CMS Cougar Newsletter

One Team. One Track. One Goal: Excellence for Every Student!

A Letter from the Principal

Dear Cougar Families,

I want to take a moment to speak candidly with you.

Over the past several weeks, we have seen an increase in challenges within our building. Some of our students are struggling - academically, socially, and emotionally - and our staff is feeling that weight as well. Middle school is a time of tremendous growth, but it can also be a time of heightened emotions, shifting friendships, and increased academic expectations. This time of year can feel especially heavy.

Our students need us - all of us - to work together in a deeper, more intentional way.

In the midst of these challenges, we remain committed to providing meaningful learning experiences that help students grow not only academically, but as individuals. As we continue recognizing Black History Month, classrooms across the building are engaging students in thoughtful discussions, research, and reflection centered on the achievements, resilience, and contributions of African Americans throughout our nation’s history. These lessons are important because they build perspective, empathy, and understanding - qualities that strengthen both character and community.

At the same time, our Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs are leading a canned food drive to support members of our community. Service reminds students that even during difficult seasons, they have the ability to make a positive impact. Thank you to all those who have already contributed.

Finally, I want to address attendance. We understand that illness has been circulating, and student health will always come first. If your child is struggling to come to school - for any reason - please do not navigate that alone.

Call us. Schedule an appointment. Come talk with us.

Whether the challenge involves academics, friendships, anxiety, or something else entirely, we want to partner with you to find solutions. Avoidance will not remove the challenge, but working together can create a path forward.

Our students need consistency. They need structure. They need encouragement. Most importantly, they need to see the adults in their lives united in support of their success.

We are committed to doing our part - strengthening supports, reinforcing expectations, and ensuring CMS remains a safe and structured environment where students can learn and grow. With your partnership, we can help our students regain their footing and finish this year strong.

Thank you for your continued support and for trusting us with your children each day.

With Cougar Pride,

Lori Mattson

Interim Principal

Covington Middle School

We are incredibly proud of our students who were recognized at the Annual Student Art and Writing Contest on Thursday, February 19th at the Alleghany Highlands Regional Library. This event is sponsored by the Covington Woman's Club and we are incredibly grateful for all that they continue to do to celebrate our students.

This special event highlights the artistic and literary talents of students across our division, and our students represented our school with excellence, creativity, and Cougar pride! Their artwork and writing pieces reflected originality, hard work, and a true passion for self-expression.

Being selected and recognized in this contest is an outstanding accomplishment. It takes courage to share your creativity with others, and we celebrate not only the awards earned, but also the dedication and effort each student invested in their work.

Please join us in congratulating these talented students on a job well done! We are so proud of the way they continue to shine both inside and outside of the classroom..

2026 Annual Student Writing Contest Winners:

Short Stories: Audrey Coleman (1st Place) and Gwen Halterman (HM)

Poetry 6-8: Abigail Powell (1st Place) and Ava Fry (2nd Place)

2026 Annual Student Art Contest Winners:

Pencil-A: Emma Morgan (1st Place) and Jemma Wright (HM)

Tempera: Morgan Roberts (1st Place), Tara West (2nd Place), Alexa Coronado (3rd Place) and Baylee Benedict (HM)

Collages: Morgan Roberts (1st Place) and Emma Morgan (2nd Place)

Pastels: Daisy Hodges (1st Place), Kaylee Snook (2nd Place), Tara West (3rd Place) and Kylie Fridley (HM)

Color Markers: Jacionna Ray (3rd Place) and Izzy Campbell (HM)

B/W Pencil: Loretta Lancaster (HM) and Elsie Smith (HM)

Other: Jemma Wright (1st Place), Morgan Roberts (2nd Place), Zach Craft (3rd Place) and Emma Morgan (HM)

Acrylic: Alexa Coronado (1st Place), Carmyn McClenny (2nd Place), Braylee Downey (3rd Place), Jemma Wright (HM)

Mixed Media: Hayleigh Dotson (1st Place), Samuel Vargas (2nd Place), Abigail Ward (2nd Place), KiKi Wallace (3rd Place), Kaelyn French (HM), and Loretta Lancaster (HM)

