Good afternoon everyone,

We hope all our Panther families have a wonderful, restful long weekend. We look forward to seeing everyone back on Wednesday February 22nd.

Best,

Christina & Emily

• February 20th-21st -February Recess
• February 22nd - 24th - 8th Grade EHHS course selections
• February 22nd - Homework Club & Robotics Club
• March 10th - No school - Professional Development
• March 29th & 30th - Parent Conferences

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 February newsletters. Don't forget to check out Team Amethyst's newsletter. This is our specials and P.E. team.

Enjoy!

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

6th Grader, Bennett Galovich, for showcasing Compassion!

8th Grader, Madeline Mohr for showcasing Responsibility!

Students in Mr. Kiser’s first period 8th grade math class have begun their pilot unit in Illustrative Math. They are currently working on Linear Relationships. In this unit they will deepen their understanding of slope, learn to understand and use key terms and representations to reason about situations involving one or two constant rate.

At the end of each quarter, students are asked to tally the number of pages they have read. During Quarter 2, Team Emerald read 80,161 pages and won the Quarterly Reading Challenge! This week Mrs. Aiken and the two Emerald students who read the most number of pages accepted a trophy on Good Morning EHMS. Team Emerald will display the trophy in their ELA classroom until the end of quarter 3, when a new winner will be announced. Keep reading, EHMS!

There were several random acts of kindness shown throughout our Panther community. 6th graders on Team Diamond made valentine cards with a science theme for patients at Cobalt Health Care Center.

Students and staff were also able to show their appreciation for one another by gifting a carnation. Carnations were delivered on Valentine's Day. We were able to give away 230 carnations and donations made will go towards supporting our PBIS program. Pictured below are some carnations gifted to one of our teachers!

One of our 6th graders, Avery Guild, was honored at Monday night's Board Meeting for being a Center School Fire Poster and County Winner! Congratulations Avery!

From March 13-17, EHMS will be celebrating “Say Something” Week. The Panther Ambassadors club completed all the activities that will be implemented during that week. The theme for March is Say Something, which is to create a culture to prevent school violence through our school support. Each year, thousands of schools and youth organizations nationwide participate in Say Something Week, a week of celebrating the importance of trusted adults and upstanders in our community! Our Panther Ambassadors have been very busy and are ready now to implement this program. They are also getting ready to plan and develop for our April program. We are very proud of our EHMS PANTHER AMBASSADORS!!!!!

❤ Hearts for the Homeless Drive for February ❤

Collection information:

• As an 8th grade Capstone initiative, for the rest of February, there will be a collection drive for “Hearts for the Homeless” to collect supplies for Immacare, a mobile outreach program and emergency shelter in Hartford! Donations can be brought to the library where there is a collection box.

10 items that are needed:

o Men’s long sleeve t-shirts

o Shaving Cream

o Men’s deodorant

o Toothpaste – full size

o Toothbrushes

o Chapstick

o sweatshirts/hoodies

o Men’s sweatpants

o Men’s t-shirts

o Men’s thermals

o Men’s boxer briefs

o Men’s thermal socks

Our students competed last Saturday at UConn in the annual MathCounts competition. A big shoutout to Mr. Kiser for coordinating the trip. Although our team did not place, they did a tremendous job in the competition! Go Panthers!

COMING SOON!!

EHMS PTO is bringing back last year's popular Munson's Chocolates sale! Here’s a delicious way to support the students of East Hampton Middle School! Order your favorite chocolate confections from Munson’s Chocolates, and the proceeds will go right back to helping our EHMS students. Chocolate bars and truffles, chocolate covered pretzels, potato chips and nuts, chocolate bunnies, jelly beans and more! Easy online ordering and delivery in time for the Easter holiday. Look for details coming next week in a Parent Square! If you are interested in helping manage this easy-to-run fundraiser, please email us at PTOehms@gmail.com

We will be running things just as we did last year.

• Family members Grades 2 and older will be able to join at the club rates!
• There will be no bus to and from the school; students and their families will be responsible for providing their own transportation. The school will leave it to parent/guardian discretion as to how their child and equipment (which cannot be stored at the school) get to and from the mountain each week.
• Arrive at the mountain at 3:30 PM, depart from the mountain at 7:30 PM

Thursday 2/23 is our last day of Ski Club!

