CMS Summer Parent Newsletter #2

Greetings Seahawk families,

We are less than 30 days away from the start of our 2024-2025 school year! As we are gearing up for another incredible year of learning here at Coastal Middle School, we would like to remind you of a few very important dates in the month of July. Please review the information in this Smores letter for more information.

You may also view all important dates for the entire school year, from Open House through the End of Year ceremonies - it is all included for your convenience and planning purposes.

Sunday July 14th 6th Grade Meet and Greet Parent meeting with PTSA. 2:00 P.M. in the CMS Gym

Saturday July 20th, Back to School Expo @ The Savannah Civic Center 10:00 A.M. - 3:00 P.M

Tuesday July 23rd Virtual New Family Orientation 6:00 PM online via Microsoft Teams

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Tuesday July 30th, Coastal Middle School Open House 4:00 P.M. -6:15 P.M.

August 1 & 2 Morning Advisement Schedule
August 16 School Council Meeting
August 20 Class Meetings and PTSA General Meeting
August 21 7th Grade Vision Screening
September 13 Spirit Week – Pep Rally Friday
September 3 Picture Day
September 20 Fall Ball 6th Grade Dance
September 30 7th Grade Vision and Hearing Mass Screening
October 1 Make-Up Picture Day
October 17, 15, 21 Seahawk Strut Dress Down for $30, $15, $50 donation
October 18 Seahawk Strut
October 29 6th Principal's Honor Luncheon - All As
October 30 7th Principal's Honor Luncheon - All As
October 31 8th Principal's Honor Luncheon - All As

All dates can be found using the button below.

The Coastal Middle School PTSA is hosting a Meet and Greet for 6th grade students and their families. This is a great opportunity to meet other families and learn more about our PTSA. This event will take place THIS Sunday, July 14th at 2 pm in the CMS Gym. Please RSVP by completing this link.

Additionally, the link to join our phenomenal Seahawk PTSA please click here.

At Coastal we understand the importance of keeping young minds active during the summer to prevent the infamous "summer slide". Here are a few practical tips to keep learning on the forefront of your Seahawk.

-Set aside 20-30 minutes each day for choice reading. Give your child choice in what they want to read based on genres that interest them.

-Engage in educational apps that make learning fun. Apps such as Khan Academy and Duolingo can allow students to learn and read texts in a new language.

-Plan trips to local museums, nature centers, or historic sites and have your child read up on the history and take photos with historical land markers.

-Support a summer journal! Encourage your Seahawk to keep a reflective summer journal. They can write about their daily adventures, which also helps to reinforce writing skills.

Our Seahawk nest is getting an upgrade! Our school is currently getting an entirely new HVAC system installation. Here's a few behinds the scenes photos of the progress that is being made as of today.

If you are moving or sending your student to a different school next year, please email our Information Specialist, Michele Ledbetter, your student's name and the name & location of the new school. michele.ledbetter@sccpss.com.

You should have received this newsletter by email and text. If you did not receive by text, either:

1. We don't have your correct phone number on file, or
2. You need to text "Yes" to 87569 to opt-in

You'll want to receive our texts. We try to send helpful, short reminders throughout the school week.

SCCPSS to host SY 24-25 Back to School Expo on Saturday, July 20th

WHAT: SCCPSS Back to School Expo

WHEN: Saturday, July 20, 2024 – 10am to 3pm

WHERE: NEW LOCATION! Savannah Civic Center, 301 W Oglethorpe Ave​, Savannah​​

Savannah-Chatham County Public School students head back to class on Thursday, August 1, 2024. To make certain our families have all the information they need to prepare, SCCPSS will host a Back to School Expo at the Savannah Civic Center on Saturday, July 20th from 10am to 3pm.

At the Expo, staff will be available to help families with anything they might need for back-to-school readiness, including transportation, nutrition, and athletics. Registration assistance will be available for families who have moved here recently or have changed residences. Please bring your proof of residency.

There will be student organizations and community partners in attendance. In addition, representatives from each of the district's schools will be on site to provide supply lists and open house schedules. Don't miss this fun and exciting kick-off to the new school year! Join SCCPSS at the Savannah Civic Center on July 20th for our annual Back to School Expo!

Is your family new to Coastal Middle School? We have a virtual event planned just for you.

On Tuesday July 23rd at 6 pm, our principal, Mr. Sidney will meet with parents and students virtually to help make sure that each student is ready for a GREAT Seahawk school year.

Interested families please plan to attend and a link will be shared on the July Parent Newsletter

If you have specific questions that you want to make sure are answered, please enter here.

If you would like to provide volunteer services for our school, please complete the simple registration and application process.

Interested volunteers must register through our secure online portal called the Volunteer Tracker. Once your registration is complete, an application link will be emailed to you.

We appreciate your dedication to our students and school.

