October 16, 2020

 

Griffin Memorial School News

October 16, 2020 Dear GMS Families,                                                                                                     This week unfortunately saw a switch to remote learning. We are hopeful that this switch will be short and we will see all the students again very soon. We cannot thank you enough for your patience, cooperation, and understanding in making this transition as seamless as possible. Walking around the building yesterday and today, it was amazing to hear the students voices and see their engagement albeit through a computer screen. Kudos also go out to the amazing staff we have here at GMS for all the extra work and collaboration that was put in to make this process work.           As we began remote learning this week, we have noticed one thing that we could use family's help with and that is students being logged on when a teacher is not. While we are encouraged that students are so eager to learn and engage, we ask that students wait patiently until the teacher arrives. Please do not share your screens and play games or watch videos. Also, teachers will also log on on time or a bit earlier, so no need to log on super early or stay on once the remote session has ended. Please do your best to create as good a remote experience for all involved.          Finally, though we may be remote, we still need to be aware of any and all illnesses, symptoms, or COVID testing that may take place during this period. If you experience any of these please be sure to communicate it Mrs. Seabrook so that we may properly track and be aware of our community situation.         While this situation may not be ideal, we thank you profusely for all that you have done to make it as best as we could have possible hoped for. This community has truly demonstrated what "We're all in this together" really means. As always Be Well, Be Curious, and Have a Great  Weekend, Dan Mitchell, Principal Maura Clinton- Jones, Assistant Principal Upcoming Dates GMS News 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. News from the SAU/ Superintendent No News at This Time News from the PTO Fall Activity:  Unfortunately, based on the circumstances, we will not be having our annual Pumpkin Festival this year.  Instead, we invite your GMS student and/or family to participate in our Virtual Pumpkin Decorating Contest.  Please see our flyer here. PTO Family Directory:  The Family Directory has been completed and will be emailed out to those that signed up shortly.  Since it is a google document, we can always add more names so if you want your child to be included, please sign up at  https://tinyurl.com/GMSFamDirectory2020.  Room Parents – Room Parents have been selected and contacted.  Please be on the look out for information from them! 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  Now that we have gotten into a nice groove with parent drop off and pick up we have recognized there are some areas that we can make some adjustments to to tighten up the process and make it move even smoother. Beginning Monday the new group times for parent pick up will be as follows: Pink Group            2:45-2:52 Yellow Group         2:53-3:00 Blue & Purple        3:00-3:05 Our goal and intent is to then have buses loaded and able to depart at 3:10. 3:10 is the assumed departure time on the SAU website, so this should allow the buses to arrive at homes closer to the publish arrival time. Thank you again for your cooperation with these processes. We have been blown away by how well they have been going. A Message from our Art Teacher, Mrs. Starrett Mrs. Starrett has set up a virtual art gallery on Artsonia.com. She has created accounts for all of the students currently enrolled at GMS, however student work will only be displayed publicly if the parents/guardians have given permission through a link that was sent via email over the summer. If you have not received an email please contact Mrs. Starrett (kstarrett@litchfieldsd.org). Use the following link to browse through the artwork that our students at GMS have created so far this year: https://www.artsonia.com/schools/school.asp?id=273 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 Acces A Message from Food Services Good Afternoon Parents/Guardians, As of Wednesday, we have received a lot of inquiries about the remote lunch pickup due to the extension of the USDA Waiver to provide free meals to Litchfield School District Students until 12/31/2020.  Here's the official statement from Food Services, please read it carefully and do not hesitate to contact Lauren Crowley with any questions you may have!  If you are not utilizing the remote pickup plan - please disregard this email. Thank you very much! Remote Lunches are available at each school daily for pick up.  The pick up times are determined by your student's lunch time.  If you cannot pick up lunch each day, you can certainly pick up on days that are better suited for your schedule, or combine with another family at your same school to pick up lunches together, just please know that it is only one lunch per day due to our staffing needs.  If you have a situation where you are unable to leave your home for pickup due to medical or other such purposes, please contact Lauren Crowley immediately to begin the process for delivered meals.  Contact information below. If you have multiple students in different schools in our district, you have two options.  A- Pick up all meals at one location (you'll order off that school's menu exclusively) or B-order off the different forms and pick up at the location you ordered food from.  Different schools offer different options based on the student's tastes, ages and not all schools offer the exact same menu items.  The Google Forms open at 1 PM the day prior to pickup.  The Google Forms close at 9 AM the day of pickup.  This allows our staff prep time to get the meals ready to go.  This is a hard closure, we are asking that parents please get the form in to us for 9 AM.  Links provided below. The pickup locations for each school are located as follows: GMS - back doors to the cafeteria - where parent drop off usually takes place (pickup starts at 11 and ends when the last lunch is served).  LMS - Kitchen back door located to the right side of the building near the dumpster (pick up starts at 11:30).  CHS - in the vestibule (CHS pickup is 11:00 - 11:30 due to scheduling and open campus for upperclassmen).  Any meals not picked up will still be charged. If you have any questions regarding lunch pickup, please contact the Food Services Director.   These forms will not be changing again, and therefore you can save them wherever you can for easy access. Thank you very much for your patience and support while we navigate this crazy time! Lauren Crowley 603-546-0300 x3112 lcrowley@litchfieldsd.org GMS Form Link OFFICIAL: https://forms.gle/q7nErcWuB5mmr8P96 LMS Form Link OFFICIAL: https://forms.gle/Tg57MJAqNNqk4nhr7 CHS Form Link OFFICIAL: https://forms.gle/37gjMSve7qVaSj2L9

229 Charles Bancroft Hwy. Litchfield, NH 03052 (603) 424-5931 Past Editions of the GMS School News can be found at: https://griffinnhnews.blogspot.com/