May 17, 2020

Check out and “Like” the Official Howard Facebook page to see posts on the many activities taking place at Howard. Bookmark the Howard Web Page to keep up to date on the school calendar and other important information.

Howard Facebook Page Howard Web Page OCPS Web Page

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram! Twitter: @HMSAcaArts_OCPS

Instagram:hmsacaarts Howard Haven We created a new website for families to use during this time of “Social Distancing”. You will find arts resources like links to Broadway shows, Museum Virtual Tours, Music Ted Talks, and Dance resources. We have also included other great non-arts links as well! www.tinyurl.com/howard-haven

Fine Arts Summer Institute Cancelled

We are sad to announce that the Howard Middle School Fine Arts Summer Institute has been cancelled. Due to these unforeseen circumstances, we are in the process of refunding all payments. We are very sad we will not get to create art with each student this summer. However, we look forward to the new school year with you all in August!

Student of the Month! We would like to congratulate our Student of the Month nominees and winners for this month! As most of you know, each month the awards are given for a different subject area, and this month was for math. Teachers nominated students in three categories, Student of the Month, Most Improved, and the Heart Award (for demonstrating excellent character). Here are the nominees and winners for each category. Congratulations and thank you for all of your hard work and dedication! Heart Award Nominees Mikayla Mesa Lily Brezak Isaiah Sink Keira Wojdyla Caydence Collins Yanique Edwards Heart Award Winner Jamie Witt- 6th Evie Holiday-7th Jada DelValle- 8th Most Improved Nominees Charlize Acevedo Elaina Dionisio Deriah Bridges Lilah Deckler Alexa Hartshorne Oliva Lucas Most Improved Award Winner Mia DiSilva- 6th Rylee Grady- 7th Sophia Sullivan- 8th Student of the Month Nominees Amarianne Battle Katherine Farris Wesley Hoyer Sophia Izquierdo Brandon Blom Emma Ragsdale Student of the Month Winner Elizabeth Vanos- 6th Destiny Pamplano- 7th Hannah Horne- 8th

Howard Virtual Collaborative Mural Revealed

The Howard art department is excited to share with you our Collaborative Virtual Mural! We ended up creating a series (thank you Ms. Buckley!). A couple of these have an overlay of Monet's work and the others have overlays of student work. We enjoyed offering this project as a way for our community to create something together and hope you enjoy viewing them. We will be printing one to display at the school eventually. Special thanks to the Orlando Museum of Art for hosting an Art Talk for Howard where our students were able to take a close look at a work by Frank Weston Benson, "Lily Pond" (1923). This discussion helped our students immensely. You can see the whole series on the Howard Haven at the link below (a few are shown here). There is a place at the link to enter a comment as well. Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who contributed a square or who contributes by viewing/commenting. #HowardArts #HMStheshowmustgoon https://sites.google.com/view/howardhaven/collaborative-virtual-art-mural

Howard Virtual Student Art Exhibit, “Art Illuminations”

The Howard Art Department is excited to announce the opening of our annual student art exhibit, “Illuminations”. Although we would rather have everyone look at the actual artwork our amazing students have created this year, we did not want our students to miss out on the opportunity to at least share it virtually. We have exhibited one work from every student on the website below. As always, our show has been juried by a panel of local artists and art experts. Congratulations to the following award recipients:

Best of Show Painting Drawing Sculpture/ Ceramics

Gabrielle F. Fierce

1st: Adriana F, Self-Portrait 2nd: Parker S, California Dreaming 3rd: Hannah B, Untitled

1st: Jolimar F, Joy 2nd: Hannah B, New from Decaying 3rd: Sophia T, The Stars

1st: Wylie S, Fly Away 2nd:Sofia C, From the Pages 3rd: Sage E, Lemonheads

Photography Mixed Media Digital

1st: Jean Diego C, Free 2nd: Griffin W, Rock Lobster 3rd: Rylan R, The Birdhouse

1st: Nola B, Alien Eruption 2nd: Serena T, Reaching Out for the Cosmos 3rd: Klaire A, Untitled

1st: Jada D, Daring 2nd: Andrew M, Fractured Reality 3rd: Dereck M, Horizon God

We would like to congratulate all our students on their hard work this year. Like any art form, great work in the visual arts doesn’t just happen on its own. It takes intense effort, practice, reflection, revision, analysis, and fine-tuning until it feels complete. We want our students to take on a growth mindset in regards to their art. They take on big challenges because some things are “too easy”. They know that hard work is more important than the idea of “talent”. They learn that constructive criticism can lead to more success. And they know that mistakes are part of our learning process. We believe our student artwork will not only cause you to admire the skills they’re developing in artistic techniques but also pause for some thought-provoking questions some of these pieces raise and statements they make. Our students have a story to tell and we’re thrilled to share it with you.

