CMS Update

 

March Student Calendar

Principal's Notes

Here is some information for this week.

Sunnyvale Sister City Association

This week CMS and SMS will be hosting students from our Sister City, Iizuka, Japan. The students will be at our sites on Tuesday and Wednesday so if you see them around please make sure to welcome them to Sunnyvale.

Author Visit

Parent Corner

Vaping Resources

Vaping is an epidemic that impacts all schools and CMS is not immune. Therefore, in order to support our school community, CMS will host a parent education workshop, presented by Tobacco Use Prevention Education (TUPE) on Tuesday, April 25th, Time: 6:00pm The workshop will be conducted in both English and Spanish.

If you have never spoken to your student about the dangers of vaping, I'm adding some resources from the Catch My Breath Organization.

Parent Tool Kit-English

Parent Took Kit-Spanish

Impact of Social Media

Like many schools nationwide, Columbia Middle School has issues involving students and social media platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram, Discord, and Tik Tok. The problems vary from hate pages, fake accounts, posting of fights, and other inappropriate content, which harms some of our students here at Columbia Middle, which is a concern. Therefore, we are once again asking parents for their support. Any parent that is interested, the Child Mind Institute will be hosting a free live webinar on Tuesday, March 28 at 2:30pm.

https://www2.childmind.org/webmail/908232/1549583385/82caff28ec468bd08648b004fbe17fd10479a5251da7daaf28e8d7df1cc23ca6

Officer Gomez Youtube Channel

Parent tips and social media tricks. There is a lot going on with social media and parents have a hard time keeping up. Officer Gomez explains some of the challenges to parents and kids. 

LCAP Feedback

If you have a student with an IEP and would like to provide feedback on the Local Control Agency Plan, please stop by the LRC on Friday, March 31st from 3:30 to 4:30pm.

Family Resource Center

The Family Resource Center will be open every Tuesday from 3:30pm to 5:30 pm. What is the Family Resource Center (FRC)? The FRC is a place on campus where parents can receive additional support in accessing PowerSchool, Google Classroom, Email, and looking up resources available in the Sunnyvale area. If you have any questions, please reach out to Roxana Portillo roxana.portillo@sesd.org.

Multicultural Festival

Please save the date for our first ever Multicultural Festival which is scheduled for Saturday, April 1st, 2023, from 11am-2pm.  If you would like to help volunteer at this year's event, please join us this Thursday at 5:30pm in the LRC.

Free of Charge After School Art Class

The second session begins this week. The art class will be held in the CMS Art Room (Rm. 5). The two sessions will run on the following dates:

Columbia Neighborhood Opportunities

• Tues., 3/28, 3:00 – 5:00 pm; Sunnyvale Community Services (AMD Conference Room) – Information and help with food, emergency financial assistance, rental or housing issues/assistance, applying for public assistance programs and legal assistance.  No appointment necessary. 
• Wed., 3/29, 5:00 -6:00 pm – COVID-19 Vaccination and Booster Shots with MayView Clinic (Morse Conference Room - No appointment needed! Get your COVID 19 initial and booster shots based on CDC guidelines. Please bring your vaccine card if you are receiving a booster. 
• Friday, 3/31, 7:00 – 10:00 pm – FREE! Youth Drop-In Basketball @ CNC Gym - indoor youth drop-in basketball for middle and high school youth. Must have current school ID and signed parent consent form. Bring your own ball. Program will be canceled if no one shows after the first hour.   
• Monday - Friday, 3:30 - 8 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m.—12 p.m.; Drop-In Fitness Room - Get active with cardio machines (treadmill, bikes, ellipticals), strength training machines and free weights. Bring water, towel and wear athletic shoes. $1, Residents only. High school students with signed parent consent waiver. Middle school students are free, must attend with a paying parent/guardian.  
• CMS Parents – CNC wants your input as we look ahead to next 1-3 years. Please complete a short on-line survey by scanning the QR code below

                    

In the Community  

• Sat, 4/1, 8:00 am to noon – (Free) Hazardous Waste Drop-Off, Appointments Required – must be Santa Clara residents and proof of resident required. Visit https://hhw.sccgov.org/home or call 408-299-7300 to make an appointment or for more information.  
• Sat, 4/1 & Sun, 4/2, 8:30 am -4:30 pm – Extra Dumping Weekend – Sunnyvale residents may dispose of extra garbage at no charge. Must bring proof of Sunnyvale residency, vehicle loads must be covers, uncovered loads will be provided a tarp for $15 fee, limited to one-ton capacity, trailers must not exceed 5x10 feet. For more info. /questions, call 752-8530.  
• Now to 4/13 – Free In-Person Tax Preparation Service (by appt. only) – Call 408-475-1335 for an appt. on Mondays and Thursdays, 9:00 am to 1:00 pm.  Offered by AARP Foundation. Location: Sunnyvale Community Services, 1160 Kern Ave., Sunnyvale.  
• Find other Free Tax Preparation Sites by Income Tax Assistance (VITA) or Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) volunteers, https://irs.treasury.gov/freetaxprep/jsp/vita.jsp?zip=94086&lat=37.371859&lng=-122.0212337&radius=5 
• Recreation Scholarship Program (formerly Fee Waiver Program) – Sunnyvale families with children aged 17 and younger can apply and if approved, each child will have a $500 credit to use towards any recreation activity offered by City of Sunnyvale. Income limits have been increased. Applications available now and the program cycle is Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2023. Applications available on city website or at CNC. 

Reminders:

PTSA News

Please consider joining our PTSA, the cost is only $10/member for the year.  To join please go to:  https://jointotem.com/ca/sunnyvale/columbia-middle-school-ptsa

Updated Tardy Procedure

Students who are more than 10 minutes late must report to the front office to receive a tardy pass.  If a student is tardy for less than 10 minutes, students can report straight to class; there is no need to go to the front office to receive a pass as this takes up more time, and we want to maximize students’ time in class. In both cases, students will be marked tardy so that we can keep an accurate attendance record. This procedure only applies to the start of the school day, so if you are running more than 10 mins late to drop off your student, please drop them off by the front office.

Bulldog Beacon School Newspaper

The Bulldog Beacon online newspaper is produced by the Journalism Elective class at CMS.  This student-led project empowers young journalists to produce and publish their own writing, while teaching them important skills such as collaboration, teamwork, expository writing, opinion writing, and utilizing the writing process.  Students learn about photojournalism, broadcast journalism, copy-editing, interviewing, and other important aspects of the field of journalism.  Please enjoy the work of these aspiring journalists, and check back often for new articles and updates.

https://sites.google.com/sesd.org/bulldogbeacon/home

KLAS

If you are interested in the afterschool KLAS program, please contact Angelina Molina at angelina.molina@sesd.org.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!