Magnet+Updates


 * Green Magnet Update 06/06/11 **


 * Before: Lady Gaga’s “Edge of Glory.” Replay – 0 – 460. Bach Goldberg Aria #1 **
 * Green Tip of the Week: Remember the good things from this year, and see what you can do about the bad. **
 * People are doing interesting work. Grace Nelson is working on a UbD unit, in which her students will be Cultural Ambassdors, **


 * Essential Request. Tell me what education looks like. **


 * Earth Day Carnival – Going Green Relay Races, Tie Dying, Hydroponics, Solar Cooking. **
 * 1. Do What You Want/Earth Spirit Week. ** We’re planning a fun 1-3 day Green Spirit Do What You Want Earth Week, kind of like Sustainability Week. **We need feedback. What if we do it during the week of June 20th? The Green Team – students and teachers – will be putting on an Earth Day Carnival one of the Earth Spirit Week Days with tie dying, solar cooking, recycling relay races.** Teachers/classes could create Green Magnet displays on doorway, in preparation for next year’s beginning. We could cover the doors in clear plastic. We have a great color printer and we can print out images for your Green Magnet door displays.

Ms. Adman, Mr. Bradshaw, Ms. Burgess, Ms. Clyde, Mr. Collado, Mr. Faraci, Mr. Fridman, Ms. Guardado, Ms. Hall, Ms. Hines, Ms. Katz, Mr. Kronberg, Ms. Martin. The students were great and their work was impressive. It lets you see what your child is doing, and that they made improvement. It’s important to share family togetherness, children’s skills, abilities. It gives parents an opportunity to see their child’s work. It is important to have the students involved in extra activities and to be able to present their school to the parents. It allows the parents and students to share and the parents can come away with an understanding of the hard work the students and teachers are doing on a daily basis. It is a learning experience for all. Not only do we learn what is being presented, but we also learn about ourselves and others. It is a good way for students to reinforce what they klearn in school hours, and for parents to see how their kdis are doing in school. Kids get the chance to express what they’ve learned. Shows parents what the kids can be trained to do – good job!
 * 2. Green Magnet Family Social Studies Night. ** Thanks to all of the students and the participating staff:
 * Comments from Feedback Survey **
 * Do you think events like the Green Social Studies Night are important? **


 * What did you like best? ** I thought that the opportunity to have everyone from the administrative to students and teachers interact and collaborate. Environmental Issues, such as global warming. The interaction between the staff, students and family members. It helps to boost the students’ self confidence. Amazing, Awesome. Students were knowledgeable about their topic. I learned how to do origami. Well organized and kids were very helpful. The kids were involved. All the display of the beautiful work of the students. I liked the Greek play the childfren performed. I learned about Mexico. Meeting the teachrs and parents.


 * What are some things you learned? ** I learned about the Erie canal and watched a wonderful play. Interesting presentation on Japan, how to do origami. Very cool, interactive reenactment of the Oregon Trail Journey. Hearing about the Oregon Trail sparked my interest with the Old West. When they make up their minds they can do anything. Nothing new really, but impressive. We learned a lot about the Erie Canal and the Bill of Rights. Urban Decay.


 * Suggestions? ** Have the parents participate in the readings. Do it earlier for families who have to take public transportation. Keep up the good work. Sending out a letter for the event and have parents sign that they received it.


 * What were your expectations? ** None - I was impressed with how well the students read and were involved in the presentations. I feel that my time was well used. A great show – Amazing.


 * 3. Teachers Attending June 9th Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Morning Workshop **
 * ** Be sure to charge and bring your charged laptop. **
 * ** Create a file on your desktop: CCSS Science **
 * ** Go to: http://greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com/Science+Units **
 * ** Download and save in your “CCSS Science” folder **
 * CCSS for Literacy in Science Grades 6-8
 * Introduction to Common Core SciencePowerpoint
 * Agenda
 * Science Grade 6 Map or Science Grade 7 Map

EMAIL kphilli2@schools.nyc.gov, ASAP, if you cannot attend.
 * 4. Understanding by Design (UbD) -- Four Day Institute June 10 11, 17, 18 **
 * 11 Participants: ** Jennifer Hines, Diana Sinche, Perla Bautista, Delio Collado, Jorge Echeverria, Terry Sapp, Stephanie Guardado, Rosa Yordan, Tonia Taylor, Darryl Jackson, Beatrice Page.

Participants, please send an email to kphilli2@schools.nyc.gov with at least following info:
 * // 1 Participant Opening Available //**
 * Pacing Calendar Unit Name:

If you have developed more information, fill out the form below and copy and paste into an email to Karen. Speak to Shamena Alli, Kendra Ravizee, Doreen Collins-Smith, or Karen Phillips if you have questions.

|| ** Teacher’s ** Karen Phillips || 6th Science || ** ELA Multligenre Unit – Response to Lit/Persuasive Writing ** || ** Title of Unit: ** // Nature – Friend and Foe // How can stories help us understand how our environment works? Why couldn’t the federal agent find and kill the alligator? Can and should we return the Everglades to a wild state?
 * Name **
 * ** Grade/ **
 * Dept ** || ** Pacing Calendar **
 * Unit Name ** || * ** Your Working Title for the Unit. **
 * ** If you have Essential Questions – write them in. **
 * ** If you have Focusing Questions - write them in. ** || ** Identified Resources (books, websites, textbooks, etc. ** ||
 * ** EXAMPLE **
 * EQs: ** What’s So Good About the Wild?
 * Focusing Question: **
 * Vocabulary: ** camouflage, ecosystem, etc. || ** Fiction: **// Missing ‘Gator of Gumbo Limbo //
 * Non-fiction: **// The Everglades // -
 * Poems: ** “Alligator Poem” by Mary Oliver and “Some Rivers” by Frank Asch
 * Websites: ** So. Florida Water Management – Let’s Save the Everglades: http://1.usa.gov/mBhTVp ||

**// Green Tip of the Week //**** : //Fight the Good Fight.// Take action when it can make a difference. //THE SQUEAKY WHEEL GETS OILED.// **
 * Green Magnet Update 5/23/11 **

EMAIL kphilli2@schools.nyc.gov, ASAP, if you cannot attend.
 * Understanding by Design (UbD) -- Four Day Institute June 10 11, 17, 18 **
 * 12 Participants: ** Jennifer Hines, Diana Sinche, Perla Bautista, Delio Collado, Jorge Echeverria, Terry Sapp, Stephanie Guardado, Rosa Yordan, Florence Katz, Tonia Taylor, Darryl Jackson, Beatrice Page

To the institute, you must bring a charged computer, power cord, and resources that you will use to build the unit, relating to the content, skills and understandings you plan to teach, and your students’ culminating unit project.
 * INFO for PARTICIPANTS. ** Before start of institute, each participating teacher will have identified a 4-6 week unit to develop. We suggest you work on a unit you will teach in November/December of 2011-2012. You could also UbD your beginning of the year.
 * Please discuss the unit you will work on with a member of the Curriculum Design Team: Shamena Alli, Delio Collado (316), Doreen Collins-Smith (527), Karen Phillips (101C, x165), Kendra Ravizee, 216, Judith Council, 202 – before the start of the institute. **VISIT THE GREEN LIBRARY/DVDs FOR POSSIBLE RESOURCES.**

// Email // //kphilli2@schools.nyc.gov////, if you think you want to participate in the summer institute. The first day of school is September 8th, 2011. You will have 18 days before school starts.// Right now – ONE OPENING!
 * // FOUR DAYS in AUGUST SUMMER INSTITUTE //**
 * // When //**// : August 15 – 18th. **Where**: M. S. 217, 8:30 – 4 p.m. //
 * Current 11 Enrollees: ** Tracey Mancino, Ed Bolan, Collado, Jennifer Hines, Alan Gold, Rick Carroll, Florence Katz, Ragini Singhal, Chastine Cardenas, Daryl Jackson, Stephanie Guardado

Briarwood Community Association has asked us to bring out parents, students, and teachers.
 * QUESTION? Will EXTRA STUDENTS allow for a sustainable life in our building. **
 * Join NYC Controller JOHN LIU and tell him what you think. ** Thursday, 5/26. He is currently investigating overcrowding of schools, closing of schools, and the policies of the Dept. of Education.
 * Thursday, 5/26. Good Samaritan, 84th Dr. & Queens Blvd., 7:30. ** We could you 30 staff members.
 * If we can get out enough parents, students and school staff, he might take up our cause. **

We are getting more Students With D isabilities, students who are entitlted to about 1.5x the space of gen ed students. How do we accommodate them with 100 more students, as well? Suggestion for email that you can CUT AND PASTE: The DOE has to find another home for the 100-200 D28 middle school students they want to overcrowd into M. S. 217. M. S. 217 The Green Magnet is already too overcrowded. We already have daily crushes in our hallways. During fire drills, we have crushes in the stairwells. We are the largest middle school in the district, we have the highest poverty rate, the most number of ELLs, the highest student to teacher ratio. M. S. 217 increased from 1185 in 2008-2009 to over 1400 this school year. We already have students who need more problems than we can physically handle. KEEP OUR SCHOOL SAFE!!! Do not add an additional 100 students! Find another solution. What about the former Gateway building or the brand new school opening, both ¼ mile away? Historically, the schools in the center of D28 have been mistreated, because we have no one to fight for us. The schools in the south have always had Shirley Huntley and the schools in the north have had parents to fight their battles. WE NEED OUR ELECTED OFFFICIALS TO FIGHT FOR US.
 * EMAIL Jim Gennaro, NYC Councilman, District 24and Rory Lancman, our NYS Assemblyman, D 25 ** . Ask for their VOCAL support to keep our population in the school at a manageable level. Is 1400 students and 150 staff = 1550 people manageable? Would 1500 students and 160 staff = 1660 be manageable?
 * jgennaro@council.nyc.gov
 * lancmanoffice@gmail.com
 * Also contact Robert Jackson, Education Chair, NYC Council: rjackson@council.nyc.gov

We need images of overcrowding. Catchy graphic words.
 * WE NEED SOME GOOD POSTERS for 5/26 with Liu. ** WE NEED relevant IMAGES and Words. Mottos and Logos. If your class wants to work on this – we have the construction paper. We’re getting markers.

Yes to More TREES! No to More Overcrowding! (not to catchy, but better with an image)

// PLAN AN EARTH WEEK-SPIRIT WEEK classroom presentations. //
 * MAGNET WORK IN CLASS **
 * Magnet Standards: Sustainability, Activism, Inquiry, Careers **
 * Classroom Ideas – Visioning - Envisioning Our School **


 * ELA **
 * Vocabulary. **
 * Language: How are these words different, the same? ** What are the nouns and adjectives, verbs and adverbs. How are they different, the same? How do they describe you?
 * Focusing Question: **
 * Focusing Question: **
 * Careers ** – What careers are you embodying? How can you choose a career that will help you live your lifestyle vision? (Some teachers are already planning this). As pointed out to me, do it now, while the students still have computers. How will different careers help you meet your personal, social, and cultural goals?


 * Activism – **
 * Is activism a lifestyle? What are some alternative lifestyles? **
 * Why Participate? What’s worth doing? What kind of actions are effective? What are the ingredients, characterisicts of effective actions? What is the power of many sharing a vision and goal? **

We need images of overcrowding. Catchy graphic words.
 * WE NEED SOME GOOD POSTERS for Earth WEek. ** WE NEED relevant IMAGES and Words. Mottos and Logos. If your class wants to work on this – we have the construction paper. We’re getting markers.

Yes to More TREES! No to More Overcrowding!

Sound off, one, two, Sound off, three, four, Bring it on down, one, two, three, four, We don’t want 200 more? Hey, hey Uncle Mike, Overcrowding is what you like? Uncle Mike, listen please, (echo), We want learning, WE want trees. 1400 is too much, 1600 a Bloomberg crush!
 * THINK of a Green Magnet chant. **


 * Thanks for the persuasive essays. Typed and printed would be best. See Ms. Phillips to print out for children who don’t have working printers at home. ** We’ll be sending the letters to our educational leaders and elected representatives. We’ll also send it to NY1, the Chronicle, Tribune, Michael Winerip from the NY Times, Daily News


 * Inquiry/Sustainability. **


 * Focusing Questions: **


 * NEXT RALLY, Friday, 5/27 ????????? SHOULD WE CALL THIS? **

// Of Mice and Men. //** Signed Out, but Available later: //Travels with Charlie, The Outsiders, Forged by Fire// ** Facing the Future’s //Making Connections: Engaging Students in Language, Literacy, and Global Issues//
 * ELA Books Available to Borrow: **// Feed //, //Kavik the Wolf Dog//, //A Raisin the Sun//, //Tears of a Tiger,//
 * Class Sets available to keep, even if you didn’t order: **


 * Green Magnet Update 5/2/11**


 * Green Tip of the Week:**
 * **Watch ted.com for exciting performance talks on everything from creativity, music, green.**
 * Examples:**
 * **Turning Trash into Toys for Learning**
 * **Are we ready for neo-evolution?**
 * **A Next Generation Digital Book**
 * **Using Nature to Grow Batteries**
 * **History of the Universe from the Big Bang to the Present -**
 * **What Hallucination Reveals About Our Minds – Oliver Sacks**
 * **The Sustainable Fridge**
 * **Pre-videotape your mini-lesson, so when you show it to your class, you can have your eyes on the students. (Teachers are using Screencast.com)**

EMAIL kphilli2@schools.nyc.gov, in you are interested in:
 * Understanding by Design (UbD) Institutes - SIGN UP NOW!**

When: Friday, June 10 and Saturday, June 11; Friday, June 17 and Saturday, June 18 Where: M. S. 217 Current Enrollees: Bautista, Collado, Echeverria, Guardado, Hines, Sinche
 * FOUR DAYS in JUNE – 6 enrollees, 6 Additional Openings**

//Email// //kphilli2@schools.nyc.gov////, if you think you want to participate in the summer institute. The first day of school is September 8th, 2011. You will have 18 days before school starts.// Current Enrollees: Bolan, Collado, Hines, Mancino, Gold, Carroll
 * //FOUR DAYS in AUGUST SUMMER INSTITUTE// – 6 enrollees, 6 Additional Openings**
 * //When//**//: August 15 – 18th. **Where**: M. S. 217//

Before each institute, teachers select 4-6 week units to develop. We suggest you work on a unit you will teach in November/December of 2011-2012. You bring resources that you will use to build the unit, relating to the content, skills and understandings you plan to teach.
 * Please discuss the unit you will work on with a member of the Curriculum Design Team: Shamena Alli, Delio Collado (316), Doreen Collins-Smith (527), Karen Phillips (101C, x165), Kendra Ravizee, 216, Judith Council.


 * Thanks to our students who came in for Clean Up NY/Clean Up 217. We had about 35 Green Team and Garden Team students and Dr. Andrade, Mr. Mindlin, Ms. Singhal, Ms. V.**


 * EARTH WEEK – Delayed but not forgotten. We’ll combine it with Spirit Week, and we’ll be able to have an outdoor Earth Day Carnival, like we had last year!!!! Besides Earth Day, Crazy Hat Day, Twin Day, ideas for other days? My Favorite Pet Day?**

We have bulletin board paper, construction paper, sentence strips for decorating the doors and for workshops at family nights. We will soon be able to print selected images in color for doors.
 * Green Door Project. Can we do the doors at the end of the year, cover them with plastic, and leave them for next year?**
 * Door Possibiliies:** Japan; Japan vs Katrina; Something About Our Pets; Visions of the Future; Counting Plastic Bottles, Culture at 109.
 * (If you have an idea and want help – speak to Karen).**

//Of Mice and Men.// **Signed Out, but Available later: //Travels with Charlie, The Outsiders, Forged by Fire//** Facing the Future’s //Making Connections: Engaging Students in Language, Literacy, and Global Issues//
 * ELA Books Available to Borrow:** //Feed//, //Kavik the Wolf Dog//, //A Raisin the Sun//, //Tears of a Tiger,//
 * Class Sets available to keep, even if you didn’t order:**


 * Green Magnet Update 4/11/11 **


 * Green Tip of the Week: ** Memorize a poem for National Poetry Month. You’ll have it available your whole life. It’s the acquisition that keeps giving. You can use it whenever you want, it’s use is not time limited. It takes up no space; you can use it wherever you are. Memorizing a poem is Earth-friendly: no batteries or electricity required. Can a poem, a song help the environment? Sometimes it can soothe or raise your spirits, change our emotions.


 * Thursday, April 14th – Poem in Your Pocket Day. Have students bring in poems in their pockets to share with friends and staff. ** Immediate, doable way for children to do some work and share it.

EMAIL kphilli2@schools.nyc.gov, in you are interested in:
 * Understanding by Design (UbD) Institutes - SIGN UP NOW! **

When: Friday, June 10 and Saturday, June 11; Friday, June 17 and Saturday, June 18 Where: M. S. 217 Current Enrollees: Bautista, Collado, Echeverria, Guardado, Hines, Sinche
 * FOUR DAYS in JUNE – 6 enrollees, 6 Additional Openings **

// Email // //kphilli2@schools.nyc.gov////, if you think you want to participate in the summer institute. The first day of school is September 8th, 2011. You will have 18 days before school starts.// Current Enrollees: Bolan, Collado, Hines, Mancino
 * // FOUR DAYS in AUGUST SUMMER INSTITUTE //**** – 4 enrollees, 8 Additional Openings **
 * // When //**// : August 15 – 18th. **Where**: M. S. 217 //

Before each institute, teachers select 4-6 week units to develop. We suggest you work on a unit you will teach in November/December of 2011-2012. You bring resources that you will use to build the unit, relating to the content, skills and understandings you plan to teach.
 * Please discuss the unit you will work on with a member of the Curriculum Design Team: Shamena Alli, Delio Collado (316), Doreen Collins-Smith (527), Karen Phillips (101C, x165), Kendra Ravizee, 216, Judith Council.


 * Humanities House Culture Day ** . Thank you Ms. Suarez for all you did to coordinate this event. We missed you and hope you’re feeling better. A “Passport” served as our program and introduction to: North America, Asia, Puerto Rico, Latin America, Japan, and South America.

Thanks to Fumiyo Noda (who helps keep our cafeteria running smoothly). Ms. Noda spent about two hours teaching our children origami paper folding and how to use chop sticks. On Friday, April 8th, Ms. Noda wore the traditional dress of Japan, a Kimono with an obi sash. Thanks to Ms. Singhal who wore a sari. Thanks to Ms. Forbes who brought in an amazing Carnival mask/headdress from Trinidad. Thanks to all of the Humanities House teachers for a wonderful, celebratory day: Ms. Suarez – Coordiantor, Ms. Alli, Mr. Anello, Mr. Chanayil, Ms. Guadalupe, Ms. Guardado, Mr. Isakov, Ms. Katz, Mr. Pollaci, Ms. Singhal, Ms. Vakalopoulos, Ms. Wyckoff. Congratulations and we missed Ms. Fenoaltea.

