Gator News

What a great start for Our Gators!

Students and teachers alike are starting to get into the groove of the school year. Routines are beginning to get established and we are working hard on getting to know our students. An additional part of this has been getting some data on understanding where our students are so we can build the best road map to get them to our destination or learning goals.

Our school's goals this year are to increase student engagement, create a stronger Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) system that reduces the need for Tier 3 (intensive interventions) and to increase all our student's skills in literacy!

This means that we have had several assessments at the start of the year in literacy, mathematics, and a social emotional survey for all students. See the Gator Bite below that students saw in their TA where I speak to them about this testing. Teachers collectively look at this data to help us determine instructional steps and what supports we need to provide to students in the classroom and in Student Support Time, known as SST!

We are so lucky at MSMS to have a strong and dedicated staff ready to help our students grow each and every day. I'm excited to celebrate our successes along the way!

We would love for you to be a more regular part of our community. Please consider applying as a substitute or volunteer in our building. The home and school connection and support of each other is critical as we help these young Gators navigate their way through their middle school years.

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.

#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!

Hannah Wilson, our Multilingual Learning Teacher, was recently invited to join the NEA's 2024 Global Learning Fellowship Class. She will be attending a conference in Washing DC this October, learn with her cohort remotely during the school year and then will embark on a 10-day field experience next summer in Costa Rica. This is a huge opportunity ~Congrats Hannah!

Jax Nordstrom helped plan, prep and display art for the Youth Artist Showcase at the Queer Arts Festival in Plainfield. He also showed his own art!

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

Central Vermont's Fabulous YOUTH Musical Theatre Show Choir is BACK! This year, Montpelier High School’s Masque Theatre and Montpelier’s renowned Lost Nation Theater will join forces to offer this magical year-long musical theater performance opportunity for students in grades 6-8 (Junior Show Choir) and 9-12 (Senior Show Choir) right here in our capital city!

Co-directed by Molly Clark & Kianna Bromley, these two cohorts will build a staged repertoire of musical theater numbers to be performed at our end-of-season showcase. Triple threats are needed! If you love to sing, act, and dance - this is a space for you! Come build friendships with students from all over Central Vermont who also love Broadway, Glee, and movie musicals.

This year-long program takes place on Sunday afternoons from 4:30-7pm starting October 15th and ending with an evening showcase performance on Sunday, May 12th.

To sign up and ask questions - please reach out to Kiannab@mpsvt.org!

Great opportunity to support MRPS Schools and build a wonderful, nonprofit organization, MRPS PIE (Montpelier Roxbury Partners in Education). https://www.mrpspie.org/

For the first time ever, MRPS PIE is seeking a part time Executive Director to continue to build the organizations day to day operations, support the MRPS PIE Caregiver groups, build and support the MRPS PIE Board, be a strong advocate for our students and develop strong fundraising strategy.

Here is the job description with more information

Job Title_ Executive Director_MRPSPIE.pdf

The MSMS First LEGO League Robotics team will be holding open fall season tryouts on Wednesdays in September from 3:00-4:45 in the MSMS Innovation Lab (room 005). All 5th - 8th grade students are welcome and no experience in robotics or LEGO is required to try out. Please note that we also plan to run a noncompetitive robotics after school activity series in the spring.

September 19: Up 4 Learning Leadership Retreat (in-school field trip for some students)

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

October 1: Montpelier Fall Festival

October 5: MSMS Open House from 4:00 - 5:30 pm

October 6: In-service (No School)
October 9: Indigenous Peoples' Day (No School)

Tuesday, Sept. 19:

Cross Country at North Country for the Kingdom Cup Meet

Field Hockey at MHS vs. Stowe at 4:00

Girls' Soccer at MHS vs. Stowe at 4:00

Boys' Soccer at MHS vs. Stowe at 5:00

Thursday, Sept 21:

Field Hockey at Crossett Brook at 4:00 - bus leaves at 3:35

Girls Soccer at MHS vs. U32 at 4:00

Boys Soccer at U32 at 4:00(G7) and 5:00(G8) - bus leaves at 3:15

Friday, Sept 22:

Girls' Soccer at MHS vs. Crossett Brook at 4:00

Each year, 8th graders across the state apply to be legislative pages to support the work of our state government. Last year, we had two Main Street Middle School students that were accepted into the program. Students are already beginning to apply this year. This requires a letter from me to support their candidacy. I'm excited that we already have had many students show an interest.

Click the link below to route to the Vermont website and find the application. Applications are due on September 30!

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.

Montpelier Roxbury School District Board of School Directors is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, September 20th, 2023 at 6:30 am. Montpelier Roxbury School District Board of School Directors is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, September 20th, 2023 at 6:30 am.

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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.