Welcome Back! …. FROM THE MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHERS- January 2017 Issue 5

IS 226 Panther Pride Press

“Together We Make Our

School a Success”

We are back from break and the snow has finally arrived! I hope you and your children had the opportunity to spend quality time with family, friends and loved ones during the time away from school. It’s important to take advantage of these moments so we can rejuvenate, refocus, and approach the new year with a renewed sense of purpose. As we make our way through the winter months, let’s take advantage of this time to make sure our students continue to approach each school day with purpose. The New York State exams in ELA, Math, and Science are quickly approaching. We need to make sure that we maintain a steady focus the next couple of months as we continue to work hard and prepare to showcase our best.

Ms. Trovato 6th Grade Social Studies The 6th Graders are finishing up the unit study on World Relgions. Thank you to all the parents who made amazing foods for our cultural food day. Ms. Sapienza 7th Grade Social Studies

The upcoming months will focus on a new unit of Imperialism. Students will be applying their prior knowledge of the United States' relationship with the world and assess how our foreign affairs have shifted throughout time. The students will explore multiple factors of our country's imperialism and how this foreign policy ushered us into World War I.

Ms. Sapienza- 8th Grade Social Studies

The new unit for 7th graders is called the Road to Independence. Students will be tracking events leading up to the American Revolution. These events will be analyzed and synthesized based on differing perspectives - the Colonists versus the British. Students will draw conclusions about how these individual events lead to the declaration of America and the colonists’ new found independence.

Ms. Montanes- Monthly Highlights and Inspirational Quotes

Ms. Issa 6th Grade ELA Do we have a duty to preserve World Wonders? In Unit 3, students will be learning about the slow deterioration of the World Wonders due to natural disasters, and whether it is our duty to help preserve them. We will be digging into the background of these mysterious wonders and learning about the effects of natural disasters on these wonders. We'll accomplish this task through critical thinking and the formulation of questions and creative tasks in order to fully grasp the importance of these wonders. Ms. Jompulsky 7th Grade ELA M Is a democracy as fair as it claims to be? That's what we're working to find out in our third unit of Code X. We'll be exploring Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" and Reginald Rose's "Twelve Angry Men" to uncover how two authors use dramatically different texts and strategies in order to convey their ideas about democracy. We will be tackling some tough ideas about equality, segregation and what it means to be a citizen in the United States. By closely examining these two texts, we will uncover how far we have come and how far we have left to go in order to enjoy the promises of democracy. Ms. Giordano 8th Grade ELA 8th grade kicked off their new unit with a visit to the High Line Park in Manhattan. They observed different forms of public art on the one-mile tour. They will read three letters about the power of art, and how it influences their everyday lives.

Panther Pride Press- January 2017- Issue 5

Ms. D’Acierno- 6th Grade Mathematics Welcome to the new year of 2017! For the month of January, we will be exploring ratios, rates, and solving problems involving equivalent ratios. Students will be provided many opportunities to reason abstractly and quantitatively. Let's get ready to analyze proportional relationships and use them to solve real-world and mathematical problems. Mr. Greene- 7th Grade Mathematics I hope you all had an amazing vacation and time spent with family during this special time of the year. I hope you enjoyed celebrating all the special holidays that occur for all different cultures and religions. We are now on to the second half of the year and will be diving deeper into equations. We will be working on real world problems, creating equations, solving two-step and multi-step equations all with rational numbers. The state exam is right around the corner so now is the time to really crank things up! Stay focused, work hard, and don't forget "success is built on the essence of hard work". And of course, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Mr. Hadzovic- 8th Grade Mathematics Happy New Year! We are zooming through the school year. Last year we have established the slope-intercept form of a line, y=mx+b, while mastering exponent laws.This month we are focusing our sights on solving equations with variables on both sides. We will make a quick transition to solving a system of linear equations. "I'll do statistics, I'll do calculus but graphing is where I draw the line."

Ms. Salcedo-6th Grade Science

This month our 6th graders are excited to embark on developing their Science Expo Project question. They are also creating an investigation design

wherein they will clearly identify the variables to be manipulated, controlled, and measured. In addition, the students will develop their hypotheses based on the background research. They will continue to explore the topics on phases of matter and discuss and conduct investigations on the chemical and physical properties of matter such as density, solubility, malleability, freezing and boiling point, reactivity and flammability. Ms. Salcedo- 7th Grade Science The 7th graders are busy exploring the classification of matter and identifying substances based on their properties.We are also busy making models of the atomic structure based on various atomic models. By exploring the periodic table of elements students are studying the characteristics of each unique atom. The 7th graders have also started working on their Science Expo Project. They started to formulate their investigative questions and hypotheses based on background research. They are aslo creating the blueprint of their investigation by creating an Investigation Design Diagram (IDD).

