Massabesic Middle School

January 13, 2023

Happy New Year to all of our MMS families and friends!

We ended the first trimester with celebrations that included our grade level awards assemblies. Congratulations to all MMS students who made the Honor Roll, High Honors, our 3R's (Ready, Respectful, Responsible) Award winners and all of our Students of the Trimester. In addition, each team selects just one student that consistently goes above and beyond to exemplify the 3R's as the team's ultimate "River Guide," which is a great honor. Congratulations to our Trimester 1 River Guides!

There are lots of things to look forward to around MMS this month. Our Ski and Snowboard Bus is underway with their Friday trips to Pleasant Mountain. We will be having our winter NWEA testing next week, as well as our Winter Dance. This month will also conclude the end of the first semester of school. It is hard to believe we are approaching the halfway point in the school year! We hope to see you join us in celebrating the work of our seventh grade science students at the NASA Spinoff Challenge Showcase on February 2nd. For more information about this, see the post below.

Stay warm and stay healthy and thank you, as always, for your support of our school.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Grantham and Mrs. Troiano

Important Upcoming Dates:

January 16: No School (Martin Luther King Jr Day)

January 17-18: NWEA Winter Testing

January 19: MMS Winter Dance (please complete the transportation form if your student(s) will be attending)

January 20: End of Quarter 2 (8th grade specials)

February 10*: 7th grade science NASA project showcase (*date change due to snow days)

February 6-10: National School Counselor Week

February 8: Early Release Day

February 17: Bus Driver Appreciation Day

February 20-24: February Vacation Week

After 22 rounds and an hour and a half of spelling, Julia Bryant emerged as the Massabesic Middle School Spelling Bee winner with the word “poppet”. An exciting tie breaking round for second place took place between Benjamin Stevens and Lydia Paul which lasted another three rounds until Ben spelled both “Angola” and “Geopolitics” correctly. Julia and Ben will advance to the York County Bee on Tuesday February 7, 2023 and Lydia will be the alternate.

We wish to welcome you to our 7th grade NASA Spinoff Challenge Showcase happening on Friday, February 10th* from 11:45-1:15 in the MMS Gym. Our 7th grade students are participating in a collaborative project with all three teams. The task is to design an innovation to help reduce the impacts of climate change and that is based on current NASA technologies and developments. Students have been working hard to learn the engineering design process and the importance of designing a solution to solve a problem we are having worldwide. We hope to see you there!

Mrs. Turner, Ms. Dodge and Ms. Carnell

MMS 7th grade Science Teachers

*This is a date change from 2/2 due to the snow days and lost work time

Team Allagash students were hard at work this week designing and decorating their snow snakes! The team has spent the week learning about the traditional Native American game of snow snake as a part of their Wabanaki Week and plan to put their snow snakes to the test after our next major snowfall!

This year our district, like many districts across the state, have seen an increase in respiratory illness and Influenza. Wintertime is notorious for a number of different illnesses that impact our community on an annual basis. Not only do we see Influenza, but we are also seeing some reports of COVID, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and enterovirus.

Since our collective experience with COVID guidelines and those regarding regular illness, I am finding that parents are sometimes unsure about when their student should attend school. Students should be staying home when they are ill. Students with symptoms of fever, diarrhea, or vomiting cannot return to school until they have been without those symptoms for a full 24 hours without the use of any medication that will prevent those symptoms (fever-reducing medication, antidiarrheal medication, etc.). Many of the aforementioned illnesses will have a lingering cough. If the cough is such that it is uncontrollable and disruptive to learning for your student and others, they should be home until that has improved. If you have questions about when your student should return to school following an illness, please contact me for guidance.

Below are a few ways to help prevent the spread of illness:

● Wash hands frequently

● Stay home when sick

● Cover coughs/sneezes

● Wear a mask

● Get vaccinated for preventable diseases/illness

Please feel free to contact me by email at jenniferdorr@rsu57.org or by phone at 207-247-6121, ext. 4005. Thank you, in advance, for your efforts in keeping our school community a healthy learning environment for our students and staff.

With Care,

Jen Dorr, BSN, RN

Do you have the ParentVUE app? Please be sure to download the Parent VUE app or access the site online to view your student's gradebook, assignments, schedule and more. Student gradebooks are updated frequently and we ask that you regularly check your student's account. Please contact our main office for assistance if you have trouble activating or accessing your account.

Click here to access the RSU 57 Athletics and Activities page to find out about events happening within the district, get out there and show your Mustang Pride!

Please note that middle school students are encouraged to attend sporting events, but must be accompanied by a supervising adult.

Be sure to read the Family Handbook.

Website: https://middleschool.rsu57.org/
Location: Massabesic Middle School, Old Alfred Road, East Waterboro, ME, USA
Phone: (207) 247-6121