Ending of the First Semester

This week bring to a close the first semester already.  It is amazing just how fast the year is cruising by.  Midterms began last Friday and will continue through this Thursday.  Friday is a teacher work day with second quarter and midterm exam grades due.  Good luck to all and study hard in final preparation.

Friday will be a very busy day!  First off, we will be celebrating all the Teacher of the Year nominees from Region III  the Teacher of the Year Recognition Breakfast.  A group of people will be going to celebrate Ms. Avendano's nomination and being a regional finalist.  After the celebration, Mr. Tohulka and a group of students are planning on beginning work on restarting our aquaria.  We hope to have at least the tanks filled and circulating fresh water as we check for leaks and begin our march back to the beautiful tanks we used to have on display.  The goal is to set up three tanks - the main tank in Mr. Tohulka's classroom, the tank in Ms. Jones-Robert's classroom, and the tank in Dr. Ochatt's classroom.  I also wanted to thank MAST alum, Michael Ronzetti, for his help and ideas on the monitoring systems we are looking at for the tanks. It is really exciting to be moving forward to their restoration.

In another arena, this year's gala invitations are done and out!  We finished printing them this past Friday and Ms. Harrington and Ms. Leibowitz were finishing the labels and stuffing the envelopes for a weekend mailing.  They should soon be arriving in the mail.  Save March 4th as the date and please come out to the Links at Crandon to celebrate with us.

I wish all a great beginning to a short but extremely full week.

Bright Futures Information & Guidance Sheet

Ms. Cosgrove has a copy of this document in her office or you can click on the picture below to download your own copy.  Please review it carefully and register.  If you have any questions, please be sure to stop in and visit Ms. Cosgrove in her office or drop her an email!

 For more MAST CAP information, click on the post title to go to the MAST CAP site!

Rally Before Tally - MDC PTSA

School is about Learning - New Year's Resolution

The title of this post says a lot. School is about learning. It's about the learning of an entire community - students, teachers, support staff, and parents. In particular this learning focuses on students and the community helping them go from one level of knowledge and action to a new higher and deeper level of understanding and action. For this year, that is what I am going to spend the majority of my time focusing on with my time at and my time beyond MAST.

As noted a few posts earlier, I have four new titles to read from this weekend alone. The first two are well on their way and I have enjoyed each moment. The other two, and several on my Kindle, are patiently waiting for me to turn to them.

A final reminder, we have our first PTSA meeting of the year at 7 PM tomorrow night, January 3rd, in the MAST auditorium. Please plan on attending!

So, as I make final preparations for the return to school in the morning, I say goodnight and Happy 2011!


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Happy New Year!

Happy 2011 to the entire MAST community and thanks for a great 2010. I am very much looking forward to what our voyage holds for us in the coming year!

This weekend I picked up four new titles, two of which, The New Marine Aquarium and Build a Website for Free, I have already begun reading. They are both interesting and I am enjoying them although they're very different. The aquarium book is necessary because we need to rebuild our MAST aquaria. I have a personal experience with tropical freshwater fish but none with saltwater or reef tanks. From my earlier post requesting help from student recruits, I have two responses already and am planning a meeting with a friend who is very experienced for the first week we get back so he can help us lay the plan moving forward. The other title, Build a Website for Free was an impulse buy as it contained information on Wordpress, Google sites, and some other technologies (most of them free) that could possibly be things we can use to keep up our technology focus.

As I read on, I will check in and share some more of my thoughts. Please feel free to comment. Feedback is appreciated and all new ideas are welcome.


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Update from Ms. Cosgrove - MAST CAP Office

This is a reminder that you may apply January 1 for Financial Aid. The website is www.fafsa.gov. Remember applying for financial aid is free. I will be in the classrooms beginning January 19th so you may apply for Bright Futures and FAFSA at that time if you prefer. If you have any questions please email me. I will be in school Wednesday , January 5th, from 7-3. I hope you all had a restful winter break. Those applying for the Gates Millennium Scholarship remember the online application must be submitted by January 10,2011 11.59 pm EST. You are eligible if you are African American , American Indian/Alask Native, Asian Pacific Islander American or Hispanic American. Check out the website for more information.


-- Post From My iPhone