Millis Middle School
Weekly Community Newsletter
Archived MMS Weekly Newsletter
week ending 3/15/24
Principal's Note
It is such a joy to see the sun a bit longer each day! It's hard to believe that we are getting well into March at this point and we just entered TERM 3!! Report cards were just sent out this afternoon with Term 2 grades and comments. Please reach out directly to your child's teacher with questions.
This week we had our incredible Grade Seven STEAM FAIR, and the presentations and experiments completed by students have been wonderful! Here is a link to a virtual exhibit of all of their hard work.
We also enjoyed three acts of a talent show today and were so proud of Orlando's trombone expertise, Ryan's yo-yo tricks and AJ and Aiden's version of Hotel California - such a wonderful treat to start the day!
Next week we will be fundraising for our MHS student battling cancer with several raffles and exciting events and we will have donation collection competition between the grade for Cradles to Crayons. Please stay tuned for more details coming soon!
Take care,
Ana
What's been happening in the Middle School
ALL SCHOOL ASSEMBLY AND TALENT SHOW
We had two big events on Friday morning. ALL SCHOOL ASSEMBLY was held and the ANNUAL TALENT SHOW as well!
The ALL SCHOOL ASSEMBLY theme for this month was INTEGRITY and we were so excited to celebrate several students for being upstanders and good citizens in our school community.
Also, we recognized our amazing staff members: Mrs. Molinari, Mrs. Maguire and Mrs. Hickey this month.
Mrs. Molinari strives to keep us all safe and healthy. She’s always there to listen to us and offer care when we are not feeling our best. She does an amazing job treating all of the Millis Middle and High School students as if they were her own kids!
Mrs. Maguire has a knack for putting things into perspective. She is a wordsmith when it comes to talking with students, parents and colleagues. Mrs. Maguire has worked very hard this year to match 6th graders with high school tutors. She stays after school many days to host tutoring sessions in her room.
Mrs. Hickey has been very busy this past month. She not only helped the 7th Graders create and celebrate impressive STEAM Fair presentations and put together today’s Talent Show with Mr. Devine, but she also helped organize fundraisers for a former student’s cancer care. For always being there to support current and former students, here’s to you Mrs. Hickey!
Congratulations to them!!
For the Talent Show, we had 3 cool acts that were performed in front of all our student body. Ryan D showed off his amazing skills with the yo-yo! WOW. AJ M. and Aiden S. rocked out with The Eagles - Hotel California. What a treat! And, Orlando S. entertained all playing his trombone. Very impressive!
A nice big THANK YOU to Ms. Hickey and Mr. Devine organizing the Talent Show and for their devotion and dedication to our kids. Their talents and hard work sure paid off, and it was a great show!
THINGS ARE GOING WELL SO FAR!!
Round 1 of March Madness is in the books and we had a doozy of an upset: Top seeded Ms. Robinson’s homeroom was toppled by Ms. Lahah’s by 700 minutes! Other homerooms moving on to round two are Ms. Hickey’s, Ms. Shaughnessy’s, Ms. Maguire’s, Mr. Devine’s, Ms. Shockley’s, and Ms. Botelho’s homeroom, who is now the group to beat after reading over 9,000 minutes!
Lastly, the matchup between Ms. Panciocco and Ms.Newton/Ms.Scotland has been deemed too close to call, so the two homerooms will join forces against Mr. Devine’s homeroom this week!
Minutes for round 2 are due Friday and you can still earn rewards for being among the top readers.
GRADE 6 DISCO DANCE PARTY
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GRADE 7 STEAM FAIR
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Mrs. Hickey has been very busy this past month helping our 7th Graders create and celebrate their impressive STEAM Fair presentations!!
Middle School Chorus sang at the Providence Bruins game
On Friday March 1st, 2024, the middle school chorus students took a trip to sing America The Beautiful for the Providence Bruins game in Providence RI. There were roughly 3,000 people in attendance that evening. They did an amazing job!!! Thanks to Mr. Femino for organizing this annual event for our kids! Also, a big thank you to chaperones Stephanie Copice, Sondra Manzano, Amy Kuphal and Jen Zarutskie!
Win for Wetherbee! The Middle School will be hosting a week of lunchtime fun to raise money and show our support for Aedan Wetherbee, a Millis High School student who is battling brain cancer. During the week of March 18-22 we will be hosting a raffle, games and more during middle school lunches. We hope you will participate!
Things you should know
A REQUEST FROM YOUR TEACHERS...
Term 3 Begins this week. Please make sure that your student has restocked their stash of writing utensils and has wired headphones for class. As we continue to launch into Trimester Three, it's best to start off each class feeling prepared and ready to learn!
MCAS TESTING SPRING 2024
MCAS TESTING DATES
MCAS TESTING for Spring 2024 are listed below. It is important that students come to school on these testing dates. Please consider this when making appointments for your students. Thank you.
