Middle School Minutes

Included with your child’s report card you will find their ACT Aspire Scores. ACT Aspire is a test Garfield administers to students in grades 5-9 in the fall. This test provides valuable information regarding how your child is progressing on standards as well as towards college and/or career readiness. Enclosed you will find graphs detailing how your child performed in each tested subject area as well as feedback specific to their scores that includes their strengths and areas to focus on for improving.

The ACT Aspire is aligned to the ACT that all students in Ohio will take as a Junior. The information gathered from this test will also be shared with teachers so they can work to strengthen our educational program at Garfield and customize instruction to your child’s strengths and areas of improvement.

If you have any questions about the ACT Aspire please contact Mr. Hatcher.

We are pleased to add Mr. Joseph Brahler to the GMS Family. Mr. Brahler, a Garfield graduate, is completing his student-teaching experience at GMS. He will be working with Mrs. Morgan in math and with Mr. Moser in social studies.

Here are some exciting topics being studied:

Math: Seventh grade students are solving equations. The students are off to a great start showing their knowledge of this foundational algebraic concept. Pre-Algebra students are working extensively with graphing linear equations and finding rates of change from graphs, ordered pairs, tables, and equations. Algebra students are finishing up a unit on exponents. We hope their math understanding is growing exponentially!

Art classes are creating homemade Valentines to send overseas to our servicemen and women as part of Operation Valentine, sponsored by Carlson Funeral Home.

Science: Wind patterns and moon phases are being studied by seventh grade students. Punnet Squares and genetics are being tackled by eighth-graders. Physical Science students finished up a semester of chemistry and are moving on to physics. We are looking forward to building paper roller coasters.

Language Arts: Treasure Island, Freak the Mighty, The Hobbit, and Riders are novels being read in our classrooms. Nonfiction will be tackled next. In our writing classes, we are working on argumentative essays and script writing.

Social Studies: Seventh graders are beginning the study of Medieval History. Eighth graders have finished the American Revolution and are studying the challenges of the new nation.

Caleb Canan and Simon Fergis were the winners of our School Bee. They will represent GMS at the Regional Bee on February 12.

We were fortunate to receive a grant from the Portage County Retired Teachers' Association for our STEM classes. Mrs Giammo and Miss Shafer wrote the grant and have used the monies to purchase new Sphero robots and accessories. These robots allow the students to "code" and program different functions.

Important information regarding the Niagara Falls trip will be coming home in yellow envelopes at the end of January. Final balances, certified birth certificates, and completed permission slips are due by Friday, February 21, 2020.