Greenfield Junior High School
May 2017 Parent Newsletter
Principal's Message
Grizzly Parents,
Welcome to May, hard to believe we are at the end of our 2016-2017 school year. It has been an amazing year where students and staff have shown growth, leadership and prepared for the future.
There are many events this month to celebrate students and their learning, we look forward to seeing you at the events!
Have a fantastic May and thank-you for your continued support of GrizzlyNation,
Brian Yee
Principal
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Summer Reading!!!
Grizzly Families,
Summer is looming, and just around the corner, you’ll start hearing the age-old complaint of “I’m bored! There’s nothing to do! It’s so hot outside!” Your friendly neighborhood school has a solution for that: READING!
To encourage reading this summer, the 7th grade English teachers will be giving each student a Book Bingo Card that will offer various choices of novels to read this summer. (It will also be posted on our school website.) If 7th graders return to G.R.J.H.S. in August with a BINGO, they will receive a reward. If students “black out” the BINGO card by reading every square, they will get an even bigger reward! All we ask of you is to initial the card to verify each book has been read.
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Golden Scholars Awards Night
Congratulations to our Grizzly students who achieved and maintained a grade point average of 3.80 or above for the first 3 quarters of this school year. We will honor our students at our Golden Scholar Awards Night on Thursday, May 11th, here at our GrJHS Gym at 5:00 pm. The Golden Scholar list is posted in all of our English classes or you can call our front office to verify if your child achieved this honor.
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Grizzly Breakfast Awards Ceremony
Starting May 4 teachers will start calling the parents of their student who is receiving the award and parents will also receive a formal invitation in the mail to our Grizzly Breakfast Awards.
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8th Grade Science Rocket Project
Photos from week one 8th Grade Science Rocket Launch Day
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Secondary Art Show 2017
The Secondary Art Show Open house is May 1st from 5:30-7:30pm. Artwork from all junior high and high schools will be displayed throughout the first and second floors of the Gilbert District Office located at 140 S. Gilbert Road. Artwork will be displayed through May 12th during regular district office hours. All are welcome! Come see the amazing work.
Congratulations to the 2017 Secondary Art Show Participants representing Greenfield Junior High.
Ani Andric
Alii Baker
Kaleigh Backlund
Jordyn Bash
Natalie Beaird
Buddy Couser
Kaylee Dautrich
Sophia Del Risco
Rylan Harmon
Talon Hoffman
Anna Hogle
Reed Hogle
Makenzie Hunt
Preston Johnson
Amy Jones
Bella Kline
Elly Mimila
Cami Neal
Alex Nelander
Gracie Peru
Gabrielle Potter
Kaitlyn Stewart
Naya Tsosie
Mckenzie Trillo
N.J. Warshaw
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May Music Concerts
Wednesday, May 10 - Band Concert at Gilbert High School, 7:00 pm
Monday, May 15 - Orchestra Concert at Gilbert High School, 7:00 pm
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GrJHS PTRO
Dear current 7th grade parents and future 7th grade parents that will be joining us next school year…
Hello again! And welcome in the fall! We are thrilled to have another year with the awesome group of parents we have and excited to meet the new parents coming in to our Grizzly community!
The PTRO Board is looking for some additional help for next school year! Now wait…this is NOT what you are thinking! This is NOT an elementary school PTO that will take hours and hours every month. The amount of events, time, work, effort, etc. that is put into a Jr. High PTO is MUCH less than an elementary school PTO. (We know…we’ve all done both! J ) The Greenfield Jr. High PTRO only has one meeting per month that lasts just one hour. We don’t organize or host frequent activities at the school. The time commitment is very manageable. Our purpose and main goal is to make the awesome staff at Greenfield Jr. feel loved and appreciated (because they are amazing!) So we work to make a little money throughout the year to give them gift cards, meals during Staff Appreciation Week, and support them however we can. But with students only being on campus 2 years…we have a high turnover on the Board and we need more help. Being on the Board is a FANTASTIC way to get to know the teachers, administrators, and to get more familiar with the campus. It’s a great way to stay informed and be involved!
Please consider being part of the 2017-18 Greenfield Jr. PTRO! (The “R” stands for Resource…since you were probably wanting to ask!) If you are interested, please email next year’s PTRO president Jamie Butler at jamiebutler@q.com.
Also, we want to thank all of the current 7th grade parents for their support of the GrJHS PTRO this year! We had so much help with Staff Appreciation Week and we appreciate those of you that contributed!
Thank you for considering it!
The GrJHS PTRO Board
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Greenfield Junior High School
Email: kay.gift@gilbertschools.net
Website: www.gilbertschools.net
Location: 101 South Greenfield Road, Gilbert, AZ, United States
Phone: 480-813-1770
Twitter: @grjhsgrizz
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GrJHS PTRO
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Early Release Wednesday Dates in May
Early Release Dismissal time is at 2:10 pm on the following dates:
Wednesday, May 3
Wednesday, May 10
Wednesday, May 17
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Finals Schedule
Friday, May 19
Monday, May 22
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Chromebook and Chromebook Charger Return
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Last Day of School
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Yearbook Information
-Yearbooks will be available starting FRIDAY, MAY 12th at the Yearbook Signing Party from 3:30-5:00pm. This is a special opportunity for you to pick up your yearbook six days before the actual distribution date, avoid the lines of general distribution, and is a fundraiser for yearbook to help us pay off our bill. Tickets are $2.00 and will go on sale in May.
