CJMS Weekly Updates

Good Evening, Cabin John Middle School Families!

This is your Principal, Ms. Snider with the Sunday announcements for the week of November 4 - November 8. Remember, tomorrow is a grading and planning day for staff so there is no school for students. Tuesday is also a school closure for the Election.

I want to extend my heartfelt thanks for the thoughtful messages and warm words in celebration of National Principals Month. Your support and appreciation mean the world to me and to our entire team. Working together with such a dedicated community makes our school an exceptional place for students to learn and grow.

I’m also thrilled to announce that Cabin John Middle School has been ranked the #1 Public Middle School in Maryland ranked by Niche, a national school and college search platform! This incredible achievement reflects the dedication, hard work, and commitment of our entire community—students, staff, families, and supporters alike. Thank you for all that you do every day to make our school such an outstanding place for learning and growth.

SGA is throwing a Fall Movie Night on Friday, November 8th. You can play some games, eat some pizza, and watch the original Beetlejuice movie for only $5.00. Students are also welcome to bring a blanket or something comfortable to sit on in the cafeteria. The permission slip is in the digital newsletter, on the website, and was sent out through a Remind message on Friday, November 1. If you don't have a printer and need a paper copy, they can get one from the cafeteria during lunches or see the main office.

On Monday, November 11th, Cabin John will be having an open house during Periods 1, 2, 3, and Advisory. If you are interested in coming in and checking out your child's classes, please fill out the google form to pre-register. The pre-registration form allows us to plan better, speed up your entrance on Monday, November 11th, and continue to maintain Security and Safety. This will allow us to run the normal visitor check in ahead of time and create name tags in order to have them ready for you Monday morning.

If you pre-registered, on Monday morning when you arrive, you may enter at the main entrance and obtain your name tag from the greeting tables by showing any picture Identification. Name tags will be sorted by grade level and alphabetically. Please complete one submission for each adult attending the Open House on Friday. If you do not pre-register, you will need to check in using the normal Visitor Management System in the Main Office. Please note it will take extra time to run your ID through our Visitor Management System. Please pre-register by close of business on Wednesday, November 6th.

Please remember the phone message just highlights some of the information you can find in our digital newsletter that arrives through email. There are a few opportunities for students regarding contests and STEM activities this week.

We look forward to welcoming every back Wednesday, November 6th into our Cabin John community focused on respect, positive relationships, and resilience.

Have a great evening!

Ms. Somer Snider
Principal, CJMS

Our digital newsletter can be translated into many different languages and the font can be adjusted so our entire community has access to what is happening in the CJMS community!

To adjust your view of the newsletter, click on the "accessibility" button. The button is a circle with figure in it. Once you click the accessibility button, the menu to choose the language or different font size will appear.

• Monday, November 4 - No School for Students, Grading Day for Teachers
• Tuesday, November 5 - No School for Students and Staff, Election Day
• Wednesday, November 6 - First Day of Marking Period 2
• Friday, November 8 - SGA Fall Movie Night, 6:00pm - 8:30pm
• Monday, November 11 - 8:15am to 11:00am - CJMS Open House - More Details to come!
• Wednesday, November 13 - MP1 Report Cards available in ParentVue
• Monday, November 25 - Early Release for Students (12:30pm Dismissal)
• Tuesday, November 26 - Early Release for Students (12:30pm Dismissal)
• Wednesday, November 27 - Friday, November 29 - Schools and Offices Closed

When: Friday, November 8th 2024 6pm-8:30pm

Where: CJMS Cafeteria

Movie: Beetlejuice (1988, Rated PG)

Tickets: May be purchased during lunch from 11/1 - 11/6

Description: SGA is hosting a Fall Movie Night on Friday, November 8th from 6:00-8:30 pm in the CJMS cafeteria. Tickets are $5 and will include 2 slices of pizza and a drink. Snacks will be available for purchase. Students will be able to enjoy the fun activities planned and the movie will start at 6:45pm.

Students interested in attending must bring the permission slip signed by a guardian in order to purchase their ticket at lunch between Friday, November 1st - Wednesday, November 6th! Tickets will NOT be sold at the door before the event, only during lunches. For more information see or email Ms. Pun.

Please take time to review what students are currently learning in their classes this week at Cabin John Middle School in our weekly assignment summary.

The Cabin John MS Counseling department will be working with the Salvation Army to sponsor students in Montgomery County to provide gifts to needed children for the holidays.

Our counseling department has designed a tree that will has placed in our school atrium (right outside the main office) with various leaves and apples placed on the tree. Each apple or leaf will contain the name of a student identifying an item from a Need (diapers, shoes, coats, grooming/hair kits); Want (a toy from a list for their age range - NO bikes/tablets/drones or expensive toys); Wear (pjs, socks, underwear shirts/pants or other clothing items) and Read (a book).

For many of these students, it will be the only gifts that the student will receive during the holiday season. We hope that each student is able to receive their selection from each category. Please feel free to come take a leaf or apple off tree to make a child enjoy and celebrate joyful holiday season. Feel free to take more than one if your budget allows. All items must be dropped off unwrapped to Cabin John Middle School by Wednesday, December 4th.

