NSMS School Community,
We have developed The North Smithfield Middle School ‘Principals’ Blog’ to provide our school community with another vehicle to help keep all stakeholders informed about upcoming special events, reminders, extracurricular activities, deadlines, and other newsletter-type items.
We hope you find this valuable. Happy reading!
Sincerely,
John Lahar, Principal
Clare Arnold, Assistant Principal
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North Smithfield Middle School (Established 2008) At A Glance…
Middle School Teaming
The middle school teaches in teams. A team is a number of students assigned to a group of teachers for all their core subjects; math, science, social studies and language arts. Teams of teachers meet regularly to plan activities for the team, coordinate curriculum, and conference with parents, students or the administration. Teaming creates the environment of a small community within a larger school setting. Currently, there are three teams for the seventh grade and eighth-grade classes. The sixth graders are on modified teams as they are with their homeroom teacher for Math and Language Arts and will ‘switch’ for either Science or Social Studies.
Technology
We couldn’t be more excited about the Middle School state-of-the-art educational technology. There are more than 200 computers throughout the building in mixed lab and classroom settings. This includes our Technology Ed. Lab in which students are exposed to computer-aided drafting, Internet and computer hardware. Students may use one of the computers in the media center for research and learning. Each of the machines is Internet accessible, and every classroom has that capability as well.
Other technology includes Promethian Active Boards, LCD projectors and ELMO’s in many classrooms and in the presentation room. The teachers integrate the use of technology into the regular classroom curriculum to enhance learning for all students.
Building Highlights
· Beautiful exterior design to compliment the North Smithfield architecture
· Second-floor library/media center
· Three-story building with classroom wings
· Art labs and facilities to house the middle school arts program
· Top quality electrical and mechanical systems, designed to offer high energy efficiency
· Centrally-located faculty work rooms and conference areas (per grade level)
· Regulation wood floor in Gym
· State-of-the-art security system
· Newly-completed athletic facilities with artificial field turf
· Multiple serving lines in the cafeteria
· Fully equipped Music and Tech. Ed rooms
· Full accommodation of buses, staff parking, and parent drop-off to ensure safe circulation
School Day/Hours
Students Enter Corridors at 7:16
Advisory/Homeroom 7:22 – 7:36
Period 1……….. 7:40 – 8:27
Period 2……….. 8:31 – 9:18
Period 3 ……….. 9:22 – 10:09
Period 4………… 10:13 – 11:00
Period 5……….. 11:08-12:23 (this Period includes lunch)
Period 6……….. 12:27-1:14
Period 7………. 1:18-205
Students dismissed at 2:05
Arrival /Dismissal
The school will be opened each day at 7:15 a.m. Upon arrival at school, 6th, 7th and 8th grade students will wait in the foyer until the opening of classrooms at 7:16 a.m.
Bus students are to enter the building through the back doors. Once students have entered the building, they will not be permitted to leave without the expressed permission of an administrator.
To insure the safety of all students, the following rules will apply to parent drop off:
– The bus loop will be closed to all traffic except official school buses.
– Follow the arrows to the right of the school (off of Providence Pike) between the hours of 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. for drop off / pick-up only.
– The School Department shall not be responsible for the supervision, health, safety, or general welfare of any student arriving before 7:15 a.m. Students who walk or are driven to school cannot expect services before 7:15 a.m.
Student Achievement
We are currently in the thick of an initiative to improve the quality and output of student writing focusing on constructed responses (a healthy and detailed paragraph) which typically requires students to use higher-order thinking skills; evaluation, analysis, summarization, as well as,extended responses (likely, a five-paragraph essay) focusing on organization, varied sentences, strong vocabulary, specific details and use of transition words.
We are literally RAISEing the bar using the RAISE (restate, answer, include, support w/evidence, extend) strategy to develop and guide student responses.
Our faculty has taken the proverbial “bull by the horns” embedding common strategies across all content areas. We encourage parents to talk with their children about writing and share in the outstanding student products!
