Sixth and Seventh Grade Pre-Enrollment Coming Soon

It is an exciting time at

CMS! Every time I turn

around, I see our students

doing great things. In ath-

letics, we are improving

our skills. In Fine Arts,

we are performing con-

certs and winning awards.

In instruction, we are

growing in our weekly as-

sessments. A group of stu-

dents have also started

attending a morning tutor-

ing program. Students

and teachers are working

hard every day to improve

and learn. I am so proud

of the students, parents,

and staff of CMS!

As spring approaches, we

know that tests are just

around the corner. State

testing begins the first

week of April. The grade

levels are tested as fol-

lows: 8th graders take the

test in Reading, Math, and

Science; 7th graders and

6th graders - Reading and

Math.

Parents, we appreciate all

you do, and want you to

know it is important that

your child is on time dur-

ing any state testing days.

We will send a more de-

tailed list of the dates for

the April testing as we get

closer to the testing dates.

In closing, February is

Black History Month. It is

an international celebra-

tion and tribute to the Af-

rican-American culture

and contributions in our

society. It is a month set

aside to learn, honor, and

celebrate the achievements

of black men and women

throughout history. Educa-

tion helps us progress and

grow, and having a better

understanding of history,

different cultures, and rac-

es will enhance our

knowledge of history.

Here are some important

dates that are coming up.

Thank you for all you do!

February 1 – District

Spelling Bee at CMS

February 9 – African Amer-

ican Teen Conference 1:30

February 14 – Spring Pic-

tures

February 17 – Honor Socie-

ty Induction

February 20 – President’s

Day (No School)

Blake Thomas

Principal

Coming up in February

CMS counselors will be

meeting with 6th and 7th

grade students to pre-

enroll for the 2017-2018

school year. Students will

be sent home enrollment

forms so that parents will

be able to help their child

choose the best classes for

them. Parents will need to

sign the form and ensure

their child returns it to

their grade level counse-

lor.

Eighth grade student pre-

enrolling for high school

will be at a later date.

Please contact a CMS coun-

selor for additional infor-

mation: 580.355.8544

6th Grade News 2

7th Grade News 2

8th Grade News 3

CMS Sports 3

Title I 4

CMS News In Brief 4

Inside this issue: CMS Students Are Doing Great Things!

Special Edition: January/February 2017

Central Middle School Online Parent & Student Newsletter

Cougar Tracks

Cougar Tracks

LPS Foundation

Coin Drive

February 6-10

LPS Foundation is hav-

ing a coin drive the

week of February 6-10.

All money raised is used

to help give grants to

LPS teachers.

There will be a reward

for the elementary, mid-

dle, and high school

that take in the greatest

percentage of money

according to their stu-

dent count.

Knights of Camelot

Ms. Pen-

nington’s

Magnifi-

cent Math-

ematicians

will be

working

with solv-

ing inequalities and equa-

tions. Once we master those

skills, we will move on to

mean, median, and mode for

sets of numbers.

Mrs. Morlett’s Masterful

Writers have composed some

beautiful Bio Poems about

themselves. Next, they will

begin researching and inves-

tigating issues pertaining to

human rights around the

world. To make a connection

to these issues, we will begin

reading I am Malala, the

autobiography of Malala

Yousafzai.

Ms. Ricci’s Remarkable Read-

ers will be polishing their

summarizing and paraphras-

ing skills as we prepare for

the third AlphaPlus Bench-

mark test that will happen at

the beginning of March.

Mr. Anderson’s Geography

Gurus are finishing a lesson

about Canada. We will then

go south to explore Mexico.

While there, we will look at

the culture, climate, and

physical features found

there.

Mrs. Ervin’s Super Scientists

have been engaging in meth-

ods of scientific inquiry and

building proficiency in higher

level reasoning. Next up, we

will be focusing on electrici-

ty…Shocking!

In Language Arts, we will be starting

argumentative essay writing, and

through class seminars, our new goal

will be to formulate and execute a plan

which will better the school community.

Africa is our destination in Geography.

We will be studying its physical charac-

teristics, history, culture, and climate

regions.

In Science, we will be studying the

world beneath our feet and above our

head with our Earth and Space unit

The Gryph-

ons are “on

the ball” and

“thinking

outside the

box” this

month! We

are working

with literary and sound devices and

finishing up the novel, The Outsiders,

in Reading. We are anxiously waiting

to watch “The Outsiders” movie to com-

pare and contrast it to the novel!

that will include the study of gravity,

planets, and stars.

