Cougar Courier
January 31, 2025
Principal's Message
Greetings Elm Middle School Families,
Happy Friday! I hope everyone had a wonderful week! Starting off strong with a huge congratulations to our Boy's Basketball, Cheer and Dance programs on amazing seasons. The work put in doesn't go unnoticed, and we are so proud of all of you for all of your hard work. A great cap to the season was having both basketball teams advance in the Leyden-Norwood Athletic Conference Tournament! Way to go, Cougars!!
Don't forget, registration for parent teacher conferences is open and will will close on Monday, February 10th at 11:59 PM. Please see these instructions for booking a time. For the February 2025 Parent Teacher Conferences, building check-in is required for in person conferences. You will need to provide your ID as you enter the building. Only those with pre-scheduled, in-person conferences will be allowed access to the buildings.
Please take a few minutes to read through this week’s Cougar Courier, As always, should you need anything, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly. Additionally, here is more information from Ms. Gomez regarding ACCESS Testing! We will be starting ACCESS testing next week at Elm! Good luck to all of our students sitting for this assessment! Have a fabulous weekend! #TeamElmStrong
Most Sincerely,
Mrs. Ashley Groeneveld
Assistant Principal's Corner
Academic Week in Review
Happy Friday Elm Families,
During the next few weeks, we will be utilizing grade performance and our most updated MAP data to determine placements in interventions for the upcoming trimester. Our support labs all showed tremendous growth in their performance; and collectively, I could not be prouder of our ELM students for their efforts on the MAP exam. Each grade level expressed growth in the areas of Math and Reading. I will share out more data as we finalize our testing. Please reach out with any questions or concerns regarding your students performance. Have great weekend.
Sincerely,
David Parolin
Assistant Principal
"The Winter Olympics"
Hello Elm Families,
This week, students and staff participated in "The Winter Olympics". The week was filled with games, contests, and activities. Some of the fun events included:
-Shot Put competition
-Door Decorating contests
-Scavenger Hunts
-Long jump competition
-Origami
-Putting Contests
Check out some of the fun we had this week! Have a nice weekend!
Fuentes "Selfie Spot" Scavenger Hunt
Some 6th Grade staff for a black and red themed photo!
Ms. Demas- finding the "oldest" thing in the school!
The Elm Showcase
Title One Family Night
EPHS Soccer Night
Elm Cooking Class
On Tuesday, February 25th join Ms. Cannici and the School House Kitchen for a cooking class. You can practice knife skills as we chop a rainbow of veggies, pull together a delicious sauce from scratch, and enjoy a nourishing serving of chicken ramen with veggies. The cost is $30 and the class runs from 3:30 - 5 p.m. Sign up with the link below
https://www.hisawyer.com/sugar-beet-schoolhouse/schedules/activity-set/1256221
8th Grade Families
We are so excited to start this year and celebrate the Graduating class of 2025 all year long. Please fill out this form to sign-up!
This year we are collecting as one lump sum for all the activities and graduation events. Included in this one time payment is:
2-field trips with lunch included
Graduation gown with delivery to Elm Middle School
8th grade graduation t-shirt signed by all students
Graduation card personalized from parents and balloon
Total cost $100
***PAT is still hosting the dinner dance, that communication will come separately in the upcoming months.***
Cougar Athletics
We're looking forward to another very exciting year of Cougar Athletics! The Leyden Norwood Athletic Conference schedule can be found here!
As a reminder, any student interested in participating in athletics at Elm this year, must have an active physical on file! Be sure to check with the nurse to ensure your student is able to tryout! Addtionally, take time to review the student and parent code of conduct from the Leyden Norwood Athletic Conference here. We will have annoucements for tryouts and athletics meetings as seasons are approaching!
If you're interested in ordering Cougar basketball gear, please use this link here! Go Cougars!
Cougar Celebration Store
Elm Extra-Curricular Activities
Our goal is to provide as many opportunities as possible for our students to contribute to our school community not only inside the classroom but outside of it as well. We offer a wide variety of activities for our students to participate in! Encourage your Cougar to try something new or keep going with something they already have been! Here is the list of all of our offerings at Elm, with scheduled meeting days and sponsors!
Should you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to a sponsor of an activity!
The Elm PAT
A huge thank you to our Elm PAT for always supporting our school community! Here is a detailed schedule of all things Elm PAT for the 2024-2025 school year! Mark your calendars!
Elm Middle School Yearbook
If you're interested in purchasing a yearbook, please go ahead and click the link here! For any questions, please reach out to Ms. Fiorito our yearbook club sponsor!
Box Tops for Education
Earn cash for our school by using the Box Tops app. It’s an easy way to make a difference. All you have to do is buy Box Tops participating products (like Cheerios!) and scan your grocery receipt. Box Tops are worth $.10 each and they add up fast! Use this referral code K7Y8751D when you sign up and you’ll get 25 Bonus Box Tops when you scan your first receipt through 05/31/2025. Download the Box Tops for Education app here: https://btfe.smart.link/c2jjdifkw?referral_code=K7Y8751D
- February 10th: Parent Teacher Conferences Scheduling Closes
- February 12th: Parent Teacher Conferences
- February 13th: Parent Teacher Conferences
- Febraury 14th: No School (Conference Exchange Day)
- February 17th: No School (President's Day)
- February 28th: Trimester Two Ends
Elm Information
Ashley Groeneveld
Principal
Dave Parolin
Assistant Principal
Michael Goodman
Dean of Students
Safe2Help
EPCUSD 401 School Board Members
Peter Volpe, Vice President
Susan Capraro, Secretary
Jennifer Ranallo
Jonathan Rivera
Jason Shipinski
Michelle Silver