FMS Friday Facts

September 5, 2025

Principal's Corner

Fruita Fam! We've made it to the first Friday in September. Thank you to all families for coming out to Parent-Teacher Conferences on Tuesday. So good to connect with so many of you. We will be starting a Wyld Life program at FMS in the coming weeks after school. It's an extension of the Young Life program that the High School runs. We will have an interest meeting in our cafeteria on Wednesday, September 10th starting at 5:15PM. All families are welcome to attend.

Seventh Grade Volleyball plays at home on Tuesday, September 9th, starting at 3:45PM. We also have a PTO meeting on Wednesday, September 10th at 4:30PM in the Library. Seventh Grade Volleyball also plays at home at 3:45PM on Thursday, September 11th.

Parents - Please do not drop students off or pick them up along the curb in front of the building or in the West lot. Please only use the east lot or the 6th Grade Pick-up/Drop-off loop. Once students arrive on campus for the day, they are not allowed to leave campus to walk to Maverik or other areas off campus.

Healthy Kids Colorado Survey Information This survey will be given in the coming weeks. Please follow the link in the informational letter for any questions you may have about it.

Friday's theme for the month of September is Football. Wear your jerseys or football swag.

Have a great weekend!

Jeremiah Johnston: FMS Principal

Text Alerts: To sign up to receive text messages from your school or district, you must have an active SMS number on file in Synergy and Opt-In to receive messages via your mobile carrier. Sign up for text alerts and communications by texting "YES" to 67587.

Pick Up & Drop Off

Please review the Pick Up & Drop-Off Guidelines for FMS. The first few days of school can cause quite a log jam so please be patient and remember we are next to a high school with new drivers. Safety First!

Parents - a couple of Drop-off/Pick-up procedures to clear up:

Once students arrive on campus for the day, they are not allowed to leave campus to walk to Maverik or other areas off campus.
Do not use the west lot in front of the school. That is designated for staff parking.
Do not drive on the Canal Road
Do not park along the sidewalk curb on the northwest side of the building. This area is designated for Special Education pick-up, and it doesn't leave the buses enough space.
Only drop-off or pick-up in the East lot or the East drop off loop.The Main Bus Loop and the staff parking lot is NOT for pick up and drop off
When exiting the parking lot after school, at the corner of J Road and Fremont, please ONLY turn right or go straight through the neighborhood. Please do not turn left. You will be turning directly into kids crossing in the crosswalk, and it's a safety issue. We are trying to wave cars through to clear the parking lot as quickly as we can. If you are waiting to turn left, it backs traffic up. Turning left just puts more cars into the already hectic High School traffic.

FMS Drop Off/Pick Up Procedures

FMS Building Map

Schoology 101

All D51 Middle Schools use Schoology as the platform for students and parents to see their class progress. Take a few minutes with your students this weekend to look over Schoology (available to students in Classlink).

6th Grade Parents and 7th & 8th Grade New Parents, you should have or will receive an email inviting you to set up a Schoology account.

If you need help with Schoology, including receiving a new code if you deleted the first email, you can complete the FMS Schoology Help Form on our Schoology Help Page

FMS Schoology Help Form: Fill this out if you can't access your student, are having trouble creating an account etc.

Pickin' In The Rockies

Pickin' In The Rockies helps further the education of Mesa County students by offering them free vocal and fiddle workshops. These workshops will take place at our 2nd Annual Festival on September 14, and Mesa County Students will receive free access to the event. All they have to do is simply add the number of children's tickets (Ignore the age suggestion on the website) needed to the cart and then at checkout use promo code Pickin2025. We are asking that students get a ticket simply so we can track how many people are benefiting from the workshops.

Cannot wait to see you on September 14, 2025, for a whoopin', hollerin', toe tappin', hand clappin' good time!

Be sure to visit our website for the festival schedule, tickets, and more: https://pickinintherockies.com

Attendance

Please review the attached D51 Letter to families regarding D51 Attendance Guidelines

D51 Attendance Letter: English

D51 Attendance Letter: Spanish

To report an absence, you can use ParentVUE*, call the Attendance Line at 970-254-6570 Option 1 or email Katie Bosio, Attendance Secretary. Thank you!

*When using ParentVUE, be sure follow the instructions to make sure the attendance is submitted correctly. PV Attendance Instructions

Extended Absences: If your student is going to be gone for more than 2 days of school, we ask that a Pre-Arranged Absence Form be completed. These can be found in the Main Office or on the FMS Website under the Parents page. Students may also check out a Chromebook for the time they are gone to access school work.

The district has a new goal of achieving a 95% attendance rate for middle schools. We will be showing our monthly attendance rate in the Friday Facts each week. September 5, 2025: 91.23%

PTO Info

The next PTO meeting is September 10. We would love to see you there!

