MUMS Family Newsletter

Dear MUMS Community,

Last weekend we hosted our third annual Color Fun Run here at MUMS! We had the good fortune of so many folks in the community showing up to support this day and the weather couldn't have been better! As you can see from our fundraising website, we have raised just over $5000.00 dollars with our 7th graders leading the school in fundraising! We will close the donation platform next Thursday October 31st, so there is still time to donate here if you are inclined. All proceeds benefit student activities at MUMS and is greatly appreciated!

We are excited to see many of you next Friday November 1st for our Fall Parent-Teacher Conferences. Please see the blurb below from this past week's email regarding details for signing up for conferences with your students teachers!

As always, have a great weekend!

If you have questions generally, please reach out to us at mwisell@acsdvt.org (Michaela)

or zjerome@acsdvt.org (Zach) or dhunt@acsdvt.org (Dustin) or by calling the MUMS office at 802-382-1600 or by visiting the MUMS website for more information.

Michaela Wisell, Principal

Zach Jerome, Assistant Principal

Dustin Hunt, Activities Director

• November 1st - Parent Teacher Conferences
  
• November 1st - Quarter 1 Ends
• November 4th - Quarter 2 Begins
• November 6th - Picture Retake Day
• November 8th - Fall Dance (7:00-9:00)
• November 13th - Early Release Day (12:45 dismissal)

Activities Calendar

La pétanque (also called boules) is a favorite sport in France. 8th French students got to try out this cool game on the softball field on Wednesday, testing their precision as they practiced their tir (toss) to try to get as close as possible to le cochonnet (the tiny ball). By the end of this unit on interests and preferences, students will have explored how communicating what we enjoy doing for fun allows us to share our identity, develop relationships with others, and build a sense of community.

Ms. Berube reports that MUMS has some pretty awesome pétanqueurs!

Eileen Sears, MYP Coordinator

& ACSD Curriculum Leader

esears@acsdvt.org

802-382-1753

Pam Quinn, MYP Coordinator

pquinn@acsdvt.org

802-382-1243

Next Week is Spirit Week. Each day will have a theme and we encourage students to dress up if they feel comfortable doing so. This is also a competition that will award team points toward the Tiger Cup!

You should have received an email from me this past Monday with this information, but if you haven't signed up for conferences yet, here is all of the pertinent information!

Parent/ Teacher Conferences will be held on Friday November 1st, 2024.

• We are offering your choice of virtual or in-person conferences for any time slot on Friday. Please fill out this GOOGLE FORM so that we know whether you prefer to meet in-person or virtually. If you have multiple students at MUMS, please fill out the above form for each student that attends school at MUMS.

• Additionally please sign up HERE via PTCFast to indicate which teachers and times you would like to meet.

• Core teachers will do conferences in pairs (Math and I&S together and Lang & Lit and Science together) with the exception of Teams 3 & 4 Math and Individuals and Societies. These teachers are meeting individually with caregivers due to our new 8th grade Math structure.

• Due to limited conference slots, caregivers can meet with one pair or the other, but not both core teams.

• MIXT team, Wellness, Language Acquisition, Counselors, Special Education & Interventionists will meet independently with caregivers as folks sign up.

• Conferences will be 13 minutes long as they have been in the past.

• The focus of our conferences will be on how students are navigating their school day as well as discuss strengths & an area of growth/focus.

Conference sign ups will close by the end of the day on Tuesday October 29th. If you have any questions regarding this process please contact Megan Curran at mcurran@acsdvt.org.

