East Weekly

** SEE SPRING SPORTS TRYOUTS DATE IN THE ATHLETICS SECTION OF THE NEWSLETTER**

February 18 & 25: Cheer Bootcamp

Feb 18 - Feb 25: 7th grade students will schedule for 8th grade classes

February 22: GJEA Gala!

February 28: Fitness Fundraiser Kickoff!

March 4: Choir Concert @ MS West

Concert dress is required for all Choirs.

The concert begins at 7:30 with the call times being as follows:

6:30 p.m. 7/8th Girls Ensemble

6:45 p.m. 8th Choir

7:00 p.m. 7th Choir

7:15 p.m. 6th Choir

March 7: End of Q3

March 10: No School for students

March 10: PTA Dine-out evening-- City BBQ! --NEW!! (See flyer below)

March 10: PTA Meeting

March 13: 6th & 7th grade Band Concert

Mar 18 - Mar 21: Fitness Fundraiser Collection

March 20: Orchestra Concert @ MS West

Mar 31 - Apr 4: Spring Break, No School

April 9: ELA State Test

April 10: ELA State Test

April 14: PTA Meeting

April 15: Math State Testing !!

April 17: Math State Testing

April 18: No School

April 22: Science State Test (8th grade only)

April 24: 8th Grade Shadowing Day

Dear GJPS Families,

Our staff has been reviewing the data gathered through the MAP assessments administered in September and are looking forward to using it in the classroom to help guide instruction. Your child’s Winter Family Report is included with this letter. When looking at your child’s reports, the RIT score indicates overall academic achievement in reading and mathematics. The RIT percentile describes how your student scored compared nationally to other students in the same grade. As more test administrations are completed, reports will begin to show multiple data points that indicate the learning trajectory of your student as measured by MAP assessments.

Families may access the Family Guide to MAP which provides a great summary of the MAP assessment and a general explanation of the results. Translated versions of the guide can be found here. The MAP Family Toolkit is another resource that provides information, videos and additional family resources for the MAP suite of assessments.

As with all other assessment data, it is important to remember the MAP assessment is only one measure that we use to determine your child’s strengths and instructional needs. If you have any questions regarding this assessment or your student’s results, please contact your child’s teacher or building administrator.

Sincerely,

Tia Holliman

Director of Curriculum

Family Letter - Spanish

Family Letter - Somali

Family Letter - Nepali

Family Letter - French

Ready for a mouthwatering meal that supports a great cause? Join us at City Barbeque (108 S Stygler Rd) on Monday, March 10th between 11:00 AM - 8:00 PM and make a difference!

With every order you place, 20% will be donated to Gahanna Middle School East PTA.

Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to dine for a purpose! RSVP & details here: https://grouprai.se/s299803

#groupraise #gahannamiddleschooleastpta #citybarbeque #fundraiser

Girls Lacrosse

Where: GMS SOUTH Gym

Date: Monday Feb 24 and 25th

Time:4:30-5:30pm

Boys Lacrosse

Where: GMS EAST GYM

Date: Monday 2/24, 25, and 27th (No tryouts on the 26th)

Time: 5:30-7:30pm

7th Grade Baseball

Where: GMS WEST Gym

Date: Monday Feb 24, and 25th

Time: 5-8:30pm

8th Grade Baseball

Where: GMS WEST Gym

Date: Monday Feb 24, and 25th

Time: 5-8:30pm

East Boys and Girls Track

Where: East Track and Cafeteria

Date: Practice begins Feb 24

Time: 4:15-5:30pm

Boys Tennis

Where: Blacklick Elementary - Tennis Court around back

Date: Monday 3/10,11,12

Time: 5-6:30pm

The 2024-25 GMSE Yearbook is now on sale!!!! Books will be sold from Friday, January 24, through Friday, February 28.

How To Order:

(We strongly encourage you to use the online ordering platform.)

Option #1: Simply visit book.hrimaging.com to order your child’s yearbook. The cost is $28. If you are asked to list a teacher please make sure that your child's House Teacher is listed.

Option #2: Look for an email from HR Imaging and click their link. It will auto populate your child's information. You will get an email for each child you have at MSE.

Option#3: Write a check/send in cash. Click here to access that information. Your child will also come home with this information today. If you are asked to list a teacher please make sure that your child's House Teacher is listed.

We hope you are staying healthy but we know it’s that time of year! If your child stays home sick but is well enough, please encourage them to check the Launchpad & Google Classroom. It’s especially responsible when students email their teachers to let them know they’re out and inquire about what they need to do to stay caught up. It can be tricky to miss school, so encouraging your child to do what they can while they are home is helpful!

Chess Club - Thank you to everyone who participated in Chess Club. 2/21 was the last meeting

Ace 7/8 - We are finishing our unit on Exponents and Functions this week. We have worked with exponents, simple and compound interest, linear and non-linear patterns and functions. We will round out the chapter with a Function Auction on Tuesday.

Our one stop shop for students’ assignments: The Launchpad

Chess Club - Thank you to everyone who participated in Chess Club. 2/21 was the last meeting.

Math 7: We will be taking a quiz on Thursday over writing and solving equations from word problems. Your student has a paper study guide they should be practicing on!

