GMS Weekly Newsletter

Good Afternoon Wolf Pack Families,

What a beautiful week of weather we had and an even better week of learning! Our teachers have spent a considerable amount of time over the last 2 weeks trying to build relationships with their students. We want every student in our building to have one or more adult at GMS that they trust and feel connected to. This is the foundation of great school culture! Once routines and positive relationships are established in the classroom, the instruction can begin. Students have been getting introduced to curriculum this week. A few students may even have some homework! Please check your student's teacher google classroom to see what work may have been assigned this week.

We have a great fundraising event starting this week. The students were REALLY excited to hear about all of the opportunities of prizes that they can win with very little work. Please see below for more details!

Wising you all a fantastic weekend,

Stuart Riley

Principal, Geisler Middle School

Upcoming Events

9/11-XC Meet vs. Walnut Creek-Home For all XC events, please use information from the coaches on exact locations as some XC meets are held offsite.

9/16-8th Grade DC Trip Parent Meeting-5:30 PM

9/16-Curriculum Night @ GMS-6:30-8:00 PM

9/17-Volleyball vs. Oak Valley-Home (Change of Date!)

9/17-Schoolwide iReady Testing-ELA

9/18-XC Meet vs. Smart-Away

9/18-Volleyball vs. Pierce-Away

9/19-Schoolwide iReady Testing-Math

Dear Parents and Families:

We are SO excited to invite all of you to participate in our Next Level Program!

We need your help to meet our fundraising goal of $35,000 to fund important PTSA programs, such as the new student luncheon, rewards for students of the month, Gus (therapy dog), STAND (Students taking a New Direction), assemblies, 5th-grade visits, field trip scholarships, 8th-grade dance and celebration breakfast, 8th-grade PSAT snacks, Religious Diversity, NJHS prizes for canned food drives, after school clubs, and teacher support, like our fall staff breakfast, Staff Appreciation Week, conference dinners, and staff grants.

https://app.pop4kids.org/reg/code/JWTJK

Click on the link above to set up your student’s personal donation page and invite friends and family by email or text to join our efforts. PLEASE SELECT YOUR STUDENT'S FIRST-HOUR TEACHER WHEN REGISTERING. This entire process can be completed in 10 minutes or less!

When you enter 10 or more contacts via your personal donation page, your student will earn Golden Ticket prizes!

• Please complete this process by midnight tonight (Friday) to qualify.
• Families that enter at least 10 or more contacts will qualify for the Disney Family Vacation awarded nationally!
• If we raise $10,000, students who enter 10+ contacts are invited to attend our Best Day Ever party (more info below).
• The 1st-hour class that raises the most funds wins a donut party.
• The grade that raises the most funds wins a free PJ day (TBD).
• And, if Geisler raises over $20,000, the PTSA will provide free snow cones to every student who attends the Best Day Ever party.

Don’t forget to share your personal donation link on social media. The more money we raise, the more impact we can make at Geisler Middle School.

Our annual 8th grade trip to Washington, D.C. will be Tuesday, April 22 to Saturday, April 26. 8th grade parents are welcome to join us at our informational meeting on Monday, September 16 at 5:30pm in the GMS Cafeteria to hear details about the trip and learn how to register. Trip registration will open the day after our meeting.

ALL Geisler families are welcome to start raising money for their D.C. trip (even if the student is in 6th or 7th grade). Our trip fundraiser is underway and runs through Friday, September 20. Students can pick up their fundraiser packet from Mr. Yu or just outside the attendance office. Items can also be sold and shipped directly to family who live outside of the area. Click here for more information.

Our first (and hopefully only!) fundraiser kicked off today! We have two goals:

Raise $35,000

Ensure EVERY student goes to the Day of Awesome!

How do we meet those goals?

Register your student for the fundraiser:

https://app.pop4kids.org/reg/code/JWTJK

Send a donation request through the portal to 10 email addresses and/or raise or donate at least $50

Students learned about this awesome fundraiser at our assembly today - ask them questions and don’t forget to register!

PTSA Meeting: 9/12 at 7pm

Don’t miss our FIRST PTSA meeting on the year! We’ll meet at 7pm in the media center. Check out what’s on the agenda and we’ll see you next Thursday!

