Lion's View-April Report

Dear Members of the North Community:

During the 2007-2008 school year I am going to keep you updated on the many achievements, events, programs and initiatives taking place in Middletown North. My message will be known as LIONS' VIEW, and the acronym represents (LATEST INFORMATION ON NORTH STUDENTS/STAFF VERY INTERESTING EXCITING WORTHWHILE). The links for these updates will be listed at the bottom of this page. Click on a link date to view that information.

The Action Plan for High School North this year will be to promote a positive ATTITUDE, to require ACCOUNTABILITY and to focus on ACHIEVEMENT. To maintain an educational climate conducive to teaching and learning, we need to have rules, policies and procedures in place. Every classroom and office will display the NORTH PRIDE rules and behaviors that we expect everyone to follow. (insert the rules)

As the Principal of Middletown High School North I am pleased to report some of the many positive happenings that have taken place during the month of April.

(Departmental Highlights at North for April 2008)

Academic Assistance-- Beverly Lindsay, Coordinator

12^th grade classes finished reviewing for the Accuplacer tests (placement tests for Brookdale and a number of other U.S. colleges). This English/Math review is part of the curriculum for 12^th grade AA classes during the 3^rd marking period. A review such as this is helpful not only to AA students but to all Math students. The Accuplacer allows the use of a calculator only rarely; therefore, many students, so accustomed to using a calculator, fail the test because of the forgotten math skills such as the basic operations with fractions, decimals, percents.

While reading To Kill A Mockingbird, the 11^th graders investigated “hate groups” in New Jersey and across the United States. They were shocked at the amount (34), of groups in our state. They discovered some are located as close as Toms River and Perth Amboy. Also, they are comparing the trial of Tom Robinson from the book with the Scottsboro Boys’ Trials. They are learning about discrimination from their readings. Their essays will be typed on The Criterion Writing Program. The next book will be Night with many critical thinking questions to assess their comprehension of the material.

The 10^th graders are reading Huck Finn and have chosen a chapter or adventure they enjoyed. Presently, they are working on a comic strip depicting the adventure they chose. They will be presenting their work to the class and will be scored holistically.

Business /Music/Technology/Family and Consumer Science/Business—Jim Gibson, Coordinator

Photo & Art

Two of our students, Eden Buenaventura and Nick Simko submitted works in The Middletown Arts Center photography competition. The formal name is “Middletown Township 2008 Community Art Show Series – Photography Exhibit”

Sponsored by the Middletown Township Parks, Recreation & Cultural Affairs Council and the Middletown Township Cultural Arts Council, the students’ work will be on display at the Middletown Arts Center Saturday May 3^rd – Sunday May 11^th. The awards ceremony is May 4^th at 2:00 pm.

The MHS North Annual Spring Art Show was exhibited last week. The salon featured works by students in Fine Arts, Functional Design, Photography, Architecture & Spatial Design, Consumer Science and Graphics and Technical Drawing.

Nick Simko received 3^rd Place in The Congressional Art Contest. He will receive his award on Saturday, May 10^th at Monmouth University. His work will later be displayed in the Capitol Building, along with other winners from the United States.

Mike Cignarella designed the tee shirt logo for the “Walk for MS. “ His prizes included a tee shirt and $20.

Child Development

On April 2^nd Cpl. Adam Danville, a North graduate, visited our preschool class. He brought with him a flag signed by his platoon, and a fellow Marine. The flag was to thank the preschoolers, high school students, and the National Honor Society for sending Valentines and candy to them while they were in Iraq. The children sang some songs for our guests. Dr. Cartier and Mr. Healy also attended. The Asbury Park Press covered the story, and a copy of the article is proudly displayed on the Child Development bulletin board.

During the week of April 7^th the children learned about training dogs for service and jobs. On April 9^th we had a visit from Mrs. Downs fromf the Science Department. She brought in two rescued greyhounds. Her dog, Silver, is a trained therapy dog. She is fostering the second dog, Gunnar. Mrs. Downs told the students about rescuing greyhounds, training dogs for jobs, and what therapy dogs do to help others. Both the high schoolers and preschoolers thoroughly enjoyed the visit. The dogs seemed happy as well.

Tech Drawing

The advanced tech drawing classes have finally finished their client home project and will be hosting an open house on Friday May 2nd to show off their projects and give their clients a virtual walk through of their homes. This project required the “novice architects” to conceptualize a design to please their clients. It was very interesting to see how the designs progressed. Everyone involved in the project was impressed by the quality of the work presented. Every student did an admirable job of creating a finished product.

We have a scheduled field trip to visit the Brooklyn Bridge to top off our bridge building curriculum. We will be getting an “up close look” by walking over the bridge. We will also go up to the Guggenheim Museum to see a very unusual installation of Inopportune – a simulation of a car explosion. There are nine full sized cars hanging in the atrium. This exhibit has opened to overwhelming public acclaim. The Guggenheim is the only Frank Lloyd Wright building in NYC.

Tech 1 has just finished their module on Photoshop and perspective drawing. The final projects of copying texture, perspective lines and shade and shadow are hung up and interesting to see. Several did a very good job in completing the copy.

Music

The choral and band students have been busy rehearsing for their Spring Concerts in May. The Sax Quartet was selected to perform at the Middletown Arts Center on May 15^th at 6:00P.M as a result of their excellent performance at the Brookdale Teen Arts Festival.