Watercolor: Hayleigh Dotson (1st Place), Samuel Vargas (2nd Place), Emma Morgan (3rd Place) and Elsie Smith (HM)

Crayons: Kinsley Jefferson (1st Place), Joy Peel (2nd Place), Broc Tomasek (3rd Place) and Elsie Smith (HM)

Pencil-B: Mallory Hale (1st Place), Kinsely Jefferson (2nd Place), Gwen Halterman (3rd Place) and Samuel Vargas (HM)

Other: Alexis Coronado (1st Place) and Hayleigh Dotson (2nd Place)

#CougarPride 💙🐾💙

Covington Middle School is proud to celebrate the following 14 students who were selected to participate in the Virginia Choir Directors Association District 6 All-District Choir, hosted at Radford University on February 14th:

Brooklyn Booze

Bella Craft
Zachary Craft
Kendall Downey
Sawyer Eggleston
Ellie Flenner
Bentley Hall
Liliana Maccentelli
Harlan Nicely
Abigail Powell
Mariella Rosales
Penelope Thompson
Lucas Tidd-Whiting
Tom Warlitner

Selection to All-District Choir is a significant musical achievement. Students must successfully complete a competitive audition process that evaluates vocal technique, tone quality, range, accuracy, and sight-reading skills. Being chosen represents months of individual and in-class preparation and a high level of musicianship.

Participants rehearsed throughout the day under the direction of esteemed conductors, culminating in a public performance at in the evening. Students performed in either the Treble Choir or the Mixed Choir, collaborating with other top singers from across District 6.

We are incredibly proud of these students for representing CMS with excellence, dedication, and professionalism. Their selection reflects both their individual commitment and the continued strength of our choral program!

#CougarPride

Celebrating CTE Month & Giving Back!

February continues to be an exciting time at CMS as we celebrate Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month - a reminder that learning extends far beyond textbooks and into real-world skills that prepare our students for college, careers, and life.

Our students have been actively participating in our school-wide Food Drive.

📦 Food Drive Reminder:
Non-perishable items are being collected during 1st period throughout the month.

🥞 Incentive:
The 1st period class with the largest total donation by the end of February will earn a pancake breakfast celebration!

Beyond the competition, what matters most is the lesson our students are learning: career readiness includes compassion, service, and giving back. Thank you for supporting this effort and for helping our students see that their actions - even one can at a time - truly make a difference in our community.

Our benchmark assessments are designed to help us monitor student progress toward mastery of grade-level standards. These assessments are not “pass or fail,” but rather important tools that allow us to identify strengths, uncover areas for growth, and determine trends across classrooms and grade levels. The information gathered from benchmarks plays a critical role in helping us design targeted instruction and build meaningful acceleration plans to address learning gaps.

We are also working to help students understand the importance of giving their best effort on these assessments. The quality of the data we receive depends on the effort students put forth. When students take benchmarks seriously, we gain accurate insight into what they truly know and where they may need additional support - allowing us to respond with purposeful, focused instruction.

Looking ahead, the state of Virginia has announced that beginning in the 2026–2027 school year, SOL assessments will count for at least 10% of a student’s final course grade in SOL-tested subjects. With this shift coming, it is important that we continue building a mindset of responsibility and ownership around assessments. Our goal is not to create added stress, but to ensure students understand that these tools ultimately help us support their academic growth.

As always, we value your partnership and appreciate your continued support.

Our students had an amazing time at Friday evening’s dance! The energy was high, the smiles were big, and it was such a joy to see our students having fun together.

This special event would not have been possible without so many staff members stepping up to make it a success. A huge thank you to Mrs. Simmons and Mrs. Boone for pulling everything together and making the evening run smoothly. Mrs. Shinault jumped in to grab waters and cookies, while Mr. Arritt and Mrs. Thurston helped set up all the food. Mrs. Jackson went to pick up the pizzas and delivered them straight to the cafeteria to keep everyone fueled for the fun.

We are also so grateful to Mrs. Holesapple, Mrs. Bostic, Mrs. Burdette and Mr. Meyering for chaperoning and ensuring our students had a safe and enjoyable night. And last - but certainly not least - a big shout-out to our very own DJ Mr. Snedegar for keeping the music going and the dance floor full!

