Contents
High School Information
Important Dates
| January 3 – School Resumes | |
| January 17- Martin Luther King Jr. Schools Closed | |
| January 31-February 4 New Voices Spirit Week | |
| February 1 – Lunar New Year Schools Closed | |
| February 21-25 Mid-winter recess | |
| March 10 – Parent- Teacher Conferences | |
| March 18 – End of 2nd Quarter | |
A message from Ms. Miller & Ms. Bernstein
As the new year begins, the guidance and counseling team is looking towards supporting students through any new or ongoing Social and Emotional challenges that may arise. We know that the past few weeks, months, and years have been difficult and we will continue to act as pillars of support for all students as they navigate ongoing changes. We are also excited to continue gaining insights from the DESSA screener and providing support as needed.
High School Information
The HIGH SCHOOL APPLICATION will open the week of January 24, 2022 and close during the week of February 28, 2022.
In response to feedback from community leaders, families and schools, borough and zone-based priorities will remain in place this year. This means that some high school programs will continue to prioritize zone applicants who live or currently attend middle school in a specific borough. District-based admissions priorities were eliminated last year and will continue to not be used in high school admissions.
FOR HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAMS THAT SCREEN APPLICANTS, multiple measures will be used to evaluate students this year. These measures will include submissions of work samples from last year, such as essays or reports, and first-semester grades from this school year. Attendance will not be considered for screened programs.
Ms. Miller will email parents when more details are announced.
Pupilpath
Parents: Are you registered in Pupilpath? Administration and Teachers use this to message parents. Please stay informed. If you need assistance reach out to Enid Parra, Parent Coordinator, eparra2@schools.nyc.gov. Some parents have registered but did not confirm their registration in their email. Please confirm and set a password so that you can receive emails and updates. Please note that some information is only sent to parent accounts.
Math
Help Sites:
6th Grade
Represent and Solve Equations and Inequalities
At the end of the unit the students will be able to:
- Understand Equations and Solution Apply Properties of Equality
- Identify equations and variables
- use substitution to find solutions to equations
- Apply Properties of Equality
- Use the properties of equality to keep both sides of an equation equal
- identify which properties of equality are used to write equivalent expressions
- Write and Solve Addition and Subtraction Equations
- Write one-variable addition and subtraction equations
- Use inverse relationships and properties of equality to solve one-step addition and subtraction equations.
- Write and Solve Multiplication and Division Equations
- Write one-variable multiplication and division equations
- Use inverse relationships and properties of equality to solve one-step multiplication and division equations.
- ·Write and Solve Equations with Rational Numbers
- Write and solve equations that involve fractions, decimals, and mixed numbers.
- Understand and Write Inequalities
- Understand the symbols required to write an inequality.
- Write inequalities to describe mathematical or real-world situations
- Solve inequalities
- Describe solutions to an inequality
- Represent solutions to an inequality on a number line.
- Understand Independent and Dependent Variables
- Identify dependent variables
- Identify independent variables
- Use Patterns to Write and Solve Equations
- Analyze the relationships between variables by using tables
- Write equations to represent the relationships between variables
- Relate Tables, Graphs, Equations
- Analyze the relationship between dependent and independent variables using tables, graphs, and equations
7th Grade
Generate Equivalent Expressions
At the end of the unit the students will be able to:
- Write and Evaluate Algebraic Expressions
- Understand how variables are used to represent unknown values in problems
- Generate Equivalent Expressions
- Recognize when two expressions are equivalent
- Use properties of operations to write equivalent expressions.
- Simplify Expressions
- Combine like integer and rational terms
- Expand Expressions
- Use the Distributive Property to expand expressions
- Factor Expressions
- Understand expanding an expression is the reverse of factoring.
- Identify the GCF of algebraic terms in expressions
- Add Expressions
- Use properties of operations to add expressions.
- Model addition of expressions in real-life applications
- Subtract Expressions
- Use properties of operations to subtract expressions
- Model subtraction of expressions in real-life applications.
- Analyze Equivalent Expressions
- Write equivalent expressions to show ho quantities are related in real-life applications.
8th Grade/Algebra
In January, students will focus on linear relationships. The first stop of the math journey takes us to arithmetic sequences where students discover that these patterns have a constant difference over a common interval. Next, we will graph arithmetic sequences and arrive at the conclusion that they all form a straight path which is one of the main foundations for this unit. At this point, we will activate our prior knowledge and begin describing linear relationships through the use of tables, graphs, equations and key characteristics such as intercepts and steepness of a line. Our next stop in our unit is to discover similarities and differences between three forms of linear equations: slope-intercept, point-slope, and standard form. Together, we will spend time focusing on each form before moving on to our final chapter. Throughout this unit we focused on linear relationships, but now we will test our skills and decide whether a function is linear by analyzing a variety of graphs, tables and equations.
Art Electives
STEM (Mr. Burnworth)
6th Grade
Sixth grade students are being their study in STEM. They will be beginning the program studying the engineering process and designing with CAD. Computer-aided design is a computer technology that aids a designer or drafter in the creation of a product, and documentation of the design process.
7th/8th Grade Majors
Students are completing their second round of projects to build their portfolio. Some of the activities include:
- Using an external controller to learn about circuits and improve the games they designed
- designing furniture in Sketchup-CAD
- Using both Tinkercad and Sketchup and the slicer software Cura to design for 3D printing.
- Using code to complete tasks with two types of robots.
- Building robots
- Using Python to code projects on breadboards using a Raspberry Pi
- Coding with block or Python on a Circuit Playground microcontroller.
- Learning to use pins to control more with their microcontrollers
- Creating projects on the laser cutter and vinyl cutter.