Pricing per person for the 4 passes varies depending on which package you choose:

Lift Ticket $140

Lift and Lesson $192

Lift and Rental Equipment $212

Lift, Lesson and Rental Equipment $252

While there are no refunds for missed days, Mount Southington will let you trade your lift ticket in for a different day later this season or the following one.

Just a reminder that teachers are continuing to use a tool called the DESSA. This tool asks trained teachers to assess how often a student has demonstrated specific life skills in the past month. The DESSA is sponsored by the Connecticut State Department of Education and is completed three times a year by a teacher who works with your student on a regular basis. Teachers recently completed the second rating.

Sample DESSA questions include:

• How often did the child keep trying when unsuccessful?

• How often did the child offer to help somebody?

• How often did the child get things done in a timely fashion?

• How often did the child work well in groups?

Based on this rating students may be identified as in need of instruction, demonstrating typical competencies or having certain strengths by competency. This information would be used to design learning opportunities to support or further skill development. If a student is in need of instruction, the teacher would have been asked to complete a longer survey for additional detail. The purpose of the DESSA is to identify which life skills your child has already learned and what skills they might still need to develop. Once our teachers identify the skills their students still need to learn, they will teach those skills using the Second Step curriculum through our Advisory groups. Our goal is to ensure that your child is continuously developing the skills they need for lifelong success.

Below is the presentation that was shown to all 8th grade students last week.

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.

Our 8th graders were able to take tours of EHHS earlier this week! The Guidance Department from EHHS will be helping with student course selections. Students will work on course selection during various FLEX times this week. We will split 8th grade homerooms across the three days. By the end of the week, students would have selected their courses for the 23-24 school year. The communication above explains the process if a student or family would like to request a course that is different from what was recommended.

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.

Message from Nurse Hafele:

We are working on creating a collage of pets for the health office. Please send in a picture of your pet to add to our wall! Any and all pets welcome! Please hand in to Mrs. Hafele.

Now that Winter is upon us and the germs are starting to get a little too comfortable, let’s review the below guidelines.
Consider keeping your child at home for an extra day of rest and observation if he or she has any of the following symptoms:

• Very stuffy or runny nose and/or cough
• Mild sore throat (no fever, no known exposure to strep)
• Mild headache and/or stomachache
• Fatigue

Definitely keep your child at home for treatment and observation if he or she has any of these symptoms:

• Fever (greater than 100 degrees. May return to school after 24 hours of no fever WITHOUT fever reducing medications)
• Vomiting (Even once. Must wait 24 hours after last vomit episode to return to school)
• Diarrhea (Must wait 24 hours after last episode to return to school)
• Chills
• General malaise or feelings of fatigue, discomfort, weakness, and/or muscle aches
• Frequent congested, wet, or croupy cough
• Lots of nasal congestion with frequent blowing of nose

To help prevent the flu and other colds, please remind your child(ren) about good hygiene habits:

• Wash hands frequently
• Do not touch eyes, nose, or mouth
• Cover mouth and nose when sneezing/coughing and then wash hands
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick

Helpful resources:
Please contact your child’s pediatrician first. If unable to be seen, here is a list of
local walk in/urgent care locations if unable to be seen by pediatrician:
CVS Minute Clinic, East Hampton 866-389-2727
ProHealth Extended Hours, Glastonbury 657-5940
Middlesex Health Urgent Care, Middletown 860-358-4170
Colchester Urgent Care 860-531-9749

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

EAST HAMPTON MS ATHLETICS SCHEDULE

FEB 20 - FEB 24

MONDAY, FEB 20

NO athletics!

TUESDAY, FEB 21

NO athletics!

WEDNESDAY, FEB 22

EHMS Girls volleyball (Teams: Panthers/Pride) at Griswold MS (Rocky Hill), 2:20 dismissal, 2:30 bus.

Griswold boys volleyball at EHMS

THURSDAY, FEB 23

Girls volleyball 2:35 until 4:30 pm

Boys study hall 2:35 until 4:00 pm

Boys volleyball 4:15 until 5:30 pm

FRIDAY, FEB 24

East Hampton boys volleyball at Cromwell. 2:20 dismissal, 2:30 bus.

Cromwell girls volleyball at EHMS (Teams: Pacesetters/Pride)

Officials: V-Rich S JV-Kristen M

Note: team picture girls volley ball.

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