Thanks to our students and staff who cooked, developed presentations, and practiced with students. Thanks to the parents who helped children prepare their clothing and cooked food for their children to share with out community.
 * Meeting Magnet Standards ** . **Sense of Place and Sustainability.** Sharing our cultures, celebrating our diversity, sharing differences and finding connections all contribute to constructing diverse, peaceful neighborhoods and leading sustainable lives. **Personal Development – I think many of our students felt empowered.**


 * EARTH WEEK – Delayed but not forgotten. We’ll combine it with Spirit Week, and we’ll be able to have an outdoor Earth Day Carnival, like we had last year!!!! Besides Earth Day, Crazy Hat Day, Twin Day, ideas for other days? My Favorite Pet Day? **


 * Green Door Project. Can we do the doors at the end of the year, cover them with plastic, and leave them for next year? **
 * Door Possibiliies: ** Japan; Japan vs Katrina; Something About Our Pets; Visions of the Future; Counting Plastic Bottles, Culture at 109.

We have bulletin board paper, construction paper, sentence strips for decorating the doors and for workshops at family nights. We will soon be able to print selected images in color for doors.

// Of Mice and Men. //** Signed Out, but Available later: //Travels with Charlie, The Outsiders, Forged by Fire// **
 * ELA Books Available to Borrow: **// Feed //, //Kavik the Wolf Dog//, //A Raisin the Sun//, //Tears of a Tiger,//

Facing the Future’s //Making Connections: Engaging Students in Language, Literacy, and Global Issues//
 * Class Sets available to keep, if you ordered and did not yet pick up: **


 * Green Magnet Update 4/4/11 **
 * Green Tip of the Week: ** Shop with reusable bags. Reuse plastic bags. Bring plastic bags back to supermarkets for recycling.

EMAIL kphilli2@schools.nyc.gov, in you are interested in:
 * Understanding by Design (UbD) Institutes **

When: Friday, June 10 and Saturday, June 11; Friday, June 17 and Saturday, June 18 Where: M. S. 217
 * FOUR DAYS in JUNE **

// When: August 15 – 18th. // // Where: M. S. 217 // // Email // //kphilli2@schools.nyc.gov////, if you think you want to participate in the summer institute. The first day of school is September 8th, 2011. You will have 18 days before school starts.//
 * // FOUR DAYS in AUGUST. SUMMER INSTITUTE //**

Before each institute, teachers select 4-6 week units to develop. We suggest you work on a unit you will teach in November/December of 2011-2012. You bring resources that you will use to build the unit, relating to the content, skills and understandings you plan to teach.
 * Please discuss the unit you will work on with a member of the Curriculum Design Team: Shamena Alli, Delio Collado (316), Doreen Collins-Smith (527), Karen Phillips (101C, x165), Kendra Ravizee, 216, Judith Council.


 * FAMILY SCIENCE NIGHT ** . Collation of responses on Feedback Survey.
 * ** What did you like best about the Green Science Night? **
 * The whole family trying to solve a science problem together.
 * The topics the students presented.
 * Informative – Besides seeing my son present about alternative energy.
 * I liked everything.
 * Learning about Lego robotic technology with Mr. Anello.
 * Lego Robotics, Plant Science, Green Science.
 * The projects, family time at school, food.
 * Everything was good.
 * The fact people teach how to Reuse, Reduce, Recycle.
 * It was very fun and active.
 * I like the Heart Program.
 * Everything was interesting and good.
 * We learned about animals.
 * I was very comfortable being here and most of all the students are all helpful and happy.
 * It was quite interesting seeing the students, parents, and teachers together.
 * Animal Science Lab
 * I liked Heart Surgery and Lego Robotics.
 * How Mr. Mindlin had shark’s teeth from millions of years ago. || ** What are one or two things you learned tonight? **
 * Hydroponic planting.
 * More “Go Green.”
 * The digestive system.
 * The kids work very hard on whatever project they did.
 * It is good to visit our children’s school to motivate and support our kids.
 * How the hear works.
 * That my father would fail the science state test and that plants can grow without soil.
 * Presentation of the Digestive System.
 * The efforts of the teachers and students.
 * Solar System
 * How Styrofoam is harmful to the environment.
 * I learned that the right side of the heart gives blood to the lungs. The left side of the heart gives blood to the whole body.
 * I learned about Lego Robotics and Heart Surgery.
 * My daughter loved the Animal Science Lab.
 * That everything works better when students, teachers, and parents work together.
 * Saving energy, heart and go green.
 * I learned that the teachers really work hard with students.
 * I learned that students take pride in their work.
 * Making hydroponic plants.
 * How to save the Earth. ||

**Magnet Update 2/7/2011**

**Green Tip of the Week. Whenever there’s enough light in the room for you and your students to see without the lights. turn off your lights. Turn off one row of lights. Remember, turn off your lights, when you leave your room.**

**Lunch and Learn: Intro to Understanding by Design.** Tuesday, February 8th periods 4, 5, 6 Thursday, February 10, periods 3, 4, 5 Come and get a taste of UbD. Join us in the library.

**The 4 Day UbD Institute is being re-scheduled. We will let you know the new dates ASAP.**

**What’s Going On** **Ms. Bautista’s** 8th Grade ESL pull-out class read //The Giving Tree//, created books inspired by //The Giving Tree//, and presented their work to Mr. Burns, Dr. Kendall, Ms. Collins-Smith, Ms. Phillips, and Ms. Gega. What inspired the students to create their books: Nelly: I was inspired to write my book to tell people who think trees are not important that they are, because they give us oxygen. Ana: I was inspired to write my book to tell people that trees are important because the trees give us oxygen, fruits, wood, and shade. Amritpaul: I was inspired to write my book by reading //The Giving Tree.// I used to play on a tree when I was small. **Ms. Hines’ class** is considering the phrase in the Declaration of Independence, “When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another…” Ms. Hines has asked them to think about the rights of the Egyptians to change their government. Also, check out her beautiful “217 Forest,” and read her students’ creative stories about trees. Rm. 208 **Ms. Aleshin’s** students’ created wonderful posters, inspired by //The Lorax,// Rm. 303. **Ms. Taylor’s** classes read an article on immigration, and then conducted their own interviews with immigrants that they know. Rm. 218 **Ms. Armstrong’s** students integrated math in their study and writing about consumption, life expectancy, and sustainability. Rm. 204. **Green Team.** Thanks to Mr. Gibbons, Ms. Vakalopoulos and the students for their great yellow “Turn out the lights” signs.

**Earth ACTIVISM Week. 4/11-4/15.** **Essential Question Signs.** If you would like an Essential Question typed up and printed on neon green paper, let Karen know.

a. I was expecting some challenging tasks to do. Yes, and more. b. Organization. Yes. c. To be boring. No, it was great and there should be more. d. To learn and see what my child is learning in the school. Yes, the school is great. e. It was beyond my expectations. f. I wanted to have fun and bond with my family. YES. || ** Do you think events like the Green Science Night are important? ** parents as well.
 * ** What were your expectations for this evening? **
 * Were your expectations met? **
 * Gives important information and knowledge to kids and
 * Please continue these events.
 * You get to learn important information related to earth.
 * It explains to students things that are important in science.
 * The child can apply what they learn through their projects.
 * We learn what our children will learn.
 * It teaches us how to be eco-friendly.
 * You learn how to be green and learn new things about the environment.
 * We parents gain a lot of experience about science and get involved in our child’s life.
 * Yes. Science is important in our life.
 * Green Science Night is important because it helps us save the Earth.
 * Because it is fun and it helps bond with friends and family members. ||

We want to thank staff who came just to be part of the night: Ms. Guardado and son, Ms. Williams and daughter, Dean Williams, Mr. Palmeri and family, Ms. Lyles, Ms. Gega, and Ms. Sewall. Thanks to Mr. Greenberg for helping us with the sound system. Thanks to Cafeteria staff for helping us with the dinner. Thanks to Security for keeping us safe. Thanks to Custodians for all their work. (If I left you out, please email kphilli2@schools.nyc.gov). Students were impressive. Thanks to Men of Strength, the Green Teams, and all student presenters and ushers.


 * ELA Books Available to Borrow: **
 * // Feed //**
 * // Nightjohn //**
 * // Kavik the Wolf Dog //**
 * // A Raisin the Sun //**
 * // Tears of a Tiger //**
 * // Of Mice and Men //**
 * // Where the Red Fern Grows //**
 * Signed Out, but Available later: //Travels with Charlie, The Outsiders, Forged by Fire// **

Facing the Future’s //Making Connections: Engaging Students in Language, Literacy, and Global Issues//
 * Class Sets available to keep, if you ordered and did not yet pick up: **


 * EARTH WEEK – Delayed until May. We’ll combine it with Spirit Week, and we’ll be able to have an outdoors Earth Day Carnival, like we had last year!!!! **


 * The GREEN DOOR Project ** . We have bulletin board paper, construction paper, and we will be able to print out images in color for you. Each “green” door should include:
 * Subject-area connections – Focusing Questions
 * TASK – description of task or project and STUDENT WORK
 * Magnet Standard(s)
 * BIG IDEA – ESSENTIAL Question
 * Optional: Name of Academic House


 * ** DONNA ELAM Visit, Friday, March 25th. She can’t believe how much our school has been “magnetized” since she began coming 4 years ago. She’ll visit one more time in June. She met with Jennifer Hines and Stephanie Guardado. She was impressed. **

Majora Carter, Keynote Speaker at Green Schools Conference: Watch Video - “Majora Carter: Greening the Ghetto.” 18 minute video on sustainability, community, poverty, change. Majora Carter grew up in the South Bronx, she is a MacArthur Fellow, has a show on T.V. INSPIRING 18 minute VIDEO: []
 * UPCOMING EVENTS: **
 * ** YOUTHCAN. ** April 2-11th international conference on students’ environmental projects.
 * ** April 2. ** Hike across the George Washington Bridge and up the Palisades (Ms. Lindsay and Ms. Singhal)
 * ** April 9. Green Teams attend NYC Green Schools Council. **
 * Saturday, April 16th - Join New York Cares and 5,000 volunteers to make our city's parks and gardens cleaner, greener, and ready for summer on Saturday, April 16.
 * Mr. Gibbons and Ms. Singhal of the Green Teams
 * Ms. Council and Ms. Phillips
 * **Mr. Mindlin and Dr. A and the Garden Team might be working in our gardens
 * Family Physical Education Night, May 12th
 * Family Social Studies Night – June 3rd.


 * Green Magnet Update 3/24/11 **


 * Green Tip of the Week: ** Shop with reusable bags. Reuse plastic bags. Bring plastic bags back to supermarkets for recycling.


 * Understanding by Design (UbD) Institutes **
 * EMAIL kphilli2@schools.nyc.gov, in you are interested in: **


 * FOUR DAYS in JUNE **
 * When: ** Friday, June 10 and Saturday, June 11; Friday, June 17 and Saturday, June 18
 * Where: M. S. 217 **


 * // FOUR DAYS in AUGUST. SUMMER INSTITUTE, //**
 * // When: August 15 – 18th. //**
 * // Where: M. S. 217 //**
 * // Email kphilli2@schools.nyc.gov, if you think you want to participate in the summer institute. The first day of school is September 8th, 2011. You will have 18 days before school starts. //**

Before each institute, teachers select 4-6 week units to develop. We suggest you work on a unit you will teach in November/December of 2011-2012. You bring resources that you will use to build the unit, relating to the content, skills and understandings you plan to teach.
 * Please discuss the unit you will work on with a member of the Curriculum Design Team: Shamena Alli, Delio Collado (316), Doreen Collins-Smith (527), Karen Phillips (101C, x165), Kendra Ravizee, 216, Judith Council.


 * EARTH WEEK – Look for it in May. We’ll combine it with Spirit Week, and we’ll be able to have an outdoors Earth Day Carnival, like we had last year!!!! **

Green Doors don’t have to be green, but have to relate to and include: Magnet Standard(s): Sustainability, Sense of Place, Activism, Subject Content: Focusing Questions Big Idea(s)/Essential Question(s) Student Work – writing, images Let us know what you need. Have students do the research and work.
 * GREEN DOORS. ** We have bulletin board paper, we have pens, colored pencils, construction paper. We’ll soon be able to print out images in color for you.

UPCOMING EVENTS:
 * YouthCAN. Students present their environmental projects at the American Museum of Natural History. **
 * Green Teams attend NYC Green Schools Council, Saturday, April 9th. MLK High School, Manhattan. **
 * Clean-up NY day. April 16th **


 * 18 minutes of your time ** : Majora Carter: Greening the Ghetto. She leveraged a $10,000 grant into hundreds of millions of dollars. She connects sustainability and community, poverty, change. Majora Carter grew up in the South Bronx, she is a MacArthur Fellow, has a show on T.V.
 * Link VIDEO: [] **


 * ** YOUTHCAN. ** April 3-11th international conference on students’ environmental projects.
 * ** Earth Day at 217 ** – April 15th (Internationally, Earth Day is always celebrated on 4/22. We will be on vacation!)
 * ** Earth Week ** – April 11 – 15th. Students should start planning “green” doors for your classroom that will include magnet standards, subject content, student work. Ms. Council’s Environmental Disasters booklets are perfect material for a green door.
 * NYC Green Schools Council, Saturday, April 9th Members of the Green Team will be attending.
 * Saturday, April 16th - Join New York Cares and 5,000 volunteers to make our city's parks and gardens cleaner, greener, and ready for summer on Saturday, April 16.
 * Mr. Gibbons and Ms. Singhal of the Green Teams
 * Ms. Council and Ms. Phillips
 * **Mr. Mindlin and Dr. A and the Garden Team might be working in our gardens
 * Family Physical Education Night, May 12th
 * Family Social Studies Night – Being Planned.


 * Green Magnet Update 3/21/11 **
 * Green Tip of the Week: ** Conserve energy and get exercise. Walk up and down the stairs, if possible.


 * FOUR DAY Understanding by Design (UbD) Institute **
 * When: ** Friday, June 10 and Saturday, June 11; Friday, June 17 and Saturday, June 18
 * Where: M. S. 217 **
 * Email kphilli2@schools.nyc.gov, if you want to participate. **


 * // SUMMER INSTITUTE. Please email kphilli2@schools.nyc.gov, if you think you want to participate in the summer institute. We will probably do only 1 summer 4-day institute. Tell us which dates you would prefer: //**
 * // August 15 – 18th, or August 22-25th? //**


 * // Before the institute begins, each teacher selects a unit to develop. We suggest you work on a unit you will teach in November/December of 2011-2012. You have to prepare resources you will reference that relates to the content and skills you plan to teach. //**


 * ** Other Upcoming Events **
 * ** World Water Day **, March 22nd, www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/
 * ** Family Green Science Night **, Friday, March 25th
 * ** DONNA ELAM Visit, Friday, March 25th. We need 2-3 teachers to meet with her to discuss how they integrate Magnet themes into their curriculum. **
 * ** YOUTHCAN. ** April 3-11th international conference on students’ environmental projects.
 * ** Earth Day at 217 ** – April 15th (Internationally, Earth Day is always celebrated on 4/22. We will be on vacation!)
 * ** Earth Week ** – April 11 – 15th. Students should start planning “green” doors for your classroom that will include magnet standards, subject content, student work. Ms. Council’s Environmental Disasters booklets are perfect material for a green door.
 * NYC Green Schools Council, Saturday, April 9th Members of the Green Team will be attending.
 * Saturday, April 16th - Join New York Cares and 5,000 volunteers to make our city's parks and gardens cleaner, greener, and ready for summer on Saturday, April 16.
 * Margaret’s Place and the Peer Leaders are spearheading this day. We would like our different student groups to join together to volunteer for this day: Green Team, Peer Leaders, Men of Strength, others. Let Karen know if your group will participate. We have to sign up. The following people have agreed to join together:
 * Ms. Charlemagne of Margaret’s Place and Peer Leaders
 * Mr. Gibbons and Ms. Singhal of the Green Teams
 * Ms. Council and Ms. Phillips
 * **Mr. Mindlin and Dr. A and the Garden Team might be working in our gardens
 * Family Physical Education Night, May 12th
 * Family Social Studies Night – Being Planned.


 * Green Magnet Update 3/7/11 **


 * Green Tip of the Week: ** Turn the water on and off, don’t let it run. Wet your hands, turn the water off, lather up, turn the water on and rinse. Put water in a cup. Wet your brush, brush your teeth, rinse out, rinse off your brush. Suggestion - Share this tip with your students.


 * THANKS. ** Thanks to everyone who is doing Essential Questions, Big Ideas, Magnet Standards/Themes. Your work is obvious.


 * ** Upcoming Events **
 * March 22nd – World Water Day: www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/
 * Family Science Night March 25th
 * March 26th is Earth Hour Day, so we will do this the day of our Family Science Night – during the day. It’s a Lights Out, as much as possible, day.
 * Family Physical Education Night, April 11th
 * Earth Day – April 15th
 * Earth Week – April 11 – 15th. Students should start planning “green” doors for your classroom that will include magnet standards, subject content, student work.
 * Garden Team Students – there are buds in the Pollinators’ Garden – new growth.
 * Saturday, April 9th – NYC Green Schools Council – Members of the Green Team will be attending.
 * Saturday, April 16th - Join New York Cares and 5,000 volunteers to make our city's parks and gardens cleaner, greener, and ready for summer on Saturday, April 16.
 * We would like our different student groups to join together to volunteer for this day: Green Team, Young Women of Power, Peer Leaders, Men of Strength, others. Let Karen know if your group will participate. We have to sign up. The following people have agreed to join together:
 * Ms. Charlemagne of YWOP and Peer Leaders
 * Mr. Gibbons and Ms. Singhal of the Green Teams
 * Ms. Council and Ms. Phillips
 * Mr. Mindlin and Dr. A and the Garden Team might be working in our gardens

This month VITAL launches three self-paced lessons based on //[|Get the Math]//, a new program produced by WNET that combines entertaining reality-style TV and online challenges. The lessons help middle and high school students see the relevance of math in exciting careers as they develop algebraic thinking skills. Math in Music: [] “First, you’ll watch a video to learn about how Manny Dominguez and Luis Lopez started DobleFlo and how they use math in producing hip-hop music. At the end of the video, Manny and Luis set up a music-related algebra challenge. You will work with a partner to solve the challenge.”
 * On-line Math Games from PBS/VITAL NY: ** Self-Paced Lessons in Math


 * TEAMS of Teachers. If your students submit written work for any of the challenges below, as magnet work, we could pay per session for your teams to sit, read, discuss, and propose next steps for your students. INQUIRY CHALLENGE ** work can be used on Green Doors, to present at Family Nights, during Earth Week, at the Earth Day Fair, and during Family Social Studies Night.


 * Houses could select 1-2 students per discipline per grade to be winners. **
 * The winners in each house could get a pizza party. **


 * Teams could change the directions, the questions, even devise their own challenge. Your team might already have an interdisciplinary project you can include. **


 * All challenges have to include: **
 * Directions to read
 * Bullets to address
 * Writing.
 * Student work can also include: music, dance, artwork, iMovies, podcasts, plans for presentation.

