• Here is a list of the sporting events for this week
• Coming Soon - Looking Ahead/Save the Date Calendar Items

This Week:

11/18 (M) Homework Club 2:15-3:15 Letter and Dates

11/19 MSPA Meeting 9am

11/20 (W) Parent/Teacher Conferences 4:00-7:00

11/21 (Th) Homework Club 2:15-3:15 Letter and Dates

11/22 (F) End of Quarter

Next Week (So Far):

11/25 (M) Homework Club 2:15-3:15 Letter and Dates

11/27 (W) Half Day Dismissal 11:05am

11/28 (Th) Thanksgiving - No School

11/29 (F) No School

1) [UPDATED] Save the Dates

2) [NEW] Nature's Classroom Review

3) [NEW] Shawsheen Field Trip and Road Show - November 15, 2024

4) [NEW] Toys For Tots

5) [NEW] Parent/Teacher Conference Update

6) [REMINDER] Tips to Managing Our Children's Phone

7) [REMINDER] JGMS Extra Curricular Activities -

1. Wednesday, November 20, 2024 4:00-7:00pm Parent Teacher Conferences

2. Wednesday, December 18, 2024 2:15-4:15 Parent Teacher Conferences

The 6th-grade had a successful journey to Nature's Classroom in Freedom, New Hampshire the week of 11/4. A little less than 200 students spent 3 days and 2 nights exploring the outdoors and participating in activities that are not traditionally able to be done at school. The students sang, dissected, learned to make fire, used natural night vision, used all of their senses in creative ways, learned about native plants and the organisms that depend on them, tried woodworking, bonded with new friends, and had amazing food! The 6th-grade teams and the JGMS administration would like to say thank you to everyone who made this trip possible, from the kids who were engaged and had fabulous behavior, the parents who supported the trip, and a huge thank you to the chaperones Anders Helgason, John King, Eric Driscoll, Jim Felker, Sam Malcolm, Paul Harrington, Jonathan Brome, Ken Norling, John Glynn, Tyler Wilson, Cliff Chuang, Adam Bailey, Justin Brooks, Marie Mallot, Aidan Tatar, Julie Pietrasiak, Renee Anderson, Allison Breaux, Nicole d'Entremont, Lisa Morrison, Paula Bakerian, Libbey Beinert, Jackie Supprise, Bonnie Klein, Nicole Prince, Meagan Asp, and Nadine Coletta that made it possible!

A big thanks to Mr. McGrath, Ms. Goodhue, Ms. McDermott, Ms. Raboin, Ms. Pespisa, and Ms. Naylor who stayed back to support the students who did not go to Nature's Classroom. These students jumped at Altitude, went candlepin bowling, and had a movie, popcorn, and ice cream day!

I want to say thank you to Ms. Tracy Fernald and our nursing staff for supporting the trip and all the medical needs of our students. Preparing for the trips was a huge undertaking which was done in addition to their daily responsibilities. We are so fortunate to have the support and caring health care professionals who care so much about our students.

It's important to acknowledge that his trip does not occur without the careful planning of our trip coordinator, Nadine Coletta. Ms. Coletta put in months of work to prepare this trip for our students. She knows each student and their needs and takes on the responsibility of caring for your children as if she was caring for her own. We are grateful for her effort to make the trip safe and special for all who attended.

On Friday, November 15, our 8th graders visited Shawsheen Valley Technical High School. Students were cooperated with others and met the goal of learning about the shops Shawsheen has to offer. Below is a picture of our students in the cafeteria where they started the day learning an overview of all the opportunity that Shawsheen provides. We hope the experience will encourage students to consider Shawsheen when they consider their goals for high school and beyond. Please work with your school counselor on the application process if your child is interested.

The JGMS Student Council is running a Toys for Tots holiday drive that will take place from 11/4 to 12/15! Our school is working with our local chapter to deliver gifts to children in need in the Bedford community. We hope that each gift donated will bring hope into a child’s life! Our school goal is to reach 150 gifts. Gifts can be deposited in one of the boxes by the main office or the cafeteria. We are looking for: Unused objects Books, sports/outdoor equipment, legos, dolls, action figures, etc… Packaging still intact Please do not wrap the gifts yourself– it helps to see what’s inside! You can purchase a toy just for this event, or donate an old unused gift you didn’t need. We hope to have all our gifts in by December 15th! Thank you!

We will hold Parent/Teacher Conferences on November 20: 4:00 - 7:00pm via Zoom and teachers will share Zoom links directly.