Visioning for MS/HS Building Project
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We have ONE more session coming up for our Visioning Group regarding our MS/HS building project. It will be virtual on, Thursday, 3/21 6-8:15 PM. If you are interested and available, please consider joining us. Reach out to ahurley@millisschools.org for more information.
MIDDLE SCHOOL SUCCESS TIPS FOR PARENTS
Here are some tips that are geared to Middle Schoolers, to help your student achieve their very best! Each week we will share a tip. We hope you can incorporate these tips into your daily routines with your child or children:
WEEKLY TIP #8 - PROVIDE SUPPORT
Be interested in what your child is doing, have family activities, and give your child lots of support and love.
Important dates and events coming up
MARCH
18th - 22nd - WIN for WETHERBEE week of lunchtime fun!!
29th - Early Release Day, dismissal @ 10:55 am
APRIL
4th - Grade 6 & Grade 7 ELA MCAS Testing
5th - Grade 6 & Grade 7 ELA MCAS Testing
8th & 9th - Grade 8th ELA MCAS Testing
10th & 11th - MCAS MAKE UP Testing for ELA
12th - Early Release Day, dismissal @ 10:55 am
15 - 19th - April Vacation - no school this week
MAY
2nd - 8th grade State House Trip
13th - Grade 6 & 7 MATH MCAS Testing
14th - Grade 6 & 7 MATH MCAS Testing
15th - & 16th - Grade 8 MCAS Testing
17th - Early Release Day, dismissal @ 10:55 am
20th & 21st - MCAS MAKE UP Testing for MATH
23rd - Grade 8 STE MCAS Testing (MAKE UP on May 24th)
29th - Grade 8 CIVICS MCAS Testing (MAKE UP on May 30th)
27th - Memorial Day, no school
CPR Classes offered
Lori Dwarika will be hosting classes once a month at the Millis Public Library for any teacher or employee that will need to be certified or recertified. She can be reached at Americanhealthsafetytraining@gmail.com.
Host Family needed in the fall for Spanish Consular Classroom Assistant
Would you enjoy sharing your home with our incoming Spanish Consular Classroom Assistant beginning in late August? Please see the attached letter.
Projects and events our students have been working on
Sixth Graders at MA Destination Imagination Tournament
Holliston/Millis DI had 15 teams participate in the Massachusetts Destination Imagination Tournament. Millis had 6 teams compete. We are excited to announce we have one Millis team that is eligible to advance to the Global Finals stage! This team competed in the Fine Arts challenge at the middle level. For this challenge they had to bring a work of visual art to life and create a piece of kinetic art. CONGRATULATIONS to:
Enzo DeSimone
John Gavaghan
Parker Hemingway
Maxwell Kepple
Charlie Randa
Joan Schneider
William Vaccaro
Please see the attachment of the other Millis teams and the challenges they participated in. Feel free to check out the challenge previews for more information about what teams did.
To learn more about DI in general visit the Massachusetts Destination Imagination website and the National DI website.
Holliston/Millis DI is a parent volunteer program. Without the commitment of our volunteers and school support this program would not be possible.
6th Grade Civil Rights Lesson
Grade 6 students did an amazing job working on their Civil Rights projects and presentations. We are very proud of them!
Grade 7 Math Lessons
Order you YEARBOOK now!
why?? because you're IN IT!
Sports
Please click on the link below for Middle School sports schedules
2024 Spring Registration now open
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Boys Tennis Interest Form - Spring 2024
We will be offering Boys Tennis at the JV level for grades 7 - 12 this spring again. If interested, please complete the form below.
Thank you!
LAST CALL FOR SPRING BASEBALL!
MARCH 1 is last day to register without late fee
www.millisybs.org email millisybs@outlook.com with any questions
Practices and games scheduled mid April through June. - Instructional (Ages 5+): $120/player - AA (Ages 6-8): $150/player *Family discount of 20% for 2 or more players
- AAA (Ages 8-10) and Majors (Ages 10-12): $200/player
AAA and Majors evaluations 3/23 12-2pm at Sluggers Academy in Medfield
AA evaluations TBD. Opening day parade is 4/21 at 9AM.
Millis Senior Projects
Hailey Bassett is a senior at Millis High School. She is hosting a student vs faculty basketball game on March 14th from 6-8 pm for her senior project. Her goal with this project is to raise money for a girls basketball Final Four banner. This will be put in the gym after she evaluates the quotes and decides on a company to use.
If any staff are interested in playing on March 14th, please let her know by emailing her at haibas24@millisschools.org. She will be providing t-shirts for the game and will ask for sizing after break.
Community Events
2024 Millis Recreation Spring/Summer Brochure
click on the link below to pull up the Spring Summer 2024 Millis Recreation Brochure