Foods

We have concluded our Heritage Happening Individual Projects and took a “culinary trip” traveling through New England, the Southern states and the southwestern states. The students also made refreshments for Girl’s Night Out and are planning the Iron Chef Contests scheduled for May.

English-- Michele Taylor, Coordinator,

The Drama Club planned a senior citizen reception prior to the matinee of Gypsy. The students performed a skit at the Papermill Playhouse on April 29^th and received a standing ovation from the judges and their peers.

Some junior classes are reading Catcher in the Rye and working on two PBL’s. One is a character analysis of Holden from the perspective of another character in the novel. When they finish reading the novel, the students will become Holden’s psychiatrist and complete a complete medical file on him.

Some sophomore classes just finished a poetry project where they chose an early American poet and completed a formal paper and class presentation on that poet’s life and work, one of his/her poems, a personal analysis and a literary criticism along with complete works cited.

Other classes are beginning Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and students will be asked to write weekly “personal manifestos” as well as responding to newspaper articles dealing with social issues.

Earlier in the month two teachers from Central Regional come to shadow Dr. Terplevich and Michelle Goldfarb on the successful implementation of the Innovative Designs in Education (IDE) Portal.

Math Department—Richard Piro, Coordinator

Jean Yamakaitis, Jen Vought, Leslie Scott, Amy Koenigsmark, Suzanne Ruda, Elaine Scully, Clare Isaksen, Lisa Lombardi, Colleen Nill and George Kostas attended three days of IDE Portal training.

Richard Piro attended an AMTNJ workshop concerning New Jersey High School Assessment.

Karen Pastuzyn celebrated Leonard Euler’s 301^st birthday in her Algebra 2 classes with project presentations.

Poroshat Shakoor’s Pre-Calculus Honors students presented their graphing projects to their classes. The projects could have been a rap video or a picture graph.

Jen Vought and Suzanne Ruda participated in the NJ ASK Academy at Thorne Middle School.

Jean Yamakaitis and her Math 10 Algebra 1 RR classes went outside to work on the Pythagorean Theorem using fishing poles and kites as manipulatives.

SCIENCE-- Heino Habeck, Coordinator

General, CP and Honors Biology classes are working on completing this year’s curriculum with the added Environmental Science Unit. They are reviewing for the state test using Internet sites that parallel the NY Regents Exams. Katie Connelly has prepared some student worksheets to help in the self-guided review.

The Physics Teams continued to do well in the State Science League competitions.

The Physics Team placed first in April and for the entire season.

The AP Physics Team tied for first in April and finished 2^nd for the season.

Teams in Biology, Earth Science and Chemistry also competed.

The Science Department also entered the National Science League competition with teams in Earth Science, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Almost 300 students participated. The top ten scorers for each subject area will receive special commendation with the top scorer receiving a medal. Mrs. Schueler, Mr. Marotta, Mr. Setteducato & Mr. Bechtel are thanked for their assistance during and after the testing.

The SEARCH Club has begun work on another presentation for the next Board meeting, targeting the lack of bio-degradables in the cafeteria. Planning for the courtyard continues with some maintenance work on the tables already underway. Pond building and the creation of a garden in the unused courtyard, along with research into the construction of a greenhouse are other projects underway. Outdated catalogs have been collected and recycled for the second time this spring.

The Honors Biology classes and the SEARCH club had their three-day trip to Washington, Virginia & Baltimore Maryland approved by the Board and final arrangements are being made.

Social Studies—Ed Jones, Coordinator

Ellen Hill’s A.P. History class took an overnight class trip to Washington D.C.

Barbara Guenther was named “Outstanding Educator” by the College of New Jersey.

Barbara Guenther’s honors classes hosted the League of Women Voters. Many student attended the last Board of Education meeting.

Doug Felegy’s FBLA collected discarded but functional cell phones to donate to soldiers.

Doug Felegy’s Economics class completed the stock market game. One team earned 42^nd place out of more than 300 teams.

The Curriculum Committee completed a new U.S. History I & II course of study. They chose Holt’s American Anthem as the new textbook.

Special Education, Dr. Susan Terplevich, Coordinator

The Math 11 Resource Classes created investigated fractional designs. Students had to follow a certain process to repeat the fractional pattern for the design to increase in size and dimension. The students’ reports emphasized self-similarity and iteration. Their geometrical designs garnered many compliments.

Mrs. Goldfarb and Dr. T’s classes read the book Night, by Elie Wiesel, and researched human rights violations that exist today. Students either individually or in groups selected a human rights violation, and after completing the research, the students prepared visuals – power point presentations – posters – newsletters and presented the information to the class.

Dr. T’s Resource classes have just completed Night, and are starting the human rights violation project.

On Manners Monday Mrs. Goldfarb’s and Dr. T’s classes discussed etiquette for interacting with people who have disabilities.

World Language—Lynn Zink, coordinator

Members of the Spanish Honor Society and students in Spanish Levels IV,V and VI went on a class trip to the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank to see a presentation on Inca music and dance. Afterwards, they ate lunch at Juanito’s Mexican Restaurant.

Spanish Levels IV, V and VI are doing a unit on Spanish dance and music. Students researched the backgrounds of various types of Spanish dance and music. Students presented their findings and taught the other students in the class how to dance the salsa, merengue, flamenco, tango, and mambo, for example.

The World Language Honor Societies have finished their Spring fundraising events and are thinking about the nominees for the FLENJ Award. Scholarship candidates are also being considered for the Senior Award Night.

LION'S VIEW