November 30, 2015

WELCOME BACK!

We hope you had a wonderful and restful Thanksgiving!

After the upcoming winter holidays, many schedules will change due to semester electives changing.  If your 8th grader is interested in being a TA for the Spring semester, instead of another elective that they have, please have them email me HERE to express their interest. They MUST have at least a 2.0 and WILL earn a grade for being a TA moving forward.  We cannot guarantee that we will have space, however, please let us know!

INDEPENDENT STUDY INFORMATION:  Please note that ALL I.S. contracts MUST be given to our office FIVE DAYS prior to going on Independent Study.  We will NOT be able to grant IS Contracts that are given in short notice.  Additionally, please note that all of the work that is turned in upon return for IS, will be graded last as teachers will grade the work that was completed on time first and then enter all remaining work!  Thanks for your patience!

PLEASE take a moment to check out THIS VERY HELPFUL LINK to see the various apps, video games, TV shows, books, and games that are out there for our kids to download.  Did you know that there is a hidden camera app?  Did you know that certain video games have the highest ratings for violence?  Do you know all of the Social Media apps out there?  Check out the website and use the knowledge WILL help you!!

There will be a few changes to our lunch lines beginning today.  All of our Ala cart items that are not very popular will be discontinued in order to reduce the choices and try to make the lines move faster.  We will only be offering Ala cart items at the snack bar.  Pizza and burgers will be offered at the cafeteria windows and the rest will be at the cart.   We hope that this will increase the speed of our lines for our kids!

We know that middle school can be a ROUGH time for kids AND for parents!  Here is a fantastic website (that we have mentioned several times) on ways that you can get some practical tips for social and emotional support for your student.  Check out THIS LINK to get these ideas, tips, and supportive ideas!

Are you a planner like we are?  Are you already thinking about 8th grade promotion on Thursday, June 2nd 2016 beginning at 11?  Please be sure that you have the FSUSD SCHOOL CALENDAR so that you know when everything is?  Also, please remember that each 8th grader who is being promoted will be given FOUR TICKETS only.  We cannot accommodate any more than this.

We will not have a PTC Meeting in December and feel free to email our board at GVMSPTC@gmail.com anytime!

November 16, 2015

Happy November!

There will be NO blog post next week as we are not in school.  Teachers and staff will be enjoying the Thanksgiving Holiday with family and friends.  We will be refraining from sending and answering email!  Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving next week!

A few reminders from GVMS staff and teachers: 
All Independent Study requests for students that are going to be gone MUST be given at least 5 DAYS in advance.  We want all of our students to be successful AND we want to follow Board Policy, which REQUIRES 5 days notice please.   Remember to check THIS LINK for what is considered excused and unexcused absences!

Please remember that our teachers work hard to update Parent Portal as fast as possible!  With 170 students, this can be extremely challenging.  We appreciate your patience as our teachers enter grades as fast as possible.  Though Parent Portal is not a mandatory program for our parents to use, we know it is very helpful to keep families informed of student progress.  Also, late work is always entered last.  Always. Assignments that were completed on time go in first and then late work is entered so you may not see it updated until the end of the grading period.

Did you know that 73% of teens and tweens have access to smartphones?  If your student is one of those, check out THIS LINK to be aware of the different apps that are out there.  Knowledge is critical in our day and age and we ALL need to know what our kids are looking at online!

After Winter Break, many electives will change.  We cannot make any changes until this time as we are highly impacted with more students registering daily.  TA grades must be a 2.0 and we will be grade checking at that time.  Additionally, ALL TAs and students in Leadership/Study Hall WILL be receiving letter grades beginning in 2016.

Check out of Student of the Month winners for Caring for the month of October!  We are so proud of them and their caring ways and as a model for our students!

November 9, 2015

Happy November!

What a wonderful change in the weather!  
Whew... We thought thought it would NEVER come!

While we all know that our teens and tweens are using social media like never before, but do we actually KNOW what the research says about it?  Take a look at THIS ARTICLE to see videos, links and reports.   It's a WEALTH of information!

Check out of Student of the Month winners for Caring for the month of October!  We are so proud of them and their caring ways and as a model for our students!

Special thank you to the parents that have donated to teachers and their DonorsChoose projects as we ll as Challenge Day!  We REALLY appreciate it!  Thank you to PTC for Chrome Books, needed supplies, Student of the Month rewards and more!

PTC also funded one of our Challenge Days so that we could offer this to both 7th and 8th graders!  Be sure to check out what it's all about HERE!! Want to be involved with Challenge Day on December 14th or 15th?  There are several different ways!  

First, please take a look at our  GoFundMe Page here as we are trying to get sponsors for t-shirts and lunch!  Also, if you are interested in volunteering your time on either day, please email our counselor, Mrs. Bates HERE! to get your name on our list!  We may not have enough room for all parents but would love to work to have you all here!

Please remember that there is NO SCHOOL this Wednesday, November 11th.  We DO have a full week of school November 16-20th and NO MINIMUM DAYS!

November 2, 2015

Happy November!

We hope you had a safe and Happy Halloween, and remembered the time change!

We wanted to send SEVERAL SUPER big thank yous to MULTIPLE GROUPS!  To our GVMS PTC and Families for supporting our fundraising efforts and purchasing 17 Chrome Books for two of our classrooms that did not have them!  We are really trying to become a 1:1 device school, where every student has a device to use when they come to GVMS. THANK YOU PTC!  To our volunteers for supervising the dance!  Thank you!  To our parents that joined our Watch D.O.G.S. Program!  Thank you!

Have you seen our SUPER STARS at GVMS?  These are ALL of our amazing students who earned Honor Roll and Principal List Awards!  We couldn't be MORE proud of them!

Still want ways to support our staff and teachers?  We have PLENTY of ways as our teachers are always trying to engage our students in multiple ways!! 
Check out these links:

Ms. Mansour
http://www.donorschoose.org/project/we-want-to-visit-jack-londons-ranch-in/1696237/?challengeid=20480094&rf=link-siteshare-2015-10-teacher_profile-teacher_2537923

Mr. Baptist
http://www.donorschoose.org/project/sailing-into-compare-and-contrast-essa/1715045/

Ms. Kinder

http://www.donorschoose.org/project/chromebook-needed-please/1699382/

Ms. Toll
http://www.donorschoose.org/project/journalism-junkies-macbook-air-and-page/1697326/

Mr. Diaz
http://www.donorschoose.org/project/3d-model-competition-and-presentations/1699386/?rf=page-siteshare-2015-10-proposal-teacher_1289144

http://www.donorschoose.org/project/ipad-mini-for-giant-ideas/1699431/?rf=page-siteshare-2015-10-proposal-teacher_1289144

PTC also funded one of our Challenge Days so that we could offer this to both 7th and 8th graders!  Be sure to check out what it's all about HERE!! Want to be involved with Challenge Day on December 14th or 15th?  There are several different ways!  First, please take a look at our  GoFundMe Page here as we are trying to get sponsors for t-shirts and lunch!  Also, if you are interested in volunteering your time on either day, please email our counselor, Mrs. Bates HERE! to get your name on our list!  We may not have enough room for all parents but would love to work to have you all here!

Have you spent time on our WEBSITE to see everything that is going on at GVMS? It's a WEALTH of information and it's updated by Ms. Toll daily!

Due to the impact of our enrollment, there will be NO SCHEDULE changes for electives until the semester break (December 18th).  We are so tightly packed, that we cannot make any changes until this time as this is when semester electives will change anyway.