F.M.S. Student Services

April vacation is here and the school year will come to a close with a rapid pace. This is an important time to keep family routines and structures in place as much as you can, including meal and bedtimes. Keeping some regular home routines helps provide a sense of stability at a time when school schedules may be altered to fit in a variety of special activities. Students are generally excited about the approaching summer but also start to worry about the transition to the next school year. Parents can help by understanding their child’s ambivalence, while remaining optimistic in the capabilities of their child to handle the transition to following year.
Please contact your child’s teacher or school counselor if you have any questions or concerns.
PS Don’t forget to sign your child up for summer programs as soon as possible since many camps fill up quickly!!

The unpredictability of the weather is matched by the predictability of MEA testing in March! The sixth grade finished three mornings of testing yesterday and the eighth grade testing continues through Friday.
Next week, seventh grade will test Monday through Wednesday ( 8 to 10:30) and the fifth grade will test for about an hour each day, Monday through Thursday.
If your child has missed any of the MEA tests, the school counselors will be arranging their make ups during the entire month of March. Should you have any questions, please call our office.
Third Trimester also begins next week, along with a new round of Enrichments. Mrs. Murphy is offering an 8th grade enrichment that pairs students up with teachers and students in the two lower grades. This has been a very popular and rewarding program for the students who participated last trimester. Mrs. Wright will be offering two sessions of self and career exploration in the 7th grade. This is a class that we hope will continue to evolve in assisting students to become more aware of their strengths and potential.

For your calendar, the MEA testing for each grade level will begin the first week in March ( Monday, March 3rd).
We will have a definite testing schedule out soon, but for now it looks like the 6th and 8th grade will be testing that first week of March( beginning March 3rd), while the 5th and 7th will test the second week of March (beginning on March 10th). All testing generally occurs first thing in the morning and is finished each day by lunch time. We will conduct make up testing for all grade levels the week of March 17th. Please keep this in mind for scheduling doctor or dentist appointments or trips. If you have any questions, please call the Student Services Office.

Best wishes to all for happy & healthy holiday season and vacation. Remember that time spent with children, friends, and family is the best present of all. It is easy to get caught up in the stress and hurry of the season and sometimes we parents put pressure on ourselves to create the “perfect” celebration, or to find the perfect gift. This year, try to ease up on your expectations and find joy in the little moments and small rituals that can actually create the most wonderful memories of all. This could be one of the best presents you give you children!

Sorry that this posting is a bit late; we have been quite busy in the Student Services Office getting the school ready for a new year. For us that includes a lot of scheduling, paperwork ( student files coming and going), phone calls, and e-mails. We have also seen quite a few students these first few weeks with many questions about their schedules or enrichments. The nurses have also been fielding many early colds and illnesses.
Altogether, we are off to a roaring start! It is quite exciting and energizing to have the halls filled with students again and we hope to see many of you at the Open Houses next week ( Tuesday and Wednesday, September 18 and 19). Please stop by the Student Services Office to say hello. A reminder: Lois Murphy is the 5th and 8th grade school counselor and Pat Wright is the 6th and 7th grade school counselor this year. This is really our first year of “looping” with our students and it has already shown many benefits. Our two counselors are also team teaching a 7th grade enrichment class. We hope to reach almost all the 7th grade students by the end of the year; our goals for the class include self-awareness as it relates to school and career choices. If you have any questions about school counseling or our program, please call 781-9886.

April vacation is here and the school year will come to a close with a rapid pace. This is an important time to keep family routines and structures in place as much as you can, including meal and bedtimes. Keeping some regular home routines helps provide a sense of stability at a time when school schedules may be altered to fit in a variety of special activities. Students are generally excited about the approaching summer but also start to worry about the transition to the next school year. Parents can help by understanding their child’s ambivalence, while remaining optimistic in the capabilities of their child to handle the transition to following year.
Please contact your child’s teacher or school counselor if you have any questions or concerns.
PS Don’t forget to sign your child up for summer programs as soon as possible since many camps fill up quickly!!

Beginning on March 5th Falmouth Middle School will start the Maine Educational Assesments. Given yearly to each grade level across the state, we will have MEA “online” testing for 8th graders the first week in March. At the same time, we will be administering paper testing to all 5th graders (Monday, March 5th through Thursday, March 8th). Testing for all grades generally takes place during the morning, form 8:00am to about 10:00 or 11:00am.
7th graders begin testing on Friday, March 9th and test each day through Tuesday, March 13th. 6th graders test for 3 days beginning on Monday, March 12th and running through Wednesday, March 14th.
Testing 4 grade levels is quite an undertaking and requires a lot of support and coordination. We would appreicate parents helping us by getting students to school on time, and well rested, throughout the testing session. If students are absent, we are required to arrange for makeup testing which will involve them being pulled from regular classes. Therefore, if you can avoid scheduling doctor or dentist apointments for students during the first two weeks of March, especially in the mornings, it will be a big help to your child.
Please contact the Student Services Office if you have any questions about MEA testing.

The middle school counselors are developing a comprehensive, developmental guidance program that will follow state and national school counseling guidelines.
Our goal is to support the mission of Falmouth Middle School through provision of services to students, staff, and parents. We currently offer small group guidance and short-term individual counseling for students and consulting and referral services for staff and parents.
We also provide classroom guidance lessons and serve on numerous committees, thus impacting the wider school. For more information about school counseling, please visit the link to the American School Counselor’s Association web site.