GEISLER GEAR: Save 30% on ALL spirit wear in our spirit wear store until 9/17! Shop the sale: https://1stplace.sale/47847

BoE Candidate Forum: 9/26/24 - Meet the Board of Education Candidates, ask them questions, and hear about their platforms starting at 7pm in the auditorium at Walled Lake Central. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Walled Lake PTSA Council.

Website | Facebook | Email | Become a PTSA Member

In the next few weeks and throughout the year, we will be conducting Safety Drills with our staff and students. These drills include Tornado, Fire and ALICE drills. ALICE is a federally endorsed safety protocol. ALICE stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate. WLCSD has adopted ALICE curriculum/protocols for all of its schools. At GMS, we do our best to prepare our students for emergency scenarios, keeping in mind their social/emotional well being as well.

The Michigan Department of Education requires school districts to provide information to students grade 8-12 on post graduation opportunities. Click Here for more information.

WLCSD has a 1-to-1 Chromebook Program in all of our middle and high schools. Please review the information about the 1-to-1 Chromebook Program as part of your Back-to-School Online Registration Process.

Each student will be required to bring a device to school each day as the middle schools do not have Chromebook carts in the building for students to use a Chromebook during the day. District issued Chromebooks often work much better within the building than personal devices do as they are set up to connect to the District Wi-Fi.

Important Highlights

Students will have two choices for technology use while at school:

1. Bring your own device from home

2. Sign up for a District issued Chromebook*

*Additional carts of Chromebooks will no longer be available for students to utilize extra building devices on a daily basis. Students will be expected to bring a charged device (personal device or District issued Chromebook) daily in order to utilize online curricular resources as well as participate in daily instruction within the classroom.

We strongly encourage families to sign up for a District issued Chromebook.

There are advantages to this practice including:

• Better Wi-Fi connectivity in District

• Increased support from District IT staff including

• curriculum resources

• support apps

• Streamline repair process

MIDDLE SCHOOL students (grades 6-8) must complete PAYMENT for the Chromebook deposit ($50) and Technology Protection Plan ($20) in order to receive the District issued Chromebook. Payments made after August 17 will still receive a device, but not until the first few days of school. Please be sure to review the entire 1-to-1 Chromebook Program Information that is linked on our Back-to-School Packet Website. If you are in need of financial assistance to participate in this program, please reach out to Mr. Riley directly at stuartriley@wlcsd.org

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Please follow the steps below when your student's District chromebook needs to be repaired.

1. If a student needs support, he/she should fill out a Student Chromebook Support Form linked on all of the Google Classrooms and on the school website under Students. Being logged on to the school google account is required to access the form.
2. The information in the form will be sent to Mrs. Stasak, our Middle School Computer Resource Teacher. She will reply to the student at his/her school gmail account. She will offer suggestions to fix the issue or, if it needs service, she will tell the student to take the chromebook to the office and give it to building admin secretary (enter the name for your building).
3. The chromebook in the case will be sent through inner office and the student will be allowed to use a loaner chromebook AT SCHOOL. It will be the student’s responsibility to pick it up each morning from the office and return it at the end of the day.
4. When the chromebook has been repaired, it will be delivered back to the school for the student to pick up.
5. If the family purchased insurance, the first repair is free and all additional repairs carry a deductible. Deductible invoices or repair invoices, for those that did not choose insurance, must be paid before the repaired chromebook is returned.
6. If a student with a personal chromebook has a network issue, the same form can be used. We are not able to fix physical problems with personal devices and loaner chromebooks will not be provided.

During the 2024-25 school year, all Michigan public school students in grades Pre-K through 12 will have access to free breakfast and free lunch every day through the "Healthy School Meals for All" program. This includes a meat/meat alternative, grain, fruit/vegetable and milk. A la carte items will be available for purchase.

Families are still encouraged to complete the free/reduced meal form in Skyward to help secure additional funding for the District including Title I funding. By completing the form, eligible families may also receive access to other free and reduced programs within the District including SAT testing, pay to participate, and more.