RTMS Review

Dear Families,

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a restful and relaxing break! We are excited to pick up right where we left off and kick off the new year. Some of our classrooms were updated with brand new furniture and we are excited to hopefully update the rest of the building this summer.

Sincerely,

Kyle Henkel

Principal

January 6 - No School (Institute Day)

January 7 - Classes Resume

January 14 - BOE Meeting

January 15 - PTC Meeting

January 20 - Martin Luther King Day - School in Session

Girls Volleyball 🏐

January 7 - 8th Tryouts (3-4:30) / 7th Tryouts (4:30-6)

January 8 - 8th Tryouts (6-7:30) / 7th Tryouts (3-4:30)

January 25 - 8th Grade Frostbite Invite

January 28 - vs. London

January 30 - vs. Cooper

Wrestling 🤼

January 10 - @ Glenbrook North HS

January 23 - vs. Holmes

January 28 - @ Wilmette

January 30 - @ Cooper

Intramurals' (3:00-4:00)

6th Volleyball

January 15

January 20

January 27

7/8 Volleyball

January 13

January 16

January 22

January 29

January 8 - Concert Band Clinic (4:30-8)

January 25 - Chicagoland Jazz Workshop @BGHS

Musical Rehearsals (3-4)

January 9

January 14

January 16

January 21

January 23

January 28

January 30

See Schedule Below

*Jazz Ensemble

Days and times vary

Please click on this link if you would like to see which days of the school year will be an A day (gray) or a B day (blue). Teachers will be going over this in depth with students to start the school year.

Students will attend their A day classes on the first day of school, and when they return the following school day it will be a B day. The days will rotate like this for the rest of the school year.

Please click on this link to see the 2024-25 District Calendar.

Student Service Team Updates

The RTMS school community is proud to be a member of the Link Together Coalition. The community group is Wheeling Township’s youth drug and alcohol prevention coalition. The mission of the Link Coalition is to promote healthy youth, families, and communities by decreasing teen alcohol and marijuana use through education, advocacy, access to community resources, policy awareness, implementation, and change. Link Together serves Wheeling Township including all or portions of Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Mount Prospect, Prospect Heights, and Wheeling. The prevention teams work within District 214 high schools as well as all feeder middle schools in Wheeling Township. At this November’s Parent Teacher Conferences, RTMS was able to host the Link Coalitions’ Mock Teen Bedroom. The Mock Teen Bedroom is a dramatization of a teen’s room, featuring education about substance use trends and potential warning signs of substance use that heightens caregivers' awareness. The display supports caregivers in having conversations with their teens about making healthy choices. Please see the attached Link Coalition Newsletter for valuable parent information and resources.

Link Coalition November/December Parent Newsletter

All students at River Trails Middle School have access to Social Emotional Support from our SEL Support Services Team. Please reach out to an SEL Team Member if you have any questions or concerns about your student’s social or emotional wellbeing.

Social Workers

Mandy Zavilla- azavilla@rtsd26.org 224-612-7648

Beth Kelpsch- bkelpsch@rtsd26.org 224-612-7704

School Psychologist

Ashley Nistor- anistor@rtsd26.org 224-612-7679

Advisory / Rethinked

In Advisory, during the month of November, students participated in the District 26 Food Drive to collect donations of food for the Mount Prospect Food Pantry. As a result of their generous contributions, RTMS set a record for donations. Thank you to everyone who donated!

Students also continued to participate in Advisory lessons highlighting the following Social Emotional Learning topics:

6th Grade: Actions & Consequences, Self-Advocacy, S.M.A.R.T Goals, Support Systems, Problem Solving & Perspective Taking

7th Grade: Intent vs. Impact, Active Listening, Self-Advocacy, Setting Academic Goals, Making Good Choices & Problem Solving

8th Grade: Active Listening, Communicating with Confidence,S.M.A.R.T Goals, Pathways for Success, Accessing Support, Perspective Taking

Find Us on Facebook! LINK

or

Instagram! LINK

We are excited to be planning the bi-annual Washington DC Trip for 7th and 8th grade students at RTMS which will take place just after school releases for the summer 2025. We will depart on a plane from O'Hare (by way of a motor coach from RTMS) on the morning of June 4 and return in the evening on June 7. This is a fantastic trip where students will learn about the history of our country by visiting places like the U.S. Capitol building, various monuments, and Arlington National Cemetery just to name a few.

IMPORTANT: The trip is currently capped at 50 student travelers. Once we reach 50 student travelers, we will start a waiting list. We will release people from the waiting list if/when we have enough travelers to justify getting a second motor coach for our time in Washington DC. To get signed up, please visit this LINK. If you are placed on the waiting list, we are hopeful that we can have everyone join us.

All questions regarding the trip should be directed to Mr. Todd Smith at rtmsdctrip@gmail.com.

When you receive an initial text message notification from the district, you will need to opt-in to receive future text messages from us.

Please reply "YES" when prompted to do so.

If you didn't receive a text message with a link to this newsletter you might not be properly opted in! Easy fix: text YES to 79041 to opt in to text alerts!

Students will receive a hard copy in their student assignment notebook on the first day of school. In the meantime, please use this digital copy to find any answers you may be looking for before school begins.

Event Information

RTSD26 Board of Education Meeting

When?

Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, 07:00 PM

Where?

River Trails Middle School

What does the Board do? How do they operate? Can I attend meetings?

Find the answers to the most frequently asked questions about our school board.

Please see the link HERE to view upcoming events and food pantry dates!

Administration

Principal, Kyle Henkel:

khenkel@rtsd26.org or 224-612-7600

Assistant Principal, Tara Nunes:

tnunes@rtsd26.org or 224-612-7601

RTMS Staff Directory

Office Hours: 7:00-4:00

Email: rtmsinfo@rtsd26.org
Website: http://rtms.rtsd26.org/
Location: 1000 North Wolf Road, Mount Prospect, IL, USA
Phone: 847-298-1750
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RiverTrailsMiddleSchool
Twitter: @RiverTrailsMS