Art: Students are glazing their ceramic containers

All 7th grade ELA students started their historical fiction book clubs. They should be reading at home!

Ace 7/8 - We are finishing our unit on Exponents and Functions this week. We have worked with exponents, simple and compound interest, linear and non-linear patterns and functions. We will round out the chapter with a Function Auction on Tuesday.

Chess Club - Thank you to everyone who participated in Chess Club. 2/21 was the last meeting

Math 8 - The Chapter 9 assessment will be next week on Tuesday, March 4th. Students will have a study guide to complete this week for homework.

Band: Congratulations to the 8th grade band on a fantastic concert yesterday! Coming up in March: Jazz band/woodwind choir performances and Solo & Ensemble Saturday, March 22nd.

3D Art: Students this quarter are working in groups to make giant snack sculptures. They had to be creative and make an 'original' snack. Ask them what they came up with!

8th Grade Science:

In 8th grade science we will also be doing 3 pretty big projects in the next few months: race cars, rockets, and skateparks. In anticipation of that, we have attached a PDF of "wish list" items that we need. A lot of these are things you might find in your recycling bin (like empty 2 liter bottles and spare flexible cardboard) so rather than throwing them away please have your student bring them to school and drop them off in our classrooms. Thank you!

8th Grade Spanish: This week, we are reading a short story in Spanish called “El Pelo Incontrolable” about an Afro-Latina Puertorrican girl who learns to accept and love her luscious natural hair. In honor of Black History Month, students will learn about stereotypes centered around African American hairstyles and the effects of that biased perspective. Students will explore and share in Spanish about their own identity, family, and culture. They will walk away with more awareness of other cultures and how to be anti-racist advocates in their school and community.

8th Grade General Announcement: We are in desperate need of tissues! Please consider donating a few boxes and send some in with your student next week- please label for 8th grade. (Clorox, paper towels, and hand sanitizer are also appreciated!)

ELA: Students started a new unit this week on Narrative Nonfiction! Please see the email about book choices from your student’s ELA teacher.

Caudill American History: Students will need a poster board or trifold poster by February 10th for our Black History Month projects. More information about the project & our showcase coming soon.

8th Grade Science:

In 8th grade science we will also be doing 3 pretty big projects in the next few months: race cars, rockets, and skateparks. In anticipation of that, we have attached a PDF of "wish list" items that we need. A lot of these are things you might find in your recycling bin (like empty 2 liter bottles and spare flexible cardboard) so rather than throwing them away please have your student bring them to school and drop them off in our classrooms. Thank you!

Hello Travelers and Families!

Happy New Year to you all! We are officially in 2025 and are less that 5 months away from the D.C. trip! I wanted to send out a couple of reminders and an update about the trip so that you know what to expect over the next few months.

Reminders

• Payment dates were scheduled for January 10th, February 7th, March 7th, and April 4th. These dates were set to help families spread out the payments, but no one's trip will be cancelled, nor will fees be added for late payments. However, they do ask that the balances be paid by the last payment date of April 4th. If you have any questions about your account or payments, please reach out to Prodigy Student Travel at 614-436-8747.

• When students were registered, you were sent forms to be completed through Infinite Campus (IC). The Behavior Contract was sent to students and parents/guardians to be signed. The other forms were only sent to parents/guardians. Please make sure to complete these forms. Students cannot participate in the trip if these forms are not completed . Also, if you marked "no" on the medication form for any medication that your child needs to take with them on the trip, make sure to complete the appropriate additional medical forms linked in the "additional medical forms" document sent to you through IC.

Updates

• In March students will go through the process of selecting their roommates for the trip. We do our best to honor these requests and can normally do so unless we have cancellations or other issues that arise.

• In April we will have another virtual meeting to discuss the final itineraries for the trip, what to pack and what not to pack, behavior expectations while traveling, and the details about the morning we leave (where and when to meet, checking in, etc.) and our return.

• All medications, prescription and non-prescription, must be turned in to your school nurse in their original containers no later than two weeks before we leave for the trip.

Michael Hunt

Fitness Fundraiser information coming soon!

To report an absence, please call the front office at (614)478-5550 or email fischerj@gjps.org by 9:10am if possible.You also have the ability to login into Infinite Campus and mark your child's absence there. Please ONLY do this if your child will be absent for the entire day.

The Heart and Pride Award recognizes two outstanding staff members each month who make a profound impact on our students and Gahanna-Jefferson Public Schools.

The Heart & Pride Nomination Form will remain available year-round and is open to any member of our staff, regardless of position.

PTA meetings take place on the 2nd Monday of each month in the GMSE library at 7:00pm. All are welcome!

Meeting dates:

• March 10

• April 14

• May 12

Help support and fund numerous initiatives for students and staff throughout the year. Stay tuned to our Facebook page, “GMSE Parents” (new members be sure to answer the questions to be admitted), and upcoming newsletters for more information about what we do and how you can help.

Please consider joining the Middle School East PTA.

Mar. 10, 2025: Staff Work Day - No School

Mar. 31-April 4, 2025: Spring Break- No School
April 18, 2025: Comp Day - No School
May 2, 2025: PD Day - No School
May 23, 2025: Last Day of School for Students
May 24, 2025: Class of 2025 Commencement