Gator News

Happy New School Year Eve!

School begins in Tomorrow!

It was great to see some of our Gator come into school yesterday and today to make sure they are ready for Day 1! Our amazing staff has worked hard for the last five days to get ready for our students tomorrow. We have spent time talking about our support systems for students, updates to our Student Support Time (SST) and began working on our professional learning around our school goal this year of increasing our student's literacy skills across the board.

We hope your students are excited and we will see them in the morning. Reminder breakfast starts at 7:30 but the main doors open at 7:50 for students go their homeroom or TA and get ready for their day. Our first day has a slightly adjusted schedule in the morning to have an extended TA period to make sure students understand their schedule and build that important community piece with their TAs.

Consider Becoming a Substitute! As we close out this year, I'd love to encourage those who may be able to consider becoming a substitute teacher. Our schools are always in need of a substitute for our school staff. We love our substitutes and would love for you to consider helping our school community in this way!

Volunteering at MSMS! We love inviting Caregivers and Community Members to find ways to contribute to our school community! If you are interested in volunteering, please go to our district website at mrpsvt.org/volunteer to see the process and requirements for background checks. We have three levels of volunteers. Last year we had volunteers chaperone dances, pop popcorn with our Caregiver Alliance, serve on interview committees, chaperone field trips, and other opportunities. We welcome your partnership and will work with you to make yourself an approved volunteer.

We will soon have a need for Level 1 Volunteers to help us organize and pack our Safety Backpacks with the needed supplies for classroom teachers! Let us know if you're able to support that next week for a few hours!

#GATORNATION CELEBRATIONS!

Have a Gator Celebration? Email me! julieconrad@mpsvt.org

We LOVE to celebrate the great things our amazing GATORS do both in our school community and community at large! Do you have a shout out on how one of our students or staff have stepped up? Please email me and let me know so we can spread our Gator Pride!

Please reach out to me if you or your child need anything. We're here to help our Gators grow and believe in the partnership with families and caregivers.

Warm Regards,

Julie

September 7: School Picture Day!

September 1-15: Fall Assessment Window - RenStar Math and LIteracy and Panorama SEL survey

September 25: Early Release Day! (Dismissal at 1:00 pm)

October 1: Montpelier Fall Festival

Our first practice is this Thursday 8/31. Practice will be daily on weekdays from 5 to 6:30 up at VCFA. Home games will be at the MHS field, and Casey Nava will be head coach this year.

Right now, our roster is small enough that we plan to play games as one combined 7/8 team, meaning that it is definitely not too late to sign up! To be added to the roster, go directly to the NEW MRPS Athletic Registration Site to create an account for your player and complete a profile there. If you have questions about the registration process, contact Matt Link, the Athletic Director. Or folks can reach out to me directly (gretchenelias@mac.com) if you want more information about 7/8 girls soccer in particular. I can connect people to Casey or Matt if I can’t answer a question myself.

We are also seeking additional parent volunteers to help run practice or accompany the team to away games. Anyone interested in volunteering in that capacity can reach out to me as well.

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MRPS BLOG: Visit https://www.smore.com/7agn0 and subscribe!

Main Street Middle School Webpage

MRPS Webpage

MSMS Athletics Webpage

2022-2023 MRPS School Calendar

MRPS Power School Portal

MSMS Bus Routes

MSMS Food Services

MRPS Student Support Services: Special Education Handbook for Caregivers

Caregiver Reporting: If you believe you have witnessed or experienced discrimination, bias-based harassment, sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, or bullying at MRPS, please report it to a school administrator as possible. If you do not feel comfortable reporting in person, please complete this reporting form. If you have any questions please contact MRPS Director of Social Emotional Learning & Wellness, Jessica Murray, at jessicamurray@mpsvt.org or (802) 505 0435.

VTeen 4-H Science Pathways Cafes:

Join us this school year for in-person cafes where you will meet scientists, learn about their work, explore different science pathways, and engage in hands-on activities and informal discussions. Our first cafe is on Saturday, Sept. 23 at the University of Vermont. Open to grades 7-12; the program is FREE but all participants must register. See the full schedule of cafes here. Flyers coming soon!

Youth Environmental Summit: YES is an annual conference for middle and high school students to learn about environmental issues and get involved in local communities. The mission of YES is to inspire, encourage, and prepare youth for a life of environmental responsibility, service and leadership by increasing awareness and knowledge of environmental issues and fostering leadership skills. At YES participants engage in hands-on workshops, action-inspiring discussions, networking with environmental professionals and like-minded peers, and much, much more! Learn more here. Open to grades 6-12; this program is FREE but all participants must register by October 16. YES will be held on October 27 at the Barre Civic Center.

We are also looking for youth in grades 8-12 to serve as YES Ambassadors. Learn more here and apply by September 21!

Teens Reaching Youth (TRY) for the Environment: TRY stands for Teens Reaching Youth and is an environmental leadership opportunity for students in grades 7-12. It is an environmental education program taught by teens and designed to increase environmental literacy and responsibility in younger youth. TRY for the Environment connects young people to real-world environmental problems by allowing them to be key change agents contributing to real-world solutions. Learn more here. Applications are due no later than November 7.

VTeen Leadership Weekend: November 17-19, 2023. VTeen Leadership Weekend is a fun-filled weekend developing important skills and traits that will help you stretch and improve your leadership, communication, problem solving, teamwork and other transferable skills to take back and use in your club work, school and community. Learn more here. Open to all youth in grades 7-12; limited to 50 youth.

Vermont Science Olympiad - Teams Wanted: UVM will be hosting the Vermont Science Olympiad on Saturday, April 6, 2024, and we are looking for teams to join us for this exciting day of science competition! We encourage all high schools to form a team (or two, or three!) to participate. Students and teachers alike say it was one of the most inspirational and memorable experiences of their educational life.

Talk to your school about starting a team! We will be hosting a new coaches meeting in September. Date to be posted soon. Contact Lauren.Traister@uvm.edu if interested. Learn more about the Vermont Science Olympiad at: https://www.uvm.edu/extension/youth/vermont-science-olympiad

Discover Engineering: A FREE full day event with workshops at UVM to promote the field of engineering and help youth understand different pathways they can take to pursue a future as an engineer. More information coming soon. Save the Date! Saturday, February 17, 2024.

THRIVE Workshops: 4-H has been helping youth thrive for over 100 years! Through experiential learning activities we deliver high quality programs framed in a positive youth development context. Let us work with your middle and high school students to intentionally focus on the development of critical life skills / transferable skills. Contact Lauren.Traister@uvm.edu for more information and to schedule your workshop.