English - Carol Buckley Assistant
Principal
Michele Taylor
Department Coordinator
JUDY BOLTON:
Students will determine what is
imperative in the education of an individual, as part of a
culminating project for the unit “We’re toast senior “B’s.” In
groups they will determine what they consider necessary to one’s
formative years in becoming a happy and fulfilled person through
creating an annotated syllabus. They will be given a scenario in
which they are responsible for designing the education of a
child through the end of elementary school with whom they have
no contact, but a vested interest in their well-being. Students
will determine what they believe to be most important in an
education, what has been most important and influential in their
own, and how to achieve the greatest good for a child. On Friday
they will present their syllabus to the class.
BARBARA CHRISTOPHER
The way to a man’s heart is through
his stomach so they say, and it is the same for keeping
students’ attention the last month of school. I give the
students opportunities for a project or extra credit, and they
can demonstrate their knowledge through food or fun. For
example, “Demonstrate the major symbols used in The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn which can be done by making
a cake incorporating the symbols. Video one of the episodes in
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. These activities
usually keep their attention.
PATRICE THORNTON
Our Children’s Theatre production
this year was a huge success on many levels. For example, the
scripts we presented and performed were student-written
adaptations of books contained in the 1st and 2nd
grade curriculum. (Three books by Robert Munsch and The
Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein) Also, the production
involved members of the Drama Workshop, Stagecraft, Play
Production and Theatre Ensemble classes. The elementary schools
of Middletown were invited, as they have been for 40-some years,
and we had about 800-900 students in all attend our two shows.
MICHELLE GOLDFARB
My classes have just finished a unit
ion the Holocaust where they read the novel Night.
Students also worked on supplemental materials based on
different perspectives of the Holocaust and completed an
interactive bookmark to help them analyze and discuss what they
read among their classmates.
MARY BETH McDONNELL:
CP1-
The classes are reading North by Night and Red Badge
of Courage and writing a final paper comparing similarities
and differences of teenagers today and the characters in the
books. The students will be working on a final PBL project as
well.
CP2-
The classes have just finished The Hunger Games and many
want to read the sequel Catching Fire on their own. We
are working on final PBL projects in which students are given
several options, from creating a diorama of the arena in the
story to creating a CD by including one representational song
for each of the 27 chapters. There are a variety of other
options to choose from as well.
Cinema Studies-
The class is analyzing special effects throughout history, after
watching “Avatar,” and is comparing it to older films such as
“Star Wars” and “The Matrix.”
KAREN CAREW
After juniors completed reading
Night by Elie Wiesel, they researched an historical or
current genocide. They shared their findings with informative
posters, power point presentations, music, original poetry,
short stories, and performed original scripts written from the
perspective of victims. Classes are now reading To Kill a
Mockingbird. Since it is the 50th anniversary of
its publication, and Harper Lee’s birthday was in April, we
celebrated with 1930s and southern foods.
Karen Carew and Matt Ritter ICR
Grade 10
Our class read Inside Out and
researched schizophrenia. They presented their findings by
creating online posters with music. Students also read examples
of concrete poetry and wrote original poems in the shape of
their topics. These were presented on colorful posters.
MICHELE TAYLOR
My classes just completed their
thesis papers that were written in conjunction with their
History teacher, Cheryl Laue. They also completed their last
persuasive writing assignment of the year.
Special Education –Carol Buckley &
Rob Feldman Assistant Principals
Jessica
Gavini and Amy Koeningsmark Department Coordinators
NICOLE BRODEUR
English & Expository Writing Class
We are currently reading The
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. There is a display in
our classroom to keep track of the players who have been
eliminated and those that still remain in the games. We
have been reading along with the audio version of the book
and have also played Hunger Games Jeopardy to review the
material. In a recent project, students were asked to
create interview questions they would ask to game
participants. Afterwards, students exchanged questions,
assumed the role as a tribute and gave an insight into the
game. We are currently working on a long term project.
Students have been given options for the end of the unit
project, ranging from creating a soundtrack for the book or
designing a model of the games arena.
Ms. Brodeur & Mr. Leone’s English
& Expository Writing Classes
We are currently reading William
Shakespeare’s Hamlet and have been acting out scenes
from the play with various props, including crowns and
cardboard swords, to make reading more entertaining.
Students have taken active parts in the play. Also, we have
watched clips of Mel Gibson from the Hamlet film.
Ms. Brodeur & Ms. McDonnell’s
American Literature I Classes
We are currently reading The
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and began the month
preparing students for the games. We utilized Scholastic’s
website and had students complete an interactive survey to
determine if they were ready for the games. Additionally,
we played Hunger Games Bingo to review events from the first
two sections of the book.
