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Colchester Middle School - Friday Focus
November 14, 2014
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From the Principal:
Dear CMS Students & Families,
New! This Sunday, five members of our CMS XC team will be competing in the USATF New England
Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships in New Hampshire. The top finishers move on to Regionals
on November 23rd in Maine. We wish our very own Myla Jacobs, Shyanne Roberge, Alex Frank, Dylan Roberge
and Jack Moore the best of luck!
Update! Pick-A-Time directions for scheduling Parent-Teacher Conferences are included in the Friday Focus and
are at the bottom of the newsletter. There a live-link at the bottom of this form as well as one on the front page to our
school website. The Pick-A-Time portal will remain open until November 21st at 4:00 PM. If you find that there are no
times available when you go to the website, please contact your child’s teachers directly to schedule a meeting.
New! Lost and Found! Students please check our lost and found table located by the cafeteria. All items left behind
after Parent-Teacher Conferences will be donated by Noon on Tuesday, November 25th.
New! Please remember, our Front Office closes at 3:30 PM. Custodial staff is not allowed to grant parents or students
access to the building (especially into lockers or classrooms) after hours. Thank you for honoring this.
New! Ski and Board! Please remember that registration and payment is due no later than November 21st by the end of
the school day. NO late registrations will accepted.
Update! Congratualations to Fariha Nawar for her submission in the 2014-2015 Lions Club Peace
Poster Contest: Peace, Love, and Understanding. Fariha is a 6th Grader on the Champlain House and her poster goes to
states this weekend! When asked about what her poster means to her she told me that: “we accept eachother for who we
are, even if we don’t always agree we accept one another regardless of our race, color, or religion.” For more information
about this annual event go to the Lions Club website.
Reminder! Lincoln Essay Competition for 8th Graders – a great chance to get involved! Every year, Hildene, The
Lincoln Family Home runs the Lincoln Essay Competition for 8th graders throughout Vermont. First place winners
receive $1,000, Second place $750, Third place $500, and Honorable Mentions $200. The students and their Principals,
educators, and families are celebrated at a special awards luncheon at Hildene in May where the winners read their essays
aloud to an appreciative audience and enjoy a personal tour of The Lincoln Family Home which includes a special exhibit
on President Lincoln.
This year’s topic: Choose an important, often divisive, issue about which you have a strong
opinion. Put yourself in the shoes of someone on the other side of the issue. Identify at least three
reasons this individual would give to support her/his position. Describe how this experience has –
or has not – affected how you will think about and discuss divisive issues.
Both teacher and student application packets can be downloaded at:
http://www.hildene.org/schools.html . The deadline to apply is President Lincoln’s birthday,
February 12, 2015.
Warmly,
Ms. Gruss, Principal
Colchester Middle School - Friday Focus
November 14, 2014
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Parent Teacher Organization (PTO):
New! Save the date! The CMS PTO will be sponsoring our next school dance on Friday, December 12th from
6:00 – 8:00 PM. We’ll have exciting details to share in the coming weeks and will let families know how they can pitch
in to help make this a great event for all CMS students. Please remember to fill out a Volunteer Registration Form if you
are interested in chaperoning.
Reminder! Consider joining the CMS PTO - the next meeting is on December 2nd in the Library-Media Center at
6:00 PM. While childcare is not provided – children are very welcome to attend with you. For more information, contact
the CMS PTO President, Tim Stetson, at: [email protected]
Update! The PTO’s Bottle Drive Hut and it remains OPEN for donations. The hut is located between CMS
basketball courts and the fields. Proceeds go to support school-wide parent-teacher initiatives at CMS to benefit students
that are not covered by our annual budget.
From the School Nurse:
There is currently respiratory virus circulating across the United States. Enterovirus D68 has caused
several children with a history of asthma or wheezing to be hospitalized. Please refer to the following link
from the CDC to learn about this virus, the symptoms associated with it, how to minimize your risk, and the
care for children with asthma. If your child has cold like symptoms and develops difficulty breathing, please
see your care provider as possible.
http://healthvermont.gov/prevent/enterovirus/documents/EV68_parent_letter_20140915.pdf
The Vermont Department of Health recently issued new guidelines for Pre-Teen vaccines. Please see the Nursing
website for more information. Contact Nurse Goldberg, if you have any questions at: 802-264-5800 or via e-mail at:
[email protected].