We are finishing up inequalities, the

relationship between expressions that

are not equal, in Math and beginning

percentages. We will learn to calculate

sales tax, tips, and discounts.

7th Grade Team Gryphons are On the Ball and Thinking Outside the Box

of January we will begin our second

novel study of the school year. Students

will begin reading Lois Lowry’s utopian/

dystopian novel, The Giver.

ELA - wrote essays stating and semi-

committing to a Philanthropic New

Year’s Resolution: “What Can I Do to

Help Someone, and What Will I Get

from It?”

that provide peer teaching. The geno-

cides in Rwanda and Darfur will be

evaluated. Students will represent

their assigned countries and work to

resolve the Rwandan genocide in an

appropriate and effective manner. Stu-

dents will explore the disease that con-

tinue to affect the population of Africa.

Reading - currently working on defin-

ing, identifying, and analyzing figura-

tive language within texts. At the end

SPARTANS

Geography –

students will be

exploring Africa

this month. Stu-

dents who repre-

sent African

countries will

participate in

classroom

presentation

7th Grade Exploring Africa and More . . .

6th Grade Team News

Page 2 Cougar Tracks

Team Odin

Team Odin has

been hard at

work reviewing

procedures and

expectations,

and getting

back into the

swing of things

at school.

In Ms. Miller’s reading class,

we are analyzing text and

making inferences. This is a

difficult skill for many of the

students and requires a great

deal of practice. We also

completed our Star Test.

Makeups will be scheduled

for students who were absent

last week and results will be

sent home as soon as all stu-

dents have completed the

test.

Mrs. Pool’s class just finished

reading the book “I am Mala-

la”, the autobiography of

Malala Yousafzai. Through-

out the reading we were able

to analyze Malala’s culture

and compare it to our own.

Next week, we will be intro-

ducing Canada. After com-

pleting a unit on Canada, we

will begin a study on Mexico.

Ms. Long’s math students

will use properties to solve

expressions and use order of

operations to evaluate ex-

pressions. Next week the

class will conduct STAR Test-

ing on January 17th and

18th. On Friday, we will in-

troduce using number sense

and properties of operations

and equality to solve real-

world and mathematical

problems involving equa-

tions.

Team Bigfoot

Math is moving into

inequalities and slope.

In science we are fin-

ishing up the unit on

Chemistry. In the next

week we begin looking

at and studying Phys-

ics and Newton’s Laws

of Motion.

In US History we have begun our reme-

diation process with a Pretest for Unit 3

“Creating a Nation”. With 3 out of 5

classes’ scores in….we are passing the

pretest at about 75 percent.

Team Titan

Science is applying the

skills needed to under-

stand the working of

chemistry. They have

been balancing equa-

tions and finding out

about The Law of Conservation of Mat-

ter. We did an experiment to under-

stand the effects of oxidation on a cop-

per penny. Then how the chemical sub-

stances of vinegar and salt has on oxi-

dized copper.

In US History we will be covering the

United States following the War of

1812. Manifest destiny will take us all

the way to California as we finish dis-

cussing westward expansion. While the

country is growing we will also learn

how it evolved. This month we will fo-

cus on the introduction of the industrial

revolution and its transformation of the

North. Lastly we will discuss the

growth of agriculture and slavery in the

South.

In English class during the months of

January and February we will continue

building our writing skills. Currently

students are working on an argumenta-

tive essay and reviewing the necessary

components. Recently we began work

on a new writing program call Criterion

Writing that students can access at

home and at school. They can also

practice both reading and writing skills

on USA Test Prep or IXL. Encourage

your child spend some time on them at

home. They are great practice and very

beneficial to those who utilize them.

In Reading, we have just finished a

benchmark to measure our progress

from the beginning of the school year.

We will begin literary devices this

week.

In Math, we ended the 1st semester on

a good note and are excited to see what

this semester has in store for us. We

are finishing up multi-step equations,

and then moving right into multi-step

inequalities. We will be taking the

STAR Math test on January 17. This

test monitors the strides your child is

making in math. It will give us great

data to determine what we need to

work on more in depth for the state

test.

Attendance plays a keep role in those

strides so please make sure your child

is here on time. After the STAR test,

we will go back and look at slope. Ask

your child if they can identify a positive

slope from a negative slope. See what

they can tell you about the changes in

the steepness.

