February Message

Our annual St. Patrick’s Day Dance will be on Friday, March 16th from 6:00-8:00 pm. DJ Dan Becker will be here with his flashing lights and the best dance music in town. Our gym will also be open for basketball. Tickets are available at the door for $5. Snacks will be available for sale. All proceeds benefit our PTO.  If you would like to chaperone, please contact our Dance Chairperson, Mrs. Hess, at moonstars0427@gmail.com. If you would be interested in organizing the snack table, please call Mrs. Lozier at 315.672.3159. Wear your green and come on out for a great night!

Our next 3:3 Basketball Tournament will be on Friday, March 9th from 2:15-4:00 pm. Teams can be mixed grade levels and/or co-ed with 4 players maximum. Team registration forms will be handed out on February 26th in PE classes. Fill out the form and return payment ($5 per player) to the Main Office by Monday, March 5th. All proceeds benefit our PTO. Let’s Play!

The last day to order yearbooks will be Friday, March 9th.  Yearbooks can be ordered online at www.balfour.com. If you have any questions, please contact our yearbook advisors, Mrs. Clift at kclift@westgenesee.org or Mr. Keida at dkeida@westgenesee.org.

We are more than half-way through learning about the 24 character traits that are the foundation of the Positivity Project (P2). I hope you are following us on Twitter (@camillusmiddle) so that you can stay up-to-date with what character trait we are studying each week. I Tweet it out each Monday morning, but you can also access the calendar for the rest of the year here. This past week, as we celebrated Valentine’s Day, we took a deep dive into the trait of love. I thought you might be interested in seeing an example of the resources that The Positivity Project supplied for us on this topic. I was impressed by the focus of the materials for love as seen in the video clip from the well-known movie Brian’s Song, which tells the story of the friendship between Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers of the Chicago Bears. I clearly remember watching the movie when I was in middle school (in 1970 something…I try not to do the math). The movie follows the trajectory of their relationship from teammates, to roommates, to friends played out against the tumultuous time period in our nation’s history. Their unlikely friendship ultimately becomes a profoundly loving one because each possesses the character traits we are studying this year: open mindedness, kindness, teamwork and bravery. I am not sure if that movie is available for streaming, but it would be worth watching again because its message stands the test of time.

We have just been so impressed, each and every week, with the quotes, videos, and discussion starters from P2.  We use them as a way to directly teach about the character traits and open the conversation about how students can recognize each of them in themselves and others. Our teachers are reporting back about how aware our students are and about the connections they are making to not only their daily experience here at school but also outside our walls. P2 is giving them some really important things to think about with a strong call to action. The entire experience has reminded us that we need to continue to set high expectations for kids, and we need to be deliberate in how WE model the character traits. We sometimes forget that middle level students are capable of reflective thinking…we need to give them the prompts to do it regularly.

As educators, we always look at the research base of any type of program we implement here at school. We always want to know how effective something is before we even consider if it will be worth our time. P2 is so powerful because it is based on the clinical research by Martin Seligman, Ph.D. His book, Learned Optimism, was groundbreaking at the time it was published (1990…I was in graduate school…let’s skip the math) because he wrote about “explanatory style.” Essentially this means that the story we tell ourselves about how the world works and our place in it is critical, especially when we need to be resilient. I highly recommend the book because it has great suggestions for parents and is highly readable.

I hope you all enjoy Winter Recess…hopefully this warm spell will stay with us. 
We Celebrate Learning!
Beth 
Beth Anne Lozier
blozier@westgenesee.org

February 19-23    No School (Winter Recess)
March 1              Choral Fest at HS - 7:00 pm
                           Rehearsal at HS from 2:00-4:00 pm
March 2              Career Fair and OCC Visit – Grade 8
March 3              Culture Fair – 12-3 at WGHS
March 9              3:3 Basketball Tournament 2:15-4:00 pm
March 14             10:10 am dismissal for Staff Development
March 16             St. Patrick’s Day Dance – 6:00-8:00 pm
March 20             Jazz, Chamber, Select Concert – 7:00 pm
March 21             7/8 Band & Orchestra Concert – 7:00 pm
                                 at WGHS
March 27             6th Gr Band, Orchestra, Chorus Concert –
                                 7:00 pm
March 30             No School – Good Friday