Back to School - August 31st!

The start of the school year is two weeks away.  This also means that for our students, summer is over in two weeks.  The start of a new school year is a time of excitement and anticipation, for the adults as well as the kids.  Here is some information about the start of the school year:

• The first day of the school year is August 31st.  This will be a full day of school.
• All students will report to the auditorium at the start of school on the 31st.  Their first period teachers will take them to their classrooms, where they will receive their schedules, student handbook, locker assignments, and other information.
• Students will receive some basic school supplies at school, such as a composition book for each core subject class.  Additional supplies can be purchased after students attend the first day of school and know what they will need.  A three-ring binder or accordian-type folder/organizer is recommended but not required.
• Several forms and letters will be sent home on the first day of school with students.  Parents should read these and then sign and return them to the school.

If you have any questions at any time, please contact Mr. Santini at csantini@cencam.org or 472-6506 ext. 500.

Dress Code

If you are shopping for school clothes in these final two weeks before school starts on August 31st, please keep our student dress code in mind.  It is included here for your reference:

Central Cambria School District DRESS CODE

All students should be dressed and groomed so as not to distract the attention of others or to cause disruption with the educational process or orderly operation of the school.  Since fashion trends change quickly, the administration reserves the right to deem certain articles of clothing inappropriate even if not outlined in this student handbook.  When a student is recognized as not being in compliance with the stated practices, the principal shall meet with the student to discuss the reasons and render a decision following their discussion.  If a student is in noncompliance with the regulations, disciplinary action will be taken and the student will be required to make appropriate modifications before re-entering class and/or school.

Clothing that is not permitted:

*Shorts and skirts shorter than your fingertips when standing with arms at the sides.

*Cut off sweats, frayed, cut off jeans, jeans or shorts with worn/torn holes.

*Clothing that allows your stomach/midriff to show.

*Muscle shirts, tank tops/spaghetti straps or see-through clothing.

*Clothing with obscene or suggestive pictures, or clothing displaying or promoting drug use, alcohol, tobacco, violence, sexual innuendos, profane gestures or profanity.

*Clothing which is revealingly or excessively tattered, such as ripped or torn jeans.

*Clothing which is excessively tight.  Clothes must fit and pants must be worn around the waist.

*Pajama pants or sleepwear

*No visible external body piercing of any kind other than ears.

*Chains, exposed safety pins, needles, or other ornamental jewelry that could be potentially dangerous.

*Colored hair other than natural hair colors, and/or spiked hair longer than two and a half inches. 

ALSO:

*Hats or head coverings may not be worn in the building.

*No hoods may be worn in the building.  Hooded sweatshirts may only be worn if the hood is not used.

*Coats, overcoats and jackets may not be worn in the building.

Clarification regarding yoga pants/excessively tight pants:

Yoga pants, leggings, and other similar excessively tight fitting pants may be worn to school if clothing (skirt, shorts, shirt, etc) is worn over them that covers the student’s legs to fingertip length or longer when standing with arms at the sides. 

First Offense:  Student will be asked to change or modify attire to conform with dress code.  Refusal to do so will result in removal from class until alternate clothes can be provided. 

Second Offense:  Student will be asked to change or modify attire to conform with dress code.  Refusal to do so will result in removal from class until alternate clothes can be provided.  One hour of after-school detention will be assigned.

Subsequent Offenses:  Procedures from first offense will be followed.  Additionally, in-school suspension will be assigned for failure to conform to the school dress code

Stuff The Bus = Great Success!

This past Friday and Saturday, Central Cambria Middle School teachers and students from CCMS Student Council organized a Stuff the Bus event at Ebensburg Wal-Mart.  The purpose of the event was to collect food donations for the Special Deliveries project that will be kicking off in the fall.  This project will provide a backpack of food to any student who needs one each Friday during the school year.  Students will return their empty backpacks on Monday to be refilled the following Friday.  The goal is for all of our students to have food to eat seven days per week throughout the year.

First Student, the district's transportation contractor, provided a bus and volunteers for the event.  To say this was a great success would be an understatement.  Thanks to the generous support from the community, we raised over $1,000 and filled many bins with various food items.  Thank you to our teachers, student council members, First Student, Ebensburg Wal-Mart, and the community for making this event a great success!  Here are some pictures from the event:

 Student Council volunteers

 How often do you see empty space on shelves at Wal-Mart?  
Thank you to generous community members who purchased items to donate!

Here are some pictures of bins filled to the brim with donations!

Stuff the Bus Event for CC Special Deliveries!

