Middle School

Messenger

District Online Calendar includes info for all athletics events

IMPORTANT DATES

At the CSPA Open House earlier this month, I recommended to parents that

they read the book Mindset by Dr. Carol Dweck. One of the most important

concepts we as a staff learned from the book was to give students specific

praise. If students learn to work hard, they will develop a growth mindset

even when they make mistakes. We can support students in their quest for

developing a growth mindset by the feedback and

praise we give them.

Here are a few examples of the way that we as

staff and parents should be praising students:

“I noticed how hard you worked on those factoring problems.” or “Your

thesis statement allowed you to develop an a strong case to support your

theory of social change.” rather than telling them that they are smart.

“I have enjoyed watching you work so hard at your math this year.”

rather than saying they always get good grades in math.

“I like the care and caution you used with the dishes when you were

loading the dishwasher.” instead of saying good job doing the dishes.

Susan Deaner, our District’s Consultant for the Academically Gifted says that

a strong work ethic, perseverance and the desire to learn more are

components of the Growth Mindset. She recently talked with a student who

had overheard his classmates say he was smart. She asked the student what

it meant to be smart and the student said, “For me it’s knowing a lot of stuff

and being able to solve your problems when you need to.” The conversation

continued like this:

Mrs. Deaner: What if I told you there’s something better than being smart?

Student: What would that be?

Mrs. Deaner: Working hard.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Friday, September 25, 9:15 AM - Beluga

Ball Meeting in Beluga Ball room at CSA

Friday, October 2, 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

CSPA Blood Drive

Monday, October 5, 7:00 PM - CSPA

Parent Council Meeting

Monday, October 12, 7:00 PM - CSA

Parent Council Meeting at CSA

Tuesday, October 13 - Mid terms go home

Monday, October 19 , 9:00 - 11:00 AM -

School Picture Retake Day

Thursday, October 22 - Half day of

school/Evening Comprehensive Reviews

Friday, October 23 - Half day of

school/Evening Comprehensive Reviews

Saturday, October 24-Charyl’s Run2BFit

find more information about this event

in the main Tuesday Times

Mindset

In Principal

Steven M. Beyer

Attention Parents

As many of you have already noticed, our parking lot was completely redone

this summer. This redesign gave us a chance to make some changes. Please

note that all numbered parking spaces have been purchased by students for

student parking. Please park in the visitor spaces located at the front of both

the high school and middle school entrances and in any unnumbered

parking space when you enter the building. Thank you.

Seeking CSPA

Library Volunteers

Parent Volunteers We Need You!

The CSPA Library operates

on a volunteer basis. Usual

library shifts are Monday

through Friday, 9:00 AM -

12:30 PM OR 12:30 - 4:00

PM. Shifts can be shared and broken

into shorter time slots. If you are

interested and would like to know

more about a volunteer opportunity,

please stop in for a visit or contact:

Diane O’Nions at 810-225- 994 x450 /

donions@csaschool.org.

Middle School Messenger - 2

Charyl Stockwell Preparatory Academy

1032 Karl Greimel Drive Brighton, MI 48116

(810) 225-9943 www.csaschool.org

FAMILY ACCESS LINK

CSPA Middle School Website Home Page

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

Steven M. Beyer, CSPA Principal sbeyer@csaschool.org

Brenda Ogden, Dean of Students bogden@csaschool.org

ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT

Nancy Krettlin, MS Secretary nkrettlin@csaschool.org

MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHERS

Bryan Funke bfunke@csaschool.org

Dina Highfield dhighfield@csaschool.org

Katie Kowalczyk kkowalczyk@csaschool.org

Lisa Lulgjuraj llulgjuraj@csaschool.org

Leah Maniace lmaniace@csaschool.org

Katie Morrissey kmorrissey@csaschool.org

Michael Swain mswain@csaschool.org

Brad Therrian btherrian@csaschool.org

Lauren Weller lweller@csaschool.org

Amanda Woodruff amanda.woodruff@csaschool.org

Sarah Yauk syauk@csaschool.org

Aaron Brown aaronb@csaschool.org

Donna Engstrom dengstrom@csaschool.org

Elizabeth Holland eholland@csaschool.org

Jessica Perry perryj@csaschool.org

Student, exclaiming loudly: You have to work hard to get smart.

Mrs. Deaner: You’re already smart, why do you continue to work so hard?

Student: To keep learning, because later in life, the more knowledge you

have the better position you will be in to find a job. People want smart

people to work for them.

Mrs. Deaner: You believe you can learn anything, don’t you.

