RBS Review
#Smalltownbigheart
Welcome!
Richard Butler Middle School is characterized by a longstanding tradition of excellence and a tight-knit, welcoming community. We have worked to establish a true middle school philosophy including teaming, a “school within a school” concept that provides additional support for the learning community and enhances teaching and learning. We are committed to providing a comprehensive academic program that prepares our students for high school and beyond. Further, we understand the unique social and emotional needs of middle school students and promote high character and values at all times. The enthusiastic faculty and staff at Richard Butler Middle School are dedicated to ensuring the success of all of our students, and we realize that the relationships we forge with our families are an essential component to achieve that success. Therefore, we encourage you to reach out to the RBS faculty, staff, and administration with any concerns you may have; thank you for your support and partnership!
Embracing Butler Bulldog PRIDE
At Richard Butler Middle School, Bulldog PRIDE isn't just a motto – it's a way of life that embodies the essence of who we are as a community. This PRIDE stands for more than just school spirit; it represents a set of core character traits that shape the individuals we strive to become.
- Preparedness ensures that we approach each day ready to learn, adapt, and contribute our best efforts.
- Respect guides our interactions, fostering an atmosphere of mutual understanding and consideration for one another.
- Inclusivity reminds us that our strength lies in our diversity, and we work together to create an environment where everyone feels valued and accepted.
- Determination propels us forward, empowering us to tackle challenges with unwavering resolve.
- And perhaps most importantly, empathy encourages us to understand and support each other, fostering a culture of kindness and compassion.
December 2024
As we approach the end of another exciting year at Richard Butler Middle School, we are delighted to share the latest news and happenings in our building. This year, there is an early dismissal at 12:30pm on Friday, December 20, Winter Break is December 23-January 1, and we return to school on Thursday, January 2, 2025. We wish all of our RBS families a safe and healthy holiday season and look forward to welcoming everyone back in the new year, refreshed and ready to learn.
The first trimester is coming to an end on December 4, and Parent-Teacher Conferences are December 11-13. Please consider scheduling a conference with your child’s teachers as these are extremely beneficial meetings for our families; the deadline to schedule a conference is December 6, and more information can be found here. Trimester 1 report cards will be available in the Genesis Parent Portal on December 11, 2024. If you have any questions regarding your child’s progress, please reach out to the grade level team or related arts teachers.
We will continue with our highly competitive Winter Door Decorating contest during homeroom and academic assistance. The homeroom with the best door wins a special prize! Additionally, our holiday “Caught Being Kind” Challenge is underway. Students are working toward earning a classwide holiday-themed reward as staff notice and recognize acts of kindness. Also, if you’d like to have your own December Kindness Challenge from home, please see the calendar below for more information.
Students in grades 5-8 will participate in the upcoming “The Hour of Code,” which is a national event specifically designed as an introduction to computer science and coding skills. During the month of December, we will also be conducting class spelling bees and a school-wide contest in preparation for the Scripps County Spelling Bee this spring. We will continue to offer wellness programs through the NJ Department of Health and Morris County Prevention is Key throughout the beginning of the new year during health classes. We’re also happy to bring in the American Heart Association to work with our 5th graders on Kids Heart Challenge. Students participate in the challenge at ADS, so it’s great to be able to continue it at the middle school this year!
We are so proud of our music program at Richard Butler Middle School! The RBS Winter Music Concert is Wednesday, December 4, and we are very excited to experience our student performances. Special thanks to Dr. Nishimura, Ms. Bocchino, Ms. Lowndes, RBS staff chaperones, & our families for all of the support. We are always accepting students in our Band and Grade 8 Choir, so if your child is interested, be sure to contact us.
Please continue to stay connected with us through social media. Follow us on Twitter at @RBS_Bulldogs, Facebook at Richard Butler Middle School, and Instagram at @RBS_Bulldogs for news, announcements, and celebrations. Please feel free to reach out to Mrs. Molina at jmolina@butlerboe.org or Mrs. Papa at mpapa@butlerboe.org. We wish all of our RBS families a magical holiday season!
Michelle Papa
Principal
Richard Butler Middle School
RBS Drama Club
RBS Student Council Thanksgiving Food Drive
We are so proud of our school community for donating 1,045 items, including 29 turkeys, to the Butler Methodist Church this holiday season. The heart our students, staff, and families have for this awesome community is ever-growing. We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families!
Grade 5 Social Studies Environmental Projects
Please enjoy these student-generated environmental promotion pieces from Mr. Macaluso's 5th grade social studies classes.