Chorus (Ms. Kahn)
6th Grade
In January, 6th Grade Chorus will work on reading and notating rhythms using standard musical notation. Students will also begin rehearsing our repertoire.
7th/8th Grade Majors
7th Grade Chorus Majors will begin practicing sight-reading using solfege. 8th Grade Chorus majors ill wrap up their first mash-up project related to the theme of “exploration”. The composer of the month will be Stephen Sondheim. Sondheim recently passed away at the age of 91 after a lifetime of composing works that made American musical theatre what it is today.
Graphic Arts (Ms. Eisenberg)
6th Grade
The sixth-grade graphic arts students are designing a digital art project that focuses on cultural foods from around the world. Using Adobe Photoshop they will use photo manipulation to build a realistic dinner plate setting that emphasizes food from their cultural heritage. The students will learn the design process of research and writing, sketching, design, editing, and presentation.
7th Grade Majors
The seventh grade graphic arts majors are learning the vector art program named Adobe Illustrator. They will be studying endangered species. The class will learn how to draw a vector portrait of an endangered species of their choice. The students will learn the design process of research and writing, sketching, design, editing, and presentation.
8th Grade Majors
The eighth-grade graphic arts majors will be introduced to corporate identity. The class will be learning logo design. The students will invent their own company and design its logo. The students will learn how to draw a logo on paper and turn it into a vector illustration using Adobe Illustrator.
Visual Arts (Ms. Herrity)
6th Grade
Students in 601 and 602 are getting used to the Visual Art classroom and routines day by day. Students will be learning several fundamental drawing exercises that will help to understand the shift from “verbal” to “visual” thinking. Parents of 601 and 602 you’re invited to follow along on our journey by asking your child about visual art and reviewing their notebook and folder!
7th Grade Majors
Students were each assigned an artist to research for sketchbook homework and will be creating an artwork “in the style of” their assigned artist. In the classroom, we’re using perspective drawing technique to illustrate realistic 3-D forms on a flat surface through a project where students will create their vision of the future. They will be learning watercolor techniques from wet-on-wet drybrush.
8th Grade Majors
Eighth grade majors will soon be wrapping up the still-life painting project by incorporating their own personal creative twist, coming up with a title for their composition, and writing an artist statement to accompany their artwork. To honor the time and effort of everyone’s work, students will participate in a peer critique of each other’s work by describing, analyzing, and interpreting what they see.
Theater (Ms. DiRenzo)
6th Grade
601 and 602 Welcome to Theater! Students will be spending the next month building ensemble skills through theater games. Additionally, we will work on having a growth versus fixed mindset.
7th Grade Majors
We will be expanding our improvisation practice to larger scenes as well as use our study of the Oedipus the King to develop and practice our stage composition skills..
8th Grade Majors
Students will begin reading Sophocles’ Antigone and learn about theater design. Additionally we will learn about the explore theories of theater to apply to the text of Antigone.
Science
6th Grade
Based on the densities calculated students will make prediction about objects sinking and floating in water. This will lead us into our topic on Matter and Energy – specifically the transfer of heat energy in all three states of matter with air rising or sinking based on their densities. This ties into our topic on weather which comprise of all three states of matter as heat energy is exchanged in the atmosphere.
7th Grade
Organic Chemistry
Students will complete their study in organic chemistry with the Discovery Acids and Bases pH LAB. We will begin Unit 3: Ecology. In this unit, students will examine the characteristics of life and then will be able to identify a living thing from a nonliving thing. We will then compare the relative size of various living things to ensure that everyone has a clear perspective of the size of organisms and biological structures. This will lead us into the CELL THEORY.
8th Grade
Protein Structure and Function
In this unit students will understand the role of enzymes and how they increase the rate of chemical reactions within organisms. Students will also develop an understanding of what can go wrong when proteins synthesize. This is call mutations. Please remember to check google classroom the days you are absent and when you are looking for resources. Google Classroom is updated regularly with the notes, pdf version of the textbook with unit specific readings, current assignments with due dates, and content supporting videos.
Humanities
6th Grade
Sixth grade students will continue to study how geography affects the development of a civilization. After being introduced to each of the four early river valley civilizations: Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, and China, students will choose one civilization to research further. Students will then find and choose artifacts that represent the culture of their chosen civilization to compare and contrast with another early river society researched by a classmate. They will present their conclusions in a Google slideshow. Final projects will include images of the artifacts and organized paragraphs explaining their relevance to the development of the civilization. Independent reading will continue, with students analyzing aspects of their book selections for literary elements and devices.
7th Grade
Seventh grade students finished reading the novel CHAINS. They will write essays responding to the following question, “What is a theme, or truth about life, which readers can learn from the novel?” In their essays, they will cite text evidence to support their inferences. After they finish writing their essays, they will begin to prepare for their first Socratic Seminar. Independent reading will continue, with students analyzing aspects of their book selections for literary elements and devices.
8th Grade
Eighth grade students will be completing the novel OF MICE AND MEN. The setting in the novel presents obstacles in the lives of each character. Students will be writing essays in response to the following questions, “What is the novel’s message, or theme, about dreams in life? How does the setting help develop the message about dreams?” They will cite text evidence to support their inferences. Independent reading will continue, with students analyzing aspects of their book selections for literary elements and devices.
French
8th Grade only
8th Grade
Students will be finishing up work on a project in which they will develop an informational brochure about one of the over 30 Francophone (French-speaking) countries in order to better understand cultural produces, practices and perspectives.
Students will also begin a thematic unit based around pastimes, likes and dislikes.
NEW VOICES | MS 443 