Good afternoon everyone,

As the new season is approaching, so are our Spring Parent Conferences, which will be held on Wednesday, March 29th (1:00 - 7:30) and Thursday, March 30th (1:00 - 5:00). During this time, you will have the opportunity to meet with your child's team of teachers who will provide an overview on your child's progress on both their Achievement, how a student is progressing on skills and standards within their content classes, and on their Habits of Success, skills we value as essential to student engagement and learning. Conferences are optional, but we welcome all families if you wish to come in. Team Leaders have sent out conference sign ups through Parentsquare on Wednesday. Staff will be reaching out to ensure we have heard from you, whether you wish to have a conference or not. If you have an upcoming meeting with the team, that will take the place of your spring conference. If you wish to meet with your child's team outside of the spring conference dates, you are always welcome to reach out to your child's Team Leader to arrange one.

We look forward to seeing you!

Best,

Christina & Emily

• March 13th - Jazz Band, Drama Club Rehearsals
• March 14th - EHMS Band and Chorus Step up Concert, Bible Study Club, Drama Club Rehearsals
• March 15th - Art Club, Yearbook Club, Drama Rehearsals
• March 16th - Panther Ambassadors, World Language Club
• March 17th - Student Council
• March 17th, 18th, 19th - EHMS Guys and Dolls Production
• March 22nd - Robotics
• March 29th & 30th - Parent Conferences - Early Release Days for Students Dismissal at 12:35

Each month Team Leaders will share an update on current happenings throughout the team. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to your child's Team Leader. Contact information is within each newsletter.

Below is access to team's March newsletters. Don't forget to check out Team Amethyst's newsletter. This is our specials and P.E. team. March newsletters should be sent soon by Team Leaders.

Enjoy!

EHMS students have been diligently rehearsing under the direction of Mrs. Werme and Ms. Rahusen to prepare for their upcoming performance of Guys and Dolls.

We hope to see you there!!

Production Dates

• Friday, March 17th at 7pm
• Saturday, March 18th at 2pm & 7pm
• Sunday, March 19th at 2pm

While we are well into the second half of the year, the spring provides an opportunity for feedback and reflection, we are always looking to improve as we establish and implement best practices to meet the needs of every child in the East Hampton Public Schools. Please use this link to provide feedback about your child's educational experience: 2022-2023 EHMS Parent Feedback Survey

We are so proud when our students exemplify our PBIS pillars.

Eighth grade students were investigating patterns in the Earth, Sun, and Moon systems in science class. They used moon phase boards, an eclipse box, and tidal wheels to view the Moon's orbit around Earth and to make predictions about the moon phases, eclipses, and tides.

8th graders have started their next and final reading unit of the school year, Critical Literacy: Unlocking Contemporary Fiction. Ms. Seeley’s students took a trip to the library on Read Across America Day to choose novels for this upcoming unit. The unit is centered around student choice and students were excited to choose books that interested them! Students will be reading their novels both in school and at home each night for 30 minutes.

The students took to the commons to gain some space to “work out” their French Alphabet. Students had to spell various things in French to a partner who then wrote down the word being spelled. The student who wrote down the word then became the “coach” and gave the speller different exercises to do based on each letter of the alphabet. For example, if a student spelled out “East” in French, the partner would have to do 7 standing toe touches (for the letter E), 6 sit ups (for the letter (a) and so on…. It was a fun way to integrate physical education into our French curriculum and go on a mini field trip. Students were overheard saying “That was fun!” “I hope we do this again!” (Of course the answer is “Oui!”)

Mrs. Mannino's 8th grade Spanish class was on interpretive reading. Students used authentic material or realia to accomplish this objective. Realia are real-life objects used in teaching. For this lesson I used an infographic about healthy habits. This infographic was created for native speakers of the Spanish language which added an extra level of difficulty in the reading. Students used different reading strategies such as the use of prior knowledge, cognate words and images to understand the information presented in the infographic.