For any questions, please contact Ms. Poole in the counseling office at Jennifer_A_Poole@mcpsmd.org or 240-406-1560.

This contest challenges teenagers to create an original video to promote awareness about the dangers of illicit opioids, fentanyl and risk of overdose. The video contest is open to all 6th - 12th grade students living in Montgomery County. Top prize is $4,000, second place is $2,000, third place and fan favorite winners will receive $750 all donated by The Magnolia Companies in honor of two young Montgomery County residents lost to fentanyl; Michael Pisarra and Matthew Loudon.

The 2024 contest is now open and accepting entries. To register please click on this link. All entries are due by midnight on November 12, 2024.

The event is for 6th graders and free, but space is limited to the first 60 students who register on our website: https://www.montgomerycollege.edu/academics/stem/k-12/sonya-kovalevsky-program.html

Members of our Cabin John Chorus have prepared very hard for the Montgomery County Honors Chorus auditions the past few weeks! CJMS has the most amount of the students represented in the whole county! Please congratulate the following 21 students who were accepted into the Montgomery County Honors Chorus group!

Michael Ahn

Ivy Wang

Sky Hall

Isabella Rabitor

Alexa Gregory

Natalie Friedman

Hannah Hwang

Ryan Rosenbaum

Enerlen Ganbaatar

Ananya Bhat

Krystienne Tecson

Yasha Sharma

Miraya Sharma

Joy Liang

Alex Jison

Ashlyn Mancuso-Conyers

Ray Spivak

Jason Asuzu

Dimitris Balaras

Sammy Afolabi

Dev Chhatwal

The Cougar boys softball team played a near flawless game against Lakeland school last week. 8th grade captain Freddy Sharman had an impressive 2 home runs to start the game. 7th grader Michael Angelone had 2 RBIs. The infield had multiple single and double plays that allowed the Cougars to advance to the next innings with no contest. Rizzy Rana had a super athletic pop fly catch to close the inning off. The final score was 14-2. They face off with Julius West at home next Monday.

The Girls softball team faced off with Tilden middle school on the road. The team was led by 8th grade captain Violet Wilner who started the game with a home run. Katie Reich had 2 RBIs that pushed the team to maintain a lead of 6-1 for a few innings. The team played well in the field with multiple plays by Violet, Nicole Warren, and Saba Ciani-Dausch including a major pop fly. The team was led by the pitchers where 7th grade Makayla Bellamy had 2 strike outs and 8th grade Tessa Rosacker had a very impressive game with 9 strikeouts. The final score was 6-4.

Congratulations to both the boys and girls cross country teams for winning their meet on Thursday, October 24th, against Wood MS.

Livy Dickerson placed first and Savina Whang second. Laila Yunes placed fourth, smashing her previous time. Our boys took first through 8th places, with Patricio Pardo leading the pack with another impressive run followed by Jack Epperly, Josh Downey, Charles Liu, Nico Aguel-Martinez, Anay Sood, Aryan Juneja and Riyen Shah. All runners had a best time! Our next race is at CJMS, next Tuesday, come out and cheer on all of our runners!

Wootton Patriot Players is now in the process of presenting two different Fall Plays, Elephant & Piggie’s “We Are In A Play!” and Game of Tiaras, and we are more than excited. Elephant & Piggie, November 9-10 and 16-17, is geared more towards elementary students, while Game of Tiaras, November 8-9 and 15-16, is geared more towards middle school students.

Don't miss Wootton Patriot Players presenting Game of Tiaras on November 8-9 and 15-16 in the Thomas S. Wootton auditorium! Game of Tiaras combines hilarious plot twists of Game of Thrones and the Shakespearean tragedy King Lear in a laugh-out-loud comedy.

Attention Parents! We are looking for all parents that would be interested in helping with the Black History Heritage Month Celebration preparations.

If you are interested, please contact Tamara Hardy in the Counseling Office or by email at Tamara_A_Hardy@mcpsmd.org for more information.

Due to an increase in respiratory illnesses in the community, we want to remind parents that they should pay attention to their child's symptoms. If they are exhibiting excessive coughing, along with fatigue, shortness of breath or fever, they really do need to go to the doctor as they need to be monitored and treated if necessary. Respiratory viruses can lead to secondary infections that cause bacterial pneumonia which can be very serious and be spread to other members of the community that are more vulnerable such as the elderly or the very young. Students also need to stay home until they are feeling better and are less contagious.

In the interest of reducing the spread of respiratory illnesses, when students come to the health room with excessive coughing, we will give students a mask to wear and will be calling parents and requesting that they go home if they seem to be extremely fatigued, have a fever or are not feeling well. We appreciate your assistance in keeping the community safe and healthy. Please contact me if you have any questions. Thank you so much for your continued support.

As always, we are here to help your child to thrive while at school! Please feel free to contact me (Brienne_B_Merritt@mcpsmd.org) if you have any questions or if we can be of assistance.