From the Guidance Department:
For more information about our Guidance Department and the service es they offer students and families - please go to
the Guidance Department’s website at: http://cmsvtguidance.weebly.com/. N
Music, Band, & Chorus:
Reminder! District III Jazz Festival: On Friday, November 14th, six members of the CMS
music program, along with other 7th and 8th Grade students from surrounding schools, will
be traveling to Browns River Middle School to participate in the first ever District III Jazz
Festival. There will be a day-long rehearsal for the Band and Chorus, with a concert in the
evening. More information for participating students will be available early next week.
Sports at CMS:
Game and practice information will be posted on the CMS Athletics website ONLY. Use of daily announcements or
the Friday Focus will ONLY be used for posting last minute updates, changes, and cancellations.
Students and parents, your coach is the go-to source for ALL information on practices. Make sure you maintain that
a good line of communication with them – this should include parents having phone numbers and e-mails for your
coaches. See coaches directly, or contact our Athletic Director, Mr. Olson, for more details! For more complete sports
and game information, go to our CMS Athletics page on our website.
After-School Activities:
For all after-school clubs or school-sponsored events (except athletics): Students must have a signed and
Colchester Middle School - Friday Focus
November 14, 2014
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completed CMS after-school activity permission form from their club’s director, to participate. There are no exceptions to
this. Students need to be dismissed by the adults supervising the club/athletic event directly to the parent, guardian, or
identified responsible adult allowed to pick-up your child(ren). Families need to pick up their students on time. Please do
not ask your children to leave the building and wait for you outside.
If you plan to use our building for a club, sporting, social, or community event, you MUST have a Building Use
Form completed in advance of the date. Two weeks are required to process the form and for us to let you know if the
room you seek is available for the date and time you wish. You MAY NOT host your event at our school until you have
this form APPROVED AND RETURNED to you. If you have any questions or concerns please contact Mrs. Pariseau,
Administrative Assistant to the Principal, at: 802-264-5805 or via e-mail at: [email protected] .
School-Wide Events and Happenings:
Reminder! The CMS School store is open for business every Friday during lunches. Prices are reasonable and order
forms are in the Front Office. Come on out and see what we have! All proceeds go to sustain the school store for
our students.
Reminder! Parents should expect teachers to post all homework and/or materials needed for completing homework
on cloudk12 by 5:00 PM each day. In addition, teachers update grade books on-line by 8:00 PM Friday of each week.
As parents, we often ask our kiddos how the day went.
Sometimes we get an answer that provides us with a “window-in” but often times we hear,
“nothing much.” So… twice each month, ALL teachers at CMS will post the following
information about their classes on cloudk12:
The title of their KUD (unit of study) and the Connecting Ideas within it
The focusing questions for the week and up through the next parent update
What teachers want students to know and be able to do as a result of their
classroom learning opportunities
Please contact your child’s teacher directly if you have any questions or concerns.
CMS has a private YouTube Educational Channel for Faculty and Students. Unlike “OPEN” YouTube Channels,
the benefit to a private channel allows us to keep post student work and keep it confidential. A private video can only be
seen by the manager, which will be only teachers, and the users are selected by the manager. The video won’t
appear on any channel nor be searchable and will be invisible to other users. If you wish to not have your student(s) on
video on this private channel, please contact your child(ren)’s teachers.
We’ve streamlined things so students have one login id and password for all of the programs they use in school.
We strongly encourage parents to speak to their children and have them share this information with you. In addition,
Parent Portal Access Information was mailed out parents during the 1st week of September. This confidential information
is necessary for you to complete the creation of your own ParentPortal account. Remember, ParentPortal & cloudk12
FAQs are on our website under “Resources.” If you have any problems, please contact Mrs. Ward at: 802- 264-5802.
