For the 2010-11 School Year

Please feel free to post comments or questions.

From the Principal - May 7, 2010

Day of Caring— A smashing success!!!!! We were fortunate to have the weather hold off. Our day began with the activities to emphasize the importance of service and ended with 700 students serving our communities through clean-up, mentoring, tutoring, and assisting the elderly. Thank you to all of the parent volunteers, staff support, and student service for this historical day.

If you were a driver for our Day of Caring, please take a moment to complete this short survey http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22AJN567GW2

Congratulations to our science olympiad team. Our middle school students finished sixth overall earning them their first trophy at the state level. They earned 12 top ten places out of 23 events and 10 top 6 medals which was their best ever!

Thank you to all the coaches, students, and parents that made this such a successful year. This was truly a team effort.

If you are interested in providing a meal for the McCahill family, a website has been established to assist with this process. If you would like to sign up, please visit www.takethemameal.com go to find a meal schedule fill in last name: McCahill and the password is: 1234. Your consideration is greatly appreciated.

Have a safe, restful weekend!
Mr. Stuursma

From the Principal - March 26, 2010

Legislation requires that all schools annually conduct two sheltering drills in addition to their six fire drill and two tornado drills. Teachers, alone with administrators, will review the steps and will clearly communicate that it is a "practice" drill just like fire drills.

Partial and full sheltering drills will take place on Thursday, April 1, during second hour. The drills involve teachers bringing any students in the hallway into classrooms, locking nearby fire doors or gates, locking and covering classroom windows and doors, and placing students in the least observable location. If you have any questions about this requirement, please contact an administrator.

These and other drills are done consistently for the safety of our students and staff.

Have a safe, restful weekend.

Best Regards,

Mr. Stuursma

From the Principal - March 19, 2010

· Thank you to Claire & Katherine Golladay, Kaela Theut and the entire student body for your support and efforts with the t-shirts for Haiti project.

· As we head into spring, please click here to see the attached information from Mrs. Kuklewski regarding school attire.

Have a safe, restful weekend.

From the Principal - March 5, 2010

· On March 4, the EGRMS 8th Grade Band and Orchestra competed at the District 10 Band and Orchestra Festival held at EGRHS PAC. Congratulations to both groups for receiving an overall 1st division (superior) rating!! We couldn't be more proud of our students and how they represented EGRMS.

· Good luck to the 7th and 8th grade choral ensembles who will be participating in the District Choral Festival at West Ottawa Performing Arts Center on Thursday, March 11.

· Congratulations to the following students who participated in the Youth Theater Grand Rapids presentation of “Annie Jr.: Rosie Accola, Bridget Bevins, Hennesy Bevins, Sophie Blanchard, Sarah Clark, Jill Decker, Alec Distel, Hallie Distel, Justine Distel, Troy Gotch, Ellie Haun, Linde Hoffman, Stephen Hoffman, Hailey Hubbard, Savy Johnson, Emily Johnston, Caroline Kremers, Emma Kuske, Marie LaChance, Matthew Levitt, Emily Livermore, Annie Livingston, Sophia Luttke, Claire MacDonald, David Mack, Callie MacLean, Hannah Marsh, Sally Marsh, Audrey McDonald, Emily Milanowski, Elle O’Connell, Izzy Saylor, Clare Schneider, Turner Sytsma, and Kate VerMeulen.

Have a safe, restful weekend.

Best Regards,

Mr. Stuursma

From the Principal - February 26, 2010

· Mrs. Fouch and her students will be doing a teddy bear drive March 1 – 5, 2010. Let’s help Blare Gooch reach his goal of 20,000 gently used or new teddy bears for the children of Haiti. Please bring a bear in and drop it in the boxes by the cafeteria. Donations to help with shipping costs will also be accepted.

· On March 2nd, the 8th grade students will be attending the 3rd annual “8th Grade Transition Day” at the high school from 11:45 AM to 2:50 PM. Information packets are available on the high school website under HS Communications or click here

· Congratulations to our middle school students for raising $2656.10 in the St Jude Children's Research Hospital Math-a-Thon this year! We had 116 of our students turn in money. Additional kudos go to Mrs. Woolford's 3nd hour class, and Mrs. G's 4th and 6th hour classes. These classes earned a pizza party, which they will have coming up in the spring.

· Congratulations to Paul Zamarripa and Sam Forestner for competing in the Regional Spelling Bee on Tuesday, February 23rd, held at Plymouth Christian Elementary. Paul, winner of the competition, will compete on Tuesday, March 23rd, at the Greater Grand Rapids Spelling Bee held at the Gerald R. Ford Museum at 6:30 PM. Sam finished the competition in fourth place. Best wishes to both competitors on a job well done!

Have a safe, restful weekend.

Best Regards,

Mr. Stuursma

From the Principal - January 22, 2010

From the Principal:

Spelling Bee Winners!
Congratulations to Sam Forsner, the winner of the EGR Middle School Spelling Bee, and Paul Zamarippa, the runner-up. Sam and Paul will represent East Grand Rapids Middle School at the Regional Spelling Bee held at Plymouth Christian School, 1000 Ball Ave., Grand Rapids, Michigan on Tuesday, February 23, 2010, at 4:30 PM.

Attention 6th grade parents: Stanford/OLSAT Testing
Students in 6th grade will be taking the Stanford 10 and Otis-Lennon School Activity Test (OLSAT) tests from March 1st - March 12th. Students will be testing in a different core content area daily on a rotating schedule. *Calculators are needed for March 3rd for the Problem Solving portion of the Mathematics test, so please help your child remember to bring one to school that day.

If at all possible, please try to avoid scheduling appointments during this timeframe. Encourage your child to get plenty of rest, and to eat breakfast each day during testing. For further information about what these tests entail, please read the following two paragraphs.

The OLSAT is designed to measure abstract thinking and reasoning ability. It is also designed to assess examinees' ability to cope with school learning tasks, to suggest their possible placement for school learning functions, and to evaluate their achievement in relation to the talents they bring to school learning situations. The OLSAT is based on the notion that to learn new things, students must be able to perceive accurately, to recognize and recall what has been perceived, to think logically, to understand relationships, to abstract from a set of particulars, and to apply generalizations to new and different contexts. These processes are measured through performance on such tasks as detecting likenesses and differences, following directions, classifying, establishing sequence, completing analogies, and solving matrixes.

The Stanford 10 assesses the basic curricular objectives in the areas of reading, mathematics, language arts, and science. Students will also take a spelling and listening section, all of these tests are un-timed.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Mrs. Healey in the Guidance Office.

Have a safe, restful weekend.

Best Regards,
Mr. Stuursma