Owensboro Catholic Middle School Newsletter
September 2009
Dear OCMS Families:
Please allow me to share some tidbits of ‘Good News’ about the first month at Owensboro Catholic Middle School for the 2009-2010 school year.
“MADE BY GOD FOR GOD” is the theme the OCMS faculty chose for the school year on our retreat day held at the Diocese of Owensboro‘s Gasper River Retreat Center on July 31. This theme was inspired from a keynote speech by Sr. Clare Fitzgerald, SSND, Ph.D., at the Diocese of Owensboro Catholic Educator’s first day of professional development on July 24. Not only did Sr. Clare talk about the importance of Catholic schools in “nurturing the Catholic Church and directing children to worship God” but she also stressed that that “we are all (stu-dents, parents and faculty) called to holi-ness, discipleship and sacrifice”. She inspired us all by stating that we were in a “ministry of hope, teaching our students that they were created by God, loved by God, and that God is with us on our way home to Him.”
Our Religion Department requested that school begin each day with a different prayer after the Gospel reading to help rein-force remembering these oft repeated prayers. On Monday we pray the Morning Offering, Tuesday the Apostles Creed, Wednesday the Our Father, Thursday the Prayer to the Holy Spirit, and Friday the Prayer to St. Michael, the Archangel. We are also continuing to strengthen the Catholic identity of our school by purchas-ing sacramentals such as Holy Water fonts and religious statues for each classroom, banners depicting Jesus and pictures of Pope Benedict for the hallways, as funds allow.
In the area of academics, we have adopted new Glencoe/McGraw Hill Math books. OCHS and OCMS worked together in choosing the same series so as to align the curriculum 7-12. This means that both the high school and the middle school are us-ing the same Algebra I textbook for their first high school math credit. Our science department has designated two lab days, “Wacky Wednesdays” and “Freaky Fri-days”. These are the days that Mrs. Payne and Mr. Woodward will be using the sci-ence lab for hands on learning. Their first lab of the year was on lab safety.
Our faculty not only teach but value further-ing their education as well. Mr. Woodward is enrolled in the Diocese of Owensboro’s Catechist training program. He completed both the entry and basic levels of training last year, will complete the intermediate and advanced levels of training this year, and will attain his Religious Education cer-tification by May of 2010. Mrs. Jennifer Payne has begun her Master’s in Counsel-ing at Western Kentucky University this fall. Ms. Judy Patton has begun her Master’s in Curriculum at Brescia University. Ms. Mary Cheshire has begun her Master’s in English at University of Southern Indiana. Mr. Hank Harvey will begin a series of six days of in-service entitled “Middle and Secondary Mathematics Improvement Project 2009-2010” provided by Western Kentucky Edu-cational Cooperative. Educational re-search, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and Math Learning Styles are a few of the areas that will be covered in this workshop that will be attended by math teachers from all over Western Kentucky.
OCMS has begun to provide breakfast from 7:30-8am every morning. Debbie Hermann has agreed to cook and serve.
OCMS owes a resounding thanks to the OCS Building and Grounds Committee and Wayne Payne, our Maintenance Director, for the installment of new windows in ten of our classrooms. They are beautiful and environmentally friendly which will save our system money in the area of heating and cooling.
The OCMS PTO provided another fun back to school activity by hosting a pool party at Atlantis Swim Club. We especially want to thank our PTO officers and chaperones for making this possible. The 8th grade class won the jean day for the highest attendance percentage.
The PTO landscaping committee did a beautiful job of weeding and planting flow-ers in the barrels outside the morning en-trance to the school and in the front landscaping. Our sincere thanks to Jenni-fer and Charlie Payne and Jerry Kuntz for all of the time invested in the heat of sum-mer to make our school look so appealing!!
