Mid-Term Newsletter - March 2015
We are at the mid-point
of the third marking period. It has been
an interesting winter, as the weather has disrupted most of our weeks so far in
2015. Despite this, our students and
teachers continue to persevere and keep the educational process moving forward. Here is some information for parents about
what we have been doing this winter at Central Cambria Middle School:
CCMS NEWS:
v The third and final round of our Box Tops For Education contest is underway, and ends later this
month. We have been able to purchase a
variety of new library books with the money collected in the first two
rounds. Thank you for your
participation!
v CCMS once again participated in Hoops for Heart, a fundraiser for the American Heart
Association. Through a variety of
activities, culminating in a faculty vs. student basketball game, the middle
school was able to raise over $6,000 for the American Heart Association. Thank you to Ms. Getz, Mr. Klezek, and Mrs.
Lashinsky for their effort in coordinating this great event.
v Our First
Lego League robotics teams, under the direction of Mrs. Niebauer, presented
their projects to Mr. Santini prior to their competition in February. Each team had to come up with an innovative
solution to a problem they chose. The
robotics competition was disrupted by weather, but the teams are looking to
stage an exhibition later this spring.
v Parents are reminded to check teacher webpages on the middle school
website for a listing of their child’s homework.
v The Central Cambria Jr. High wrestling
team was recently chosen as the District
6 Class AA Team of the Year, and coaches Brian Reynolds and Ted Castel were
named Coaches of the Year. The team finished 20-5 despite forfeiting 5
of the 18 weight classes. The team had
top 5 finishes at several tournaments.
Congratulations to our wrestlers and coaches for a job well done!
v Student
clubs were recently
reintroduced to the middle school schedule.
Most students now have a club assigned one day per six day cycle during
9th period. The project was
taken on by Mrs. Lashinsky, a 6th grade language arts teacher who is
currently pursuing her principal’s certification at Indiana University of
Pennsylvania. We surveyed students to
determined their interests, then surveyed teachers to see what types of clubs
they were interested in facilitating. We
then matched students to one of their top three choices to create the new club
schedule. Examples of our new clubs
include Cooking Club, Book & Movie Club, History Club, Fitness Club, Math
Club, Photography Club, and a host of others.
Stay tuned in coming months for updates on these activities.
v PSSA
testing for students in
grades 6, 7 and 8 begins on April 13th.
v The spring
sports season has begun. Good luck
to all of our student athletes as they begin their seasons.
v CCMS recognized Read Across America Week with a variety of activities. Students participated in a daily Dr. Seuss
trivia contest. Several language arts
classes read to students at Cambria Elementary.
So far this year, Central Cambria Middle School students have read over
1,500 books (not including textbooks) for a total of over 75 million words.
v CCMS Student Council is sponsoring a Movie Night on Friday, March 27th. Please see the flyer and parent permission
form which will be sent home with students soon!
v Mrs. Lashinsky has been facilitating a
reading / language arts Breakfast Club
every Wednesday morning this school year.
Any student may attend the club from 6:55 – 7:25 on Wednesday
mornings. Breakfast is provided, and
students practice reading and writing skills through activities in the club,
such as their weekly Word in the Hallway.
v We are setting up an after school math tutoring group. If you feel your child is in need of extra
help in math, please contact Ms. Asashon at lasashon@cencam.org.
v For the first time in its history, the CCMS yearbook will be in full
color. We have contracted with Herff
Jones to produce this year’s yearbook.
Mrs. Urbassik has taken over as our interim yearbook advisor. She will be assisted by students in her
photography club in assembling the yearbook.
v Ms. Wissinger, our Americorps worker, has
been busy planning our Fit & Fun Day
for the last week of school. We will
have a number of guest presenters in the morning, followed by outdoor
activities in the afternoon.
v The Photography Club is in need of
equipment. If you have a gently used
digital SLR or digital point and shoot camera, digital storage cards, or lenses
that you no longer use, please contact Mrs. Urbassik at lurbassik@cencam.org.
v The CCMS
book fair was held in late February.
Students had a wide range of books to choose from. Proceeds from the book fair go directly to
our library. Thank you to Mrs. Criste
for organizing this event, and for our volunteers who assisted with it.
v The Central Cambria football team recently
held its annual Lift-A-Thon. Our players have been working hard in the
weight room in preparation for this event.
