The Official Homestretch

This is the official homestretch…the last 5 weeks of school are upon us! Your child’s 35-week progress report will be hand-carried home on May 24. I want to thank you for your help during the NYS Common Core Assessments. During the week of the ELA tests we had almost perfect attendance. We still have two more tests to administer for 8^th grade students only: 

NYS Science –May 22 and June 3 

NYS Field Test – Math – June 4

The Annual School District Board of Education Election and Budget Vote will take place from 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in the West Genesee High School Auditorium Lobby. If you would like to review Dr. Brown’s presentation you can see it here or stop in to the Main Office at CMS to look at a hard copy. 

Our students are enjoying the last few weeks of school; we’ve shared a laugh at the Student Council’s annual talent show and our Battle of the Books competition (see the pictures of our teams at the bottom of the blog, in no particular order). Our students in the SKATE program brought back many ribbons from the Special Olympics event – they had a picture perfect day. As I am out and about each day I see students working hard in their classrooms, athletic fields and in preparation for their last concert of the year.  On Friday we had our final Olweus class meeting of the year where we reviewed our student survey data and gathered feedback about what our students think helps them get the message about bullying. In the past month we have had PSA announcements each morning written by small groups of students – we’ve heard raps, poems and songs – each bringing home the message that we must stand up for each other. They are the high-point of our day!

Finally, mark your calendars for Sunday, June 2, 2013 for the Save Modified Sports Run/Walk. The route begins and ends at WGHS. The race will culminate with a tug of war between CMS students and our friendly rivals over at WGMS.  You can register on-line. Thank you for your support of this fun event. 

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or just stop by – my door is always open!

We Celebrate Learning!

Beth

Interaction Time at the Middle Schools

In an effort to constantly improve the educational program that we offer our students, we have been exploring different ways to provide more support for all of our students. Our high school has used the practice of Interaction Time (IT) for many years now, and it has proven itself to be an effective way to give our students more time with teachers.

Essentially, IT is a 30 minute period at the end of the day where students can meet with teachers for a variety of purposes.  This time could be used for students to connect with a teacher for a class that they missed due to an absence or music lesson, to make up a quiz or test, to complete a lab, or for an extension of the classroom experience. In addition, it would provide an opportunity for our students to access our computer labs and library. This is much more than working on homework, this is about improving how we support all of our students in a time of tremendous change in education. After working closely with the Director of Transportation on the logistics and presenting this information to the Board of Education last week, we are happy to tell you that we are ready to implement IT at the start of the 2013-14 school year.  

We have created a series of FAQs at the bottom of this blog post that will help you understand IT. Please keep in mind that the times are approximate until will solidify transportation schedules.  Please feel free to call or email us should you have any questions. 

We Celebrate Learning!

  

Beth Lozier

Principal, CMS                  

blozier@westgenesee.org

Phone: 672-3159     

What will the middle school hours be next year?

The day will begin at 7:35 a.m. and end at 2:10 p.m. Interaction Time will occur from 2:10-2:50 p.m. There will be two bus runs, at 2:10 and 2:50 p.m.

Will my children have to get up much earlier with the new start time?

Most students will have to be out and ready for the bus approximately 5-13 minutes earlier than this year.

Will some middle school students be riding buses with high school students?

Yes, depending on the bus route some Middle School students will be riding with High School students on both bus runs. There is often a perception that the behavior of older students will have a negative influence on the younger students on the bus and some parents have expressed an initial concern with having them ride together. First and foremost we have terrific high school students and generally have few issues on our High School bus runs. In addition, we currently have our parochial students (over 300) in grades K-12 ride the buses with High School students each day and we have not had any behavior or other problems with younger students riding with older students since combining those bus runs in 2008. The other piece to this that Elementary and Middle School parents are typically not aware of is how few High School students actually ride our buses.  On average we have 17 or fewer students riding any of our High School buses to or from school and our buses hold at least 55 students. The majority of our bus runs for next school year will be primarily Middle School students.

Will Interaction Time occur Monday-Friday?

Students will have IT on Tuesday-Friday.  On Mondays, IT will be used for staff development and faculty meeting purposes. Students who participate in modified sports, clubs, school musical, etc. will stay on Mondays and attend a supervised study hall until 2:50 p.m. at which time their practice or club will start.

How much instructional time was lost as a result of creating Interaction Time at the end of the day?

None. With careful planning and looking at scheduling and transportation in a different way we were able to maintain the current amount of teacher-student instructional time and make better use of some dead time that existed on the front end and during the school day.