Curriculum Matters
MTSD / Volume 3 / Issue 2 / October 2016
MTSD Office of Instructional Services
Deborah Sarmir—Assistant Superintendent
Fiona Borland—Director Instructional Technology
Corie Gaylord—Director Academic Counseling Services
Damian Pappa—Director Assessment/Data/Accountability
Ron Zalika —Director Curriculum
Lucianne Smith—Executive Assistant
MTSD Content Area Supervisors
Jessica Glover—OHES/VES Mathematics & Science
Naoma Green—MHS Physical Education & Health
Christopher Herte—LMS/UMS Mathematics & Science
Melissa Hodgson—MHS Social Studies
Amy Monaco—OHES/VES Language Arts & Social Studies
Alma Reyes—World Languages & ESL
Jennifer Riddell—MHS Mathematics
Lisa Romano—LMS/UMS Language Arts & Social Studies
Karen Stalowski—MHS Language Arts
Jason Sullivan—MHS Science
Adam Warshafsky—Visual & Performing Arts
Website: http://www.mtsd.k12.nj.us/domain/25
Phone: (609) 466-7600
From the Office of Instructional Services
The MTSD Curriculum Matters newsletter communicates our curricular happenings and instructional activities across grade levels and content areas to educators, parents and students. It also provides a closer look at the some of the unique learning experiences and outcomes that our students undertake. Please browse through these updates provided by our talented team of educational professionals.
Curriculum Writing
MTSD has a never-ending commitment to creating and maintaining a guaranteed and viable curriculum that will ensure our students' academic success. We invite you to access all of our curriculum guides through THIS LINK. Doing so will give you the opportunity to view our collaboratively written curricula, which is based on the adopted learning standards for the state of New Jersey.
MTSD Visual & Performing Arts
The Montgomery High School Wind Ensemble has partnered with The College of New Jersey Music Department to explore issues of social justice through music. The students of the MHS wind ensemble are performing a piece entitled Walking into History which was written in commemoration of the integration of our public schools during the Civil Rights Movement. The piece is intended to evoke the emotions that the students from Clinton High School in Clinton, Tennessee experienced during this time. It also makes specific reference to the “Clinton 12.” The Clinton 12 was a group of 12 students who were the first African American students to attend the high school in Clinton, TN.
Professors from The College of New Jersey music department have been working with our students to teach them the history behind the events that took place at Clinton High School and relate those historical events to current events and our students’ experiences. The goals of understanding, empathy, and unity are being explored and discussed. Through their understanding of these events and how they relate to today, our students will make interpretive decisions surrounding the performance of Walking into History with the hope that their performance will convey a message of peace to the listening audience.
Most exciting in all of this is that Dr. Colleen Sears, professor of music education at TCNJ, has arranged for our students to interview one of the Clinton 12 students all these years later! Our students are currently compiling questions and topics for discussion, and in mid-November, we will be video conferencing with her.
We are grateful to TCNJ and their professors for making this opportunity possible for our students. Please come hear the performance at the MHS MPAC on December 21st, at 7:00pm
OHES/VES Language Arts
In the classrooms, our young readers and writers have been busy tracking and growing their reading stamina, setting reading goals, and settling into the daily routines of Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop. In Kindergarten, our youngest readers and writers are beginning to retell familiar stories, such as The Little Red Hen, by using the pictures and the repetitive language of these tales. Our first grade students have begun a unit titled Writing For Readers, which focus on writing conventions, such as punctuation and spacing, to make our stories even more readable! They have also been learning to “tackle trouble” in reading by using decoding strategies independently when they get to a tricky word. Second graders are ready to dive into into nonfiction reading, focusing our asking and answering questions as they read, using text evidence and inferring the meanings of unknown words. They are also working on writing All-About books, using what they know about nonfiction text features to further develop their writing.
To support this work at home, we encourage families to read together every night and practice writing skills! When reading at home, encourage your child to use pictures clues to support the meaning of the story and ask, “Does it look right? Does it sound right? Does it make sense?” when figuring out a tricky word. When writing at home, encourage your child’s spelling approximations by helping them to “stretch out” the word and record letters for each sound they hear. In addition, practicing sight words is a great way to improve both reading and writing skills!
MHS Social Studies
On October 14th, New Jersey State Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli visited the AP American Government & Politics class as part of the State Legislature’s Back to School program. The Assemblyman spoke to 11th and 12th graders about practicing politics in New Jersey. James Washburn, the AP American Government and Politics teacher said about the visit that “Assemblyman Ciattarelli enlivened the learning experience with his dynamic descriptions of the legislative process.” Junior Ronak Rijhwani felt the visit was “informative and inspiring.” October was an especially active month for the AP American Government and Politics class as they also visited the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
LMS/UMS Mathematics & Science
Great instruction and learning are occurring in middle school mathematics! In Math 7 Workshop, students created a "Survival Guide to Integers" as a culmination of the unit. They chose a theme (money, sports, weather, etc.) and made a booklet with definitions, procedures and examples of integer operations. Finished booklets will soon be used as a teaching tool. In Algebra 1 Part 2, students reviewed solving systems of equations using methods of graphing, substitution, and elimination. As a way to practice, classes completed a series of tasks located around the room and then checked the accuracy of their work using QR codes!
