middle school newsletter jan 2017

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 3
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.

4. 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!