Stuff the Bus

for CC Special Deliveries

Sponsored by First Student and Central Cambria Education Foundation

Friday, June 12th 9am-5pm

Saturday, June 13th 9am-5pm

Walmart, Ebensburg

Please Help by Purchasing:

Fruit Snacks (any kind)

Pop Tarts

Capri Suns/Kool-Aid Pouches

EZ Mac

Cereal (Single Serving Size, Any Kind)

Cereal, Granola Bars (Any Size)

*Monetary Donations Are Appreciated As Well*

Like us on Facebook

Visit us on Twitter

Check us out on our website by going to http://www.cencam.org/ and finding us under Quick Links

Email us at specialdeliveries@cencam.org

Final Week Events at CCMS

It is hard to believe that the final week of the 2015-16 school year has arrived.  Here is a schedule of events taking place this week:

Monday, 6/1:  8th grade picnic at Duman Lake

Tuesday, 6/2:  Fit & Fun Day.  All students.  

Wednesday, 6/3:  Flight 93 speakers & assembly.  8th grade students.  Final grades due.

Thursday, 6/4:  CCMS Awards Assembly starting at 8 a.m.  Parents of students receiving awards will be invited to attend.  8th grade students will depart for Kennywood after the awards ceremony has concluded.

Friday, 6/5:  8th grade field trip to the Flight 93 National Memorial.

Monday, 6/8:  Last day of school.  Middle and high school students are dismissed at 9:30 a.m.

Ford Drive For Your School Event

The following message is from Mr. Gilkey, 6th grade social studies teacher and volleyball coach:

The Swim Booster and Cross Country Boosters are once again teaming up for the Ford Drive 4 UR School event.  We are hoping that you can make it on Saturday, May 16 between 9:00 and 2:00 to Cambria Elementary school.  It only takes about 15 minutes. You show up, fill out a brief questionnaire and drive the Ford of your choice and Ford gives us $20. No sales pitch. No pressure. No cost to you. There are light refreshments and chances to win prizes.

Please try to block off 15 minutes on the 16^th to support us.

Hope to see you there!

Greater Johnstown Young Artists Exhibit

Last night at the Community Arts Center in Westmont, three CCMS students were awarded blue ribbons and a small cash prize in the “Greater Johnstown Young Artists Exhibit.”  With their selections, Central Cambria took 3 of the 6 available awards for their age group! Their work will remain on exhibit with many other student works from the region through May 29th.  Thank you to Mr. Dumm for his tremendous work with our art program.

 Two of our winners posing with their work.

Math 24 & First In Math

Over the course of this school year, Mrs. Stevens, our district's math coach, has organized a Math 24 competition among our elementary and middle school students.  Additionally, she has spearheaded the implementation of First in Math, an online math practice site which includes a variety of practice problems for students.  All CCMS students have had access to the site this year.  Jackson Elementary, Cambria Elementary, and Central Cambria Middle School held internal Math 24 competitions to determine students from each grade level who would compete at the regional competition.  Yesterday, the winners of those contests competed at a regional competition hosted by the Appalachian Intermediate Unit.  We had several students at the elementary and middle school level reach the semifinals.  Mark Losey, representative from First In Math, came to CCMS to acknowledge our students' outstanding performance on the First In Math site.  He gave awards to our top performers in each grade level, and gave the 6th grade students a pep talk since CCMS stood out among the many districts that he works with.  These were great opportunities organized by Mrs. Stevens, and we thank her for her work with our kids.

 Mr. Losey gets our 6th graders fired up!

Our 7th and 8th grade First In Math champs correctly 

solved over 45,000 problems this year!

Central Cambria students with the hardware they won at the regional Math 24 Challenge!

Upcoming Events

We recently posted several upcoming events to the CCMS events calendar.  You can view it by opening the link below:

http://www.cchs.k12.pa.us/middle/events-calendar.html

Pumped Up for PSSA Testing

Our students at Central Cambria Middle School began PSSA testing last Tuesday.  To get ready for testing each morning, we have been conducting organized physical activities to get pumped up for PSSA's.  Led by Ms. Getz and a group of CCMS teachers, our students have been jogging on the track (as weather permits) or exercising in the gym after breakfast each morning.  The impetus for this came from Ms. Getz's professional development plan for this year.  Ms. Getz researched the topic and read Spark by Dr. John Ratey, which covers a multitude of research studies linking physical activity to increased brain activity.  Our teachers have been incorporating "brain breaks" into their classroom instruction.  A brain break consists of a brief physical activity to break up extended periods of sitting.  Research shows a connection between physical activity and increased brain activity.  For this reason, we are experimenting with exercise prior to PSSA testing this year, and getting our students pumped up for PSSA's.  

 Students getting pumped up for PSSA's

 CCMS students don't do push-ups, they push the world down.

 We're here to puuuuump you uuuuupp!

Ms. Getz and her merry band of exercise fanatics.