-General distribution will begin six days later on THURSDAY, MAY 18th before and after school only (no lunches). We will continue handing out books on Friday the 19th, Monday the 22nd, and Tuesday the 23rd - again, only before (7:30-8:03am) and after (3:10-4:00pm) school. Make sure you arrange transportation as the bus will not wait for you.
-Please check outside of room 224 (in-between G and H hallways) to see if you have pre-ordered a yearbook. You must have a school ID to pick up a pre-ordered yearbook.
-If you did not pre-order a yearbook, any remaining books will be sold at the Yearbook Signing Party. Sales will continue during general distribution while supplies last.
-Questions? E-mail jennifer.parsons@gilbertschools.net.
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Notes From the Health Office
The school year is rapidly coming to an end! Here are a few reminders for the end of the year:
Please pick up all unused medication, inhalers, Epi-Pens and SVN supplies in the Health Office. Medication not picked up by May 23 12:00PM will be discarded. Medication cannot be kept at school over the summer.
If you child requires daily medication at school, please request a Physician Order form from me. A new form needs to be completed every year.
Please update your child’s immunizations if needed and provide a copy to your child’s school.
Have safe, healthy and fun summer break! I look forward to seeing you in August.
Anya Shoemaker, RN BSN
School Nurse
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Spanish 1A News
We are headed into the final stretch! I am thrilled at the amount of 7th graders that signed up for Spanish 1B next year! I am equally excited for the 8th graders that have been coming before and after school to jumpstart their high school language program! These kids have worked hard and played hard and I thank you for sharing them with me this year. Here are some final questions to ask your kids:
¿Qué vas a hacer este verano?
¿Estás emocionado para el verano?
¿Adónde vas este verano?
¡Espero que tenga un buen verano!
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Student Council News
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Salsa Wars
Greetings FACS Families and Friends!
The eighth grade Life Skills students have been busy with this semester's first Salsa War! In their culinary teams they were given the challenge of making salsa whether it be sweet or spicey, red or green or anything in between! Students needed to create a display board and a commercial to advertise their product, a label for their salsa jar, as well as a Google slide presentation to show their recipe with directions, culinary terms, equipment used, team members picture/s with names, a history of why they chose the salsa they did as well as a quicktime video of their salsa preparation.
They were given two weeks to put this venue together for the two day War on April 12th and 13th! Most students used their time wisely and got everything planned out with limited stress and others left a few things to the last minute! But, as with anything, that is a Life Skill! There was collaboration, logistical planning, time management, effective communication, adjustments, tastings, re-adjustments and lots of fun to be had!
The judges for this event were our very own teachers and administration, about 23 in all! What brave soles they were to come in and sample the various salsas and the various degrees of heat on display!! We can’t thank them enough for taking time out of their lunch periods to come and help us out and to pick our winning team!
Our winning team came from sixth hour, kitchen four, with a display named Surfin’ Salsa Shack! The creators were; Steven Cordova, Abby Whitehorn, Devin Burns, Landry Spittler and Gabbie Carnes. Congrats guys on a job well done! They will receive lunch from a place of their choice!
So, you need to ask your culinary kiddos about making Salsa for you! You might be surprised at how well they do! Until our next war, enjoy!
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Proud students from Ms. Morris's Science class showing off their Terrarium project
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Gifted Education Corner
My name is Megan Clarkson, and I am the Gifted Education Parent Council representative for our school. You can reach me at mbclarkson@aol.com. Here’s some information about upcoming events and programs.
Gilbert Public Schools has created Parent University. Parent University will offer learning opportunities for families to increase engagement in their children's educational process and empower parents to raise children who are successful in school, college and their careers. The programs offered by Parent University are free to families. Please visit the Parent University page on the Gilbert Public Schools website for upcoming classes.
The Gifted Education Parent Council has put together a spreadsheet of summer camps that we have had our kids attend in the past. This isn’t an endorsement of any particular program, just a starting place to look where to place your kids this summer. These camps include opportunities in music, theatre, chess, and robotics. https://goo.gl/bH5m0g
The GTC program at Highland Junior High will continue into a Gifted Cohort at Highland High School. All students who continue to Highland High School will have the same counselor. Students in the Gifted Cohort at Highland High will have a soft landing taking Big History and ELA together. This will be a cross-curricular experience, preparing them for their first AP class the following year. Highland HS offers these programs:
Information on the Gifted, Talented, and Creative (GTC) program to be offered at Highland Junior High can be found at the GTC Program page.
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Student Attendance
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GrizzlyS.T.R.O.N.G.
Supportive
Trust
Respect
Organized
Never Give Up
Genuine
We ask our staff and students to be GrizzlyS.T.R.O.N.G.as we enter the new school year. Grizzlies Support each other through challenges. Grizzlies create Trust amongst each other. Grizzlies Respect others they come in contact with. Grizzlies are Organized. Grizzlies Never Give Up when the tough times cross our path. Grizzlies are Genuine with each other.
WE are, are YOU?
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Birthday Messages on our Electronic Marquee
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Gift Delivery Of Balloons Or Flowers
To maintain classroom focus, we ask that any gift delivery to a student be made in our offices. We will hold the item until the end of the final period of the school day. Shortly before the last bell, we will notify the student. They will be asked to pick it up in the office at that time.
We hope that everyone understands that gifts can be quite a distraction to a classroom of students.
Thank you!!
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GPS Parent University
If you have questions or suggestions on future class offerings, please contact Wendi Howe at 480-3735593 or wendi.howe@gilbertschools.net
http://www.gilbertschools.net/departments/community_partnerships/parent_university/