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.

At Portsmouth Middle School, we believe that school citizenship is an integral part of a student’s total educational experience. School citizenship is measured by eight key values: integrity, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, love of country, civic duty, and work ethic. The attainment of these attributes is invaluable to our students' future development and our community.

Congratulations to Henry Bloomrose, Raegan Brown, Bryce Cardoza, Zenda Conwell, Liam Duffell, CJ Farwick, Ryan Labonte, Gagan Deep Palya Maruthi, and Noah Veitch who were selected as Students of the Month for January.

We are continuing to focus on creating a positive social school culture. One of the characteristics that helps students identify their school as a safe one is being able to identify a trusted adult, especially one in the school building. This also helps to create a highly personalized learning environment and ensures every child has an advocate.

During our school-wide advisory on Monday, all students participated in a lesson discussing the following:

• What is a trusted adult?
• Key features of a trusted adult
• Examples of trusted adults (at home, at school, and in the community)
• Ways trusted adults can help

Students began writing letters or cards to their trusted adult during advisory today. By identifying a trusted adult and making the connection with that adult, we are continuing to build a positive and supportive environment for our students.

Patriot Pillars is built on a framework of creating a positive social culture for our students.

Our goal at PMS is to build a positive learning environment where all students feel safe and connected because we know this is how children learn best. As a staff we are focusing on making connections with our students.

Patriot Pillars is a system of reinforcing expected and positive behaviors, aligning student expectations to our school core values: Be Safe, Be Respectful, Be Responsible, Be Ready to Learn.

Ask your child if they have earned any Patriot Pillars this week.

We are proud to share in 5 weeks of implementation, our school has earned a total of 16, 354 Patriot Pillars! Each Patriot Pillar represents a connection a teacher has made with a student who met our school-wide expectations. We are so proud!

We have two spring athletic openings: head coach and assistant coach for softball. If you are interested or know someone who would be interested, please have them reach out to Dr. Masterson directly.

We also have an (2) openings for RBT's/paraprofessional (registered behavior technician). The job ID is 4487130 for schoolspring.com.

Kindness bracelets and cards are for sale during lunches all week.

Good luck to our girls basketball team as they continue their march through the playoffs when they faceoff with Thompson Middle School tomorrow at 4:30 P.M. at PMS.

Please see the form linked here to sign up for Unified Basketball. If you have any questions, you can contact our head coach, Ms. Tara McCarthy, mccarthyt@portsmouthschoolsri.org.

8th grade teachers began their course recommendations for students going into 9th grade next year. The window will be open until February 16th. If you have any questions or concerns about course recommendations please reach out to the teacher as well as the school counselor Mr. Iadevaia. Additionally students will begin to input their elective courses into Aspen with the assistance of Mr. Iadevaia and 9th grade school counselor Mrs. Phillips. This process will occur the week following break. Again if you have any questions in regards to electives or CTE courses please contact Mr. Iadevaia

With the increase in cold weather days, we have noticed more families driving their children to school.

• Once you drive up to the curb, have your children exit the car to the sidewalk.
• Have your child walk down the sidewalk in to the building.
• We will unload 12-15 cars at one time versus 2-3 at the door.
• We want to get our students in the building on time so they are ready to learn!

Thank you for your help with this.

Anchored4Life is a new initiative to our school that brings student leadership to a new level. This program is funded by the United States military and is inclusive to both military and civilian youth. This program is led at a student level by our school counselors, Ms. Naron and Mr. Iadevaia, as our Advisors with 5 students selected to be Team Leaders. Currently, the program incorporates only 5th grade Team Leaders. We will be rolling out additional grade levels and Team Leaders in the following years as we expand this program across the school. Mr. Spaltholz will be working with the Anchored4Life teams at the elementary schools to assist in bridging the gap between elementary and middle level clubs. The goal is to aid in facilitating the transition of all incoming students from 4th to 5th grade with support from the Anchored4Life students.

Our Team Leaders are planning to bring the Anchored4Life Club features to our school. These club features are Quotes, Tours, Service Projects, Anchored4Life Kits and REALTALK. Each of these features will be developed and implemented by the Team Leaders throughout the school year with the support of the Advisors. Our Team Leaders will also be recruiting additional students as Anchored4Life Representatives to further support the club features and bring together a strong network of support throughout the school.

The Island rugby football club is looking for 2nd-12th grade boy and girl participants to join their club for the spring/summer season. The sport of rugby has a long-standing tradition of encouraging physical fitness, camaraderie, competitive spirit, and most importantly, FUN! Rugby is face paced, exciting, and one of the most popular team sports in the world. If your child is interested in playing rugby this upcoming season click on the flier for more details! Additionally there is a FREE winter rugby camp in North Kingstown during February break, hosted by Ocean State Rugby. For more information on that, you can follow this link provided.

Good Afternoon Portsmouth Community,

I hope this email finds you well. I wanted to share our Winter 2024 Teaching and Learning Update with you. As always, please reach out with any questions you may have.

Sincerely,

Liz Viveiros

Deputy Superintendent

Here is an important memo from Mrs. Joncas about Strep Throat.

Hello PMS Families,

For those looking to get your children up to date on Vaccinations- the VBYG program is FREE and can be done here at school. We are planning to hold a clinic in the spring. Please read through all the details below and let me know if you are interested. There is a QR code on the consent form to register online or you can print and send it to me.

• The VBYG program is available to all students in middle and high school at no out of pocket cost.

• Clinics are convenient for families since all immunizations are administered during the school day.

• Immunizations are reported to KIDSNET (RI Immunization Registry) within 48 hours so physicians have documentation of all vaccines administered outside of their office.

