October 14, 2011

Hello all,

I hope everyone had a great week! Below I will update several topics.

Marching Band

Don’t forget to come out this evening to watch the Clippers take on Williamsburg in football. The 7/8 marching band will be performing with the high school band at halftime of the varsity game.

Iowa Assessments

Next week we will begin taking the Iowa Assessments. This test was formerly known as the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. This year we will take the full battery of tests. Testing in the middle school next week will be on Tuesday (18^th), Thursday (20^th), and Friday (21^st). We will likely not complete all tests next week. Please help make sure that your child is well rested for the assessments. We have arranged to have snacks provided each day of the assessments. Thanks to our student council for providing this!

Athletics

Next week we will wrap up our fall athletic seasons with our final football game. In fact, next week we will begin 7/8 girls basketball on Monday, the 17th. Wrestling will begin Monday, October 24^th.

Food Order Pick Up

Don’t forget, the food order fundraiser items will be here next Monday, October 17^th. Pick up time is from 3:15 until 5:30 at the middle school.

Activities for Next Week

Monday, October 17

7/8 Girls Basketball Begins

Food Order Pick Up, CCAMS, 3:15-5:30

Tuesday, October 18

Iowa Assessment Testing, 8:30-10:30 am

7/8 Football vs. Williamsburg, 7 Home/8^th @ Williamsburg, 4:15 pm

Thursday, October 20

Iowa Assessment Testing, 8:30-10:30 am

Friday, October 21

Iowa Assessment Testing, 8:30-10:30 am

Have a great weekend!

Brad Fox

October 7, 2011

Good Morning,

I hope everyone has had a great week. This weather is unbelievable! Now if it can only last the next 3 or 4 months and then warm up! Yeah right!?!

We have had another busy week at our middle school. Thanks to everyone that was able to visit with our teachers at our Personal Learning Plan and/or Parent/Teacher Conferences. If you haven’t had your child’s PLP yet, please make sure this gets completed in the next week or two.

Below I have outlined some upcoming activities.

Monday, October 10

7/8 Cross Country vs. Center Point/Urbana, @ Center Point, 4:15 pm (Last Race of Season)

Tuesday, October 11

7/8 Volleyball vs. Solon, 7^th home and 8^th @ Solon, 4:15 pm (Last Game of Season)

7/8 Football vs. Vinton-Shellsburg, 7^th @ Vinton and 8^th home, 4:15 pm

Friday, October 14

7/8 Marching Band marching at high school football game

Monday, October 17

Student council food orders arrive. (pick up time at middle school from 3-5:30 pm)

Tuesday, October 18

Iowa Student Assessment (Day 1)

7/8 Football vs. Williamsburg, 7^th home and 8^th @ Williamsburg, 4:15 pm (Last Game of Season)

Thursday, October 20

Iowa Student Assessment (Day 2)

Friday, October 21

Iowa Student Assessment (Day 3)

Thursday, October 27

Picture Re-Take Day

Friday, October 28

CCAMS Dance, 7-10 pm

Iowa Assessment

Starting the week of October 17^th our students will begin the Iowa Assessment. This year our students will take the full battery of tests for the Iowa Assessment. The test parts include; reading, written expression, math, science, social studies, vocabulary, spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and computation.

Upcoming Athletic Seasons

Following the completion of middle school volleyball, football, and cross country our 7^th and 8^th graders will have the opportunity to compete in girls basketball and wrestling. Those seasons will begin very soon.

Have a great weekend everyone!

As always, if you are having any issues, feel free to contact me.

Take care,

Brad

September 22, 2011

Hello all,

I hope everyone is having a great week! It seems like we are on a roller coaster of warm and cold weather. It looks like we will be on the cool side for a few days. I think today is the last day of summer. I really don’t like what comes after fall…

Parent/Student Meetings With Teachers

Next week is a very important week in our middle school. We have two different opportunities for parents to meet with teachers to discuss student progress. I have outlined the meetings and times below.

· Personal Learning Plan Meeting- The PLP meetings are meetings between the parent, child, and the child’s adviser. These meetings should already be scheduled with your child’s adviser. If your child’s PLP has not been scheduled yet, please contact your child’s adviser as soon as possible.

· Parent/Teacher Conferences- The parent/teacher conference meetings are times in which parents can come to our school to meet with any of their child’s teachers. The designated date for parent/teacher conferences is next Thursday, September 29^th. The teachers will be available from 4pm to 8pm at the following locations; 6^th grade (library), 7^th grade (gym), 8^th grade (auditorium).

Physical Education/Health Curriculum (message from our PE teachers, Mr. Carder and Mrs. Trumpold)

This year, your son or daughter will be offered a program called Draw The Line/Respect The Line in his/her physical education class. This program helps students learn ways to prevent HIV infection, other sexually transmitted diseases (STD), and pregnancy. The lessons emphasize that choosing not to have sex is the safest choice. In sixth grade, students will receive 5 lessons. The lessons do not directly talk about sexual behavior, but focus on peer pressure and how to resist it. In both seventh and eighth grades, students will receive 7 lessons. Students will learn and practice ways to resist pressure to have sex. Communication and decision-making skills will also be taught. The Draw The Line/Respect The Line program includes several homework activities to help parents and children talk about personal limits. We hope you will work with your child on these. This homework is voluntary and students will not share their parents answers in class. You are welcome to review the Draw The Line/Respect The Line materials. Please contact Jared Carder at the school, and we will arrange a preview time and answer any questions you may have about the program. A student may be excused from any part of this program. If you do NOT want your son or daughter to take part in this program, you must contact Mr. Fox, Mr. Carder, or Mrs. Trumpold by Monday September 26th 2011. We will arrange a different learning activity for your child.

