Cougar Tracks
Special Edition: January/February 2017
Cougar Tracks Central Middle School Online Parent & Student Newsletter Cougar Tracks
CMS Students Are Doing Great Things! and staff of CMS!
It is an exciting time at CMS! Every time I turn around, I see our students doing great things. In athletics, we are improving our skills. In Fine Arts, we are performing concerts and winning awards. In instruction, we are growing in our weekly assessments. A group of students have also started attending a morning tutoring program. Students and teachers are working hard every day to improve and learn. I am so proud of the students, parents,
As spring approaches, we know that tests are just around the corner. State testing begins the first week of April. The grade levels are tested as follows: 8th graders take the test in Reading, Math, and Science; 7th graders and 6th graders - Reading and Math. Parents, we appreciate all you do, and want you to know it is important that your child is on time during any state testing days. We will send a more detailed list of the dates for the April testing as we get closer to the testing dates. In closing, February is Black History Month. It is an international celebration and tribute to the African-American culture and contributions in our society. It is a month set
Inside this issue: aside to learn, honor, and celebrate the achievements of black men and women throughout history. Education helps us progress and grow, and having a better understanding of history, different cultures, and races will enhance our knowledge of history. Here are some important dates that are coming up. Thank you for all you do! February 1 – District Spelling Bee at CMS
be able to help their child choose the best classes for them. Parents will need to sign the form and ensure their child returns it to their grade level counselor.
2
7th Grade News
2
8th Grade News
3
CMS Sports
3
Title I
4
CMS News In Brief
4
February 9 – African American Teen Conference 1:30 February 14 – Spring Pictures February 17 – Honor Society Induction February 20 – President’s Day (No School)
Blake Thomas Principal
Sixth and Seventh Grade Pre-Enrollment Coming Soon Coming up in February CMS counselors will be meeting with 6th and 7th grade students to preenroll for the 2017-2018 school year. Students will be sent home enrollment forms so that parents will
6th Grade News
Eighth grade student preenrolling for high school will be at a later date. Please contact a CMS counselor for additional information: 580.355.8544
LPS Foundation Coin Drive February 6-10 LPS Foundation is having a coin drive the week of February 6-10. All money raised is used to help give grants to LPS teachers. There will be a reward for the elementary, middle, and high school that take in the greatest percentage of money according to their student count.
6th Grade Team News autobiography of Malala Yousafzai.
Knights of Camelot Ms. Pennington’s Magnificent Mathematicians will be working with solving inequalities and equations. Once we master those skills, we will move on to mean, median, and mode for sets of numbers. Mrs. Morlett’s Masterful Writers have composed some beautiful Bio Poems about themselves. Next, they will begin researching and investigating issues pertaining to human rights around the world. To make a connection to these issues, we will begin reading I am Malala, the
Ms. Ricci’s Remarkable Readers will be polishing their summarizing and paraphrasing skills as we prepare for the third AlphaPlus Benchmark test that will happen at the beginning of March. Mr. Anderson’s Geography Gurus are finishing a lesson about Canada. We will then go south to explore Mexico. While there, we will look at the culture, climate, and physical features found there. Mrs. Ervin’s Super Scientists have been engaging in methods of scientific inquiry and building proficiency in higher level reasoning. Next up, we will be focusing on electricity…Shocking!
Team Odin Team Odin has been hard at work reviewing procedures and expectations, and getting back into the swing of things at school. In Ms. Miller’s reading class, we are analyzing text and making inferences. This is a difficult skill for many of the students and requires a great deal of practice. We also completed our Star Test. Makeups will be scheduled for students who were absent last week and results will be sent home as soon as all students have completed the test.
reading the book “I am Malala”, the autobiography of Malala Yousafzai. Throughout the reading we were able to analyze Malala’s culture and compare it to our own. Next week, we will be introducing Canada. After completing a unit on Canada, we will begin a study on Mexico. Ms. Long’s math students will use properties to solve expressions and use order of operations to evaluate expressions. Next week the class will conduct STAR Testing on January 17th and 18th. On Friday, we will introduce using number sense and properties of operations and equality to solve realworld and mathematical problems involving equations.
Mrs. Pool’s class just finished
7th Grade Exploring Africa and More . . . SPARTANS Geography – students will be exploring Africa this month. Students who represent African countries will participate in classroom presentation
that provide peer teaching. The genocides in Rwanda and Darfur will be evaluated. Students will represent their assigned countries and work to resolve the Rwandan genocide in an appropriate and effective manner. Students will explore the disease that continue to affect the population of Africa. Reading - currently working on defining, identifying, and analyzing figurative language within texts. At the end
of January we will begin our second novel study of the school year. Students will begin reading Lois Lowry’s utopian/ dystopian novel, The Giver. ELA - wrote essays stating and semicommitting to a Philanthropic New Year’s Resolution: “What Can I Do to Help Someone, and What Will I Get from It?”