The OCMS Football Jamboree was a huge success thanks to the many hours of work devoted by Hank and Kara Harvey, parents of the football team, and Mark Woodward. The coach at Memorial thanked Mr. Harvey and stated, “This was a first class event in every respect. We really enjoyed the jamboree and want to participate again next year. ”
The OCMS Volleyball Jamboree was a success as well thanks to Mr. Woodward and our three new volleyball coaches: Melody Clark, Jackie Osowicz, and Natalie Wright. All three are graduates of OCHS and the successful Catholic High volleyball program. Both our 7th and 8th grade teams came away from the competition with 2nd place trophies.
Mr. Spurlock, our OCMS newspaper spon-sor, plans to teach our students in this ex-tra-curricular activity how to produce an electronic version of a newspaper. The student body is anxiously awaiting the de-but of ‘Aces Action News.’
Fr. Tony Jones surprised us with a visit last week to inform us that he will be paying for a new canopy to be built at the exit of the annex building to help protect our students from inclement weather while waiting for their parents at the end of the school day. He will also pay for a new storage building for the OCMS football equipment. We deeply appreciate his generosity. He has also allowed our girls playing for the OCHS 9th grade softball team to use the field be-hind Immaculate Church to practice. It is wonderful to see OCHS graduates, Coaches Blake Edge and Elizabeth Church, practicing with our girls on the church and school grounds.
As you can see, there is a multitude of great things happening at OCMS! We want to thank each of you, our parents, for your much needed support and prayers. To-gether, we will continue to provide a safe, excellent, and faith based education for your children.
With prayers for God’s blessings upon you and your families,
Ann Flaherty, Principal
SCHOOL WEBSITE
The school website has many great fea-tures, such as, a list of all faculty members with their e-mail addresses. This is an ex-cellent way to stay in touch with your child’s teachers. Look for the section called Homework Helper. This page provides links to the textbooks used at the middle school. Students can find practice quizzes, crossword puzzles, etc. that follow the text-books. The website also has a complete list of our Accelerated reader quizzes. The AR List is located under students.
LIBRARY NEWS
Mark your calendars now, so you won’t miss our Scholastic Book Fair! Our theme is Desti-nation Book Fair : Read Around the World. The Grand Opening is after the PTO meeting on September 15. There will be a special drawing for parents that visit the fair. During the rest of the week, students will have the opportunity to view and purchase books during class time. Students can also shop before and after school. The fair will be open daily from 7:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Parents and family members are welcome to stop by anytime to purchase books, software, posters, school supplies and gift certificates. For a preview of products check out our book fair website at http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/ocms
Besides bringing affordable, appropriate books to our school, a goal of our Book Fair is to in-crease classroom libraries. The Classroom Wish List will enable you to donate books to your child’s classroom in your family’s name. This year we will also participate in the “One for Books” program. We ask that you donate $1.00 or loose change to buy books for the OCMS library. With a dona-tion, a book slip with your child’s name will be displayed at the Book Fair. Scholastic will match monetary donations raised with a donation of up to one million books to three national non-profit organizations. They in-clude: Kids in Distressed Situations, Inc., National Center for Family Literacy, and the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation.
Purchases can be made with cash, credit cards, or checks made to OCMS. There is no sales tax. Thank you for supporting OCMS and helping us to promote reading.
COMPUTER LAB/LIBRARY
Judy Patton,Tech Coordinator
OCMS has two working computer labs this year. The main computer lab, located by the office, has 30 working computers. The Science/Computer lab located in the annex, has 28 working computers. Each lab is available for students to use. The computer lab and library are open Tuesday through Friday starting at 7:45a.m. Students need-ing to check out a book, take AR tests, or work on a school assignment in the library or computer lab must first report to study hall. The staff member will then send stu-dents to the library or computer lab starting at 7:45a.m. Students are required to inform the study hall monitor of their needs as soon as they arrive.
PLEASE JOIN US
The faculty and students of Owensboro Catholic Middle School invite all parents and friends of our community to join us for the celebration of the Liturgy at 9:00 a.m. every Thursday morning at Immaculate Church.
