middle school dec 2016 newsletter

1. the
Panther Pride Press
Hear Updates from Our Middle School Teachers…..
Monthly Highlights and Inspirational Quotes
from Ms. Montañes
The holiday season is upon us and our students are continuing to
learn and grow as we make our way towards winter break. The
monthly newsletter is one of the ways in which we communicate
the efforts in developing Panther students both academically and
emotionally through our instructional and after-school enrichment
programming. As such, I would like to draw your attention to a
recent focus in our building by our students and staff: The Spirit of
Giving. On behalf of 226 faculty, we would like to wish you all a
happy, healthy, and prosperous holiday season.
W I N T E R 2 0 1 6
Our 8th Grade Seniors have completed epic
tales of survival in extreme environments. We
have had many student-led lessons and
student-led accountable talk discussions on
this topic and how we can apply these lessons to our own lives. The
Life of Pi is the movie we are watching with a critic's eye to
determine the similarities and differences between the story and the
movie. We are also moving into writing our essays on our Code X
Survivor Unit and also retelling these tales in a creative-based
8th
Grade ELA
with Ms.
Giordano
7th
Grade with
Ms. Jompulsky
Seventh grade is getting ready
to persuade! Now that we've
read three challenging texts
(and a fourth we've researched
on our own) it's time we start
arguing about whether
physical or mental training is
more important in sports. We
will be taking on the persona
of a head coach as we fight for
funding in the form or either
physical or mental training for
our athletic teams. Using an
array of evidence from our
three rigorous texts, it will be
up to us to support our
argument and get the funding
we need to continue our

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Mr. Hadzovic- 8th
Grade
Mathematics
Mr. Green- 7th
Grade
Mathematics
Our 7th grade students soared through our ratios and
proportions unit, learning all about proportional
relationships in tables, graphs, and real world scenarios, in
addition to real world problems with percents. We are now
well on our way to one of, if not the most important units of
our school year, expressions and equations. In this unit
students will be leanring all about how to use algebraic
expressions and equations to help shed light on real world
probelms, and explore what it takes to a be a real world
mathematician. Keep up the great work 7th grade, and never
forget, "success is built on the essence of hard work."
It's December! We have moved into nonproportional
relationships. We will continue to learn how to model linear
equations using the form: y=mx+b, where m is slope and b is
the y-intercept. Towards the end of the month we will do a
project on the 12 days of Christmas which will have us finding a
formula to count up all the presents!
Mrs. D’Acierno- 6th
Grade
Mathematics
Woo hoo! We made it to Chapter 3! Our 6th grade
Superstars are entering the world of rational
numbers. They are applying and extending
previous understandings of numbers to the
system of rational numbers, which includes
negative numbers. In addition, our Superstars are
solving and creating real-world problems by
graphing points in all four quadrants of the
coordinate plane. To deepen their undestanding
of positive and negative integers, we will be
going on a trip to play a round of mini golf. Let's
make sure to stay below par!
Ms. Sapienza- 8th
Grade
Social Studies
This month the 8th graders had the opportunity to
visit the Lower East Side Tenement Museum.
During the museum's interactive tours, the
students were able to add to their knowledge
learned throughout the month about tenements,
immigration, and industry during the 1880s-
1920s. This month will be focused on applying
this historical knowledge to their first Regents-
based informational essay. Mid-month, the
1
This month in Social Studies the students will be completing
their Colonial unit with a historical narrative essay. For
more support, the classes attended a field trip at Historic
Richmond Town in Staten Island, where they were able to
interact with historical artifacts and actors. Mid-month the
students will be transitioning into Unit 3, the Road to the
American Revolution.
2
Ms. Sapienza- 7h
Grade Social
Studies

