It is a great day to be a Royal!
It is hard to believe that I am well into my 18th year at HBR and the 15th at HBRMS and yes I know this means Mr. Edwards, Mr. Bastian and Mr. Jourdan are getting older. We have a saying at the middle school that the staff gets older, but the students seem to stay and act like 11- to 15-year-olds; this keeps us all young. From the time I began at HBR, I continue to describe our school and the entire district to people as a place that is very special and am honored to work for, and with, day in and day out. I am very proud of our students, families, staff, and administrators coming together under current circumstances to get students back to in-person learning. The teachers, staff, and I work and take great pride in building meaningful relationships with ALL our students. One of the ways we have some fun is by having a riddle or a short quote on our sign out front. The students and staff enjoy reading and having their joke posted. One of the recent ones that was shared with me was What do you call a grandma who uses social media? INSTAGRAM :::::😊
HBRMS Staff School Improvement Activities 21-22
To support our teachers during this 21-22 school year, on September 30 our staff members were involved in half day School Improvement activities. The activities were based on our below district goals.
Hinckley-Big Rock CUSD #429 staff will have a collective understanding of what it means to be a Royal in all manners of how we act, hold ourselves accountable, hold each other accountable, and interact with the students, parents/guardians, staff, and broader community of HBR.
Course, extra-curricular, and co-curricular offerings
HBR CUSD #429 will undergo an analysis of K-12 course offerings, as well as
extra-curricular and co-curricular activities, in an effort to provide students with learning
experiences that further develop their creativity, curiosity and confidence in future years as we strive to meet the needs of our learning community.
The New 3Rs: Emphasis on Relationships If you Live Here, I Know Your Name
On September 30th, our teachers participated in an activity led by our Instructional Coaches and our Mental Health Team. The activity in the gym had all students’ names placed on the wall and teachers used stickers to identify students they have connections with. After the activity teachers were grouped together and discussed the outcomes and how we can improve making connections with our students. These types of activities will be ongoing through our school year.
Tech Symposium schedule for October 29th
Our staff is looking forward to our annual Technology symposium. Throughout the day staff will be choosing from several different learning opportunities that will focus on increasing student engagement in the learning process using technology, relationship/connection building with our students, and project-based learning. The following is a list of the session’s teachers will choose from during the day.
- Bitmoji Classroom/Hyperlinked Slides
- Increase student interest and engagement with projects
- Creating an Escape Room
- Peardeck
- Share our School Story! One Stop Communication for Teachers, Coaches and Sponsors
- Math Chat teachers talking about new curriculum Big Ideas
- Multilingual in HBR
- Co-Teaching: The Power of 2
- Maximizing Google Suite for Education
- Building your 3Rs toolbox building meaningful relationships
- Clever
- Google Sites
Social emotional and academic help for our students
HBRMS encourages all students or family members of students who are struggling to reach out to staff members for emotional or academic help. Teachers have periods and times when they can be reached via email, phone or google meets. If you need help with connecting to your teacher, please contact our office or see anyone in the building we will be happy to help. Mrs. Neidigh, our social worker, or any other staff member is available for any social emotional needs. HBRMS office 630-556-4190
Volleyball and Soccer Season end on a high note
Congrats to our volleyball and soccer teams for successful seasons. Our 8th grade volleyball team was conference regular season champs and runner-up in the conference tournament. Soccer tied for regular season champs and won the conference tournament. Thanks to our coaches, student athletes and especially the parents for helping with transportation.
It continues to be a privilege to work with all the parents, community members, staff, and teachers throughout the school year. As always, please do not hesitate to contact me with your questions and concerns. We are always looking for way to improve and make our school better.
Thanks for all your continued efforts,
Jeff Strouss
HBRMS Principal
630-556-4190
