Middle School Principal’s Letter
Dear Parents,
Thank you for taking the time to read this week’s version of the News and Views.
Students are busy this week with summative assessments, as I mentioned to our teachers in my weekly newsletter last week. We need to find ways to keep students working toward their learning goals after their initial excitement wears off. The research shows that a student’s level of intrinsic motivation increased with the inherent satisfaction of the activity itself, which is essential rather than an outside reward. Subsequently, there is a direct corresponds with increased effort and seeing the effectiveness of their behavior, choices, focus, and performance.
In sixth grade, the students spent the week putting the final touches and preparing for the Mesopotamia presentation on Thursday. A great deal of work was put into this project by the student. It was good to see so many parents in attendance; I know if meant a great deal to our students to see you there in support. It is moments like these students will remember about their middle school experience.
Next week we will be posting the Semester One Progress Two Report Cards on Thursday, November 7th, at 3:00 pm. Teachers will be reporting out on the Standard Based Grading and ATLs. Students will receive a comment if they are receiving a ‘Not Yet’ or in some cases, an approaching. If the student is receiving a Rarely for their ATLs, they will receive a comment along with it. Please take a moment to discuss this with your child. The discussion could be on what they need to continue doing or what they need to improve upon to get the results they are capable of.
On Monday, we had an ERD day. It was an opportunity for teachers to engage in a Prek- 12 professional development on the topic of Internationalism. We are preparing for our visit during the Spring by one of our accreditation members. The discussion brought to light what can our teachers do to help support our students in developing their intercultural competencies. It is a topic as a middle school we are interested in and one we will further explore.
Thank you for your continuous support of the middle school.
In Partnership,
Courtney Bailey
Middle School Principal
Announcements
From the Performing Arts Department
The HS Performing Arts is proud to announce the CAC Musical Cabaret. It is a ‘work in progress’ type of event that gives interested High School students a chance to explore this theatrical form. Students range from first time performers to seasoned veterans.
The Musical Cabaret will be performed in the Black Box Theater (MS building room L29) to minimize production values and make the event a more intimate and less intimidating experience.
The entire CAC community is welcome to come and support the performers. The mini performance takes place on November 4th at 5:30PM.
Mr. Rob Lazar
HS Theater
From the MS/HS Library
BOB 2019 practice round on Wednesday!
The practice round for the 2019 Battle of the Books will be on Wednesday. The questions for that first quiz will be quite easy, and are designed to help students figure out strategies for the elimination rounds.
The practice round will be 10 minutes after the start of lunch. Wednesday would be a good day to bring a lunch from home so students can go directly to the registration table.
Information about the books and authors can be found on the BOB 2019 libguide.
Author visit
UK author, Stephen Davies, will be visiting CAC in November. Mr. Davies has written books for young adults, middle schoolers and elementary school children. A selection of his books will be on sale during his visit. See here for the list. We are not taking pre-orders for the books. This is for information only.
Saturday openings for November and December
The CAC Libraries will be open on the following Saturdays in the month of November and December:
– November 2
– November 16
– November 23
– December 7
– December 14
You can see the full list of Saturday openings for the CAC libraries here.
Three Cheers
Three Cheers to Ms. Spencer and Ms. Fides and our STUCO students for organizing the cookie gram sale.
Three Cheers to all the parents who attended the Center for Talented Youth presentation.
Three Cheers to all the moms who helped out with the pizza sale on Wednesday.
Three Cheers to all our students who volunteered at the candy giving in the elementary school.