Rochester Memorial Minute
October 18, 2026
Dear RMS Families,
We had another great week at RMS. The students are really working hard and demonstrating a stronger understanding their daily routines and expectations. Our favorite part of the day is visiting classrooms and seeing all the great learning happening.
Thank you to all of our volunteers who supported our Book Fair. Our students are always so excited to purchase new books. As a school, we continue to remind students to read each night to keep practicing their decoding, reading fluency and reading accuracy. Reading at night can be a great partnership between the student and the adult. Students learn a lot about reading when an adult reads to them.
On another note, we want to thank our local police and fire department for their continued support and partnership. On most Fridays, we will have our Rochester Police Department at RMS giving students a high five to start their day. They also visit our school and conduct walkthroughs of the building. In addition, our fire department always welcomes our students to the fire station to be educated about fire safety. Did you know that October is Fire Safety Month?
Here are a few tidbits to keep your home and family secure. National Fire Prevention Month serves as an important reminder to practice key fire safety habits together.
- Start by testing your smoke alarms monthly and replacing their batteries at least once a year—or upgrading to 10-year sealed alarms if your current units are outdated.
- Sit down as a family to design and practice a home fire escape plan that identifies two ways out of every room and designates an outdoor meeting spot that is a safe distance from the house.
- Additionally, always stay in the kitchen while cooking
- Keep space heaters at least three feet away from anything flammable
Our kindergarten students are learning that firefighters are helpful heroes so they never hide during an emergency. These are all great conversations to have on a yearly basis. Thank you RMS families for your continued support and partnerships. We are better together.
Respectfully,
Principal Letendre and Assistant Principal Vanderquist
Lunch Prices and Snacks
Lunch at RMS:
2nd Meal
Breakfast. $2.75
Lunch. $3.50
All Schools
Milk ONLY $0.75
Assorted Snacks. $1.00 -$1.50
Assorted Beverages. $1.00- $1.75
Helpful School Nutrition/Lunch Link: https://orrschoolmeals.com/
Unity Day:
Unity Day-Unity Day, October 21st (Wear Orange)
- As a school we will have an "All School Meeting," to discuss what it means to be an Up-stander and how we can all make a difference by being kind and assertive-when appropriate. We will discuss what it means to be a friend and not a bully.
Parent/Teacher Conferences:
- Thursday, October 29th
- Friday, October 30th
- These 2 days are early release days with dismissal staring at 12:25 PM)
Breakfast & Lunch Information
Breakfast and Lunch Information:
Although one lunch each day and one breakfast each day are free this year, we still need families to complete the free and reduced lunch application forms. These forms need to be completed every year. The online forms can be found by using this link: orrschoolmeals.com
Breakfast is served each day starting at 8:30 AM
One breakfast and one lunch are free for all students this year.
Additional milk, drinks or snacks can be purchased for a fee.
Additional snacks and drinks range from $1.00 to a $1.75
Milk costs .65 cents (Please note that students will need to pay for milk if they bring their own lunch).
2nd Breakfast: $2.75
2nd Lunch: $3.50
Please know, many of our buses arrive at school by 8:30 AM. Only students having breakfast in the morning will get off the bus at 8:30 AM. If your student is not to have breakfast please let the office know. Students not having breakfast will be dismissed from the buses starting at 8:40 AM. We dismiss kindergarten students first and they are escorted by our faculty and staff.
Lunch Schedule:
1st lunch: 11:05-11:25 1st and 2nd Grade
2nd lunch: 11:25-11:45 Kindergarten
3rd lunch: 11:55-12:15 5th and 6th Grade
4th lunch: 12:25-12:45 3rd and 4th Grade
Daily Snack:
Just a reminder that students do have a snack each day. The snacks need to be packed separately from their lunch and need to be free from peanuts/tree nuts.
We do have an allergy table in the cafeteria. If you have any questions regarding allergies, please reach out to our school nurse, Mrs. Murphy at ellenmurphy@oldrochester.org
Rochester Memorial School's Parent Teacher Organization (PTO)
- Our school’s PTO is an active organization that supports many school initiatives. This is a great organization that meets monthly.
- The first meeting of the school year will be on Tuesday, October 13th at 6:30 PM. We hope to see you there.
