The Wolf Weekly
January 19, 2025
CTMS Family Newsletter
Wonderful Wolf Families,
Monday is a holiday to celebrate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King encouraged everyone to promote and model good citizenship through both actions and words. As a campus we strive to create a positive school community through the Wolf Way. This work is a continual teach piece as kindness, respectfulness, and responsibility must be taught, modeled, and fostered.
Though we have just finished the first full week of the second semester, we are busy preparing for next school year. See the preparing for next year section of today's newsletter for information about opportunities for the 2025-2026 school year. We will be adding to this section weekly.
Thank you for being a huge part of encouraging our Wolves to be positive members of the CTMS community!
We will see our wolves back on campus on Tuesday, January 21! Enjoy the three day weekend!
Howl,
Jamie Halliburton
CTMS Principal
Wolf Spotlights
We are GCISD featuring 7th Grader Jett Graham!
#WeAreGCISD Wednesday is back with another episode! Jett Graham, a seventh grader at Cross Timbers Middle School, shares that GCISD means a friendly environment to him. What does #WeAreGCISD mean to you? Visit GCISD’s Facebook page to comment and let us know!
Wolves on the Court
At last Sunday's 2:00 p.m .Mavs game, the CTMS Wolf Time Choir took to the court to sing the National Anthem. They sounded flawless in front of the hometown crowd!!!
PTA Meeting Guest Speakers
Howl to Officer Huski, CTMS's SRO, and Office Weber, Grapevine Elementary's SRO, for speaking at the first PTA meeting of the second semester. Officer Huski and Officer Weber provided tips for keeping our wolves safe online. Thank you PTA for arranging inviting them to discuss this evolving topic!
Thanks for Giving: Huskies with Huski
On Wednesday, four lucky auction winners spent Wolf Time with Dr. Otto, her two huskies, and Officer Huski! What a memorable way to support the pack! Thank you for participating in the PTA Thanks for Giving Auction!
Leadership Colleyville & Grapevine Education Day
GCISD hosted the leadership classes of both the Chambers of Commerce for Colleyville and Grapevine for Education Day on Wednesday. Two of our amazing eighth grade wolves, Maya and Zachary, impressively represented CTMS on the middle school panel. Howl to both of them for speaking eloquently about what it means to be a wolf! Howl to the CTMS Wolf Time choir for sharing their talents with the group by singing two beautiful pieces!
Howl to all wolves who participated in PTA's Reflections Program! We have one wolf advancing to the state level for her ESSAY!!!!!!! Congrats to all who participated and good luck Farheen at the state competition!
Cotillion Night 1: Hip Hop
Howl to 7th Grade Girls Basketball for earning first place at the 7th Grade Middle School Division of the NTX Madness Basketball Tournament this weekend!!!!
CTMS Robotics Team
Howl to Apex Entities, the CTMS robotics team, for representing the pack at the FLL, First Lego League, Qualifier Tournament in Cleburne on Saturday! For the second year in a row, this team has competed together with our wonderful parent volunteers coaching.
Howl for earning the 1st place Innovation Award and the 2nd place Robot Performance with the 2nd Highest Robot Score!!!!!
We will know early next week if they move on to district. The pack is rooting for Apex Entities!
Middle School Information Night: Incoming 5th Graders
Attention 5th Grade Families
Middle school information night is February 5, 2025 from 6:00 p.m .to 7:30 p.m. at CTMS. We will start with a short presentation in the Black Gym, followed by optional breakout sessions, meet and greet with staff members, tour the campus, and get familiar with the wolf way. See the flyers belows.
SHARE with all your friends and neighbors!
8th Grade Information
8th grade families: Thank you for returning your field trip permission form for our upcoming trip to GHS! If you would like for your child to attend and have not yet returned their field trip, please do so ASAP! If your child does not have a permission slip submitted by noon on Tuesday, January 21, your child will not be able to attend.
As a reminder, the field trip was rescheduled to this Wednesday, January 22, 2025.
Yearbook: Summer Pictures!
Attention Wolves,
The yearbook staff would like to include all the fun the wolves had during summer! To do so we need YOUR photos. Please, upload any summer photos you have into the link below. This will really help us capture and remember all our memories from 2024-2025. Thank you for your help in making this happen!
https://photos.jostens.com/JRZQGH
-Yearbook Staff
Atención lobos,
¡Al personal del anuario le gustaría incluir toda la diversión que tuvieron los lobos durante el verano! Para hacerlo necesitamos TUS fotos. Por favor, sube cualquier foto de verano que tengas en el siguiente enlace. Esto realmente nos ayudará a capturar y recordar todos nuestros recuerdos de 2024-2025. ¡Gracias por su ayuda para que esto suceda!
https://photos.jostens.com/JRZQGH
-Personal del anuario
Outside of CTMS Opportunities
Dance Clinic for ALL 6th, 7th, & 8th Graders
Join the Fillies and Panteras for this FREE, exciting opportunity open to ALL 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students interested in dance. See below for more information.
