| Dates to Remember | Wednesday, October 6
Progress Reports Mailed
Wednesday, October 13
Parent/Teacher Conferences
1-3 & 5-7 p.m.
Sunday, October 17
Open House, 1-4 p.m.
Tuesday, October 19
Meeting on Bullying, 7 p.m.
Friday, October 22
Middle School Dance, 7-10 p.m.
|
|
Dear Parents,
I hope you enjoy this first edition of The Squire. The purpose of this newsletter is to keep you informed on a monthly basis of what is taking place in Donahue Hall. In addition to dates and activities, we will also seek to pass on articles of interest to parents.  We know from experience that our parents are our greatest resource. Consequently, if you want to share any information with other parents, we will gladly attempt to include it in future publications. You can expect to have The Squire e-mailed to you during the first week of each month. As I mentioned in the letter sent home two weeks ago, we have had a very positive opening of school, and we are now in the process of setting into motion some of the major themes of the year. An ongoing theme at CM has always been community building and that was done very successfully on September 17th with the numerous activities our students were involved with on campus. The pictures to your left show some of our students sharing lunch with their high school mentors on that day.
In addition to community building, our teachers have been working on an interdisciplinary teaching unit that will be incorporated into our curriculum throughout the year. The theme of the unit will revolve around Boston, its past, present and future. CM is fortunate to have many contacts within the Boston community who can share their knowledge and experience about the city with our students. We will be learning about the city from many different sources and through several perspectives-the history of the Boston Fire Department, law enforcement, architecture, art, music, education, medicine, technology, the city's ever-changing infrastructure, and of course its rich political history. If you can suggest guest speakers or places in the city for possible field trips, please give me a call. We will start the unit in November with a field trip along the historic Freedom Trail. We will be giving you more detail on this field trip next month.
As we quickly enter the fall season, I hope you join us at the many events planned by our Parent Council. The first event of the season will be the dance on November 10th, featuring "Group Therapy." This promises to be a fun night before we celebrate Veteran's Day. Also, the first Middle School Dance will be on Friday, October 22nd from 7-10 p.m. If you are able to help Mrs. Conti on the Hospitality Committee with decorating the gym and helping with refreshments, she can be contacted at angeloc50@gmail.com. Finally, I look forward to seeing you at Parent/Teacher Conferences on October 13th, from 1-3 and 5-7 p.m.
|
|
Sincerely,
Don Cormier
Head Teacher of the Middle School Program
P.S. A special thank you to Mr. Haris Zorlak, Mrs. Delores Gonsalves-Irish and Mr. George Irish from the Strategis Company for their help in putting this e-publication together. Their generosity is very much appreciated. Mr. & Mrs. Irish are the proud parents of Joshua Irish who is in our eighth grade class. |
Public Speaking
The CMMS Speech Team is open to all 7th and 8th Graders, especially those who feel they have no talent in this area. SPEECH at CM is an experience and journey, where each of us is willing to learn how to be a better public speaker and better communicator, in general. Students may play sports and join other clubs while still participating in speech team endeavors.
Each speech team practice is a fun session where students perform at the microphone in a fast-paced round-robin format. As each student reads excerpts from his reading selection at the microphone for 30-60 seconds, I critique and encourage, while others listen at their seats lined up in a row against the back wall of the Language Arts classroom until 'his' turn at the mic. Each student usually has 3-4 turns at the microphone each afternoon, depending on the number of boys who attend a practice session...[read more]
|
| |
Interview with Mrs. Concannon
Recently, Patrick O'Leary '15 spoke to Ms. Concannon to find out what her plans are for the Middle School Guidance Program. Below is the interview.
How long have you been a teacher and what is your role at Catholic Memorial?
Ms. Concannon: I have been a teacher for 27 years and my role now is Middle School Guidance Councilor and I also teach Irish Studies at C.M.
How was the Guidance Coffee with the new student's parents last Wednesday?
Ms. Concannon: It was a wonderful turnout. This was for our new seventh and eighth grade parents. Forty-five people came which is the biggest turnout we have had. The people were very happy to come and meet other parents. All of these parents and sons are new to the school and it is nice to know other people. Our families come from over 80 different towns. This event went from 8:00 am to 10:00 am. Most of the parents said...[read more]
|
| |
Latin Club News
All students who are currently taking Latin in Grades 7 & 8 are welcomed to join. There is a fee for the year of $10 which covers your CM, state & national dues.
For a Novice Certamen Team (close to a Latin Jeopardy) we are looking for some talented Grade 8 students to fill out the team which will compete against other schools throughout the year. Certamen practice for the year will be on Mondays / Tuesdays.
Starting the first week of October and continuing every Tuesday the Latin Club has "Tutoring Tuesdays" for grade 7 & 8. High school Latin Club members will assist students with their Latin work...[read more]
|
| |
Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month
In order to gain a greater knowledge of the Hispanic world, each student in Mrs. Sittig's grade 8 Spanish classes will be assigned one of the 20 Spanish speaking countries in the world.
Using all research methods available to them, students will create a travel brochure about their designated country. The brochures will include facts, pictures, maps, and other important information that one would want to know if traveling to the country...[read more]
|
| |
|
|