All students completed the midyear iReady Math and ELA diagnostic. Thank you, students, for preserving and trying your best. We are all very proud of the growth you have made. Congratulations to team Sapphire for the most overall growth in Math and Team Diamond for the most overall growth in Reading. Each team will be rewarded with a “Fun Flex”. Team Diamond had their “Fun Flex” on Wednesday, February 22nd and Team Sapphire will have theirs on Wednesday, March 8th.

Students in Mrs. Donovan’s period 1 class began their pilot with the Illustrative Math Curriculum. Students are learning about equivalent ratios and proportional relationships. In this unit they will learn to represent proportional relationships using tables, graphs, and equations. They will also compare Proportional and Non proportional relationships.

Robotics Club met this Wednesday! Students were coding and programming the trajectory of robots. Pictures are below!

Throughout FLEX this week, students met in Advisory to work on their Profile of a Graduate portfolios. Students were reflecting on assignments or experiences that spoke to how they are progressing in each of our attributes. We want students to be able to show mastery in responsibility, initiative, resiliency, perspectives and inquiry. Our staff create authentic opportunities for students to be able to demonstrate and practice these skills. The Profile of a Graduate ensures certain transferable skills and dispositions that help our students far beyond East Hampton Middle School.

One of our 8th graders, Emma Meleo, made care packages for our East Hampton Police Department as part of her 8th grade Capstone Project. Each care package contained items such as a Dunkin gift card, healthy snacks, chewing gum, Wet Ones, Off Mosquito Spray, sun block, a small can of Lysol spray, hand lotion, hand sanitizer, Chapstick and Shout Wipes. As students rollout their Capstone projects, we will be sharing them out. We are always blown away each year by students' work and we expect the same during this year's Capstone Convention which will be held on Wednesday May 24th from 6p - 8p.

We are excited to announce that Session 2 of Panther Chefs is starting up again this year! Our student cooking club, facilitated by East Hampton's Director of Food & Nutrition Services Mrs. Bove will be running a spring session. Please be on the lookout for the sign up that will be sent out Monday evening.

Attention Students and Parents: Bike Club season is right around the corner! If you’re interested in learning more, please be sure to join the EHMS Bike Club group in ParentSquare so you can receive all the latest info regarding the upcoming season. Here’s how:

• From your phone app, click on the “More” button in the bottom right corner and then click the “Groups” button, scroll down until you see EHMS Bike Club and then click “Join”.
• From your computer browser, click the “Participate” button in the bottom left corner, then click “Groups”, scroll down until you see EHMS Bike Club and then click “Join”.

Our annual East Hampton Music Department Step-up concert is approaching rapidly!

The Step-Up concert is a special concert during March:

Celebrating Music in our Schools month.

Where: East Hampton High School Gymnasium

When: Tuesday, March 14 (snow date Wednesday March 15)

Time: 9:30am in the East Hampton High School gymnasium.

What: East Hampton School music ensembles from Memorial Elementary School, Center

School, EHMS, and EHHS play and sing music in the EHHS gymnasium, culminating

with a special combined school music performance of the EHHS school song ‘Alma

Mater’.

Permission slips will be sent home shortly through Parent Square as well as hard copies.

While there is only space in the EHHS gym for chorus students, band students, and teachers, we are working on coordinating a livestream of the event that can be watched on the East Hampton School District You Tube channel.

Very Respectfully,

Neil Shilansky and Raelynn Rahusen

EHMS Music Teachers

The EHMS Spring Spiritwear Sale will kick off on Monday, March 13th. The sale will feature 25% savings throughout the online store as well as the addition of new product lines including Nike 1/4 zips, ultra-soft crewneck sweatshirts, bucket hats and yoga pants. Details with online ordering link will be sent via Parent Square on Monday. Show your Panther Pride with some fresh new gear!

Below is the presentation that was shown to all 8th grade students. All students should be set in their course selection. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to your child's guidance counselor.

Below is my communication sent through Parentsquare that outlines all the opportunities we have this month to help support our 8th graders as we begin planning for their transition to high school.

We are excited to announce that last week the Governor signed a bill renewing funding to allow us to serve school breakfast and lunch to all students at no charge for the rest of the school year. Starting March 1st, 2023, school meals will again be free for all students. Each student may receive one school breakfast and one school lunch each school day at no cost.

