Randy Gratz, Principal
Central Middle School
Cory Irwin, Asst. Principal
Charger Chat
Volume 4, Issue 5
April 2015
Hilary Hilycord, first
year teacher at CMS (8th
grade social studies), as
two previous years of
teaching at Union County
High School. Ms. Hilycord
is also the assistant volleyball-8th grade and cohead coach for CMS’ track
team. A product of Edinburg and Indiana University, has been involved in
athletics throughout her
life (volleyball, tennis,
track, and basketball). Ms.
Hilycord uses her athletic
and coaching background
to break down content
areas in which students
might find difficult.
In terms of family, Ms.
Hilycord’s sisters are in
higher ed as students
(Purdue and Ivy Tech).
Ms. Hilycord’s parents are
involved in businesses
which has influenced Hilary to be a hard worker,
dedicated, and punctual.
Ms. Hilycord has a love
for animals as witnessed
through her families two
dogs, Nala and Bella.
Ms. Hilycord’s husband,
William, is employed by
Kroger. A graduate of IUPUI, Mr. And Mrs. Hilycord
met at IU after William’s
deployment was over.
Ms. Hilycord appreciates
the sense of community at
CMS!!!!!
Principal’s Points
The beginning of the
fourth quarter provides all
of us with an opportunity to
review student work
throughout the first three
quarters and do some intentional planning. That
planning includes ensuring
that students have the opportunity to show growth
via Acuity 3 math and lang.
arts assessments ,which
translates to success during
the second round of
ISTEP+.
With the state changes
relative to ISTEP+, making
the test more rigorous and
complex, CMS teachers and
assistants have provided all
students with practice using
nonfiction text to develop
written reflections and answer sample multiple choice
questions (paralleling the
electronic “look” of the actual spring ISTEP+). We
want all of our students to
be able to navigate the
complexities associated with
the new and improved
ISTEP+!
Obviously, part of the
fourth quarter is to educate
all of our students in terms
of next year. High school
orientation session have
been conducted as well as
course selections. In addition, CMS counselors have
been facilitating next year’s
schedules for current seventh graders as they prepare for eighth grade. CSA
orientation, for incoming
CSA seventh graders is
scheduled for Thursday,
April 16th 5:30-7:30. As a
result of various orientation
sessions and scheduling,
the fourth quarter is busy
for everyone, including students!!
CMS has multiple reasons to celebrate the great
work of several students.
From having winners of the
Athletics Activities
2015-2016 Physicals Night: 4/15 from 5:30 PM - 8:00 PM
@ Northside MS
2015-2016 Tennis Team Open Facility: 5/5 from 5:00 PM 6:30 PM @ Lincoln Tennis Courts
Golf Team/Track Team picture day: March 7
Martin Luther King Jr.
poetry contest to three
CMS students winning
the semi-finals of the
Indiana Repertory Theatre playwriting contest
to recently two more
winners of the Human
Rights’ Commission art
and composition contest
(will be recognized at
the end of the month).
These examples are the
ongoing work of both
teachers motivating and
preparing students to
achieve at an extremely
high level year-afteryear!
ISSMA Band Festival
The Indiana State School Music Association (ISSMA)
Middle School Band Festival will be held on Friday, April
10 at the Columbus East HS Auditorium.
Parents and public are invited to watch and admission to the festival is free. Concessions will
be available in the East Cafeteria.
7th Grade Band Report @ 4:00 PM and Perform @ 5:00 PM
8th Grade Band Report @ 7:50 PM and Perform @ 8:45 PM
Robotics Team Tales
Congratulations to Juden Ki
Robotics. The team ranked 2nd
out of 22 teams at their competition on January 10 at Southwestern High School. They were
the highest ranked rookie team
and qualified for the FTC Indiana
State Championship Competition
on February 21. The team did
great at the State Championship
and made it to semi-finals.
Media Messages
The library has 12 Kindles available for
check out. Each Kindle is valued at
$100.00. For this reason we require a
parental signature before a Kindle can be
checked out to a student. Each Kindle
has approximately 70 books loaded on it.
Students may check out the Kindle for 2
weeks and then renew for another 2
weeks. If interested, please contact Mrs.
Fee at feem@bcsc.k12.in.us.
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Charger Chat
Team Adventure Tales
See You at Our
Book Fair!
Would you encourage
your child’s love of reading if you could? Of
course. What’s more –
you can!
Scholastic Book Fair
comes to CMS on Apr. 6Apr. 14 to share exciting
books and learning products with young readers.
Parents and teachers will
find plenty of items to
interest them too. The
fair is open each day
from 7:30 AM – 3:30 PM.
Students will be scheduled to visit the Book Fair
during class time and
may purchase books
then. Brochures will be
sent home describing
some of the books for
sale. The Book Fair helps
us promote learning while
raising money for special
school projects.
CMS Adventure students
have been super productive
this winter. First of all, Molly
Newton, Hannah Holliday,
Kamebry Wagner, and Kaitlyn Dougherty won the Design an Ad contest, and all
had ads featured in The Republic. Also, Grace Wang,
Helen Rumsey, and Graham
Keele are the semi-finalists
for the YPIP as featured in
The Republic as well. Stay
tuned to find out who wins
the $1000 prize. Then, Jack
Hawkins was a semi-finalist
in the Money Smart Kid Essay Contest. In addition,
Grace Wang won the CMS
National Geographic Geogra-
phy Bee and qualified for
state competition. Results to
come later on that contest!
Congratulations to the Human Rights Commission
Winners. Isha Chavan won
in the Art category and Sveni
Thalor won in the essay category. Both girls will be honored at the Human Rights
Commission Annual Dinner
Meeting on April 30.
Now, we are preparing
for the Academic Super Bowl
Competition, so we are studying the Roman Empire. We
placed Top 10 in the state
last year. Let’s do it again,
Chargers!
Isha Chavan and Sveni Thalor
Congratulations to Adventure 8th graders for their
success on their recent Quarters for Cancer project. Adventure biology students and St. Bartholomew 8th graders researched specific topics relating to cancer, wrote
research papers and created displays of their findings. At
the January 27 CMS vs. St. B's basketball game, the students presented their displays and spectators were invited to put money in the container in front of their favorite
display. Between the two schools, the students raised
$560. All money raised went towards Columbus Relay for
Life.
Rose Sardina, McKenna Major, Kamebry
Wagner and Rachel Gloeckner with their
display on childhood cancer. Their display raised the most money of all the
displays.
Our Book Fair accepts
cash, checks and credit
cards.
Don’t miss out on the
Scholastic Book Fair,
Apr. 6 – Apr. 14.
Team Bolt Tales
In Mr. Ferrara’s class, students are learning about the
Crusades. The unit involves
role-playing as several of the
historical figures from the
time.
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Charger Chat