The Panther Post

Good afternoon,

We hope everyone had a wonderful week! It is hard to believe but there are a few more weeks until the end of our first quarter concluded on November 8th. If there are any questions regarding your child's grade, please don't hesitate to reach out to your child's teacher.

We just wanted to take the opportunity to share that we have reminded students that larger fidget items and toys, can be a distraction in the classroom and are to kept at home. While certain classroom tools can support focus and learning, many items being brought to school are being used in ways that interfere with instruction and student attention. To help maintain a productive learning environment, students are expected to keep toys and non-essential fidgets in their lockers during the school day unless otherwise directed by a teacher or included as part of a student support plan. Teachers will be reviewing and reinforcing these expectations with students. We appreciate your support in helping students come to school prepared to focus on learning and minimizing distractions during instructional time.

Best,

Christina & Emily

Mon. Oct 19th - Fri. Oct 23rd - Safe School Week

Thurs. Oct 22nd - Picture Retake Day

Mon. Oct 26th - Board of Education Meeting, Town Hall, 6:30pm

Mon. Oct 26th - 6th Grade Field Trip with Empower

Tues. Nov. 3rd - Professional Development for Staff - No School

Wed. Nov. 11th - Veterans Day - No School

Tues. Nov. 17th - Wolfpack Field Trip 8th Grade

Wed. Nov. 18th - Early Release for Students @ 12:35 - Parent Conferences 1:00 - 5:00

Thurs. Nov. 19th - Early Release for Student @ 12:35 - Parent Conferences 1:00 - 7:30

(More information regarding Fall Parent Conferences will be shared soon)

Students can be directed to bring any donations to our main office where a box is located!

Below are students who received Positive Office Referrals for their behaviors that have exemplified our EHMS Way pillars of Empathy, Honesty, Mindfulness and Safety. Students were able to choose a reward from our menu of options! Great job to our Panthers!

Positive Office Referrals

Alivia Cinquegrana, Kris Schonagel, Jonah Kramer, Ava Fromme, Carter Douglas, Mackenzie Gagner, Hunter Demonti, Ryder Moquin, Kareem Nafak, Justin Claude, Whitney Fielding, Owen Phillips, Natalie Kellogg, Quinn Mathieu, Amelia Bennett, Fiona Coyne, Gabby Martino, William Krotky, Brody Pinney, Liam Twiss, David Steuerwald, Bronn Ewan, Izzy Fromme, Ava Kroeber

Pictured are some past Positive Office Referral winners whose rewards included playing basketball with a staff member and eat lunch outside with friends!

This week, 6th graders worked together in small groups and partnerships to explore what makes strong and effective writing. Students practiced identifying the best evidence to support their ideas in a CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) response. They will continue building these skills as they read and discuss their whole-class mentor text, House Arrest, using evidence from the text to support their thinking and strengthen their writing.

This week, our students are putting their math and estimation skills to the test with our PBIS Candy Corn Jar Challenge! Congrats to our winners who came to the closest guess!

Congrats to Ben Kennedy who guessed the exact number of candy corn in the jar - 646!

Students in PE are working on their communication, collaboration, and cooperation skills. Throughout a series of activities, students have practiced verbal and non-verbal communication, and social skills that will translate to other academic subjects!

Student Council members gave speeches to share why they would make great leaders as President, Vice President and Secretary. After the speeches, students voted to decide who would be elected in the leadership position. We will be excited to share in future posts the work of Student Council this year! Congrats to this year's Student Council Leadership: President: Allie Dipace; Vice President: Eli Laplant; Secretary: Bridget Adams

Over the last several years, we have had an ongoing partnership with Sandy Hook Promise, which promotes school-wide efforts to create safe schools for all our learners. Through our partnership, we have held programs that help to teach middle and high school students to recognize the warning signs of someone at-risk of hurting themselves or others and helps develop skills for students to confidently seek out a trusted adult.

It can be hard for adults to know how the children in their lives are feeling. Today, many teens and adolescents turn to online channels to express themselves, their thoughts and hopes, and their anxieties and personal feelings. Some even go as far as hinting they want to hurt themselves or someone else. Their friends and peers are the eyes and ears of a school community and may observe these communications but not always understand or know what to do with that information. On Wednesday October 28th, our FLEX will be focused on explaining to students our district’s 6-12 Say Something Anonymous Reporting System. The training will talk through the 3 steps- 1) Look for warning signs and threats, 2) Act immediately, take it seriously; 3) Say Something to a trusted adult or use its anonymous reporting system.