Meeting Details:

📅Wednesday, September 10

🕓4:30 PM

📍FMS Library

💙 Join the Fruita Middle PTO

Save the Date!

FMS PTO will be hosting a Craft Fair on Saturday, October 25. If you would like to be a Vendor, please scan the QR Code or email Fruitamiddlepto@gmail.com

Craft Fair Flyer

Fall running program at Fruita Middle School

Keep moving this fall with professional local coaches who make running fun!

This program is for 6-8th boys and girls to prepare for cross country running and includes a variety of sessions that include interval training, trail running, speed work, strength and conditioning and of course some fun and games mixed in!

Sessions run from the week of Sept 8th- Nov 1st, 2x a week after school and every other Saturday morning on local trails with the option to trail for a local 5k race. Scholarships and discounts on running gear are available.

Running Program Flyer

Learn more and sign up your athlete now here:

https://outwesttraining.com/middle-school-running-program/

Volleyball 2025

Volleyball continues to do well with wins on both 7th & 8th grades teams this week vs. West Middle School

Next week's schedule:

September 9: 7th Grade vs. MGMS @FMS (A/B/C) & 8th Grade @MGMS (A/B/C)

September 11: 7th Grade vs. RMS @FMS (B/C/A) & 8th Grade @RMS (B/C/A)

7th Grade Volleyball Photos

Club Info

Magic the Gathering/D&D Club Mondays after school until 4:00 in Mr. Cole's room 126. Bring your MTG decks. If you don't have a deck but still want to play, come and join us. Mr. Cole has thousands of cards and he can help you build a deck.

Chess Club Tuesdays after school until 4:00 in Mr. Cole's room 126. All are welcome. Even if you don't know how to play chess, come and learn.

7th and 8th grade Basketball Club will meet on Tuesday after school (on the outdoor court, so bring your outdoor shoes) with Coach Bonner. Boys and girls who are not playing volleyball are all welcome. We will play until 4:30pm.

ALL students from any grade are welcome to join Fruita Middle Quidditch Club where we play Quadball, a dodgeball/handball style game inspired by Harry Potter's Quidditch. We will play most Wednesdays after school from 3:20-4:20 with Coach Bonner, including an intramural tournament in the spring. Follow @fruitamidquid on Instagram and Facebook for more details and exciting things going on at FMS.

FCA, Fellowship of Christian Athletes will meet Thursday's after school until 4:00pm in Mr. Williams room 92. You don’t have to be a Christian, and you don’t have to be an athlete to join. Come join us for food, fellowship and friendship.

Keep up to Date with FMS Activities!

FMS uses a Google Calendar to share information with Families. We encourage you to check this each week in the Friday Facts newsletter for all our up to date information.

Bus Route Information

If your child is eligible for transportation, STA recommends downloading the My Ride K12 app to view route details and track your child’s bus. Click the links to download the app via the Google Play Store and the Apple Store. To use the app, you’ll need your student’s ID number, which can be located through your ParentVUE account. Please note that the app will only work for students who qualify for bus transportation. In addition, the My Ride K12 app asks users to call the District with issues, but that is incorrect. Please call STA at 970-697-1050.

If your student is a bus rider or you would like to see if they ride a bus, please contact Student Transportation of America (STA) at 970-697-1050 or the District Transportation page

***Very Important-Make sure your student knows which bus route they need to ride before the first day of school.

Please note: Elementary school students who live more than two miles from school and middle and high school students who live more than three miles from school are eligible to ride the bus to and from the school in their attendance area.

Bell Schedule/Early Release

Please see our Bell Schedule below

AM Meeting Areas: 6th Grade: Entrance #4, 7th Grade: Entrance #6, 8th Grade: Entrance #7

Inclement Weather: Students meet in the Gym

Monday-Thursday

First Bell: 7:55am

Late Bell: 8:00am (Students must check in at the front office after this time)

Release Bell: 3:15pm

Friday

First Bell: 7:55am

Late Bell: 8:00am (Students must check in at the front office after this time)

Release Bell: 1:15pm

2025-2026 Bell Schedule

2025-2026 FMS Calendar

Kids Aid Food Bags

Food Bag Order Form

Kids Aid is a local nonprofit organization. The backpack program is a food assistance program which provides bags of food to children in need of food for the weekend.

There is NO cost, and there are NO qualifications to participate in this program. If you feel your child/children would benefit, please complete order form above. The Backpack Program does not collect this information; it is used only for the schools to know who needs to receive the food.

Please visit our website at www.kidsaidcolorado.org for more information and/or to leave us feedback about our Backpack Program. Your feedback helps us to better meet your kids’ needs.

Program enrollment is on-going throughout the school year. If you have questions, please contact Rosanna Romero