Massabesic Middle School

December 12, 2024

Dear MMS Families,

We hope this letter finds you well! As we approach the upcoming holiday break, we want to take a moment to express our gratitude for your continued support of MMS and of our students.

In this newsletter you will find the dress up day themes, some updates from school counselors and our athletic department and some exciting class spotlights to showcase the hard work of our students and staff throughout the late fall.

Next week, we are looking forward to some fun events designed for students to showcase their school spirit. This includes a traditional spirit week full of themed dress up days, a mustang themed scavenger hunt, a hallway decorating competition for spirit week points (winter wonderland is the theme) and a culminating event to take place on the afternoon of December 20, sending students off to break with lots of fun and holiday spirit!

We wish all of our MMS families a wonderful winter break!

Sincerely,

Kelly Grantham, Principal

Amy Troiano, Assistant Principal

December 16-20: MMS Spirit Week (see flyer below)

December 17: MMS Winter Chorus Concert 7 pm

December 20: End of Spirit Week Assembly

December 23-Jan 1: Winter Break - NO SCHOOL RSU 57

January 7: MMS Spelling Bee 2:15 pm

January 8: Early Release Day

January 14: MMS Winter Band Concert 7 pm

January 20: Martin Luther King Jr Day - NO SCHOOL RSU 57

January 22: Early Release Day

January 24: End of Semester 1

During November's Mustang Monday we acknowledged and celebrated all of the veterans in our lives and especially here at MMS. Army Veteran and eighth grade science teacher Mrs. Perreault, spoke about the importance of Veterans Day and what being a veteran means to her. The Jazz Band performed and our choir students sang the National Anthem. We honored all MMS staff who served and the MHS NJROTC joined us for the Presentation of Colors. It was a great way to kick off a month of gratitude. A belated "Thank You" to all of our MMS community veterans!

Leading up to Thanksgiving Break, MMS had our first Underground Spirit Days. Underground Spirit Days are when only the staff participate in themed dress-up days and keep the students completely unaware of the daily themes. Staff enjoyed the mystery and excitement as students started to figure out something was up. Themes were Socks and Sandals Day, Monochromatic Monday, and Anything But A Cup Day.

Students in 7th grade Science have been studying about changes that can occur to Earth's surface. To wrap up their unit, students selected and researched national parks and wrote letters to park rangers to share what they had learned and questions they had pertaining to weathering, erosion, deposition, and geological formations found in their park. Our students have been enjoying getting letters back from their parks!

In Interdisciplinary Studies over the past few weeks students were analyzing component systems and procedural systems, subsystems, interconnectedness, inputs and outputs. It culminated in a presentation about a system that students were an expert on.

Students in all grade levels are hard at work learning about their financial futures!

• 8th grade is talking about college choices and potential paths to earn various degrees. Students looked at the return on college investments for various employment situations - putting a college degree to use could result in an extra $26,000 per year!

• 7th grade has been looking at credit and how maintaining a good credit score can benefit them and their future borrowing. They simulated different life scenarios to see what an approximate credit score would be. Many were shocked that typical home mortgage interest costs could vary $115,000 from a low to high credit score!

• 6th grade has been looking at saving and identifying items they would want to save for. They've looked at building up some saving habits and will continue to see how compound interest can aid in those goals.

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 high school sporting events, but must be accompanied by a supervising adult.

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.

Be sure to read the MMS Family Handbook

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