7th Grade Team Gryphons are On the Ball and Thinking Outside the Box The Gryphons are “on the ball” and “thinking outside the box” this month! We are working with literary and sound devices and finishing up the novel, The Outsiders, in Reading. We are anxiously waiting to watch “The Outsiders” movie to compare and contrast it to the novel! Page 2
In Language Arts, we will be starting argumentative essay writing, and through class seminars, our new goal will be to formulate and execute a plan which will better the school community. Africa is our destination in Geography. We will be studying its physical characteristics, history, culture, and climate regions.
that will include the study of gravity, planets, and stars. We are finishing up inequalities, the relationship between expressions that are not equal, in Math and beginning percentages. We will learn to calculate sales tax, tips, and discounts.
In Science, we will be studying the world beneath our feet and above our head with our Earth and Space unit
Cougar Tracks
8th Grade News Team Bigfoot Math is moving into inequalities and slope. In science we are finishing up the unit on Chemistry. In the next week we begin looking at and studying Physics and Newton’s Laws of Motion. In US History we have begun our remediation process with a Pretest for Unit 3 “Creating a Nation”. With 3 out of 5 classes’ scores in….we are passing the pretest at about 75 percent. Team Titan Science is applying the skills needed to understand the working of chemistry. They have been balancing equations and finding out about The Law of Conservation of Matter. We did an experiment to understand the effects of oxidation on a cop-
per penny. Then how the chemical substances of vinegar and salt has on oxidized copper. In US History we will be covering the United States following the War of 1812. Manifest destiny will take us all the way to California as we finish discussing westward expansion. While the country is growing we will also learn how it evolved. This month we will focus on the introduction of the industrial revolution and its transformation of the North. Lastly we will discuss the growth of agriculture and slavery in the South.
In English class during the months of January and February we will continue building our writing skills. Currently students are working on an argumentative essay and reviewing the necessary components. Recently we began work on a new writing program call Criterion Writing that students can access at home and at school. They can also practice both reading and writing skills on USA Test Prep or IXL. Encourage your child spend some time on them at
home. They are great practice and very beneficial to those who utilize them. In Reading, we have just finished a benchmark to measure our progress from the beginning of the school year. We will begin literary devices this week. In Math, we ended the 1st semester on a good note and are excited to see what this semester has in store for us. We are finishing up multi-step equations, and then moving right into multi-step inequalities. We will be taking the STAR Math test on January 17. This test monitors the strides your child is making in math. It will give us great data to determine what we need to work on more in depth for the state test. Attendance plays a keep role in those strides so please make sure your child is here on time. After the STAR test, we will go back and look at slope. Ask your child if they can identify a positive slope from a negative slope. See what they can tell you about the changes in the steepness.
CMS Sports Basketball: Congratulations to Central Middle School’s 6th Grade Basketball Team. The young cougars finished the season with a record of 8-2. The team was led in scoring by D’Anthony Short, Frank Rowe, KJ Love, Devarius Hardy, and Tyron Amaker. The team would like to give a big shout-out to SSG Hubbard and Alex Lechner for their diligence and hard work. Lastly, the team would not have had such a great year, if it hadn't been for the tremendous parent support throughout the year. Thank you parents for making the sacrifice to ensure that your children was present for practice each and every morning at 6 a.m. Your assistance was greatly appreciated. Team Members: D’Anthony Short, Markel Davis, Fred Davis T’Andric Bennett, Michael Baker, Alan AnCougar Tracks
derson, Devarius Hardy, Alex Perez, Malaki Avendano, Shawn Barber, KJ Love, Daniel Neighbors, Tyler Gassoway, Alex Hubbard, Tyron Amaker, Frank Rowe. - Coach Stallworth Boys and Girls Track: There will be sign ups on January 31 and February 1 during Lunch time in the Plaza for anyone planning on participating in Track and Field this year. Practice will start on February 6 from 3:15 until 4:45, with athletes needing picked up by 5:00 each day. We will meet in the main Gym where we will either run in there or walk to Lawton High’s track, depending on the weather each day. We are working on the schedule of meets at this time. Each Student Athlete must have a PHYSICAL before they can begin to
practice. Forms may be obtained from any of the Track coaches or from the Front Office. Track Coaches are Ashleigh Leighow, Jerry Slawson, Dwight McKillip, and Kenneth Stallworth. We will be participating in our annual Run-AThon, so be planning on that. New Warm Up Suits for both Boys and Girls have been purchased and the 2017 Cougar Track T-Shirts are in and may be purchased for $15.00 from coaches or come by front office.
