The Panther Post

Good afternoon,

We hope everyone had a fantastic week and able to get some relief from the weather! We are looking forward to next week and cooler temperatures. We hope to see all of you at our EHMS Open House that will take place on Wednesday September 13th at 6:30. We will start promptly at 6:30 in our gymnasium. More information is within this newsletter.

Best,

Christina & Emily

Mon., Sep. 11th: Board of Education Meeting at 6:30

Wed., Sep. 13th: EHMS Open House @ 6:30

Mon, Sep 18th - 22nd: Start with Hello Week

Fri., Sep 22nd: Pantherfest 3:00

Mon., Sep. 25th: Board of Education Meeting at 6:30

Picture Day - October 12th - more information will be shared in the upcoming weeks!

At the end of each month Team Leaders will share an update on current happenings throughout the team. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to your child's Team Leader. Contact information is within each newsletter. Please enjoy our "Meet the Teachers" addition for each grade level team! Click on a grade level to view!

We also have a welcome from our Unified Arts team. The Unified Arts team consists of our specials, P.E., T.I. and World Language teachers.

Enjoy!

Pantherfest is an invitational sporting event for cross country and soccer teams that has become an annual tradition at EHMS and will be held this year on Friday, September 22nd. Schools from several surrounding towns come to run races and play soccer games, kicking off the Fall sports season. Pantherfest is also the largest fundraiser of the season for EHMS and parent help is a MUST to make sure the event runs smoothly! Join us for a fun time whether you volunteer at the concession stand, take a spot on the cross-country course or help with the soccer games. It's a great annual event that the kids love - as participants and also as spectators cheering their friends on!

Students can stay after school to support the EHMS X-country and soccer teams but must be picked up by 6PMunless a parent remains with them (see info coming from the school principals via ParentSquare and in the weekly Panther Post for details). The PTO will run a concessions tent until 7PM and commemorative t-shirts will be available for sale ($15 short sleeve, $20 long sleeve - cash preferred or check made out to EHMS PTO). Food prices will be $4 - $5 for burgers, hot dogs and pizza, $2 candy / snacks, $1 chips, $2 water and $3 Gatorade (cash only).

Parents are welcome to attend to watch the races and soccer games...and while you're here, spend an hour or two helping out with this great event - a major fundraiser for our school! Check out the signup link above and below to grab your preferred spot. Please let us know if you have any questions at ptoehms@gmail.com

Please check our Sept. 5th ParentSquare message for the event schedule. Check to see when your child will be playing / running so you won't miss them during your volunteer shift!

SIGN UP HERE:

https://signup.com/go/LyfvqSk

A NEW SCHOOL YEAR IS STARTING AND

THE EAST HAMPTON MIDDLE SCHOOL PTO

SPIRITWEAR FUNDRAISER IS BACK!

Check out our online shop for tons of logo options and garment styles

Store link: https://1stplace.sale/17567

THE DETAILS:

• FROM NOW THROUGH THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21st, the entire site is 30% off - no code needed
• Free shipping on orders over $75

Full details appear in our August 22nd ParentSquare message. If you have any questions, please contact the PTO at ptoehms@gmail.com

EAST HAMPTON MS ATHELTICS SCHEDULE SEPT 11 - SEPT 15 (subject to change)

MONDAY, SEPT 11

Cross Country 2:35 until 4:00 pm

Girls Soccer 2:35 until 4:30 pm

Boys Soccer 2:35 until 4:30 pm

TUESDAY, SEPT 12

Cross Country 2:35 until 4:00 pm

Girls Soccer 2:35 until 4:30 pm

Boys Soccer 2:35 until 4:30 pm

WEDNESDAY, SEPT 13

Cross Country 2:35 until 4:00 pm

Girls Soccer 2:35 until 4:30 pm

Boys Soccer 2:35 until 4:30 pm

THURSDAY, SEPT 14

Griswold MS (Rocky Hill) at East Hampton MS

Note: Girls run first

Girls Soccer 2:35 until 4:30 pm

Boys Soccer 2:35 until 4:30 pm

FRIDAY, SEPT 15

Cross Country 2:35 until 4:00 pm

Girls Soccer 2:35 until 4:30 pm

Boys Soccer 2:35 until 4:30 pm

Each year the East Hampton Public Schools administers the i-Ready Diagnostic in Reading and Math in the fall, winter, and spring to monitor student growth and performance. The i-Ready Diagnostic is an adaptive assessment that adjusts its questions to suit your child’s needs. Each item a student receives is based on their answer to the previous question. For example, a series of correct answers will result in slightly harder questions, while a series of incorrect answers will yield slightly easier ones. The purpose of this is not to give your child a score or grade but to determine how to best support their learning. These results are reviewed as one data point amongst other assessments, observations, and data regarding student performance. The assessment is integrated into your child’s day as part of their academic learning and is paced to ensure that they work on the assessment in small chunks of time. The i-Ready Diagnostic will provide results that help our team identify your child’s strengths and determine next steps for instruction. The implementation of this assessment is completed in accordance with Connecticut State Department of Education guidelines. I-Ready will begin the week of September 11th in all Math classes.