The D.C. chapter of INTEGIRLS is hosting a beginner-friendly, in-person math competition Saturday, December 14th from 9 am - 4 pm at the Bioscience Education Center at Montgomery College Germantown Campus! Our mission at INTEGIRLS is to encourage girls and non-binaries in STEM fields through math competitions and events.

This year, we will have math competition rounds (individual and team), an estimathon, a speaker event, awards ceremony, provided lunch, and lots of fun STEM activities. Teams of up to 4 students will be able to connect with and enjoy math with other girls and non-binaries around the DMV. There will be a lot of prizes and fun swag for all participants.

Register here directly or go to the INTEGIRLS D.C. website (dc.integirls.org) to learn more about the competition.

The Social Studies team is hosting a series of Curriculum Night webinars for families to learn more about how social studies is taught in MCPS and how its curricula in kindergarten through 11th grade incorporate the history of various ethnic and cultural groups. The webinars will be held from 6:30–7:30 p.m. on the following dates:

• Thursday, Sept. 12–Black and African American History
• Thursday, Sept. 26–Asian History
• Thursday, Oct. 10–Hispanic History
• Thursday, Oct. 24–Arab History
• Thursday, Nov. 7–Indigenous History of the United States
• Thursday, Dec. 5–LGBTQ+ History (Middle and High School Only)
• Thursday, Dec. 12–Jewish History

To attend, families must register at the above links and a link to attend the webinar will be sent to them.

The safety of our MCPS community is critical, and being able to communicate with students, staff, and families during severe weather or other emergencies is of the utmost importance.

Use this link to find all the ways you can connect with MCPS to receive emergency operational information from the school system. The current operating status options for the school district appear on the MCPS website and on individual school websites.

In the event of a change in operational status, this link will provide more information about the MCPS Operating Status options.

Resources for SSL:

• SSL forms, resources, and guidelines
• September SSL Opportunities
• SSL opportunities -September and Montgomery County Volunteer Center
• SSL program overview
• Step-by-step directions for viewing student SSL record on StudentVUE
• Introduction to SSL Handout: English | Español| 中文 | Français | tiếng Việt | 한국어 | አማርኛ | Portuguêse

Welcome to our new CJMS PTSA Board that was voted in during the Back to School Night Welcome Back Fair! We appreciate you!

Please be sure to become a member of this important organization. Our PTSA is funded primarily through our memberships and donations.

Membership Information:

Family Memberships (2 parents) are $50

Student and Faculty Memberships are $10

General donations are welcomed.

Ways to join the CJMS PTSA:

**Preferred Method** AtoZConnect (payment can be made with any credit card) @ https://cabinjohnptsa.membershiptoolkit.com/

Mail in an application (send in your membership form with a check;

mail to Cabin John MSPTSA, Attn: Treasurer, 10701 Gainsborough Road, Potomac, MD 20854)

Questions? Send an email to PTSA Membership.

Our first meeting will be at the start of Back to School Night on August 28th. Please join us to hear more about how we can all support our CJMS school community!

Main Office telephone: 240-406-1600

Counseling Office telephone: 240-406-1560

Health Office telephone: 240-406-1570

FAX: 240-740-4403

website: https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/cabinjohnms/

The school day for students is from 8:15 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. It is imperative that students not be dropped off prior to 7:55 a.m. Students being dropped off by parents/guardians at school must enter through the doors by the cafeteria. Parents/guardians, if you are using the student drop-off loop, please make sure to pull as far as possible to the stop sign at the end of the loop - students are not permitted to enter through the main office doors, so it doesn't help to drop them off at that location.

After school activities will start on September 10th and will be on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Students must be picked up from after-school activities by 4:35 p.m. as supervision is not scheduled outside of these hours.

If you have questions about events, schedules or other school-related matters, including reporting the absence of a student, please call us at 240-406-1600.

If you need to report an absence and would like to submit a letter via email, please send an email to our attendance secretary, Ms. Jordan Murek (email: Jordan_Murek@mcpsmd.org). CJMS Attendance policies can be found here.

In an effort to keep our weekly newsletter shorter and more concise, I am not going to add the resources that appear every week. Instead, I will link our BTS newsletter here so you have easy access to that information.

Principal: Ms. Somer Snider

Assistant Principal (6th Grade): Mr. Casey Siddons

Assistant Principal (7th Grade): Mr. Andy Lee

Assistant School Administrator (8th Grade): Ms. Jen Wingate

Main Office Phone: 240-406-1600
Fax: 240-740-4403
Guidance Counseling Office: 240-406-1560
Health Room: 240-406-1570

Attendance Office: 240-406-1599 (to leave a VM)

Please call CJMS to notify us of your child's absence.

CJMS Attendance Office Procedures can be found here.

Email: Somer_Snider@mcpsmd.org
Website: https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/cabinjohnms/
Location: 10701 Gainsborough Road, Potomac, MD, USA
Phone: 240-406-1600
X: @CabinJohnMS