Fall/Winter After School Club Sign-ups

The activities department is pleased to announce our fall/winter after school club offerings. A description of each club can be viewed by clicking here Fall/Winter Club Offerings. Sign-ups are now open and all of our new clubs will start the week of November 4th. Clubs that have already been meeting will continue with their normal schedule but please note that if your child is already participating in a club we would still like you to sign them up again so we know that they will continue their participation. Parents should sign their kids up for clubs here Fall/Winter Club Sign-ups. If you have any questions about clubs please email Dustin Hunt dhunt@acsdvt.org or call 802-382-1213

Fall Dance

We will be hosting our first dance of the school year on Friday, November 8th from 7-9pm in the MUMS Gym. The theme of the dance will be "Make It Glow Party" and students will be provided with glow necklaces, bracelets and glow in the dark paint. The dance costs $5 to attend and all proceeds go to Friends of MUMS to help pay for the 8th grade class trip and other fun activities. Every student must bring a signed permission slip the night of the dance to be allowed in the building. Permission slips will be sent home with students on Monday, November 4th or you can view and print it here Dance Permission Slip.

If you are interested in helping chaperone the dance or would be willing to donate food to concession sales, Friends of MUMS has created a sign-up genius here https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0548AFAF29AAFA7-52646358-mums#/

Intramural Basketball Starts Next Week

Intramural Basketball will start on Monday October 28th. Boys will be on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:30-5:00pm and girls will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30-5:00pm (please note we will not hold basketball on Thursday 10/31). Enrollments for both groups are low right now so for the first week players will just show up and play pick up basketball and then once their is more interest we will organize teams and make a formal schedule for the following 3 weeks. As a reminder you can sign up for intramurals here Intramural Basketball Sign-Up

Winter Athletics- Sign-Ups Start the Week of November 4th

Winter sports signups will begin on Monday November 4th. In the past students have signed up in TA but we are changing that process to include parents signing their children up through google forms to eliminate the confusion of whether their child has registered or not. That link will be sent to families in the Friday newsletter on Friday November 1st and will also be embedded on the MUMS athletics website. We are planning on offering 7th and 8th grade basketball, gymnastics (grades 6-8), wrestling (grades 7-8) and extreme winter running (grades 6-8). All of our winter practices will start on Monday, December 2nd. If your 6th grader is interested in playing basketball or wrestling they should sign up and participate through Middlebury Parks and Recreation.

Due to some challenges we've faced this fall related to food and drinks in classrooms, we are re-thinking our food and drink expectations at school and want to make you aware of these changes.

• Unless a student has a specific plan, we are working to limit drinks in classrooms to water only. This is in order to protect learning materials and personal materials in the event of a spill which are occurring frequently enough to warrant this change.
• Unless a student has a specific plan, Soda and caffeinated beverages should remain in lockers during the school day.
• Unless a student has a specific plan, Candy should remain in lockers during the school day.
• Any sharing of snacks, should be done during passing time or at lunch time.

We intend to share these changes with students during TA on Monday and slowly work to have these new expectations become the norm. Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions and thanks for your support in making this shift.

Picture retake day will be Wednesday, November 6th. Please see the counseling office if you need a physical order form. If you have not already purchased your school pictures through the LifeTouch website we will update you when we have the Portrait ID and Access Code to order your school pictures. If you have any questions or concerns please contact Megan Curran at mcurran@acsdvt.org.

• To report your child absent from school or notify us of an early dismissal please leave us a message on our attendance line by calling 382-1297 before 8:30 AM.
• If you send a student to school with an early dismissal note or bus note they should bring them the office before TA.
• All bus notes need to be stamped/signed by one of our Administrative Assistant's in the front office. Students will not be allowed to ride a bus to another location without a note from home that is stamped/signed by the office.

Do you volunteer in our schools? Join Superintendent Wendy Baker for a discussion about how to streamline, strengthen, and improve our volunteer program at ACSD schools. We will schedule a time to meet this fall to gather your feedback. Interested?
Button or link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1H6laR0CJwNAVk9RKvXDYd2kvHeiw0vzwBb_9qcRNwg4/edit

To view monthly school menus click here.

Here is a list of the 2024-2025 ACSD Bus Routes.

We are so excited to welcome parents and community members back into our buildings this year! If you are interested in substitute teaching or volunteering this year, please start an application now!

If you are interested in joining our new Friends of MUMS group, email friendsofmums@gmail.com