Commack Middle School PTA

Board List and Contacts

Important Dates

Committee News

Forms & Flyers

FAQ's

Minutes


Welcome to our PTA Website!!!  We will try to keep you up-to-date on the happenings at Commack Middle School as well as provide information and answers to your questions.  We even have a link for PTA flyers and forms!
 

Commack Middle School PTA

Please join us once a month to learn about what is going on in your child’s school as well as in your community. CMS PTA meetings are not all committee reports; you will hear from our principal and our three assistant principals on what is going on both academically and socially here at CMS.  . Through out the year we have guest speakers who represent different programs that you want to know more about; and we hear regularly from departments that have something new going on.  Click here for a schedule of PTA meetings.

 I hope you will take the time to attend a meeting or, better, all our meetings.  Please let us know if there is something you may be particularly interested in seeing presented. 

There are many opportunities to be involved in our school.  Remember, your child, like most middle schoolers, may not come home and tell you everything that is going on anymore - so come to a PTA meeting and keep yourself informed.  

Sign up to get group mailings from the Middle School PTA. Send me an email RERS96@aol.com to keep informed of goings-on around CMS, and to receive meeting and important-dates reminders, the minutes of our meetings, and flyers about upcoming events.

Hope to see you soon!  Our first meeting is on Wednesday, September 10, at 7:30 pm, in the new cafeteria.

Risa


 

CMS PTA Goals 2008-2009

Continue to encourage student participation in school activities at all grade levels and to promote the extension of our co-curricular program wherever there is student interest. 

Sustain an effective disciplinary program that focuses on helping students make thoughtful, positive decisions.  

Enhance the Character Education Program through a “positive chain reaction” as introduced by Rachel’s Challenge. 

Continue to encourage teachers to include a homework page (eBoard) on the school’s website and to offer other information helpful to parents in this same manner. 

Continue to improve teacher, parent and student communication via computers and staff presentations at PTA meetings.

Continue improvements in the dissemination of information between school and home, e.g., webpages, email communication, program liaisons, and team parents. 

Continue open and frank communication regarding the status of our construction projects and new house structure. 

Refurbish needy areas of building -- D wing lockers in particular-- so that all students benefit by the improvements to the building.  

Encourage families to forward articles and information of interest to principal and the PTA president  so the information contained therein may be shared with other parents through PTA meetings, newsletters, etc.  This will further strengthen the home/school partnership and support all CMS students’ learning.

 

A message from our principal,
Pamela Travis-Moore

Welcome (or welcome back) to CMS!
This promises to be another great year for the Middle School and for every student in it.  To help ensure your child’s success this year, I have reproduced an article from the September 2008 issue of “Cut & Paste” that I think you’ll find useful – for your middle-schooler and for children of all ages.

Help Your Child Deal with Stress    

Nowadays, adults are not the only ones concerned with stress. With today’s hectic lifestyles, more children than ever are experiencing signs of stress.  

Fortunately, kids are resilient. They can learn to cope with the stresses in their lives if they are taught specific coping skills, and if they have a dependable source of emotional support. You, as a parent, are your child’s first line of defense. Start by becoming aware of potential stress reactions in your child.

Many of the top stresses for children are related to school: worries about grades, tests, reports, and problems with teachers. Children also worry about their family members’ health and well-being. Other causes of major childhood stress include peer pressure, issues about personal appearance, friendships, money problems, divorcing parents, or a family move. 

The signs of stress are different for children than for adults, so parents need to be alert to these differences, which also vary by age. Following are some typical signs to watch for:

In Young Children/Toddlers

  • Fear of separation from parent

  • Fear of new experiences (toilet training, day care)

  • Tantrums

  • Clinginess

  • Regression in sleep, toilet habits 

In Early-School-Age Children

  • Not wanting to go/fearful of going to school

  • Unexplained physical complaints (stomach aches, headaches)

  • Increased aggressiveness

  • Regression to younger habits--crying, thumb-sucking

  • Bad dreams or nightmares  

In Later Elementary-School-Age Children

  • Acting out (misbehaving)

  • Isolation/withdrawal from normal activities

  • Increased aggressiveness, anger

  • Over-compliance or perfectionism

  • Fear of making mistakes

  • Regression 

 

In Teens/Adolescents

  • Marked change in sleep habits

  • Chronic irritability, quick temper

  • Fear of trying new experiences

  • Fear of making mistakes

  • Increased sensitivity to complaints

  • Perfectionism

How to Help Your Child Cope

Just as the signs of stress differ according to age, so do the ways that parents can best help their children cope. For toddlers, simply offering consistency, routines, verbal reassurance, and physical affection is usually enough to overcome a temporary stress reaction. It also helps to provide clear, simple explanations when making changes in the child’s everyday routines. Help very young children express their feelings. Use toys, books, favorite songs, or stories to help a toddler connect feelings with experiences and begin to talk about them. You might pretend that your child’s doll is angry or upset about a change in bedtime. Demonstrate to your child how to “comfort” the doll, and then have your child copy your example.

By early school age, children can usually talk about their fears. Listen empathetically and reassure your children that they are safe. If a child is experiencing bad dreams, empower him or her by helping to create an imaginary “bad dream shield.” Suggest that he or she visualize a protective barrier, like a big imaginary soap bubble, all around the child, through which no bad dreams can pass. You might have him or her extend the shield to encompass the entire room as well. 

Use humor with later elementary school age children, when possible, to dispel stress. Demonstrate or role-play coping skills and strategies such as taking deep breaths, counting to ten, or tensing and relaxing facial muscles. Use silliness to lighten the mood, make a funny face, clown around, etc.

With teens and adolescents, it is important to keep communication lines open by being available to listen without preaching. Model positive communication and behaviors. Encourage your teen to maintain proper sleeping and eating habits; this alone may be enough to eliminate minor stress. For bigger issues, have an open discussion with your teen and share how you handled a stressful situation in your life. This will help normalize the stress that your teen feels, and the honesty can help bring you closer as well.  

With your help and a little practice, your child--at any age--can master the coping skills needed to become stress-resistant, both today and into the future.

 ATTITUDE 

The longer I live, the more I realize the

impact of attitude on life.

 Attitude, to me, is more important than fact.   It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do.  It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill.

It will make or break or a company, a church, a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.

We cannot change our past … we cannot change the fact that people will act a certain way. 

We cannot change the inevitable.

The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude ...

I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me

and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you …

~Charles Swindoll~

 

  FOR THE SAFETY OF OUR
                                 CHILDREN...

When picking up your children at dismissal, please park your vehicle in a parking spot.
DO NOT PARK IN THE HANDICAP SPOTS UNLESS YOU HAVE A HANDICAP
STICKER and please DO NOT BLOCK THE PARKED CARS.  Blocking the parked cars
makes the parking lot very dangerous for both our children and other drivers.
  It is difficult to see the children walking between cars when you are pulling away
and it is difficult to pull out of spots when cars are blocking you.

To make everyone's life easier, students can be picked up either by the tennis courts
in the main lot or by the D-wing (west of the library).  If you are picking up your child by the D-wing doors, do not enter the main lot; pull into the next driveway (west of the main lot
 on Vanderbilt Parkway).  This is the driveway the buses enter.
There is a parking lot to the left as you enter where you can meet your child.

If everyone would heed these guidelines, our parking lots will be safer
and there will be less traffic in the main lot and on Vanderbilt Parkway.
Thank you for your cooperation.

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posted 08/14/2008