Thanks to coach Corrente and his staff for putting this event together.
CURRICULUM &
INSTRUCTION UPDATE
v Our teachers are working hard to use technology
effectively in their classrooms under the direction and support of our new K-12 technology coach, Mr.
Strittmatter. Our laptop carts and computer lab are booked every day as
teachers experiment with new technology resources to engage their students and
enhance learning. In January, we rolled out our first cart of Google
Chromebooks, and it has been used on a consistent basis ever since.
Teachers are experimenting with lessons designed around Bring Your Own
Technology, using Google Docs on a consistent basis, and finding new tech
resources to use with students.
v Teachers have received training on several
technology applications during the 2014-15 school year. The latest of these is Google Classroom. Math teachers will be learning about apps for
math during our March professional development day.
v Since the beginning of the 2013-14 school
year, we have increased the number of student computers less than five years
old from zero to 125 at the middle school.
We will continue working to increase this number in future budget
planning.
v Our Bring
Your Own Technology initiative has started on a small scale, with
individual teachers planning lessons to incorporate student devices and apps to
enhance student learning. An example of
this was a lesson using the Kahoot app, which allows the teacher to track student
responses to questions instantly and turn a practice quiz into a class
competition.
v CCMS Social
Studies teachers have begun the process of
selecting a new textbook and teaching resources for grades 6, 7 and 8 social
studies. Our current books have significant age and wear, and lack up to
date electronic teaching tools to enhance lessons. Several textbooks have
been reviewed so far. We hope to have a recommendation for purchase this
spring so that we can purchase materials in time for the 2015-16 school year.
v The purchase of new social studies textbook
resources will complete the process of updating resources and materials for our
four core subject areas. We will now
shift our attention to refining our curriculum in these areas, and investing in
our exploratory courses in future budgets.
v Two middle school math teachers, Ms. Minor and
Mr. Kochinsky, attended training in the summer of 2014 at St. Francis
University through the MSP-RAMP grant. This two-week intensive algebra institute
requires these teachers to collaborate with participants from other schools and
create lessons using concepts learned through the training. This has paid dividends in the classroom as
these skills have been transformed into engaging lessons for our students.
v CCMS Science teachers have been working through their new
textbooks and creating updated curriculum modules to accompany these new
resources. For the 2015-16 school year,
hands-on science activities will be incorporated into each unit. Our science teachers are currently planning
for these activities, including development of a list of supplies and equipment
we will need to implement these labs.
v In planning our 2015-16
schedule, we are looking to include a lab
block for science and social studies one day per six-day cycle. In this plan, students would attend science
and social studies one period a day for four of the cycle days, and have a
two-period block of science on one day and the same for social studies on the
opposite cycle day. This will provide the
same amount of instructional time as students currently have in these classes,
but will provide opportunities for extension activities every six days.
v For updates from my observations and walkthroughs in classrooms,
please check out the CCMS Twitter page
at www.twitter.com/ccmsprincipal. You do not have to be a member of Twitter to
view the tweets and pictures that are posted.
We have high-quality instruction taking place in our classrooms, and
this provides a glimpse into some of the great things that are taking place.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
3/20
Mix it Up Day
3/27
CCMS Movie Night
4/1
End of 3rd Marking Period
4/13
Beginning of PSSA testing
Field trip dates and details will be
announced in our next newsletter, and posted on our blog.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
v Thank
you to the Central Cambria Education Foundation for its continued financial
support of enrichment projects and activities for our students. Visit cceducationfoundation.org for more
information.
v Thank
you to the Nutrition Group for providing the raw materials and ingredients for
our Cooking Club
v Thank
you to our Student Council advisors for the time they put in to organize and
plan events for our students
v Thank
you to our teachers and staff for their continued pursuit of excellence in
education.
DONORSCHOOSE.ORG:
Over the past two years, CCMS
teachers have posted several projects on the www.donorschoose.org
website. Projects have included new
class sets of calculators, science equipment, and other items that enhance
student learning. Our thanks and
appreciation go to those who have contributed, and to the teachers who have taken
the initiative to create projects on the site.