Please encourage your students to bring a pair of wired earbuds and make sure they fully charge their chromebooks each night. If earbuds are needed, there are some being sold in the office for $1.00.

Math and Literacy Intervention Services

The East Hampton Public Schools uses assessment data to measure student growth and skill development in both math and literacy. Through these universal assessments, the reading and math department identifies students who may need additional tiers of support to demonstrate grade level skill attainment. Once our fall assessments are completed, we will review student needs to determine changes to services. The reading and math department communicates directly with families regarding any additional services.

8th graders have been reading poetry and discussing the meaning of “Carpe Diem” or “seize the day.” Students read various poems with inspiring themes, including “In this Place” by Amanda Gorman and “The Rose that Grew in Concrete” by Tupac Shakur. Students then created their own Carpe Diem poetry by finding the strongest words or phrases within the poems and blacking out/coloring out the rest.

Pictured below are seventh grade students engaging in the Lunch Menu and Sum of Products Tasks. The focus of the tasks was to build classroom routines and to discuss what it looks and sounds like to do math together.

There are various activities throughout the building during our FLEX period which began this week. This is a "FLEXible" time of day where students can get assistance, participate in band and chorus or participate in an enrichment activity. Students have the opportunity to sign up for enrichment activities in areas like Art, P.E. and Technology Education. We will continue to grow our opportunities for students as the year continues. If students would like to sign up for an activity, they need to ask their homeroom teacher who can assist with sign ups.

Every Wednesday during FLEX our students will be in their advisory groups. Advisory is a time where we can facilitate lessons around social-emotional growth in areas like mindset and goals, empathy and positive relationships. The middle school utilizes Second Step, a schoolwide curriculum for students that we facilitate in grades K through 8. This week, staff and students played team building games in order to get to know each other.

Our Panther Ambassadors (SAVE Promise Club) club met to begin planning activities for Start with Hello Week!

We are so proud to congratulate Kayla Spitzmacher who has received our first Positive Office Referral for the year. She has demonstrated our PBIS pillars of Respect, Responsibility, Compassion and Pride through her kindness to a peer. Congrats!

6th graders Jacob Duranleau, Josslyn Marrero, Avery Yocher, and Kayleigh Doll put together an EHMS fall sports bulletin board recently. Students decorated sneakers and soccer balls for days to make this creative and spirited display to root on our school teams!

Sign ups for Early Act are beginning. As kindness cultivators, together we pick from a variety of potential community service projects and fundraisers throughout the year. EarlyAct develops leadership and compassion skills, opens up community service opportunities and allows us to see how important it is to give back to the community we live in. Apart from this, the EarlyAct Club increases our diversity awareness and acceptance. The EarlyAct Club is open to ALL STUDENTS grades 6-8. If your child is interested in joining EarlyAct or you would like more information, please see Mrs. Seeley's Welcome Letter.

Many students and families have been inquiring the start of our clubs and activities. As we get each club up and running, it will be shared with families in our Panther Posts and Parentsquares. Students also will receive sign up information for any club during our Good Morning EHMS morning announcements. We hope all our students will sign up to participate in one or more of our various activities this school year!

Farm to School:

Did you know that 90% of our produce this fall comes from farms within 20 miles of our district? This week your kiddos enjoyed roasted potatoes, cucumbers, peppers, broccoli, Zucchini, and tomatoes from Cold Spring Farm in Colchester, and apples from Beckett Farms in Glastonbury.

Lunch They’ll Love to Munch:

Your kids will LOVE our NEW homemade Beef and Broccoli Lo Mein this Tuesday! Sautéed Sliced Steak with Broccoli from Cold Spring Farm and our own homemade sauce over noodles with Ginger Roasted Carrots (also from Cold Spring) on the side. This is a meal that will give them the energy to get through those afternoon classes!!

In order to promote strong attendance habits and maximize learning, the East Hampton schools urge all parents to make sure that their children attend every day unless they are ill. Teachers work to pace instruction on a uniform schedule, so good attendance really matters in every child’s learning. As a result, parents should expect strong connection between success in school and good attendance. This year, as we continue with the second year of

new programming in grades K-5 math and implement new math programming in grades 6-7, please note that attendance matters!

Per the East Hampton Board of Education’s Attendance Policy and Connecticut statute, parents and guardians may only approve the first 9 absences of the school year with a parent note. Absences 10 and above can only be excused with further documentation and under specific circumstances.

In addition, if a student has four unexcused absences in one month or 10 unexcused absences in a year they are classified as truant. If a child misses 18 or more days in a school year – excused or unexcused absences – the student is classified as chronically absent. Access to the East Hampton attendance policy is available HERE.