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3
Ms. Shammas-Class 804
Mrs. Alvarez- Class 704
In ELA, class 704 has completed reading and analyzing the
narrative excerpt, “Call Me Maria”, by Judith Ortiz Cofe.
Next, we will be diving into the poem, “The Road Not
Taken”, by Robert Frost. Students will be using those pieces
of literature to create their own narratives about how
important decisions impact their lives. In math, we will be
finishing up the first unit of the Number System, with adding,
subtracting, multiplying and dividing rational numbers. Soon
we will be on our way to Unit 2 of Unit Rates!
Ms. Pizzo- Class 604
Ms. Trombetta - Band
In ELA, seniors continue their trek through the
"Survivor" themed unit. After wrapping up the
spellbinding "Life of Pi" excerpt, students are
reading, listening to, and creating visuals for the
renowned poem "Mother to Son" by Langston
Hughes. The poem's primary message is from a
mother to her son encouraging him to keep fighting
to overcome no matter how hard life gets. In
technology, students are developing their Google
Docs skills, by drafting, editing, sharing and
collaborating digitally on their essays. The future is
now! In our Math section, students continue to build
upon their knowledge of proportional relationships
by solving real-world problems, and analyzing
tables, graphs and equations that represent them.
Our next anchor text will be the memoir,
Dreams From My Father by President Barack
Obama. We will continue focusing on close
reading questions and learning how to identify
relevant text evidence. Students will also
examine the central idea and structure of the
text. As their performance task, students will
write an informative essay comparing and
contrasting the writing strategies Obama and
Derek Jeter used to convey their experiences,
challenges, and goals. In Math, we will begin
our unit on rational numbers. Students will
explore positive and negative numbers. They
will learn how to compare and order integers,
find absolute value, and plot ordered pairs on a
coordinate plane.
Our winter concert is quickly approaching on December
16th, 2016 at 1:00 pm. Classes 6A and 7A will be performing
a piece on stage. Seventh and 8th grade bands will perform
several selections. Some 6th grade chamber groups will
also perform. A notice will go out to teachers and parents
next week with information about rehearsal schedules,
stage attire and performance time.

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Mr. Delmonte - ENL
This month, our ENL students will be working
on a group project which they will share with
the rest of their classmates before the holiday
break. Groups will research and become
experts on a specific English grammar rule.
Then they will then create a 10-question Kahoot
around that grammar rule, while providing
multiple-choice questions and pictures to
support and embellish their self-made
interactive quizzes. Students will be using
Google Drive to record their data and
collaborate.
Students successfully created an online class
discussion by reading articles about various
topics such as intellectual property, the
environment, and bullying. Then they wrote
arguments, posting them on their blogs. Finally,
they responded to each other using a respectful,
constructive discourse, something of which we
need more!
Mr. Kent- Digital
Literacy
Our boys and girls soccer teams both made it to the
finals and will be playing for the championships.
The teamwork and defense has been amazing!
Good luck Panthers! We are excited that our
morning athletics program is starting up this
week.The first season will be soccer for 6th and 7th
graders. The girls volleyball team is getting ready
for the winter season. As you can see we have a lot
going on this winter. We look forward to seeing you
at the games.
Mr. Pratt- Physical
Education
Our 6th graders are extremely excited to apply the
reading strategies they’ve learned in elective to
current political issues. After reading and analyzing the
article ”How We Vote”, 6th grade students had a lively
debate on whether America should switch from the
electoral vote to a popular vote system during the
national election.
Ms. Thomas-
Achieve 3000
Update
This month, my bilingual learners are going to create,
illustrate and analyze the differences and similarities
between their own homes and their dream houses or
apartments. The seventh graders are constructing
"seventhvill" which is a project-based activity to
demonstrate their communication skills in Spanish.
Ms. Reyes- Spanish
Club
During the month of December we are excited to
introduce a new reading program called Reading Street
in our classrooms. Students will explore a variety of
genres including realistic fiction, expository non-fiction,
and fantasy. We will be working on skills such as cause
and effect, fact and opinion, and main idea and
supporting details. In Math, we will continue working on
multiplication skills including drawing arrays,
memorizing multiplication facts and solving equations.
We are also very excited about our upcoming class trip
to Rockefeller Center to admire the tree and holiday
decor. We will also continue our walking trip to Shoprite
if the weather permits! We are looking forward to a great
month!
Ms. Mallen and Ms.
Tse 605 and 805
Updates