WEEKLY UPDATE – MIDDLE SCHOOL 12.8.2025 – 12.12.2025

Dear Greenspire Community,

As we move into the colder winter months, we want to ensure all students stay warm and comfortable while learning outdoors. Please encourage your child to bring appropriate cold-weather gear every day, including a warm coat, hat, gloves or mittens, boots, and layers that will help them stay comfortable during outdoor activities. A thermos with a warm lunch is also incredibly helpful on these chilly days.

If your child is in need of any winter gear, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We are more than happy to help make sure every student is prepared and supported.

Additionally, in the event of a snow day or weather-related closure, updates will be posted on the Greenspire homepage as well as our social media. 

Thank you for helping us keep our students warm, safe, and ready to learn this winter season.

Important Upcoming Dates:

Celebrating Our Teachers: 

As we head into the holiday season, we want to share a special Greenspire tradition that allows us to celebrate and support our amazing staff in a meaningful way. Instead of individual gifts, The Greenspire School puts together a “Gift Card Tree” filled with contributions from our wonderful families.

If you would like to participate, we encourage supporting our fantastic local businesses—some favorites include Spanglish, Fogarelli’s, Higher Grounds, Cuppa Joe, Slabtown, Sugar 2 Salt, and many more. Gift cards of any amount are welcome and deeply appreciated.

Simply drop your gift card off at the front desk, and we will add it to our Gift Card Tree. These gifts go directly to our staff as a way to thank them for their dedication, hard work, and the heart they bring to our students every day.

Thank you for helping us make this season special for the people who make Greenspire such an incredible place.

The Giving Season:

Suggested Donation Items:

The Giving Season Coin Competition: 

In the spirit of generosity and a little friendly competition, Greenspire is excited to kick off our Giving Season Coin Competition between advisory classes!

Here’s how it works:

Bring in your change and help your advisory class rise to the top, or use paper money to give another class a fun challenge!

The advisory with the highest total will win a sweet treat party!

Let’s make this Giving Season one filled with kindness, laughter, and generosity. 

Sports Collaboration with The Children’s House:

Girls Basketball (6th-8th) Navigators
Registration deadline:  Friday, December 12, 2025
Registration: FinalForms
Cost: $140.00
Season:  January – March, 2025
Practices:  Tuesday and Thursday from 3:30pm-5:00pm, TBD
Games:  Mondays and Wednesdays, TBD
MHSAA requirements: all athletes must have their  24-25’ sports physical form on file from an examination on or after April 15 of the previous school year.
COACHES NEEDED! Fill out this form if you are willing to coach or assist.

Career Fair:

Next Friday, we are having a Career Fair!  It will take place in the morning during Community Connections.  We have over 20 adults coming in to talk to the students about their occupations.  It is going to be a great learning experience! We are grateful for your willingness to share your professional experiences with our students. Greenspire is excited to host a Career Fair to help students explore the many diverse career opportunities within our community.

To learn more, please contact claire.alexander@greenspireschool.org.

North Pole Wonderland Dance: 

Our Student Council is thrilled to invite students to our Winter Dance on Thursday, December 18, from 5:00–7:00 p.m., for Greenspire Middle School students only. This event is a special opportunity for students to spend time together, have fun, and continue building a strong sense of community outside of the school day. The dance will be fully supervised by our caring Greenspire staff.

Please remember that all students—including student organizers—must still be picked up at our regular 3:30 p.m. dismissal time after school. Students may not be dropped off before 5:00 p.m. for the dance.

Pick-up after the event will begin at 7:00 p.m. using our carline-style system. Students will stay safely inside the building until their name is called. We kindly ask that all students be picked up by 7:00 p.m.

Funds raised from ticket sales, the bake sale, song requests, and the photo booth will directly support future student activities—helping us create even more meaningful and fun experiences for our students.

If someone other than a parent or guardian will be picking up your child, please email office@greenspireschool.org before the event.

Please see the attached flyer for more details. We’re excited to celebrate with our students!

