Middle School Principal’s Letter
Dear Parents,
Thank you for reading our first edition of the News and Views. We want to welcome our new families to our learning community. Each year, we welcome new teachers, and this year we have an outstanding group of educators joining the Middle School.
Lorna Fay Mills-Ossman – Math/LSS in MS/HS
Alanna Deakin – Phys Ed/Health
Caitlin Tegenfeldt – LA & SS
Roberto Perez – ELL/Resource Teacher
Rich Harris – Phys Ed/Health
Tatiana Petrovna – Aquatics Coordinator
Meghan Ennis – MS/HS Librarian
It was fantastic welcoming new students and parents to campus for orientation. Despite the masks, you could feel the happy energy on campus. Although we don’t know what lies ahead for this school year, we are responsible for practicing our mitigation while in phase three. On Thursday, we spent the day providing students with opportunities to bond and collaborate.
Congratulations to Ms. Harouny and Ms. Spencer for the organization of our 5th to 6th-grade orientation. It made a difference for our students on the first day of school. The students have access to their lockers again. However, we will not be issuing locks this year. Nevertheless, we encourage you to provide a lock for your child to use in the PE changing room.
Thanks to the PTO for the welcome back Pizza lunch provided for the students and faculty today. We want to thank the following volunteers who served the pizza (Nevine El Shabrawy, Gina Krapf, Lina Sharkia and Brooke Fuser, and Andrea Nour).
We have decided that going forward, our focus will be on well-being, engagement, and feedback. We are prioritizing well-being more than ever this year. This paradigm shift is putting Maslow’s hierarchy as a priority over Bloom’s taxonomy. Maslow’s hierarchy categorizes basic human needs, and Bloom’s taxonomy identifies different levels of learning.
Whether learning occurs virtually or in person, students do not learn if they are not engaged. Therefore, we are designing learning opportunities that engage all students, behaviorally, emotionally, and cognitively. We devised the word RAMP as a means to ramp up student engagement. It stands for Relationships (with teachers, peers, and content), Autonomy – student choice, Mastery (understanding and feedback), and Purpose – beyond class.
Looking ahead, on August 31st, we will be having our Back To School Night. I encourage you to make sure you have an activated CAC account. More information to come.
Thanks for your continuous support of the Middle School.
Courtney Bailey
The Middle School Office
Announcements
CAC Robotics Club
The CAC Robotics Club challenges students to design, build, and program a robot using the VEX robotics platform. Using the VEX EDR system, teams of students learn how to create and program robots to complete specific tasks in various tournaments throughout the school year. Through these experiences, students learn to problem solve, present research and design, and work with teammates to accomplish a variety of goals.
Link: https://forms.gle/je79vXicTZNtYq2L7
PTO Monthly Meeting
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84779716980?pwd=c3JoWE1yQ2w1em5uS1pKbDhxNGRvUT09
Meeting ID: 847 7971 6980
Passcode: 168709
From MS/HS Library
Return Your Summer Checkouts Please
All materials checked out last school year are now due back in the library. Please return or renew as soon as possible so others may enjoy them. Students, teachers and parents should have received overdue notices via email. If you feel there has been a mistake, please let us know.
Middle School Student Book Recommendations
MS students were in the library today for a Scavenger Hunt activity. They have put aside books that they recommend to others. Come in and check out the display!
Three Cheers
Three Cheers to Mr. Geoffroy and the maintenance staff for all the work done on campus this summer.
Three Cheers to Ms. Nibal Ahmed and the custodial staff for their efforts to clean the campus.
Three Cheers to Mrs. Abdel Hady, who has worked endlessly over the summer to create a new website and dashboard design.
Three Cheers to Ms. Fahmy, Mrs. Urbiztondo, Ms. Spencer, Mr. El Duweini for helping with scheduling and getting the school ready for opening.
Three Cheers to Ms. Torky, Ms. Harouny, Ms. Spencer, and Mr. Miller for their organization during our orientation week.
Three Cheers to Ms. Amin and Ms. Abdel Maaboud in the admissions office for their work with our new parents.