All work must be submitted electronically. Electronically submitted writing must include:
 * Introductory Paragraph
 * Body Paragraphs
 * Concluding Paragraph


 * We have per session for teachers who want to do this magnet work. ** This work embodies the magnet standards of Sustainability (Society, Environment, Economics**,** Personal Growth), Activism, Sense of Place, Inquiry, and Technology.

We don’t need a lot of submissions to make this work worthwhile. Plan to spend about 4 hours reading and evaluating. If a whole team can’t meet, pairs of teachers can work together.


 * CHALLENGES **
 * Overarching Essential Question ** : Can reading the past tell us about the present and the future?
 * How do we know and understand the past through, art, math, history, geography, physical education, band, chorus, dance, speech? Select one Subject and subheading/subsection.

The challenges below have to be re-worked, made student friendly, and the bulleted points have to be clear.

After reading through the Science, Social Studies, ELA, and other bullets ( m ) selections, select one of the bulleted sub-topics and answer all of the questions:

m **Science**: **Reading the World Through Science.** How can we use the study of geology, light, biology, or chemistry to study the past, understand the present, and predict the future? How do we read light? How does light help us read the past? How do scientists study light? Can we slow down or speed up light? Can we slow down or speed up time?
 * ** Focusing Questions: **
 * // ~ //****// Light and Time. //**
 * How do scientists describe time?
 * Is time physical, biological, or chemical?
 * What is time from a science point of view?
 * // þ //****// Geology //**** . ** How do we read rocks? What do rocks tell us about the past, the present, and the future? Can reading rocks help us develop scientifically-based plans for Earth, our society?
 * // õ //****// Biology. //** How do we read the biology of our earth? our bodies? Can we control the biology of the Earth or our bodies? By reading our bodies, can we control our biology to extend human life? Should we control our biology to extend human life?

m **Social Studies.** Can we find patterns in history that will help us solve today’s problems?  Can the American Revolution help us understand the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt? The problems in Libya? In Yemen?  Why was compromise essential when the Founding Fathers were writing the American Constitution?

m **English Language Arts** Select 3 of the bulleted thoughts to think, research and write about:
 * Essential Questions: ** Is reading time travel? Can reading help you time travel?
 * ** Enduring Understanding ** : “When you read the past, present, and future your mind expands.”
 * ELA: Do words contain time?

Write up the plan, the obstacles, the expected outcomes. (Teachers must add bullets to this challenge).
 * INQUIRY CHALLENGE - RECYCLING. Submit a proposal to implement a school-wide paper recycling program ** for the remainder of this year, which includes plans for next year.


 * INQUIRY CHALLENGE for Women’s History Month. **
 * Why aren’t more women famous artists, writers, composers, astronomers, biologists, historians?
 * How can we read a culture to determine women’s roles in the culture?
 * How are men’s and women’s roles different? How are they same?
 * In addition to our lives, what do women continually add to our cultures, our lives?
 * What can we do to make women’s lives better, more sustainable?
 * How have women’s roles changed in the last 150 years?

How can reading art help us understand the past, present, and future? Why is art important for a good life, a sustainable life? How can fiction, poetry, and drama help you better understand history? – Think about Shakespeare. How can music inspire you to act? How can singing create community? How can a mosaic foster understanding and community? How can reading music help you develop career skills?
 * INQUIRY CHALLENGE – CULTURE **

THESE Inquiry Challenges will be available on the door of room 101C.


 * Magnet Update 2/14/2011 **


 * Green Tip of the Week. Whenever there’s enough light in the room for you and your students to work, turn off your lights. Suggestion, try turning off one row of lights. Remember, turn off your lights, when you leave your room. **


 * Student Learning. ** Can you combine projects across disciplines? Suggestion - combine the brainstorming, research and writing for the ELA Feature Article unit with the students’ development of their Science or Social Studies project.


 * ELA – See the Literacy Map for the Feature Article Unit that we’re sending Literacy teachers. Last year we had a representative from AUSSIEs integrate Common Core Standards, including the “CCSS Language & Progressive Skills, into the following sections of the Literacy Map: Readers’ Workshop, Writers’ Workshop, Listening and Speaking, and Grammar and Conventions. Develop ideas for Feature Articles, based upon ideas and issues in some of the novels the students have read. **


 * UbD: Thank you everyone who came to the Introduction to UbD sessions. **
 * The 4 Day UbD Institute is being re-scheduled. We will let you know the new dates ASAP. **
 * We are also planning a 4 day institute for the summer. **


 * Friday, February 11th. ** “As the nation debates how to get the best performance out of students and teachers, [|//Need to Know//] presents an hour devoted to success stories in teaching. The program highlights three dramatic stories of academic transformation - focusing on literacy, physical education and science education.” 2/11-**Friday,** 7:30 – Channel 13-PBS; **Sunday** - Channel 21-WLIW, 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.


 * Black History Month & PBS ** . These resources, adapted from [|NOVA: Forgotten Genius] (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/julian/), explore how Percy Julian revolutionized chemistry with the first synthesis of a chemical compound, as well as the challenges he overcame as an African American facing legalized segregation.


 * CAREERS in SCIENCE: ** If you're looking for other great STEM resources to inspire your students, check out [|Cool Careers in Science] (http://www.teachersdomain.org/special/city07-ex/).


 * Careers in math: [] . **** Get the Math, ** a multimedia project about algebra in the real world. See how professionals working in fashion, videogame design, and music production use algebraic thinking. Then take on interactive challenges related to those careers.

What inspired the students to create their books: Nelly: I was inspired to write my book to tell people who think trees are not important that they are, because they give us oxygen. Ana: I was inspired to write my book to tell people that trees are important because the trees give us oxygen, fruits, wood, and shade. Amritpaul: I was inspired to write my book by reading //The Giving Tree.// I used to play on a tree when I was small. Mr. Carroll’s classes are reading the dystopian novel //Feed.//
 * What’s Going On in and Around School **
 * Ms. Bautista’s ** 8th Grade ESL pull-out class read //The Giving Tree//, created books inspired by //The Giving Tree//, and presented their work to Mr. Burns, Dr. Kendall, Ms. Collins-Smith, Ms. Phillips, and Ms. Gega.
 * Ms. Melendez’s new ESL Class 853 ** read //Owen & Mzee// and then began writing about Friendship, Cooperation, or Animal Friends.
 * Ms. Hines’ class ** is considering the phrase in the Declaration of Independence, “When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another…” Ms. Hines has asked them to think about the rights of the Egyptians to change their government. Also, check out her beautiful “217 Forest,” and read her students’ creative stories about trees. Rm. 208
 * Ms. Aleshin’s ** students’ created wonderful posters, inspired by //The Lorax,// Rm. 303.
 * Ms. Taylor’s ** classes read an article on immigration, and then conducted their own interviews with immigrants that they know. Rm. 218
 * Ms. Armstrong’s ** students integrated math in their study and writing about consumption, life expectancy, and sustainability. Rm. 204.
 * Ms. Alli. ** Green Sustainability. Students are writing about what we are going to do to make ourselves sustainable at M. S. 217.
 * Green Team. ** The Green Team is sponsoring a “Lights Out” campaign. Thanks to Mr. Gibbons, Ms. Vakalopoulos and the students for their great yellow “Turn out the lights” signs.


 * Earth ACTIVISM Week. 4/11-4/15. **


 * Essential Question Signs. ** If you would like an Essential Question typed up and printed on neon green paper, let Karen know.

Tuesday, February 8th periods 4, 5, 6 Thursday, February 10, periods 3, 4, 5, 6 Come and get a taste of UbD. Join us in the library.
 * Lunch and Learn: Intro to Understanding by Design. **


 * The 4 Day UbD Institute is being re-scheduled. We will let you know the new dates ASAP. **

Friday, February 4 – Saturday, February 11. We have 1-3 spots left (depending on tentative teachers’ decisions). · Continental breakfasts and lunches · Flash Drive with: copies of Institute powerpoints; NYS Scope and Sequence · Binders with UbD template and powerpoints (if you want hard copies).s   · Access to other schools’ NYC Scope & Sequence Units that have been UbDed, but not for green for their magnet themes, including arts, social justice, community. These themes are all about creating sustainable lives, creating a Sense of Place, so we can learn resources from them, Essential Questions, etc.  · More info on the agendas for each day to follow Click on each school’s link Scroll to bottom of school’s page and click on “Teachers’ Corner.” There will you find each school’s UbD units, their curriculum maps, etc. There are math, social studies, ELA units. There aren’t links to all the units. Examples of what’s available: IS 237, Math: Sample Unit : [|How do you use real numbers to express yourself and create a work of art?] · 7th Grade Math: [| Polynomials Part I][|Polynomials Part II] · 7th Grade Math: [| Probability and Statistics Part I], [|Probability Part II] · 7th Grade Math: [|The Art of Geometry Part I][|The Art of Geometry Part II] · 8th Grade Foreign Language unit: [|Spanish Mexican Culture part I], [|part II] · 8th Grade Social Studies: U.S. 20th Century
 * Green Magnet Update 1/17/2010 **
 * UbD Training. **
 * You will receive: **
 * Make Sure ** you have spoken to Karen about the Unit you will be doing.
 * BRING. ** We will send participants an email with an Agenda and digital and hard copy resources you will need to use, including: your computer, books, videos, websites (//Real World Math//, Social Studies texts, Literacy books).
 * See sample UbD Units ** : Go to: []

** What’s happened, What’s next? ** ** Earth ACTIVISM Week. 4/11-4/15. ** Luckily, Phys Ed will kick it off with our students’ families, as well. Thank you Mr. Norment, Mr. Schreier and the Physical Education department for planning some exciting things. Can students use the classroom work you’ll be doing over the next 8 week, so they help formulate your classroom plans for that week? Martin Luther King, Jr. is a perfect model of someone who worked to create sustainable lives for all. Think of his Activism, Sustainability, Sense of Place in “I Have a Dream” – see below. Students: · ** “It’s fair that the students should know what’s going on in the world.” ** (Interesting that she uses the word “fair.” We are encouraging them to participate in a world-wide movement, and students can learn about the issues through the different disciplines’ lenses, and for careers, see what vocabulary they enjoy exploring through.) · ** “I’m sure that if our parents were involved in sustainability, they did it so we could have a better future. But if we did it to, the generations in front of us could also have a better future.” ** · Did you learn anything that could help you. · I really shocked how much it connected to everything we learn every single day. Even the article in math, if mother nature put a price on everything we get from nature, it would cost 33 trillion dollars a year.
 * REPORT DUE - TEACHERS and STUDENTS ** . Teachers have invited me in to listen and have conversations with their students about what they did last week.
 * Some Students’ Verbatim (exactly as I heard them) Words **
 * Ms. Taylor’s class 722. ** Question? Do you think studying Sustainability is worth school time?

The Computer Tree grows in Canada where it is cold. The bark of my tree is orange with red dots. The leaves are pink and heart-shaped, and have magical power. If you sing one song and make a wish it will give you any type of a computer you want. People all over the world wish they wish that they can live in Canada so they can have a computer tree.
 * Ms. Hines’ Class 791 ** . They had read //The Giving Tree// and then thought up their own imaginary tree and wrote about their magical trees. I scribed while they read:
 * Rosa Pretzantzin. **

The Soccer Tree. The soccer tree grows at M. S. 217 in Queens, NY. It has round leaves that are black and white. The bark of the tree is brown and green. The branches of the tree look like legs. It is special because students can kick soccer balls at it and it will play with them.
 * Louis Rivera. **

The Oxygenator tree is special, because there is only one tree per continent. The bark of the tree is black and red dots. The leaves are normal. The tree is special, because it can give people enough oxygen, just in case all the other trees are cut down.
 * Victor Echeverria **.

Question: Why did you write this poem about animals? “I wrote this poem, because I’m an animal person. I love animals. I want to be a vet. I watch the ASPCA show, I see all the animals that are abandoned. I think that’s not right. I want to stand up for animals. 200 pets are killed every day.” I listen, I listen Birds in the sky Question: Did you like studying Sustainability last week? I liked it, but the one part we didn’t like is because we had to do our poems. But then Miss Gega said it would be about us and nature. They did the math on plastic bottle trash. I didn’t take notes, but we had an interesting discussion about the math and our lifestyles. They had each identified an object and determined how the object could reduced, reused, or recycled. Students and Ms. Vakalopoulos, who had lived abroad, shared conservation practices from South America, Dominican Republic and Greece. We suggested they memorize the numbers they had studied, so they could speak fluently, and take their learning home for discussions with their families. Teachers, if you and your class are interested, please call ext 165 and leave your name, room #, and period and day you’d like me to come. The shared readings for Feature Articles are:
 * Ms. Gega’s Class 813. ** Some of these are just snippets. They had viewed images, read poems, read articles from Achieve 3000, and had classroom discussions about caging wild animals:
 * Janet **
 * Jerry **
 * SARAH **
 * Ms. Fenoaltea and Ms. Vakalopoulos’ Class 631 **
 * Report. ** We resubmit different sections of our 126 page report about 4 times during the year. The current version is due Thursday. If you want me to come in and capture some of your students’ words and work, let me know. I’ll be going into Ms. Bautista’s class on Thursday, 8th period. The students’ and teachers’ words make our work live, on the page.
 * Magnet Supplies. ** If you used a video and are finished, please return it and make sure your name is crossed off the sign-out sheet.
 * Literacy Teachers – Good News. **
 * Expert: ** “Saving the Working Class with Green-Collar Jobs”
 * Intermediate: ** “NBA Star Sells $15 Sneakers: New York Knicks guard Stephon Marbury makes sneakers affordable.
 * Beginner: ** “Situation: Irritation. Annoying classmates can get on your nerves. Here’s how to survive when your fellow students are making you miserable.”

These Writing Matters articles, luckily, relate to Sustainability – economy, environment, society, personal development; Activism. Sense of Place – doing things for your community.

Thank you for all the time you took this week Educating and Learning for Sustainability. Our visitors were kind of wide-eyed. They knew that this was an out-of-the ordinary week, but they were impressed with the students’ engagement in the subject matter. They were impressed by the number of students eager to questions. We went into classes across the spectrum, where students could coherently discuss what they were doing in class. They were impressed with students’ behavior. Teachers, they loved your enthusiasm, knowledge, friendliness. Many of you came and introduced yourselves. One visitor said he wants to work here. So many of you did heavy lifting for the week - thank you! Thanks to Ms. Wyckoff who saved the day and beautifully redid our front library. Look at pictures from the family nights, on your left as you walk in the front door. We saw wonderful work as we walked around: · Imaginative Writing about characters in //Seedfolks// by Ms. Guadalupe’s students · Brainstorms of problems affecting sustainability and how it relates to Science by Mr. Echeverria’s students. · Proposals by Ms. Napolitano’s students’ for microlending businesses. · Ms. Ravizee’s bulletin board with Cause and Effect Essays on climate change. · Achieve 3000 in Ms. Alli’s class · Composting in Ms. Singhal’s class · Identifying characteristics of different soils, preparing to determine which plants grow best in which soils in Ms. Cardenas’ class. · Ms. Wyckoff’s students working diligently. · We heard about Ms. Aleshin’s children working in the hallway, and Mr. Palmeri’s students working on changing the shape of a shipping container in order to ship more sustainably. One of Mr. Goldstein’s students came to the library and told us about their math recycling lesson. She was horrified by the # of plastic bottles we throw out in the garbage every day in the U. S. Dr. A’s students learned how to sequence using a dichotomous key. (By the way, if Dr. A was still working with Ms. Phillips, we would have had music every morning this week. We’re still missing Dr.’s A’s imput into the magnet.  The **4 Day** **UbD Institute** is  ** Friday, February 4 and Saturday, February 5 **  Needed:  Math units that embody sustainability.  Social Studies units with a magnet lens – Does somebody want to UbD one of the Renzulli units?  Literacy, we need Memoirs, The Teri Pakier Nature Collection, Sense of Place, and Sustainability.  Other suggestions welcome.  Teachers of all disciplines, if you have an idea, come speak to Karen, 101C.  I scribe while you talk. I type what you’re saying, and project it onto the Smart Board, so you can see what you’ve said, and what classmates are saying. It’s kind of like a blog.  Teachers, if you and your class are interested, please call ext 165 and leave your name, room #, and period and day you’d like me to come. If any other teacher would like to do this work, maybe you can arrange it amongst yourselves. If anyone does this, please let me know.
 * Magnet Update 1/10/2010 **
 * Recycling. ** Jamie Cloud, a famous Educator for Sustainability says, “There is no throwing out.” We are left with the garbage.
 * TEACHERS. ** Understanding by Design Institute. We need curriculum, and we need teachers to do the February Understanding by Design workshop. Understanding by Design, the acronym UbD. We have 4 teachers signed up; we’d like at least 4 more.
 * Friday, February 11 and Saturday, February 12 **
 * REPORT DUE - TEACHERS and STUDENTS ** . I have a report due January 20th. And we need teachers’ and students’ voices in the report. I’d love to be invited into classrooms today or next week. I could listen to your thoughts about what you’ve been learning.


 * Magnet Website: [] **
 * If you have any units or resources to post, please do so. If you need help posting this work to share, see Karen in room 101C. **


 * Green Magnet Update 12/10/10 **


 * Literary Evening. **
 * Thanks to volunteer Frank Stearns (Karen’s husband), who photographed the evening and then photoshopped about 150 photographs. Coming soon as a movie to a wiki near you. **


 * Mr. Matos was a volunteer who worked tirelessly and cleaned up the catering for 200 people. **

Thanks to Nancy Durante for helping us notify everyone of the family evening, in a prompt manner. Thanks to Parent Coordinator: Alletta Hall for taking care of the building permit, translators, and beautiful flyer.
 * The Literary Evening was a great success. Our students were outstanding. Parents commented how impressed they were wit h the students’ abilities and how hard the teachers work. **
 * Administration ** : Mr. Burns and his family, Dr. Kendall, Doreen Collins-Smith, and Mr. Norment for attending.
 * Teachers/Staff ** : Ms. Alli, Mr. Bradshaw and Ms. Gentry, Ms. Burgess, Ms. Cardenas, Ms. Council, Mr. Carroll, Ms. Gega and Mr. Powers, Ms. Guardado, Ms. Hines, Ms. Lindsay, Ms. Lyles, Mr. Matos, Mr. Marshall, Ms. Melendez, Mr. Mindlin, Ms. Rodi, Ms. Sapp, Ms. Taylor, Ms. Williams.
 * Our teacher/translators: ** Messrs. Ramos, Castillo, Chenayil, and Ms. Sinche.
 * Cafeteria: ** Thanks to Keisha for helping us out with take-home containers for the extra food and gloves.
 * Custodians ** : Mr. Carberry, Louis, Tom, Dominic, Will, Colon.
 * Security. ** Our security officers went above the call of duty to make this event a success.s
 * Students in Classes ** : 621, 631, 692, 693, 717, 722, 723, 731, 791, 792, 793, 804, 805, 813, 815, 816, 817, 821, 822, 823, 894.
 * PTA Parents: ** Ms. Marrow, Ms. Robinson, Ms.
 * A special thank you to the teachers who allowed participants to use their rooms during our school’s event, and to Ms. Rodi, **


 * Other Comments: What did you like best? ** Kids presentations were excellent. Seeing my son perform his project, he surprised me. The kids put their all into their projects and I had no idea they would work so hard. Open discussion with parents and a chance to hear the kids discus __their__ thoughts. I was pleased to see how engaged the kids were in discussing the class book. **Did the evening meet your expectations?** All my expectations were met. Great being there. **What did you learn?** That the trees are very important for the environment, so we have to take care of them. The kids are very aware of the environment and its importance. The school is doing everything to help its kids advance. **Suggestions.** Don’t use Styrofoam. Continue the great work. Everything was excellent.

There are a lot more comments, and we’ll post them on the wiki.


 * VISITORS. 12/17/10 – Donna Elam, our MAGNET EVALUATOR ** will be walking through the building on 12/17/10. She will speak to a few teachers. We would also like her to speak to students, but it’s not in the schedule she gave us. **What is she looking for? What do we think it’s important for children to learn in school? ARE Sustainability/Sense of Place/Inquiry/Activism/Careers/Technology the icing on the cake or the wheels on the bicycle? What are the students talking about? What does a green school look like?**


 * UbD Training. Four days of ** UbD training will occur on February 4, 5 and 11, 12. Participating teachers will be covered for the Friday sessions and will receive per session for the Saturday sessions, as long as they had in a completed unit by February 26, 2011. If a participating teacher does not complete a unit, the teacher will receive training rate for the hours they attend. Attending teachers who turn in units will receive 12 hours of per session.

PLEASE let us know ASAP, if you are interested in participating.

S**tudents could create a bulletin board or door frame** RELATING WHAT YOU’VE BEEN DOING IN CLASS with OUR MAGNET STANDARDS: Big Ideas, Essential Questions, Focusing Questions, AND STUDENT WORK?
 * SUPPLIES AVAILABLE. ** Anyone who would like to feature Big Ideas/Essential Questions/Focusing Questions on their outside bulletin board or door, please see Karen in room 101C.


 * On January 6th Magnet Teacher Specialists from our sister magnet schools (185, 237, 250, 201) and the Curriculum Design Teams from the 5 schools will be here. Part of the day, about 11-12:30, they will be walking around the building. They are looking for evidence of “What does educating for sustainability look like?” Sustainability involves the Environment, Society, Economics. So, we are doing a lot, we just have to label it. **


 * Let us know if you need us to print out any signs for your door, outside/inside bulletin boards. **


 * Week January 3- 7th. If you can arrange for students to be doing work that they can talk about when visitors walk through, stay with that work. **


 * The Curriculum Design Team is gathering sustainability-related lesson for each department. **
 * Mr. Burns would like us to begin the New Year with 3 Days of Lessons, 1 day of student group prep, 1 day student presentations. **
 * Monday – Wednesday – 3 Days of Lessons **
 * Thursday - Student Group Planning (possibly 1 group to present for each day) of what they learned. **
 * Friday - Student presentations of what they learned, and to commit to do/change for coming month. **


 * With this schedule, students will be focusing on sustainability and working in groups when visitors walk through. **


 * We will be discussing this in departmental meetings. Karen, Ed, CDT members are available for planning. **

Thanks to everyone who helped. Families were enthralled by the Animal Science Lab and the Heart Surgery Program. Thanks to Steve Mindlin and Dr. Andrade for touring families.
 * RECRUITMENT. 11/30 morning and evening 117 Open Houses **


 * MATH Teachers. **
 * RETURN THIS CHART TO KAREN. **
 * **// Real World Math //**** Books ** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * || ** Student ** || ** Teacher ** ||  ||   || ** Student ** || ** Teacher ** ||
 * Anello ||  ||   ||   || Jackson || 27 || 1 ||
 * Armstrong ||  ||   ||   || LaRosa ||   ||   ||
 * Bauer ||  ||   ||   || Napolitano || 15 || 1 ||
 * Castillo || 12 || 1 ||  || Palmeri || 15 || 1 ||
 * Fenoaltea ||  ||   ||   || Parrino ||   ||   ||
 * Gold ||  ||   ||   || Phillips ||   ||   ||
 * Goldstein ||  ||   ||   || Ramos ||   ||   ||
 * ||  ||   ||   || Suarez ||   ||   ||

If you have books, but you’re not on the chart, please enter your name and the # of books you have. Link to data sets for //Real World Math//: http://www.facingthefuture.org/Curriculum/BuyFacingtheFutureCurriculum/RealWorldMath/tabid/452/Default.aspx


 * Green Magnet Update 12/3/10 **


 * VISITORS. ** December 8th visitors have delayed their visit to January 6.
 * On January 6th Magnet Teacher Specialists from our sister magnet schools (185, 237, 250, 201) and the Curriculum Design Teams from the 5 schools will be here. Part of the day, about 11-12:30, they will be walking around the building. They are looking for evidence of “What does educating for sustainability look like?” Sustainability involves the Environment, Society, Economics. So, we are doing a lot, we just have to label it. **


 * Week January 3- 7th. The Curriculum Design Team is gathering sustainability-related lesson for each department. **
 * Mr. Burns would like us to begin the New Year with 3 Days of Lessons, **
 * Monday – Wednesday – 3 Days of Lessons **
 * Thursday - Student Group Planning (possibly 1 group to present for each day) of what they learned. **
 * Friday - Student presentations of what they learned, and to commit to do/change for coming month. **

Could s**tudents create a bulletin board or door frame** with Big Ideas, Essential Questions, Focusing Questions that relate to your presentations? We need student ushers, student welcome/sign-iners, if it’s nice students outside showing people the gardens and greenhouse.


 * We will be discussing this in departmental meetings. Karen, Ed, CDT members are available for planning. **

· ** Literary Evening **
 * Offer credit participating and students brining their family to the school for the evening. WE NEED STUDENTS TO BRING A FAMILY MEMBER. **

See: [] || // The Giving Tree, The Lorax, Marshfield Dreams, Bad Boy // Trees in our Neighborhood – Poetry, Narratives, Math, Dance SCIENCE OF TREES ||
 * ** Teacher ** || ** Classes ** || ** Presentation ** ||
 * Bradshaw/Gentry || Men of Strength || Poetry Slam – //What is Strength?// ||
 * Carroll || 804, 805, 821 ||  //A Raisin in the Sun// ­– Reading Green in the Literacy Classroom ||
 * Gega/Powers || 813, 817 || 6 Word Memoirs
 * Guardado || 692, 693 ||  ||
 * Hines || 791, 792 || Play/Game Show //America’s Best Explorer// ||
 * Lyles || 793, 794, 731 || // Song of the Trees // – Reader’s Theater ||
 * Melendez || 717, 723, 731 || Nature and Literacy
 * Marshall ||^  ||^   ||
 * Sapp || 815, 816, 823 || Response to Lit – Nightjohn; Poetry, Memoir Monologues   ||
 * Alli / Chanayil || 621, 631, 822 || Achieve 3000  - On-line Differentiated Reading Program ||
 * Adman, Marlyne || Art Classes || Sustainable Architecture ||
 * Taylor, Tonia || 722 || // Of Mice and Men // ||
 * ** Teacher ** || ** Classes ** || ** Presentation ** ||
 * Taylor, Tonia || 722 || // Of Mice and Men // ||
 * Burgess || 892, 893 || .East Meets West ||

Everyone who comes to the school is impressed by the students, the teachers, and what we offer. Unfortunately, with P. S. 117 we only had one parent for the a.m. tour and 7 families for the p.m. tour. Rahul Chandra, Jonathan Pesantez, and Gurkirat Multani toured the P. S. 117 mom around. At the end she said, “I feel so much better. The students were so well-spoken and nice.” She then told us that 117 students are still afraid to come here.
 * RECRUITMENT. 11/30 morning and evening 117 Open Houses **
 * SELLING OURSELVES. If you realize that we are the selling point, what could we do to attract students and their families. **


 * MATH Teachers. **
 * RETURN THIS CHART TO KAREN. **
 * **// Real World Math //**** Books ** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * || ** Student ** || ** Teacher ** ||  ||   || ** Student ** || ** Teacher ** ||
 * Anello ||  ||   ||   || Jackson || 27 || 1 ||
 * Armstrong ||  ||   ||   || LaRosa ||   ||   ||
 * Bauer ||  ||   ||   || Napolitano || 15 || 1 ||
 * Castillo || 12 || 1 ||  || Palmeri || 15 || 1 ||
 * Fenoaltea ||  ||   ||   || Parrino ||   ||   ||
 * Gold ||  ||   ||   || Phillips ||   ||   ||
 * Goldstein ||  ||   ||   || Ramos ||   ||   ||
 * ||  ||   ||   || Suarez ||   ||   ||

If you have books, but you’re not on the chart, please enter your name and the # of books you have. Link to data sets for //Real World Math//: http://www.facingthefuture.org/Curriculum/BuyFacingtheFutureCurriculum/RealWorldMath/tabid/452/Default.aspx


 * Green Magnet Update 11/29/10 **

11/22. Students led parents around the school. Parents were very impressed with the class 821 students. In general parents and students responded very favorably to our school. One parent said, “Going on the tour made me feel like I want to go back to Middle School.” We described the importance of community and then walked into the gymnasium and watched an A. P.. Phys Ed teacher, 2 math teachers, and a para play basketball, which they play together every Tuesday night. People were fascinated by the Animal Science Lab. They love all the hands-on, real-world work. We stopped and read Tonia Taylor’s bulletin board about //Of Mice and Men// with Big Ideas, Essential Questions and Focusing Questions//.// Parents were impressed with the depth of the questions. Thanks to everyone who prepared bulletin boards.
 * RECRUITMENT **
 * 11/22 and 11/23 Open Houses. **

We have one more day of Open Houses on Tuesday, 11/30 – 10:45-12:45; 11/30 – 6 – 8 p.m. If you see family groups in the hallways, please say hello. We will hopefully have time to come into some classrooms. **Let us know if you would like a visit or if we should point out your bulletin board.**

So far, we had no problems passing through the hallways during the daytime. For the next Tuesday morning, 10:45 – 12:45 a.m. tour, we would like the hallways as peaceful as possible. We’ll plan to not move during passing, the timing might not work out, latecomers and other attending families might find themselves in hallways during passing.

If you scroll down, you will see a link to a free downloads of a portion of the teacher’s edition and student workbook. We are thinking of buying class sets. We’ll buy samples and hand them out to see in which grade(s) the book can be used.
 * ELA Teachers. CHECK OUT Facing the Future’s test prep Sustainability workbook: ** http://www.facingthefuture.org/Curriculum/BuyCurriculum/MakingConnections/tabid/445/Default.aspx

Link to data sets for //Real World Math//: http://www.facingthefuture.org/Curriculum/BuyFacingtheFutureCurriculum/RealWorldMath/tabid/452/Default.aspx
 * MATH Teachers. **

This dataset includes changes in the average pounds of waste discarded per person per day in the United States, 1960 to 2000. This dataset is for use with lesson 1, in which students use the data to create a line graph illustrating how waste disposal per person has changed over time.
 * Lesson 1 Dataset – Number Patterns: Waste & Recycling (Excel) **

Changes in population size and age structure in Japan, 1990 to 2050. This dataset is for use with lesson 3, in which students use the data to calculate changes in population by age group and to graph the trend of population change in Japan.
 * Lesson 3 Dataset – Modeling Integers: Population Growth (Excel) **

Statistics related to youth violent crime rates in the United States. Students use the data to create bar and line graphs and a scatterplot illustrating trends in youth violence conflict.
 * Lesson 5 Dataset – Data & Graphs: Youth Conflict (Excel) **

Avariety of global health indicators for sixteen countries. Students calculate changes in life expectancy for individual countries and correlate life expectancy with other national statistics.
 * Lesson 8 Dataset – Proportion, Percent, & Probability: Global Health (Excel) **

Indicators of progress on the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goal on education. Students create line graphs to assess trends in target and actual percentages of primary school completion in four world regions.
 * Lesson 13 Dataset – Linear Functions: Systems & Global Education (Excel) **

** Appendix B Dataset – Data & Graphs: Democracy & Freedom of Information **** (Excel). ** Indices for the levels of democracy and freedom of information for twenty-nine countries. Students create scatterplots to determine whether level of democracy correlates with access to digital information.
 * // Real World Math //**** . We had 180 //Real World Math// student workbooks, and now we can only find about 50. PLEASE LET KAREN KNOW if you HAVE ANY IN YOUR CLASSROOM – used or unused. You can leave them on the bookshelves across from Room 101C. If you have more than one teacher’s edition, please leave the extra copy(ies) on the bookshelf. **


 * Math for 12/8 Earth Day with visitors. If you could have a //Real World Math// bulletin board up for 12/8 – it can be in process – let us know, so we’ll show the walk-thru people. **
 * Please return your //Real World Math// books, if you aren’t using the, so people who want to use it can. **
 * COPIES. If you want class sets, let us know and we’ll get the student book chapter copied for you. **

· ** Literary Evening – DATE CHANGED TO Friday, 12/10/2010 ** See: [] || The Giving Tree, The Lorax Trees in our Neighborhood – Poetry, Narratives, Math, Dance SCIENCE OF TREES ||
 * Current Participants. Teachers can give extra credit for participating and brining their family to the school for the evening. WE NEED STUDENTS TO BRING A FAMILY MEMBER. **
 * ** Teacher ** || ** Classes ** || ** Presentation ** ||
 * Bradshaw/Gentry || Men of Strength || Poetry Slam ||
 * Carroll || 804, 805, 821 ||  //A Raisin in the Sun// ||
 * Gega/Powers || 813, 817 || 6 Word Memoirs
 * Guardado || 692, 693 ||  ||
 * Hines || 791, 792 || Play/Game Show //America’s Best Explorer// ||
 * Lyles || 793, 794 || // Song of the Trees // – Reader’s Theater ||
 * Melendez || 717, 723, 731 || Speaking for the Trees:
 * Marshall ||^  ||^   ||
 * Sapp || 815, 816, 823 || Response to Lit – Nightjohn; Poetry, Memoir Monologues   ||
 * Alli / Chanayil || 621, 631 || Achieve 3000  - On-line Differentiated Reading Program ||
 * Adman, Marlyne || Art Classes || Visualizing the Magnet Standards ||
 * Andrade, Dr. Ed ||  || Literacy in the Science Classroom ||
 * Vakalopoulos, J || 731 students || ** Docent the Teri Pakier Nature Collection and give tours of the gardens. ** Paving the Way – Bringing the Inside Out: Teri Pakier Bringing the Outside In art collection. Weather permitting – artwork in the garden. ||
 * Taylor, Tonia || 722 || // Of Mice and Men // ||
 * ?? ||  || ** Main Idea ** using Facing the Future’s //Making Connections//, Ch 1: Envisioning the Future. ||
 * ?? ||  || ** Words in Context ** using Facing the Future’s //Making Connections//, chapter 3: Environmental Issues and Solutions. ||

The evening event can be a demonstration of Green in the Literacy Classroom – a class experience for parents where their teachers are showing them what they do in class. Could s**tudents create a bulletin board or door frame** with Big Ideas, Essential Questions, Focusing Questions that relate to your presentations? We need student ushers, student welcome/sign-iners, if it’s nice students outside showing people the gardens and greenhouse.
 * If you are participating in the evening and you need supplies, check in with Karen. **


 * Magnet Evaluator and Visitors’ Walk-thrus. People are coming on December 8th to see what a green school looks like, and what Earth Day at a Green School looks like. Hopefully, the Green Team will get themselves together to plan the Earth Fair for that day, and we’ll spend a lot of time at the fair. But, they will definitely be walking through the hallways to look for magnet-related student work. **


 * Bulletin Boards. ** If you’re planning new bulleting boards for a unit of study, please integrate 2-3 Big Ideas, some Essential Questions, and some focusing questions. **Literacy Teachers – You can use the Big Ideas your students created during Writing Matters.**


 * Green Magnet Update 11/22/10 **

Open Houses on Monday, 11/22 – 10:45 – 12:45; 11/23 – 6-8 p.m.; 11/30 – 10:45-12:45; 11/30 – 6 – 8 p.m. If you see family groups in the hallways, please say hello. We will hopefully have time to come into some classrooms. Let us know if you would like a visit.
 * RECRUITMENT **

We would like the hallways kept as peaceful as possible, because as much as we’ll plan to not move during passing, the timing might not work out, latecomers and other attending families might find themselves in hallways during passing.

PTA Presentations. Ed and Karen visited P. S. 144 in Forest Hills and P. S. 117 to speak to parents at PTA meetings. P. S. 117 parents responded positively. Some P. S. 117 5th graders want to come to us, so they will apply through Middle School Choice /Magnet, but 117 is keeping **their 6th grade for the foreseeable future. We will probably still get the bulk of 117 students in 7th grade.**

“A globally competent student can use math to study: • Environmental Sustainability • Population Growth and Transition • Economic Development • Global Conflict and Cooperation • Health and Human Development • Human Rights • Cultural Identity and Diversity • Media and Technology
 * MATH Teachers. **

I’ll post links, matrix, etc. at [] - Math


 * We had 180 //Real World Math// books, and now we can only find about 30. **


 * Math for 12/8 Earth Day with visitors. If you could have a //Real World Math// bulletin board up for 12/8 – it can be in process – let us know, so we’ll show the walk-thru people. **
 * Please return your //Real World Math// books, if you aren’t using the, so people who want to use it can. **
 * COPIES. If you want class sets, let us know and we’ll get the student book chapter copied for you. **

· ** Literary Evening ** See: [] ||
 * Current Participants. Teachers can give extra credit for participating and brining their family to the school for the evening. WE NEED STUDENTS TO BRING A FAMILY MEMBER. **
 * ** Teacher ** || ** Classes ** || ** Presentation ** ||
 * Bradshaw/Gentry || Men of Strength || Poetry Slam ||
 * Carroll || 804, 805, 821 ||  //A Raisin in the Sun// ||
 * Gega/Powers || 813, 817 || 6 Word Memoirs
 * Guardado || 692, 693 ||  ||
 * Hines || 791, 792 || Play/Game Show //America’s Best Explorer// ||
 * Lyles || 793, 794 || // Song of the Trees // – Reader’s Theater ||
 * Melendez

Marshall || 717, 723, 731 || Speaking for the Trees: The Giving Tree, The Lorax Trees in our Neighborhood – Poetry, Narratives, Science, Dance ||
 * Sapp || 815, 816, 823 || Response to Lit – Nightjohn; Poetry, Memoir Monologues   ||
 * Alli / Chanayil || 621, 631 || Achieve 3000  - On-line Differentiated Reading Program ||
 * Adman, Marlyne || Art Classes || Visualizing the Magnet Standards ||
 * Andrade, Dr. Ed ||  || Literacy in the Science Classroom ||
 * Vakalopoulos, J || 731 (formerly 631) || Paving the Way – Bringing the Inside Out: Teri Pakier Bringing the Outside In art collection. Weather permitting – artwork in the garden. ||
 * Possibility || Arts & Tech Math class || Poverty & Microcredit ||

The evening event can be a demonstration of Green in the Literacy Classroom – a class experience for parents where their teachers are showing them what they do in class. Could s**tudents create a bulletin board or door frame** with Big Ideas, Essential Questions, Focusing Questions that relate to your presentations? We need student ushers, student welcome/sign-iners, if it’s nice students outside showing people the gardens and greenhouse.
 * If you are participating in the evening and you need supplies, check in with Karen. **

PTA Conferences – IF you’re presenting, please invite your students and their families to attend. · Thanks so much for taking on this work. Thank participating teachers for all their extra work. At the moment, it's simply feeling overwhelming, but these evenings usually pay off threefold, for parents, children, and school staff.