Page 3
Central Middle School
Central Middle School is a Successful Title I School 2016 A-F School Report Card
1201 N. W. Fort Sill Blvd. Lawton, OK 73507 Phone: 580.355.8544 Fax: 580.585.6452 E-mail: [email protected]
Teachers Teach ... Students Learn ... It's Our Future
Parents are encouraged to access the Lawton Public Schools Website and view our 2016 School A-F Report Cards. The Lawton School Report Cards are available at the following website address: http:// afreportcards.ok.gov/ If you do not have internet access at your home, you may request a copy of the school report card at the principal’s office.
CMS Students Can Build Academic Skills Online If your student has no homework but would like to increase their academic skills leading to better grades and higher test scores, CMS subscribes to several web-based learning tools. These programs can be accessed at school and at home by logging onto the website using the following information on all programs listed below. User Name: firstlastnamegrade (e.g., joestudent7) Password: idnumber (same as lunch number) USATestprep, Inc. is recognized as a leader in online review for high school, middle school, and elementary school standardized testing.
We’re on Facebook Facebook.com/ la w tonc en tra lms
CMS News In Brief The Anime Book Club is now selling a variety of flavored meat sticks for only $1. The flavors are intense and our parents, teachers, and students thought they tasted great last year when we participated in this fundraiser. Hickory, BBQ, Cajun, and spicy flavors are just a few of the choices and range all the way up to Ghost Pepper! Money
raised will provide new books for our avid Anime book readers. Please remember to continue to collect Box Tops and send them into the Library. We thank you in advance for this simple but profitable program. CMS also thanks the Lawton Public Schools Foundation for their support in providing $1500 for the purchase of many new non-fiction books. These new books provide insight into real life by
relating to current issues. They will also be useful for research projects. African-American Teen Conference Feb 9th-space is limited.
Spring Picture Day February 14th (only students with pre-paid envelopes will be permitted to take photos). 7th and 8th grade strings have their District Solo Contest Saturday February 18th at Macarthur High School. Running Club – preparing for events in the OKC Memorial Marathon in April. Military Child Club – planning for the end of the year formal dance.
Cougar Tracks Central Middle School Online Parent & Student Newsletter Cougar Tracks
CMS Students Are Doing Great Things! and staff of CMS!
It is an exciting time at CMS! Every time I turn around, I see our students doing great things. In athletics, we are improving our skills. In Fine Arts, we are performing concerts and winning awards. In instruction, we are growing in our weekly assessments. A group of students have also started attending a morning tutoring program. Students and teachers are working hard every day to improve and learn. I am so proud of the students, parents,
As spring approaches, we know that tests are just around the corner. State testing begins the first week of April. The grade levels are tested as follows: 8th graders take the test in Reading, Math, and Science; 7th graders and 6th graders - Reading and Math. Parents, we appreciate all you do, and want you to know it is important that your child is on time during any state testing days. We will send a more detailed list of the dates for the April testing as we get closer to the testing dates. In closing, February is Black History Month. It is an international celebration and tribute to the African-American culture and contributions in our society. It is a month set
Inside this issue: aside to learn, honor, and celebrate the achievements of black men and women throughout history. Education helps us progress and grow, and having a better understanding of history, different cultures, and races will enhance our knowledge of history. Here are some important dates that are coming up. Thank you for all you do! February 1 – District Spelling Bee at CMS
be able to help their child choose the best classes for them. Parents will need to sign the form and ensure their child returns it to their grade level counselor.
2
7th Grade News
2
8th Grade News
3
CMS Sports
3
Title I
4
CMS News In Brief
4
February 9 – African American Teen Conference 1:30 February 14 – Spring Pictures February 17 – Honor Society Induction February 20 – President’s Day (No School)
Blake Thomas Principal
Sixth and Seventh Grade Pre-Enrollment Coming Soon Coming up in February CMS counselors will be meeting with 6th and 7th grade students to preenroll for the 2017-2018 school year. Students will be sent home enrollment forms so that parents will
6th Grade News
Eighth grade student preenrolling for high school will be at a later date. Please contact a CMS counselor for additional information: 580.355.8544
LPS Foundation Coin Drive February 6-10 LPS Foundation is having a coin drive the week of February 6-10. All money raised is used to help give grants to LPS teachers. There will be a reward for the elementary, middle, and high school that take in the greatest percentage of money according to their student count.
