March 29, 2024

What's Going On at Martin Middle School?

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Although school has been in session inconsistently due to the incredible snowfall we have endured, Martin Middle School events and opportunities have been in abundance. During the months of January and February, we celebrated Theater, Technology and Takedowns. March will mark the beginning of the new PARCC Assessment, the return of the annual Spring Fair, and the kickoff of Eat Healthy RI campaign here at Martin.
For the fifth consecutive year, students from EPHS and MMS Theatre groups stage a production of “The Rubber Room”, a zany comedy about the teachers of fictional Jackson McKinley High School for an appreciative audience on back to back nights. This is a program that developed at the request of students several years ago and continues to be a popular one, thanks to Theater Directors, Jessica Poore and Geoffrey Higginbotham.

The Robotics Club recently earned distinction at the FIRST LEGO League State Championships at Roger Williams University winning the Core Values Award for “Gracious Professionalism”. The award winning “Educated Engineers” squad members included Logan Rinaldi, Taylor Heck, Christiana Rebollo, Samantha Carroll, Cedric Petion, Joey Texeira, Haylee Mota, Clara Cruz, Isabel Cruz, and Tahjin Blackiston. Haylee, whom is visually impaired, was on this team and their research project was focused on helping the blind build and program a NXT Robot. The other Robotics team , "The Einstein Turtles" did well in the other categories and is comprised of mainly 6th & 7th students. Their research project was on easier ways of learning math...they even had a song for it! “Einstein Turtles” squad members included Mikayla Medeiros, Stella Wolfe, Rocco Wolfe, Daniel Andrade, Anthony Hefler, Andrew Langille, Daziyah Jackson-Nary, Griffin Poland, Sarasvati Buchta, and Aaron Levesque. We also like to thank EPHS student, Nico Lazouras for their mentoring role in assisting our Martin students. The FIRST LEGO competition inspires students to work with robotics while testing their skills in science, technology, and math.

Martin Wrestlers completed one of the finest seasons in school history with an undefeated State Championship record. Wildcat grapplers finished the regular season with 9-0 record in dual meets, won an additional two in-season tournaments, along with capturing the State Title by 32 points over the nearest competitor. Martin’s 4 individual State Champions were Jason Santiago, Jacob Estrada, Everex Rodriguez, and Kevin Vega. Medalists include 2nd Place- Cam Romeiro, Malik Kilgore; 3rd – George Cepada, Emmanuel Santiago, Cameron Bailey; 4th- Jared Wood; 5th- Noah Kollett. Other wrestlers scoring points in the States include Austin Phillips, Brian Rivera-Ramos, Keegan Seagrave, and Mackenna Brito. Coach Bobby Rodericks has now coached 3 middle schools to Wrestling State Championships, coaching previously at Riverside & Barrington Middle Schools.

The first round of PARCC testing (the Performance Based Assessment) will begin on March 16 for grade 6, March 23 for grade 7 and March 25 for grade 8. These tests replace the NECAP Reading , Writing and Math tests that were given annually in grades 3-8. Every student will take 3 tests in English Language Arts and 2 tests in Math. Martin Middle School teachers have been meeting weekly not only to learn more about the testing which will be taken on computer in grades 6 and 7, but also to brainstorm ways to best prepare our students. All content teachers have been involved in this dialogue and are implementing these ideas into their classroom practice every day. There will be one more shorter round of PARCC testing (End of Year) beginning May 11, with just 2 tests each in English Language Arts and Math. Please note that for this first year of testing, student scores will not be released until next fall.

Save the Date: March 28th, 10am-3pm. The Annual Spring Fair has activities that include games, raffles, craft tables, food court, silent auction, rollie pollie, and a penny social. Proceeds from the Spring Fair will be used to assist with student field trips, school assemblies, student agendas, and transition events for incoming 6th grade students, as well as, 8th grade promotion celebrations. To help make the Fair a success, the PTO is asking for the support of local businesses by contributing to this fun event. Your contribution could be a service /product provided by your business, a gift certificate, gift basket, monetary contribution, or any other item/service you feel others would enjoy. All donations will be used for our Spring Fair. If you have any questions you may contact the school at (401) 435-7819 or send an email to MMSPTO@gmail.com. Please leave a message at the main office for the PTO Spring Fair Coordinator.

Finally, Martin will host the state wide kickoff for Eat Healthy RI on Wednesday, March 11th in which 6th grade students and selected others will take part in a morning of healthy choices. Sponsored by The Picture of Children’s Health, students will be exposed to the celebration of their health through food, dance and exercise. Chefs from JWU will shared their healthy smoothies, veggie pizza crust and other healthy food choices; Mr. Deep Positivity will be here to share his healthy message through his rap music, and students will engage in healthy exercises with guest workout trainers. The objective of the day is to help educate students on the importance of healthy eating, motivating them to celebrate their health, and to develop a new culture that supports wellness. Members of the school districts all across the entire state are involved, over 200 individual schools. Make sure and wear GREEN on March 11th to celebrate healthy nutrition for all children in Rhode Island.

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