 * Magnet Yearly Plan. We’re ** working on the yearly plan. Must be submitted within the next few weeks. If you have a magnet-themed in-class program you want, we need the budget and vendors. Magnet office will approve some things, but not others. Equipment is hard to get. Afterschool programs currently include: Green Team, Gardens, Departmental Evenings, Robotics, UbD February and other Institutes for teachers.


 * DEPARTMENTAL EVENINGS ** : Right now, we are planning for Literacy, Science, Social Studies, and Physical Education. If you’re not in one of these departments, and you want a departmental evening, please let us know, so we’ll put it in the yearly plan.


 * Magnet Evaluator and Visitors’ Walk-thrus. People are coming on December 8th to see what a green school looks like, and what Earth Day at a Green School looks like. Hopefully, the Green Team will get themselves together to plan the Earth Fair for that day, and we’ll spend a lot of time at the fair. But, they will definitely be walking through the hallways to look for magnet-related student work. **


 * Bulletin Boards. ** If you’re planning new bulleting boards for a unit of study, please integrate 2-3 Big Ideas, some Essential Questions, and some focusing questions. **Literacy Teachers – You can use the Big Ideas your students created during Writing Matters.**

1. **Donna Elam Visit.** Donna will be visiting us, probably on Friday, 3/19. We would appreciate any “green-nature-environment-green technology-sustainability” work that you have to be up in the hallways or on doors. If you want us to print up and laminate any Essential Questions/Enduring Understandings/Focusing Questions for outside your room, please let us know. 2. **Student Initiative.** CLASS 801 is conducting a paper audit, beginning in Ms Lindsay’s science class. At the end of one week, they will weigh the paper they have collected. They will then extend this audit to other classrooms and classes, so please work with the students when they come speak to you. The students are: Rama Simpson, Badrunnesa Bushra, Mosammed Akter, and Amos Ramsaran. 3. **Per Session Opportunity. Get paid to develop a 3-6 week unit of study for your classroom.** The next UbD session will here at M. S. 217, Monday, 3/29 – Thursday, 4/1, from 9-4 each day. Members of the Curriculum Design Team (from the 5 magnet schools) conducted the February session and will conduct the remaining sessions. Participants liked the February session most of all the sessions, because teachers had **a lot of time to work** on their units. People were available to help, if needed. See Karen or Ed. We have to make sure proposed units align with the subject’s scope and sequence and have a green connection. 4. **Green Units.** If you have green-related lessons/units that we can put in our report and/or post at [|www.greenmagnet.wikispaces.com], please let us know. Check out the units that are already on the wiki. Click on the subject-related link on the left side of the opening page of the wiki.
 * Magnet Update. 3/8/10**
 * THANKS** to everyone who prepared their rooms and/or bulletin boards. Thanks to everyone Donna interviewed, including Rick Carroll, Stacey Lindsay, Grace Nelson, and Ragini Singhal.
 * 5. Green Library.** Come up, visit and browse the library.


 * Green Magnet Update 11/15/10 **

· ** Literary Evening **
 * IF YOU’RE PRESENTING, LET KAREN KNOW. ASK YOUR STUDENTS HOW MANY of them WILL ATTEND AND WITH HOW MANY GUESTS. LET KAREN KNOW. **

See: [] || The Giving Tree, The Lorax Trees in our Neighborhood – Poetry, Narratives, Math, Dance ||
 * Current Participants **
 * ** Teacher ** || ** Classes ** || ** Presentation ** ||
 * Bradshaw/Gentry || Men of Strength || Poetry Slam ||
 * Carroll || 804, 805, 821 ||  //A Raisin in the Sun// ||
 * Gega/Powers || 813, 817 || 6 Word Memoirs
 * Guardado || 692, 693 ||  ||
 * Hines || 791, 792 || Play/Game Show //America’s Best Explorer// ||
 * Lyles || 793, 794 || // Song of the Trees // – Reader’s Theater ||
 * Melendez || 717, 723, 731 || Speaking for the Trees:
 * Sapp || 815, 816, 823 || Response to Lit – Nightjohn; Poetry, Memoir Monologues   ||
 * Alli / Chanayil || 621, 631 || Achieve 3000  - On-line Differentiated Reading Program ||
 * Adman, Marlyne || Art Classes || Visualizing the Magnet Standards ||
 * Andrade, Dr. Ed ||  || Literacy in the Science Classroom ||


 * Monika ** ordered some magnet art supplies.   Hopefully, the supplies will be in this week: white display boards, 9 x 12 and 12 x 18 green, blue, brown, black, white, etc. construction paper We’ve also ordered two sets of sharpies and colored pencils for people to check out and share.

If you need other supplies to prepare your presentation, let Karen know ASAP. We can’t buy everything, but we could possibly get what you need. Could s**tudents create a bulletin board, door frame**, or door presentation of your presentation’s Big Ideas, Essential Questions, Focusing Questions, etc.?
 * Do you want Student/theater ushers ** on 12/3 at your classroom door.

PTA Conferences – IF you’re presenting, please invite your students and their families to attend.

· I’ve invited students to create a flyer for the evening. You also might ask your kids do an **e-invite or hard copy invite to their parents**? · Thanks so much for taking on this work. Thank participating teachers for all their extra work. At the moment, it's simply feeling overwhelming, but these evenings usually pay off threefold, for parents, children, and school staff.

· Students who helped: Rahul, Jonathan, Sanjay, Vigyaan, Fernando, Andy, Chantess. · PTA co-president: Ms. Robinson, Ed, Karen, and Ms. Guardado, who all helped the second D28 Middle School Choice Fair.
 * RECRUITMENT **
 * D28 Middle School Choice Fair, 11/13/10. A lot of people were coming up to us and saying that they they are hearing wonderful things about the school and what we’re doing. Parents were even saying, “I’m willing to pay for busing to your school.” THANKS to: **

· ** Election Day Follow-up **
 * Bulletin Boards. ** If you’re planning new bulleting boards for a unit of study, please integrate 2-3 Big Ideas, some Essential Questions, and some focusing questions.


 * 12/8 – Earth Day. Plan in-class green projects. **
 * Post Big Ideas, Essential Questions, and Focusing Questions on the hallway and inside bulletin boards. Have students design signs. **


 * Magnet Evaluator. We might be getting a walk-thru from our Magnet Evaluator. **


 * Green Magnet Update 11/8/10 **

· ** Election Day Follow-up **
 * Thanks to everyone who participated. We hope you got to think, share, create, and have a good time. Thanks to Mr. Carroll, Mr. Gold, Ms. Collins-Smith, Mr. Collado, Ms. Ravizee, Ed, Karen, Mr. Norment, Mr. Burns, Ms. LaRosa **

We have posted the UbD Introduction powerpoints that are focused on ELA, Science, and Social Studies at: http://greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com/Resources+Available+-Books%2C+DVDs AND at [], under ELA, Science, and Social Studies.
 * UbD BIG IDEAS AND ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS **
 * Anyone wants to talk about BIs, EQs, or FQs, speak to your colleagues, A.P., Karen, Ed, Doreen, Ms. Alli, Ms. Ravizee, Mr. Collado (Curriculum Design Team). **


 * Suggestion: ** Once/week revisit the BI, EQs, and FQs and ask students to discuss them, recalling the content and skills they studied so far in the unit that will help them construct their own thoughts about the BIs and answers to the EQs and FQs.

· ** CONTINUANCE. Recruitment. ** **OPEN HOUSES. We need to attract the motivated students and parents.**
 * Educating for the Future: Technology, Sustainability, and Careers **
 * 11/22, 10:45 -12:45 **
 * 11/23, 5:30- 7:30 **


 * 12/8 – Earth Day. Plan in-class green projects. **


 * POSSIBILITY: Earth Fair in the gym, with presentations set up around the gym, like the Tech Fair. **
 * Please have outside bulletin boards done by the time of the Green Tour, 11/22, ** so we can show them off to prospective parents and students. These bulletin boards can serve for 12/3 Literary Evening and 12/8 Earth Day.


 * Post Big Ideas, Essential Questions, and Focusing Questions on the hallway and inside bulletin boards. Have students design signs. **

· ** December 3, 2010 – Green Literary Evening. **  o ** WE HAVE TO ORDER FOOD FOR 12/3, SO IF YOU’RE PRESENTING, LET KAREN KNOW. ASK YOUR STUDENTS HOW MANY of them WILL ATTEND AND WITH HOW MANY GUESTS. LET KAREN KNOW. ** o  Brown (possible) Marshall (possible) || 717, 723, 731 || Speaking for the Trees: The Giving Tree, The Lorax Trees in our Neighborhood – Poetry, Narratives, Math, Dance ||
 * ** Teacher ** || ** Classes ** || ** Presentation ** ||
 * Alli || 621, 631 || Achieve 3000  - On-line Differentiated Reading Program ||
 * Bradshaw/Gentry || Men of Strength || Poetry Slam ||
 * Carroll || 804, 805, 821 || Comparing Nature in A Raisin in the Sun and Of Mice and Men  ||
 * Gega || 813, 817 || To Be Determined ||
 * Guardado || 692, 693 || To Be Determined ||
 * Hines || 791, 792 || Play/Game Show //America’s Best Explorer// ||
 * Lyles || 793, 794 || Song of the Trees – Readers’ Theater ||
 * Melendez
 * Sapp || 815, 816, 823 || Response to Lit – Nightjohn; Poetry, Memoir Monologues   ||


 * Presentation Possibilities: Docent the Teri Pakier Nature Collection and give tours of the gardens. Response to Literature: Memoirs, Memoirs & Music – Create a playlist to accompany presentations. Dramatizations of //Seedfolks, Of Mice and Men, A Raisin in the Sun.// Other Suggestions? **
 * Using ARIS at home. Renzulli in the English Classroom. iDocs/PSAs about Going Green. **


 * We are making up a SAVE THE DATE flyer. If you want your classes/presentation/partner description changed, please send your wording to Karen ASAP. **


 * If you’re planning to attend, you must have students and their parents. Students can create personal invitations for their parents. **


 * Green Magnet Update 10/25/10 **

1745 people attended the District 28 Middle School Choice Fair that we hosted at our school.
 * Recruitment. **

We are in the middle of recruitment. This year, District 28 is a Middle School Choice district. Students from our feeder schools can apply to any middle school in District 28. Up until now, we’ve lost students to Gateway and York College. This year, the Expeditionary Learning School opened up in Forest Hills, so students may apply there, as well as to Russell Sage, Halsey, Gateway, and York.

We appreciate everyone’s help in the recruitment effort. We want our neighborhood children to attend our school.

We will be having two Green Tours - //Educating for the Future: Technology Sustainability, and Careers// Monday 11/22, 10:45-12:45 and Tuesday, 11/23 – 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

November, 22 – 10:45 – 12:45 November 23 - 5:30 – 7:30


 * UbD Training tentatively scheduled. We need more people to sign up for November. **

First Session: 11/5-11/6, 11/12-11/13. **We need more people to sign up for November. Right now, only two people have signed up.**

Second Session: 2/4-2/5, 2/11-2/12. Units to be developed: Grades 7 & 8: Feature Articles, Editorials
 * English ** : Grades 6, 7, 8: Units 1, 3, 4: Memoir,

6th Grade – Unit 3: Diversity of Life 7th Grade - Unit 3: Dynamic Equilibrium – Human Animal – **Reserved: Jorge Echeverria, November** 8th Grade – Units 1 – 3: Reproduction Heredity and Evolution, Unit 1; Forces & Motion on Earth, Unit 2; Earth, Sun, Moon System, Unit 3
 * Science **

6th Grade – Middle East, Past and Present; 7th Grade – **Civil War and Reconstruction – Reserved: Delio Collado, February** 8th Grade – Unit 1: Industrial Society; Unit 2: Progressive Movement;
 * Social Studies **

Unit 3: U. S. as Expansionist Nation-World War I and the Environment – **Reserved: Delio Collado November** Unit 5: U. S. Between the Wars.

5:30 – 6:30 Welcome & Dinner; 6:30 – 6:45 Move to Classrooms. Rotation 1: 6:45 – 7:05; 7:05-7:10 Move to next class Rotation 2: 7:10 – 7:30; 7:30 – 7:35 Move to next class Rotation 3: 7:35 – 7:55; 7:55 – 8:00 Move to next class Rotation 4: 8:00 – 8:20; 8:20-8:30 Complete and hand-in evaluations
 * December 3, 2010 – Green Literary Evening. We will divide attendees into groups. ** Groups will rotate through the different presentations. Each class will conduct a 20 minute presentation.


 * Presentation Possibilities: Achieve 3000; Memoirs – Mini-lesson or presentations; Response to Literature; Poetry – different themes; Using ARIS to group students. Renzulli in the English Classroom. OTHER SUGGESTIONS? **


 * December 8th – Earth Day. ** The magnet director is bringing other schools to our school on December 8th to see a sample Earth Day. Let the students do the work – ask students what they would like to showcase. Ask your students to develop a Green Bulletin Board related to your subject. Presentations can be developed and used for two things – the Earth Day and again for a departmental family night. We will ask the Green Team to plan an event. If you sponsor a group and would like to conduct an event, speak to Karen.


 * Green Library. ** Books are continuing to slowly come upstairs, outside room 101C. People are invited to take the Trashmasters Comic Books and PBS Comic Books, for keeps. If you borrow a book, or a set of books, please sign it out. Teachers can reserve books ahead of time.


 * Magnet Update 1/25/10**


 * City Lore/Art Department.** As part of City Lore’s Nations and Neighborhoods grant, Marlyne Adman’s 7th grade Arts & Technology, 7th grade Math & Science students, and assorted 7th and 8th grade students who are interested are working with Haifa Behar, a mosaicist with City Lore. The students are creating a mosaic mural showing cultural and natural connections between ourselves and Latin America. The mural will be permanently installed on the wall over our Organic Vegetable Garden (by the stairs), sometime this spring.


 * Understanding by Design Unit Production – Per Session Opportunities.** Consider attending one of the UbD vacation institutes. It’s a wonderful opportunity to have time to develop a 3-6 week unit of study for this year and/or next year, and get paid for it. See the posting above the time clock and speak to Karen or Ed. The dates have been revised, so the February, spring, and July institutes will run from Tuesday – Friday. The August institute will be Monday-Thursday.

Classes 716 and Ms. Lindsay’s classes will do paper audits.
 * Recycling. NOONE** advised that they need a blue or black pail. PLEASE DO SO.


 * Books, Books, Books.** Come visit our new green library in room 216. Thanks to Rosa Yordan has shared her Book Pass lesson. We will use this lesson to interest students in the books in the Green Library. If you use a book, please share Essential Questions, Enduring Understandings, Big Ideas, and Learning Objectives that you develop.


 * Essential Question.** We distributed the overarching essential question and the new Sense of Place magnet standard. If you need a laminated version of either one for your room, please come to room 216 and see Karen or Ed.
 * Please discuss the idea of “sustainability,” “a sustainable life,” and stewardship with the students.**


 * Magnet Update 1/18/09**


 * MAGNET REPORT INFORMATION.** Our magnet report update is due on Wednesday, January 20th. Please send us any information regarding work that you are doing in your classrooms and with your students that you consider magnet-related.


 * Understanding by Design Unit Production – Per Session Opportunities.** Please consider attending one of the UbD vacation institutes. It’s a wonderful opportunity to have time to develop a 3-6 week unit of study for this year and/or next year. See the posting above the time clock and speak to Karen or Ed.

Blue/Black Pails. Fayruz and Farjana have gone around after school to check rooms for pails, but they have not been able to check when doors have been locked.
 * Recycling.** We are still working on class 716 doing a paper audit, led by Farjana Ahmend and Fyruz Ramisa.
 * If you need a blue or black pail, please e-mail kphilli2@schools.nyc.gov. Be sure to indicate which pail you need.**


 * Inquiry Challengers trip to “Journey to the Stars” at the Hayden Planetarium, Friday, January 22nd.** Students are still submitting their permission slips, we will post definite attendees on Wednesday, 1/20/10. Mr. Greenberg a 8 of his 8th grade band students will be attending and students from 716 will be attending, who helped us put our garden to sleep.


 * Books, Books, Books.** Books are coming in, fiction, non-fiction, science, animals, poetry, graphic novels. All are welcome to come up and review what we’re getting. The book list is posted under “Resources Available” at http://greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com . We’ve been informed that we might not receive everything we ordered, because the DOE ordering system was down from 12/18/09 to 1/4/10.

How can reading, thinking, writing, listening, and speaking help me envision, describe, and create a sustainable life? Please discuss the idea of “sustainability,” “a sustainable life,” and stewardship with the students.
 * Essential Question**. We distributed the overarching essential question. If you need a laminated version for your room, please come to room 216 and see Karen or Ed.