We encourage you to talk to your child about how important it is to Say Something and encourage them to share what they are learning. Not only will this conversation help you to recognize any signs in your own student’s expressions, but it also demonstrates to them that you take this subject seriously and can be one of the trusted adults they turn to if they suspect someone may need help.

The Sandy Hook Anonymous Reporting System will be available on the district and school website. Thank you for your continued partnership in collaborating to develop the skills to empower students to speak up for anyone in need.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out.

OCT 19 - OCT 23 (subject to change)

Dismissal forms should be filled out 24 hours or more in advance to you taking them. They can be found on Parentsquare under links (lower right-hand side) Please make sure you fill out correct form for the sport your daughter/son participates in!

Home and Away sites don't always have bleachers, should bring a chair!

Procedure will be as follows. Each day unless Cross Country has an away meet!

Boys/Girls Soccer players will drop their soccer bags off in the boys and girls locker rooms in the morning. Please make sure you are not blocking any walk paths or doors. Locker rooms will be locked during the day.

Cross Country: At dismissal, all those in Cross-Country will head down to the locker rooms, change if needed, fill your water bottles, walk on sidewalk/path and head over to the gate area. Your school bags will be put up against the fence area. Returning runners will help guide. With your water bottle in hand, warm up lap around the soccer field and then head to the finish line.

Bring a garbage bag for inclement weather to protect your school bags!

If your son/daughter is not at practice, please direct message coaches via parentsqure.

Boys Soccer-Ed Loveland

Girls Soccer-Bryan Field

Cross-Country-Joanna Mercaldi

MONDAY, OCT 19

Hale Ray soccer at East Hampton MS

5:30 pm Girls Soccer-2-30's

6:45 pm Boys Soccer-2-35's

Note: No JV Game-Dress warm!

East Hampton cross-country at Beman MS (Middletown), 2:20 dismissal, 2:30 bus.

Note: Boys run first

TUESDAY, OCT 20

Cross Country 2:35 until 4 pm

Boys Soccer 2:35 until 4:30 pm

Girls Soccer 2:35 until 4:30 pm

WEDNESDAY, OCT 21

Griswold MS soccer at East Hampton, 3:30 pm game.

Site: Girls Soccer at East Hampton High School (shuttle at 2:45/50)

Site: Boys Soccer at East Hampton Middle School

Note: Wear blue uniforms

Cross Country 2:35 until 4 pm

THURSDAY, OCT 22

East Hampton boys/girls cross-country at Cromwell MS for conference championships, 1:50 dismissal, 2 pm bus.

Note: Girls Run First, followed directly after by Boys race.

East Hampton soccer at Beman MS (Middletown), 2:20 dismissal, 2:30 bus, 3:45 pm game.

Site: Boys Soccer at Long Hill Road

Site: Girls Soccer at Ed Collins Football Field

Note: White uniforms

FRIDAY, OCT 23

No Girls Soccer

No Boys Soccer

Cross-Country: Collection of uniforms to Mrs. Mercaldi's office in guidance. Washed, dried, folded and name on bag.

MONDAY, OCT 26

Beman MS soccer at East Hampton, 3:45 pm game.

Site: Boys soccer at East Hampton High School, 2:45/50 pm shuttle.

Site: Girls soccer at East Hampton Middle School.

Note: Blue uniforms

Note: Boys and Girls uniforms will be collected. More information to follow.

Per the East Hampton Board of Education’s Attendance Policy and Connecticut statute, parents and guardians may only approve the first 9 absences of the school year with a parent note. Absences 10 and above can only be excused with further documentation and under specific circumstances.

In addition, if a student has four unexcused absences in one month or 10 unexcused absences in a year they are classified as truant. If a child misses 18 or more days in a school year – excused or unexcused absences – the student is classified as chronically absent.

A phone call is appreciated, but only an email to our attendance inbox or written note can officially excuse absence 1 through 9. Below is our attendance email:

Note: Between the school name and the word Attendance is a underscore ( _ )

EHMS_Attendance@easthamptonct.org

If a student has four unexcused absences in one month or 10 unexcused absences in a year they are classified as truant. If a child misses 18 or more days in a school year – excused or unexcused absences – the student is classified as chronically absent.

It’s not too late to enroll your children in the healthcare services at East Hampton Middle School’s School-Based Health Care (SBHC) Clinic!

We know how challenging it can be to navigate work, school, and extracurricular activities. Let Community Health Center, Inc.’s School-Based Health Care take one thing off your plate with high-quality healthcare services offered right in your student’s school.

Check some things off your to-do list, like:

✅ Sports Physicals

✅ Flu Shots

✅ Therapy Sessions

✅ Dental Cleanings

✅ And more!

Find out which services are offered at your school and enroll your child(ren) today at sbhc1.com!

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