California Trail Middle School
September 2019 Parent News
Notes from Mike
By the time you receive this, we will have completed twelve and a half days with our sixth graders and twelve with seventh and eighth grade students. It seems like a short amount of time but there have been many areas of focus. As we start the new school year, I want to highlight three of those.
Safety. With 663 middle school students, (if that didn’t send a little jolt down your spine, let me know and we can talk about a career in middle level education…) this is where the principal has to start. Teaching and reminding students how we handle different situations is important. We have taught procedures for arrival/dismissal, shared ALICE (https://www.olatheschools.org/alice) procedures, practiced a fire drill, talked through what to do in event of a tornado, set expectations for hallway, cafeteria and various classrooms. What all of these things do for us, is provide structure to be able to focus on teaching and learning. For students, it lowers their anxiety, knowing what is expected and what to expect.
Relationships. One of the things I am most proud of at California Trail is our faculty’s understanding of the need for and the effort they put into building strong appropriate relationships with students, families and each other. I hope that you see this when you drop off your child to staff members greeting them, when you call or visit the office and when you interact with teachers about your child. Like any relationship, some connections happen more naturally and others take more time but in these first few days, this has been a focus for us all.
Renewal. With the new school year comes new opportunities. For students this means encouraging them to try something new, set new goals and continue to learn new things about themselves. During Bulldog Time last Tuesday, we shared with students all of the things they can get involved with here at CT, along with the benefits (finding new friends, higher GPA, higher graduation rate, more enjoyment of school and many more) of being involved. Please scan the daily announcements to see and talk about involvement opportunities with your student.
As the year progresses, we will dive deeper into curricular content and push your students to grow academically, socially and emotionally. This type of growth often isn’t pretty, doesn’t happen without some failure (in a supportive environment that encourages trying something different and learning from our mistakes) but is worth the work. We look forward to working with you and your child this year.
Mike
Touchbase
Bulldog Backers PTO
The Bulldog Backers would like to extend a BIG thank you to all of you that have paid your membership dues to support the PTO. We have grown in membership each year and this year our growth is even larger! We would also like to say thank you for attending the Back to School Bash- it was our largest Bash yet and we enjoyed meeting so many new faces and seeing many familiar faces too!
The winners from our membership drive are Mia Huettenmueller with a $25 gift card to Target and Sam Rose with a $25 gift card to Mi Ranchito.
You can still pay your PTO fees! You can get a form from the office and send it in with your child.
We are excited to announce that the Bulldog Backers have sponsored mini grants for each staff member this year. The $50 grants can be used individually or combined with other staff members to get a larger item. The items that are purchased are items that can be used by all students and items that the district would typically not purchase for the staff member. Each of our staff members is very valuable to the school and we wanted a way to show them how much we appreciate everything they do for our students and the school.
Stay tuned for sign-ups for the parent teacher conferences in mid October. The sign ups should be posted the last week of September. We would appreciate your help in providing meals and snacks to our teachers who spend long days at school during conference week.
Please mark your calendars to join the Bulldog Backers in its first ever PARENTS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN - 80'S & 90'S EXTREME MUSIC BINGO FUNdraising EVENT! It will take place on Friday, November 22 from 7pm to 11pm at St. Andrews Golf Club and will include Dinner, Dancing, Bingo, Wine/Liquor Toss, Gift Card Garden, and Raffle. So, pull out those leg warmers, put some extra air in your Reebok Pumps, splash on some Drakkar Noir, and join us for a totally tubular adults only night! More details to come! (If you are part of a company or organization that would like to sponsor or make a donation to this event, please contact Erica Tate at estate0929@gmail.com.)
Please contact the Bulldog Backers with any questions or concerns. Thank you for your support!
Michele Giem- msgiem@gmail.com
Brooke Peters- otbrooke@yahoo.com
Girls BasketBall Information
CT Girls 2019 Basketball Information Sheet
Tryouts will be from October 7 to October 10 from 3:20 to 5:30 here at CT.
A Physical & Concussion form signed after May 1, 2019 must be on file here at CT before tryouts. You will not be able to participate on the first day of tryouts.
If you have any questions, please contact us at the information below.
We look are looking forward to a great season this fall!!!!!
Greg White, CT Girls Head Coach: gwhitect@olatheschools.org
Michelle Green, 7th Grade Coach mdgreen@olatheschools.org
iPad Deployment Information
Core Concepts-Parenting a Child with Anxiety
High School Options Parent Presentations
Library Trail Challenge
The 2019-2020 Trail Challenge is underway! Last spring Olathe Middle School Librarians selected 16 titles we think are some of the very best titles published in the last 2 years for middle school age students.
Students are encouraged to read as many titles as they can. CT students will be asked to rate the books they read, so I can keep track of participation.
I will be holding informal gatherings (usually with food!) throughout the first 3 quarters to allow students to have time talk with each other about the titles.
In March all Olathe Middle School students who participated in reading Trail Challenge titles will vote March Madness style to see which title is the favorite! Below is a list of titles and, when available, I have included a QR code link to video trailers if you would like to a get glimpse of the books.
Thank you, Mrs. Mateer
Counseling Department Feedback
Parents –
The counseling department at CT would like your feedback on our counseling program. Follow the link or use the QR code below to access the survey. We appreciate your input. Thanks!
CT Serves
California Trail is very excited to announce that the 3rd CT SERVES DAY will be on October 16th this year. This will be the 3rd year that our entire school has gone out into the community and performed community service. These acts have included helping sort donations, working at Harvesters, going to local missions, visiting assisted living centers, etc.
Last year we decided it would be great for students to wear CT gear on CT Serves Day so we offered a t-shirt for students to purchase. We will be doing that again this year AND it’s the SAME design so no need to purchase a new shirt if you got one last year. The following website is where you can go to order a t-shirt for this year. The shirts are $10 and $12 for sizes XXL and up. This website is open to all interested, those that didn’t get a shirt last year and this year’s 6th graders. We went this route to make it simpler you for and us as you can purchase using a credit card. The shirts will be delivered to school and given to your student during bulldog time.
CT Spiritwear
The CTMS store is open to purchase Spirit Wear if you want some for yourself. You have until Sept. 6th to purchase items. Remember items are not returnable. If you have questions on sizes please contact Molly who runs our store for us, kmpandp@gmail.com. https://ctmsbulldogs.itemorder.com/sale
CT B.O.T.S Fundraising
Notification Statement of Non discrimination
Sign Language Interpreters
California Trail Middle School
Office Hours:
Monday- Thursday 7a.m.-4p.m.
Friday 7a.m.-3:30p.m.
Website: olatheschools.org/californiatrail
Location: 13775 West 133rd Street, Olathe, KS, USA
Phone: 913-780-7220
Twitter: @CTMSBulldog