 * Sense of Place Magnet Standard. I **** f you did not receive the “Sense of Place” standard for your classroom, come see Karen or Ed in room 216. **


 * Sense of Place. Students develop connections to their ever day environments by participating in authentic projects in their natural, cultural and social worlds.**
 * • Literacy: Students explore how authors use landscape, how a landscape can shape the imagination, and how imaginations can shape a landscape.**
 * • Social Studies: Students explore how geography shapes cultures and societies.**
 * • Math: Students explore how place determines value.**
 * • Science: Students investigate how natural laws and processes shape ecosystems and biomes.**


 * Thanks to everyone who** has hung up the laminated overarching essential question and Sense of Place standards. Thanks to everyone using Essential Questions in their classrooms.
 * Thanks to teachers who are planning Green Magnet/Urban Advantage trips for their students:** **H**all of Human Origins at the American Museum of Natural History aligning with the science genetics unit - Mr. Echeveria, Ms. Lindsay, Mr. Gibbons; Studio Museum of Harlem aligning with the Literacy Response to Literature unit - Ms. Williams

Magnet Update 1/10/09

Recycling**. Students from class 716 are conducting a paper waste audit in Mr. Ramos’ classroom. Students will collect paper for one week, instead of throwing it into the blue pail, weigh and measure the amount of paper collected in a week, and devise a paper reduction campaign for the following week.**
 * We already have student names for Ms. Bautista, Mr. Faraci, Ms. Melendez, Mr. Marshall, Ms. Rodi, and Ms. Napolitano.**

Inquiry Challengers trip to “Journey to the Stars” **at the Hayden Planetarium, Friday, January 22nd.**
 * Eligible students:**


 * 622 Daniel Buitrago**
 * 704 Cesar Hernandez, Beleh Reyes, Jasmin Budhu, Kemberlyn Arevala, Wilbert Pacheco,**
 * Lesha Mangru, Lamia Khan**
 * 705 Dumisani Samuels, Nahean Khan, Syed Mahadi**
 * 716 Fariana Ahmed, Wendy Orozco, Vanessa Ortega, Fyruz Ramisa**
 * 721 Naiomi Samlall, Nalini Persaud**
 * 722 Rabia Mehmood, Tasfia Bushra**
 * 805 Ishrat Jahan, Mosammat Jahan**


 * If you don’t think one of the above students should attend this trip on 1/22, please contact Karen or Ed.**

Books**. Books are coming in, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, graphic novels. All are welcome to come up and review what we’re getting. The book list is posted under “Resources Available” at http://greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com .**

Essential Question. We have developed a cross-curricula EQ:
 * How can reading, thinking, writing, listening, and speaking help me envision, describe, and create a sustainable life? We have laminated the EQ and we can come in and do an introductory lesson. We’re developing the lesson now. Anyone interested in reviewing, commenting, and/or revising it go to Resources Available at: http://greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com**


 * A**dditional Magnet Standard**. You might have noticed our newest magnet standard in the hallways. We will be making laminated copies for teachers to post:**


 * Sense of Place. Students develop connections to their ever day environments by participating in authentic projects in their natural, cultural and social worlds.**
 * • Literacy: Students explore how authors use landscape, how a landscape can shape the imagination, and how imaginations can shape a landscape.**
 * • Social Studies: Students explore how geography shapes cultures and societies.**
 * • Math: Students explore how place determines value.**
 * • Science: Students investigate how natural laws and processes shape ecosystems and biomes.**
 * Up and Coming.**
 * Wind Lab. Thanks to Ragini Singhal for finding the Kid Wind energy workshop last summer.**
 * Dr. Andrade is gathering the supplies, so science teachers will make windmills with their students and learn the physics of wind energy.**

Magnet Update 1/4/10

Recycling**. Two students from class 716, Farjana Ahmed and Fyruz Ramisa, are checking rooms for blue and black pails. Some people have two blue, others have two black, so we will sort this out. If you are in the room, they will also ask for names of recycling monitors. When you select a monitor, please make sure this student can meet at 2:30 on Thursdays. When we have the coordinators list, we will call a meeting to set a recycling plan in motion.**
 * We already have student names for Ms. Bautista, Mr. Faraci, Ms. Melendez, Mr. Marshall, Ms. Rodi, and Ms. Napolitano.**

THANKS **to everyone who helped out with our Welcome Tours/Open Houses: Steve Mindlin, Steve Marshall, Marlyne Adman, Alletta Hall, our custodians, security guards, and Mr. Burns. We will be inviting prospective families to our Technology Fair, Family Science Night, and open houses in April and May.**

Literacy Books**. Lainie Leber wrote an additional grant for our Literacy magnet books and for Renzulli Learning Systems.**

Renzulli Learning Systems**. Renzulli differentiates resources that students use for research and projects, based on a profile that evaluates learning style, expression style, and interests. The system will automatically group students according to these parameters. Our Social Studies Department, led by Mr. Norment, will be trying this out.**
 * If anyone wants to check out Renzulli, you can come in and speak to Karen or Ed.**


 * All teachers will be able to log in, find resources, assign resources and projects, and group students by the above parameters, if they wish.**

OFFER**. If you are doing any magnet-related material in class, please don’t hesitate to come in or call to discuss implementation, essential questions, enduring understandings, etc. Karen and Ed are available to help out in classes, and Ed is available to photograph magnet-themed related activities. Everyone is welcome to come in and discuss finding connections to magnet themes with each department’s curriculum.**

Magnet Update 11/16/09

This was sent out last week, but we figured we’d wait to implement until after the QR. Recycling By Friday, 11/13 POST THE STUDENT NAMES IN THE CHART at http://focusngoals2009/RECYCLING. You must be a member of this wiki to do so. || a. Blue bin for paper by teacher’s desk b. Black bin by door for non-paper garbage ||
 * Step || To Do ||
 * 1 || Recycling Monitors. Select 2 student monitors per homeroom
 * 2 || Monitors make sure that classroom has 2 pails***:**
 * blue pail for recyling PAPER ONLY.**
 * black pail for all other garbage.** ||
 * 3 || Monitors will set up homeroom pails in two separate locations in the room each morning. We want to separate the pails, because If paper is contaminated with other garbage, we won’t be able to recycle paper. We find it best if the blue pail for paper is near the teacher's desk.
 * 4 || At the end of p.m. homeroom, monitors are responsible for placing both bins by the door to facilitate the custodians’ work. ||
 * 5 || At the start of homeroom in the a.m., monitors are responsible for putting the blue paper pail by the teacher’s desk and the black pail by the door. This means you have to pick students who are always on time for homeroom and responsible. ||
 * 6 || Non-homeroom Teachers. If you have the same first and last classes every a.m and p.m., select monitors from those classes. If not, please either move the pails or suggest another idea to Ms. Adman that we can share with other teachers. ||
 * * || If you don't have two pails, contact Marlyn Adman, ext. 529 with your classroom # and pail you are missing. ||

Post the names at http://ms217focusngoals2009.wikispaces.com/Recycling. When you go to this webpage, if you are already a member, sign in and click on the “Edit” tab on the right hand side towards the top. Scroll down to your classroom # and add two student names in the right hand column. If you are not already a member, click, “Join.” If you have problems, see Karen in room 216.
 * Classroom # || Homeroom Class || Teacher || Students || Name 1 || Name 2 ||

We thought this was going out a week ago, but better late than never.

THANKS **to everyone who sat through our Election Day PDs. Please remember to post the magnet standards in a conspicuous place. Introduce your students to these standards, and have them talk and write about them. Remember the acronmym SCAIT – Sustainability, Careers, Activism, Inquiry, Technology. See some ideas for introducing the standards at: http://greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com/Magnet+Updates. Have them write about a magnet standard that means something to them. When possible, refer to these standards in your lessons.**


 * Don’t know when you’ll get a Federal evaluator’s visit, but the Fed were unexpectedly in November 4th. The teachers they spoke to and classrooms that they observed had magnet standards up, and some teachers were implementing magnet themes. Thank you to everyone who spoke to them. We only know about Shamena Alli, Terry Sapp, Perla Bautista. Please let us know if you spoke to them.**

Welcome Tour 11/13**. We had about 20 families visit. A lot of attendees complimented our school. Thanks to everyone who welcomed in our visiting families. C. Fenoaltea, D. Guadalupe, R. Singhal, M. Suarez, B. Palmeri, S. Mindlin, S. Marshall.**

Thursday evening, 11/19/09 – 6:30 – 8:30**. For families who cannot attend a daytime Welcome Tour, they will be coming on Thursday, 11/19.**

All Welcome. I**f you want to discuss integrating magnet themes into your curriculum, please come talk to us. Contact us ASAP, because we are putting together wish lists of books, supplies, etc. All these books, supplies, etc. must be connected to magnet-themed units. If you have a resource you want, we can help you look for ways to connect what you want with the magnet themes.**

Essential Questions **that correspond to our units of study for Science, Literacy, Social Studies, and Math will be posted at: http://greenmagnet217.wikispaces. These will connect with the curriculum maps that we are developing.**
 * Literacy – Unit of Study – see Literacy - Memoir http://greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com/Literacy+-+Memoir**
 * Social Studies – Essential Questions**
 * Science – Essential Questions**
 * Math – Essential Questions**


 * We are hoping to form an Interdisciplinary Curriculum Committee that looks at the maps from the different disciplines to find alignment and opportunities for interdisciplinary work.**

Addition to Standards - Check out "Sense of Place" **- What do you think?**
 * SUSTAINABILITY**
 * • Students explore how nature sustains life on earth.**
 * • Students explore ways to balance human needs with nature's laws.**
 * • Students investigate how to create comfortable lifestyles, so we sustain resources for future generations.**
 * •** Sense of Place**. Students and teachers develop connections to their everyday environments by creating real-life experiences in the natural world and their cultural worlds.**
 * Literacy: Students explore how landscape shapes the imagination, how their imaginations can shape the landscape, and how authors use landscape.**
 * Social Studies: Students explore how geography shapes cultures and societies.**
 * Math: Students explore how place determines value.**
 * Science: Students understand how natural laws and processes shape ecosystems and biomes.**

We thought this was going out a week ago, but better late than never. THANKS **to everyone who sat through our Election Day PDs. Please remember to post the magnet standards in a conspicuous place. Introduce your students to these standards, and have them talk and write about them. Remember the acronmym SCAIT – Sustainability, Careers, Activism, Inquiry, Technology. Have them write about a magnet standard that means something to them. When possible, refer to these standards in your lessons. Don’t know when you’ll get a Federal evaluator’s gottcha moment, but the Fed were unexpectedly in on Wednesday, after the PD. The teachers they spoke to and classrooms that they observed had magnet standards up, and some teachers were implementing magnet themes. Thank you to everyone who spoke to them. We only know about Shamena Alli, Terry Sapp, Perla Bautista. Please let us know if you spoke to them.**

Welcome Tour 11/13**. We had about 20 families visit. A lot of attendees complimented our school. Thanks to everyone who welcomed in our visiting families. C. Fenoaltea, D. Guadalupe, R. Singhal, M. Suarez, B. Palmeri, S. Mindlin, S. Marshall.**

Thursday evening, 11/19/09 **– 6:30 – 8:30. For families who cannot attend a daytime Welcome Tour, they will be coming on Thursday, 11/19.**
 * All Welcome. If you want to discuss integrating magnet themes into your curriculum, please come talk to us. Contact us ASAP, because we are putting together wish lists of books, supplies, etc. All these books, supplies, etc. must be connected to magnet-themed units. If you have a resource you want, we can help you look for ways to connect what you want with the magnet themes.**
 * Essential Questions that correspond to our units of study for Science, Literacy, Social Studies, and Math will be posted at: http://greenmagnet217.wikispaces . These will connect with the curriculum maps that we are developing.**
 * Literacy – Essential Questions**
 * Social Studies – Essential Questions**
 * Science – Essential Questions**
 * Math – Essential Questions**
 * We are hoping to form an Interdisciplinary Curriculum Committee that looks at the maps from the different disciplines to find alignment and opportunities for interdisciplinary work.**


 * Addition to Standards - Check out "Sense of Place" - What do you think?**
 * SUSTAINABILITY**
 * • Students explore how nature sustains life on earth.**
 * • Students explore ways to balance human needs with nature's laws.**
 * • Students investigate how to create comfortable lifestyles, so we sustain resources for future generations.**
 * •** Sense of Place**. Students and teachers create real-life experiences in the natural world and their cultural worlds.**
 * Literacy: Students explore how landscape shapes the imagination and how authors use landscape.**
 * Social Studies: Students explore how geography shapes cultures and societies.**
 * Math: Students explore how place determines value.**
 * Science: Students understand how natural laws and processes shape ecosystems and biomes.**

Magnet Update 11/9/09


 * THANKS to everyone who sat through our Election Day PDs.**


 * Please remember to post the magnet standards in a conspicuous place.**


 * Introduce your students to these standards, and have them talk and write about them.**
 * Remember the acronmym SCAIT – Sustainability, Careers, Activism, Inquiry, Technology.

Ideas for introducing the Magnet Standards. This fun idea is from Ms. Wyckoff: Essential Question: What are the Consequences? Enduring Understanding. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.


 * Can you think of at least 3 computer games that address the Magnet Standards?**
 * Select:**
 * 1 about animals**
 * 1 about the future, like Transformers**
 * 1 about everyday living, like cars**
 * OR select something else that is relevant to the standards.**


 * Provide:**
 * Title of Game**
 * Goal of the Game**
 * How’s it’s related to the standard?**


 * Contest in Classroom**
 * Who can do the best writing job, relating the game to the standards.**
 * Students present their work to the class.**
 * Prize for Best Connection between a computer game and the Magnet Standards: Omit 1 book report, Omit 1 weekend homework, Omit a test**


 * If you are the winner and you pick one of the above as your prize, what will be the consequence of not doing that particular task?**

Word Work**: Consequences. Cause and Effect. Prediction. Inferencing.**


 * Karen Phillips' less fun idea:**

Directed Free Write with the Magnet Standards

L. O. Students will read the school's magnet standards, identify parts of the standards they find meaningful, interpret the chosen standard, and discuss these interpretations with other students.

Essential Questions: How can I be responsible to myself as a learner, be responsble to the health of my school community, and be responsible to my future self? Why should we care? What should we care about? How should we care?

Enduring Understanding
 * 6th Grade: Every decision we make touches the lives of others.**
 * 7th Grade: "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." Mahatma Ghandi**
 * 8th Grade: Classroom work can inspire a future career.**

Students read the standards.
 * After reading the Magnet Standards through once, each student reviews the standards and underlines a phrase that they like or that the student feels is meaningful in his/her life.**
 * Students annotate what they have underlined - writing a sentence or two about what they like or find meaningful.**

Students Share Their Writing
 * Students exchange writing with a partner.**
 * Each partner reads what the partner has underlined and written, and annotates the partners' writing, writing a comment about what the original writer wrote.**

Whole Group Share/Report Out
 * Partners report out on what they're partners underlined, and what their partners liked or found meaningful.**
 * Reporting partner responds to partner's underlining and annotation.**

When possible, refer to these standards in your lessons.


 * Don’t know when or if you’ll get a Federal evaluator’s gottcha moment, but the Feds were unexpectedly in on Wednesday, after the PD.**


 * The teachers that Donna Elam and Lainie Leber spoke to and classrooms that they observed had magnet standards up, and some teachers were implementing magnet themes. Thank you to everyone who spoke to them. We only know about Shamena Alli, Terry Sapp, Perla Bautista. Please let us know if you spoke to them.**

Recycling to Begin 11/13/09

By Friday, 11/13 POST THE STUDENT NAMES IN THE CHART at http://focusngoals2009/RECYCLING. You must be a member of this wiki to do so. || a. Blue bin for paper by teacher’s desk b. Black bin by door for non-paper garbage ||
 * Step || To Do ||
 * 1 || Recycling Monitors. Select 2 student monitors per homeroom
 * 2 || Monitors make sure that classroom has 2 pails***:**
 * blue pail for recyling PAPER ONLY.**
 * black pail for all other garbage.** ||
 * 3 || Monitors will set up homeroom pails in two separate locations in the room each morning. We want to separate the pails, because If paper is contaminated with other garbage, we won’t be able to recycle paper. We find it best if the blue pail for paper is near the teacher's desk.
 * 4 || At the end of p.m. homeroom, monitors are responsible for placing both bins by the door to facilitate the custodians’ work. ||
 * 5 || At the start of homeroom in the a.m., monitors are responsible for putting the blue paper pail by the teacher’s desk and the black pail by the door. This means you have to pick students who are always on time for homeroom and responsible. ||
 * 6 || Non-homeroom Teachers. If you have the same first and last classes every a.m and p.m., select monitors from those classes. If not, please either move the pails or suggest another idea to Ms. Adman that we can share with other teachers. ||
 * * || If you don't have two pails, contact Marlyn Adman, ext. 529 with your classroom # and pail you are missing. ||

At the http://focusngoals2009.wikispaces.com, complete the following:
 * Classroom # || Homeroom Class || Teacher || Student Names ||

Open House Welcome Tours**.** Friday, 11/13/09 – 10:30 – 12:30.
 * We will be touring families around our school in small groups. We will be taking families into classrooms. If you specifically want families to come in, please let us know. We would greatly appreciate it. We would be especially interested in showcasing green/magnet-theme related work, how we use technology, and how we use inquiry-based learning.**

Thursday evening, 11/19/09 – 6:30 – 8:30**. For families who cannot attend a daytime Welcome Tour, they will be coming on Thursday, 11/19.**

All Welcome. **If you want to discuss integrating magnet themes into your curriculum, please come talk to us. Contact us ASAP, because we are putting together wish lists of books, supplies, etc. All these books, supplies, etc. must be connected to magnet-themed units. If you have a resource you want, we can help you look for ways to connect what you want with the magnet themes.**

Essential Questions that correspond to our units of study for Science, Literacy, Social Studies, and Math **will be posted at: http://greenmagnet217.wikispaces. These will connect with the curriculum maps that we are developing.**
 * Literacy – Essential Questions**
 * Social Studies – Essential Questions**
 * Science – Essential Questions**
 * Math – Essential Questions**


 * We will be forming an** Interdisciplinary Curriculum Committee **that looks at the maps from the different disciplines to find alignment and opportunities for interdisciplinary work.**

Magnet Update 11/2/09 Inquiry Challenges. **The following students submitted entries for the two inquiry challenges: Rabia Mehmood, Tasfia Bushra, Cesar Hernandez, Beleh Reyes, Jasmin Budhu, Kemberlyn Arevala, Wilbert Pacheco, Ishrat Jahan, Lesha Mangru, Lamia Khan.**
 * We will be meeting with them to review their writing. Everyone who has met with us to review their writing will be attending a trip to the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History’s Rose Center**. If you have one of these students, please ask them to come see us to make an appointment, so they will be eligible for the trip.

