Dear Rye Neck Families,

Happy December! I hope that you and your families enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving. The second marking period is underway and students are buzzing with World Cup fever. As you help your child navigate school and extracurricular activities, here are some tips to help organize your middle schooler.

1. Teach how to divide and conquer.

• Goal: Keep deadlines for long-term projects from creeping up.
• Example: Using a calendar, show your child how doing a little work each day can help get projects done.

2. Organize to-do lists in a logical order.

• Goal: Have less stress when there’s lots to do.
• Example: Tasks and chores can be organized by due date—or by time needed or by how hard (or easy) they are. Just putting a list in order can help your child feel more in control.

3. Have a “go” box by the front door.

• Goal: Have everything your child needs for school at the door.
• Example: Designate a place for items your child needs to remember for school: backpack, projects, gym clothes—or an eraser!

4. Color-code tasks.

• Goal: Prioritize chores and messages by color.
• Example: Your child might use red sticky notes for important tasks and green ones for things that have to be done by the end of the week.

5. Use a whiteboard.

• Goal: Make things easier to visualize.
• Example: With a big whiteboard, your child can make to-do lists, map out thoughts for an assignment, or just write down things to remember.

6. Set a weekly backpack-cleaning day.

• Goal: Get rid of clutter and save important items.
• Example: Clearing out old papers, leftover snacks, and pencil stubs once a week can make it easier for your child to find things.

7. Keep track of time.

• Goal: Help your child plan.
• Example: Have your child write down start and end times for chores or homework for a couple weeks. This can help your child figure out how to budget time in the future.

Do you need more organization ideas? Get tips on how color-coding can help. Explore simple tools to help teens get organized.

Have a great weekend!

Dr. Dulce Barker

MS Principal's Advisory Committee Meeting (Agenda)- Thursday, December 8th, 1:15 PM

Virtual Aerospace Presentation for 6th Grade (sponsored by PTSA) - Friday, December 9th

Steps For Success Ends - Monday, December 19th

MS Winter Concert - Wednesday, December 21st, 5:30 PM, PAC

Board of Ed Meeting - Wednesday, December 21st, 7 PM, Community Room

MS Olympics - Friday, December 23rd

Early Dismissal - Friday, December 23rd, 11 AM

Progress Reports Posted - Friday, December 23rd, End of Day

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 last night’s 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 throughout 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.

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

On November 15th Ms. Slattery and a group of our students joined other 7th graders from all over Westchester to learn about being an upstander and respecting others during the Holocaust and Human Rights Conference. These are students' reflections on their experience of the conference:

Matthew S. - “The trip that I took was truly amazing, and I am grateful I was chosen."

Carly G. - "I learned how to be an upstander and how just standing there and watching isn't good."

Liv J. - “Many people get bullied unintentionally because the people doing it think of it as a joke..."

Elias C. - "They also taught us that we should never stereotype someone on how they look or act."

Sam G. - "We went into breakout rooms, and talked about being an upstander and respecting one's individuality."

Shoutaro Y. - "Being an upstander is hard."

Olivia D. - "It was a very eye-opening thing to see and listen to."

Alice W. - "This field trip was a remarkable experience for me and the 7 other students in our grade who participated. We certainly learned a lot from it and I want to be able to speak about 'How to be an Upstander' and 'Respecting the Individual' to more people.”

HAPPY DECEMBER! 6th Grade ELA classes have been very busy. We are reading our second novel, The Cay by Theodore Taylor. Students are enjoying an audio version of the book. As they listen, they are learning to take concise, accurate notes. They will also be exploring themes, and learning about the different types of conflicts seen in literature. Please make sure your child is keeping up with their independent reading. The December genre is Historical Fiction. Students must choose a book and have it approved by December 7th. Information about the due date and project will be given in class. Enjoy the holiday season.

New students began art class mid-November. They started off learning about a current artist named Sarah Morris and took inspiration from her paintings to create their own abstract spider web designs. Students focused on using lines, shapes, repetition, color, radial balance, and a focal point while they created their drawings.

6th grade students working on their abstract spider webs:

Students in seventh grade English have just received their personal copies of A Raisin in the Sun to be read AT HOME. Also, student book reports have been returned and are revisable, but revisions are due no later than Monday, December 5th.

We'll be wrapping up our discussion of The Outsiders this month and writing an essay about what it means to "stay gold." Students will also select an independent reading book, any genre of their choice, to read each evening at home.

After learning about Dale Chihuly and creating beautiful sculptures, students are now learning about French artist Henri Matisse and his art style. They learned about how he painted and later in life, when he became ill, found that it was easy to “draw/paint” with scissors and learned about how he created his large scale cut-outs or collages. Students created their own cut-out shapes to use when printing with Gelli plates. Students focused on using the primary colors and how they are used to create all the other colors. Their layered abstract prints are so lively and colorful! If you stop by the middle school, check out the macchia sculptures that are on display; they look so wonderful individually and as an entire group! Way to go 7th grade artists!

7th Grade Dale Chihuly Macchia Sculptures:

7th grade are students cutting out shapes for their Matisse inspired prints:

7th grade students creating prints inspired by Matisse:

The 8th grade English classes are studying The House in the Cerulean Sea by T. J. Klune. The book focuses on the themes of belonging, acceptance and inclusion, as well as what defines family and friendship. As always, the students continue to work on the basic skills of English – most notably reading comprehension and writing skills.

In Spanish 8, students demonstrated their learning and knowledge related to 'house and chores' by creating their dream homes. In this chapter, students learned how to use the irregular verbs 'poder' and 'dormir' (can and to sleep). We also practiced giving commands by telling others to do chores around the house and using the present progressive tense to describe actions that are happening in this moment. Their artistic and creative talent paired with their strong language abilities resulted in many amazing projects!

Students finished creating their city collages inspired by the style of Stuart Davis. They focused on using positive and negative space in order to create interesting and colorful collages. Next they moved onto learning about the sculptures created by Alberto Giacometti. First they began by learning how to draw figures as armatures or “glorified” stick figures and then moved onto gesture drawings. Students tried to visually sketch out different poses to show an action, movement, or emotion that they might want to recreate three-dimensionally. Students currently are creating different figures out of wire and learning the different techniques to help them create a successful sculpture!

8th grade students practicing figure drawings: