Next week is one of our most interesting calendar weeks of the school year. In terms of school it is only three days and we add to that Parent Teacher Conferences and a Veterans Day Assembly. On Wednesday November 8, we invite any Veterans from town or families to join us for this assembly. We will begin at 8:45 with a reception for any Veteran attending which will include coffee and pastries, as well as time to view our Wall of Heroes. The student assembly will then begin at 9:00. We hope many Veterans are able to make it.
The first quarter is officially over believe it or not. Report Cards are being prepared and will be emailed home to families. As a reminder, or for those of you who are new, an email will be sent to parents with a password for access the report card. Later that day a second email will be sent containing the report card, though it will be password protected. The first email will be the key to the report card.
Below you will find information about our new Report Card that was shared previously. This week we would like to focus on another aspect of it for your understanding. Our report card is competency and indicator based. This means that instead of reporting on performance it presents where your child is on the progression of learning. The report card will have a teacher comments section which will allow for more specific information to be shared. However, the competencies and indicators will be reported using two different rubrics or "grade scales". These scales should not be viewed as a pass/fail indication but rather where they are in the learning based on the expectations of the school and specific grade level. It is common that as the year continues we would have students move along the progression to the mastered status. Below you will find a link to a sample report card which hopefully will make this make more sense to you. We encourage you to use the parent teacher conferences to discuss your child's progress and how we can partner for your child's growth and learning. After Thanksgiving, we will be holding a few virtual listening sessions regarding this report card, so we may continue to adjust in order to reach our goal of creating a clear, understandable, and meaningful report card for all. Be on the look out for more details.
This afternoon we will be putting up our Wall of Heroes which now includes more than 150 Veterans. Be sure to visit it when you are here for parent teacher conferences. It will be in the Hallway outside the office. We look forward to seeing you all over the course of Parent Teacher Conferences next week.
DESSA Assessments
Soon classroom teachers will be completing the fall Devereux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA). This assessment gives the staff insight into the students' strengths as well as areas in need of development and will assist in programming for social emotional classroom lessons and small group instruction. An introductory letter can be found HERE. Please reach out if you have any questions.
New Report Card Information
We will be utilizing a new report card this year. For the next few weeks we will highlight a feature of this new report card. For a sample of a third grade report card please click HERE. Though this sample is for third, the general set up is the same for grades 1-4. The first feature of the report card to note is that it is broken down by competencies and indicators. The competencies were rewritten to be more elementary appropriate but still speak to more universal understandings in each subject area. These will be reported on a 1-4 scale and can be related back to graded work. The indicators are below each competency and speak to the more practical skills associated with the competency. These will be reported on a letter scale and can account for graded work as well as observation, classroom demonstration, and other means of demonstration. While indicators and competencies are related they are not necessarily directly connected in terms of reporting. We understand that this can be very confusing, so we are attempting to explain as much as we can ahead of time. We know there will be much feedback to consider and will be holding parent feedback sessions after report cards go home. Please be on the lookout for information about these sessions. This is an ongoing process that we want to get right, and value your input greatly.
CALLING ALL CREATIVE MINDS
The Finding Nemo Jr. production is looking for help with designing, painting and constructing set pieces, props and costumes please complete this form if your student is interested: https://forms.gle/6RqVqcPqYKy8gjAf9 Meeting dates will be 11/15, 11/28, 12/5, 12/13 from 3:00pm-4:15pm Contact Kristin Starrett, our art teacher if you have questions kstarrett@litchfieldsd.org
FREE COMMUNITY CHILD FIND PROGRAM FOR ALL LITCHFIELD RESIDENTS
AGES TWO ½ YEARS (2.5) THROUGH FIVE YEARS, 11 MONTHS (5.11)
Who are suspected of having vision, hearing, speech, coordination and/or developmental concerns.
GRIFFIN MEMORIAL SCHOOL
Monday November 20, 2023
12:00-2:00 pm
We encourage parents of preschool age children to set up an appointment if they have any concerns.
For more information or to schedule an appointment please contact
Courtney Bradish at 424-5931 x 1243 or email cbradish@litchfieldsd.org
**No child will be seen without an appointment**
**Bring birth certificate and proof of residency**
News from the SAU/ Superintendent
News from the PTO
Parent Teacher Conferences
Parent Teacher Conferences are fast approaching on Wednesday, November 8th and Thursday, November 9th. Please consider signing up to donate items to help fuel our amazing GMS teachers and staff! We will also be collecting candy this year so be sure to save your extra Halloween candy! All items may be dropped off in the PTO bin in the vestibule. Please reach out to Sarah Vasil with any questions at 207-615-6921.
November PTO meeting
Please join us for our next meeting on Tuesday, November 14th at 6:30pm in-person at GMS. We look forward to seeing you!
