Ski Club Announcement

Parents and Guardians,

The ski club will be going to Blue Knob on Wednesday, February 27^th and Friday March 1^st.  I know this is short notice, but we are trying to get our remaining two trips in so we do not conflict with the start of spring sports practice next week.

Thanks for your cooperation,

Bill Corrente - Advisor

Upcoming Events

We are back at school on another wintry morning, and I wanted to share with you some upcoming events taking place at the Middle School this week.

Ski Club - this week's trip will take place on Wednesday of this week.  It has been moved due to Friday's weather forecast and Thursday's Valentine's Dance.  Students will depart and return at their usual ski club times on Wednesday.  All students were notified of this change two times today, and given a letter to take home to parents.

Valentine's Dance - Due to a last-minute scheduling conflict, our Valentine's dance will not be taking place this Thursday.  We will be holding a "Spring Fling" dance in early March.  More details on the time and date will be forthcoming once they are determined.

Box Tops For Education - Our final round due date is this Friday, February 22, 2013.  This is the last date that you can turn box tops in during the 2012-13 school year.  You may continue to collect them to be turned in next fall.  So far, it is a heated race among our top 3 classes to see who is going to come out on top in our final round, and earn the privilege of being dismissed to the lunch lines first for the next month.  Mrs. Lashinsky, Mrs. Dickert, and Mr. Moore's classes make up our top 3 as of the time this post was written.

Mid-Term Progress Reports - Progress reports for the 3rd marking period will be sent home with all students this Friday.  Please ask your child to see this and review it when they come home on Friday.  If the weather would cause a cancellation on Friday, these will be sent home on Monday of next week.

Hoops For Heart

Over the past several weeks, our students have been gearing up for our Hoops for Heart event.  Yesterday, this event took place in the high school gymnasium.  We had three basketball games pitting the students against the teachers.  In our 6th grade game, the teachers pulled out a convincing victory, but were not so successful against the 7th or 8th grade teams.  We also had a 3-point shooting contest and a hot shot contest which students participated in.  Our students raised $4,385 for the American Heart Association.  This averages out to more than $10 raised per student.  Overall the event was a great success.  Credit goes to Ms. Getz for organizing the entire operation.

Ski Club Announcement

Parents and Guardians,

Due to the delays, early dismissals, and cancellations, our ski club has been extended beyond the original dates.  Our scheduled trips will be as follows:  February 22^nd, March 1^st, and March 7^th (Thursday).  We may have to move our trips to a different day if we feel the weather will not cooperate on those selected dates.  You will be notified in advanced of any changes to the selected dates.  Thanks for your cooperation.

Mr. Corrente

CDT Scores

Our students have been taking the Classroom Diagnostic Tool in the areas of math, reading, and science over the past month.  The weather has delayed some of our classes, but they should all be finished up by next week.  The CDT is a test that provides our teachers and students with data indicating their strengths and weaknesses in specific areas that will appear on the PSSA test later this spring.  All students took the test in September, and again this past month.  If you would like to set up a meeting with me to review your child's scores, and what they indicate about their learning, please email me at csantini@cencam.org.

Box Tops Round 3 Update

Our current Box Tops For Education standings, by 1st period class, are as follows:

1) Mrs. Lashinsky  2) Mrs. Dickert  3) Mr. Corrente  4) Mr. Moore  5) Mr. Dumm

The final round deadline is February 22nd.  Thank you to all who have contributed so far to the collection!

Update to Our Parent Scoop.it Page

I have added some new articles to our parent Scoop.it page.  Topics include helping your child with homework, 6 ways to help kids become quality readers, an article providing tips for grandparents wanting to help save for a grandchild's college costs, and articles about the Common Core State Standards.  Click on the link to view the page:

http://www.scoop.it/t/central-cambria-middle-school-parent-resources

New Vision and Mission Statements for the Middle School

At the top of our blog, you may have noticed that we have removed the "Belong, Learn, Contribute" tagline and added our vision and mission statements.  You may also have wondered where these came from.  Allow me to explain.

At the start of the school year, I led the staff through the process of developing some building goals for the 2012-13 school year.  One of those goals was to create a vision and mission statement to guide our work with students.  We wanted to define our purpose so it was clear to everybody working within our school.  To do this, teachers were split into small groups and asked to come up with a word that defines what we do here.  We also looked at feedback students had given at our beginning of the year assemblies.  We took those words, displayed them on a smart board, then attempted to construct statements using what we felt were the most important words that captured the essence of what we want to do within the middle school.  The staff then voted, and we narrowed our choices down to three finalists.  We tweaked each choice one last time, then put them up for a vote using the surveymonkey.com website.  What you see on our header is the final result of our work.  When we are working at our best, our school will function as a unified team to challenge and inspire your child to succeed in the world.  There are many things that will lead us there, but that is the ultimate goal.  Our mission in trying to achieve that vision will be to collaborate with each other, and to support our students to be successful while we are challenging them to do their best.  We believe these goals match what we want to do, collectively, as a school, and that they contribute to the Central Cambria School District mission.

As always, I welcome your feedback at csantini@cencam.org or 472-6505.