East Middle School - Friday Update

Happy Friday, Rocket families. Another amazing week has come and gone here at East Middle School. This Friday update will fill you in on everything that is going at East and around the district.

Wednesday, September 18: EPTC Meeting - 6:00 at Plymouth Public Library

Thursday, September 19: Cross Country vs. Liberty - 4:00

Tuesday, September 24: Cross Country vs. Pioneer - 4:00

Thursday, September 26: School Picture Day

A huge thank you to those who attended our annual Open House last night. We enjoyed meeting everyone, and we look forward to working with you this year.

Some of you asked for a copy of the presentation that Mrs. Dyer and I gave in the cafeteria. Below is the link to that Google Slide Presentation.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1szxqbFvIyXY-vWByf1vDGNOFUAkAGdE_BBEdGFd90UA/edit#slide=id.g2ff3c8a3ca9_0_1018

School picture day is Thursday, September 26. Your student should have come home today with their picture day order form. If the form somehow got misplaced in their backpack, you can always order online at schoolpictures.com. The keyword for East is AA4607Fall24.

East Middle School is excited to add a few new faces to our staff. Already this year, we have welcomed Alyssa Cole (Social Studies), Dana Arning (Special Education), and Megan Chonko (Special Education) to the staff. We currently have two openings. I am happy to announce that we have filled those vacancies, and the teachers will be joining us soon. Jessica Raymond (Science) will be joining us on September 23, and Katie Preston (French and ELA) will be joining us on September 28. Please join me in welcoming all of these amazing teachers to Plymouth-Canton Community Schools!

The big announcement for this week centers around NWEA testing. NWEA test scores are used to determine students’ current achievement levels, as well as a measurement of their academic growth in both Reading and Math.

September 23-27, all East students will be testing in their Language Arts classes. The following week, September 30-Oct. 4, all East students will be testing in their Math classes. October 7-8 will be set aside for any make up testing that may need to occur.

By working together, we can make your child’s test experience positive and successful. Here are some suggestions that can help our students show their best effort…

• Get plenty of rest the night before the test

• Eat a healthy breakfast at home or in the school cafeteria (remember, there is free breakfast served in the cafeteria each morning).

• Come to school on time and with the tools that are needed.

• Glasses (if applicable)

• Fully charged chromebook or other device

• Have a positive attitude. Remind yourself to do your best and that test scores do not define you as a person.

With construction going on throughout the year, we have had to make a few adjustments to how students enter the building. If you drop off your student in the morning, students will enter through door 5. This is the doorway that is near the gym. Door 5 will be open from 7:55 - 8:15 each morning. For safety reasons, this door will lock at 8:15. If you drop your student off after 8:15, we ask that they enter the building through door 26.

Door 26 would also be the door that you would come to if you needed to pick your child up early from school. The main office has been moved to just inside door 26 during the construction. We apologize for the inconvenience. As I tell staff and students, the short term inconvenience will pay off when we have a beautiful new addition next year!

Attention, East families--here is the link to the East Middle School Spiritwear store! 30% off until Sept. 24th, and shipping is only $5, or free for orders $75 or more! Contact rockets@eastmsptc.org with any questions.

https://1stplace.sale/48255

For those parents on Facebook, there is a page run by East parents to help share information about events at East Middle School. This is a terrific way for us to provide you with timely information and a great way for families to ask and answer questions. This is a closed group for East parents only. We encourage you to join and stay informed!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1549186582024591

East also now has an Instagram page (eastmiddleschoolpccs) and X ,formerly Twitter (east_pccs). These are newer accounts, so I will be adding to them.

This is a reminder that all camp paperwork and final payment of $260 is due on Friday, September 13. The parent consent form, health form, and payment link for $260 can all be found on East’s website (East Website Camp link). All forms should be completed and handed to Mrs. Formosa in room 6.

There will be an optional Google Meet (online meeting) this upcoming Tuesday, September 17, starting at 6 PM for all families that signed up for camp. This is a great chance to hear more about camp and ask any questions you may have about this experience. Notes from this meeting will be shared on East’s website the following day if you are unable to join. The Google Meet link is available below. This link will go live on Tuesday evening at 6:00.

To join the video meeting on Tuesday evening, click this link: https://meet.google.com/szh-qttf-uwt

If you have any questions about camp, please contact Mrs. Formosa at melanie.formosa@pccsk12.com

Grades K-12: Coming Soon, P-CCS Parental App Powered By Qustodio

Plymouth-Canton Community Schools has partnered with Qustodio to enhance student safety online. Using Qustodio, families can monitor and restrict the content that their students can access on district-issued take home Chromebooks, as well as one personal device. Formerly, that monitoring of P-CCS Chromebooks had been available via Securely Home. Families will soon receive emails from Qustodio with instructions on how to access the free Qustodio Parental App. Please note that all Qustodio features for P-CCS Chromebooks are available to families for free. Personal devices, however, only receive the basic features for free. Premium features are available for personal devices should families elect to pay for them.

Grades 2-12: Digital Classroom Management with Classwize

Our teachers have a new digital classroom tool, Classwize. Classwize empowers teachers to create more engaging lessons and seamlessly share digital resources. It also helps students stay focused on their schoolwork by allowing teachers to monitor browser activity during class time.

Classwize functions on both P-CCS-issued devices and personal devices brought to school. As a reminder, when using personal devices for school, students are expected to only use Google Chrome for their web browser and to be signed into that browser using their Plymouth-Canton Community Schools Google account. This ensures they can access essential school resources and enables teachers to support their learning effectively. Please be assured that Classwize monitoring is limited to school-issued devices and P-CCS Google accounts on the school network. Activity outside of these bounds remains private.

Grades 6-12: Canvas Observer Accounts Auto-Created for Families of Secondary Students

Over the summer, Canvas Parent Observer accounts for students at the secondary level were updated so that families no longer need to seek out a pairing code to get connected to their student(s)' account(s) in Canvas. If you already had a Canvas account, you might have received a merge request email. This is a legitimate email and you can proceed with merging the accounts. If you are unable to access your Parent Observer account, please use the “Forgot Password?” on the Canvas login page. Please note that your account will be under the email address listed for you in MISTAR Parent Connection. For additional information and screenshots on how to sign in, please review these more detailed set of directions.

Families with technology related questions are asked to reach out to their student's building’s tech support staff for assistance.

Looking for a way to get involved at East? Please consider joining the East Parent Teacher Council (EPTC). It is a great way to take an active role at East Middle School. Please click the link below to find out the latest news from the EPTC...

EPTC Weekly Updates