Dear GMS Families, Well we did it, we survived the first snow fall of the year. Though it was much earlier than expected, everyone did an amazing job through the elements. We also think having it on Halloween Friday may have helped with the uncontrolled excitement that usually comes with the first snow fall, since everyone was too distracted with all the amazing costumes. Today was also our Scarecrow Jamboree. A special thank you to Mrs. Israel for coordinating this fun event and for all the staff members who helped in some way to put this event together. The winners can been seen below. Monday evening and Tuesday during the day we will hold our parent teacher conferences. Though they may be remote, we know they will still be effective and productive in updating you on your child's progress. If you would like to make a conference appointment with one of the unified arts teachers please email them directly to set up a time Monday evening or Tuesday during the day. Music- blabelle@litchfieldsd.org Library- mprevelturmel@litchfieldsd.org Art- kstarrett@litchfieldsd.org PE- mgirzone@litchfieldsd.org Computer- pwaggoner@litchfieldsd.org After much thought and careful consideration we have decided that we will not be issuing first quarter report cards this year. With the delayed opening to school and variable nature of this year so far, we fear that a report card would not be a complete representation of your child's progress. Furthermore, we believe that the parent teacher conference will be a much greater indicator of your child's progress and therefore will be documenting the highlights of those conversations to act as a progress record for your child. Our goal is to always provide parents with the best and most useful information to inform you of your child's progress and believe, this year, that this will serve most effectively. Finally, today was such a fun day that gave the school a level of fun and excitement that we have not had yet this year. Thank you to everyone who participated in this fun yet safe celebration. Please enjoy some pictures of the day. Be Well and Be Curious, Dan Mitchell, Principal Maura Clinton- Jones, Assistant Principal
Scarecrow Jamboree Wow! What a wonderful event! Memories were made and friendships solidified in a time when we can't be together as we normally would. We had almost 70 scarecrows and some of the most creative ones I've ever seen! I would like to extend a HUGE thank you to all of our awesome sponsors - McQuesten Farm, Cowabungas, Farmhouse on the Corner, Romano's, Day of the Dead Taqueria, and our own PTO! Congratulations to the winners of the 38th Annual Scarecrow Jamboree! Individual Winners: First Place: Noah Duprey - Officer Sprinkles Second Place: Andrew Thompson - Go Bananas!!! Third Place: Charles Montminy - Randy the Candy Corn Fourth Place: Payton Rice - Alexander & the Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad YEAR Fifth Place: Emily Borst - Snowman-O-Lantern Sixth Place: Owen Carson - BeachBob Partner Winners: First Place - Macey McClelland and Taylor Martin - Creepy Crayons Second Place - Zachary Harnois and Luke Wendlandt - The Happy Reader Third Place - Braden Castonguay and John Locapo - Vampire Minion Fourth Place - Ethan Forhart and Ben Fletcher - The Pumpkin Catcher Fifth Place - Kellen Donohue and Nicholas Fluet - Mr. Picker Upper Sixth Place - Olivia Noviello and Alison Thamm - Ghost Family Thank you families!! Mrs. Israel Upcoming Dates
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| | November 3 | No School- Parent Teacher Conferences | | November 11 | No School- Veterans Day |
GMS NewsAbsence Reporting Email The GMS office now has a dedicated email address to use to report your child tardy or absent: GMSabsences@litchfieldsd.org. You can also find it on the Griffin Memorial School homepage, on the top, left side under “ABSENCES”. When you send an email please include the following information: *Child’s first and last name *Teacher *Reason for absence If you would prefer to leave a voicemail message when your child is absent or tardy you are still welcome to call 424-5931 and then hit “6” when you hear the automated message. Please remember to include the above information in the voice message. Please note that when you email or leave a voice message saying that your child “will be out” then the absence is recorded as unexcused. Please tell us the reason for the absence so it is documented correctly. Book Fair The Scholastic Book Fair is coming to you virtually this year from November 2-15th, which is a fundraiser for the school. A flyer with a parent letter attached was sent home this week, but you can view the parent letter in the attachment. It includes a link to the interactive online book fair flyer. The home page link will not be active until the book fair starts. BOOK FAIR FLYER
News from the SAU/ Superintendent News from the PTO Thank you so much to our GMS families for submitting pictures for our Virtual Pumpkin Decorating Contest. All of the pumpkins were fantastic and creative. It was a difficult choice, but our independent judges, Mr. Mitchell and Mrs. Clinton Jones, selected the following winners: Family Pumpkin: The Dowling Family Preschool: Annie E., Mrs. Beach’s class Kindergarten: Jocelyn P., Mrs. Sweetser’s class 1st Grade: Luke S., Mrs. Webster’s class 2nd Grade: Lyncoln P., Miss Theokas’ class 3rd Grade: Olivia H., Mrs. Patten’s class 4th Grade: Michael D., Mrs. Cohen’s class Check out the pictures on our Facebook Page later today! Also, if you are looking for fun activities to do at home, please see the attached flyer with some spooky activities to do as a family. Thank you and have a great week! Our next GMS PTO Meeting is Tuesday, November 17 @ 6:30pm Don’t forget to check out our Private Facebook Page for up-to-date information – GMS PTO NH 2020-2021. Please be sure to answer the questions to be approved quickly. As always, please let us know if you have any questions – Heidi Ames (hames@mooreames.com) and Jenny Eisenbeis (jeisenbeis@gmail.com). Thank you!” News from the Community No News At This Time
Repeated News and Announcements Don't forget to join the GMS SEL classroom with Mrs. Hayes and Ms. Poli. Click the link to join https://classroom.google.com/c/MTQyODg4MjYzNDIy?cjc=333dr33 Music Google Classroom We ask all students to please go on and accept the invitation for the Music Google Classroom. All students must do this regardless if you have had music already, are currently having music, or haven't yet had your music block. Once all students are enrolled in the Classroom, we will then be able to synchronize with the publishers online platform. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. End 68 Hours of Hunger Litchfield Schools are pleased to inform you about a free, confidential food program which provides students with meals from Friday after school until they return on Monday morning. The program is sponsored by “End 68 Hours of Hunger,” a local, private food program whose mission is to help families feed their children over the weekends. If meeting the weekend nutritional needs of your child is challenging at this time, we would like to help meet that need. All food is non-perishable as well as easy to prepare and we do our best to accommodate food allergies when necessary. Guaranteeing your child’s confidential participation in the program is also a top priority. For additional information or to sign up, please contact Jennifer Hayes, GMS School Counselor, at 424-5931 x1106 or jhayes@litchfieldsd.org. Powerschool Parent Portal This summer we switched our Student Information System to Powerschool. As part of Powerschool, you are able to access the Parent Portal in the Infinite Campus feature of this system. Please follow the link below to set up you parent portal account. Please contact the main office if you have an issues creating an account. For Parents - Directions for Parent Access
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