Student Council seeks images for Veterans Day slideshow

The student council is having a Veterans Day assembly and we are
looking to add the element of a slide show playing in the background.
We want the slide show to be of pictures of Veterans (deceased or
living) in the students lives (family members, family friends, or any
meaningful veteran in your life).

Can you please email a DIGITAL image of your veteran(s) to
cape_llc@capeelizabethschools.org

The assembly is next Tuesday and the deadline for sending a digital
picture in is this Saturday.

Sincerely,
Liv Cochran
CEMS Student Council President

Grade 5-8 MEA test results being sent home Monday, Nov. 2

Grade 5-8 MEA Mathematics and English Language Arts assessment results are being sent home with students today. (Monday, Nov. 2, 2015)

The Maine Department of Education originally planned not to release student-level results for English Language Arts and Mathematics but has since changed its decision on this. 

Please be sure to check in with your children as they arrive home to obtain the results. [download letter to parents]

Information about the CEMS PEER HELPER PROGRAM

Peer Helpers act as big buddies/mentors to another CEMS student.
To be a Peer Helper: 7th & 8th grade students who:

• Have an interest in contributing to the school community
• Would like to provide companionship to fellow schoolmates
• Have a positive attitude
• Are interested in learning about diversity
• Are willing to extend kindness to others

Students can see Mrs. Sturgeon, Ms. Bouffard, or Mr. Babineau to pick up an application.

Peer Helpers receive training on such topics as confidentiality, removing stereotypes, & role modeling. Peer Helpers meet with their peer during lunch, advisory, or recess and play a game, do an activity, and have a friendly conversation.

If You Believe Your Child Could Benefit from Having a Peer Helper
Please contact your child’s school counselor (Kim Sturgeon for grades 5 & 7, Stephanie Bouffard for grades 6 & 8) or the school social worker, Chip Babineau.

[download announcement]

A Message from our Civil Rights Team

Lunchtime looked a little different for Cape Elizabeth Middle School students on Tuesday, October 27! The Civil Rights Team hosted Mix It Up At Lunch Day, an event that encourages students to question, challenge, and cross social boundaries by talking to someone new at lunch. Students sat at tables arranged by birth month, had fun conversations ("Would you rather" question cards helped get the ball rolling) and hopefully came away with a new connection.

The CEMS Civil Rights Team works to challenge stereotypes and build connections among students, and Mix It Up At Lunch was a great way to support that goal.

Mix It Up At Lunch is a national campaign organized by Teaching Tolerance. More than 6,000 schools across the U.S. participated in Mix It Up At Lunch on the same day!

To learn more about the Civil Rights Team at CEMS contact Kim Sturgeon, Stephanie Bouffard or Chip Babineau, or click here to read about the statewide Civil Rights Team Project. For more information about Mix It Up, visit http://www.tolerance.org/mix-it-up/what-is-mix.

A Message from the MSPA regarding School Directories

Dear MS parents,

You should receive the school directory in your child's backpack today. If for any reason you did not order the school directory but would like to have one now, they are available for purchase at the school's front office for $5.00 each.

Thank you - the MSPA

Picture Retake Day Friday, Oct. 30

Picture Retake day is Friday, Oct. 30.

Middle School hosts events for 'Global Collaboration Day' Sept. 17

Click to go to Global Collaboration Day website

Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015 is Global Collaboration Day, and Cape Elizabeth Middle School is hosting some of the hundreds of events that will be offered all around the world through the Global Collaboration Day website.

All events are offered online, free, for the 24 hours of Sept. 17, whenever that may occur around the world.

"The number of activities is overwhelming," said Middle School Spanish teacher Susan Dana, who is spearheading Cape Elizabeth's participation.

"There are events for all K-12 content areas, professional development for teachers and administrators, and a basic sharing of ideas about teaching and learning," Dana said in a email to staff.

Her event, Soundscapes from Around the World invites classes from all over the world to record sounds in their area and post them to a website or blog, and add a link to that post on Dana's page at padlet.com. There's already a recording there of migrating geese, a Maine foghorn, and crickets in a Cape Elizabeth field.

Cape Spanish teacher Ann-Marie Dionne will also offer two events, Popular Candy, and Animals, Animales, Animaux!. Both invite students from around the world to contribute to a slide show of photographs labeled in their native language, and in English.

In her email, Dana called participation in Global Collaboration Day "an excellent opportunity to make some connections with other classes around the world."

"Maybe work on a digital story together, collect environmental data and analyze it for science or math, Skype a book discussion, create a song with a music class from another school, discuss school lunches, host a mystery Skype, or whatever interests you and your students."

The majority of events are in English, she said.