Everything that needs to be purchased directly from our school is purchased from SchoolCashOnline. We have the following items ready to push out, but are waiting for the districtwide "roll over" before you will see the items. We expect the following items will be available to you once homeroom teachers are visible in Power School on July 27th. We will send a text once School Cash is functional.

• Agenda Book
• Spirit Wear Days - may purchase by the quarter or for the year.
• Family Technology Protection Plan
• Donations to fund "The Big Fat Science Notebook" for other students.

Please note that you will not purchase spirit wear through SchoolCash. Those items are purchased directly from our PTSA using this link. Payments to fund your child's meal plan will be made through this link.

If you did not have an account set up last year, you may go ahead and set up your account at this time at sccpss.schoolcashonline.com. You'll use the account for just about everything, to include field trips throughout the year.

Every student in the district has a meal account. During meal service, students are recognized by their personal identification number (student ID) at the cash register. The computer records the meal and deducts the appropriate amount from the student’s account.

There are three acceptable forms of payment for school lunch:

1. Cash
2. Money Order
3. MySchoolBucks.com

Cash and/or money order may be brought daily or put on the child’s account at the cafeteria.

MySchoolBucks.com, the on-line prepayment option, is encouraged for your children. MySchoolBucks.com is available for parents to place money electronically on their child’s account. To create an account, you will need the student ID, which can be found by going to Power School Parent Access on a computer, not by going through the app.

We need every family to be part of our PTSA. There are many different ways to plug-in, but it starts by joining. Please sign-up today using this link. Students and parents are encouraged to each have a membership.

You may pre-order your child's spirit wear so that it will be available at Open House.

You'll notice on this year's supply list every student is encouraged to purchase a copy of Everything You Need to Ace Science in One Big Fat Notebook: The Complete Middle School Study Guide.

Don't fear - it is not really a notebook and is not too big. It is an amazing resource from which both students and parents will benefit all three years that they attend CMS (and will likely refer to during high school and college). Please purchase one for your Seahawk. We would like to be able to give the books to students who may not be able to purchase one for themselves. We will set up a method in SchoolCash for parents to donate money towards purchasing the book for other students.

Don't forget - all rising 7th grade students MUST submit an updated immunization record in order to remain enrolled. Please send updated immunization records to Nurse Safer at serenity.safer@sccpss.com.

Remind your Seahawk to log at least two great books that were read over the summer using the form below. As well here are a few tips to help you prepare for the texts you'll be reading at Coastal.

-Aim to read and annotate the text for at least one hour each day. This keeps your mind sharp and can help in retaining key insights gathered from the text.

-Parents be sure to familiarize yourself with your child's Lexile score and celebrate Lexile growth!

-Start a Family Book Club! Read a chapter or two with your child and discuss what you all are reading as you read together. This will help to support a greater discourse with the text and should provide some valuable quality time.

Please order your child's spirit wear now through the PTSA. You may pick it up in our gym at Open House. Orders are taken online at this link.

While the supply list does note that a Chromebook is needed each day for instruction, the school will provide students with a Chromebook, if desired. We strongly encourage each family to purchase the protection plan as 180 days is a long time to protect a device in an environment with 500 young people. Accidents do happen.

Chromebooks may be reserved through PowerSchool ParentAccess.

School Council - Parents are represented by three members on the council. The contact information of each is provided below. Please reach out to them if you have matters regarding school improvement or student achievement you would like to be considered by the council.

Pamela Balsamo - pamela.balsamo@yahoo.com

Aimee Peavy - apeavy01@gmail.com

Jason Gamble - jasongamble@comcast.net

Curtis V. Cooper Mobile Clinic

If you would like your student to take advantage of the health, dental, or mental & behavioral health services offered by the mobile clinic please email Nurse serenity.safer@sccpss.com or Counselor jennifer.fell@sccpss.com.

Not Receiving Text Messages?

If you are not receiving our text messages, you are missing out. Please text "Yes" to 87569.

Please Join PTSA

Your voice is important, especially in these times when the world is changing moment to moment in the blink of an eye. The PTSA is a strong voice that influences educational legislation. Please join now at: https://coastalms.memberhub.store/ .

Your officers for the year are:

• President - Becky Cadoff
• VP - Aimee Peavey
• Secretary- Cathy Turbiville
• Treasurer - Tracey Erwin

CMS Facebook

Follow CMS School on Facebook.Please click the link and like the school's page to be updated on school activities and news. https://www.facebook.com/Coastal-Middle-School-235645453628684/

This page is in addition to our PTSA's awesome Facebook page you will want to follow at https://www.facebook.com/CoastalSeahawks/.

CMS Agenda For Sale

All Seahawks need a CMS agenda or similar calendar to use each day. The CMS agenda may be ordered online after July 19th. The cost is only $5. Go to https://sccpss.schoolcashonline.com/ to order.

Free Digital Resources

Please be aware that you and your child can access free, interactive digital textbooks through the Georgia Department of Education's website. The textbooks can be accessed by visiting www.gavirtuallearning.org/Resources.