September 6, 2019
Dear Parents and Guardians-
We have enjoyed a delightful week with your children! It’s truly wonderful to have them back with us. We have spent time catching up on summer adventures, meeting new teaching teams and new classmates, and settling into new schedules and routines. The HMS staff is continuing to focus on kindness and inclusion. They have spent time on team building this week with the goal of making sure that everyone feels welcome and included in our school. The students have been caring and thoughtful toward each other and students they are meeting for the first time. They are bringing their positive energy and intentions, and inspiring curiosity into school every day!
As a staff, we spent the in-service days learning together, updating and fine-tuning our curriculum and approaches to instruction, and focusing on the continuous improvement of our work with students. We are excited to begin year two of our #darngoodteaching initiative! We will continue our study of instructional strategies that maximize student voice, choice and empowerment, along with classroom leadership strategies that build and maintain community. We had a great time getting to know our new staff members, and engaged in several activities that our educators can use in their classrooms with students. We’ll keep you posted on our learning as the year progresses.
We hope you find the following information interesting/useful:
New Student/New Parent Meet and Greet
Thanks to our school counselors, Laura Mike and Chelsea Beckett, for the wonderful welcome they provided for our students who are new to Yarmouth. Our new students and HMS student hosts played games as they got to know each other; they also went on a tour of the building and enjoyed lunch together. We are grateful to our PTO for the time they spent welcoming our parents who are new to Yarmouth. The parents met together during the new student meet and greet. They also had a chance to visit, ask questions, learn about the HMS website, and tour the building. We are excited to get to know our students and families who are new to Yarmouth!
Plans for after school
Our main office can be a very busy place toward the end of the day with 580 children navigating their after school plans! You can support us to ensure a smooth end to the day by making plans for your child’s after school activities in the morning before school. It would be helpful if you could arrange an alternate plan for your child if weather interferes with athletics or other after school activities. Thank you!
News from Dave Creech, Yarmouth Athletic Director
This year we will be providing all middle school students with an all sports pass. This pass will provide them with free admission to all regular season home games for high school events. This pass does not include MPA playoff games. We hope this change in practice will encourage our students to attend our home games and support our teams. Students will be receiving these passes soon, along with further information, which their teachers will share with you. We do request that parents attend all high school athletic events with their children. Thank you!
PTO NEWS
-The Yarmouth K-8 PTO is excited for another fun school year, and we are so thankful to you, our Yarmouth school families, who give funding to provide enrichments such as these.
-The Hannaford Gift Card program is a PTO fundraiser that is free to you. You buy a Hannaford gift card and receive the full amount. The PTO receives 5% of your gift card amount. HGC Form.
-If you want to simply give to the PTO to help support this year’s events and activities, you can write a check to Yarmouth K-8 PTO and send it to PO Box 262 in Yarmouth, or visit our website and click on the blue “Donate Now” button.
-If you’d like some spirit wear to support your favorite Yarmouth team, you can order until Sept 30 at https://www.pandpscreenprinting.com/yarmouth.
-HMS, YES, and Rowe families are invited to a Welcome Back Picnic on Sunday, Sept 8, 12-2 pm in Royal River Park! Please feel free to bring a picnic lunch and lawn games to share. (Not a drop-off event.) Hope to see you there!
-If you are interested in volunteering, we would love to work with you. Please fill out our 2-minute volunteer survey to indicate your interests.
-Help the PTO reach its annual goal of $1500 with Box Tops! The PTO earns $0.10 per Box Top. Your student can put the labels in the Box Tops collection box in the office. Heads up that you can still clip boxes for now, but Box Tops is going digital! All you have to do is download the free app and scan your store receipt within two weeks of purchase. When selecting the school to earn Box Tops points, please select Yarmouth Elementary School; money earned will go to the PTO. Traditional Box Tops will still be honored until they expire. For the rest of 2019, you can earn double through traditional clipping and scanning your receipt.
-Thank you again for your support! Please contact Christy Hayashida and Jessica Raimy at yarmouthpto04096@gmail.com with any comments or questions.
After School Activities
A reminder that students staying after school must be in a setting supervised by a staff member until their extracurricular activity or sport begins. Students can go to the computer lab or the library, work in the main office, or be in a classroom with a teacher. Thank you for reviewing this with your child(ren).
DATES TO REMEMBER
-6th Grade Play Parent Information Night - September 9 from 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM in the HMS Library
-6th Grade Play Auditions - September 10 from 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM, Band Room
-7th Grade Laptop Take Home Meeting - September 10 from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM in the HMS Cafe
-5th Grade Parents PowerSchool Introduction - September 10 from 5:30 PM to 6:00 PM in the HMS Cafe
-5th Grade Open House - September 10 from 6:00 PM to 7:15 PM in the HMS Cafe and 5th Grade Classrooms
-6th Grade Play Auditions - September 11 from 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM in the HMS Cafe
-7th Grade Laptop Take Home Meeting - September 11 from 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM in the HMS Cafe
-7th Grade Open House - September 11 from 6:30 PM to 7:45 PM in the HMS Cafe and 7th Grade Classrooms
-7th Grade Laptop Take Home Meeting - September 12 from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM in the HMS Cafe
-7th Grade Laptop Take Home Meeting - September 13 from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM in the HMS Cafe
-6th Grade Open House - September 17 from 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM in the HMS Cafe and 6th Grade Classrooms
-8th Grade Open House - September 19 from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM in the HMS Cafe and 8th Grade Classrooms
-Fall Picture Day - October 2 from 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM in the HMS Gym
We look forward to seeing you at the HMS Open House evenings and at upcoming school events. Thank you for sharing your children with us and for your ongoing partnership!
Thanks very much-
Joan Adler and Tom McDowell
HMS Administrative Team