Weekly Update 10/7

Dear NCHS Family,

I shared a letter regarding our expectations for Homecoming week.  I hope that everyone shows their pride in NCHS throughout the weeklong activities.  To see my letter in its entirety, please click here.  The daily events for Homecoming Week are listed below.

Monday, October 10

Classy Day  Students dress up in their finest!

Banner Night  Students get together with their class in the lounge anytime from 3:00-6:30pm, and create a banner showing their class spirit. Banners will be hung in the lounge for the week, and then brought to the gym for the Pep Rally.

Tuesday, October 11

Turn Back the Clock Day  Freshmen dress up in 50’s attire, Sophomores dress in the 60’s era, Juniors in the 70’s, and Seniors in 80’s. All faculty and staff will dress up in the 90’s era.

Wednesday, October 12 - Yom Kippur, no school

Thursday, October 13

Costume Day  Students dress up in costumes by their grade level.  Costume restrictions apply.
Seniors - Superheroes
Juniors - Sprites / or wear jerseys of favorite team/college
Sophomores - Surfer dudes-tropical/Hawaiian-Luau-tropical
Freshmen - Anything USA

Friday, October 14

Red and Black Day - Students wear red and black to show their school spirit!

Pep Rally 10:30 a.m.

Bonfire 6:30-8:00 p.m.

Two bands will perform. Each grade will be selling snacks or drinks, and of course, a bonfire will be lit! This event will take place outside the end of the school by the jock lot

Saturday, October 15

Homecoming Dance 7:00-10:00 p.m. NCHS Gym

Homecoming Queen and King to be announced at the dance. There will be an ice cream social and a DJ.

I hope everyone enjoys their Homecoming Week!

Eagle Scout Help: Please “Share The Warmth,” with Connor McDevitt, by donating used and new winter coats, snow pants, boots, hats, and mittens/gloves.  Connor is collecting winter apparel for Calvin Coolidge Elementary School which is located in Binghamton, NY.  All of the children at this school receive free school lunches and most are not able to play outside on the playground all winter long because they do not have winter wear.  Connor is mainly collecting winter outerwear for children sizes 4-16.  A Share the Warmth donation box is located in the front lobby at NCHS, and at 429 Ponus Ridge and 73 Apple Tree Lane (for donations any time of the day).  Please contact Connor McDevitt, at (203) 609-4659, if you have any questions or if you would like to have a donation box set up at your place of business.

Pictures from around NCHS:

Upcoming Events:

10/10 Homecoming Week begins

10/12 Yom Kippur, no school

10/13 PFA General Meeting 9:30 am Wagner Room

10/14 Pep Rally, Bonfire

10/15   Football game 1:30 pm Dunning

10/15 Homecoming Dance/Ice Cream Social 7:00 -11:00 pm Gym

Wishing you all the best,

Bill Egan

Department News:

English Department News: It’s been a busy week in the English department, as the 10th grade team administered reading benchmarks over the past week.  The new benchmarks, created this summer by NCHS teachers,  are designed to reflect the new format and content strands of the SAT, although we have kept a traditional short-essay section.  Our hope is that this assessment will provide some familiarity to students on these types of reading questions, while also giving teachers clearer data on how to best meet students needs on reading and writing responses.

The Journalism class will be taking an exciting trip to NYC to the set of CBS’s 60 Minutes to learn about the techniques and standards applied to professional journalism.  In previous trips, students were able to meet 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley, as well as other producers and researchers.  It really is an amazing opportunity.

In classroom news, Ms. Hernberg’s seniors in Literature of the Holocaust are busy making podcasts, which will soon be shared as a collaborative learning experience.  Meanwhile, the Writing Center staff reports that many seniors have dropped in to revise college essays as they prepare for upcoming deadlines. Speaking of college essays, in Mr. Darken’s AP Language classes, students are writing college essays and analyzing their own use of rhetorical techniques.  

Math Department News:  Students in M4 Algebra 2 investigated how transformations affect the graphs of functions using their devices and Desmos online graphing calculator.  They graphed a piecewise function and then looked at reflections, vertical stretches and compressions, horizontal stretches and compressions and translations.  Students in M4 Algebra 2 plotted points on an absolute value graph to help determine what type of compound inequality an absolute value inequality will result in.  In M2 PreCalc students worked in groups of three and each graphed one part of a function to demonstrate the concept of piecewise functions.  In M3 Algebra II, students did a Geogebra activity to model quadratic functions in real world situations.  They then used an equation for a roller coaster to answer questions.  Students saw that not everyone would get the same equation if they used slightly different values to estimate the graph so the values for the questions would be slightly off compared to an exact measurement.  

The Math Team had their first match this week and finished 10th out of 25 schools.  Finally, members of the math department showed their school and math spirit by wearing new NC Math shirts!!!

CTE Department News:

Family and Consumer Sciences

Baking students prepared Creme Brûlée this week as they learned about using eggs as thickeners. They were delicious!

The Preschool opened this week with two classes of 2 1/2 and 3 year olds. Child Development students guided preschoolers through learning activities, story time, and art and craft projects.

This week in Foods & Nutrition, students are learning the science behind Yeast Breads! Students are learning how to activate yeast with proper temperatures and ingredients. They are also getting a little workout in as they knead their dough for 8-10 minutes. They learned that if the dough is not kneaded enough then the  gluten in the dough isn't strong and their bread won't rise properly in the oven.

Technology Education:

The picture below shows students working on a career Charente.  Each student researched a job within Civil Engineering and Architecture and they role played as they were given a design scenario.

In Mr. Zambarano’s Introduction to Engineering and Design class, students are working on the engineering design process from creating an idea to presenting their thoughts. In the pictures below students are working in groups and sharing their sketch ideas before making final design solutions to present to the class.

Library update:

Ms. Whiting and Ms. Luhtala are proud to announce the new library blog! Here is the link to their latest update.