Jaguar News
Friday, October 9, 2020
Dear Gentry Families,
Last week my message was overly verbose so I’ll try to keep it short this week. You can now see IPR grades in Home Access, and you will also receive grades in the mail early next week. I want to remind families not to panic if grades are not where you would like them. Here are some things to consider:
Students can make up assignments. Teachers are providing lots of opportunities for students to improve their grades. If you don’t know what can be redone, please communicate with the teachers.
Encourage your child to make a plan and set priorities about what assignments or assessments are the most important to complete or redo.
Communicate with teachers when work time is given or during office hours on Wednesday.
Keep checking your child’s work and grades consistently. I practiced what I preached last weekend and spent time with my son looking at his assignments and grades. We discussed assignments coming up and assignments he needed to redo.
The most important thing to remember is that your child’s teacher wants to help and is available.
Our teachers are doing everything they can to provide your child the best learning experience possible under these stressful circumstances. We are aware that currently, grades are a work in progress, and students are still adjusting to learning virtually. I want to thank all families for your patience and please do not hesitate to contact us if you have questions or concerns. Have a great weekend!
Grab and Go Meal Delivery Service
Our grab-and-go meal delivery for students began September 8, 2020. Buses run multiple stop routes to deliver breakfast and lunch sack meals Monday-Friday according to the school district calendar. Stops last a maximum of 15 minutes and are not school specific, but rather designed regionally to include as many high-need areas as possible. One can simply find the stop closest to their address and go there with their student at the designated time. For further details, click on the Grab and Go link above.
PTSA Online Gentry Sportswear Store
We now have an online store open to purchase Gentry sportswear! This store will remain open until 9:00 am on Friday, October 16th. All orders can be placed and paid for through the online site and we will collect all orders and have them available for families to pick up by the end of the month. An email will be sent to families once we have further details regarding our pick up process. Our plan is to have a tent set up in the parking lot at GMS one evening. This is our only planned opportunity to offer sportswear this school year and also our only opportunity to have a fundraiser, so be sure to check out our fun designs and get yours before it’s too late. As always, THANK YOU for your continued support of OUR Gentry School Community!
Feel free to reach out to our PTSA if you have any questions:
Eric Gilbert - President, ericgcomo@gmail.com
Mandy Llewellyn - Vice President, llewcrew5@gmail.com
Bree McMurray - Secretary, mobatgirl1@yahoo.com
Haley Schwarz - Treasurer, schwarz.haley@gmail.com
How to Locate Grades on Home Access
Please click here to view a quick video that will give you and your student instructions on how to find grading, schedules and attendance information. This will also be posted on the Media Center page located on the Gentry Middle School homepage.
Conduct and Effort Ratings
7th/8th Grade Girls and Boys Basketball Tryouts
Girls and boys basketball tryouts will begin in mid to late October. Be sure that your child has turned in all of their MSHSAA paperwork to the main office PRIOR to tryouts. This paperwork can be found on our website located under the Extracurricular Tab on our homepage. Coaches will not be permitted to allow any student to begin the tryout process until all of this paperwork has been completed and is on file in the main office. Feel free to call the main office at 214-3240 to verify if your student's paperwork is on file in our main office. If you have any questions regarding any of our upcoming Winter athletic teams, please feel free to reach out to a member of our coaching staff:
7th Girls Basketball Coach: Tara Frearson tfrearson@cpsk12.org
7th Boys Basketball Coach: Angie Roberds aroberds@cpsk12.org
8th Girls Basketball Coach: Brian Clayton bclayton@cpsk12.org
8th Boys Basketball Coach: Ken Welty kewelty@cpsk12.org
7th/8th Cheer Coaches: Bri Noltie Bnoltie@cpsk12.org
Chrissy McCormick cmccormick@cpsk12.org
Basketball Cheerleading
If your student is interested in participating in basketball cheerleading this year, please fill out this form: Basketball Cheerleading Interest Form to receive more information. For the winter season cheerleaders support all four basketball teams (7th girls and boys, 8th girls and boys) by cheering on the sidelines and performing at half time. 7th and 8th grade girls and boys are encouraged to try out! If you have any questions please contact Coach Noltie bnoltie@cpsk12.org or Coach McCormick cmccormick@cpsk12.org.
