Colt Corner
Colleyville Middle School
March 3, 2023
Colts,
Here we are, one week away from spring break and the end of the 3rd nine weeks.
Our students did really well on this past week's interim assessment days. These days are valuable to our teaching staff and support team providing relevant real-time data to help us see where we may need to target instruction in the classroom. We appreciate everyone’s support on these essential assessment days that help move our Colts forward in their academics.
This coming Wednesday all assignments at CMS from the current 9 weeks are due to teachers by the end of the school day. This will give our teachers an opportunity to tie up any loose ends midweek and ensure that all of our Colts have the best possible opportunity for their earned grades. Any new assignments after Wednesday will be reflected on the 4th nine-week report card. This is an internal practice that we have at CMS to help our Colts be as successful as possible.
A big shoutout to our STARS Dance team as they competed this past weekend at the MA North Texas Regional Dance Competition, and came away with a lot of hardware. The girls took first place in many categories and represented the school well. On that note, good luck to all our student-athletes trying out for the cheer and dance teams next week. We wish our Track & Field teams well as they compete in their first meet of the season next week too.
Finally, we received another fantastic Colleyville Middle School accolade for our PTA partnership in receiving the Voice for Every Child Platinum Membership Award by recruiting more members then we have students! This is THE most prestigious Membership Award offered to Local PTAs and we are one of only 50 PTAs across the state of Texas that has earned the honor! This makes the 4th school year in a row with the highest participation numbers in CMS school history!
Thank you for partnering with us in Building an Excellent School Together!
David Arencibia, Ed.D.
Colleyville Middle School, Principal
School Twitter: @CmsColts - #TeamCMS - #ColtPride
B.E.S.T. - Building Excellent Schools Together
UPCOMING DATES/EVENTS
March 4 - CMS Band 5th Grade Instrument Placement Interviews
March 6 & 7 - CMS Dance Tryouts - CMS South Gym - 3:45 - 5:30pm
March 6,7,8 &9 - Cheer Tryouts and Clinic - CMS North Gym 3:45 - 5:15pm
March 10 - Cheer Tryouts - CMS North Gym - 4:00 - 8:00pm
March 7 - General PTA Meeting & Tech Talk for Parents - 8:45 CMS Learning Commons
March 7 - PTA ShoutOuts during lunches
March 7 - Track Meet - Central Junior High - 4:00pm
March 8 - CMS Dance Tryouts - CMS South Gym - 3:45 - 8:00pm
March 10 - Staff vs. Student Basketball Game!
March 13 - 17 - Spring Break
March 21 - World Down Syndrome Day - Rock Your Socks
March 24 - PTA Colt Rewards
March 24 - Theatre - Playbill Auditions - CMS Room 122, 4:00 - 6:15pm
March 28- Track GCISD Zone Meet (7th/8th) - CTMS - 4:00pm
April 1 - Region Choir Clinic/Contest - Carroll Senior High School
In this Edition of the Colt Corner
* 8th Grade Panoramic Picture
* School pictures orders
* Order your Yearbook!
* Cheer Tryout Clinic for anyone trying out for Cheer in GCISD
* GHS Fillies & Belles Auditions
* Rock Your Socks - World Down Syndrome, March 23rd
* Colleyville Middle PTA Voice for Every Child Platinum Membership Award
* General PTA Meeting & Tech Talk for Parents
* Save the Date - PTA Spring Fling & Dance
Counselors Corner
* 6th & 7th Grade Course Selection for 2023-2024 school year
* Summer Bridge Information
* Preferred Participation Consent for Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention
* DNA Kits
* Additional Resources
Repeated Information
* GCISD Update February
* Upcoming CMS Grading Deadlines
* Understanding Attendance
* March 10th (Friday before Spring Break)
* CMS Dance Tryout Information
* Math Telescoping Exams
PTA News
* PTA - Purchase your Student Shoutouts today!
* PTA Fundraising - Shoes, Clothing, and more Bin
* PTA Interest Form
* PTA Hospitality
* PTA Birthday Shoutouts
* Colleyville Middle School Directory - Who To Contact
CMS Social Media Section
* CMS Portrait of a Graduate Video
* CMS on Twitter - @cmscolts
* CMS on Facebook
* CMS on Instagram
8th Grade Panoramic Picture
school pictures
order your yearbook
Cheer Tryout Clinic for anyone trying out for cheer in GCISD.
Middle School Cheer Tryout Clinic and incoming 9th Grade Cheer Tryout Clinic
Sponsored by
Grapevine High School Cheerleaders
We are offering workshops to get students ready for tryouts! Tumbling coaches, motion work and tryout tips will be available each night. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. nights from 7:30 to 9 pm in the Cheer Gym. Entrance in the back by the band hall. Cost is $10 a night. More info can be found at grapevinecheer.com. Hope to see you there!
