Dear Rye Neck Families,

As I reflect on the 2022 year, I am filled with gratitude with all that Rye Neck Middle School represents. Our staff values, understands and supports students and their families. I would like to express my deepest appreciation to the staff, administrators and families who make our school an extraordinary place to work and learn. Warmest wishes for a happy and healthy holiday season and wonderful New Year!

Dr. Dulce Barker

6th Grade Parent-Teacher Conferences - Wednesday, January 4th, 6 PM-8 PM

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day - No School - Monday, January 16th

Board of Ed Meeting - Wednesday, January 18th, 7 PM

MS Activity Night - Friday, January 20th, 6 PM-8 PM, MS Gym

Marking Period 2 Ends - Friday, January 27th

The Rye Neck Drama Club will promote the teaching of theatrical arts through various activities including scene studies, dance, singing & Improvisation skills building. This is an excellent way to prepare for the upcoming middle school musical production which will begin in March. The club will run from January 3rd to March 28th. Students will meet after school on Tuesdays each week from 3:15-4:15 in B4.

What a way to end 2022! Thank you everyone for making the Rye Neck Middle School Olympics possible in spite of the weather. Students had fun playing Trivia, Name that Tune and Minute to Win It.

Hello 8th Grade Parents and Guardians!

As was discussed at the Freshman Orientation Meeting, I am scheduling 4 year planning meetings with eighth grade students and their parents/guardians. Eighth grade 4 year planning meetings outline high school graduation requirements and the classes students may take in order to meet them. We will also discuss post-secondary goals. Four year plans are reviewed each year with the students' high school counselors.

Meetings will take place during 3rd or 8th period when students have specials, PE or Health. Meetings will be approximately 30 minutes. They will be held in person. When signing up, please include your child's name in the comment section if their last name is different from yours.

To sign up for a 4 year planning meeting, click here. I will then send you a calendar invite.

Please click here for the presentation. Be sure to also review the resources provided at the very end.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at (914)777-4732 or at csullivan@ryeneck.org.

Thank you!

Coleen Sullivan

MS Counselor

Herff Jones will be sending out emails through-out the year about ordering a yearbook!

You can also purchase a yearbook by clicking on the link below and entering Rye Neck Middle School’s code: 40568.

www.yearbookordercenter.com

After school clubs started the week of October 3rd. Homeroom teachers shared a club offerings presentation with students. The presentation was emailed to them and you can also find it on our school website. Clubs are open to students in grades 6-8. Students can try different clubs or if they are in 6th grade they can also participate in intramural sports. The club presentation as well as the schedule for intramural sports is below.

MS After School Clubs

Monday - Friday

3:00PM - 4:00PM

• Intramurals sessions are run by Rye Neck Coaches.

• Intramural design will consist of skill development and scrimmaging.

• Please use this FamilyID link to register your child for Intramurals:

• 6th Grade Intramurals

• 6th Graders are to report directly to the location indicated below.

• Intramurals only run on days school is in session.

• Attendance is not mandatory for participation but if you sign up we ask that you make every attempt to attend each day. A student may register for multiple sessions/sports.

Registration Form

Registration Form

Registration Form

Please make sure your child has a pair of headphones and brings them to school every day.

Both Grade Level and Advanced classes are finishing up their unit on absolute value where they explored the relationship between absolute value and distance in the real world. Advanced level students learned how to add, subtract, multiply and divide integers as well as follow order of operations with complex numerical expressions. All 6th graders are excited for the well deserved holiday break and eager to start their next unit on Dividing Fractions when we return!

Students learned about contemporary artist Jeff Koons and looked at his balloon dog sculptures. Students learned how to draw a balloon animal so that it looks three-dimensional by adding value. They also added repetition around their balloon animal in order to create emphasis on their subject. Next, students learned about Georges Braque and Cubism in order to create portraits that reflect multiple viewpoints as well as contrasting colors. Students once again practiced using value in their work and learned how to use collage techniques to create an interesting portrait. Next up, students will be learning about Pablo Picasso.

Before the December break, we completed our unit on the English Colonies with a test on December 21st. The start of the new year begins with students beginning our unit on the Road to Revolution which focuses on the events of the 1760s and 1770s that led up to the outbreak of the American Revolution. As we finish out the 2nd quarter, we will begin to put more emphasis on extended writing, working on DBQ skills. As always, please remind your student to use their agendas each day to write down homework assignments and TO DO function on Google Classroom to see what assignments have not been turned in.

Seventh graders finished reading A Raisin in the Sun and then completed both a test and an essay on the book before the holiday break. After vacation, students will select a new independent book (science fiction genre) to be approved by me; this reading should be completed by January 25th.

Happy Holidays to all!

This month we're going to read a short story, "Thank You, Ma'am," and a poem, "Dreams," that touch on the theme of struggling to accomplish our dreams. Students have already discussed their dream jobs and what it takes to attain them. We'll continue the discussion about working for our dreams and overcoming obstacles throughout the month of January.

Students have been learning about Chuck Close and his grid drawing method which he invented to help him learn using bite size pieces of information at a time. Chuck Close made photorealistic paintings using this method. Students took an up close view of a candy wrapper and enlarged their work to double the size of their reference. After creating a grid on their final paper, students worked box by box to create a realistic representation of the candy wrapper that they chose! It is hard to tell that students even used a grid at all! Next, students will be learning about Grant Haffner to create landscape paintings.

7th grade students working on grid drawings:

Upon completion of their unit on The House in the Cerulean Sea, The 8th grade English classes will begin their study of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Orwell’s novel, a commentary on the Russian Revolution, will bring to life the ideas behind communism. They will study it by participating in classroom activities based on the concepts the animals believe. As always, the students continue to work on the basic skills of English – most notably reading comprehension and writing skills.

Students just finished creating their wire figure sculptures inspired by the work of Alberto Giacometti. They each thought about a pose, movement, or even an expression to portray within their figure. They thought about form and proportion when creating their figures out of wire. Now students are creating insects inspired by the style of Albrecht Dürer who used a lot of line details and textures in his work. Students will learn how to create value using different line techniques and how to paint using analogous colors in order to help emphasize their insects!

Working on insects inspired by Albrecht Durer: