GMS Weekly News and Notes

Our main lobby display got its October makeover this week. Thanks to Ms. Hall for the terrific design work, and thank you to our ELA department for all of their efforts to instill and foster a love of reading in our school community. What's next on your reading list?

Representatives from Blue Hills Regional High School will visit GMS on Tuesday, October 8th. This session will introduce 8th graders to Career and Technical Education (CTE), highlight the programs and career pathways available at Blue Hills, and inform students about our upcoming events.

We’re excited to announce that on Wednesday, October 9th, progress reports will be available, giving you a snapshot of your child’s academic progress so far this term.

Once grades are posted, families can easily access their student’s scores and grades through their PowerSchool Parent/Guardian Portal account. Simply login and navigate to the Grades and Attendance tab in the Navigation menu. There, you’ll find an overview of your child’s grades. For a more detailed view, click on the grade under T1, where you’ll see a breakdown of the assignments and marks that contributed to each score.

Students also have the ability to check their grades anytime via their own portal accounts, so feel free to encourage them to stay engaged with their learning progress.

For those of you who may need assistance setting up or accessing your Parent Portal account, we’ve got you covered! Please click on this Google Form to request help or to get directions on how to set up your account.

Starting Wednesday, updated grade information will be available via PowerSchool throughout the remainder of the school year. We hope this tool makes staying informed about your student’s progress easier and leads to productive dialogue between families and teachers. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Wednesday is also school picture day at GMS. Please see the information below if you are interested in ordering a photo package.

Please remember that Friday, October 11th is Fit 4 Fund$ Day at GMS. Please consider a donation in order to ensure that we can ensure a wide variety of special programming and activities for our students!

FIT-4-FUND$ is our C.A.P.T. organization's ONLY fundraiser of the year! Fit4fund$ is a joint effort bringing together our school, community, parents, faculty, and students.

100% of funds raised as part of this campaign go to supporting special programming and activities that enrich the experience of our GMS students. We would love to have all of our families participate, as every donation helps.

Held at the Galvin, FIT4FUND$ asks each student to choose a wellness-based event: WALKING - YOGA - ROLLERBLADING - SKATEBOARDING - CAPTURE THE FLAG - BASKETBALL - DODGEBALL - VOLLEYBALL, and more. Students then collect pledges and participate in a day of fitness based activities. Our goal is to have every student participate.

This year's FIT4FUND$ EVENT will be held on Friday, October 11th

Students are asked to wear Galvin colors - green/white during the event.

Donations can be brought in and given to your child’s X-Block teacher, or made on-line via MySchoolBucks.

Here is a direct link to donate to FIT4FUND$: FIT4FUND$ DONATIONS

Our FIT4FUND$ Kickoff Pep Rally was held on Friday, September 27th. Each student was given an information packet on the 27th.

Parents are welcome to help supervise a FIT4FUND$ event. Please email assistant Principal, Jim Spillane, at spillanej@cantonma.org if you can help. A completed Cori is needed to help with FIT4FUND$.

We thank you for your support!!

Galvin C.A.P.T.

The Galvin Middle School Project is heading toward two key town votes. Save the Dates: November 18 Special Town Meeting and an Anticipated Ballot Vote on December 10.

Want to learn more about the GMS Building Project, see design renderings, or review timelines, please click on this LINK. If you have any questions, please email info@galvinmsproject.com.

The Galvin Middle School Project Team will be at the Sunday, October 20 Fall Fest at the Canton Farmers Market, and there will be a Community Forum at GMS on Wednesday, October 23 at 6:30 p.m.

Team Maroon 8th grade students identify signs of chemical changes in science class this week.

Ms. Robinson sent some highlights from both her 6th and 8th grade visual arts classes this week. It's always exciting to see our students exercise their creative sides!

GMS Picture Day is on Wednesday, October 9th

Chestnut Hill Studios will be at GMS on Wednesday, October 9, 2024. Photographs will be taken in the morning. Paper order forms will be distributed to students on Monday October 7th during X block. Linked here is an electronic copy of the order form. Students should bring their order form and payment along with them on picture day. Additionally, if families wish to pre-order photographs, they may do so by visiting the Chestnut Hill Studios website at https://chestnuthillstudios.com/.

If families have additional questions, they can contact the photography studio directly at 800-380-7089 or email support@chestnuthillstudios.com.

Our librarian has curated a collection of books for Hispanic Heritage month! Students can come by and check out a book of choice.

Students and staff of Hispanic origin are encouraged to proudly display the flags, wear flag's country colors or do both in honor of Hispanic-American Heritage Month. This day of recognition bridges the Hispanic community at GMS and provides the opportunity to learn about who is connected with each other and discuss differences from the Hispanic regions around the globe.

This week's fact comes to us from the Math department:

"Massachusetts schools using IXL outperformed schools without IXL in both Math and ELA MCAS" (The IXL Effect).

This week's Bulldogs of the Week are dedicated student-athletes and are role models for our younger students. Keep up the great work Sydney and Lainey!

"GMS has again been invited to participate in the Special Olympics Middle School Unified Sports League. The league will utilize Special Olympics MA and Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) rules and will be composed of students with and without intellectual disabilities. The
League strives to promote a climate of dignity, respect and inclusion for students beyond the classroom. The Unified League will involve winning and losing, but the primary focus is on gaining new skills, meeting personal goals and participating with a team. We will be participating in Unified Bocce this fall, Unified Basketball this winter, and Unified Cornhole in the spring. Keep an eye out for information on how to join!"

Coach Michelle Jackson, and Coach Julie Fogel

In October, the school nurses will start chipping away at annual health screenings. We will start with vision and hearing during X block. Screening for scoliosis, height, and weight will be completed the cycle after holiday break during gym classes. Our 7th graders do all of these screenings, while 6th and 8th graders only do scoliosis.

According to Massachusetts general laws, all students are required to complete these screenings unless otherwise noted (opt-out) by their parent or guardian. If you would like to opt-out your student from any or all of their health screenings, please email Nurse Tara or Nurse Lindsey.

coppolal@cantonma.org
medeirost@cantonma.org

The purpose of this program is to identify any previously unidentified health concerns. The school nurses, along with other nursing support staff, will screen your child and keep the results confidential. If screening results indicate the need for follow-up care by a physician, parents/guardians will be notified in writing.

Please reach out with any questions!

Lindsey Coppola, RN
(508) 584-1070 x3110

Tara Medeiros, RN

(508) 584-1070 x316

The Canton Association of Parents and Teachers, CAPT, is a non-profit parent/teacher organization at the Galvin Middle School. Galvin CAPT strives to provide an enriched educational experience for Galvin students by supplementing their daily curriculum with related equipment, supplies, and programs/field trips not funded by the school district.

The first CAPT meeting of the school year will take place on Monday, October 7th at 6:10PM in the GMS Library. We invite all interested parents and guardians to attend!

The Bits & Bytes program is a great opportunity for students to learn how to code, or improve upon their coding skills. Our program runs on Zoom on Saturdays for 1 hour starting October 19th and ending on November 23rd. Each lesson will be taught by Boston University students, many of whom are Computer Science or Data Science majors themselves (and all have completed background checks through the official Girls Who Code organization).

You can find our application here: [Girls Who Code Bits & Bytes Program] [https://forms.gle/s4R27d8P8ibLiazV7]

If you have any questions or require further information about the fall program, please don't hesitate to reach out. We're here to assist and support students in every way we can.

We're eagerly looking forward to another successful season of coding and learning with the students this fall. Thank you for your time!

Monday, October 7th: First GMS School Council meeting, 5PM, GMS Library

Monday, October 7th: GMS CAPT meeting, 6:10PM, GMS Library

Tuesday, October 8th: Blue Hills Regional High School presentation to 8th graders

Wednesday, October 9th: School Picture Day

Thursday, October 10th: Hispanic-American heritage celebration: Flag/Country Colors Day

Friday, October 11th: Fit 4 Funds Day at GMS

Monday, October 14th: No school: Columbus Day

Wednesday, October 23rd: Early dismissal day for students

Wednesday, October 23rd: GMS Building Project Community Forum, 6:30PM at GMS

Monday, November 18th: Special Town Meeting

Check out the latest events from around town!

Courtney Gaboury, Administrative Assistant

Jim Spillane, Assistant Principal

Karim Gibson, Dean of Students

Ginny Martin, Student Services Team Chair

Email: mulhernj@cantonma.org
Website: https://www.cantonma.org/gms/index
Location: 55 Pecunit Street, Canton, MA, USA
Phone: 781-821-5070