GINA CICCARELLI
My classes are reading the novel Night by Elie Wiesel.
Elie Wiesel imposed upon himself a ten-year vow of silence
before trying to describe what had happened to him and over six
million Jews during the Holocaust. Wiesel tells the story,
partly to honor the dead, but also to warn the living that it
could happen again and that it must never happen again. The
students will pay close attention to the atrocities they hear
and read about in the news everyday and will be making
connections between the novel and something in the real world.
CORRINE JENNINGS and JENNIFER WOODS
During the study of population in their Environmental Science
class, the students used a very common tool of demographers,
population pyramids. They used Microsoft Excel to create the
pyramids for assigned data about different countries. The
students then had to locate the countries and the type of
population growth for them on a world map. They compared and
contrasted the different pyramid shapes and recognized the
population patterns among the different regions.
BROCK SILVESTRI, JOHN MAROTTA and JEAN GERONIMO
This past month the students in ICS Biology were exposed to
various activities in Genetics. They simulated a karyotype and
diagnosed their patients’ disorders based upon the chromosomes.
We discussed the types of traits that people can show based upon
dominant and recessive genes. Students also calculated the
probability of obtaining certain traits or disorders based upon
the genotypes of the parents.
Tech-Ed, Family and Consumer
Sciences, Visual and Performing Arts
Kevin Robinson Assistant
Principal
Jim Gibson, Department
Coordinator
GERRY CORVO
On May 21 the Child Development classes had their end of year
celebrations for the preschool. The morning session consisted
of periods 2, 3, and 4/5. The students used the theme of the
beach. The afternoon session consisted of periods 7/8, 9/10,
and 11. These students used the theme of Disney. Each class
gave a presentation that included songs, speeches and a
slideshow. The presentations were followed by a reception for
the children, parents, high school students, and
administrators. It was a wonderful opportunity for everyone to
meet and discuss the events of the past year.
PETER ISHERWOOD
-Students who were part of All Shore Chorus received
certificates and plaques for their participation and acceptance
into the program.
-The choirs have continued learning individual parts on their
Spring Concert Music
-Chamber Choir started a new spiritual called “I’m Gonna Sing
Till the Spirit”
-A Cappella Choir finished learning two pop A Cappella songs and
part of Johannes Brahms’ “Liebeslieder Waltzes”
-Tutoring Sessions were held for choir and music theory students
on Thursdays:
-Music Theory and ear training skills for choir members
-AP Theory composition skills for final projects
-Voice training for student auditions and the Spring
Cabaret on June 10th.
-Rock History Classes have continued into the 1960’s Acid Rock
and 1970’s Glam Rock units of study.
-AP Music Theory has been working on final composition projects
for the end of the semester.
-The Spring Concert is June 3rd, Band Concert on June
8th, and the Spring Cabaret is June 10th.
GERRY MAHONEY
The Stagecraft and Play Production classes along with the Drama
workshop classes produced a children’s theatre play for the 1st
and 2nd grade classes in the Middletown District.
The students designed a picture that was sent to the students to
color and return to us for display. We used the pictures to
decorate the theatre the day of the show. Each student who
returned a picture was also given a certificate of
participation. Play Production students designed programs to be
distributed to all the children and served as ushers. The
Stagecraft students worked together to build the scenery and
serve on the running crew for the two performances. Props and
costumes were put together and all the acting was done by the
students in the Drama Workshop class. We had over 800 students
in attendance for the two performances. This cross curricular
project has been produced at High School North for over 40 years
and provides students an opportunity to be part of a production
team.
GAIL MCLAUGHLIN
Students in Sewing & Fashion have been learning hand stitches
and embroidery stitches to add to their repertoire of sewing
skills. They put them into practice as they designed their own
individual versions of stuffed ‘monster’ dolls. The Clothing
Construction & Fashion classes have been working on
garment-making skills and are making dresses. We’ve also been
busy making sashes and capes for the Senior Prom and learning
how to make simple alterations on prom gowns.
JILL NYLAND
Accomplishments were definitely the Extended Iron Chef
Competition which included the Faculty Iron Chef, The Student
Preliminaries, Student Finals and the Throwdown between the
faculty and student winners. Also, the end of the year dinner
at Tre Amici was a nice addition. We also have a trophy that
will be passed each year to the winner of the Throwdown that
will be on display in the showcase by the Main Office.
CARIN TROCCHIA
-
Students in
Functional Design I created pictures using oil pastels.
They also selected a picture of their choice and applied any
three media to the grid drawn picture.
-
Students in
Functional Design II selected any medium to create a picture
of their choice. They chose to work with Acrylics,
Charcoal, Oil Pastels, Chalk Pastels, Markers, Colored
Pencils, Drawing Pencils, or Watercolors.
