We need YOU to help close the achievement gap! Recently, we administered our first benchmark assessment to identify our stu-dents’ strengths and areas in need of development. Data is promising and it highlights our students’ potential! Using the data from this assessment, we are tailoring our instruction to meet the needs of our students. We need YOU to help our students in the following ways:

Checking Agendas

Monitoring homework

Ensuring reading at home

Coming to school prepared to learn

Ensuring your child’s attendance in the Youth Academy After

School Program

“If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself!”

Henry Ford

Trevor L. Ellis, Principal

PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE

A MESSAGE FROM THE GUIDANCE OFFICE

As the first semester closed on October 28th, please be sure to encourage your children to talk with you and school staff about what they can tweak to help them be the most successful possible.

Attention 8th Grade Parent(s)/Guardian(s):

An Open House for A.I. Prince Technical High School will be held Thursday, November 17, 2016 from 5:30-7:30 P.M. at (Prince Tech., 401 Flatbush Ave, Hartford.) Students and families that are interested in learning more about the school but unable to attend may visit www.cttech.org/prince, or call 860-951-7112 to schedule a tour. The admissions counselor, Ms. Higgins will be visiting Carmen Arace Middle School to meet with 8th grade students at a time TBD. Applications are currently available online and in the CAMS guidance office.

Ms. Goldman & Ms. Glenney

CARMEN ARACE MIDDLE SCHOOL

IMPORTANT DATES &

UPCOMING EVENTS

October 28—Grades Close

November 2&3—Grade 7 Auer

Farm, 9:45-11:45 A.M.

November 3-Grade 8 “Boat to

Obama,” Northhampton, MA .,

8:30 A.M.-1:30 P.M.

November 8-Professional

Development—No School

Election Day

November 9-STEM students

visit Hartford Convention Cen-

ter, 8:15-11:30 A.M.

November 10-Grade 8 visits

UCONN

November 17-PTO Meeting—

6:00 P.M.

November 23-25 Thanksgiv-

ing Recess—No School

SCHOOL HOURS:

Regular day

8:05 a.m.-2:50 P.M.

Early Dismissal

8:05 a.m.—12:50 P.M.

390 Park Avenue

Bloomfield, CT 06002

Office: 860-286-2622

Guidance: 860-286-2648

Fax: 860-242-0347

Nurse: 860-286-2638

www.bloomfieldschools.org

Trevor L.. Ellis, Principal

Patricia R. Mack, Assistant

Principal

PARENT NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER, 2016 CARMEN ARACE MIDDLE SCHOOL