Willy Wonka Jr. Update: 

An email went out announcing crew members who are officially part of our production.  Please check your email and let me know if you know your student is Cast or Crew and you did not receive one.  More information to come.  

Please also note that all Cast members need to be passing their classes in order to be part of our rehearsals and then part of the show.  There are very few characters that can miss the show without it having to be called off, so being successful in classes is absolutely necessary.  I will be acting as a liaison between Cast members and teachers to make sure needed steps are being taken.  -Claire

New Success Lab: 

Success Lab has begun as a dedicated space for students to catch up, get organized, and strengthen their understanding in classes where they need extra support. Each week, students who are currently failing one or more classes will meet on Wednesdays to complete missing assignments. Participation will replace one of their weekly electives until they reach a passing grade in the course(s). Our goal is to ensure every student feels confident and back on track in their learning.

SEEDS Community Food Waste Drop-Off – Now Open!

SEEDS Ecology and Education Centers has opened a new community food waste drop-off site at the Historic Barns Park campus. This is a great opportunity for families who visit the area to help reduce landfill waste and learn simple ways to sort and collect food scraps at home.

Families who participate will:

If your family is interested, please scan the QR code on the attached flyer or contact Nick Panicola at npanicola@ecoseeds.org for help getting started.

Attendance Reminder:

If your child will be absent or tardy, please call 231-421-5905 and leave a message on the attendance line. You are also welcome to email us at Office@greenspireschool.org. If your child is missing school due to an appointment, please provide a doctor’s note so the absence can be medically excused.

Project Updates and Staff Email Addresses:

Please feel free to reach out to staff if you have any questions!

Click on Math Website Link for all math updates 🙂

We are continuing to dig deeper into some of the interesting occupations we have been reading and talking about.  Our next step is researching some of these choice occupations so we have something to use when we get to the next task.

This week in OE we enjoyed a lot of snow! We tracked a few different animals in each pod, mainly deer and squirrel or rabbit! We are continuing to learn the difference between bounding tracks, and use other clues like scat and area to tell us whose tracks we are looking at. We also did a very introductory lesson on fire building. Student were given instructions and group time to lay their fire and one match to light their fire. Kindling seems to be the most misunderstood piece of the fire lay. Ask your child if they know the difference between tinder, kindling, and fuel wood and have them show you with their hands how much of each they need to build a good fire.

Find assignment due dates, project updates, and vocabulary practice on our Social Studies Class Website. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me.

In the second quarter, students have begun a true STE(A)M project—integrating Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics. The project, titled #WhoRU, centers on the driving question: “What is your digital identity, and how do you control it?”

Academically, the project blends computer science with physical science and engineering concepts, while also giving students many opportunities to express their creativity. Social-emotional goals include helping students understand how to protect their online identities, use technology responsibly, and maintain healthy tech-life balance.

So far, students have evaluated their personal technology habits and explored whether they have an online presence. They have practiced scanning privacy policies with digital tools, created their own memes, and designed prototype devices for sharing information. Next week, they will dig deeper into how digital information works behind the scenes.

This week in Global Studies, students learned about the Indus River Valley civilization, focusing on the Harappan communities. We then shifted gears and talked about how these early civilizations built community and culture using things like folktales and myths. The students then wrote their own stories, and we combined classes with Fitz in Outdoor Ed to do some fire building and simulate telling these types of community-building stories! Next week, we will move on to ancient China and the Yellow River Valley Civilizations.

Some days are heavier than others, and we had a couple of those heavier ones this week. Responding to some behavior, language, and symbols that represent the worst of human nature, 8th grade students were given an opportunity to review Greenspire core values and community standards. While championing differences in beliefs and opinions, students were encouraged to remember that harassment and cruelty have no place in a thriving community. Students were also given clear examples of how to respond when they or a peer are targeted, and assured that community values and standards will be upheld consistently. 

Registrar/Office Manager: Emma.moulton@greenspireschool.org 

Assistant Principal: Becky.morse@greenspireschool.org 

Principal: Emily.feaster@greenspireschool.org 
Superintendent:Michael.schramm@greenspireschool.org