Election Day 1. Academy/Team/School Themes for the Year. **What do you want to see happen at the Green Magnet? Last year Shamena Alli’s 6th grade focused on water scarcity, conservation, and harvesting. So did many of Ms. Lindsay’s students. During Earth Week, many social studies teachers focused on The True Cost of Food and/or The Story of Stuff: Consumption and Waste. This year, our gardens might provide a good focus. The Art Department’s Spring Festival will center around the garden theme. What do you want?** 2. Magnet Standards. **We think we’ve finalized the standards. Please check out http://greenmagnet217.wikispaces/magnetstandards to review and comment. For some time during Election Day, we’ll be discussing how these standards can support our state curriculum units.**

3. Afternoon Electives:
 * a. Putting the Garden to Sleep. People who worked on the garden, and possibly others who are interested, can help. Since we have to amend the soil, we will most probably be pulling everything out.**
 * b. Identifying Wildlife Sanctuaries. The St. Christopher Ottilie wants to work with us cleaning up the area between the playground and their grounds. It could be a wonderful little wildlife sanctuary. There are other areas that could become micro-wildernesses.**
 * c. Million Trees NYC is asking schools to adopt and take care of their curbside trees. You could identify trees to adopt, or teachers could do a tree census. Some of our trees are nearing the end of their lives, so we want them to be treated well, so they last as long as possible.**

Open House/Welcome Tours
 * Friday, November 13th, 10:30 – 12:30. Please volunteer to lead a tour. We will cover your classes. If you are interested in working the 11/19 evening tour, from 6:00 – 8:30 for per session, please let us know ASAP.**

Magnet Update 10-26-09

Thanks **to Steve Mindlin and his creatures for help at our District 25/28 Magnet Fairs. Thanks to Vilma and Angela for help in gathering demographic information that is crucial to the grant’s success. Thanks to Lisa LaRosa and Rosa Yordan Samuel for applying to speak to parents about the D25/28 magnet programs.**

Magnet Standards. **We are about to finalize the Magnet Standards. Please check out the draft at: http://greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com/Magnet+Standards. We would appreciate suggestions regarding the wording and the ideas. You can send us an e-mail or go to the “Discussion” tab at this wiki page.**

Election Day. **Ideas for Election Day. We want to do fun, green things. Some ideas: Put the vegetable garden to sleep for the winter (wear work clothes), do a tree census, prepare a plan for implementing a recycling program, a Legislators’ Breakfast for our Green Roof, or some other green initiative you’d like to work on. Get back to us ASAP. We will gladly entertain any ideas that will make your day fun and support your needs. Lainie Leber, the magnet director, has told us we have to put something together for election day. We will need to spend some time either by academy, department or team talking about the Magnet Standards.**

Photo Release Forms**. Photo release forms were distributed to all students for their parents to sign and return. Please have students bring in the signed forms. During the week of 10/26, we’ll be putting a homeroom list in each of your mailboxes, so please indicate on the form:**


 *  - Put a  next to students who returned the form.**
 * O – Put a O next to students who did not return the form. Try to get this form to us ASAP.**
 * X – Put an X next to a student who has advised that his or her photo may not be taken.**


 * Karen and Ed will be keeping these photo releases on file, so please return completed class sets to us.**

Magnet Fairs District 25 and District 28
 * The good news is that our reputation with P. S. 117 parents is definitely improving.**


 * We have an Educator’s Fair on 11/6 at the NY Hall of Science for school guidance counselors, administrators, and parent coordinators. Even when the federal 3 years is up, we will continue to be able to recruit students from all of Districts 25 and 28.**

Open Houses – Welcome Tours. **If you would like to guide students and their parents around the school during a Welcome Tour, please let us know.**
 * Date and Day Time Event**
 * Friday, 11/13 Daytime**
 * Time to be announced. Welcome Tour for prospective students and their families, guidance counselors, parent coordinators, PTA presidents, and other school personnel.**
 * Thursday, 11/19 Evening**
 * Time to be announced. Welcome Tour for prospective students and their families, guidance counselors, parent coordinators, PTA presidents, and other school personnel.**


 * Magnet Update 10-19-09**


 * What’s Happening**


 * Recruitment Per Session Reminder. Deadline – 10/23/09. Posted Per Session opportunity.**
 * Lainie Leber, Magnet Director, is offering evening and weekend per session hours. We previously sent the notice and the application to everyone’s e-mail. If you want to apply, print the application out or make a copy of the application that’s posted above the time clock. All applications must be sent to: M. Nieves, NYC Magnet Assistance Program District 25 and 28, 147-26 25th Drive, Room 218. Queens, NY 11354. The application deadline is 10/23/09. This opportunity will involve training and then visiting PTAs and other parent groups. You will be required to talk about the five magnet schools.**


 * Recruitment Fairs and Open Houses. Steve, Karen, and Ed attended the District 25 Middle School Choice Fair on 10/15/09. Over the past few months, Monique Nieves from the magnet director’s office has been meeting with parents in elementary schools in D25/28 and pitching our school. The students were attracted to Steve and his critters like flies to honey. We had a new version of our brochure and Ed’s collages of the creation of our organic vegetable garden and Ms. Singhal’s class trip to Jamaica Bay. One woman described the presentation as “stellar.” Next Wednesday, we’ll be attending a D25 Magnet School Fair at P. S. 99.**


 * Upcoming Open Houses. We have the following scheduled for prospective students and parents:**
 * Friday, November 13th Daytime Welcome Tour In School**
 * Thursday, November 19th Nighttime Welcome Tour In School**


 * Please let us know if you would like to lead a group of parents and children around the school on a Welcome Tour.**


 * Thanks. Thanks to the teachers who made the 250 year old Inquiry Challenge a success, especially to Ms. Shyam who had the most entries and to Ms. Napolitano and Mr. Marshall who helped students with the math. Congratulations to the Math & Science House, which had the most entries. Thanks to the following students who participated in the challenge: Cesar Hernandez, 704; Beleh Reyes, Jasmin Budhu, 704; Kemberlyn Arevala, 704; Wilbert Pacheco, 704; Lesha Mangru, 704; Lamia Khan, 704; Rabia Memhood and Tasfia Bushra, 722; Ishrat Mossammat Jahan, 805.**

Magnet Update 10-2-09


 * //What’s Happening//**

Challenges Please suggest challenges to the students. The next one might be: Sustainability Challenge – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Thanks to Steve Marshall for helping a student (not in his classes) figure out how to determine the height of a tree. Thanks to all teachers who gave the challenge as a homework assignment and credit.

Social Studies: Climate Change. Congress is taking up a CLIMATE CHANGE bill. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) will be meeting in Copenhagen in Decemer 2009 to update the Kyoto Treaty. What will be the U. S. position? How will the current debate in Congress affect our stance at Copenhagen? Social Studies / Science. Drillling for Natural Gas in the Marcellus Shale Formation, located in the NYC Watershed. The NYS Dept of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has ruled that property owners in the NYC watershed can lease/sell rights to natural gas drilling companies, as long as the drilling is 300 feet from a NYC water source. The natural gas underground in the watershed might be worth hundreds of billions of dollars to New Yorkers. Some property owners are eager to lease rights on their land. Up until now, these property owners have had a lot of restrictions on what they could do on their land, since what they do might affect NYC water. New Yorkers have until November 30th to respond to the commission’s report: http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/58472.html

Literacy. Dr. Kendall, Linda Hoffman, Karen Phillips, Shamena Alli, Judith Council attended a 3 day literacy institute with Kateri Kennedy, Senior Middle School Literacy Specialist for the DOE and Lainie Leber, magnet director. We are working on 6th, 7th, 8th grade magnet-theme related year-long unit plans. Literacy teahcers will have the chance to review, comment, dicker, edit the plans, and then decide on class sets of books to order for their classrooms.


 * Magnet Update 9-29-09**


 * Magnet Standards.** We’ll be printing and distributing Magnet Standards in color to post in your rooms. We’ll be sending you a Word Doc with these standards in chart form that you can enlarge or reduce and use to tag bulletin boards. We’ll also send 2 pdf files of the standards in color. Please go to the “Magnet Standards” page at http://greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com, read the draft versions, edit them, comment on them, suggest connections with your curriculum, and suggest possible student projects.


 * Federal Government. Branding Ourselves.** The federal government is giving us money to implement innovative, themed curriculum. According to the feds, this is our 3rd year of the magnet grant. They could come to audit us at any time. They could come and walk around the building with Ed and Karen, or they could come unannounced and walk around by themselves. They want to see their money at work, which means they want to see that we’re branding ourselves as The Green Magnet School for Career Education.


 * To make the connections from our magnet standards to our curricula, please post the standards we distribute and use the smaller tags for bulletin board displays.**

Green Goals. **Many of you are already doing it – let us know if you are – we need this for our final report (we didn’t meet the mandated child exposure to magnet-theme learning in classrooms last year). We have all been implementing magnet related themes – sustainability, activism, careers, technology. Send us short descriptions of what you’re doing, and note the classes involved, and the # of periods involved.**

Pumpkin Festival Scarecrow Competition. **Bethesda Fountain, October 24th, 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Deadline to register Friday, October 9 at www.nyc.gov/parks.**
 * 7th Grade Science Teachers. There might be a way to incorporate the study of the skeletal and muscular systems into this creation of the scarecrow. See Karen or Ed for more info. Thanks to Alletta Hall for letting us know about it.**

Upcoming. **The Cafeteria has applied to be part of a NYC DOE initiative, “Garden to Café.” “The goal is to connect school gardening and school lunch menus through seasonal harvest events and supporting educational activities.”**

Literacy - Books Received.
 * 45 copies of The Great Kapok Tree: Beautiful illustrations, a lot of vocabulary.**
 * 470 copies of Seedfolks. Come to pick up class sets.**

At the WIKI. http://greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com/ **. Check out short and longterm magnet goals at: http://greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com/. These are the goals we described in last week’s update. Please make comments on home page regarding this year’s short and longterm goals and assessment of how we did meeting our 08-2009 short and longterm goals.**

Technology. **Go to: http://greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com/Technology+How++To%27s**
 * The page includes a lot of how-tos. Useful Apple “Keystroke Shortcuts.” Learn to use the keyboard instead of the mouse – it’s faster. Fran Rothkin had put up a lot of useful files in this section. If you review it, please let us know if anything is outdated**

Thanks **to all the teachers who are introducing the Green Magnet initiatives during this hectic beginning. Gail Munz’s students have created green goals and commitments. Desiree Hunerberg’s students are learning about recycling and creating recycling goals for October. Ms. Gonzales will be integrating “Story of Stuff” in her lessons. Paula Kohm’s students have produced Resource Awareness Posters, and in vocabulary they’re discussing renewable and non-renewable forms of energy. Ms. Nelson created a Reduce, Reuse, Recycle bulletin board. Ms. Indich put out a “Protect the Environment” sign in French. Ms. Melendez has developed Essential Questions to guide her students’ discussion of Of Mice and Men. Shamena Alli has already posted the magnet standards.**

Thanks **to all the teachers who participated in professional development work this summer. Garden Development and Queens Botanical PD: Thanks to Ed and Steve for excavating the future garden, terracing it, and erecting a fence with a gate. Thanks to the learners and planters: Mihalya, from the Cafeteria, Morrison, Taylor, Phillips, Adman, K. Phillips, Andrade, Mindlin, Singhal, Guardado, Hoffman, Council, Lindsay, Marshall. Cloud Institute for Sustainability: Guardado, L. Hoffman, Kohm, K. Phillips, Singhal. Met Museum of Art/AMNH’s Art, Science & Inquiry: Guardado, L. Hoffman, K. Phillips, R. Singhal.**

Magnet Update 9/17/09

Welcome Back. **“Summer time, and the living is easy. Fish are jumpin and the cotton is high.” We’re back to work.**
 * What Do You Want and Need This Year?**

Class Sets. **Lainie, DOE director of the magnet, said she would pay for class sets of books for literacy. We’re hoping to stretch this to other subjects, as well. Let us know of magnet related books you want. It would be great if the books could be used cross-curricula.**

TOURS. **If you want to take your class on a tour of the vegetable garden, pollinators’ garden, or school grounds call Karen and/or Ed.**

Magnet Goals
 * • Green Roof – Legislators’ Breakfast – Stimulus Money**
 * • Farm Stand Organic Vegetable Garden**
 * • Paper Recycling Program in all classrooms - Composting in Science Classrooms**
 * • Student Government – Green Team**
 * • Golden Apple Awards – Recycling, Composting, School Beautification**

Magnet Standards and the Quality Review. **With the Quality Review coming early, Ed says, “Know the magnet buzz words:** Sustainability; Inquiry-Based Learning; Activism; Career Exploration; Technology Integration**.“ We will be putting up these buzz words on signs around the building.** Standard 1. SUSTAINABILITY Standard 2. INQUIRY Standard 3. ACTIVISM Standard 4. Career Exploration Standard 5: Technology Integration
 * • Students understand that the built environment must balance the needs of nature and humans.**
 * • Students explore their environment by closely observing, formulating questions, analyzing systems, and drawing conclusions.**
 * • Students take action to affect their local and global communities. “Think globally, act locally.”**
 * • Students connect what they’re studying with possible future careers.**
 * • Students use technology to achieve academic, green living and career goals.**


 * Over the next few weeks, we will elaborate the components of each standard. The Quality Review people will be questioning people regarding our magnet standards. We hope to show that our school community has a shared vision.**

Summer News Garden. **The organic vegetable garden test run was successful. Ed and Steve built it, 12 teachers planted it. Visit it.** Lessons. **We developed lesson plans that integrate the garden for literacy, ESL, Special Education-science, chorus. We developed lessons integrating sustainability and career exploration; developing a relationship with nature. These will be posted at http:greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com and some at http://ms217goalsettingpd.wikispaces.com/.**

Literacy. **We have about 500 copies of Song of the Trees. Please come and take a class set. We’re ordering 500 copies of Seedfolks. Linda and Paula have developed units.** Grants. **Target is giving out grants. If you have a plan that we can relate to the magnet themes, come talk to us.**

Magnet Update June 22, 2009

Survey**. Next week we will be distributing the dreaded magnet teacher survey. We have to get these back and submit them to The Annenberg Institute at Brown University. We think the surveys will show the great growth in magnet theme awareness in the school, so PLEASE COMPLETE THEM. In some cases, you might be doing the survey in your department meeting. Be sure to leave them in Karen’s or Ed’s mailbox before you leave on Friday, June 26th. Thanks in advance.**

Thanks to Everyone for all your work this year.

Magnet Update June 15, 2009

Magnet Tip of the Week. **(Source: PBS’ Bill Moyers Journal) “To find safe, healthy and green products” check out the websites www.goodguide.com/ and www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/ .**

CLASSROOM GREEN MAKE-OVER **(compliments of Mark Schreier). “Transform your dreams into relity with the 2009 Bright Green Dream School Sustainability Challenge. . . Submit plans for creating an energy-efficient, sustainable classroom of the future by the 9/25 deadline. The winning entry will receive a $15,000 sustainable classroom upgrade.” You must submit this entry digitally at:**
 * www.greenovationnation.com/dream .**

Summer Composting Guidelines**. Dan from the Queens Botanical Garden suggests that you fill the bins with newspaper, and as long as the building doesn’t go over 100°F, the worms should be fine over the summer.**

Pollinators’ Garden**. Steven Mindlin, Judith Council and about 10-15 students have been coming each Saturday. They report an increase in the number of birds (pollinators) that are visiting our garden. A lot of neighbors are approaching Judith and Steve and telling them how much they enjoy the garden.**

Queens Community Board 8 (CB8) and the Briarwood Community Association **(BCA). Members of CB8 and BCA joined us the night of the Spring Festival. They were coming to see the artwork that they had donated. Even before the concert began, our visitors were “overwhelmed” by what they saw in our school. They walked into the lobby and saw all of Marlyne Adman’s students’ art work in the showcases. Steve Mindlin showed them the garden. We walked around the building and showed them where the prints from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Renee Melendez’s students, Patryk Kostek and Shairaz Qamar from class 723, discussed some of the artists and artwork and what they’ve been learning with Sol Aramendi from the Queens Museum of Art. They were then over-overwhelmed by the Spring Festival. Our visitors kept saying they couldn’t believe how wonderful our school is.**

Summer Professional Development Possibilities **– If INTERESTED, LET US KNOW THIS WEEK**
 * • 7/27-7/28 +. American Museum of Natural History PD. Art, Science and Inquiry. 6 people attending and one person is now wait listed.**
 * • 7/19-7/24. Cloud Institute. 307 7th Avenue, Suite 1201.**
 * Sunday 7/19- Fri 7/24. 6 people attending.**
 * • 8/11-8/13. Curriculum Design Team – Developing Magnet Standards. Closed to CDT.**
 * • 8/17 -8/20. UbD Training with Louise Cleveland at Linden Place, Queens. 9-4 p.m. If you produce a unit, you receive per session, if you don’t produce a unit you receive training rate.**

What’s Been Happening
 * Continuing Environment/Nature-Related Work. Ms. Bautista and Class 852’s Tree Naming ceremony. We were impressed with the ELA students’ pronunciation and enunciation. They have named the White Oak, Diversity Tree. It’s only a twig now, but in 20 years it could be 80 – 100 feet tall. Thanks to Ms. Kohm for filming the ceremony and the attendees: Mr. Burns, Dr. Kendall, Mr. Norment, Mr. Gregoo, Carol Indich, Grace Nelson, and Darryl Jackson and his class. (If we forgot to mention you, we’re sorry).**

Heart Surgery Videoconference**, Wednesday, May 27th from 9:30 – 12:30. Our second heart surgery videoconference was successful. Again, we hosted teachers and students fro Hillcrest High School.**

BOMA-sponsored trip to the greenest skyscraper in the country, 5/28**. Marlyne Adman, Ed and Karen accompanied students on a tour of Bank of America and the Durst Organization’s Platinum LEED-rated building. See and read about what we saw: http://www.durst.org/i_bp_amenities.asp. We’re looking to expand this relationship for next year.**

Classes 723 and 816’s Art Exhibit at Queens Museum of Art, 6/3/09**. We had about 70 students, parents, and members of Community Board 8 and Briarwood Community Asssociation, including the president of Archbishop Malloy High School. The students’ paint prints looked wonderful, their photos and digi-docs were great, and they spoke well. The parents loved seeing their children’s work at the museum.**

Brooklyn-Queens Day PDs **were successful. Math teachers learned to use the graphing calculators. Science, Literacy, ESL, and Foreign Language teachers learned all about trees. We learned to use the circumference of the tree to determine tree age. We have a tree on our grounds alive during the American Revolution. Mike and Paula demonstrated their skills in creating digital documentaries. Staff members are off to a good start.**

Math **– We will be order the teacher edition and workbooks after math teachers reviewed Real World Math for Middle School. Samples lessons are available at: http://www.facingthefuture.org/Curriculum/DownloadFreeCurriculum/tabid/114/Default.aspx**
 * Scroll down to downloadable units:**
 * Surface Area & Volume: Sustainable Design**
 * Solving Inequalities: Carbon Emissions**
 * Rational Numbers: Financial Decisions**

Trip, books and info for next year:
 * NYC Center for Space Science Education. http://www.nyccsse.org/**
 * Veryl Greene, former computer/lego robotics teacher, raves about this place.**


 * Educating for Sustainability (EfS) resources: http://solar1.org/education/ . Topics: Renewable Energy; Sustainable Design; Ecological Art; Estuary & Park Ecology.**


 * Cici Baxter suggested: http://edventures.com/imssc/nsimssc/index.php - Interesting site about Robotics, which we’d like to bring back next year.**
 * Daisy Guadalupe suggested: http://www.lternet.edu/ - Longterm Ecological Research Network – good source for info on sites from Antarctica, the Everglades, etc.**

Books. We are ordering the following books for our library:
 * The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest – 45 copies**
 * The Missing ‘Gator of Gumbo Limbo: An Eco-mystery – We will have two class sets**
 * The Orchid Thief - 1 copy – true story of orchid thieves in the Everglades **
 * The Outsiders – 45 copies**
 * A Raisin in the Sun – 45 copies**
 * Ten Things I Wish I’d Known Before I Went into the Real World by Maria Shriver – 4 copies for review to see if it would be good to use in a Career Genre Unit.**
 * The Botany of Desire: A Plants’-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan – 2 copies**
 * In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto – 2 copies**
 * Vocabulary Myths: Applying Second Language Research to Classroom Teaching - 3 copies**
 * A Field Guide to the Natural World of New York City – 3 copies**
 * Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants – 2 copies**
 * Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing – Books 1 and 2 – 1 set**


 * Magnet Update May 26 and 6/1/09**


 * Magnet Tip of the Week**. (Source: PBS’ Bill Moyers Journal) “To find safe, healthy and green products” check out the websites [|www.goodguide.com/] and [|www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/].