GHS Fillies & Belles Auditions
rock your socks day
Colleyville Middle PTA has earned the Voice for Every Child Platinum Membership Award
Texas PTA is proud to announce that Colleyville Middle PTA 1606 has earned the Voice for Every Child Platinum Membership Award by recruiting 736 members to be a voice for all 615 students enrolled at your school. This is THE most prestigious Membership Award offered to Local PTAs and you are one of only 50 PTAs across the state that has earned the honor! I am beyond proud of how hard your PTA has worked to achieve this award.
THANK YOU for working so hard to make every child’s potential a reality in the Colleyville Middle PTA community and across the state of Texas!
General PTA Meeting & Tech Talk for Parents - March 7th
General PTA Meeting - CMS Library, Tuesday, March 7th at 8:45 a.m.
Tech Talk for Parents with GCISD Chief Technology Officer, Kyle Berger
and election of PTA Officers
Colleyville Middle School PTA Executive Board
Officer Nominations
for the 2023-2024 School Year:
President - Berri O’Neal Gormley
President Elect - Tamaron Hunt
1st VP of Programs - Liz Payne
2nd VP of Membership - Leslie Moore
3rd VP of Ways and Means - Angela Greenlaw
4th VP of Hospitality - Stephanie Wilkerson
5th VP of Volunteers - Tanya Rozycki
Secretary - Julie Odeitus
Treasurer - JoAnna Avakian
Save the Date - PTA Spring Fling Dance
Counselors’ Corner (March 6-10)
6th & 7th Grade Course Selection for the 2023-2024 school year:
Mrs. Brizzi and Mrs. Bouchelle have met with all current 6th and 7th grade students about course requests for the 23-24 school year. Both grade levels now have access to a Google Form corresponding to courses offered in their grade levels to request courses and alternate elective choices for the 23-24 school year. Course requests for both grade levels will be due by 11:59pm on Monday, March 6th.
Summer Bridge Information
If your student is interested in taking Accelerated Math or Science next year but was not in accelerated courses for the 22-23 school year, they will need to take the summer bridge course in order to do so. Please click on the link below for more information about this program.
Math and Science Summer Bridge Information
6th Grade Guidance Lesson: Conflict Resolution
March 20th and March 21st
Preferred Participation Consent for Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention
As required by federal and state law, we will soon begin presenting a personal safety curriculum to middle school students. GCISD uses the Play It Safe! ® program to teach this curriculum. Play It Safe! ® is a child abuse awareness and prevention program that incorporates age-appropriate scripts and movies to teach children how to reduce the risk of sexual and physical abuse, and sexual assault. It teaches them to recognize potentially abusive behavior, provides the tools to respond to threatening situations, and encourages them to report abuse to a trusted adult. It is presented by The Women’s Center of Tarrant County, Inc. which uses trained volunteers to present the program using videos and scripted discussions at an age-appropriate level. Play It Safe! ® meets the State and Federal guidelines for curriculum addressing personal safety issues, child sexual abuse and pedophiles. The GCISD School Health Advisory Committee has reviewed and recommended these programs for all GCISD schools.
Our schedule for showing the Play It Safe Curriculum this year is as follows:
6th grade “Sexual Harassment”- November 8th, 2022
6th grade “Survivors of Abuse- March 8th, 2023
7th grade “Healthy Relationships”- October 5th, 2022
7th grade “Can’t Take It Back” - November 30th, 2022
7th grade “Abuse of Power” - February 21st, 2023
Please complete the section below to indicate your preference for your child’s participation in any of the above programs. If you choose for your child not to participate, your child will be provided an alternate location while this program is being presented. If the form is not completed, and turned into the campus counselor prior to the date on your campus notification letter, your child will not participate in the program.
Please complete the following Play it Safe form and return to your campus Counselor prior to the date of the lesson!
6th and 7th grade students were also provided with a hard copy form which can be returned to Ms. Dumas (advocate counselor). There is a recording of the parent preview located on the CMS counseling webpage.
Character Strong Trait: For the Month of March our Character Strong trait is Honesty and here is a character dare you can try as a family.
Honesty is being free from deception– not only saying true things, but living a consistent life.
Character Family Dare: Start With "I"
Try to resolve some resentment or disagreement today by using the opening, “The story I am telling myself is...”
Brenè Brown shares this as a tool for all of us to help focus on our own feelings and actions instead of finger-pointing and blaming. See how much it improves communication and helps you resolve conflict without the other person. Example: “You left in the middle of movie night on Saturday. The story I’m telling myself is that you went to bed early because you didn’t want to spend time with me.”
DNA Kits:
In compliance with Texas S.B. 2158, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD offers parents and legal guardians inkless fingerprint and DNA kits for their children upon request. This kit is designed to “help locate and return a missing or trafficked child,” according to S.B. 2158.
