GMS Principal's Corner
November 13, 2020
Dear Galvin Families,
To support Brady and Julie, friends and family created a Go Fund Me page. Our school community will be holding two Brady Strong days next week, on Tuesday and Friday, to raise money to donate directly to the Gibbons family. Brady loves sports, specifically baseball and basketball, so we are asking students to wear sports jerseys and/or hats in his honor - either professional or Canton-based. Student Leaders will also be collecting donations on Tuesday and Friday for those students and families who would like to contribute to the family's Go Fund Me.
Events like this can be hard on a community. Having something concrete that we can do helps. This week, our 8th grade students made cards and notes for Brady and we passed them on to his aunt. If any other students or families would like to do the same, please feel free to drop them off at the Galvin or send them to the school and we will be sure to send them along.
As a school, our guidance counselors are here to support all students and families. They have been available this week for students who've wanted to talk about what happened and have had an increased presence in hallways and classrooms. If you or your child would benefit from a conversation with them, please do not hesitate to reach out to Ashley Caron (grade 6), Kelli Corsetti (grade 7) or Kari Denitzio (grade 8). In addition, this article from The National Association of School Psychologists offers suggestions for talking with your children about grief.
There is nothing more important to us than our students. We will continue to offer our full support to Brady and his family as well as our entire Galvin Community. The Galvin Middle School is Brady Strong!
Thank you,
Sarah
GMS Schedule Update
Continuous reflection and improvement is a core value of the Canton Public Schools as well as the Galvin Middle School. It is also a skill that we have identified as a key quality of our GMS Learner. This year offers us many opportunities to practice and develop this skill.
As mentioned in an earlier newsletter, we have been working to revise the GMS daily schedule. We worked with staff, parents and students to gather feedback and review the schedule to help ensure that we are supporting our students as best as possible. The proposed schedule features a number of changes that result in additional time per core subject and additional time spent on synchronous learning, culminating in additional hours of time on learning by the end of the year, while continuing to meet the schedule priorities we identified this summer.
The new schedule shortens the check-in time in the morning and eliminates the check-out time in the afternoon due to students’ success in adjusting to the check-in and check-out process during the first weeks of the school year. The On-Demand Learning (ODL) block each day will be reduced from 60 minutes to 43 minutes, and will include dismissal time. Additionally, classes have been lengthened from 60 minutes to 68 minutes. Finally, the ODL block will be supervised by team teachers three days per week and specialist teachers one day per week so that the ODL block teacher is the student’s regular teacher more often. This change is expected to allow for additional connection between students and their teachers, which has been a common suggested improvement in the district’s Conditions for Learning Survey results.
These changes reflect feedback from parents/guardians, staff, and students received on the district’s Conditions for Learning Survey and GMS’s additional ODL Survey. Results from the ODL Survey generally showed that ODL is a valuable use of time for students to complete work as well as practice being independent learners.
The new schedule results in approximately 35 hours of additional time on learning by the end of the year, while still including the same best practices for instruction, which include direct instruction, independent learning, group work, asynchronous work and homework. This time on learning is also aligned with state expectations.
The new schedule will be going into effect on Monday, November 30, 2020. We will utilize a community block prior to November 30th to review the changes with students to prepare them for the shift. The full GMS schedule presentation that was shared at School Committee on November 5, 2020 and a view of the new GMS schedule can be found here.
GMS Virtual Club Offerings!
The GMS Club Program has always been a big part of our school community. Yearly we have over 300 students participate. Students join clubs to make friends, do what they love and to try new things. Clubs are even more important to our community this year because they offer a way for students to come together outside of academic classes - albeit virtually. We hope that you will encourage your child(ren) to join our program. If you don't see something that interests your child and there's something that they might prefer, please let us know so we can consider it for session 2!
Today, you should have received a separate email sharing information regarding session 1 of the GMS Virtual Afterschool Clubs. All after school clubs will be running virtually for the 2020-2021 school year. The cost for clubs is a one time fee of $70 for the school year and is paid through www.myschoolbucks.com. Students may choose as many clubs as they would like. Please choose ONLY one club per day for each student. You must fill out multiple forms for multiple children. All clubs will run virtually from 3pm - 4pm. Some clubs do have a maximum number of participants, so all clubs are on a first come, first serve basis.
To sign up for a club please click this link for the google form. All club zoom links and passwords will be communicated via a separate email from this newsletter. The Google Form must be returned no later than Thursday, November 19, 2020. All clubs will begin on Monday, November 30, 2020 and will run for 5 weeks. If your child does not hear from a club advisor that means they got into all their club choices. Emails will be sent to parents of students who did not get into a club.
How Google Classroom & Plus Portal: Helping Parents Support You Child's Academic Success During Remote Learning
If you are interested in participating in this workshop, please register here. Once you are registered, you will receive an email with a videoconferencing link to join. Please note that this link may not be sent until next week. We look forward to having you join us!
A Message From Your GMS CAPT: Teacher Appreciation Breakfast
The annual GMS CAPT Teacher and Staff Appreciation Breakfast is scheduled for Friday, November 20th! A Cut Above Deli is providing individually wrapped breakfast sandwiches and bagels but we are in need of other donations. Things are different this year due to the Corona Virus, so we are looking for individual grab-and-go items such as yogurts, cheese sticks, granola bars, breakfast/protein/kind bars, cases of water, seltzer, soda or juice bottles. Items can be dropped off the day before or the morning of the breakfast. Teachers have been blown away by the generosity of Galvin parents in years past, let's show them again how much we appreciate everything they do for our kids! If you can help, please contact Sarah Pirrera at sarahpirrera@yahoo.com. Thank you!
Great Galvin Reminders!
Please also work with your child to creating a system that supports them remembering their Chromebook, charger and headphones each day they are scheduled to be in the building. We have a very limited supply that we can loan out each day and want to build our students' capacity to be responsible for their learning tools.
Dates To Know
- November 18 GMS Report Cards will be issued to your child's Plus Portals E-Locker
- Wednesday, Nov 25 is a true Early Release Day
- Thursday & Friday, Nov 26 - 27 Canton Public Schools will be closed for Thanksgiving
GMS Parent-Teacher Conferences
As a reminder, Galvin Middle School Parent/Teacher Conferences will take place virtually by appointment only on Wednesday, November 18th from 12:00–1:00, 1:10-2:25, 2:35-3:45, 3:50-5:00, 6:00-6:45 and 6:55-7:45.
Appointments can be made electronically using SchoolAppointments.com. If you have already signed up for your conference appointments, please expect an email next week confirming your times and Zoom links.