A reminder that the following email addresses can be used by parents to report and document their approval of an absence:

Memorial_Attendance@easthamptonct.org

Center_Attendance@easthamptonct.org

EHMS_Attendance@easthamptonct.org

EHHS_Attendance@easthamptonct.org

If you have successfully emailed the school, you will receive an autoreply that notifies you that the absence communication has been received and recorded. This process is effective for your child for the first 9 absences. After your student has more than 9 absences, additional documentation or communication is required to excuse the absence. However, please continue to use the email designated for your child's school to continue to notify the school that your child will be absent. You may call your child’s school at any time to report an absence but please make sure to follow up a phone call with a note or email to the attendance email.

The Health Office is still looking for students to bring in pictures of their pets! Unfortunately, the bulletin board that we were hoping to fill with cute pictures of animals from home, is looking quite empty. We would love to see all pets and I am especially excited about those reptiles! So, please, if you remember have your student bring in pictures to add to our space. All animals welcome!

Also, just a friendly reminder to have your child bring lip balm with them to school, if needed. This year has been tough for those lips!

Nutrition is so important for growth and development. Please be sure that your student is bringing enough snacks for themselves and remind them to eat breakfast and lunch. As a reminder, the school offers breakfast and lunch, free of charge for all families.

Is anyone else having Spring Fever?! If we aren’t going to be getting snow, then bring on Spring!

If at any point you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me at khafele@easthamptonct.org or call the school office at 860-365-4060.

Thank you!

Mrs. Hafele

Just a reminder, Spring registration for baseball and softball is now open on familyid.com. Your child will need an updated physical within 13 months in order to attend tryouts. Once registered, you will receive an email from familyid. If you do not receive an email, then you did not register properly or it was incomplete. There is no payments do at this time, more information to follow for those who make our teams. A information sheet will go out on Wednesday, March 15th with further information and times for tryouts. Tryouts are scheduled to begin on Monday, March 20 (subject to change)

The deadline for registration is Monday, March 13th.

Any questions, please let me know and thank you.

Coach Mercaldi
mmercaldi@easthamptonct.org

If your child is having any Chromebook or technology issues please click on the link below to do some troubleshooting: EHMS TroubleShooting Tips

If the troubleshooting doesn't work click on the link below to submit an IT work ticket:

Chromebook Trouble Ticket

Please encourage your child to take pride and care in their device. Below is a video to review the proper care of Chromebooks with your child.

Board of Education Statement on School Safety:

The East Hampton Board of Education is committed to a safe and secure learning environment that honors and celebrates the diversity of our students, our community, and our nation. The Board of Education in partnership with the school community will not tolerate any threat of violence in the schools or any hate speech that targets any race, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. Each student is held to the highest standards of responsible decision making within a culture that is expected to foster compassion, caring, and empathy.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement of the East Hampton Public Schools:

The school community of East Hampton is committed to the mission of honoring and celebrating the diversity of our students, our community, and our nation. We strive to guide our students to conscious, deliberate, individual and collective actions that cultivate the respect of all races, religions, and social backgrounds. Our school community endeavors to produce graduates who are equipped with a greater understanding of the concepts of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Nondiscrimination Statement of the East Hampton Public Schools:

The East Hampton Board of Education, in compliance with federal and state law, affirms its policy of equal educational opportunity for all students and equal employment opportunity for all persons. It is the policy of the District to promote nondiscrimination and an environment free of harassment regardless of an individual’s race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, ancestry, disability (including but not limited to, intellectual disability, past or present history of mental disorder, physical disability, or learning disability), genetic information, marital status, or age or because of the race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin, ancestry, disability, genetic information, marital status, or age of any persons with whom the individual associates. The District shall provide to all students without discrimination, course offerings, counseling, assistance, employment, athletics, and extracurricular activities. The District shall provide equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The District shall make reasonable accommodations for identified physical and mental impairments that constitute disabilities, consistent with federal and state statutes and regulations.

Email: camaral@easthamptonct.org
Website: https://www.easthamptonps.org/o/ehms
Location: 19 Childs Road, East Hampton, CT, USA
Phone: (860) 365 4060