Literacy: Ms. Carol Mamlok: We are nearing the end of our first unit, “Who Are You,” which made us look at how we see ourselves and how others perceive us. Our first novel, Gifted Hands, the Ben Carson Story, exemplifies who Ben Carson was as a child and who he is now as an adult. The journey of how he rose from being called a class dummy to being one of the world’s leading pediatric neurosurgeons, is a lesson in perseverance. Students are learning how to respond in depth to “constructed response” (open-ended) questions. These are text de-pendent questions and students are learning NOT to use personal pronouns (i.e. I, me, my) in their responses, but rather to take an objective stance when responding to questions. Students have the opportunity to complete certain assignments for “Early Bird Credit,” which encourages them to complete and submit their assignments earlier for a higher grade. Students are also given a biweekly pro-gress report in Language Arts so they know how they are doing and what assignments are missing. Literacy-Mrs. Parker pparker@blmfld.org: Students continue to acclimate to the rigors and demands of 7th grade classwork and homework requirements. My emphasis continues to be timely and consistent completion of assigned work. Additionally, it is imperative that my students READ THEIR WORK before they hand it in to me as careful editing of written work is crucial to success in Language Arts. Additionally, my students completed an initial survey investigating the regularity with which they use CLOSE Reading Strategies, and I will administer the survey again in late spring to illuminate for my students the growth possible when they utilize these successful reading strategies. My students continue to write/edit/create their posters describing who they are, and we have begun our dictionary skills/vocabulary lessons because WORDS ARE POWERFUL. Lastly, please continue to monitor your student’s DAILY reading and log entry. Reading at home constitutes 25% of the student’s grade as reading is a critical life skill, and students need to be reminded regularly that reading occurs outside of school as well as inside of school. Numeracy-Ms. Toney: We are coming to the end of our first unit entitled 'Number Sense.' In this unit, we have worked to understand and represent numbers in various forms, such as exponential notation and scientific notation. Students also practiced all operations with integers (negative and positive numbers). Grade 7 Math Students will have their first Math Test on November 2nd - 3rd. Students will receive a Study Guide one week before the Test which will guide them on what to study. Please remind your child of the importance of studying for this test as it will count for 25% of their overall grade. World Geography-Ms. Hartstone: We are continuing to work on the foundations of geography. We have taken a common formative assessment as a post test to the one we took the first week of school. Almost all students showed growth in this test. We are discussing climate and weather and veg-etation within countries around the world. Jr. Scholastic magazine keeps us informed of current events occurring around the world. We also continue to complete current events homework weekly. Science-Mr. Gionfriddo: We will be concluding the unit on Chemistry in a couple of weeks; there will be a final summative assessment. Seventh grade stu-dents will be attending Auer Farm on November 2nd or 3rd (depends on the student’s homeroom); the topic will be about food preser-vation. We have concluded our 2nd lab – a study on “Density.” Students have done a wonderful job learning the elements and the periodic table.

Literacy-Ms. Bunting and Ms. Richardson: Students are identifying theme and making inferences/predictions about a text. Students will continue to use the CLOSE Reading process. Reading selections will include: “The Treasure of Lemon Brown” by Walter Dean My-ers, “Blues: A National Treasure,” and “Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad” by Ann Pet-ry. Additionally, students will complete an argumentative writing piece. Numeracy-Ms. Murray: Students who worked hard on their Unit 1 Performance Task, by pacing themselves over the eight weeks as-signed for the project received good grades! Some students who waited until the last minute to do their project didn’t do as well as they could. Please encourage your students to use all resources available to them to help with organization or ask for help when they feel overwhelmed. Social Studies-Mr. Jennings: We are transitioning from the Early American Civilizations to The Age of Exploration. Students will analyze the impact of European Exploration on the Native Americans and other groups. They will engage in CLOSE Reading and Writing in this analysis. A mock election will also be conducted to immerse students in the voting process. Science-Ms. Woodward: We are finished with our Forces and Motion unit, and will be starting our Biology: Cells and Heredity unit with the start of Quarter 2. Students will be issued a textbook for the new unit. It is vital for student success that they come prepared to class everyday with their Science Notebooks, and continue to follow Science Safety Ex-pectations.

TEAM COLUMBIA—GRADE 7

TEAM HOWARD-GRADE 8

Page 2 CARMEN ARACE MIDDLE SCHOOL

“EVERY

GREAT

DREAM

BEGINS

WITH A

DREAMER.

ALWAYS

REMEMBER

YOU HAVE

WITHIN YOU

THE

STRENGTH,

THE

PATIENCE,

AND THE

PASSION TO

REACH FOR

THE STARS

TO CHANGE

THE

WORLD.”