Parents and legal guardians may request these kits through the front office at your child's campus.
Additional Resources:
National Institute of Mental Health
In the GCISD Update - Past Edition
16 Seniors Named National Merit Finalists
GHS Wrestler Wins State Championship
Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement Teacher Honored with State Award
Meet Star of GCISD Juana White
And More!
Chromebooks
Upcoming CMS Grading Deadlines
Understanding Attendance
Your child's attendance is important and can affect their performance in school. Understanding the difference between what makes an absence excused or unexcused can be confusing. The district explanation for the attendance laws can be found in the GCISD Student/Parent handbook on pages 37-42.
Per the Student/Parent handbook, an absence will be excused for the following reasons:
Religious holy days
Required court appearances
Activities related to obtaining US citizenship
Documented health-care appointments - a note from the health care provider must be submitted upon the student’s return to campus
Absences resulting from a serious or life-threatening illness with certification by a physician
Students in custody of the state who have an activity required by a court-ordered service plan
If a student is absent from school for any other reason, it is considered an unexcused absence. When a student has 3 or more unexcused absences, the school will send a note to the parent letting them know and allowing for the parent to provide any notes that would then make the absence excused.
According to Texas mandatory attendance laws, students must be in attendance 90 percent of the time in order to receive credit for each class. Students who have absences, excused or unexcused, in excess of 10% for all or part of a day must complete a seat time plan to recover credit.
March 10th Activities
We also have fun events planned prior to our Spring bad weather days (April 6th), including our annual Color Run. Your Colts won't want to miss this fun event.
We need all of our Colts in attendance on these important days!
Annual Staff vs. Student BBALL day! - Friday, March 10th
CMS Dance
Tryout packets & Info.
Math Telescoping Testing
Testing opportunities for telescoping in Math for the 2023-2024 school year are available in the summer for GCISD students who are completing Grades K-7.
The Parent Information Packet will be available on the District website under the Parents tab by selecting the link for Acceleration Exams/Math Telescoping, Grades K-7.
The packet will contain the registration form. Payment is made online following the submission of the form.
Parents will also be able to view the TEKS on the TEA website, and download Study Guides for the exams purchased from University of Texas at Austin, UT High School.
Registration for the June exam administration is March 20-30, 2023.
Registration for the July exam administration is June 2-20, 2023.
---
Las oportunidades de exámenes para “telescoping”(*El término 'Telescoping' se refiere a un proceso por el cual un estudiante puede avanzar en matemáticas más allá de su nivel del grado inscrito.) en matemáticas para el año escolar 2023-2024 están disponibles en el verano para los estudiantes de GCISD que están completando los grados K-7.
El paquete de información para padres estará disponible en el sitio web del distrito en la página de los Padres seleccionando el enlace para Exámenes de aceleración/Telescoping de matemáticas, grados K-7.
El paquete tendrá el formulario de registro. El pago se realiza en línea después del envío del formulario.
Los padres también podrán ver los TEKS en el sitio web de TEA y descargar guías de estudio para los exámenes comprados en la escuela secundaria de la Universidad de Texas en Austin, UT.
La inscripción para la administración del examen de junio es desde el 20 al 30 de marzo del 2023.
La inscripción para la administración del examen de julio es desde el 2 al 20 de junio del 2023.
PTA - Student Shoutouts!
PTA Fundraising - Shoes, Clothing, and more Donation Bin
PTA HOSPITALITY
We wanted to share more opportunities this year for parents to express their love for our teachers and staff through sharing their own special talents or donating items for teachers to enjoy.
We will be having a staff appreciation day every month and have listed dates with items we invite you to make or donate (you are welcome to purchase your favorites if cooking/baking is not your thing). All donated items will be labeled with your family name or child's name so that the teachers will know you sent your love. Below is our scheduled list of events we have lined up for the teachers this year.
Thank you in advance for your help. Please feel free to contact me at (617)957-9665 or vp_hospitality@cmscoltspta.org if you have any questions or any ideas you would like to share.
Annie Dries, VP of Hospitality
Julie Sullins, VP of Hospitality Assistant
https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/10c0f4fa5af2ca7f4c70-teacher
PTA Birthday Shoutouts
Birthday Marquee Messages are now available!! $15 per message, and we are requesting a 2-week lead time.
COLLEYVILLE MIDDLE SCHOOL DIRECTORY - WHO TO CONTACT
*Note, the point of contact is the first level to answer and questions or concerns. They are usually able to resolve your question/concern, but in the event that you did not reach a resolution, your concern will be elevated to the subsequent level until a resolution is reached.
To email a CMS team member type the first name dot last name @gcisd.net (i.e. David Arencibia = david.arencibia@gcisd.net) unless different and noted under the name.