We invite all families to sign up for a conference if slots are still available or request one via email to your child's team leader if the slots fill up before you can sign up. As we have done in previous years, if you are not able to schedule a time on November 20 or December 18, and feel a conference will be helpful, we will accommodate you at times that have yet to be determined.

It is important for me to remind everyone that it is your choice whether you schedule a conference for your child and there is no requirement to schedule a conference for your middle schooler. Our goal is to ensure that conferences are meaningful and useful to you and for your family. Therefore, I ask you to consider your child and whether:

• You feel they are developing appropriately at grade level academically and socially.

• You have received or are actively receiving ample/sufficient communication from your teachers regarding your child’s learning thus far.

If you answer yes to either of the bullets above, please consider emailing your teachers to ask if they think a conference is necessary for your child before taking a slot or requesting an alternate time. Oftentimes a check in with a teacher via email or telephone will provide the information you need to support your child in lieu of a scheduled conference.

Finally, as a reminder, to ensure all families have access and we can maximize time allotted, all conferences will be via zoom.

Tips to Managing Our Children's Phone

Please note, social media apps have minimum ages, most often the age of 13. Do not provide consent for your child to create an account when they are below the minimum age. Each social media platform has methods to report accounts of children under the age of 13.

Below is a note I have shared since 2022-2023 school year in an effort to support each other and our children's phone use. My children are now 10,8, and 7 and the struggle around devices is as real now as it was then. Personally, I believe I am doing ok and mainly because I have not provided a phone. I only have given a watch to my two oldest and I am dreading the day one of their friends gets a phone because then I know it's the beginning of a real challenge.

When I am not acting as the principal at JGMS, I am the father of three daughters of 3, 6, and 8 years old. I admit, I use my phone to keep my children busy at times and unfortunately, they became aware of how to find things I thought I was preventing. I noticed they kept finding their way into YouTube or games I thought deleted numerous times. Turns out I would "Remove" the App (removing isn't deleting apparently), just to find out it was in the Library. Then I would delete the app, just to find out they could download a previously purchased app without a password. My kids were taking control of their electronic usage and I couldn't keep up. After hearing from families about their concerns with phone and social media use, and also managing it at school, I felt compelled to post this note and includes tricks to blocking certain privileges or basic monitoring clues. I am proud to say that I was successful in navigating the technology, I deleted and prevented apps from coming back, the 6 and 8 year old accepted their fate rather quickly, and my wife and I survived the meltdown of my 3 year old.

Now many of you have likely figured out how to permanently delete apps, block privileges, and limit time on devices and you don't need the help of a novice like me. I do wonder however if some could use a bit of advice from each other. So in the spirit of a partnership, I created a document with tips to gaining control over our children's device. I have given anyone access to read and/or edit the document. This way we all can view the advice and also can add ideas that may be helpful. I am an iPhone user and I started the document with 3 seemingly basic iPhone suggestions. Please feel free to add any tip you found helpful in navigating technology with your children's phone. Together I would like to think we can support all children to be model citizens in both the physical and digital world.

For students who want to compete in sports at JGMS, please visit this site to sign up.

JGMS has a variety of clubs and sports that meet outside of school hours. The list of clubs and the times they will meet have been finalized and are posted.

CLUBS

Please see this Link for a list of clubs and activities.

SPORTS

Sports Opportunities at JGMS: Students have a variety of options. Here is a list of sports that we offer at JGMS throughout the year.

Coaching Staff: JGMS offers four sports in the fall. Please contact the JGMS coach with questions. Please contact your child's coach via email for information regarding games, practices, or changes to schedules. Sports schedules can be found each week at the link at the top of bulletin listed as "This week's sports schedule - Click "view Schedules" on right to find Middle School schedules. Practice/Tryout information for sports are listed below.

GENERAL:

JGMS Athletic Coordinator: Ken Norling

FALL:

JGMS Cross Country: Ken Norling

JGMS Boys Soccer: Vincent McGrath

JGMS Girls Soccer: Paul Harrington

JGMS Field Hockey: Lisa Gocht

JGMS Football: Joe Curran

*Email not set up yet. Please reach out to Ken Norling with questions

WINTER:

JGMS Boys Basketball: Vinnie McGrath

JGMS Girls Basketball: Greg Hinz

SPRING:

JGMS Boys Baseball: Eric Driscoll

JGMS Girls Softball: TBD

JGMS Co-Ed Outdoor Track: Ken Norling

Please see the following message from some ambitious and helpful high school students.

