Yearbook Order Forms - Due 3/24/2015

Order forms and money for CCMS yearbooks are due this Tuesday, March 24th.  There will be no orders or money accepted late, and we will not have extra copies for sale when the yearbook arrives in May.  The cost for the new, full-color yearbook is $20.  Please get your yearbook order in tomorrow!

Mid-Term Newsletter - March 2015

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 9^th period.  The project was taken on by Mrs. Lashinsky, a 6^th 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 13^th.   

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 27^th.  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 3^rd 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.

Attendance Letters / Policy

Some of our parents may have received a 3-day warning letter for attendance in the past several days.  We are required to notify parents when a child has accrued 3 or more days of illegal absences.  Since all middle school students fall into the age range for compulsory school attendance in Pennsylvania, any absence that is not documented with a written excuse or that is for an unexcused reason is considered illegal.  According to Central Cambria School District Board Policy #204, reasons for excused absences are:

• Illness with return of properly signed excuse
• Quarantine
• Recovery from accident
• Required court attendance
• Death in family
• Family educational trips
• Pre-approved educational tours and trips

We realize that there may be some confusion as to the procedures for reporting attendance.  If you have received a warning letter, you need to do the following:

• Write an excuse for the days listed on the letter stating the reason for absence for each date
• Sign the letter/excuse (parent)
• Drop the letter/excuse off in the middle school office (you or your child may do this)

Once we have written documentation of the reason for absence, we can re-code the days as excused days.  If there are any days listed which are in error, please notify the office as soon as possible so that we can get those dates straightened out.


We will be sending blank excuse forms home with students' mid-term progress reports next week.  Please keep these on file and feel free to use them for future absences.


If you have questions, please contact me at 814-472-6505 ext. 500 or csantini@cencam.org. 

Book Fair Extension

Due to weather, the book fair has been extended through this Tuesday, 2/24.  If you are interested, please send money in with your child so they can purchase books from the book fair this week.

CC Junior High Wrestling Team Recognized as D-6 AA Team of the Year!

The Central Cambria Junior High Wrestling team has been recognized as the District 6 AA Team of the Year, and its coaches were named the Junior High Coaches of the Year.  For a description of this honor from Coach Nikolishen, please view the article on the district news blog:  http://ccsd-news.blogspot.com/2015/02/aa-coaches-of-year-award.html 

Softball Fundraisers: Zumbathon & Dining to Donate

Central Cambria Softball Team will be holding two fundraising events in the near future.  The first is a Dining to Donate event at Ebensburg Applebee's on March 1.  Between the hours of 11 a.m. and 9 p.m., 15% of your check will be donated to the softball team.  All you need to do is turn in the flyer pictured below when you pay your bill.  

The second fundraising event is a Zumbathon to be held on March 8 from 4 - 6 p.m. in the Central Cambria High School gym.  Please see the photo below for the registration information for the Zumbathon.

Dining to Donate Flyer

 Zumbathon Event

Dining to Donate for American Heart Association

Capping off our efforts to raise funds for the American Heart Association this past month is our Dining to Donate event.  This Thursday, February 19th, Ebensburg Applebee's will donate 15% of your bill to the American Heart Association.  All you need to do is print out the Dining to Donate flyer below and give it to your server when you pay your bill.  Thank you in advance for your support!

Dining to Donate Flyer

Hoops for Heart

Last Thursday, students in grades 6, 7 and 8 participated in the final event of our 2015 Hoops for Heart fundraising campaign, a faculty vs student basketball game.  Students were selected from each grade level to play basketball against a team of middle school teachers.  While the 6th and 7th graders were not able to secure victories, they appeared to run up and down the court enough to tire out the faculty team.  Fatigue, combined with some questionable officiating and timely shooting on the part of the students, allowed the 8th grade team to dominate their game against the teachers.  During breaks in the game, prizes were given out, students competed in contests, and everybody had an enjoyable time in support of the American Heart Association.  Thank you to Ms. Getz for organizing this event, and for our students and teachers for their generous contributions! 

Mr. Moore & Mr. Klezek unveil the total amount raised by CCMS!

Curriculum & Instruction Update - February 2015

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.

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.  During our January in-service, teachers reviewed materials offered by Pearson and McGraw-Hill.  On February 13, they will meet with a representative from Houghton-Mifflin.  We hope to have a recommendation for purchase this spring so that we can purchase materials in time for the 2015-16 school year.

In language arts, our 6^th grade Collaborative Literacy class is producing some fantastic results.  The class is on pace to average one year of reading growth by the end of this school year.  This is taking place with a group of students who have never achieved at that level in reading.  The teamwork taking place among the teachers of the class and the students is commendable.  In 8^th grade, new non-fiction works have been purchased to serve as the basis for units on Flight 93 and the Johnstown flood.  Curriculum sequence and modules have been created for implementation in 2015-16 using these new materials.  Due to the emphasis on non-fiction text required under the new standards, the teachers felt this was an area of need.  We had purchased new materials for grades 6 and 7 last year, so these purchases continue the updating of our materials in language arts.  Our goal in 2015-16 will be to plan a cross-curricular unit in 8^th grade incorporating social studies and language arts centered around Pennsylvania history and the Johnstown flood.  Finally, in language arts, our teachers who attended the Keystone State Reading Association conference in November developed and presented an in-service session to the middle school faculty at our January in-service.  The presentation focused on vocabulary strategies, and was videotaped so that teachers in other buildings could view the session.

Our club schedule during 9^th period is up and running.  Each student has been scheduled for a club one day out of their six-day cycle during our Intervention/Enrichment period.  We view clubs as a form of enrichment based on student interests.  Examples of clubs that our teachers are offering our:  History club, Fit club, Book club, Photography club, Math/Chess club, Art club and Science club.  Altogether we have 12 clubs up and running.  The Cooking Club is our most popular club right now, under the direction of Mrs. Fisher.  The Nutrition Group has graciously offered to supply ingredients for the club.  We are excited about offering a wider variety of options for our students.

Donors Choose

DonorsChoose.org is a website that allows teachers to create projects where they can request items for their classroom that were not covered within our budget.  Several CCMS teachers have received funding for a variety of items through this program.  There are currently two projects at the middle school which are active.  You search and view projects by zip code if you are interested.  As always, we appreciate all support from our school community.  Link to Donors Choose Site.