Grace Winter Family Game Night
Sign up and come have hot chocolate and snacks while you play games with your family and friends from the community (ALL FOR FREE!). We will play fun games and you will have the chance to win prizes! Also, each family will take home a game to keep. (ONE SIGN UP PER FAMILY - tell us in the comment section how many of your family members are coming with you.)
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0C4AA5AD29A1FDC52-54288390-winter#/
8th Grade Information
CTMS PTA
CTMS PTA Spirit Shop is OPEN! Check out the available items HERE.
Shout Out the PACK!
Your kind words of encouragement truly uplift our teachers and staff! If you have a positive experience to share, we’d love to hear about it! Use this form to leave a shout out for our amazing wolf staff!
Upcoming Dates & Events
January 20 ~ No school for the pack
January 21 ~ CTMS Band MS/Beginner Side by Side Concert SAC 6-7 pm
January 22 ~ 8th Grade TECC Field Trip (rescheduled date, see above for information)) / Boys Basketball vs West 5-8 pm
January 23 ~ Girls Basketball vs West 5-8 pm
January 24 ~ Cotillion Night 2
February 5 ~ 5th grade information night at CTMS (see above for information)
2025-2026 Information
- Click here for the calendar for the 2025-2026 school year.
District Information
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has released the 2024 Federal Report Cards at the State, District, and Campus level with information as required by federal law. The Federal Report Cards do not contain 2024 State Accountability Rating information.
To view our district and campus federal report cards, please visit our Accountability webpage (https://www.gcisd.net/page/school-report-cards-src) for a link to search on TEA's site or click on the red "Archived State and Federal SRCs" button at the bottom of the page.
Repeated Information
Spinal Screenings: RESCHEDULED
Spinal Screening for 7th grade girls and 8th grade boys has been rescheduled for Friday, January 24, 2025.
Parents received an email over the break with more information if they have a 7th grade girl or 8th grade boy. Please reach out to Nurse Riley if you have any questions!
CTMS will reset dress code expectations upon our return in January. During the first semester, we primarily provided warnings, reminders, and opportunities for wolves to self-correct. Moving forward, CTMS will adhere to GCISD's established dress code guidelines and apply appropriate consequences for non-compliance. We ask families to partner with us in ensuring wolves follow the dress code to minimize disruptions to the school day and maintain a focus on learning.
Our most common infraction during the first semester was inappropriate length of shorts and IDs. As a reminder of expectations the GCISD Dress Code is linked below.
Any infraction addressed will be documented in Skyward using the following parameters:
● First infraction: Warning, wolf makes a change to meet dress code standards, and then may return to class.
● Second infraction: Consequence given (detention or similar), wolf makes a change to meet dress code standards, and then may return to class.
● Third infraction: Consequence given (1 day of ISS), wolf makes a change to meet dress code standards, and then may return to class.
● Subsequent infractions may be addressed as persistent misbehavior pursuant to the GCISD Student Code of Conduct.
Cross Timbers Information
- School Hours: 8:10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
- Doors Open: 7:45 a.m.
- Wolves enter the building through the C hall doors or the SAC doors. 6th & 8th grade wolves wait in the SAC and 7th grade wolves wait in the lecture hall for the bell to walk to first period.
- Bell Schedule
- Campus Map (click present for easier viewing)
- Front Office: 817-251-5320
- Mascot: Wolf
- School Colors: Silver & Black
- Planners: All wolves use a planner at CTMS. This is to assist with organizing, prioritizing, and planning. You can purchase a CTMS planner for $5 on the first day of school or use one of your choosing. Wolves use their planners daily.
- Student IDs: All wolves who did not attend Wolf Camp or Registration will be issued a temporary CTMS ID on the first day of school. The first IDs are free and replacement IDs are $5 and $1 for replacement lanyard. Per the student code of conduct, IDs are to be worn daily by all CTMS students and staff.
- Lost & Found: The Front Office currently has several pieces of jewelry, keys, glasses and phones that are lost and have found their way to the office! Come by to check to see if your item was found!