6th Grade Team News autobiography of Malala Yousafzai.
Knights of Camelot Ms. Pennington’s Magnificent Mathematicians will be working with solving inequalities and equations. Once we master those skills, we will move on to mean, median, and mode for sets of numbers. Mrs. Morlett’s Masterful Writers have composed some beautiful Bio Poems about themselves. Next, they will begin researching and investigating issues pertaining to human rights around the world. To make a connection to these issues, we will begin reading I am Malala, the
Ms. Ricci’s Remarkable Readers will be polishing their summarizing and paraphrasing skills as we prepare for the third AlphaPlus Benchmark test that will happen at the beginning of March. Mr. Anderson’s Geography Gurus are finishing a lesson about Canada. We will then go south to explore Mexico. While there, we will look at the culture, climate, and physical features found there. Mrs. Ervin’s Super Scientists have been engaging in methods of scientific inquiry and building proficiency in higher level reasoning. Next up, we will be focusing on electricity…Shocking!
Team Odin Team Odin has been hard at work reviewing procedures and expectations, and getting back into the swing of things at school. In Ms. Miller’s reading class, we are analyzing text and making inferences. This is a difficult skill for many of the students and requires a great deal of practice. We also completed our Star Test. Makeups will be scheduled for students who were absent last week and results will be sent home as soon as all students have completed the test.
reading the book “I am Malala”, the autobiography of Malala Yousafzai. Throughout the reading we were able to analyze Malala’s culture and compare it to our own. Next week, we will be introducing Canada. After completing a unit on Canada, we will begin a study on Mexico. Ms. Long’s math students will use properties to solve expressions and use order of operations to evaluate expressions. Next week the class will conduct STAR Testing on January 17th and 18th. On Friday, we will introduce using number sense and properties of operations and equality to solve realworld and mathematical problems involving equations.
Mrs. Pool’s class just finished
7th Grade Exploring Africa and More . . . SPARTANS Geography – students will be exploring Africa this month. Students who represent African countries will participate in classroom presentation
that provide peer teaching. The genocides in Rwanda and Darfur will be evaluated. Students will represent their assigned countries and work to resolve the Rwandan genocide in an appropriate and effective manner. Students will explore the disease that continue to affect the population of Africa. Reading - currently working on defining, identifying, and analyzing figurative language within texts. At the end
of January we will begin our second novel study of the school year. Students will begin reading Lois Lowry’s utopian/ dystopian novel, The Giver. ELA - wrote essays stating and semicommitting to a Philanthropic New Year’s Resolution: “What Can I Do to Help Someone, and What Will I Get from It?”
7th Grade Team Gryphons are On the Ball and Thinking Outside the Box The Gryphons are “on the ball” and “thinking outside the box” this month! We are working with literary and sound devices and finishing up the novel, The Outsiders, in Reading. We are anxiously waiting to watch “The Outsiders” movie to compare and contrast it to the novel! Page 2
In Language Arts, we will be starting argumentative essay writing, and through class seminars, our new goal will be to formulate and execute a plan which will better the school community. Africa is our destination in Geography. We will be studying its physical characteristics, history, culture, and climate regions.
that will include the study of gravity, planets, and stars. We are finishing up inequalities, the relationship between expressions that are not equal, in Math and beginning percentages. We will learn to calculate sales tax, tips, and discounts.
In Science, we will be studying the world beneath our feet and above our head with our Earth and Space unit
Cougar Tracks
8th Grade News Team Bigfoot Math is moving into inequalities and slope. In science we are finishing up the unit on Chemistry. In the next week we begin looking at and studying Physics and Newton’s Laws of Motion. In US History we have begun our remediation process with a Pretest for Unit 3 “Creating a Nation”. With 3 out of 5 classes’ scores in….we are passing the pretest at about 75 percent. Team Titan Science is applying the skills needed to understand the working of chemistry. They have been balancing equations and finding out about The Law of Conservation of Matter. We did an experiment to understand the effects of oxidation on a cop-
per penny. Then how the chemical substances of vinegar and salt has on oxidized copper. In US History we will be covering the United States following the War of 1812. Manifest destiny will take us all the way to California as we finish discussing westward expansion. While the country is growing we will also learn how it evolved. This month we will focus on the introduction of the industrial revolution and its transformation of the North. Lastly we will discuss the growth of agriculture and slavery in the South.
