RMS Principal’s Message

Welcome to Rutland Middle School and the start of the 2011-12 school year!  We are excited about the start of the school year!  We hope you are too.

The First Day at Rutland Middle School is Wednesday, August 31, starting at 7:45 a.m.   Students should report to their first period classes at that time.  Student schedules will be available at the RMS Fall Orientation to be held at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 24 in the RMS/RIS Cafeteria.  A listing of first period locations will also be posted on the RIS/RMS cafeteria windows in front of the school. Parents are also invited to take part in our ‘First Day of School’ activities.

The school day for students ends at 2:25 P.M.  A bus schedule has been posted for your convenience. If your child plans to take the bus to school, please be at the closest stop five minutes before the bus arrival time.

In their first days at Rutland Middle School, students will receive a number of important materials. Perhaps the most important item is our Student Planner/Family Handbook.   This handbook contains important information about the Rutland Middle School and school policies.  Please take some time to go over this handbook with your child.  This handbook includes a planner that will be used by all students to record upcoming assignments.  Students will also bring home an emergency information card.  Please complete and sign this card and have your child return it to school as soon as possible. Students should also bring $4.00 on Opening Day so they can buy locks for their lockers.  Returning students may use the lock they purchased in their Seventh Grade year.

Letters  from your child’s teaching team have been mailed home welcoming new students to the Seventh Grade or returning students to the Eighth Grade.

On Wednesday, August 24 at 6:00 p.m. we will have our Annual School Orientation Night in the RMS gymnasium.  This event helps incoming families (especially families of seventh graders) become more familiar with our school.  We will provide an overview of your child’s schedule and give you a chance to meet some of your child’s teachers and walk through the school.  We encourage RMS parents and students to participate in this evening.

Two other important school opening announcements are listed below:

• For all students interested in participating in interscholastic middle school soccer, field hockey or cross country this fall, there is a mandatory meeting for these students and a parent on Monday, August 29 at 6:30 p.m. in the Rutland High School Gym.  Prospective middle school athletes must have a copy of the blue physical form stating that the athlete has had a physical or be able to show proof of such an examination within the past two years. (You can pick up a copy of this blue form at the Athletic Offices at Rutland High School).  Additionally, please bring health insurance and emergency contact information and a pen to this meeting.

• A reminder that all students must be in compliance with Vermont immunization laws. Specifically, this means that seventh grade students must have received two doses of the varicella (chicken pox) vaccine if they have not had the chicken pox disease.  Also required is a Tdap (tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis) booster that is usually given at age 11 or 12.  Please be sure that you have correctly filled out all medical information on the emergency information card.  One of our school nurses will contact you if they have any questions once they receive this important medical information.

If you have any questions or concerns prior to the start of the school year, please contact the Main Office at RMS.  The phone number is 773-1960 ext. 222

Again, welcome to the 2011 – 2012 school year at RMS.  We are all looking forward to a great year!

Sincerely,

Wil Cunningham – Principal, Rutland Middle School

Kris Francoeur – Assistant Principal, Rutland Middle School

Explorer students have just completed a unit on reading and interpreting primary documents.  In order to make this a more meaningful lessons, the students were given access to US Census records, birth/death records, military draft registration (WWI and WWII), Civil War Pension records and immigration records to explore their own family trees.  This was accomplished through a free trial session of Ancestry.Com.  Students involved their families by discussing known relatives/ancestors at home and creating a basic family tree as a starting point for their research.  They were shown how to cross reference facts for accuracy.  Students created their own family tree using the Inspiration software with their information.  Finally, students researched events both locally and worldly that occurred during an ancestor’s life time and added it to the Social Studies Timeline of Events displayed in our hallway.