Please sit for a while and browse through our art show. There is a padlet on the home page where you can write a quick comment on your thoughts of their work and the art show. There are over 170 comments so take a look at all the nice things people are saying!

https://tinyurl.com/HMSArtIlluminations2020

-Warskow, King, Finn, Buckley, and McCracken

NEW! HMS Arts Teacher Showcase 2020

The Howard Visual and Performing Arts teachers would like to send positive wishes to all our students the best way we know how, by sharing our own art forms with you. The arts can bring joy and comfort during times of stress, anxiety, and uncertainty. Here is a snapshot of us working through our arts during this time of isolation. We want to encourage you to continue the rewarding hard work of studying through the arts. Click the link to see the videos and artwork shown below.

HMS Arts Teacher Showcase 2020

Howard Virtual Guest Artist Series

Thank you to the following Guest Artists who gave of their time to offer so many enriching experiences and opportunities for the Howard community!

❖ Ken Gustafson, pianist, vocalist and Musical Director for Joey Fatone ❖ David Matteson, Associate Curator of Education & Outreach for Orlando Museum of Art ❖ Theresa Smith-Levin, Executive Director of Central Florida Vocal Arts & Operal del Sol ❖ Dr. Brandon Loos, Volusia Community Symphony ❖ Stephanie Ansley-Christofore, Musical Artist ❖ Joshua Mikel, Professional Actor ❖ Chris “Casper” Lupis, Hip Hop Dancer and Choreographer ❖ Barrett Wilbert Reed, Professional Actress

Theatre Guest Artist

This week on Thursday, May 21st at 1:00 p.m. Mrs. Horohoe will be hosting professional actress, Barrett Wilbert Reed, who will have a live video conference with Theatre students. Space is limited and interested Theatre students should contact Ms. Horohoe at lisa.horohoe@ocps.net

Check out our newest Virtual Guest Artist Talk! Howard's very own Mr. Gray and Destiny P. cohost an interview with actor Joshua Mikel. Josh has appeared in many major motion pictures and is a great resource for up and coming actors/actresses everywhere!

Click Here for full Josh Mikel Interview

FAN GRAM! Our Howard Faculty and Staff are fantastic! Help us celebrate their dedication and commitment to our students. Please use this link FANGRAM to leave a message for a teacher that has impacted you in a positive way. Thank you!

Tech Issues?

Please see the following link to the OCPS website for details on using Canvas.

https://www.ocps.net/cms/One.aspx?portalId=54703&pageId=491864 See the image below for details on how to submit a tech request for help.

Exceptional Student Education for Gifted Learner

Dear Parents,

If your child is gifted with a gifted Education Plan (EP), we are required to update the EP every 3 years. Many of the EP’s are due and we only have a few more weeks in May. Due to the Covid-19, school closures, and parent schedules, we will be asking parents if they would agree to either conduct a virtual meeting with one of our gifted teachers and ESE representative; or with parent permission, we can proceed with the update without a parent present. Your child’s gifted teacher have already recommended 2 goals for high school which we can review with you and the service is determined by the high school your child will attend. We will be holding an average of 6-8 meetings on scheduled days and are allowing 15 minutes for each meeting because there are 70+ meetings. You will receive a phone call and/or an email in the upcoming weeks regarding your child’s education plan. Please respond as soon as possible and you will receive a meeting notice and link to either participate virtually or you can grant us permission to proceed without you. The finalized education plan will be mailed and, if requested emailed to you. If you have any questions please contact Laura Vingiano. We look forward to planning with you.

Laura Vingiano, ESE Staffing Specialist

laura.vingiano@ocps.net.

A Message from the SAFE Office

Teen Xpress is providing the following FREE services for kids ages 11-18: Mental Health Counseling Case Management Medical Services Nutrition Services Teen Xpress Army of Angels is offering Coronavirus Food Support for OCPS students and families. Submit a request at https://armyofangels.org/

If you or your family are in need of Mental Health Resources please feel free to utilize these available resources:

Immediate Resources Available for Mental Health

OCPS Digital Resources for Parents

Community Resources: Covid-19 Community Resources A Message from the Media Center

Students: Keep up your reading skills with these fun webcomics. https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=webcomics-teens-tweens-free-middle-grade-YA Media Specialist Ms. Thoma

Department of Health Survey

The Florida Department of Health has asked that we help to distribute this survey to our parents and students. It is brief and should only take a few moments of your time.

Howard Virtual Art Club! Join us for our final virtual Art Club, Wednesday May 20 for a half hour of creativity. This is a chance to get out whatever art supplies you have at home and just spend some time with each other drawing, painting, crocheting, knitting, sculpting, etc. Open to Fiber Arts Club, Jewelry Club, Digital Club and the whole Howard community too! Join Mr. McCracken, Ms. Buckley, and Ms. Finn and let’s create together!

This will be a BBB online meeting. You can join by clicking this link from a computer. www.tinyurl.com/hmsvirtualartclub