Ken Milch, Principal

Debbie Redlin, Assistant Principal

Samantha McGrath, Assistant Principal

Monday February 13th is an A Day.

In case you missed it:

We have exciting news to share with our 5th grade students and families! This year’s current 5th graders will all have the opportunity to attend camp this spring at Bair Lake. This event was put on hold the past couple years due to the pandemic, and we are now able to offer this experience to our students. Please know that while there is “bible” in the official camp name, the camp experience will be secular. We are very much looking forward to sharing this experience with our students this spring. Parcells students will be attending camp on June 5th - 7th.

We will hold a parent meeting on Wednesday March 1 at 6:30 PM in the Parcells Middle School auditorium, where we'll share important details and pricing information. We will also be looking for parent chaperones to help make the trip a success.

Student Council will be hosting a Candy Heart Sale during lunches on Tuesday, February 14. Students will be able to buy Valentine’s Day candy for fifty cents!! We are also hosting a contest where students can guess how many candy hearts are in a jar for a chance to win a delicious treat! Proceeds will benefit the Student Council and the American Heart Association.

SPIRIT WEEK! Student Council is also encouraging students to participate in a spirit week during the week of February 13-18:

Monday - Represent your favorite Sports team

Tuesday - Heart Day - Wear hearts!

Wednesday -Mismatch Day

Thursday - Represent your class! 5th graders wear white, 6th graders wear purple, 7th graders wear red and 8th graders wear pink!

Friday - Pajama Day!

Our next meeting will be Wednesday, February 15 at 3:20 in the library.

Next week you'll be receiving information from the district about spring conferences. Here's what you need to know:

Middle School Conferences

Tuesday, Feb 14: Email to Parents about PTC Wizard SignUps goes out

Thursday, Feb 16: PTC Wizard Sign Ups go Live

Thursday, March 9: Afternoon 1 - 4 p.m. - Zoom

Evening 5 - 8 p.m. - In Person Scheduled

Mr. McIntyre's classes were visited this week by the Lawrence Tech Formula Racing team (Society of Automotive Engineers) who worked with the students on Hydrogen Fuel Cell cars and technology! Check out the photos below!

Please join us for our next PTO meeting, this Monday February 13th at 6:30pm in the library. All are welcome and encouraged to attend! Thank you!

Important Dates:

February 13- PTO Meeting

February 18-26- Mid Winter Break

March 9- HALF DAY Parent/Teacher Conferences

March 20- PTO Meeting

March 24- HALF DAY Prof Development

March 27- Great Skate 6-8pm

April 6- 7/8 Grade Dance

April 7- NO School

April 17- PTO Meeting

May15- PTO Meeting

June 2nd- PTO Meeting

A huge THANK YOU to the awesome Parcells musicians who performed the National Anthem at Tuesday’s unified basketball game at GPN. Many of these students have only been rehearsing the music for a week and they nailed it with confident voices, delightful facial expressions, and an energy that the whole gymnasium could feel. Thank you, again, families for bringing your sons and daughters to North so we could sing together!

Foods students worked to perfect their measuring technique this week. We practiced by making the world’s best CC cookies. Students practiced their patience, and the end result was worth the wait! Sixth graders worked to get acclimated to the kitchen, and learn where everything is kept! We are looking forward to some decadent treats next week for Valentine's Day!

Here’s what we made- Chewy CC Cookies

Emergency Chromebook Checkout Updates:

GPPS is a BYOD district, however students can check out emergency chromebooks from the library if their device is being repaired.

It is the expectation that students come to school each day with their device charged and ready for class. This service is not intended for daily checkout for forgotten and/or uncharged devices.

If there are other circumstances that require a long term school device, please reach out to your student’s counselor or Mrs. McGrath.

Students who attempt to check out library chromebooks daily will be redirected to administration (classrooms, counselors,principals) for follow-up at home.

This is the same process used across the district at the middle and high school level, and as always it is our goal to help our students come prepared and ready to learn.

For extended planned absences/vacations, students are required to fill out a pre-arranged absence form. These forms are available in the front office or from a counselor.

It is the responsibility of the student to make all arrangements for missed work and tests with their individual teachers.

