CMS Launch Points

Monday, 10/19

• Student Council Speeches – Period 1
• Soccer & Cross Country - Check the Gamechanger App
• Drama Club (grades 5-8) - Check Remind App
• CMS Choir (grades 4-8) in the Music Room from 3:00-3:45 PM
• Pickleball (grades 4-8) at Columbine Rd. 3:15-4:00 PM
• Homework Club (for enrolled students) in Spanish Room 3:00-4:00 PM

Tuesday, 10/20

• Soccer & Cross Country - Check the Gamechanger App
• Drama Club (grades 5-8) - Check Remind App
• Pickleball (grades 4-8) at Columbine Rd. 3:15-4:00 PM
• Homework Club (for enrolled students) in Spanish Room 3:00-4:00 PM
• History Club (grades 6-8) in Mr. Mingee’s Room 3:00-3:45 PM

Wednesday, 10/21

• Soccer & Cross Country - Check the Gamechanger App
• Drama Club (grades 5-8) - Check Remind App
• Book Club (grades 4-5) in Mrs. Cleffi’s Room 3:00-4:00 PM
• Pickleball (grades 4-8) at Columbine Rd. 3:15-4:00 PM
• Homework Club (for enrolled students) in Spanish Room 3:00-4:00 PM

Thursday, 10/22

• Soccer & Cross Country - Check the Gamechanger App
• Drama Club (grades 5-8) - Check Remind App
• Pickleball (grades 4-8) at Columbine Rd. 3:15-4:00 PM
• Homework Club (for enrolled students) in Spanish Room 3:00-4:00 PM

Friday, 10/23

• September Student of the Month Lunch (1st lunch)
• Wildwood Crest Police Department Trunk or Treat – 10:00 AM
• Soccer & Cross Country - Check the Gamechanger App
• Drama Club (grades 5-8) - Check Remind App

Other Upcoming Dates

• School will dismiss at 1:10 PM on Friday, Oct. 30th for our Halloween Parade & Pumpkins celebration. PreK from 9:00-10:00 AM and grades K-5 from 10:00-11:30 AM.
• The Drama Club presents Matilda, Jr. with a school-day performance on Thursday, Nov. 12th at 10:00 AM, followed by public performances on Friday, Nov. 13th at 7:00 PM and Saturday, Nov. 14th at 1:00 PM.
• School will dismiss at 1:10 PM on Wednesday, Nov. 18th, Thursday, Nov. 19th, and Friday, Nov. 20th for Parent/Teacher Conferences.

• Monday, 10/19: Chicken and Cheese Quesadilla or Bagel, Yogurt & Cheese Stick Meal; Refried Beans and Baby Carrots
• Tuesday, 10/20: Cheese Pizza Slice or Turkey and Cheese Hoagie; Seasoned Green Beans and Caesar Salad
• Wednesday, 10/21: Orange Chicken over Brown Rice or Bagel, Yogurt & Cheese Stick Meal; Steamed Broccoli and Cucumber Slices
• Thursday, 10/22: Hot Ham and Cheese on a Pretzel Bun or Turkey and Cheese Hoagie; Curly Fries and Broccoli Bites
• Friday, 10/23: Pasta and Meatballs with Garlic Bread or Garden Salad with Chicken; Carrot Coins and Veggie Patch

PB&J Uncrustable Meal is always a third lunch option.

• STEM Club Begins: A new STEM Club starts on Tuesday, Oct. 27th, for 4th and 5th graders in the Library from 3:00-3:45 PM. The club will rotate to other grades in the weeks that follow.
• Trunk or Treat: The Wildwood Crest Police Department hosts its Trunk or Treat on Friday, Oct. 23rd at 10:00 AM.

• NJEA Convention: School will be closed on Thursday, Nov. 5th and Friday, Nov. 6th.
  
  

• PTC Meeting: Mark your calendars — the next PTC meeting is Tuesday, Oct. 20th at 6:00 PM in the school cafeteria. All families are welcome.
• Halloween Costume Dance: Students in PreK through 5th grade are invited to the Halloween Costume Dance on Friday, Oct. 23rd from 5:30-7:00 PM. The cost is $10 per student and includes entry and pizza. Please order tickets in advance to help with planning — order forms went home last week, and extras are available in the school lobby. All students must be accompanied by an adult.
• Stock’s Pound Cake Sale: The PTC’s Stock’s Pound Cake sale begins this week, with delivery expected before Thanksgiving. Order forms are in your child’s take-home folder and in the school lobby. This is one of the PTC’s biggest fundraisers of the year, and we are grateful for your support.
• Boo Grams (8th Grade): The Class of 2027 is selling Boo Grams for $1 each through Friday, Oct. 23rd. Students can surprise a friend, favorite teacher, or staff member with a Halloween treat, delivered on Friday, Oct. 30th. Extra order forms are available in the school lobby.
  
  

If a classmate is having a hard day, chances are Adrianna Alfe has already noticed. She makes a point of finding ways to show she cares, whether that’s a drawing with an uplifting message, a few kind words of affirmation, or a calming song shared at just the right moment. She even helped design and decorate a space in her classroom where students can feel better about themselves and their time at CMS. That same spirit shows up in her own work, too. Adrianna takes ownership of her learning and strives every day to be the best version of herself. Her readiness to offer encouragement to her classmates happens every single day, and it has made her a source of joy for the students and teachers around her. For using her creativity to lift up others, thank you, Adrianna.If you know someone making a difference in the CMS community, please help us recognize their efforts by completing the following form: https://forms.gle/nxU6guDtB3aDy3wT8

Next week, our middle schoolers running for Student Council will stand in front of their peers and make their case. Nobody can give those speeches for them. That’s a good reminder, as the first marking period winds down, of what we’re really after at CMS: students who take ownership of their learning, not students whose parents and teachers do the heavy lifting for them. Dr. Harold Koplewicz, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and the founding president of the Child Mind Institute, offers a useful picture in The Scaffold Effect. A scaffold goes up around a building under construction. It provides structure and support so the building can rise, but the scaffold never becomes the building. As the structure gets stronger, the scaffold comes down, piece by piece. Parenting, he argues, works the same way. Our job is to provide structure, support, and encouragement while our kids do the actual growing. What that looks like at home this month:

• Let the backpack be theirs. When a planner is left on the counter, resist the drive to school. Teachers see the difference between students who fix their own forgotten-homework problem and those who wait to be rescued, and the first group bounces back faster from every setback that follows.
• Ask before you fix. When your child is stuck, try “What have you tried so far?” or “What do you think the next step is?” before offering an answer. Sitting with a hard problem for an extra minute is where the learning happens.
• Narrate effort, not outcomes. “You kept going on that second page even when it got frustrating” lands differently than “You’re so smart.” Kids who hear effort named start to see themselves as people who can work through hard things.
• Hand over one routine. Pick one piece of the school day your child can run alone this week: setting the alarm, packing the lunch, checking the homework folder. Expect a stumble or two, and treat it as information rather than failure.
• Keep the scaffold up where it’s needed. Owning learning doesn’t mean going it alone. A consistent homework time, a quiet spot, and a parent who checks in and asks good questions are the structure. The child fills it in.

Parents, we'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Share your perspective by going to: https://forms.gle/HDqEiGeikPjt5ahd8

CMS’s weekly newsletter is focused on providing families with a list of upcoming events, a brief article on how to support student success and an opportunity for parents to share perspective on student support articles.