MAC Scholars
The Multicultural Achievement Committee (MAC) program is a holistic collaborative, educational support function of Columbia Public Schools. The MAC program is designed to provide students with the necessary skills and support they need to achieve success academically, emotionally and socially. The purpose of the MAC Program is to increase the number of historically under-represented students in Columbia Public School’s most rigorous course work, honors and advanced placement courses.
If this is a program that you think your student would be interested in, please contact Stefani Jackson at stjackson@cpsk12.org for details.
Attention 6th Grade Students Interested in Joining an Online Book Club
Science Olympiad- Next Meeting is on Monday, Oct. 12
Is your student someone who is interested in science and engineering? Are they self-motivated, self-directed and like a little competition? Then Science Olympiad could be for them and it’s NOT too late to join! All interested 6th, 7th and 8th grade students are invited to find out more about Sci Oly by following this link: https://tinyurl.com/GentrySciOly. Make sure they fill out the Google Form linked in the presentation to let Mr. Bruns know of their interest. We meet every Monday throughout the year from 2:45-3:45 pm. Our next meeting will be Monday, October 12. Please email rbruns@cpsk12.org with any questions you may have.
Attention Parents of 8th Grade Students- Reminder
Please have your student head to this link: 8th Grade Weekly Homework Document each week to review the homework that has been assigned by their teachers. Teachers will email parents and students once a week as well to elaborate and communicate any necessary information. Please have your student reach out to their teachers if they have any questions or concerns. Go Jaguars!
Counseling Services
Boone County Mental Health Coalition Checklist
Our students and teachers will be completing the first round of the Boone County Schools Mental Health Coalition survey which was delayed by one week beginning October 12th. If you have questions, please check the Frequently Asked Questions document or contact Outreach Counselor Erin Maynard at emaynard@cpsk12.org
Media Center Minute
- Option 1 - Curbside Pickup - Monday - Thursday from 7:30am - 3:30 pm, Friday from 7:30am - 12:00 noon.
- Option 2 - Curbside Dropoff - Monday - Thursday from 7:30 am - 3:30 pm, Friday 7:30 - 3:00pm. Search your entire house for those books you've been keeping safe since March and return them at our curbside dropoff. We accept books from any CPS school.
- Option 3 - CPS Delivery - Deliveries of library books and other materials can be made on an as-needed basis. If you can't get by to get your books, we will bring them to you. This might take a little longer than curbside pickup.
Students should check in Schoology for a video tutorial on how to use Destiny Discover to search and put books on hold if they do not know how.
Free Student Influenza Vaccination Day- October 23!
GMS will be hosting a free Influenza Vaccination morning on Friday, October 23 from 9:00 am-11:00 am in the GMS cafetorium. This will be available for all CPS students whether they were classified as a "virtual" learner early on or if they became an "on-line" learner when CPS transitioned to this overall model. As always, the Influenza Consent Form was included in our Back to School series of acknowledgement forms that parents had the option to submit virtually prior to the start of school. If you did not already complete this form during this back to school process and would now like to take advantage of this service for your student, please complete the form below and email it to our Gentry school nurse, Jennifer Ferguson at jferguson@cpsk12.org no later than October 22. She also can be reached at 214-3240 to answer any questions that you may have. Don't hesitate to contact the main office if you have forgotten whether or not you actually completed this form for your student. Our nurse would be happy to look this up for you.
Social Distancing Guidelines for the Day of the Event:
- Students only will be allowed into the building. We are asking parents to wait in their vehicle.
- Students will enter through the main entrance and be escorted to the appropriate alpha ordered registration table.
- Students will then be directed into the cafetorium to receive their vaccination and will then exit through the doors that lead to the bus circle.
- Masks will be required.
Future Dates to Remember
October 16- Conclusion of Fall Sports
October 16- Final Day for Online Store Orders
October 21- PTSA Meeting via Zoom @ 6:00 pmOctober 23- Student Influenza "Flu" Vaccination Day from 9:00 am-11:00 am @ Gentry
November 3-4- School Not in Session Due to Teacher Collaboration Days
November 6- Live "Virtual" Fall Play @ 7:00 pm
November 7- Live "Virtual" Fall Play Matinee @ 3:00 pm
November 13- School Not in Session Due to Teacher Collaboration Day
November 25-27- School Not in Session Due to Thanksgiving Break
Josh Johnson, Principal
Email: Josjohnson@cpsk12.org
Website: https://www.cpsk12.org/Domain/17
Location: 4200 Bethel Street, Columbia, MO, USA
Phone: (573) 214-3240