Are you struggling with math? Join our math tutoring! We are high school tutors who want to help! Get personalized support from high school student tutors and conquer any tough problem with confidence. Say hello to success! We will tutor students Tuesday after school while under the supervision of a JGMS math teacher. Reserve time today, by filling out this form:

https://forms.gle/MAxarnqn15s3gCbm7

Looking forward to seeing your child there!

Many schools in the country are struggling with student cell phone use during school hours. I am proud to say that JGMS is ahead of the curve on cell phone use in school. We ask that student cell phones and other electronic devices be turned off upon entering JGMS, kept out of sight, and should be stored in student lockers until the end of the school day. Starting this year this policy in includes smart watches that have the capability to call, text, and access social media.

Please click on the picture for consequences that we impose for students who are caught with phones. At this time, we are being lenient on the use of smart watches. We are taking time to remind students that they cannot be worn and asking them to put them in their locker at their next locker visit. Come November we will treat smart watches as we have been treating cell phones.

Welcome to the new school year! Below are a few quick items of interest.

1. Please contact me via phone call or email to report any changes in your child’s health status. It is important for us to have the most up-to-date information to ensure we can provide the best care and support for your child’s well-being at school.

1. Permission for your student to be able to receive acetaminophen and or ibuprofen during the school day may be granted by completing the 2024-2025 JGMS Parent/Guardian Consent for Tylenol/Ibuprofen. Please take a moment to do this now, before your student has a need. Please note this is required for each school year.

1. Please provide medications and the required medication permission form signed by both provider and parent, to the nurse's office asap. This includes scheduled daily medications as well as, inhalers, seizure rescue, diabetes medications.

1. For students with life-threatening allergies and have an epinephrine device, please send in the device along with the updated allergy action plan asap at the start of the school year. The Allergy Anaphylaxis plan is required to be completed each year.

Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns. The direct line to the nurses office is 781-275-3165.

Ms. Cormier and Ms. Danielson are happy to ensure your child has what they need to be successful each day. In order to support their efforts we ask you use our cubby system for all items that are not electronic.

When you enter the main door at JGMS you will see a large wooden cubby where we ask families to leave student belongings. Chromebooks or other electronics have their own process however the process begins at the cubby. There are forms that parents can fill out along with instructions. Below are pictures so you will know what to expect.

You will see we ask parents to email their child that an item has been dropped off. Our priority is that our students get what they need in a timely manner and the process is efficient. To ensure the system works as planned, we will teach the students about this system, we will periodically check the cubby for items that need to be picked up, and also ask that you remind your child to check their email periodically during the day (especially if they know you may drop off their item) and check the cubby on their way to lunch.

Attendance Policy: Getting to school on time each day is a way for your child to show they are responsible. We will be working with your child and reminding them to give themselves enough time to get ready and to get to school on time. It is important that students are making a strong effort to come to school on time each and every day.

Please see our attendance policy.

Reporting Attendance: Email is how we prefer families report attendance or dismissals. The email address is available to all office staff and is checked each morning for attendance. Please let us know when your child will be absent, late, or dismissed by emailing JGMS_Attendance@bedfordps.org. If for a dismissal, please indicate a time as well. When we know of dismissals ahead of time we will have your child ready when you arrive.

Please note, the phone number that was previously used for absences is no longer being checked and the voicemail will ask you not to leave a message and instead, prompt you to send an email to report attendance. Additionally, you can also send a note with your child which should be dropped off in the main office prior to going to class. We expect this system will be more efficient for not only you, it will allow us to be more efficient in reporting attendance each day.

Attendance: Please let us know when your child will be absent, late, or dismissed by emailing JGMS_Attendance@bedfordps.org. If for a dismissal, please indicate a time as well. You can also send a note with your child to be dropped off in the main office prior to going to class. If we know of a dismissal ahead of time we will attempt to have your child ready when you arrive.

Religious Holidays: Please follow the directions explained here.

Tech Support: If your child is having technical trouble throughout the school year please send an email to tech_support@bedfordps.org.

Taking the Bus: Please see the guidance on the district’s transportation website. Please review the transportation guidelines with your children as we hope families will choose to ride the bus again.

Sports schedules: Please visit the sports section of the website to access the schedules of the upcoming seasons. You can click on “view schedules” under the calendar on the right. You should look for “middle school” teams when searching for your child’s sport.