8th Grade News

derson, Devarius Hardy, Alex Pe-

rez, Malaki Avendano, Shawn Bar-

ber, KJ Love, Daniel Neighbors,

Tyler Gassoway, Alex Hubbard,

Tyron Amaker, Frank Rowe.

- Coach Stallworth -

Boys and Girls Track: There will

be sign ups on January 31 and Feb-

ruary 1 during Lunch time in the

Plaza for anyone planning on par-

ticipating in Track and Field this

year. Practice will start on Febru-

ary 6 from 3:15 until 4:45, with ath-

letes needing picked up by 5:00

each day. We will meet in the main

Gym where we will either run in

there or walk to Lawton High’s

track, depending on the weather

each day. We are working on the

schedule of meets at this time. Each

Student Athlete must have a

PHYSICAL before they can begin to

Basketball:

Congratulations to Central Middle

School’s 6th Grade Basketball

Team. The young cougars finished

the season with a record of 8-2. The

team was led in scoring by D’Antho-

ny Short, Frank Rowe, KJ Love,

Devarius Hardy, and Tyron Amak-

er. The team would like to give a

big shout-out to SSG Hubbard and

Alex Lechner for their diligence and

hard work. Lastly, the team would

not have had such a great year, if it

hadn't been for the tremendous par-

ent support throughout the year.

Thank you parents for making the

sacrifice to ensure that your chil-

dren was present for practice each

and every morning at 6 a.m. Your

assistance was greatly appreciated.

Team Members: D’Anthony Short,

Markel Davis, Fred Davis T’Andric

Bennett, Michael Baker, Alan An-

practice. Forms may be obtained

from any of the Track coaches or

from the Front Office. Track Coach-

es are Ashleigh Leighow, Jerry

Slawson, Dwight McKillip, and

Kenneth Stallworth. We will be

participating in our annual Run-A-

Thon, so be planning on that. New

Warm Up Suits for both Boys and

Girls have been purchased and the

2017 Cougar Track T-Shirts are in

and may be purchased for $15.00

from coaches or come by front office.

CMS Sports

Page 3 Cougar Tracks

2016 A-F School

Report Card Parents are encour-

aged to access the

Lawton Public

Schools Website and

view our 2016 School

A-F Report

Cards. The Law-

ton School Report

Cards are available

at the following web-

site address: http://

afreportcards.ok.gov/

If you do not have

internet access at

your home, you may

request a copy of the

school report card at

the principal’s office.

1201 N. W. Fort Sill Blvd. Lawton, OK 73507

Central Middle School

raised will provide new books for our

avid Anime book readers.

Please re-

member to

continue to

collect Box

Tops and

send them

into the Li-

brary. We

thank you in

advance for

this simple

but profitable program.

CMS also thanks the Lawton Public

Schools Foundation for their support in

providing $1500 for the purchase of

many new non-fiction books. These new

books provide insight into real life by

relating to current issues. They will

also be useful for research projects.

African-American Teen Conference Feb

9th-space is limited.

Spring Picture Day February 14th

(only students with pre-paid envelopes

will be permitted to take photos).

7th and 8th grade strings have their

District Solo Contest Saturday Febru-

ary 18th at Macarthur High School.

Running Club – preparing for events in

the OKC Memorial Marathon in April.

Military Child Club – planning for the

end of the year formal dance.

Phone: 580.355.8544 Fax: 580.585.6452 E-mail: bthomas@lawtonps.org

The Anime

Book Club

is now sell-

ing a varie-

ty of fla-

vored meat

sticks for

only $1.

The flavors

are intense

and our

parents,

teachers,

and stu-

dents

thought

they tasted great last year when we

participated in this fundraiser. Hicko-

ry, BBQ, Cajun, and spicy flavors are

just a few of the choices and range all

the way up to Ghost Pepper! Money

CMS News In Brief

Teachers Teach ... Students Learn ... It's Our Future

We ’r e on F ac eb o ok

Facebook .com/

lawtoncentralms

CMS Students Can Build Academic Skills Online

If your student has no homework but would

like to increase their academic skills leading

to better grades and higher test scores, CMS

subscribes to several web-based learning

tools.

These programs can be accessed at school

and at home by logging onto the website us-

ing the following information on all programs

listed below.

User Name: firstlastnamegrade (e.g., joestu-

dent7)

Password: idnumber (same as lunch num-

ber)

USATestprep, Inc. is recognized as a leader

in online review for high school, middle

school, and elementary school standardized

testing.

Central Middle School is a Successful Title I School