October 2023

Central prepares for the future with AVID

This school year, Central Middle School will be using a program called AVID to help build student's skills to help them be ready for college or a career after high school. AVID stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination. The program focuses on helping students with organization, time management, study skills, and much more. 

"Using AVID helps students become better organizers, readers, writers, and prepares all students for the future." said Mrs Malcolm, the AVID Coordinator for Central. 

Tools such as a school agenda and binders have been given to all students this school year to help with their organization. Student have been given the expectation that they will write down their homework on a daily basis. Family Advisory classes have been using their time to working on building AVID skills with students. 

Families can be part of AVID too by supporting their students at home. "Parents can create a study area for students, check agendas and talk to students about what they're learning at school, about their plans for high school and after." said Dr. Farney, Central Middle School Principal. 

Some select eighth grade students were even selected for a special Family Advisory AVID class where they work with Ms. Malcolm to perfect these AVID skills before they go off to high school next year. 

The AVID students have shared some of their thoughts on the class and why they view AVID as a necessary part of their education. 

"AVID is a group of kids that are trusted and got great grades and are ready for better education for high school to prepare for what’s to come." said Iram Lara Renteria.

"We work on projects alone and with each other and learn what to do when you want to get a job" said Emanuel Guzman

"Other people might not see it important but it is important to me and my peers in class because it helps you understand the ways of note taking and reflects my learning, which really helps me understand more so I think AVID is really useful." said Jatciri Monrroy Cerrito

When asked why students should take and learn AVID, eighth grader Damien Murguia said this. "Because although it might seem like extra work, we are improving more and more than others that don’t learn how to use AVID." 

Central will continue to work on building the skills of AVID and helping all students become college or career ready for the future. Teachers and students are working on growing their AVID skills and preparing for whatever the future brings us. 

Ms Malcom summed up our goals for AVID with this statement, "AVID is in more than 8,000 schools in the US and more than 2 million students participate daily. We are working to become better everyday! AVID will propel all our students to the next level with the right skills for success." 

Students in the AVID class have done a verity of activities to build their skills. Below is photos of an activity where students were asked to build a circle with some Pringles chips. They had a limited amount of time to assign tasks to each team member, collaborate together to make a plan, and execute their plan. They then reflected on what changes they would make in the future.

Students were working on the importance of WICOR, an aspect of AVID that teaches the whole student though Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, and Reading. 

CMS Asks About: Halloween

As the spooky season comes closer, the students at Central Middle School were asked about how they plan to spend Halloween!

Of the nearly 300 students that responded to the survey, over 78% said they would be celebrating Halloween this year.

Haunted House and Trick or Treating tied for the student's favorite activities to do on Halloween with 35.8% of the vote each. Watching scary movies took third place with 20% of the vote and going to pumpkin patches and carving pumpkins being the least favorite activities.

Student were asked to list their top three favorite candies and the top results were;

Twix- 40%

Kit Kat- 39%

M&Ms-37%

Poor Milky Ways were the least favorite candies with only 14% of the vote.

While many students don't know what they want to dress up this Halloween, some common answers for costume choices this year included clowns, Spiderman, and also nothing.

When asked what students liked best about Halloween, most said candy! Some more student answers about the best parts of Halloween are below.

"Haunted houses and hanging out with friends and walking around the neighborhood"

- Jorge Rendon, 6th Grade

"I like going in haunted house even tho my eyes are closed half the time"

-Emely Ortiz, 6th Grade

"Sometimes I like to get with my family because I like to see what crazy costumes they have and I usually take them trick or treating and they always look like they are having so much fun and it just makes me happy I also like to stay home eat candy and watch scary movies."

- Anthony Nava, 7th Grade

"I like carving pumpkins and haunted house also scary movie."

-Jazzelle Alvarez, 7th Grade

"The matching costumes."

-Jaida Poindexter, 8th Grade

"Activities like pumpkin carving or face painting."

-Aylin Valle Castro, 8th Grade

Hispanic Heritage Month

September 15 through October 15 marks National Hispanic Heritage Month and CMS has already started the party! Soon each grade level will be working with their FA classes to make door displays showing and celebrating aspects of Hispanic Heritage and History.

Lunch time also joined the celebration on Friday, September 22, as music was played while students ate. Things got even more festive when Principal Dr. Farney danced with a couple of eighth grade students who wanted to join in the festive atmosphere. Below are photos of Emanuel Guzman and Nathalia Gutierrez with Dr. Farney! Great moves guys!

Spirit Week at CMS!

The week of Sept 25-29 was spirit week at Central Middle School. Students were allowed to be out of uniform if they dressed up to the theme of each day. Below are some pictures of the week!

Monday- Sports Day

Tuesday- Twin Day

Wednesday- Sweats Day

Thursday- Multicultural Day

Friday- Colors Day

(6th grade in Red, 7th grade in Blue, 8th grade in Black)

Pep Assembly

The Pep Club held their first Pep Assembly on Friday. The Volleyball team, football team, and Cross Country Team were all given a chance to shine for their efforts this fall. The Central Middle School cheerleaders performed a routine for the school and the highlight was a musical chairs competition in which Angel Salazar beat Mr. Brockman to the last seat! 

Central Figures

The People that Make Central Middle School Great!

Mr. Simpson - by Chris Garcia Simon and Justine Gakica

Mr. Simpson is the band teacher at CMS. He’s been here for 3 years. Mr Simpson is  originally from St. Louis, Missouri. He got a job in education because he likes music and likes to share it with others. What he likes the most about his job is seeing people learn. If he had not gotten a job in education, he would have wanted to be an architect. Mr. Simpson is  unique because he is also serves in the United States Army band. The advice he would  give to students is,  "Work hard. Play hard. Don’t don’t mix the two".

Mr Simpson's  Favorite Things 

Color: Blue

Animal: Dog

Food: Sushi

Desert: Brownies

Movie: About Time

Book: The Art of Possibility

Ms. Henry - by Mayra Padilla and Emely Ortiz     

     Ms. Henry is a 6th grade teacher who teaches integrated writing and reading at Central 
Middle School. She has been a teacher at CMS for 24 years. Ms. Henry loves teaching kids how to read. However she hates having to spend her own money on supplies. Her favorite thing about her job is being able to teach. When not at work, Ms. Henry spends time with her husband and four kids. 

Ms Henry's  Favorite Things 

Color: Purple

Animal: None, not a fan of animals

Food: Popcorn

Desert: Chocolate Cake

Book: To kill a Mocking Bird (She's read it every year since she was in the eighth grade) 

Looking Ahead