STUDENT SAFETY
Great job, parents, on learning the trans-portation routes so quickly! The morning drop off goes off without a hitch. Just a reminder, that due to no direct adult super-vision, we do not open the building doors until 7:30am.
Bike riders are allowed to leave immedi-ately unless they exit the building after we’ve begun to dismiss cars. Then they must wait until the walkers leave the park-ing lot. The bike riders must follow the flow of traffic. Because walkers leave after the cars/busses have cleared the parking lot they may take a direct route to their homes.
Everyone is doing a good job of allowing an open lane for the busses to get around the parking lot. Please remember to drive slowly and carefully when you come around the corner of the back of the church after 3:05 pm as there are students still waiting to be picked up standing in the lot. Student safety continues to be our #1 concern.
ACADEMIC DEAN’S CORNER
By: Janice Clark
HOMEWORK TIP
Working successfully with our students on homework requires communication and un-derstanding. If your child struggles with and/or resists homework, try to discover why. Students struggle with homework for a variety of reasons. These may range from simple fatigue to actually lacking a neces-sary skill to complete the task. Talk to your child, ask questions, have them explain the assignment (this will verify understanding or lack of). A more complex assignment sometimes involves breaking a task into sub-steps, approaching the task one step at a time rather than tackling the whole task at once.
Many students express the idea that homework is a “waste of time.” Even if you wonder about the value of an assignment, it is critical to communicate an optimistic be-lief that homework positively affects achievement and teaches many valuable life skills:
• Following directions
• Independent work habits
• Time management
• Follow-through
• Use of strategies/sub-steps
• Responsibility
If your child struggles with an assignment, encourage him/her to take notes, explaining why he/she had difficulty. At what step or phase did he/she encounter difficulty? Is there a specific question he/she wanted to ask the teacher at that time? Have the stu-dent complete as much of the assignment as possible. This attempt, in addition to the notes, will be of great value to the teacher in identifying the problem, reteaching, and helping the student get back on track. Es-tablishing a positive approach to homework lays a valuable foundation for academic growth.
“For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Matthew 7:8
STUDENT PLANNERS
OCMS students were given student planners (agendas) at Open House. The student plan-ners provide the students with the tools to be-come more successful. They will provide the students with the opportunity to become better organized, a way to set short and long term goals, a documentation of their progress, and a way of communication between home and school. We encourage parents to take a look at the student planner on a regular basis so that you can be more involved in your child’s education process and progress.
NON-UNIFORM DAYS
At those times during the year when students have non-uniform days jeans, t-shirts, and sweats are permitted. T-shirts with anything relating to drugs, alcohol, music groups, or any-thing else not in good taste (as determined by the principal) are not appropriate and therefore, not allowed. If students choose to wear shorts, they must be their uniform shorts. No sandals, flip-flops, open toe or open heeled shoes will be allowed.
OCMS PICTURE DAY
OCTOBER 8, 2009
Order forms will be sent home.
Students may wear modest dress clothes.
NO SHORTS ALLOWED OTHER THAN UNIFORM SHORTS.
EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
Students at OCMS have many opportuni-ties to participate in clubs and organizations outside the school day. We encourage students to get involved in one or more extracurricular activities in order to get the most out of their middle school experience.
The day and time of club meetings are an-nounced during morning and afternoon an-nouncements. Students should make arrangements for transportation home be-fore coming to the meeting.
KENTUCKY YOUTH ASSEMBLY
If your child is interested in learning about the inner-workings of state government, then KYA is the place for them.
The KYA program is a hands-on experi-ence in state government. Students will write and debate bills. In November they will attend the Regional Youth Assembly in Louisville and Frankfort. They will be able to sit in the actual state law making cham-bers to present and debate bills for pas-sage.
Information and parent signature forms will be given out the week of September 14. Meetings will begin on Tuesday, September 29 at 7:40. If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Walter or Mr. Rhodes.
