Randall Middle School
Newsletter, March 2023
News From the Principal
Dear Parents & Caregivers,
February went quickly for us at Randall Middle School! We have been engaging in high levels of learning all over Randall Middle School! In late January, our students took the aimswebPlus™ universal screenings. aimswebPlus™ is an online assessment, data management, and reporting system that provides national and local performance and growth norms for the screening and progress monitoring of math and reading skills for all students in Kindergarten through Grade 8. The late January aimswebPlus™ assessments help us to compare student growth from their aimswebPlus™ scores in September.
Here are some of the results:
65% of our 5th graders made average, expected mid-year growth in ELA
71% of our 5th graders met their mid-year ELA goal
62% of our 6th graders made average, expected mid-year growth in ELA
77% of our 6th graders met their mid-year ELA goal
78% of our 5th graders made average, expected mid-year growth in Math
81% of our 5th graders met their mid-year Math goal
56% of our 6th graders made average, expected mid-year growth in Math
66% of our 6th graders met their mid-year Math goal
As you can see, we have some celebrations, especially considering we have adopted new curriculum resources in each of these academic areas. At the same time, we have a need for additional learning so that we can improve in the areas indicating a need for growth. Thankfully, we have a highly qualified staff who are dedicated to ensuring high levels of learning for all students. Each of the students who have not made average, expected mid-year growth are receiving additional targeted interventions for Math and ELA to support their learning.
This is where you, the caregiver comes in! We appreciate your support, and continue to need your support! Please encourage your student to READ each night for a minimum of 20 minutes. Encourage them to read to you or to a sibling or even a stuffy! All day long, your student is learning with rigorous curriculum resources, and you might be tempted to let them relax and spend time on their phone or device. They still can do this, but be sure they get some time reading also. Don’t worry if the books are “at their level,” just try to find books, magazines, or newspapers that they enjoy reading. A great resource for helping match your student to a great book is right here in our Randall Middle School Library with Miss Evans, our teacher librarian, or Mrs. Zimmer, our library aide. Outside of school, Miss Tammy at the Cortland Free Library’s Youth Services is also a great resource. They read all kinds of materials, and are familiar with many different topics for students.
For Math, your student knowing their addition, subtraction, multiplication, and eventually division facts with automaticity is a very helpful skill that should be practiced if they are not proficient. This enables our students to dig deeply to solve a math word problem without the added effort/bandwidth of calculating a simple math fact.
Together, we can continue to collaborate to ensure high levels of learning for our students. Thank you for your partnership!
With Purple Tiger Pride,
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News From the Nurse
The month of March often blankets the earth with snow in CNY! Kindly continue to send hats, mittens and extra dry clothes so that everyday can be a fun day!
Business:
Physicals for New Admits and the 5th grade continue every Thursday AM. If you do not want your child to receive a school physical please contact the Health Office at 607-758-4174.
Immunizations are required for 6th and 7th grades. Please check with your child's Primary Care Provider and schedule an appointment. Students will not be allowed to attend school after 14 days without the required immunizations. (Tdap for 6th grade and Meningitis for 7th grade.)
Sickness will either have the opportunity to wither away, or spread without concern! Please keep your child at home if they are sick!
As always–If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to call me.
Stay well,
Nurse Neuman
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School Counselor News
In 6th grade myself and the Librarian Ms. Evans began our Career Unit. The students have been doing a great job learning about their interests and different types of careers. In March they will be having their Mini-Career Fair here at Randall.
In 5th grade I have done some lessons in the classroom on Media balance and helpful tips before and during tests.
Mrs. Hegedus
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P2 News
In P2 news this month, we delved into Forgiveness, Love, Humility and Love of Learning. Don’t forget there is a plethora of resources on each separate trait, especially for families which can be found here. (password is P2)
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From the Randall Middle School PTO:
The Randall Middle School PTO recently sponsored our school wide field trip to Crown City Cinemas to see Jumanji, 1995 Edition. Our students were able to brainstorm movies (available on DVD) in their classroom communities, and each classroom community came up with one movie to put up for a vote. The entire school community voted between all of the movies, and Jumanji 1995 Edition was the overwhelming winner! Many of our students had not seen it, and they had a great time seeing it at the theater.
The funding for the trip was donated to the Randall Middle School PTO from Royal Motor Group. Royal Motor Group had reached out to our PTO earlier in the year to donate $500, which they donated to each elementary school PTO in Cortland. We contacted them to attend an assembly at school to recognize their donation. When they heard we were hosting the assembly prior to our school wide field trip to see Jumanji, they decided to donate ANOTHER $500 to cover the cost of our field trip! Take a look at this video from the “Thank you Royal” assembly, and these great pictures featuring Jeromey Bushey and Colby Reagan from Royal Auto Group presenting their donation to our students and Maddie Reeners, the President of our Randall Middle School PTO. Special shout out to Maddie, who was super helpful arranging the field trip with Crown City Cinemas and even came to the theater to ensure everything was all set up and ready to go for our popcorn and water!
Our next Randall Middle School PTO meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. This will be a hybrid meeting, meaning you are welcome to attend in person or online via Google Meet.
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Art News
Imagination Celebration Show Dates
March 9-April 14
During Gallery Hours (10am-5:30pm)
Voices of Student Artists
Thursday, March 23rd, 5:00p.m.
In the downstairs gallery space
Reid Kline will represent Randall this evening by talking about his work!
Congratulations to our Randall artists whose work will be displayed in this show!
Alex Kozenieski
Roslynn Sharpsteen
Trey Gambitta
Camden Drake
Brynn Lowie
Brayden Bleck
Makayla Gridley
Ayanna Truitt
Sadie Young
Reid Kline
Spencer Cavanagh
David Cole
Juniper Maloney
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Orchestra News
Music News
Band News
Prism Concert
Congratulations to all involved in the Prism concert the week before February break - it was a great concert and all of the groups did an awesome job!
NYSSMA Festival
Some of our 6th grade students will be participating in the NYSSMA Solo Festival held at Cortland Junior-Senior High School on Saturday, March 25th. Details with times and room assignments will be sent home as soon as they are available.
All County Band
A huge congratulations to the following students who were selected to participate in the 2023 Cortland All County Band! This is a band made up of the top students from all across the county, so this is a big honor! These students will perform a concert at the Cortland High School Auditorium on Thursday, April 13th!
5th Graders: Jackson Marks, Quintan McConnell, George Partigianoni, Mason Condie, Jazarah Johnson, and Aidan Norman.
6th Graders: Abigail Martin, Elliana Totman, Scarlett Palleja-McDannell, Olivia Devine, Maggie Ramiza, Miles Bacigalupi, Johny Kanichuk, Jaxon Clark, Reid Kline, Kaylee Loveall-Whittin, Carter Compagni, Autumn Horton, Gavin Hall, Liam Madden, and Daniel Caragher.
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Number Ninjas
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PE News
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Library News
Happy March and Happy (almost Spring)! As the trimester comes to a close in the library, all students are exploring new activities in makerspace, learning about the iditarod, and creating projects to share with others.
Our fifth graders are eagerly and diligently writing and recording spooky stories inspired by “The Mysteries of Harris Burdick” to share with our second graders, before moving on to building cars out of pasta!
Our sixth graders are gearing up for their career fair on the 7th with the mayor, local lawmakers, and district administration to show off what they have learned, and then will learn how to design 3D prints!