• Students can catch up on 11 required or recommended vaccinations that they may need for school, college or work.

• The VBYG program began 16 years ago and it has gotten bigger and better every year. Last year, schools hosted 306 clinics and our nurses administered 4,715 vaccines.

VACCINES OFFERED:

Ø Chickenpox (Varicella)

Ø Hepatitis A

Ø Hepatitis B

Ø HPV

Ø Influenza: Injectable or FluMist (ages 3-18 only)

Ø Meningitis

Ø Meningitis B

Ø Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR)

Ø Polio

Ø Tetanus and Diphtheria (Td)

Ø Tetanus, Diphtheria and Pertussis (Tdap)

Please see the linked memo from the RIDOH.

The PTO is sponsoring a Family Skate Night! It will take place on March 16th from 4:00-6:00 P.M. The sign up sheet is linked here

Please see the flyer for upcoming events planned with administrators at PMS.

If you would like to volunteer in school or help on a field trip, please use this form going forward to become VIS approved.

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

We are excited to announce that we will be hosting a Family STEAM night on Thursday, March 7th from 5:30-7:00 pm. It will be a fun-filled evening with various STEAM challenges and demonstrations that both our students and their families can explore and engage in together.

We are also looking to add tables of professionals who are experts in the STEAM world and are interested in showcasing their STEAM profession. This is an excellent opportunity to expose students to a wide range of career possibilities. If you are working in a job that falls under STEAM and have something that you can either demonstrate or have small activities, and would like to participate in, please send an email to Margie Brennan at brennanm2@portsmouthschoolsri.org.

Thank you to our Tri-M students for organizing the Talent Show with the help of Mr. Couto and Mrs. Phillips.

Congratulations to all contestants who participated in our Talent Show. It was a wonderful first event in our brand Little Theatre!

Our winners were:

• Grade 5: Natalia Fleurant
  
• Grade 6: Eva Sinclair
• Grade 7: Sophia Gianetis
• Grade 8: Joshua Souaa
• Overall Winner: Rylan Kinnane

Fine Arts Boosters

2024 Discount Card Fundraiser

Thank you to all of the families who supported the Fine Arts Boosters fundraiser.

Discount Card Fundraiser grade level winners for most cards sold:

• Grade 5 - Maria Maramba
• Grade 6 - Faye Post
• Grade 7 - Bryce Cardoza
• Grade 8 & Overall Winner - Haley Mello

You can still purchase the discount cards as they are good through December 2024 and can be used multiple times.

Discount Card Purchase Link

Domina’s Agway $5 off a purchase of $25 or more

Food Shack 10% off any item (not to be combined with other discounts)

Gansett Wraps 7% off purchase (not available for delivery) Middletown only

Jax Diner free drink with purchase of breakfast

Kaffeology 5% off your order

New China 5% of any food purchase (not available for delivery) Portsmouth only

New England Homemade Donuts Free donut with the purchase of a coffee (Portsmouth only)

North End Pizzeria $1 off any size pizza (not available for delivery)

Pickles 5% off your purchase

Portsmouth Publick House $10 off any food purchase of $30 or more

Provencal free small coffee with $20 purchase

Salsa’s Burrito Grill 10% off purchase (in store pick up or dine in only)

West Main Pizza free fountain soda with food purchase

Thanks again!

On Thursday, February 8th, we held our annual school-wide spelling bee in the library. After several rounds of competition, it came down to two students: Austin Weldon and Faye Post. Faye Post emerged as our school-wide winner for the second year in a row! Congratulations to Austin Weldon for being our runner-up, and we wish Faye Post the best of luck at the state competition on Saturday, March 16th. Many thanks to everyone who participated, to the parents who attended the bee as our supportive audience and to Mrs. Perry and Mrs. Pritchard for being our judges.

Learning Center Bee Winners:

B2: Willa Griffith

B3: Jane Kennedy

B4: Adam O'Brien

A2: Faye Post

A3: Ava Malmisur & Austin Weldon

C1: Brian Bactat

C2: Charlotte Reed

D1: Sophia Genereaux & Allison Shuster

D2: Elizabeth Cox

Congratulations goes out to 8th grader Ben Adams who recently won 3rd place in the Aquidneck Land Trust art contest.

Our 6th grade students were having fun working with clay this past week with Ms. Cavaco. Feel free to check it out here. Kyle Hurd Maddox Bronson Maggie Lennahan

Cameron Libby

Please see the February newsletter here.

Portsmouth School Department has opened up Kindergarten registration. Please see the flier linked here.

Please see the link here for a February vacation camp hosted by the town recreation program.

Please see the flier here for offerings from Aquidneck Athletic Advancement.

Please see the link here for a community Sweet Heart Dance.

Please see the flier here for more information on the job opportunities within the district for our food service company, Chartwell

Portsmouth Little League has opened registrations for the spring season. Please see the linked flier for more information.

How to be a Great Babysitter

February 22nd 9am-3:30 pm

Location: Portsmouth Middle School

This 6-hour course is fast paced, interactive and fun! Lots of “hands on” practice using adult and infant manikins. Games and role play are used throughout the program to enhance learning.

• Adult/child/infant/CPR Choking

• Use of an AED

• Changing and feeding a baby

• Babysitting safety and prevention of injury

• Elements of first aid for the young child

• Stages of child development/games and activities to play

• Getting your babysitting business started

Fee: $89 Includes certificate and tee shirt. Course is recommended for teens 11 years and older. For more information about activities and events, or to register, visit:

Civic Rec on The Portsmouth Parks and Recreation page at portsmouthri.gov.

When students arrive at 7:45, they are meeting our core value of "Be Ready to Learn". Thank you for helping your child be a responsible Portsmouth Patriot!