Mia Niciejewski - Reduce, Reuse & Recycle
The topic I am focusing on is Influencing people in our community to take recycled goods and throw them in the recycling bins/cans. This will change Butler because the pets will stay safe. I hope most of the population of Butler starts to recycle from now until future generations. Steps I will take to establish this program is to make flyers and documents on websites, Sending out Emails and Text messages to the town of Butler. To influence kids, if they recycle they would take the recycled goods to the police office and put the goods in the recycling can in front of the police station and they get a toy. The local garbage people will drive around town and collect RECYCLED goods into the truck and not trash in the same truck. The truck would take the goods and transport them to a factory that makes vases, new cans, and silverware out of plastic and glass. There are people I would need to start this program like, The Mayor, the Garbage People, the police, and the citizens of Butler. The way I will know that my plan is going the right way is walking around the town of Butler and checking if people are recycling the right way. I would communicate with the mayor and garbage men to see if there has been progress over time.
Noah Guzman - LESS Littering in the Environment
Did you know that littering can lead to soil, water, and air pollution in the community? My goal in this passage is less littering around the community because there have been many pieces of trash lying on the ground which could lead to soil pollution so we should stop but people keep throwing trash on the floor which is destroying our community and our environment. We could help by setting up signs and boards around the community. Finally we could motivate everyone to stop littering for our community. Littering hurts the humans and the animals and all the trees and plants. Think about all the animals that are suffering from pollution which is bad for their environment. This shows that if we work together we can stop littering in our community.
Ashton Krowska - Less Plastic Pollution
Did you know that a lot of the trash from our community comes from plastic? My goal in this paragraph is to show you how much plastic we actually use as a community and how we can stop it and reduce the use of plastic in our town. When I'm on the bus or walking around town I see plastic on the ground or plastic in trash bins instead of recycling bins and in my school I see most of the plastic utensils getting thrown out in trash bins instead of getting recycled. One of the first ways we can reduce the use of plastic around our township as a community is by putting up signs on recycling cans to recycle plastic more instead of having it polluting the environment in our township. The second way we can reduce the use of plastic we can encourage people by putting up quotes to not use plastic in our community to motivate the community to use the new recycle bins. These ways show how we can reduce plastic pollution in our community and how we can come together to reduce plastic pollution.
End of Trimester 1
Trimester 1 ends on December 4th. Be sure to check that all work has been completed and turned in. If you have outstanding work that you need assistance with there are many different ways to get help! Teachers are available each day during academic assistance and during office hours before or after school. If you have any questions about your child's grades you can contact Mr. Fischer at jfischer@butlerboe.org or the specific content teacher.
World Kindness Day
Wednesday 11/13 was World Kindness day. In celebration the RBS Students took time during lunch to write down positive messages to their peers, teachers and family. We then created a chain link to show our togetherness to be kind each and every day!
Gratitude
During the month of November the spotlight was on gratitude. Gratitude is appreciating someone or something that is meaningful to you, and helps people experience more joy, feel optimistic, and decrease feelings of sadness and loneliness.
Some ways to practice gratitude include:
Creating a gratitude journal
Writing a letter to someone who has had a positive impact on your life
Finding opportunities to say “thank you”
Calling someone you appreciate
Talking a gratitude walk to appreciate your surroundings
Caught Being Kind Challenge: Holiday Edition!
During the Week of Respect we debuted our Caught Being Kind Challenge, and we are bringing it back with a holiday twist! Throughout the next several weeks teachers will be on the lookout for students showing kindness and respect. They will then award a student a P.A.W. to be displayed in the hallway. Each grade that earns 75 P.A.W.s will get to wear their comfiest pajamas to watch a holiday movie the week before winter break! Students will get to vote for the movie they would like to watch.
Character Strong - Trait of the Month
Health & Wellness Update - Nurse McPartland
As we head into the winter season, it's important to stay mindful of our health and well-being. This month, I encourage all students to wash their hands frequently, especially before meals and after coughing or sneezing, to prevent the spread of germs. With flu season in full swing, make sure to get plenty of rest, eat nutritious foods, and drink lots of water to keep your immune system strong. Don’t forget to wear layers to stay warm as temperatures drop, and always wear your coat, gloves, and hats when heading outside. If you’re feeling sick, please stay home to rest and recover. Together, we can stay healthy and ready for the holiday season! Stay safe and take care of yourselves!
Be sure to call 973-492-2079 if a student is going to be absent for any reason.
Students should stay home when ill to prevent the spread of germs to others. Students need to be fever free without fever reducing medication for 24 hours before returning to school. Students must remain home for 24 hours after vomiting or having diarrhea.
Please keep me informed and up to date with all medical concerns/issues that arise throughout the school year. Feel free to email or call me with any questions or concerns.