MHS English
On October 10th, approximately 500 students in grades 8, 9, 10, and 12 were treated to a live production of Hamlet brought to MHS by the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival. The performance, which lasted approximately 90 minutes, was followed by a 20 minute Q & A session during which time students conversed with the performers about everything from acting methods to interpretations of the original text.
Special thanks goes out to the Montgomery PTSA for funding this production through a grant submitted by the MHS English department. Without that grant, our students would have missed out on an incredible opportunity to see Shakespeare's works as they are meant to be seen on the stage.
OHES/VES Mathematics & Science
In Orchard Hill our students have been building their number sense and developing their mathematical foundations. It is these practices that reinforce a student’s mathematical thinking beyond their current grade level.
Kindergartners have been focusing on counting and cardinality. Our students are working on number names, the counting sequence, and comparing numbers by identifying greater than, less than, and equal to amounts.
For our first graders, our number system has been the area of focus. Besides adding and subtracting to 20 and counting up to 120, our students have developed relationships between addition and subtraction, building the foundations for future equations.
In second grade number sense is expanding to the thousands. While working with place value our students are representing numbers in various forms and comparing larger values. With addition practices second graders are modeling their thought processes and attending to precision when adding numbers to 100.
To assist in building your child’s mathematical processes, please visit our district K-4 Math Resource Page.
LMS/UMS Language Arts & Social Studies
As the rest of New Jersey navigates between a few remaining warm days and bursts of cold air that remind us of the arrival of the impending Winter of 2016, our 8th grade Social Studies students have begun to enter a sweltering classroom that has transformed itself into the Summer of 1787. This was the infamous Summer in which our founding fathers gathered in Pennsylvania and struggled for months to create the Constitution.
During these few precious weeks of November, if you were to enter Ms. Sterling’s, Mr. Lonergan’s, Ms. Randolph’s, or Ms. Kallens’ classrooms, then you would witness students taking on the roles of a George Washington presiding over the likes of James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton, to name just a few. Students are crowded together and arguing passionately about what type of system could possibly unite a multitude of States with very different goals and ambitions while at the same time affording its citizens power over their own destinies? Throughout this learning there are supercharged debates, insightful compromises, and even moments of humor as our students embrace their powerful roles.
Students emerge from this experience with a greater understanding of the awesome feat these delegates accomplished in the creation of a fluid document that has united a country known as much for its differences as it similarities for well over 200 years!
In addition to creating awesome learning experiences, our 8th grade Social Studies teachers are dedicated to lifting the level of our students’ abilities to interpret historical experience through immersion into literature. We are asking students to read historical fiction of THEIR CHOICE throughout the year in any of its compelling forms. The goal is to develop our students’ capacities to speak and to write and to interpret historical events through varying perspectives as they work to create their own understanding of past events. These are important and sophisticated skills students are called upon to employ throughout High School, University, and most of all, throughout the largest classroom of our lives, life itself.
Please help us to ignite a passion in our students for reading to find out MORE by encouraging our kids to read on their own for pleasure as well as for understanding. Please talk to the 8th graders about their Social Studies Reading Response Journals. As students read, we are encouraging them to look at their texts through a variety of reading lenses in order to establish relevance between what we are learning and experiencing today to the events of the past. Enjoy this exciting journey of thinking alongside our students and thank you for your support!
MHS Science
On October 26th, the MHS Science Department and the MHS Student STEM Board hosted Princeton University Professor, Dr. Paul Cuff as part of the MHS Science Lecture Series. Dr. Cuff shared his research on information theory and mathematical modeling related to the digital age. Dr. Cuff’s research interests span from facial recognition algorithms to modeling encryption theory to neurological mapping. Students had the opportunity to discover how to use data error algorithms to ensure accurate transmission of digital communications. Students also created a one-pad encryption, sent Dr. Cuff a secret message, and received his response while the audience observed with no possibility of deciphering the code. The talk was a great example of the intersection of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
The STEM Board is always looking for guest speakers to join our lecture series. Please email MHS Science Supervisor, Jason Sullivan (jsullivan@mtsd.us) if you have a potential speaker for future talks. The talks happen after school, typically on Wednesdays, each month.
MTSD Mission and Vision Statements
Our mission as a forward-thinking community is to ensure that all students grow into confident, compassionate, successful, and self-directed learners a multi-cultural and socio-economically diverse society by providing engaging and challenging real world educational experiences in a student-centered environment.
Vision Statement
We envision a district on the forefront of public education. We focus on the needs of every child, dedicating ourselves to their present and future success. Success means that all students possess a passion for learning, develop a deep understanding of rigorous content, demonstrate cultural competence, and exhibit ethical conduct, while cultivating social skills and healthy habits that will empower them to achieve their goals and aspirations. Achieving this vision requires that the district become a learning community that continually reflects and challenges itself to effect transformational teaching and learning. We prepare our students to take responsibility for their own educational accomplishments in our global society while nurturing them in a community where each student is known and valued. We believe by embracing frontier spirit, we can create a unique organization that is recognized as a forerunner in public education.