ACADEMIC TEAM
The Academic Team represents Owensboro Catholic Middle School at the Governor’s Cup Competition. The event is managed by the Kentucky Association for Academic Competition. Students partici-pate in written assessment tests, quick re-call, and future problem solving. During the first semester, quick recall meets are held with regional middle schools.
Students are expected to maintain a “B” average. During the fall, students attend one or two practices per week. As the aca-demic season progresses towards the Feb-ruary Governor’s Cup Competition, the number of practices per week increases. Quick recall practice has started and is open to all students.
STUDENT NEWSPAPER
Beginning this year, we will no longer have a "newspaper," but will be moving to a video format and "broadcast" news about our school. Students will be taking pictures and videos of selected activities, adding graphics and voice-over technology, and issue a period newscast about OCMS. Meetings will be announced as necessary, with many meetings taking place before school in the morning. Be on the lookout for links to ACES ACTION NEWS!
YEARBOOK
The Yearbook staff is responsible for completing a 40-page yearbook that reflects the school year. The staff takes the pictures, designs the pages, writes the captions, and types the pages before sending it to be published. This year the book will be pub-lished online. The staff can access their pages and pictures from the publishing website. Students will meet from Septem-ber to March. The first meeting was Sep-tember 1st. Students will have a monthly meeting to discuss progress and job as-signments.. Yearbook staff can work on their assignment anytime before school in the main computer lab.
STUDENT COUNCIL
The Student Council represents the student body and serves the student body by ex-ample and service. The council helps host school visitors and spearheads special school events. The council meets as needed and consists of two representatives from each homeroom.
DRAMA
Drama Club invites, encourages, and allows students to express themselves in a theatrical format. Students may participate as ac-tors/actresses, musicians, or behind the scenes artisans, with props, scenery, and wardrobe.
Auditions will be held in October. Students should listen to announcements for upcom-ing practice and audition times for the Christmas play. Students will perform the Christmas play once for OCMS stu-dents and once for parents.
CHOIR
Julie Renshaw
Thanks to the 100 students (half the school population!) who signed up to join Choir this year at OCMS. We have 4 choirs based on themes in the Bible: Covenant, Kingdom, Salvation, and Worship Choirs. Students will sing with their choir once a month and will be called out of 1st period for 10 min-utes before mass to run through the music. Thanks for lifting up praise to God through song!
BETA CLUB
Beta Club is a service organization that encourages academic excellence coupled with stewardship. Our first service projects are maintaining the flower beds and bushes in front of the school. We will also be providing and maintaining recycling bins throughout the school building to promote stewardship of our resources.
To qualify for Beta Club, students must have a 3/25 GPA and less than two detentions. The 7th graders who qualify will be invited in January 2010.
BAND
Great things are happening in the Owens-boro Catholic Middle School Band! Many of our band students are participating this year with the Owensboro Catholic Marching Aces. These students have worked hard and will represent our school well at area competitions this fall. Our students have also started practicing on their All-District audition music (info. will be sent out to parents very soon concerning All-District). Students selected for All-District have an opportunity to play with other outstanding musicians from Owens-boro/Henderson/Madisonville area schools. For a small school, we are very proud of the percentage of our students who achieve this prestigious honor.
Parents—please know that some aspects of band are open to ALL students at OCMS such as Winterguard and Jazz Band in the Spring, Middle school is a time for stu-dents to try many activities. This year, as well as past years, our band students have also been active in all Fall and Spring Sports, Academic Team, school clubs, and many other activities. Please contact Ed Hauser at 685-0566 or by e-mail at ed.hauser@owensborocatholic.org to get information concerning all the opportunities band has to offer.
MECHATRONICS CLUB
Mechatronics is a hands on team building club that competes in the First Lego League Competitions at the Owensboro Science Museum. OCMS, in partnership with Owensboro Community and Technical College, will be hosting the kick off meeting for the Mechatronics Club Thursday, Sep-tember 17, in Mrs. J. Payne's classroom from 3:00-4:00.