Who to Contact
Attendance
Lache Nealy
817-251-5326
Counselors
Molly Brown (last names A-K)
817-251-5315
Rachel Smith (last names L-Z)
817-251-5312
Student Advocate
Allyiah Daniels
817-251-5323
Registrar
Ilia Kaku
817-251-5314
Nurse
Riley Heimuli
817-251-5337
Assistant Principals
Alishia Ilic (last names A-K)
817-251-5313
Cinthia Morales (last names L-Z)
817-251-5317
Principal
Jamie Halliburton
817-251-5320
Need a Charger
In need of a new charger for a school issued Chromebook, click here for information on how to order a new one.
Thank you for helping our wolves be prepared for school each day by ensuring their Chromebooks are charged nightly!
Secondary Grading Policy
Click here to see the updated secondary grading policy from GCISD. All wolf pack teachers will be following this policy this school year to communicate the progress of each wolf.
Grades are a method of communicating the progress each wolf is making at CTMS. If you ever have questions or concerns over a grade, please reach out directly to the teacher.
Here is the link for the 2024-2025 GCISD Student/Parent Handbook and Code of Conduct :https://www.gcisd.net/o/gcisd/page/studentparent-handbook.
GCISD's Student-Parent Handbook contains information that students, parents and staff are likely to need during the school year. In addition, both students and parents need to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct. Both students and parents should become familiar with the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District Student Code of Conduct, which is a document adopted by the board and intended to promote school safety and an atmosphere for learning.
Cell Phone Policy
Middle school students may use telecommunications devices before and after school, and during
lunch. They may not use telecommunications devices during passing periods or classes.
What does this mean for the wolves?
- Devices can be used before 8:00 a.m., during lunch, and after 3:30 p.m.
- Smartwatches can be worn as long as they are used for telling time.
- Earbud, airpods, and the like will not be used in the hallway or during class time.
Updated ID Practice
Starting Wednesday, November 6th, we will implement a new CTMS practice for forgotten wolf IDs. As a reminder, the wearing of student IDs is part of the GCISD dress codes and outlined in the student code of conduct. We want to ensure consistency and encourage responsibility among our wolves, so each wolf will begin with a fresh start on this date.
The updated practice is as follows:
- First forgotten ID: Verbal warning.
- Second forgotten ID: Lunch detention.
- Third forgotten ID: Two lunch detentions.
- Fourth forgotten ID: Parent phone call, and a replacement ID will be automatically charged to the wolf's Skyward account.
- Fifth forgotten ID: In-school suspension (ISS) for repeated dress code offenses.
Additionally, please note that failure to return temporary IDs will result in lunch detention.
All wolves receive IDs, free of charge, on picture day. For those wolves who join the pack after picture day, they receive IDs when registering. Replacement IDs can be purchased from Ms. Richards in the front office before school or during lunch daily.
Thank you for your support in helping our wolves build good habits and follow GCISD expectations!
Buy Your Student I.D. Online ANYTIME!
Exciting News! CTMS Now Offers a New Online Purchase Option for Student ID's and Wolf Lanyards!
We are excited to announce that CTMS has added a new, convenient way for students and parents to complete your ID purchase needs online! This new payment option makes it easier and faster than ever before. You will find this payment option on the CTMS web page under the Quick Links heading where you can create your personal Web Store account. Once your account is created, click on the Middle Schools square and choose Cross Timbers Middle School. Complete your purchase through the Security/Dress Code option. Students will be able to finalize their order in Mrs. Richards office the following day once ID is personalized with the students' photo download. We hope this will be a helpful addition to preparing you student for a successful day at school everyday!
Student-Parent Handbook: Food Deliveries
Student-Parent Handbook page 55: Except in emergencies, delivery of messages or packages to students will not be allowed during instructional time. A parent may leave a message or a package such as a forgotten lunch, for the student to pick up from the front office during a passing period or lunch. Students are not permitted to order food using delivery services such as UberEats, DoorDash, etc.
What this means for the pack: Wolf pack family members may drop items off items to the vestibule for wolves. Delivery services are not permitted. Wolves will visit the vestibule during passing periods to pick up items dropped off by parents.
Volunteer Background Check
For the protection of students and staff, all volunteer applicants must read the Volunteer Handbook (in Español) and are asked to apply online authorizing the district to obtain a criminal history background check.
Note: All volunteers are required to reapply each year.
GCISD utilizes Volunteer Tracker for volunteer applications and signing up for volunteer opportunities. Please follow the steps provided to sign up. If you have any questions about registration, please contact App-Garden at support@app-garden.com or submit a help ticket.
Cross Timbers Middle School
Email: ctms.info@gcisd.net
Website: https://ctms.gcisd.net/
Location: 2301 Pool Rd, Grapevine, TX 76051
Phone: 817-251-5320
Twitter: @CTMSWolfWay