To increase the ease of reporting an absence and documenting parent approval of the absence for a student’s first 9 absences, the East Hampton Public Schools has created email addresses that parents can use to contact their student’s school and report an absence. Effectively immediately, the following email address for EHMS (EHMS_Attendance@easthamptonct.org) can be used by parents to report and document their approval of an absence. Below are links to each school's email address:

Note: Between the school name and the word Attendance is a underscore ( _ )

Memorial_Attendance@easthamptonct.org

Center_Attendance@easthamptonct.org

EHMS_Attendance@easthamptonct.org

EHHS_Attendance@easthamptonct.org

If you have successfully emailed the school, you will receive an autoreply that notifies you that the absence communication has been received and recorded. This process is effective for your student’s first 9 absences. After your student has more than 9 absences, additional documentation or communication will be required to excuse the absence. Please use the email to continue to notify the school that your child will not attend. You may call your child’s school at any time to report an absence, as well.

Unfortunately, it is that time of year when the germs are going to be making their way around! Let’s work together to stay healthy. Below are a few reminders.

Illness: A fever is 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. A student will be sent home and may not return the next day if they have a fever while in school. They may return to school if they have been fever free for 24 hours WITHOUT fever reducing medications.

· COVID: Currently, there are no changes to the districts policy for guidelines. We recommend a student be out of school for 5 days from start of symptoms. Please provide a physician note to the office as this is needed for attendance purposes.

· Students may bring their own supply of cough drops to use throughout the school day. They may carry them with their belongings but may NOT share with others due to allergies throughout the building.

Medications: Every medication that is brought into school requires a “Medication Authorization” form to be signed by the student’s doctor and parent/guardian. Please use a large ziplock bag for the medication plus the medication order and label the bag with your child’s name before dropping off. Any controlled medications will need to be counted and signed off with the RN and parent so please allow for a few extra minutes at drop off.

**Beginning in 6th grade, your student may carry their own inhalers and EpiPens, IF approved by physician, parent, and nurse**

Health Concerns: If you have any specific concerns that arise during the school year (such as stitches, concussions, broken bones, etc.) it is best that you send in a doctor’s note with dates and guidelines, so we can all be on the same page.

**Please remind your students to bring in their water bottles. Hydration is important!**

As always, please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions. Email is best and is below for your reference.

Regards,

Nurse Krystle

Krystle Hafele, BSN,RN

School Nurse

East Hampton Middle School

Office: 860-365-4060

Fax: 860-365-4064

Khafele@easthamptonct.org

If your child is having any Chromebook or technology issues please click on the link below to do some troubleshooting: EHMS TroubleShooting Tips

If the troubleshooting doesn't work click on the link below to submit an IT work ticket:

Chromebook Trouble Ticket

Please encourage your child to take pride and care in their device. Below is a video to review the proper care of Chromebooks with your child.

Hawks football season is in session and we would like to cheer on our student athletes! Below are some upcoming events:

Sunday, September 10th - Pierson Park, West Street, Cromwell (Squad B 9:00am; Squad A 11:00am)

Friday September 15th - Hawk's Pep Rally for Football & Cheer! East Hampton Middle School 6:00 - 8:00 pm

Board of Education Statement on School Safety: The East Hampton Board of Education is committed to a safe and secure learning environment that honors and celebrates the diversity of our students, our community, and our nation. The Board of Education in partnership with the school community will not tolerate any threat of violence in the schools or any hate speech that targets any race, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. Each student is held to the highest standards of responsible decision making within a culture that is expected to foster compassion, caring, and empathy.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement of the East Hampton Public Schools: The school community of East Hampton is committed to the mission of honoring and celebrating the diversity of our students, our community, and our nation. We strive to guide our students to conscious, deliberate, individual and collective actions that cultivate the respect of all races, religions, and social backgrounds. Our school community endeavors to produce graduates who are equipped with a greater understanding of the concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Nondiscrimination Statement of the East Hampton Public Schools: The East Hampton Board of Education, in compliance with federal and state law, affirms its policy of equal educational opportunity for all students and equal employment opportunity for all persons. It is the policy of the District to promote nondiscrimination and an environment free of harassment regardless of an individual’s race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, ancestry, disability (including but not limited to, intellectual disability, past or present history of mental disorder, physical disability, or learning disability), genetic information, marital status, or age or because of the race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, ancestry, disability, genetic information, marital status, or age of any persons with whom the individual associates. The District shall provide to all students without discrimination, course offerings, counseling, assistance, employment, athletics, and extracurricular activities. The District shall provide equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The District shall make reasonable accommodations for identified physical and mental impairments that constitute disabilities, consistent with federal and state statutes and regulations.

Email: camaral@easthamptonct.org
Website: https://www.easthamptonps.org/o/ehms
Location: 19 Childs Road, East Hampton, CT, USA
Phone: (860) 365 4060