HARRIET

TUBMAN

Be your best Aim for success Never give up Demand excellence

These words are on a poster which hangs on the band room door. It serves as a reminder to the students of what we strive for in the band room. The students in the Carmen Arace Band program are expected to do/be their best when they come to the band room. This means com-ing to class prepared with all materials to perform and to do the necessary daily at-home prac-tice to make progress. Aiming for success means that each member of the band must be a team player with the common goal of having success at all performances throughout the year. Each student has the ability to do well so they should never give up on themselves in the

band room or in any other subject. And finally, demanding excellence in every area will help each student reach every goal in life. Miss Jones This year the Concert Choir is on the Platinum Train! As a choir we are working to-

wards earning a platinum score at the Fantastic Festivals this year. Using proper vocal tech-nique and following appropriate behavior protocol throughout the year will set us up for a high score in May. Once we layer on festival music and our beautiful voices I’m sure our scores will reflect our hard work. The Concert Choir members are expected to practice their music at home using my classroom website. I work hard to keep the website updated with the music they are learning in class. Please remind your student to go to www.mscrimi.weebly.com. The link to their music is on the home page. Your support and encouragement will only help bring the Con-cert Choir closer to our goal! Join us on the PLATINUM TRAIN!!! Mrs. Crimi

PHYSICAL EDUCATION: Physical Education is now doing the Connecticut Fitness Testing. We test the students for flexibil-ity (Sit –Reach Test), core strength and endurance (Sit-up test using a cadence), upper body strength (Push-up Test using a cadence) and cardi- ovascular fitness (Pacer Test). We administered baseline tests in September. The students are do- ing a second round currently and we will adminis-ter two more rounds of testing later on in the school year. We are looking for the students to show growth each time they take the tests. We also are having the students analyze and interpret their data to pinpoint their fitness levels along with developing strategies to improve their scores.

Mr. Poland & Mr. Michaud

VISUAL ARTS: During the first 2 months of school, Mrs. Wasko’s classes have been focusing on the Elements of Art and Principles of Design. Students have be- come more proficient in line, shape, and visual unity. We are looking forward to November when ceramic projects will start for 8

th grade!

During this unit of color theory, Mr. DeNovellis’s eighth grade students are working on mono-chromatic paintings. They choose one color plus tints, adding white and shading, and adding black to create these works of art. The seventh grade students are exploring the Fauvist painting style. Fauvism was an extremely short-lived movement in modern painting (1900 – 1908). Fauvist paintings are characterized by bright colors applied in broad, unblended brushstrokes. The students discuss the style, technique, and color used by the artists Matisse and Derain. The students are painting with acrylics.

Ms. Wasko & Mr. DeNovellis

UNIFIED ARTS HAPPENINGS—PHYSICAL EDUCATION & VISUAL ARTS

CARMEN ARACE MIDDLE SCHOOL

Page 3

UNIFIED ARTS HAPPENINGS—BAND & CHORUS

PTO NEWS

CARMEN ARACE MIDDLE SCHOOL Page 4

Our Mission

Enrich the education of all Carmen Arace students and to build community within

the Carmen Arace School family.

Current Officers Petrene Davis, President, Lynette Easmon, Vice President

Camille Devonish, Recording Secretary, Maurisa Leehim, Asst. Recording Secretary

Crystal Sams, Corresponding Secretary/Webmaster, Jason Smith, Asst. Corresponding Secretary/Webmaster

Darlene Przansnyski, Treasurer

Steven Dunn, Support Coordinator

Save the PTO Dates

Thursday's in the Arace Library, 6:00 p.m.

November 17, 2016

December 15, 2016

January 19, 2017

February 16, 2017

March 16, 2017

April 20, 2017

May 18, 2017

Contact us at carmenaracePTO@gmail.com or PTO mailbox in the school office.

MAKING COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS

On Sunday, October 16th, seven 7

th grade boys

accompanied CAMS Discipline Specialist Ann Velazco and GEMS teacher Linda Peer Groves to Penwood State Park. They spent the entire day hiking, exploring, whittling, learning about outdoor survival, playing football, cooking over a campfire and learning about nature together. The purpose of this venture was to learn outdoor skills us-ing bandanas as a survival tool, learn to tell time by the sun, cook food over a fire, make s’mores, identify wildlife and hike. A wonderful time was had by all! We are planning another ad-venture very soon!

Ms. Velazco-Climate Specialist