Student: If you put your mind to it and work hard you can do anything.

This was a conversation with a student who has a growth mindset. He knows

that through hard work, effort and reflecting on previous mistake, he can grow

smarter and do anything. Isn’t this what we all want for our students? We

want them to understand that if they work hard, keep a positive attitude and

reflect on previous mistakes, they can become smarter and wiser and grow up

to be happy and productive adults.

Consider reading Dr. Dweck’s book Mindset this school year. A review of the

book can be found here. All the secondary school advisory teachers have a

copy of this book and they would be happy to lend it to you to read.

As a school community let’s help our students grow. Let’s use specific praise

and teach our students that their intellectual ability can be developed and that

growth occurs when they work hard, make mistakes, reflect on their mistakes

and correct them for the future. Let’s give our students the gift of a growth

mindset this year.

On this day in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued a

preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which set a date for

the freedom of more than 3 million black slaves in the United

States and recast the Civil War as a fight against slavery.

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Lincoln maintained that

the war was about restoring the Union and not about slavery. He avoided

issuing an anti-slavery proclamation immediately, despite his and other’s

belief that slavery was morally repugnant but rather issued his emancipation

proclamation following the Union win at the Battle of Antietam.

CSPA Picture Retake Day

Picture Retake Day for CSPA High School and Middle School

students is Monday, October 19. Order your retake pictures now

at MyLifetouch.com using the Picture Day IDs LM515727Y1 or

download the retake order form here. Students must wear school uniforms.

Middle School Messenger

- 3

In the Classrooms Middle School Website (link to each classroom page is on the class heading)

SCIENCE

This week, students continue to work on their layered

curriculum. We are finishing up Layer C which is the

foundational knowledge students need to be

successful in Layers B and A. Layer C is due this

Thursday, September 24.

SOCIAL STUDIES

This week, students continue to learn about the

discovery and making of the United States of America.

Yesterday, they learned about the three original

colonies and will finish this week learning about the

French and Indian War. Students continue to write

their chapter books, “The Story of Us.”

LITERATURE

Last week, we read the O. Henry short story The Gift

of the Magi. We learned about literary theme and

constructed our first in-class essay on the topic. This

week we are focusing on revisions after learning

revision strategies early in the week. We will wrap our

week up with a lesson on literary symbolism.

MATH (First Block) WITH MR. FUNKE

Students were introduced to numbers as a whole

yesterday. Today, they worked with cardinal, nominal

and ordinal numbers. Tomorrow, they will work with

benchmark numbers. Students will end the week

exploring larger numbers. They will take a concept on

Thursday or Friday depending on their level of

understanding.

MATH (Second Block) WITH MR. FUNKE

Yesterday, students were introduced to the different

types of numbers that theywill be working with this

year. Today, they worked with ordinal, cardinal and

nominal numbers. Students will spend the balance of

the week working with factors and factor trees. They

will take a concept check on Friday.

MATH WITH MS. LULGJURAJ

This week, students are finishing Investigation 1. On

Thursday, they their Connecting Your Knowledge

packet which we will review together on Friday. Next

week, students will begin Investigation 2.

MATH (First Block) WITH MRS. MANIACE

Yesterday, we finished our first connections packet

and spent the rest of the day reviewing our first week

of math. Today, we started our second Investigations

packet, Linear Models and Equations. Students will be

recognizing and modeling linear and nonlinear

relationships in two-variable data.

MATH (Second Block) WITH MRS. MANIACE

Yesterday, we worked on our fourth lesson in the first

investigations packet. Students will continue working on

their first investigation until Thursday, at which time .

they will receive their Connecting Your Knowledge

Packet and have time for review on Friday. Next Monday,

they will begin their second investigations packet.

MATH WITH MS. WELLER

Yesterday, we finished our first connections packet

and spent time mastering the concepts we learned

last week. Today we started our secondInvestigations

packet, Linear Models and Equations. Students will be

recognizing and modeling linear and nonlinear

relationships in two-variable data. They will take

concept checks on Thursday and Friday of this week.

MATH (First Block) WITH MRS. YAUK

This week, students will take their first lesson quiz over

patterns of change. They will identify and describe how

patterns of change that are linear, nonlinear, and based

on chance look in tables, graphs, and algebraic rules.

Later this week, we will move on to change based on

percentages, such as population growth.

MATH (Second Block) WITH MRS. YAUK

This week, we begin our second lesson, in which

students will work with manipulating equations with

two or more variables. They will use graphs to study

solutions for linear equations with two variables.