Ms. Toyber- 8th Grade Science

This month our seniors are exploring the Earth, Moon, and Solar System. Through a series of hands-on activities and experiments, they identify the phases of the moon, parts of the Earth, and the Solar System. On the other hand, our 8th grade Living Environment seniors are exploring the structure and function of DNA and RNA, all while making connections to their own lives. All IS 226 scientists are eagerly working on their long-term scientific investigation projects.

Mr. Kent- Digital Literacy Eigth Grade Elective is learning to become digital citizens through the Everfi website. In their first exercise, they will learn about setting and achieving goals. The second exercise will help them to become more money saavy. This unit is sure to make a lot of "cents" to them!

Ms. Reyes- Spanish Club This month my bilingual learners will analyze different kinds of situations in Spanish such as: Persuasion, Obtaining and Providing information, and Socialization.

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A Note from Our Guidance Counselor-Ms.

Tsekouras"

Ms. Trombetta

Band students have been introduced to literature that is at a higher performance level. Students are learning about advanced concepts of tone, intonation, expanding range, tempo changes, meter changes, dotted and triplet rhythms, shaping phrases and following music road maps. We will be working very hard to accomplish these tasks and perform at a high level at the spring concert! daily.

Thank you 8th graders and your families for submitting your High School Applications. Round

one is now over. Results will be available in early March. Good Luck and special thanks to Mr. Klein, Ms. Montanes and the 8th Grade Teachers for all your support during this articulation

adventure.

Mr Pratt/ Mr. Convissar- Physical Education Our physical education classes have been working extremely hard to become physically fit. The C.H.A.M.P.S. Program is in full effect. The Middle School Girls’ Volleyball team is playing at IS 62, 700 Cortelyou Road, on the following dates- 1/28, 2/1, 2/11, ¾ and 3/11. Come to support our team.

Mr. Geraci- Middle School Art This month, art students are studying logo design. They are learning how to create a visual design that incorporates symbols, words, and images. The first logo they are creating is a "2017" logo design in honor of our new year.

"Ms. Shammas & Class 804 For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice.” - T.S. Eliot. This year we are looking forward to so many things including making more Senior memories and of course, graduation! Through our ELA Unit, "The Power of Art" students are not only honing their reading and writing crafts but also developing an artist's eye. Through the short story, "Zebra", students are examining one character's physical AND emotional transformation as the result of taking an art class at his school. In Math, mathematicians are putting the "fun" in function by identifying, graphing, creating and analyzing linear

Ms. Alvarez & 704 In ELA, class 704 dove into unit 2 of our Code X curriculum. They are now reading a sports article called, “What Could Be Better Than a Touchdown?”, by Kelefa Sanneh, and will read an excerpt from the book, “Why We Run”, by Bernd Heinrich. They will have to argue how much sports performance is contingent upon mental strength and agility versus physical prowess. They will also be learning about claims and counterclaims. In math, students are learning about unit rates, ratios and proportional relationships. Happy New Year!!

Ms. Pizzo & 604 Class 604 has just completed Unit 2 in ELA. Students put great effort into writing informative essays to compare and contrast Derek Jeter's and Barack Obama's writing strategies. Next, we will begin an extended reading, which is a memoir titled, "Dirk the Protector" from My Life in Dog Years by Gary Paulsen. In Math, we are finishing up our unit on rational numbers and we will begin exploring ratios and rates. Students will learn how to model ratios, find equivalent ratios, and calculate unit rates.

Panther Pride Press- January 2017- Issue 5

Ms. Thomas- In the month of January our digital scholars have been hard at work focusing on student led learning. Students are taking an active role in their learning process by taking on teacher roles and leading the entire class in academic discussions. Not only is this process exciting but our students are definitely getting more bang for their educational buck by learning through teaching!

ENL with Mr. Delmonte

ENL students this month will be expanding their vocabulary by learning new strategies like creating visual mnemonics to remember and utilize advanced word choice in their writing and speaking. They will also be studying the paintings of Norman Rockwell. Students will be analyzing his works and exploring their stories through tableau, silent conversation, and improvisation. At the end of the unit, students will write a descriptive paragraph about their favorite Rockwell painting.

Happy New Year! We are excited to be back after a restful break. This month we will postpone our walking trips to Shoprite until the weather is warmer in the spring. In ELA, we will be working on the unit studying Exploration. Some of the genres in this unit include realistic fiction, expository nonfiction, and plays. Some skills we will be studying are characterization, setting, main idea/details, and retelling. We will also study the life of Martin Luther King Jr. through a read aloud story. In Math, we will continue working with and memorizing our multiplication facts and we will also be studying measurement. In Science, we will be exploring nutrition and ways to eat healthy. On the 13th, we will be going on an Adaptive Physical Education (APE) bowling trip with Ms.K. We are looking forward to a great month!