-
Students in
Functional Design III created a different project using a
variety of media. Polymer Clay, Papier Mache, Charcoal, and
Acrylic were all implemented onto the artwork.
-
Students in
Fine Arts I created two projects each using clay. They made
a plaque or a three dimensional sculpture.
ROBERTA VEGA
1. Ms. Vega’s Photography Classes have recently completed a
photo essay project. Each student was required to write a 1700
word educational essay on a topic of his or her choice,
illustrate the essay with at least 10 original photos (taken by
the student for the purpose of illustrating particular topics
discussed in the essay) and then format the final document in MS
Word so that it looked like a magazine spread.
2. Photography students are now working on their final
portfolio projects. For this project students create a
portfolio of very high quality images. The images must be their
own original photographs. The images may be in either black &
white or color. All of the images should be of the same size.
The images are then gathered together into a neat presentation.
All of the following
categories
must be included in the portfolio: 1) strong leading lines
(S-curve, vanishing pt. etc.); 2) Radial balance; 3)
Foreground Frame; 4) Head to Shoulders Portrait with
professional lighting; 5) Personality Expressive Portrait;
6) Scenic Landscape; 7) Nature Close-up; 8) Advertising;
9) Night Scene; 10) Window Light; 11) Human Interest; 12)
Unexpected / Decisive Moment; 13) Photojournalism; 14)
Special Effects; 15) Free Choice.
3. In addition to these projects, Ms. Vega’s students were
encouraged to participate in the Middletown Arts Center
Community Art Show Photo Competition. I’m pleased to announce
that Melissa Micchelli won Second Place in the People / Animals
category. (See photo of Michelle with her award.)
Ms. Vega’s Functional Design Classes have just
completed a project for which they were required to design a
mini clothing line including formal, casual and business
wear and draw their designs along with appropriate
accessories.
World Language Susan Blank,
Assistant Principal
Lynn Zink, Department Coordinator
FRENCH
French II students created a Memory Game using reflexive verbs.
On an index card, each student illustrated 11 reflexive verbs –
they were able to draw, use computer graphics or magazine
pictures. On another index card, they wrote the infinitive in
French.
As a review for a unit test, French II students worked in groups
to create games. They were given a class period to prepare the
games and played them the next day. The groups rotated so that
they were able to play each game for about 15 minutes.
French III students wrote skits based on fairy tales using the
imperfect and preterit tenses. The skits were either video
taped or acted out in class with props.
Advanced French and AP French students read Le Petit Prince.
Students were assigned to summarize individual chapters for the
class and to explain any themes. Visuals, such as posters, were
used to aid in the comprehension of the summary.
GERMAN
German I students created weather reports. German II students
created body part posters. German III and IV students completed
their radio and TV advertisements.
ITALIAN
Italian I students began to study food and dining in Italy.
They learned about restaurant menus, table settings and meals.
Italian II students discussed shopping in Italy. They learned
about shops, vendors, products and clothing.
Italian III students researched earning a living in Italy. They
learned about job skills, qualifications, applications for
employment and jobs vs. professions. Italian IV students studied
vacation and travel. They learned about making reservations,
itineraries, transportation and accommodations.
LATIN
All Latin classes created a facebook page for a character from
their textbook or for a Roman god or goddess. Latin I students
completed this page mostly in English, while the upper-level
students created one primarily in Latin. Students used this
activity to think about how the culture of facebook would have
translated into Ancient Rome. For example, instead of photo
albums, the Ancient Roman facebook users had albums of marble
carvings.
Latin I classes also learned a new tense, the perfect, by
playing card games such as Go Fish and Memory. Instead of
matching up numbered cards with each other, as in the normal
game, students had to match up the different tenses of the same
verb. Therefore, in order to get a “match” in Memory or Go
Fish, a student had to hold the card with both the present tense
and the perfect tense of the same verb. This activity provided
reinforcement of the tense markers in an interactive way.
SPANISH
Spanish I students created original monsters and described them
after learning vocabulary pertaining to body parts. Students
completed presentations on the daily routines of famous people
incorporating vocabulary from the unit.
Spanish II students completed projects about their childhood,
via a journey through photographs. Also, they worked on
designing their own original party with invitations, menus and
physical layouts.
Spanish III students worked on a food webquest in which they
designed their own menus specializing in foods and traditions of
Spain.
Spanish IV students had debates on recent world events after
studying environment and historical vocabulary.
Advanced Spanish students researched and presented projects on
famous Hispanic individuals.
At the AP level, students read, discussed and analyzed the
classic Spanish play “La Casa de Bernarda Alba.”
The Vision students created travel brochures of Costa Rica after
watching videos about the country and discussing its culture
compared to the USA and other Spanish speaking places.
