Important Dates

 

(If your family plans to take an extended Thanksgiving break, please contact RMS Attendance soon to facilitate planning)

 

Weekly After School

Mon, Tue, Thur - Library open for after school study

Tuesday - 6th grade HW club.

Tuesday -  3 - 4 - Math help available in the Library.

Friday - Mathcounts at HHS

 

Thoughts from the Rolling Desk

As is often the case, 4 day weeks in a middle school seem just as full and energetic as the “standard” week.  We are packing a lot into a short week.

 

Many thanks to Jen Fred and our small but determined crew of Veterans Day Pledge runners, who raised money for Veterans on Thursday afternoon by completing many circuits of the RMS field.  Thank you to all who contributed and supported the efforts of student council!

(candy as a math problem of scaling - combination of art and math.)

Today, our 6th and 7th graders welcomed National Geographic wildlife photographer and lecturer (and Norwich native) Ronan Donovan to RMS.  He shared his insights “what we can learn about being balanced humans through the lives of our fellow social mammals (chimpanzees, mountain gorillas and wolves)”  Thank you to Ronan and National Geographic for arranging his visit.  A quick video of some of his work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTHIBCQOufI

Please join us tonight for our fall talent show.  Curtain goes up at 7 and we plan to be done by 8:30.  Take a little time and peruse the lost and found at the same time.  

 

As we move toward Thanksgiving RMS will continue to focus on gratitude and the good that being thankful can do, both for those thanking and those being thanked.  More on this later, but suffice it to say we are thankful to be part of a community that work to be safe, stay well, and take care of each other.  Enjoy the wonderful weekend.

 

---

School News, Information, and Resources

 

RMS Cafe

Information about menus, mealtime, and application for RMS’ meal program are available here.

The RMS lunch program is run “in house” and does not follow a state or federal program.  If your family may benefit from assistance for meals, please contact Robin Morley-Ploof in the office for more information.  The program is confidential and runs the same way as the more traditional cafe meal funding program. 

RMS works hard to accommodate the dietary needs of our community, so if you have any questions, concerns, please contact Austin Jacobs.  

 

Volunteer Opportunities

We have a wide-range of volunteer opportunities available both during and outside of school hours throughout the district.  Please take a minute to fill out this brief questionnaire to let us know what activities you would be interested in learning more about for the 2024-25 school year.  Teal Parker, our Coordinator of Volunteers, will be in touch with more details as events/activities arise.  

In addition, if you are interested in volunteering but have not yet gone through the background check process, please fill out this form and we will be in touch to get the process started for you.

 

Health Office Updates

Respiratory Illnesses

RMS is beginning to see an increase in respiratory illness (like every year). Several of the illnesses include walking pneumonia. Upper valley primary care providers are seeing some atypical/mycoplasma pneumonia in children which can be treated with antibiotics. However, viral infections continue to be the most common cause of pediatric cough and respiratory illness in our community. 

Information on Mycoplasma Pneumonia from the CDC: can be found here.

CDC Prevention Measures for Respiratory Illness can be found here.

If you have questions regarding health programs, or anything related to the health of your students please reach out to Nurse Abby.

 

---

PTO Gaggle 11/15/25 

November PTO meeting, lots of helpful nuggets!

Beyond connecting with other parents, PTO meetings provide a font of information! At last night’s meeting, through focused dialogue with Tim Boyle and Liz Powers we were…

• Reminded of weekly (M, T, TH) after school opportunities in the library for after school study, homework club and math support. 
• Encouraged to schedule conferences with teachers if parents would like to check-in now that Q2 is underway. 
• Invited to attend the RMS Talent Show this evening at 7pm!

And we also…

• Learned about the scheduling challenges inherent in landing on a specific date for 8th grade year-end celebrations.
• Reviewed the process for accessing academic information for our kiddos on platforms such as Powerschool, Schoology, and math progress spreadsheets. 
• Engaged in thoughtful dialogue about the importance of talking with our kiddos about understanding the meaning behind certain memes, TikTok videos, and #slogans that are circulating on the internet, especially before forwarding them.

Through presentations from the chairs of several PTO committees we learned about…

• Plans underway for a December staff appreciation event,
• Ideas for a fun night out for RMS parents at Putnam’s in February, and
• The need for candid photos and 8th grade baby pictures for the yearbook (start sending them in if you haven’t yet!)

…And there was so much more! If you’d like to read the minutes of past PTO meetings, please visit the RMS Membership Toolkit Webpage…or better yet, set a reminder on your calendar to join us on December 12th @ 7pm for our next online meeting!

Important Dates:

• Dec 7: Class of ‘26 FUNdrasing event for 8th grade Immersion trip
• Dec 12: PTO Meeting 
• Dec 20th: Deadline for uploading a baby picture of your 8th grader for the yearbook

The RMS Yearbook Committee Needs Your Photos! 

A group of parent volunteers is working on the 2024-2025 RMS Yearbook, documenting this current school year. All     grades are included, with a special nod to the graduating 8th grade class.

 8th GRADE PARENTS: please upload ONE baby/toddler photo of your student! Upload link:  uploads.picabooyearbooks.com 

DO make sure the file name is your child's full name (otherwise we won't know who the baby picture belongs to!)

DO put your contact info in the notes, especially if you upload directly from your phone.

DO put file in the "8th Grade Babies" Section.

DO please upload baby pics by Friday, December 20th 2024.

 

ALL RMS PARENTS (6th, 7th & 8th) can upload candid pictures of RMS kids and their RMS friends! Upload link:  uploads.picabooyearbooks.com

DO send recent photos, from this school year please.

DO send pictures of your kids enjoying non-school activities, school club pictures and sports (team pictures!). 

DO make sure group photos include RMS students only (not friends from other schools, family members etc.) 

DO send publication-quality photos, as we can't use blurry or low-resolution photos. Faces should be visible.

We ask that you please help us keep track of who is in what photo. File name = student's full name. Add your contact info to notes, especially if you're uploading from your phone, and the names of other students in group photos. 

 

We will use the photo permissions currently on file. Unsure? Check with Nicole at the front office to make sure your kid(s) can be included in the yearbook this year.

Thank you,
The RMS 2024-25 Yearbook Committee 

 Questions? Ask Nikki Batra at nnagarwa@yahoo.com

View Yearbook information!