It's now November and that brings falling leaves and adds a chill in the air. Hopefully the school year has settled in to a productive and positive routine for your family. HMS has recently wrapped up the 1st 9 weeks and off to a fast start in the 2nd. I want to remind everyone of the importance of communication between home and school. We need each other's support to be truly successful transitioning your child through the middle school years. I encourage each of you to come in today for our Open House between 3 - 6 pm to check up on their academic progress. It stresses to the students that you understand how important education is, and helps them view learning as a priority as they become increasingly more responsible for their education in the middle school years.

November is full of opportunity and important dates for our students. Our fall sports seasons have wrapped up and we celebrated their successes during an all-school fall sports Pep Rally. I would like to thank Mr. Crano, Mr. Hicks and the HMS band along with Ms. Treglia and the cheerleaders for making this such an exciting event. Congratulations and thank you to the coaches and teams for their hard work and dedication to the programs. Football: Mario Costantini, Anthony Saccoccia, Donnie Price, Mat Davis, Dave Sanders, Seth Fluharty and Thad Crosier. Volleyball: Paige Bolding and Molly Polling. Cross Country: Tiffany Ribar. Currently the winter sports are getting started and we want to wish each of them the best of luck with their seasons.

Congratulations to the HMS Band on their recent performances during the halftime of the Big Red football game and the Varsity Show. They sounded great! Also, we want to wish much luck to the Mrs. Macre and her Drama members as they will be performing the musical of Annie this Friday (7pm) and Saturday (3pm). And if you see snow falling, be sure to get a look at the snowplow that was designed and painted by the Art students in Mrs. Wineman's class. Great Job! Speaking of art, Mrs. Wineman's class also created several picture prompts that were used at the recent fun Fall Sadie Hawkins 7th & 8th grade Dance. Special thanks to Mr. DeFrances and his class for taking the photos. Finally, I'd like to thank the HMS Leading For Success teams for their efforts and organization on making HMS better than the rest!!! I am extremely proud and impressed with all the staff and students at Harding Middle School. They make this place great!