Brianna McPartland
Email: bmcpartland@butlerboe.org
Phone: 973-492-2079 x 7203
RBS Students of the Month - LEADERSHIP
Grade 5 - Sara Lorenc and Waylan Harmon
Grade 6 - Joseph Natale & Mia Fernandez
Grade 7 - David Johnson and Brianna Switaj
Grade 8 - Francesca Horanic and Kimberley Lopez
RBS Honor Roll - Trimester 3
Grade 6
Carlos Bardales
Jayden Barrios
Antonia Brauner
Sebastian Coiro
Sofia Cruz Pesantez
Ellen Davidoff
Joshua Durran
Vanessa Herrera
Jackson Kennedy
Daniela Loving
Samantha Lubitz
Haylee Menoski
John Molloy
Tania Patel
Jacob Rivera
Hector Saavedra
Connor Wills
Grade 7
Dulce Cabrera
Nathan Caputo
Lindsay Coronado
Wafaa Ebrahim
Kenzy Elsheriff
Anastazia Gawronski
Jacob Guzman
Luis Leon
Amy Lorenc
Brooke Marion
Jayden McMinn
Samantha Muniz
Olivia Ogus
Oona Okola
Isabella Pino Ricaurte
Olivia Ventrella
Grade 8
Ian Delano Neely
John Dieckmann
Alexander Feliciano
Gianna Fuzy
Evan Garcia
Livia Gulino
John Lanzana
Luis Mendoza
Maksim Murdzoski
Sebastian Murdzoski
Mathew Parisi
Ava Ramautar
Ellie Rodriguez
MariaPaz Sanchez Urquia
Jason Sanders
Zaahil Santiago
Giada Toriello
Emily Yearwood
RBS High Honor Roll - Trimester 3
Grade 6
Samantha Ahmuty
Lukas Fuzy
Rafe Garcia
Ryan Isenhour
Afet Kalisi
Benjamin Knauer
Julia Kubiak
Leonard Lubas
Nicholas Miele
Nicolas Ormaza
Valerie Pecho
Brooke Puleo
Alicia Reed
Austin Reiner
Juliana Scognamiglio
Jessica VanSant
Grade 7
Sherie Gonzalez
Francesca Horanic
Sophia Hough
Valerie Kutsup
Cali Marion
Alexander Martinelli
Maeve McNeil
Emily Morales
Abigail Ricker
Jordan Sanders
Grade 8
Gianna DePascale
Daniel Faber
David Ferrier
Gideon Gonzalez
Ivonne Herrera
Stephanie Lobo
Noah Lubitz
Marisa Pollard
Jared Puleo
Alessia Scorsone
Luciano Scorsone
Aleksia Stojanovic
Kaylie Theiler
Giada Toriello
Nicholas Ventrella
Ervin Ventura Perez
RBS Principal's List - Trimester 3
Grade 6
Adam Fakher
Lily Knesevitch
Jake Magio
Maya Roszkowski
Bromley Sieradzki
Madison Standish
Brianna Switaj
Maximus Waer
Grade 7
Katherine Hale
Liana Horanic
Madline Richer
Noelle Rivera Castro
Mikela Tashev
Grade 8
Gavin Boasso
Madelyn Brown
Giovanni Brown
Butler PTA
The PTA continues to be an important liaison between the community and RBS. They consistently plan helpful ways to support our school and children along with scheduling fun activities and events for our families. Please consider joining PTA today!
Information: https://butlerespta.givebacks.com/store?limit=21&live=true
Announcements: https://nj50000507.schoolwires.net/domain/42
Butler PTA Spirit Wear
Please visit the Butler PTA Spirit Wear website here to place your order today!
Maschio's Food Service
Bulldog of the Month - Ms. Fellman
Please join us in congratulating RBS Teacher of Social Studies Ms. Elizabeth Fellman as she is our Bulldog of the Month for November. Ms. Fellman has been at RBS as a member of the Special Education Department for almost three years and graciously accepted a position as a social studies teacher in her fourth year. Prior to this, she worked as a paraprofessional as well. Ms. Fellman has embraced her new role as she worked quickly to acquire the content and skills necessary to teach 6th grade social studies. She's been able to use her experiences supporting students with special needs to successfully implement Universal Design for Learning in her lessons, and all of her students are benefitting! Congrats, Ms. Fellman!
RBS Information
RBS Calendar
Upcoming RBS Events:
December 4 - End of 1st Trimester
December 4 - RBS Winter Concert @ 7pm
December 5 - Beginning of Trimester 2
December 6 - RBS Service Day 2:45-3:45pm
December 10 - RBS Winter Concert Snow Date @7pm
December 11-13 - RBS Parent-Teacher Conferences (½ Day)
December 11 - RBS Trimester 1 Grades Posted
December 17 - BOE Committee Meetings
December 19 - BOE Meeting
December 20 - Early Dismissal
December 23 - Jan 1 Winter Break
Richard Butler Middle School
Email: mpapa@butlerboe.org
Website: https://nj50000507.schoolwires.net/Domain/14
Location: 3 Pearl Place, Butler, NJ, USA
Phone: 973-492-2079
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RBS07405
Twitter: @RBS_Bulldogs