In English class during the months of January and February we will continue building our writing skills. Currently students are working on an argumentative essay and reviewing the necessary components. Recently we began work on a new writing program call Criterion Writing that students can access at home and at school. They can also practice both reading and writing skills on USA Test Prep or IXL. Encourage your child spend some time on them at
home. They are great practice and very beneficial to those who utilize them. In Reading, we have just finished a benchmark to measure our progress from the beginning of the school year. We will begin literary devices this week. In Math, we ended the 1st semester on a good note and are excited to see what this semester has in store for us. We are finishing up multi-step equations, and then moving right into multi-step inequalities. We will be taking the STAR Math test on January 17. This test monitors the strides your child is making in math. It will give us great data to determine what we need to work on more in depth for the state test. Attendance plays a keep role in those strides so please make sure your child is here on time. After the STAR test, we will go back and look at slope. Ask your child if they can identify a positive slope from a negative slope. See what they can tell you about the changes in the steepness.
CMS Sports Basketball: Congratulations to Central Middle School’s 6th Grade Basketball Team. The young cougars finished the season with a record of 8-2. The team was led in scoring by D’Anthony Short, Frank Rowe, KJ Love, Devarius Hardy, and Tyron Amaker. The team would like to give a big shout-out to SSG Hubbard and Alex Lechner for their diligence and hard work. Lastly, the team would not have had such a great year, if it hadn't been for the tremendous parent support throughout the year. Thank you parents for making the sacrifice to ensure that your children was present for practice each and every morning at 6 a.m. Your assistance was greatly appreciated. Team Members: D’Anthony Short, Markel Davis, Fred Davis T’Andric Bennett, Michael Baker, Alan AnCougar Tracks
derson, Devarius Hardy, Alex Perez, Malaki Avendano, Shawn Barber, KJ Love, Daniel Neighbors, Tyler Gassoway, Alex Hubbard, Tyron Amaker, Frank Rowe. - Coach Stallworth Boys and Girls Track: There will be sign ups on January 31 and February 1 during Lunch time in the Plaza for anyone planning on participating in Track and Field this year. Practice will start on February 6 from 3:15 until 4:45, with athletes needing picked up by 5:00 each day. We will meet in the main Gym where we will either run in there or walk to Lawton High’s track, depending on the weather each day. We are working on the schedule of meets at this time. Each Student Athlete must have a PHYSICAL before they can begin to
practice. Forms may be obtained from any of the Track coaches or from the Front Office. Track Coaches are Ashleigh Leighow, Jerry Slawson, Dwight McKillip, and Kenneth Stallworth. We will be participating in our annual Run-AThon, so be planning on that. New Warm Up Suits for both Boys and Girls have been purchased and the 2017 Cougar Track T-Shirts are in and may be purchased for $15.00 from coaches or come by front office.
Page 3
Central Middle School
Central Middle School is a Successful Title I School 2016 A-F School Report Card
1201 N. W. Fort Sill Blvd. Lawton, OK 73507 Phone: 580.355.8544 Fax: 580.585.6452 E-mail: [email protected]
Teachers Teach ... Students Learn ... It's Our Future
Parents are encouraged to access the Lawton Public Schools Website and view our 2016 School A-F Report Cards. The Lawton School Report Cards are available at the following website address: http:// afreportcards.ok.gov/ If you do not have internet access at your home, you may request a copy of the school report card at the principal’s office.
CMS Students Can Build Academic Skills Online If your student has no homework but would like to increase their academic skills leading to better grades and higher test scores, CMS subscribes to several web-based learning tools. These programs can be accessed at school and at home by logging onto the website using the following information on all programs listed below. User Name: firstlastnamegrade (e.g., joestudent7) Password: idnumber (same as lunch number) USATestprep, Inc. is recognized as a leader in online review for high school, middle school, and elementary school standardized testing.
We’re on Facebook Facebook.com/ la w tonc en tra lms
CMS News In Brief The Anime Book Club is now selling a variety of flavored meat sticks for only $1. The flavors are intense and our parents, teachers, and students thought they tasted great last year when we participated in this fundraiser. Hickory, BBQ, Cajun, and spicy flavors are just a few of the choices and range all the way up to Ghost Pepper! Money
raised will provide new books for our avid Anime book readers. Please remember to continue to collect Box Tops and send them into the Library. We thank you in advance for this simple but profitable program. CMS also thanks the Lawton Public Schools Foundation for their support in providing $1500 for the purchase of many new non-fiction books. These new books provide insight into real life by
relating to current issues. They will also be useful for research projects. African-American Teen Conference Feb 9th-space is limited.
Spring Picture Day February 14th (only students with pre-paid envelopes will be permitted to take photos). 7th and 8th grade strings have their District Solo Contest Saturday February 18th at Macarthur High School. Running Club – preparing for events in the OKC Memorial Marathon in April. Military Child Club – planning for the end of the year formal dance.