Upcoming Schedule

Friday, September 23, 2011

7^th grade students to Kent Park, 8:40am-2:30pm

Monday, September 26, 2011

7^th/8^th cross country, @ Iowa City, 4:30pm

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

7^th/8^th football vs. Solon, 7^th @ Solon, 8^th home, 4:15pm

7^th/8^th volleyball vs. Solon, 7^th @ Solon, 8^th home, 4:15pm

personal learning plan meetings, 4pm-8pm

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

trimester 1 mid-point

personal learning plan meetings, 2pm-4pm

Thursday, September 29, 2011

No School

personal learning plan meetings, 8am-4pm

parent/teacher conferences, 4pm-8pm

Friday, September 30, 2011

No School

Saturday, October 1, 2011

7th/8th band march in Amana parade, time TBA

Have a great evening!

Brad

September 19, 2011

Good Afternoon Everyone,

Below I have updated several different topics.

Grades

Today is the 21^st day of school! The teachers and students have been working hard on their learning goals and success criteria. This process requires excellent communication between the teacher and their students. It also requires the teacher to continually assess the students and provide feedback to the students on what they need to improve on. With this new process please be patient with our teachers as they attempt to convert the learning goal and success criteria into a grade on Power School. Traditional grades have been based on a point system where our system now relies more on grading by using a rubric. The other big difference is that we expect our students to not always do great on the first assessment as this is part of the learning and practice process. Instead of teachers always recording the first assessment in Power School many have chosen to keep the grade/data information in a spreadsheet because the process is ongoing and the grade really isn’t final until the unit has been completed. The grade that will really matter is at the end of the learning cycle when hopefully all students will be able to show that they have learned the material at a proficient level or greater. If you have questions about your child’s grades, please contact your child’s teacher(s). The students will be sharing information about their learning goals at the upcoming Personal Learning Plan meetings.

Personal Learning Plans

At our middle school each student has an adviser. Hopefully everyone received a letter from their child that explained who your child’s adviser is this year. If you have not, please contact me. Your child’s adviser will be setting up (or has already) a time to meet with you and your child to review the Personal Learning Plan. Most of these PLP meetings will be scheduled for Tuesday, September 27 (4-8 pm), Wednesday, September 28 (2-4 pm) or Thursday, September 29 (8am -4 pm). If you have any questions about this process, contact me.

Parent/Teacher Conferences

We will have traditional Parent/Teacher Conferences on Thursday, September 29 from 4-8pm. During this time parents can come in and meet all of their child’s teachers and have a conversation about how their child is doing in each of their classes. The 6^th grade teachers will meet in the library. The 7^th grade teachers will meet in the gym. The 8^th grade teachers will meet in the auditorium.

MAP Testing

Our students have been busy completing their fall MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) tests. All middle school students are tested in both reading and math. At our PLP conferences the results will be shared and goals for the spring will be established. We should be finished up with all fall MAP testing next week.

Extra Food at Lunch

Just another quick reminder that on Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday the cafeteria staff is offering extra items that can be purchased during lunch. When a child makes an extra purchase this cost is deducted from their lunch balance. The extra offerings are healthy choices.

Upcoming Dates of Interest

September 19, (Monday)

Volleyball vs. Mt. Vernon, 7^th Grade (Away), 8^th Grade (Home), 4:15pm

Cross Country vs. Solon, 7^th/8^th Grade (Away)

September 20, (Tuesday)

Football vs. Waterloo Columbus, 7^th Grade (Home), 8^th Grade (Away), 4:15pm (7th grade will have 4:45pm start)

Volleyball vs. Williamsburg, 7^th Grade (Home), 8^th Grade (Away), 4:15pm

September 23, (Friday)

7^th Grade to Kent Park, 8:45am-2:30pm

September 9, 2011

Good Morning,

Another beautiful Friday! It's a good thing my golf clubs are at home in my garage or I could be very tempted... It sounds like a nice weekend also.

Picture Day: Today we had a busy morning as we had our picture day. We have a new photography company this year, Halverson Photo. They completed all of our pictures by 9:45 am. That is fast considering they had to take nearly 370 pictures. Picture re-take day will be October 27.

Extra Food Purchases at Lunch: Please be advised that our kitchen staff is now offering some extra items for students to purchase at lunch. The choices are healthy items that may include; sandwiches, yogurt, fruit, cereal bars, etc. I want everyone to be aware as you may want to discuss with your child if you want them to make this extra purchase as it will impact your family lunch balance.

Student Council: On Thursday we had an assembly in which our 8th grade student council candidates were able to speak with the student body about their goals for student council. The student body then voted for a president, vice-president, and secretary. I'm proud to announce our 2011.2012 student council officers:

Secretary: Megan Beckler and Monica Douglass
Vice-President: Daniel Goldsmith
President: Allison Devore

Congratulations to all of the candidates that ran for a student council position.

Kent Park: Next Friday (September 16) our 8th graders will be traveling to Kent Park for a day of outdoor learning and fun. 8th grade students will be bringing home a letter that explains the day. If you have questions about the day or would like to volunteer, please contact Jody Bandy, jbandy@cca.k12.ia.us.

Week of September 12th Athletic Events
Monday- Volleyball vs. Benton (7th home and 8th @ Norway) 4:15 pm

Tuesday- Football vs. Center Point/Urbana (7th @ Center Point and 8th home) 4:15 pm
Cross Country vs. English Valley's (7th and 8th @ North English) 4:30 pm

Homecoming Week: Next week is homecoming in our district. Our middle school will participate in the daily “special” dress days. Even though students will dress in theme dress still needs to be appropriate.

The special days are listed below:

Monday- Blast from the Past

Tuesday- Twin Day

Wednesday- Wacky Wednesday

Thursday- Favorite Team

Friday- Blue and White

Have a great weekend!

Brad