Holiday Store
The holiday season is right around the corner! We are excited to again provide students an opportunity to purchase gifts for their families at the GMS PTO Holiday Store during the week of December 11th. The Holiday Store is a big undertaking. If you have any questions and/or would like to be involved, please reach out to the Holiday Store Coordinator Jen Ireland at jen17c@hotmail.com.
Monthly Newsletter - November
Be sure to read our monthly newsletters where we will highlight important dates and upcoming events, and we'll introduce you to our Executive Board and Coordinators.
Attention all GMS Volunteers
For the 2022-2023 the GMS community volunteered over 2300 hours!! We'd like to keep track of volunteer hours again this year. We are currently using a Google form to track. Please be sure to enter any time you may have spent volunteering this school year. Some examples include baking for the back to school breakfast bash, volunteering in the library, planning/coordinating an event, shopping for items to donate, etc. Thank you to our volunteers for all that you do!
Ski Club
Calling all school ski club parents and students! 2024 sign ups are live! On the day NH received its first snowfall atop Mt. Washington, now is the time to think snow! This year we will be doing all three schools at Pat's Peak, grades 1-12 Friday nights 1/5-2/2.
GMS Lessons: 5:30pm
Sign up here: https://www.patspeak.com/plan-your-visit/lessons-rentals/learn-to-ski-ride-program/
code: GMS2024
2024 Rates:
Lift Only: $185
Lift/Rental: $260
Lift/Lessons: $285
Lift/Lessons/Rental: $360
Waiver to pick up pass in December:
https://forms.gle/ogQgkUYiUuUJecdn8
Please feel free to reach out to the coordinators below with any questions
Melissa Feeley - mkfeeley@gmail.com
Brian Stafford - brian.s.stafford@gmail.com
News from the Community
Litchfield Youth Wrestling Info Sessions
Come check out Litchfield youth wrestling on 10/27 at chs 6-7 in the cafe for an information night, then again on 11/7 6-7.
Repeated News/ Long Term Info to Know
To help you organize and plan for this year, we have created a list of all of our intended Spirit Days. We will remind you as they get closer, but in order to prevent the scramble that sometimes comes with these days, we hope to give you as much time as possible to prepare. The days can be found HERE. These flyers are also available on our Facebook and Instagram pages for your reference.
School and District Text Messaging
You can take advantage of our Text Messaging Service. Our school utilizes the SchoolMessenger
system to deliver text messages, straight to your mobile phone with important information about events, school closings, safety alerts and more. You can participate in this free service* just by sending a text message of “Y” or “Yes” to our school’s short code number, 67587.
You can also opt out of these messages at any time by simply replying to one of our messages with “Stop”.
SchoolMessenger is compliant with the Student Privacy PledgeTM, so you can
rest assured that your information is safe and will never be given or sold to anyone.
End 68 Hours of Hunger and the Litchfield School District 2023-2024
The End 68 Hours of Hunger Program and 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 to school on Monday morning. 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 and easy to prepare. If your child has any food allergies, please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate this need. Nut products are included for those who are not allergic, but children are informed that they are not to open the bags until a parent can review the contents.
Each week, bags containing food will be provided to students at school. Students will bring the bag home on the bus or by whatever mode of transportation they have at the end of the day. If you prefer, parents may pick up the bag at school.
If you’d like to sign up for the program or need additional information, please contact Taryn Staples, School Social Worker, at tstaples@litchfieldsd.org.
Hannaford Helps
Do you shop at Hannaford? If you do then please help Hannaford support GMS by just doing your regular grocery shopping!!
Shopping In-Store
SHOP – Look for shelf tags on over 1,500 participating products.
CHECK OUT – Collect your School Dollars from an associate at checkout.
DEPOSIT – Drop your School Dollars in the Hannaford Helps Schools collection tower in-store.
Hannaford To Go
SHOP – Look for the apple icon on over 1,500 products online.
CHECK OUT – Receive your School Dollars with your receipt.
DEPOSIT – Drop your School Dollars in the Hannaford Helps Schools collection tower in-store, or send them to school with your child.
Morning Drop Off Procedures
During the morning drop off, both buses and cars will utilize the big loop. As vehicles pull in please pull as far forward until all cars have stopped. Then you can let your child out of the car. Please then wait until the cars in front of you move before pulling forward. Please DO NOT pass a stopped car or stop at the front door if there is space in front to pull forward. We also ask that you avoid parking in the parking lot and walking your child to the door, this adds pedestrian traffic to car traffic. Our attempt is to make this a safe and fluid process. We understand that some back ups do occur, but this procedure ensures safety of all and limits the length of any delay.
Pick Up Procedures
Those utilizing parent pick up are asked to fill in the large loop at the designated time. Please have the colored pick up slips that were sent home, as these act as verification for our staff. If you arrive early for your designated time, you will be directed to a waiting line in the parking lot until your group time.
Pink Group (Last Names A-G): 2:45
Yellow Group (Last Names H-O) 2:52
Blue Group (Last Names P-Z) 3:00
Buses: 3:10 targeted departure
Absence 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 “2” 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.
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