A Successful Year at Monmouth Middle School
Submitted by Steve Philbrook
It has been very busy for staff and students here at the Monmouth Middle School so far this year.
The year started with the completion of the new playground. Over the past four years a small group of dedicated parents and school personnel have worked to bring this project to completion. With the input from students this group organized fundraising activities from a family day (attended by Senator Susan Collins), bean suppers, golf tournament, fresh fruit sales, to writing grants and soliciting in-kind services and monetary donations from local businesses and community members. The playground was finally completed shortly after the 2009-10 school year started. Special thanks to Herb Whitter and his crew at the town garage for the countless hours of work, equipment, and supplies to complete this project. There will be a final celebration to thank all that have helped on this project later this spring.
The middle school also welcomed two new staff members to their teaching ranks this year. Jennifer Kam was hired to teach grade 4 and Tyler Tracy was hired to teach Physical Education.
Middle school students participated in their annual community service activity at the end of October. All middle school students participated in activities cleaning up around the middle school building. Students also raked and bagged leaves at homes belonging to elderly community members.
One of the RSU #2 School Board’s goals this year is to explore Standards Based Learning. School Administrators and a number of teachers have participated in Re-Inventing Schools Coalition (RISC) model training around this goal. A number of teachers at the middle school have started to implement some of these practices within their classrooms. Informational sessions and teacher training will continue throughout the school year. For the first time the Monmouth schools have a Curriculum Coordinator. Christine Chamberlain, Curriculum Coordinator for RSU #2 is working with teachers writing curriculums and interpreting assessment data.
To celebrate the Winter Olympics the middle school created their own Olympics. Mr. Tracy along with a number of other staff members created weeklong activities that took place in and outside the classroom. Each classroom represented a country. A medal count was kept for the week. Students learned about their individual countries and took part in a number of competitive events. There was a gold, silver, and bronze medal celebration on the last day. This was a great way to raise awareness for physical activity, learn about different countries around the world, and how to work together.
Monmouth Police Officer Wells has been assigned as a liaison officer here at the middle school. He has been in some middle school classrooms to work with teachers and students on different safety issues. This contact helps foster a stronger partnership and creates a good relationship among police/student/and teachers. Students see the police and law enforcement in a very positive light.
Local author, Lynn Plourde, is continuing to meet with all 8th grade students to work on their writing skills. Through the process that she uses for creating her books, students are learning how to use these skills as they create their own children’s books.
Student Council has worked all year supporting local charities from the Giving Tree and food baskets to raise over $1300.00 recently for Pennies for Patients. Our Civil Rights Team has gone into individual classrooms and made announcements over the intercom to keep students and staff informed and educated around issues of diversity and tolerance.
Submitted by: Susan Corbett
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