Thank you to everyone who helped create such a memorable evening for our students!

#CougarPride

Dujardin's Class Update

This week we began our journey through Africa our students learned a bit about the artistry and craftsmanship and beauty of African tribal customs. They designed their own necklaces and made their own beads out of paper. They also tasted a few snacks and a salsa like salad. Our next stop is Kenya!

Language Arts Update

Sixth Grade:

Students in Mrs. Linsin's language arts class are continuing to work on the rising action of their novel, The Giver by Lois Lowry. In addition, students are building their understanding of poetic elements with a study of poets for Black History Month.

In Mrs. Linsin's English strategies class, students are working on vocabulary (their quiz for unit three is scheduled for Tuesday, February 24), and they will be working on Theme this week.

7th Grade:

🔢 Math Update

Covington Middle School Math Students of the Week 🌟

6th GRADE – Aizlyn Baker

7th GRADE – Brandon Childers

8th GRADE – Izaike O’Conner

ALGEBRA – Kardyn Skidmore

Congratulations to our Math Students of the Week! They have demonstrated outstanding effort, perseverance, and a positive attitude toward learning. Whether solving challenging problems, participating in class discussions, or helping a classmate understand a concept, they are showing what it means to be confident mathematicians.

We are especially proud of their growth mindset - embracing mistakes as learning opportunities and pushing themselves to deepen their understanding of concepts like proportional relationships and slope. Keep up the hard work and dedication!

Our middle school math students have been hard at work building strong problem-solving skills and deepening their understanding of key concepts! This month, students are focusing on proportional relationships and slope, learning how to analyze real-world situations using tables, graphs, and equations.

Students are exploring how rates of change connect to everyday experiences - like comparing prices, understanding speed, and interpreting data. Through collaborative activities, math games, and hands-on practice, they are strengthening their critical thinking and perseverance.

Families can support learning at home by encouraging students to explain how they solved a problem, identify patterns in numbers, and make real-world connections to math concepts. Keep asking, “How do you know?” - it’s a powerful way to build mathematical confidence!

*The Zearn requirement for each student is 45 minutes per week. This breaks down to under 10 minutes per week day...Please remember to complete 45 minutes of ZEARN this week!!

🔬 Science Department Update

6th graders: Our 6th graders continued their energy transformations unit. They completed their test on Friday, and we are looking forward to beginning our renewable vs. nonrenewable energy this week.

7th grade: Our 7th graders began their Classification Unit, and tested on it. We are excited to start our Plant Unit next week, and discuss plants found in our area.

8th grade: Our 8th graders had an exciting visit to Wiley's this week to review some of their 7th grade material in preparation for their upcoming SOL.

🎶 The Weekly Beat 🎶

Choir Updates

• The 6th and 7th grade Choir continued working on the music that will be performed for the upcoming Black History Month program which will be taking place 2/25. Students in those ensembles will be performing a song together as well as a song with members of the CMS Band.
• 8th Grade Choir spent time working on the music they will be performing for the VCDA District Performance Assessment on March 27th.
• All-District Choir was held last weekend 2/14 and was a great success! Students had a great time working with other students and their guest conductor to put on a fantastic performance!

Band Updates

• 7th and 8th grade band worked on their music for our Black History Month program on this upcoming Wednesday
• To explore themes relevant to history and culture, we watched the movie Hairspray in several classes. It is a musical set in the 60”s that touches themes of inequality, segregation, and bringing communities together through music.
• Our spring concert is May 19th and 6pm. Mark your calendars!

Art Department Update: Art Students of the Week

Covington Middle School

Principal: Ms. Lori Mattson

Asst. Principal: Mr. Marty Wood

Asst. Principal/Athletic Director: Mr. Zach Hamilton

Main Office: 540-965-1410

Attendance Email: Attendance Notes
Website: https://cms.ahps.k12.va.us/
Location: 606 South Lexington Avenue, Covington, VA 24426
Phone: 540-965-1410
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CovingtonMSCougars
Instagram: cmscougars2023