An important message about your student’s school Gmail/Google account: If students don’t remember to log off of
their Google account when finished using it for school work from home, the computer continues to use the Google
account information, even if someone else is on a personal account. Many students are receiving e-mail from places that
are not allowed, such as YouTube, Facebook, Pandora, etc. The school district owns its Google Domain which means the
School District sets the rules for it; as such, students could lose computer privileges at school if they continue to use their
school Gmail account for things other than schoolwork or visit domains that are outside of the set of school sanctionedwebsites. Parents, please remember, you can ask your teachers for help with this.
We are a Lions Club donation and recycling center for CSD! We will keep this box at the Front Office
throughout the year so please feel free to send your child in to school with your donations. Either prescription
November 14, 2014
Colchester Middle School - Friday Focus
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lenses or over- the-counter eye glasses are acceptable – even if all you have are just the lenses or just the frames; that’ll
do!
We continue to participate in the year-round Price Chopper Tools for Schools Program! There is no
cost to participate. Please help us earn free educational equipment by going to www.pricechopper.com to
register your card. Our CMS school code is: 15207.
Colchester School District & Town News:
To keep up on what CMS is doing and what’s happening in Colchester Schools and in the greater town
community, please visit the following locations:
Check out the CSD IT Department: http://thehub/technology/Technology%20Newsletter/Technology%20Tidbits%202014-10.pdf
Visit CSD on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ColchesterSchoolDistrict
Follow CSD on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CSDCommunity
Look to CSD’s Spotlight at: http://csdspotlight.org/category/colchester-middle-school/
Check the CSD website for upcoming Colchester School Board Meetings at: http://www.csdvt.org/main/index.php.
Keep up on Colchester events through the local paper, “The Colchester Sun”, at: http://www.colchestersun.com/
Stay active and involved with Colchester Parks and Recreation: http://colchestervt.gov/Recreation/parksNRec.shtml
Important Reminders/Dates for the Upcoming Week:
Date
Mon., Nov. 17
Activity
Jazz Band: Meets on Mondays!
Location
Band Room
Time
2:15-3:30 PM
Select Choir: Meets on Wednesdays!
Choir Room
2:15-3:30 PM
Tues., Nov. 18
Wed., Nov. 19
Thu., Nov. 20
Fri., Nov. 21
SUBMISSIONS TO THE FRIDAY FOCUS:
Must go directly to Ms. Gruss at [email protected] and must be received no later than 11:00 AM on Thursdays. Please
be sure you write them as you would like them to be printed. All submissions will be reviewed by Ms. Gruss and may be
edited in regards to content and length.
CMS is an inclusive learning community committed to providing engaging, innovative and rigorous academics while
also building "TRRFCC" character in its youth.”
Colchester Middle School - Friday Focus
November 14, 2014
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Pick-A-Time Directions for Colchester Parents
Beginning November 07, 2014:
Please log in by using the following link (http://pickatime.com/client?ven=11606279) or visit our website
( www.csdvt.org/cms ) and go to the Parent Conference link.
Register (For New Users):
1. Enter your e-mail address and click on "Login/Create Account.”
2. Fill in the required fields and register.
3. For each child, enter a date of birth in a MM/DD/YY format.
Sign In:
If you've previously registered, all you need to do is enter your e-mail address and password. If you forgot your
password, you can click on the “Forgot Password” button and a new password will be e-mailed to you.
Scheduling:
1. Click on a square to book that time. Each colored square represents an available meeting time. The legend shows
you which teacher corresponds to which color. Please note you will not see all of the teachers at your school, just the
set of teachers for which your children have classes.
2. You also have the option to have PickATime send you an e-mail reminder.
3. Click "Create Appointment."
4. Repeat until you have a time for each teacher for which you'd like to visit.
Reminders:
At any time you can click on "printable schedule" for a hard copy of your parent-teacher conference
schedule. You will also have the option to e-mail it to yourself.
If you want to make changes, you can log in at any time with the e-mail address and password you used to create your
account.
Click on “Your Schedule” to display your appointments. There will be links to change the time, or cancel the
appointment.
Please Note:
If you notice that there are no times left on PickATime with your child’s team of teachers, you will need to
contact them directly via their school e-mail address to request a meeting.
Colchester Middle School & Malletts Bay School