Concert

December 17, 7:00pm - 8th Grade Band and Orchestra Winter Concert

Our seven Harmony 6th grade singers who were selected to the 2026 All-County Chorus participated in an amazing singing opportunity on November 13.

They traveled to Watson Mountain Middle School for a full day of rehearsals with the other students who were selected from Loudoun County and held a concert on Saturday, November 14 at Lightridge High School (at 11:00 am).

All-County Students

Donovan Crockett, Marshall Sutton, Evelyn O'Mara, Reagan Sams, Matilda Duran, Allie Lucero, Ari Magnoosson

For the third year in a row, Harmony MS won one of the photo contests of the "One Loudoun LCPS Celebration."

This year we won twice, the only school in LCPS to do so.

1. Sofia Metallo's picture won Best Smiles Photo.

2. The school staff won "Most Creative Photo."

A complete list of winners is available at lcps.org/celebrationday. Good job Harmony.

Original staff member, Mr. George Cassutto, attended a Veterans Day parade last weekend. The picture is with WW2 Veteran and Brunswick Veterans Day Parade Marshall 103-year-old Wilbur "Jack" Myers

He was a U.S. Army corporal and gunner in the 692nd Tank Destroyer Battalion, who helped liberate the Netherlands and fought in the Ardennes in the Battle of the Bulge.

Two of our very own students, Jack Becker (6th grade) and Beau Barish (8th grade), were recently selected to represent the United States in the Grand Slam International Baseball Classic in the Dominican Republic!

Jack competed on the 12U USA team, while Beau represented the 14U USA team. Both boys had the incredible opportunity to compete against talented teams from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Mexico.

The 14U team had an impressive run, advancing all the way to the championship game, where they faced the Dominican Republic and finished in 2nd place!

This was an unforgettable experience for both boys, giving them the opportunity to represent their country, experience a different culture, build friendships, and play the game they love on an international stage.

Congratulations to Jack and Beau! What an amazing accomplishment and experience for these two young athletes!

The Kindness Crew is kicking off a new initiative next week to help celebrate our Upstanders, and kids who speak out against Hate Speech.

We're calling it the "Golden Ticket." It is like a super Buzzy Worthy. Each grade will get 2 golden tickets per quarter and can award them as situations arise and you see students sticking up for others. The award will give them the normal buzzworthy prize, a golden hornet sticker, and an end of year pizza lunch with Mr. Stewart. (This was LITERALLY the very best thing the Kindness Crew Kids could think of!)

This week, staff worked with students on a strategy designed to stop and reduce bullying and other innapropriate comments. The main strategy this time was called the "30 Second Rule." This is basically that if a comment you are about to make is something that cannot be changed, do not say it. They can't change it. Don't talk about it.

Samples include hair color, hair texture, skin color, body type, or facial features.

Students also discussed landguage that can be considered "hate speech." Hate speech uses words to describe a group in a way that is meant to harm or hurt. This can include slurs, epithets, or statements that promote harmful stereotypes.

Please talk to your child about what they've learned and the importance of eliminating hate speech at Harmony.

Our Harmony Student Council Association is still collecting Barilla Pasta boxes and Campbell's Soup cans during the month of November.

Their goal is to make donations to those in need through the Salvation Army and the Evans Home for Children and also to honor our military service members by constructing the US flag in our school cafe.

Please drop donations into each HOUSE Thanksgiving box. Donations will be accepted Tues 11/10-Tues 11/24. THANK YOU for lending a helping hand!

Interested in purchasing a yearbook this year? For a limited time, the yearbook will be $35, until the price goes up on December 1. To guarantee your student receives a yearbook, please go to www.yearbookordercenter.com and type in school code 21667 to order.

We also need 8th Grade students’ baby pictures! To submit your picture, please follow the guidelines below. Emailed photos will not be accepted. Photos must be uploaded to eShare no later than Friday, 12/4. PLEASE UPLOAD YOUR PHOTO WITH YOUR STUDENT’S NAME!

Here are some guidelines to ensure your student’s picture is successfully included in the Yearbook:

• Send only one baby picture of your 8th grade student.
• The photos will be square in the yearbook, so a close-up of the face is better than a full-body photo.
• Send a picture of your student by themselves. If the picture includes a sibling or parent, the other people will be cropped out of the photo which may detract from the quality of the image.
• If you have more than one student in the 8th grade, please send each student’s picture individually, not together.
• Follow the prompts in eShare to identify the student by first and last name. You can access eShare by going to www.yearbookshare.com and enter school code 21667. You can also click on this link https://yearbookshare.com/eShare/?code=21667.

If you have questions about anything yearbook, please contact Jennifer Heffron, Yearbook Adviser, at jennifer.heffron@lcps.org.

The visual and performing arts video will be released on LCPS social media platforms:

https://vimeo.com/lcpstv/vapa

The three shorter videos below have also been created, each focusing on Art, Music and Theatre.

Art: https://vimeo.com/lcpstv/art

Music: https://vimeo.com/lcpstv/music

Theatre: https://vimeo.com/lcpstv/theatre

Principal News:https://www.lcps.org/o/hrm/article/1802790

School Website: https://www.lcps.org/o/hrm

LCPS School Calendars: Documents | Loudoun County Public Schools

Everything You Need to Know About Dismissals, Buses, Car Rider Lines, and More

Sign up for ParentVue: https://www.lcps.org/PVUE

Join the PTA or Order Spirit Wear: https://www.lcps.org/o/hrm/article/2360486

Our teachers use Lightspeed to monitor student work during their class. With it, a teacher can use their own computer to see each student screen in their classrooms. Parents can too.

LCPS offers parents the option to sign up for Lightspeed to monitor their child’s online activity.

https://www.lcps.org/o/ddi/page/lightspeed

We also encourage families to maintain open conversations around digital wellness and monitor device use at home—including personal phones and school-issued computers. Finding the right balance looks different for every family. Some parents set daily screen-time limits, while others create a household rule where all devices go into a central box or charging station after 7:00 PM to ensure a restful night. We invite you to create a digital wellness plan that works best for your home to help keep our students safe, focused, and healthy.