The American Sign Language (ASL) club has started! We meet Thursdays right after school in Mrs. Brown's room L2. Encourage your child to join and learn a new language!

Girls Basketball has begun with some of our 6th grade girls getting a chance to play with the 7th grade girls due to low numbers. Our charity game is set for March 7 versus Brownell. Our game will be played for Autism. There will be blue shirts purchased for the athletes. Our wrestling team has begun practice on 1/31/2023.

6th grade Basketball will begin on March 13, 2023. Stay tuned for more information to be sent with exact dates and times. We have chosen to have our 5th and 6th grade seasons be separate due to our increased numbers from last year. An email will be sent to all parents. Please remember your student must have a current physical on file. It must be dated after April 15, 2022. All physicals from last year that were still eligible were returned to students at the end of the 2022 school year. A new physical will be needed unless your athlete was in athletics this Fall.

Permission slips for our AVID trip to Bowling Green are due on Monday, February 13! Our trip is February 15th! Don’t miss out on an all-you-can-eat college cafeteria buffet lunch and wonderful campus tour. Go Falcons!

We are excited to announce a new Panther Buck Reward initiative- students can “buy” treats and snacks using their Panther Bucks every Friday during their lunch. Please help us keep our candy cart stocked and ready by signing up to donate! The kids are really enjoying this end of week treat!

February Panther Bucks!

Congratulations to Nicole Washington, social worker, for being the selected staff member for our Panther Bucks! Keep an eye out this month for our pink Panther Bucks!

Raffles for February are:

Raffle #1 - Licavoli’s Gift Card

Raffle #2 - WPBC Guest Anchor

Raffle #3 - Pick-a-Prize

We operate from donations from our amazing community! To make a donation for February please find the sign up genius here. Thank you so much!

Winners of the January Raffles are as follows-

Lou’s Pet Shop - Liam W., Caleb H., Connor G, Wyatt B, Jaxson R!

Wild Wednesday Helper - Ta’Leia D!

Pick-a-Prize - Raphael E, Luke b, Gia V, Lainey B

Our next WILD WEDNESDAY is Wednesday, February 15th at 3:13pm

Congratulations Norah Moses! Due to her performance on the school-level online test, Norah is moving on to represent Parcells in the WXYZ regional spelling bee program.

Fifth grade students will be taking part in their Adolescent Health Program on Friday, February 17th during the first three periods of the day. The permissions slips were signed at the beginning of the school year. If your child will not be participating, could you send an email to poradac@gpschools.org This will help us make certain we do not miss a student's permission slip to not participate in this program.

Mrs. Sabella's class completed the GPWA practice last week and is proud to announce that her writers have mastered important formatting skills such as aligning text, underlining, double spacing, and using a header. Our writing focused on a plot mountain which includes an introduction with a main character and one setting, rising action with one or more complications, a climax, and a very fast resolution. Feel free to read the submitted writing samples in Schoology and praise our future authors.

Mrs. Charuba's classes are beginning the novel, Peak. This action-adventure story takes readers on a thrilling journey to Mount Everest. It is a longer title, so students will need to complete some reading outside of the classroom. Please look for the book at home and make sure your student is checking Schoology in order to keep up our reading schedule.

Students in social studies have been learning about the Constitution and have spent a large amount of time focusing on the 4th amendment and our right to privacy. We have been talking about what our right to privacy looks like in the age of technology. Mrs. Totin and Mrs. Lecznar are excited to be welcoming two guest speakers, who are experts in these fields, into their classes on Thursday 2/16 and Friday 2/17. On Thursday, 2/16 5th and 6th hours will have an opportunity to hear from Michelle Busuito. On Friday, 2/17 2nd, 3rd, and 4th hours will have an opportunity to hear from Clare Garvie. Below are some short bios on our guest speakers.

Clare is a lawyer whose work focuses on technology and the right to privacy. She works with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), helping lawyers with complex technology issues in their criminal cases, for example when police used license plate reader technology or cell phone location tracking in their investigation. Before working with NACDL, she did research with the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law, writing a number of papers about police use of facial recognition technology. She has testified before Congress, and regularly speaks with the press about her research. She received her Bachelors from Barnard College in political science, human rights, and psychology, and her law degree from Georgetown.

