In the Middle

Nov. 11th - Veterans' Day - No School

Nov 14th - Parent Conferences 3:00-5:00 pm

Nov. 20th - PTO Meeting 7:00-8:00 pm in the Library/Media Center

Nov. 27th-29th -Thanksgiving Recess - No School

Dec. 9th - Lifetouch Picture Retakes

Our first Veterans Day Assembly was a success. Ten veterans were our honored guests, including Major General Reginald Centracchio. The chorus performed all together for the first time to sing the National Anthem. Click on the link below to watch their performance. 8th grader Bella N was the winner of our Thank a Veteran contest, and her entry served as the thank you memento for our veterans. Students had the opportunity to ask questions about their time in the military. It was moving to hear their stories. We'd like to thank Mr. Jon Dunne, Ms. Margie Clyde, and Ms. Grace Norton for their help planning this event. We're looking forward to making this an annual tradition.

Next week kicks off our annual Holiday Sale! There will be new designs featured as well as exciting new product lines! We will be adding some winter sports as well. This sale will run through November and beginning of December, with guaranteed delivery for Christmas.

The winter sports season is about to get underway. All sports have a start date of Monday, November 18th, 2024. In order to participate, ALL students MUST have a current physical (NO EXCEPTIONS), MUST be registered on the school website, and MUST be in good academic standing from the 1st quarter of this school year.

● Please navigate to https://scituate-ar.rschooltoday.com/ and proceed by creating an

account (first-time users) or logging in (returning users). ALL ATHLETES MUST BE REGISTERED PRIOR TO THE FIRST PRACTICE/TRY OUT

Academic Standing

● All students must have passed Quarter 1 with a GPA greater than 1.7 or failed fewer than

2 courses.

Please reach out to the appropriate coach/coaches if you are interested in participating.

Girls Basketball Coach Geisser sgeisser@gmail.com

Boys Basketball Coach Borin jay.borin@gmail.com

Wrestling Coach Dumont scottdum@gmail.com

Cheerleading Coach Lynn Francazio lynnricci@cox.net

Shakespeare to Hip Hop is a literary concert presentation that provided an excellent introduction to the life and works of William Shakespeare. The presentation included multimedia and featured a live band. Students were engaged and inspired by lively original songs in a variety of American music styles, including jazz, blues, rock, hip-hop, and country, that provided information about Shakespeare’s life and influence on our culture.

Late buses are available Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Buses typically arrive around 3:45-4:00, depending on when the elementary runs are complete. Parents and guardians picking up their children should wait in the high school's main parking lot. Students will exit those doors and not the middle school doors; they would usually get picked up at normal dismissal time.

Students, did you know that beginning on Wednesday, October 23rd, you can sign up each week to get extra help after school in reading, writing, or math if you need it?

Ms. Kennedy (Math) is available after school on Wednesdays from 2:20-3:20 for Math Academic Support in Room 404.

Ms. Limoges (ELA) is available for reading and writing support after school on Thursdays from 2:20-3:20 in Room 402.

Sign-up sheets will be in the main office, and attendance is on a first come, first served basis, as there is a class cap. Please see Ms. Limoges, Ms. Kennedy, or Ms. Goffe if you have any questions about staying after school.

Agriculture Club meets on Tuesdays and is open to middle and high school students interested in nature and the environment. Projects throughout this year include the creation of an on-campus butterfly garden, a "power of plants" great plant give-away, a holiday sale, and filling our greenhouse throughout the early spring with flowers and veggies to sell at our annual plant sale. Additionally, we volunteer at the local water festival and participate in DEM's RI Salmon in the Classroom experience. For more details, please see our Agriculture Contract below. If you have any questions, please reach out to Ms. Travers (email is linked here).

The Technology Student Association is a national student organization with over 300,000 members. TSA projects and competitions include robotics, game design, engineering, and more. Through hands-on learning experiences, these projects aim to nurture innovative thinking. We hope to empower the next generation of inventors, storytellers, and problem-solvers. Join us as we use technology to unlock our students' creative potential! This club meets on Wednesdays after school. Reach out to Mr. Sheehan if you have any questions. His email is linked here.

Project Linus is a national organization that makes blankets for children in crisis. In past years, there have been students who were recipients of blankets while they were hospitalized. At one point in time, SMS was the only school-based club in the state.

This club is open to all grades and meets on Thursdays. During these first few weeks, Mrs. Battey teaches the 8th graders how to make the blankets. By the second meeting, these students are then tasked with preparing the fabric for others to finish off. As new students join the club (once the club is opened to 6th and 7th graders), these 8th grade student leaders are in charge of teaching these students how to make the blankets. This, then, becomes a student-led club where students are truly leaders as they teach and otherwise manage the club. If you have any questions about this club, please reach out to Mrs. Battey. Her email is linked here.

