Tom McDowell and Will Post-Ruffing participating in the PTO/HMS Move-A-Thon : )!
January 22, 2021
Dear HMS Families,
Thank you for your support of the PTO/HMS Move-A-Thon fundraiser! We greatly appreciate your involvement and dedication to this effort!
Our students and staff are excited about the Move-A-Thon events so far! You can experience the fun by watching this clip for an instant smile/laugh!
Here’s all of the fundraiser information you need in one place:
Why a fundraiser? Simply put - to help fund enrichments for the school. This fundraiser also encourages students to move and play and helps build community by having students and families work together to support their school.
When? The event kicked off last Friday. Students began to gather pledges, for any dollar amount. They will continue to do this through the day of the virtual run, walk or dance on Wednesday, January 27.
Pledging: Students collect pledges to walk/run or dance. Pledges will be online, since restrictions will make it difficult to collect paper pledges and funds. Pledges can be (1) a dollar amount per lap/minute or (2) a flat dollar amount. Students are encouraged to walk/run/dance for 35 minutes. If parents choose to donate per lap/minute, your dollar amount will be multiplied by 35 laps/minutes. So if parents choose to donate $1 per lap/min, the total donation will be $35; $2 per lap/min = $70, etc.
Wednesday, January 27 - Event Day: Students will be given a link that will allow them to select the run/walk or dance option. Students who chose to walk or run will be provided with a 35-minute soundtrack, which they can listen to around the neighborhood, trails, or even a treadmill. Students who prefer to dance can dance along to a guided video complete with music, Just Dance games, fitness dance moves, and more.
We are grateful to our PTO and to Mary Post, Christy Hayashida, and Jessica Raimy for their tireless work on this event!
We appreciate your participation in this fundraiser. 
Thanks for taking time to review the updates below, which highlight our recent adventures in learning.
Best Wishes,
Joan Adler and Tom McDowell
HMS Administrative Team
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HMS Winter Athletics and Activities Update
We want to provide you with an update on HMS Winter Athletics and co-curricular activities. The MPA and state agencies determined this week that the color coding system (green, yellow, red) will no longer apply to school-based athletic programs and in-person extracurricular activities. Moving forward, we will make the decision to provide in-person extracurricular activities and athletic practices based on community and school-based COVID-19 data. Based on our current, school-based data, HMS will not be resuming in-person extracurricular activities and athletic practices at this time. We will re-evaluate this decision on Friday, January 29th. We will keep you posted on all updates. Specific questions regarding athletics should be sent to our athletic director, David Creech, who can be reached at 846-5535 and david_creech@yarmouthschools.org.
We hope you can pause and do yourselves a favor by listening to this beautiful rendition of Still, Still, Still, which Haley Doan, Maya Faulstich, Iris Hubbard, Maddie MacLearn, and Danne Orenstein presented as a gift to Miss Grover. Maya organized, arranged, and accompanied this special piece. Enjoy!
We've successfully completed the first ever VIRTUAL HMS Spelling Bee! Thank you to the 35 students who competed in the virtual bee. We are inspired by your efforts! Both of our Spelling Bee winners are 6th grade students: 
Eleanor Weyenberg
Oliver Brown
Exciting News About Yarmouth’s Got Talent
Yarmouth Music Boosters is thrilled to announce they'll be hosting Yarmouth's Got Talent, the Online Edition, this March! While this popular fundraiser will be a little different this year, much will remain the same. A volunteer committee of teachers, Music Boosters, and community members will review the submissions. Local "celebrities", teachers, and school leaders will introduce the acts. There will be no judging, ticket sales, or voting, and best of all, there's no limit on how many people can watch the show! Music Boosters can't wait to see how students use technology to highlight their talents and think this new Online Edition will allow for acts never seen before on the YGT stage! Student submissions must be COVID/CDC compliant or they will not be considered. The entry form, rules, and details on how to submit a video can be found on Yarmouth'sGotTalent.org. Videos can be submitted any time between now and Friday, February 5. The list of acts included in Yarmouth's Got Talent, the Online Edition, will be announced on Monday, February 22 and the final show will be released for viewing on Friday, March 26.
The Great Build Your Own Microscope Grant - Thank you YEF!
Seventh grade students use classroom microscopes to study life science and explore things they can’t see with the normal eye. Students would normally share microscopes, which is challenging this year. Thanks to this YEF grant, students engineered and built their own digital microscopes! This project allows every student (in the classroom and at home) to have their own microscope when needed. Thanks to Morgan Cuthbert, Tate Gale, Janice Medenica, and Michelle Raber for their work on this and to Morgan for sharing these photos of students building and using the microscopes:
VALO Winter Community Discussion
Valo is co-sponsoring monthly intergenerational conversations that foster personal connections among community members of all ages during this isolating time. Their next conversation is scheduled for January 27th at 7PM. Please see this link for more information.
PTO/HMS Move-A-Thon Fun
Some of you have followed the adventures of Mary Post, Scott Couture, and Will Post-Ruffing’s friends last spring and summer: Skeleton display keeping spirits up in Yarmouth during pandemic. We're excited to share what these friends have been up to lately:
Huge thanks to Mary, Will, and Scott for keeping the fun going for all of us to enjoy!
Move-A-Thon Reminder - Sunday Night - January 24:
This is just a quick reminder that our weekend registration challenge ends Sunday night! We can't wait for the HMS Move-A-Thon, coming on Wednesday! More information coming soon! : )