Middle School Matters

The Mission of Portsmouth Middle School is to create a strong and safe learning environment: promote social, emotional and physical well-being and to provide opportunities for each student, to the best of their ability, to meet high academic standards, develop responsibility, and achieve the positive social values and behaviors to become productive citizens.

We thank all of our Veterans for their service as well as our families who are currently enlisted. This is a sacrifice amongst their families for our security and safety worldwide.

Please see the link here for our one week out flier regarding our Boost Challenge Fundraiser. Here is a video that will be shown in homeroom tomorrow morning. Please check it out.

Portsmouth Middle School families!

The FUN starts ONE week from today! We’re looking forward to having fun, reaching our goal, and building community together during the PMS Booster Bash!

⭐️Log into MYBOOSTER.COM today to get started!⭐️One more week to get entries to win a $50 gift card!

Sign Up and share today to help Portsmouth Middle School reach our goal of $8,000 for students and staff.

Thank you for supporting our school - we are grateful for our amazing school community!

So far you are up to 4% of students and families registered on mybooster.com. We are off and running! Let's see how many families we can get registered before kick-off day next week.

Please see the attached flyer for info about Spirit Week!

Get ready to Can the Coordinators with our Thanksgiving Food Drive!!

Who: All students and staff

What: Fill up the offices of our Coordinators of Student Life with nonperishable food items to benefit those in our community.

Where: Grades 5 and 7 - Mr. Gonsalves' Office

Grade 6 and 8 - Mrs. Pritchard's Office

When: Extended through 11/17

Which office will fill up first?

Submissions will be collected from November 1st to November 17th. Any type of artwork can be submitted as long as it is created on their own time. Name and learning center on the back and the artwork can be submitted to Mrs. Cavaco in the art room.

The winning artwork will be displayed in the SmArt gallery in the front of the school for the upcoming art show on November 27th. Winners will receive a certificate and prize as well.

Here is the flyer.

SmArt Gallery Contest #1 2023

Come and join the PBruins for Portsmouth MIddle School night! There is a link to the flyer here. There will be a God Bless America Performance by the members of our very own PMS chorus on Sunday, December 17th at 4:05pm! Group rate tickets are $25 and all kids receive a FREE P-Bruins Hat!

www.providencebruins.com/Portsmouthmiddle

Please see the letter linked here from the PTO regarding board openings for next school year.

Please see the link here to a flier advertising the 1st annual Chess Club Tournament host by Portsmouth Middle School.

Please see the picture linked here from the Mindful Arts After-school program. They designed a leaf hanging activity.

Kids4Action would like to thank the Portsmouth Middle School for participating in the Ukraine Kind-it-Note Letter Writing Campaign last spring. PMS wrote 313 Letters out of 1140 total across the Portsmouth School District and were hand delivered to the Ukrainian youth in October!

Over 200 letters were written back by Ukrainian children and those letters will be shared across Advisory in the next few weeks. Thank you for bringing positivity to a war-ravished country and being part of the Multiplier Effect!

Laura Hosley, PMS's Student Assistance Counselor, teamed up with Cleo Allen, the Portsmouth Prevention Coordinator, to carry out a Red Ribbon Week campaign activity. Red Ribbon Week is an annual event celebrated in October in the United States, dedicated to promoting awareness about the importance of making healthy choices.This year's theme is "Be Kind to Your Mind. Live Drug Free".

A large banner entitled "Before I Graduate" was hung in the hallway and sticky notes from the eighth graders were taped to the banner for all to read. The students thoughtfully shared their goals, thanks to the collaboration of Alex Iadevaia, School Counselor, and Deborah Marcello and Gregory Quirk, Social Studies teachers. SRO Officer Lamar even assisted by placing the highest notes on the banner!

In addition to sports, academic and financial aspirations, others are:

- "Get more fit",

- "Be happy",

- "Give back to the community",

- "Help someone not get addicted".

The cooperative effort of the community, school staff and faculty, and especially the students, led to a successful initiative!

Please click the link here from RI Student Assistance Services and the Portsmouth Prevention Coalition.

Breakfast, lunch, and milk are available for purchase for all PMS students.

Full price breakfast is $1.00 and lunch is $2.60. If your family qualifies for reduced prices, breakfast is $0.30 and lunch is $0.40. Milk is offered for $0.55 as a stand alone item.

Apply for free or reduced lunch only by visiting this site: My School Apps.

Payment for breakfast, lunch, and milk can be made online at MySchoolBucks. Your student's LASID will be needed to create and make payments.

You may also send cash or a check to school with your child's name, LASID, and amount included. If paying by check, checks should be made payable to Portsmouth School Department with your child's LASID noted on the memo line. Send a separate check for each child in your family as payments cannot be split between accounts.

Keeping your balance paid in full is very important.

Per the PSD policy, "Elementary and middle school students may not purchase "a la carte" items (i.e. milk) or snacks until all charges on the account have been satisfied." Your child's LASID may be found in your Aspen portal.

The locks have been cataloged. We will be working with the 7th and 8th grade teachers on the roll out over the next two weeks.

Join us Thursday afternoons starting November 2nd, to team up with a National Honor Society high school student! They are ready to help you with your homework, give you some tips and strategies to master your academics, and assist you with your assignments. Make arrangements for a ride home or sign up for the late bus. Please sign up using the link here.

There will be a free Thanksgiving dinner available to all community members at the Portsmouth United Methodist Church located at 2732 East Main Road on Thursday, November 23rd from 1:00-3:00 P.M.

Please see the linked flier regarding a winter soccer program.

Please see the linked flier regarding winter basketball programming.

Fire drills occur on a regular basis. State law requires each school to conduct eleven fire drills, two lockdown drills and two evacuation drills each year. Shelter in Place drills are conducted throughout the school year. Children are given instruction on all procedures. Children are expected to behave in a calm, orderly manner during these exercises. Please review the importance of such exercises with your child and emphasize the need for appropriate behavior.

A lockdown is an alert to a school community that students and staff should not leave the classroom and should gather in one area of the room until provided with further direction.

An evacuation requires all students and staff to exit the building and meet at a designated safe place.

A shelter in place is an alert to a school community that movement outside of classrooms is being restricted for a brief period of time. It is typically used when a student or staff member is requiring some sort of attention (sometimes medical) and the school is trying to keep that area clear and/or protect that person’s privacy. If there were a serious safety concern the school would not issue a shelter in place.

We will send notification of lockdowns, evacuations, and shelter in place drills and events via email.

For access to your child's schedule and grades, please log in to the Aspen Portal.

If you are having issues accessing Aspen, please email familyportal@portsmouthschoolsri.org with your child's name, date of birth, grade level, and your name. The system administrators will be able to restore access to your account and make sure that you can login.

• Students should come to school with a charged Chromebook
• Students should come to school with a reusable water bottle.