Scituate Middle School’s student council is a student-led organization that aims to enhance the school experience for all students. They meet on Thursdays in room 424 in the middle school. Ms. Sandra D'Amico is the advisor. She is not only a parent of a SHS senior but also a paraprofessional at North Scituate Elementary School. The roles and responsibilities of the student council include:

Planning and Organizing Events:

• Spirit and awareness days

• Feinstein community service projects

Developing Leadership Skills:

• Learn about leadership roles and responsibilities

• Practice public speaking and presentation skills

• Gain experience in teamwork, collaboration, and problem-solving

Building School Spirit:

• Promoting school pride and unity

• Organizing school-wide activities

• Encouraging positive behavior and school culture

Ms. Norton will be creating the middle school yearbook this year. If you have photos that you would like to see included in the yearbook, please email them to sms_yearbook@scituateschoolsri.net This includes photos from all of our SMS Athletic Teams.

The CDC reports the US has had increases in children diagnosed with walking pneumonia among all school aged groups. Walking pneumonia is a less serious form of the lung infection pneumonia. It's often caused by bacteria called Mycoplasma pneumoniae, but other bacteria or viruses can also cause it. When it seems like a cold is lasting longer than 7 to 10 days, especially if a cough is getting worse or not going away, it could be walking pneumonia. Symptoms can come on suddenly or take longer to start. The symptoms are often mild, but sometimes can be more severe.

There is no home treatment for pneumonia. Although cough suppressants, expectorants, or fever-lowering drugs may be helpful, they should not be started without discussing their use with your doctor. If you have bacterial pneumonia, you will need to take an antibiotic. Fluids and rest during bouts of the common cold can help prevent progression to pneumonia. If you wash your hands frequently, you can reduce your chances of catching a virus. Students may return to school when they are fever-free, and after being cleared by their health professional. If your child has been diagnosed with Pneumonia please report this to the health office.

For more information, please refer to this article from the CDC.

Thank You,

Sarah Makowski RN

School Nurse

sarah.makowski@scituateschoolsri.net

We will be holding a vaccination clinic on Thursday, December 5th.

The Scituate School Department has partnered with Unite Us to streamline the process of applying for free and/or reduced lunches.

Please click the link which will take you to the meal benefit application on the State of Rhode Island Department of Education website.

https://ride.ri.gov/child-nutrition/unite-us-electronic-school-meal-benefit-application

Please fill in all fields. Be sure to select Scituate Public Schools in the field “Select the school district that your child will receive school meals from”.

If you have any questions, please call: Jennifer Carnevale, Executive Finance Assistant at 401-647-4100 option 2, then option 3

The meeting schedule for the 24/25SY are listed below. The meetings will take place at Ponaganset Middle School, Room 150 at 6:00 pm.

Dec 10, 2024

Feb 11, 2025

May 13, 2025

Register for the Parenting Matters Workshop on Thursday, November 14, from 6 PM to 7:30 PM The workshop presenter will be Alicia Ead, a Bradley licensed clinical social worker. Her presentation will be a Mindful Check-In where attendees will have the opportunity to "Stop. Breathe. Engage."

The Parenting Matters program consists of an annual half-day conference that offers a keynote speaker and breakout workshops teaching practical information about raising children and teens. Speakers are all experts on child development, behavioral health, or related topics. In addition, evening workshops are held throughout the year and cover similar content with a single speaker who speaks in depth on a topic of interest. Register here.

Important Dates and Deadlines

• Spring 2025 semester: January 13 – May 16 with varied dates
• Pre-lottery registration runs through December 6, 2024.
• School approval deadline is December 9 at 12pm. Students with pending approvals after this deadline has passed will not be included in the course lotteries.
• Spring 2025 course lotteries run on December 10. Students are notified by email same day with a seat offer or waitlist number for each course they preregistered for.
• Seat offer deadline: Students have until January 2 at 11:59pm to accept or decline their seat offers before they expire. A course with an expired seat offer will not be available to them in their EnrollRI dashboards if they try to re-register post-lottery.
• Open enrollment runs from January 3 through the last day of the add drop period for each course. Courses with seat availability will be filled on a first come first serve basis as students register and move up the waitlist. Prompt approvals will help ensure a student secures a seat in a preregistered course during open enrollment.

Contact Us!

As always, please reach out to the ACN team with questions or requests for support. Emailing the following addresses will ensure a prompt response as all team members read and respond to these inboxes:

• Email acn@ride.ri.gov with general ACN questions
• Email helpenrollri@ride.ri.gov with account and login issues.

The Scituate School Department does not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, race, religion, national origin, color, creed, political affiliation or disability in any of its educational programs and activities, and in employment and application for employment, as required by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1965, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, and other federal and state laws that prohibit discrimination. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies: Equal Employment Officer, P.O. Box 188, North Scituate, Rhode Island 02857, Telephone: (401) 647-4100; Email: EEO@ScituateSchoolsRI.net. You may also direct inquiries directly to: Office for Civil Rights (Boston Office), U.S. Department of Education, 8th Floor, 5 Post Office Square, Boston, MA 02109-3921, Telephone: (617) 289-0111; Facsimile: (617) 289-0150; Email: OCR.Boston@ed.gov. If you require an accommodation to attend a meeting or program at a school, call the Equal Employment Officer at least two business days in advance of the meeting or program.