Weekly Update 10/28

Dear NCHS Family,

Nationally Acclaimed Speaker, Marc Brackett, Ph.D., will be coming to New Canaan to speak to parents on Tuesday, November 29, 7:00-8:30 pm in the New Canaan High School Auditorium.  

In this presentation, family members will learn about the science of emotions, the skills of emotional intelligence, and practical strategies and tools to develop emotional intelligence.

Dr. Brackett explains, “Emotions matter. They inform our thinking and decisions, the quality of our relationships, our physical and mental health, and our everyday performance. Emotional intelligence includes the ability to recognize, label, and regulate emotions. These skills are especially important for developing healthy child-parent relationships, problem-solving skills, empathy, and academic performance.”

Dr.  Marc Brackett is the Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. He also is a Senior Research scientist in Psychology and Faculty Fellow in the Edward Zigler Center in Child Development and Social Policy.

This presentation is sponsored by the generous contributions of the East, South, West, and Saxe PTCs and the New Canaan High School PFA. This presentation is free and open to the public and no registration is necessary.  Please join us for this exciting and informative evening!  

SRO:

Officer Geoff Lambert will be our new School Resource Officer. We anticipate his start date to be November 7th.  We look forward to having Officer Lambert join our family at NCHS.

I hope that everyone has a safe weekend and enjoys Halloween on Monday.

Pictures from around NCHS:

Upcoming Events:  

10/28-29 Fall Play -  Feathers in the Wind,  7:00pm

11/7 BOE meeting Wagner Room, 7:00pm

11/8 Professional Learning - Election Day, No School for Students

11/9 PFA General Meeting -  9:30am

Wishing you all the best,

Bill Egan

Department News:

Social Studies Department News:  

Ms. Goldhawk and Mr. Joshi’s Civics students are running a school-wide mock Presidential election this coming Monday. In class, students have been preparing voter guides for each of the candidates covering many key issues in the election.

In addition to the school-wide election activities, students in Ms. Rothschild’s classes are assembling election portfolios to better understand the candidates and their running mates. Along the way, they are looking at platform policy positions, qualifications and experience, comparing campaign strategies and anlalyzing campaign ads and editorial cartoons.

Mrs. Arastu's Global 2 classes attended an Enlightenment Salon to discuss the ideal form of government, and under which circumstances people can be trusted to govern. We were honored to host the likes of Hobbes, Montesquieu, Rousseau, and even King Louis XIV! Thinkers, Historians, and PR Agents all performed admirably!

Mrs. Arastu's Global 1 classes launched the River Valley Civilizations project. Groups brought their expertise on one aspect (Political, Economic, Religious, Social, Intellectual, Artistic) of a specific civilization (Persians, Mayans, Mauryans, and Han Dynasty) to the table to compare and contrast classical civilizations across the globe. Look at how much we learned!! Their next step is to build a museum by choosing objects that represent our thesis statements. Stay tuned!

Students in Mr. Quinn and Ms. Cohen’s American Studies class visited Waveny park where they read from Emerson at the gateway to Waveny.  They left society behind to explore nature and contemplate their place in the world.

"At the gates of the forest, the surprised man of the world is forced to leave his city estimates of great and small, wise and foolish."

Below, Ms. Goldhawk’s AP Comparative Government class continued its work on current issues in the Collaboration Lab “Collab”.

Science Department News:  

Happy Halloween!!

In the spirit of Halloween, our Biology students have been dressing up as budding microbiologists the week.  Student have been investigating techniques in cultivating bacteria such as e.coli in order to test the resistance to different types of antibiotics.  Students are inoculating e.coli bacteria in a nutrient rich petri dish to observe bacterial growth and test with a variety of antibiotics.

In addition to the bacterial study, Mrs. Cebulski’s Biology classes took a chance and initiated a project using the new Collaborative Lab in our Library Media Center.  Mrs. Cebulski worked with our Media Specialist, Ms. Jackie Whiting to develop a cross curricular, problem based lab assignment focusing on infectious diseases.   Students took on the role of CDC employees in various countries. They researched the county and its demographic information.  As demographic information was collected, student’s identified patient zero based on specific symptoms.  The CDC members had to diagnose the specific bacteria responsible for the symptoms.  As groups worked together to identify the specific bacteria, CDC members had to reach out to the population in their country and inform them about the bacteria to keep everyone calm.  Lasty, students had to incorporate issues and data surrounding antibiotic resistance into their recommendations.  Below are some pictures student in the thick of it...

World Language Department News:

The Spanish 4 students have been learning about five master artists from the Hispanic world. They have been working in groups and preparing lessons for their respective classes in Spanish. The objective is for students to improve their speaking skills and their confidence speaking in the target language in front of others while learning about art. Students read about El Greco, Velázquez, Goya, Picasso and Frida Kahlo and their artistic techniques. After researching and reading in Spanish, students become “teachers for a day.” During their lesson, students teach their classmates about the artist they have been assigned and individually present one painting to illustrate the artist’s characteristics.  The group then prepares activities using technologies such as Kahoot to reinforce what they have taught the class.

VPA News:

The NCHS theatre season kicks off with the upperclassmen production of “Feathers in the Wind”. A whimsical play with music weaving together a collection of Jewish folk tales about the wise fools of Chelm into a single fable.  As Rabbi Itzik searches the world for his scattered congregation, he recounts the rise and fall of his little village that proved time and again that “God loves the people of Chelm”.  The book and lyrics are by David Rush and the music by Errol Pearlman. Performances will be held on Friday, October 28 and Saturday, October 29 at 7:00pm. This production will provide onstage seating and tickets will be limited. Tickets may be purchased online at www.newcanaanhighschooltheatre.com.