Michelle Busuito is an Assistant General Counsel in Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan’s Office of General Counsel. Michelle is responsible for all data privacy issues, including HIPAA, as well as the Enterprise’s intellectual property portfolio, which encompasses trademarks and branding. Michelle is a 2021 recipient of Crain’s Detroit Business 40 under 40 award, recognizing her leadership in data privacy. In addition to her work at BCBSM, Michelle teaches business law courses at both an undergraduate and graduate level for the University of Detroit Mercy College of Business Administration and Wayne State University Mike Illich School of Business. Prior to joining Blue Cross, Michelle was an attorney at Schiff Hardin LLP where she was fully dedicated to providing legal advice on future mobility technologies to Ford Motor Company and Ford Smart Mobility. Michelle is a graduate of Kalamazoo College where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in English. She earned her law degree from the University of Detroit Mercy College of Law. Michelle is active with the Michigan Women’s Foundation and in 2015 was recognized for this work as Crain’s Detroit Business 2015 In-House Counsel of the Year for Pro Bono. Michelle continues her focus on pro bono efforts, working to establish the first in-house pro bono program for BCBSM’s Office of General Counsel.

5th Grade: In this lesson, your child will describe how empathy can help someone identify and solve a problem in their community.

Staying Connected at Home Questions:

Point out something that has changed for the better in your neighborhood recently. Ask your child why they think that change is helpful. Point out how empathy might have helped someone decide to make that change.

6th Grade: In this week’s lesson, your child will learn how to view situations from multiple perspectives so they can better avoid and resolve conflicts.

Staying Connected at Home Questions:

Tell your child about a time when your view of a conflict changed because you were able to see it from another person’s perspective. Ask your child if they have changed their view about a conflict lately.

7th Grade: In this week’s lesson, your child will learn how to listen to and consider someone else’s perspective during a conflict.

Staying Connected at Home Questions:

Discuss with your child a time in your life when your view of a conflict changed because you were able to see it from another person’s perspective. Ask your child if they have changed their view about a conflict lately.

8th Grade: In this week’s lesson, your child will practice viewing conflicts from multiple perspectives to keep conflicts from escalating.

Staying Connected at Home Questions:

Tell your child about a time when your view of a conflict changed because you were able to see it from another person’s perspective. Ask your child if they have changed their view of a conflict lately.

Parcells’ Chess Club is open to all students. All you need is a desire to play chess! No prior experience needed - we'll teach you!

The Chess Club meets on Wednesdays from 3:25pm until 4:10pm in room 103. The Chess Club is designed to provide an environment for students to play the game of chess. Play for fun or play competitively - it's up to you!

We had SUCH fantastic conversations last week, we cannot WAIT to see what is in store for the next meeting. This week we will talk about our New Year Resolutions. Future topics will be Racism, Anti Semitism, Classism, and the dangers of Stereotypes just to name a few. Join us every Tuesday from 3:30-4:30 in the Parcells Library.

Remember: Bridge Club is an inclusive community, but also a group that practices confidentiality. Tell only your stories! We have a safe space for you to be your true authentic selves! Let’s build bridges of compassion and understanding to each other.

Let’s start with our school and let’s start with us. Parcells is a No Place For Hate school! See you there!

These monthly meetings provide a space for parents and other members of our school community to discuss topics around inclusivity. We also aim to be a conduit between the personal mission of our members and action groups in our communities doing the work around these topics.

The Parcells Homework Station is open for business! It's located in room 219 and runs from 3:25 - 4:25, Monday through Thursday. (No Homework Station on half days or Fridays).

The Homework Station is a place where students can get help with homework, just work on assignments or borrow supplies to finish projects. There is always a staff member present.

There is no sign-up needed, and students do not have to stay for the entire hour. You DO, however, have to remember you're there to WORK, and so is everyone else.

All students grade 5-8 are welcome.

Students who wish to play morning basketball may be dropped off at the Student Entrance off Sunningdale at 7:45am Tuesday - Friday.

Did your student forget their lunch at home?

If your child left their lunch at home you can drop it off by coming into our Secure Vestibule and leaving it on the shelves outside the office doors with their name and grade. We will deliver it for you to the cafeteria during their lunch!