 * Thanks to the Talent Department for an extraordinary Spring Festival and for focusing on water. Marlyne Adman, Tania Caceres, Emily Erosa, Art Greenberg, and Val Rodi.**


 * Limited # of Reimbursements Available for attendance to the World Science Festival, June 10 – 14th. Events: [] .** Some events of special interest regarding our curriculum: **Wall-E’s World: Designs for an Invisible Footprint,** Thursday, June 11, 2009, 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM, The Museum of Arts and Design. **“Beneath WALL-E’s whimsical surface lies a grown up, cautionary tale about humanity’s relationship with the environment. In this program scientists reveal ingenious strategies for creating a sustainable future — from 'carborexic' cities made entirely from recycled trash to how the pursuit of "green" space exploration may one day help to revolutionize waste management here on Earth.”**


 * Summer Composting Guidelines.** Dan from the Queens Botanical Garden suggests that you fill the bins with newspaper, and as long as the building doesn’t go over 100 ° F, the worms should be fine over the summer.


 * Pollinators’ Garden**. Steven Mindlin, Judith Council and about 10-15 students have been coming each Saturday. Check out the increased number of birds (pollinators) that are visiting our garden. A lot of neighbors are approaching Judith and Steve and telling them how much they enjoy the garden.


 * Queens Community Board 8 (CB8) and the Briarwood Community Association (BCA).** Members of CB8 and BCA joined us the night of the Spring Festival. They were coming to see the artwork that they had donated. Even before the concert began, our visitors were “overwhelmed” by what they saw in our school. They walked into the lobby and saw all of Marlyne Adman’s students’ art work in the showcases. Steve Mindlin showed them the garden. We walked around the building and showed them where the prints from the Metropolitan Museum of Art are hung. Renee Melendez’s students, Patryk Kostek and Shairaz Qamar from class 723, discussed some of the artists and artwork and what they’ve been learning with Sol Aramendi from the Queens Museum of Art. Our visitors kept saying they couldn’t believe how wonderful our school is.


 * Educating for Sustainability (EfS) resources: [] .** Topics: Renewable Energy; Sustainable Design; Ecological Art; Estuary & Park Ecology.

Summer Professional Development Possibilities – If INTERESTED, LET US KNOW THIS WEEK
· **7/27-7/28 +. American Museum of Natural History PD.** **Art, Science and Inquiry**. Approx. 18 hours of on-line work, July 13 – 31, at Met Museum, 7/27. AMNH, 7/28. $350/person. SEE: http://www.amnh.org/education/teachers/offering.php?id=451 · ** 7/19-7/24. Cloud Institute. ** 307 7th Avenue, Suite 1201. o Sunday 7/19, 9-3 p.m. Introduction to Sustainability Workshop - $100/person required before taking: o Mon. 7/20–Fri. 7/24, 9-4. Advanced Education for Sustainability. $750/person o []. For more info, e-mail sent to everyone on the training. · ** 8/11-8/13. Curriculum Design Team – Developing Magnet Standards. Closed to CDT. ** · **8/17 -8/20. UbD Training with Louise Cleveland at Linden Place, Queens. 9-4 p.m. If you produce a unit, you receive per session, if you don’t produce a unit you receive training rate.**
 * 7/10 - 7/11. Organic Farm Stand - Queens Botanical Garden training.


 * Continuing Environment/Nature-Related Work****.** Ms. Bautista and Class 852’s Tree Naming ceremony was impressive. We were impressed with the ELA students’ pronunciation and enunciation. They have named the White Oak, Diversity Tree. It’s only a twig now, but in 20 years it could be 80 – 100 feet tall. Thanks to Ms. Kohm for filming the ceremony and the attendees: Mr. Burns, Dr. Kendall, Mr. Norment, Mr. Gregoo, Carol Indich, Grace Nelson, and Darryl Jackson and his class. (If we forgot to mention you, we’re sorry).


 * Heart Surgery Teleconference is this Wednesday, May 27th from 9:30 – 12:30.**


 * BOMA-sponsored trip to the greenest skyscraper in the country.** Marlyne Adman, Ed Andrade and Karen Phillips accompanied students on a tour of Bank of America and the Durst Organization’s Platinum LEEDS rated building. See and read about what we saw: [] . If you know a student went, ask them questions about the building and trip. (BOMA-Building Owners & Managers Association)


 * ELA** Curriculum Day has been changed to June 12th.

The samples of the //Real World Math for Middle School// have arrived. Lisa LaRosa and Kathryn Napolitano are reviewing the books. Samples lessons are available at: http://www.facingthefuture.org/Curriculum/DownloadFreeCurriculum/tabid/114/Default.aspx Scroll down to downloadable units: Surface Area & Volume: Sustainable Design Solving Inequalities: Carbon Emissions Rational Numbers: Financial Decisions
 * Math**

Magnet Update 5/26, 2009


 * Magnet Tip of the Week**. (Source: PBS’ Bill Moyers Journal) “To find safe, healthy and green products” check out the websites www.goodguide.com/ and www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/.


 * Limited # of Reimbursements available for attendance to the World Science Festival, June 10 – 14th**. Events: http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/2009/festival . Some events of special interest regarding our curriculum: Wall-E’s World: Designs for an Invisible Footprint, Thursday, June 11, 2009, 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM, The Museum of Arts and Design. “Beneath WALL-E’s whimsical surface lies a grown up, cautionary tale about humanity’s relationship with the environment. In this program scientists reveal ingenious strategies for creating a sustainable future — from 'carborexic' cities made entirely from recycled trash to how the pursuit of "green" space exploration may one day help to revolutionize waste management here on Earth.”


 * Summer Composting Guidelines**. Dan from the Queens Botanical Garden suggests that you fill the bins with newspaper, and as long as the building doesn’t go over 100°F, the worms should be fine over the summer.


 * Pollinators’ Garden**. Steven Mindlin, Judith Council and about 10-15 students have been coming each Saturday. They report an increase in the number of birds (pollinators) that are visiting our garden. A lot of neighbors are approaching Judith and Steve and telling them how much they enjoy the garden.


 * Queens Community Board 8 (CB8) and the Briarwood Community Association (**BCA). Members of CB8 and BCA joined us the night of the Spring Festival. They were coming to see the artwork that they had donated. Even before the concert began, our visitors were “overwhelmed” by what they saw in our school. They walked into the lobby and saw all of Marlyne Adman’s students’ art work in the showcases. Steve Mindlin showed them the garden. We walked around the building and showed them where the prints from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Renee Melendez’s students, Patryk Kostek and Shairaz Qamar from class 723, discussed some of the artists and artwork and what they’ve been learning with Sol Aramendi from the Queens Museum of Art. They were then over-overwhelmed by the Spring Festival. Our visitors kept saying they couldn’t believe how wonderful our school is.

• 7/27-7/28 +. American Museum of Natural History PD. Art, Science and Inquiry. 6 people attending and one person is now wait listed. • 7/19-7/24. Cloud Institute. 307 7th Avenue, Suite 1201. Sunday 7/19- Fri 7/24. 6 people attending. • 8/11-8/13. Curriculum Design Team – Developing Magnet Standards. Closed to CDT. • 8/17 -8/20. UbD Training with Louise Cleveland at Linden Place, Queens. 9-4 p.m. If you produce a unit, you receive per session, if you don’t produce a unit you receive training rate.
 * Summer Professional Development Possibilities** – If INTERESTED, LET US KNOW THIS WEEK

Continuing Environment/Nature-Related Work. Ms. Bautista and Class 852’s Tree Naming ceremony. We were impressed with the ELA students’ pronunciation and enunciation. They have named the White Oak, Diversity Tree. It’s only a twig now, but in 20 years it could be 80 – 100 feet tall. Thanks to Ms. Kohm for filming the ceremony and the attendees: Mr. Burns, Dr. Kendall, Mr. Norment, Mr. Gregoo, Carol Indich, Grace Nelson, and Darryl Jackson and his class. (If we forgot to mention you, we’re sorry).
 * What’s Been Happening**


 * Heart Surgery Videoconference**, Wednesday, May 27th from 9:30 – 12:30. Our second heart surgery videoconference was successful. Again, we hosted teachers and students fro Hillcrest High School.


 * BOMA-sponsored trip to the greenest skyscraper in the country**, 5/28. Marlyne Adman, Ed and Karen accompanied students on a tour of Bank of America and the Durst Organization’s Platinum LEED-rated building. See and read about what we saw: http://www.durst.org/i_bp_amenities.asp . We’re looking to expand this relationship for next year.


 * Classes 723 and 816’s Art Exhibit at Queens Museum of Art, 6/3/09**. We had about 70 students, parents, and members of Community Board 8 and Briarwood Community Asssociation, including the president of Archbishop Malloy High School. The students’ paint prints looked wonderful, their photos and digi-docs were great, and they spoke well. The parents loved seeing their children’s work at the museum.


 * Brooklyn-Queens Day PDs** were successful. Math teachers learned to use the graphing calculators. Science, Literacy, ESL, and Foreign Language teachers learned all about trees. We learned to use the circumference of the tree to determine tree age. We have a tree on our grounds alive during the American Revolution. Mike and Paula demonstrated their skills in creating digital documentaries. Staff members are off to a good start.

Scroll down to downloadable units: Surface Area & Volume: Sustainable Design Solving Inequalities: Carbon Emissions Rational Numbers: Financial Decisions
 * Math** – We will be order the teacher edition and workbooks after math teachers reviewed Real World Math for Middle School. Samples lessons are available at: http://www.facingthefuture.org/Curriculum/DownloadFreeCurriculum/tabid/114/Default.aspx


 * Trip, books and info for next year:**

Veryl Greene, former computer/lego robotics teacher, raves about this place.
 * NYC Center for Space Science Education**. http://www.nyccsse.org/


 * Educating for Sustainability (EfS) resources**: http://solar1.org/education/ . Topics: Renewable Energy; Sustainable Design; Ecological Art; Estuary & Park Ecology.


 * Cici Baxter suggested**: http://edventures.com/imssc/nsimssc/index.php - Interesting site about Robotics, which we’d like to bring back next year.
 * http://www.lternet.edu/ - Longterm Ecological Research Network – good source for info on sites from Antarctica, the Everglades, etc.


 * Daisy Guadalupe suggested**

The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest – 45 copies The Missing ‘Gator of Gumbo Limbo: An Eco-mystery – We will have two class sets The Orchid Thief - 1 copy – true story of orchid thieves in the Everglades  The Outsiders – 45 copies A Raisin in the Sun – 45 copies Ten Things I Wish I’d Known Before I Went into the Real World by Maria Shriver – 4 copies for review to see if it would be good to use in a Career Genre Unit. The Botany of Desire: A Plants’-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan – 2 copies In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto – 2 copies Vocabulary Myths: Applying Second Language Research to Classroom Teaching - 3 copies A Field Guide to the Natural World of New York City – 3 copies Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants – 2 copies Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing – Books 1 and 2 – 1 set
 * Books**. We are ordering the following books for our library:

Magnet Update 5/18/09

Magnet Tip of the Week**.**
 * Water your lawn and garden in the morning or evening when temperatures are cooler to minimize evaporation (from www.wateruseitwisely.com).**

DVDs, Books, etc.
 * Please return DVDs and Books you may have, such as The True Cost of Food, The Story of Stuff, etc.**

Permission to Videotape
 * Please turn in any permission slips that you have from magnet-related trips. We need these slips because they have the permission to photograph/video at the bottom.**

Continuing Environment/Nature-Related Work
 * A very special thank you to Ms. Kohm, Ms. Napolitano and class 752 for their hard work organizing and running the school’s first Charity Water bake sale. All of their hard work paid off. They raised $365 during lunch periods thanks to the generosity of many of our students who donated to this worthy cause, Charity Water. A special thanks to Ms. Nelson who baked some of the treats and many of our teachers who made donations bringing totals to well over the $400 dollar mark. Please see Ms. Kohm if you would like to donate money to this organization which gathers funds that go to developing nations that lack clean drinking water to build and sustain wells that will provide villages with clean drinking water. For more information: charitywater.org**

Resources
 * 30 copies – Brown Angels: An Album of Pictures and Verse by Walter Dean Myers**
 * For teacher review to determine if we want a class set next year:**
 * 10 copies of Scat by Carl Hiaasen – a Middle School Eco-Mystery**
 * 3 copies – William Faulner’s short stories**
 * 60 copies – The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd**

Tree Naming**. Ms. Bautista and Class 852 will have a tree naming ceremony on Thursday, May 21st, periods 4-5. Our twig is a White Oak, and they’ve read a poem about an oak tree and researched white oaks. PLEASE JOIN US.**

Math
 * We’ve ordered 3 copies of Real World Math for Middle School and the student workbook. We’ll distribute these for review when they come in.**

Magnet Update 5/11/09
Magnet Tip of the Week. Now that we’re in gardening season, there are ways we can reduce water usage. (Source: www.greenlivingtips.com). “Mulch, mulch, mulch. Mulching is adding layers of plant material such as peastraw or bark to keep the sun off the soil and therefore retain water. Mulching is one of the most effective ways to reduce water needed in a garden – up to 50%. Mulch has the added benefit of preventing weed growth, deters pests, helps to stabilize soil temperature, and provides nutrients to the soil as the mulch decomposes.”

Continuing Environment/Nature-Related Work • Terry Sapp – Biodiversity Poems • Carlos Castillo – Plastic Bag Recycling • Paula Kohm’s class 752 has completed a PSA: Living & Staying Healthy • Renee Melendez, 723 and Kendra Ravizee, 816 – photography-digital story of nature in our urban environment, culminating with an installation of student work at the Queens Museum of Art on Wednesday, June 3rd, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Contest Winners Poetry
 * 6th Grade – Aurora Borealis, by Arafat Meah, Class 622**
 * 7th Grade – The Big Blue and Green Figure, by T’yana Coutrier, Class 704**
 * 8th Grade – Ode to Trees by Marium Sarder, Tulip Kabir, Rumaan Ali, Maimuna Hossain, Juliana Germsen, Class 821**

Powerpoint Presentation
 * Water – How Can We Make A Difference? By Nabila Uddin and Elaine Talini, Class 723.**

Eco-Heros
 * 6th Grade – The Masked Green Magnet Garbage Man by Gurkirat Multani, Class 622**
 * 7th Grade – Sol, the Defender of the Green Magnet by Kenneth M. and Ishrat J., 752**
 * 8th Grade – Solar Cindy by Aneesa Butler, Class 805**

Donna Elam Visit
 * Donna was impressed by the teachers and students she spoke with. She thinks we should keep investing time and effort in going green, because it’s worthwhile, because it’s in, and because they’ll be money for green initiatives. There should be stimulus money for green construction, so she thinks we should get students to mobilize support from politicians, the DOE, the community, and business to help us create a greener school. So, let us know of green goals you have for next year that could use support.**

Special thanks **to Judith Council and Mr. Mindlin. Donna thinks the Pollinators’ Garden is an important contribution to the community. Mr. Mindlin accompanied us on the walk-thru of the Pollinators’ Garden and his Animal Science Lab. Donna loved the Animal Science Lab, Ms. Lindsay’s water harvesting and green goals, Terry Sapp’s Biodiversity Poetry, Ms. Yordan-Samuel’s continuing philanthropy club work. She was glad to see the following bulletin boards: Ms. Clark’s I Am of the Earth Poetry, Ms. Bautista’s Urban Forest, Ms. Nelson’s Ice Shelves, Ms Salinas’ Acid Rain, Ms. Armstrong’s Michael’s Garden math projects, Ms. Cardenas’ Good, Bad & Ugly – Harmful Chemicals on Earth, and Ms. Napolitano’s World’s Water Crisis.**
 * Donna was bowled over by the energy of the students in the Biome initiative in the T-building. Thanks to Ms. Singhal, Katz, Fenoaltea, Guadalupe, Alli, Suarez, Wyckoff, Shyam, and Mr. Anello. We’ll send Donna a copy of Mr. Perez’s environmental PSA.**

What’s Happening
 * Charity Water BAKE SALE: Ms. Kohm and Ms. Napolitano, along with their classes will be holding a BAKE SALE on Wed., May 13, during ALL lunch periods. Please help support the bake sale. All of the money they raise will be donated to Charity:Water. This organization donates money to developing nations that lack clean drinking water to build and sustain wells that will provide villages with clean drinking water. For more information: charitywater.org**

Tree Naming**. Ms. Bautista and Class 852 will have a tree naming ceremony on Thursday, May 21st, periods 4-5. Our twig is a White Oak, and they’ve read a poem about an oak tree and researched white oaks.**

Great Classroom Resource
 * Facing the Future: FREE Downloadable environmental/global curricula. You indicate your grade, subject, and topic:**
 * http://www.facingthefuture.org/Curriculum/FindCurriculumthatisRightforYou/tabid/68/Default.aspx**

Magnet Update 5/4/09
Magnet Tip of the Week. (Source: Marlyne Adman). Collect rainwater. Put out a barrel or a bucket. Collect the rainwater and use the water to water your garden and indoor plants.

Additional Mentions Thanks for what you all made possible during Earth Week: • Ben Palmeri worked the global bee decline into his math lessons. • Callie Fenoaltea integrated math from the Channel 13 Environmental Math site. • Lisa LaRosa and Franklin Suarez showed the documentary Silence of the Bee and The Bee Movie.

Contest Winners **will be selected and awarded next week.**

Great Classroom Resources **We Learned About at Our Curriculum Design Team**
 * Visual Search Engines – A Lot of Fun to USE:**
 * www.kartoo.com/**
 * www.searchme.com/**
 * http://www.search-cube.com/**


 * “Online Experiences in each of the Intelligences”**
 * http://surfaquarium.com/MI/intelligences.htm**


 * Environmental and Nature Resources for Math:**
 * Thanks to Ms. Fenoaltea for this link:**
 * MATH: http://www.pbs.org/teachers/mathline/concepts/moremathconcepts.shtm**
 * Mathematics in Nature, Earth Day Math, Farming & Gardening, Weather**

RECRUITMENT**. Just when we thought magnet work was going to slow down, we are going into high gear on recruitment again, both for people interested in applying next year and families who have been accepted for the coming year. We will have visitors in the building, so if you see families touring, please acknowledge them. If you would like your class to be a destination on our school tour, please let us know.**


 * Incoming 6th and 7th Graders. 5th and 6th grade classes from P. S. 54, 82, 117, 86, and 99 will be visiting the building in a few weeks. Please acknowledge.**

Magnet Update 4/27/09
Magnet Tip of the Week. (Source: http://www.takepart.com). “Washing machines use a ton of energy, but did you know that 90% of that energy goes into heating the water? Forget the warm and hot wash cycles, and instead keep the dial on cold and rub a little eco-friendly detergent on those harder-to-clean stains. You saving the environment and using less energy means a lower electric bill ”

Thanks for what you all made possible during Earth Week: • Mr. Carroll’s students are researching Brown’s Gas, an alternative energy, and writing 500 word essays on why our school deserves to be named America's Greenest School! Each entrant has a chance to win $5000. • Ms. Aleshin’s students are writing odes: Ode to Endangered Animals; Ode to Trees; Ode to a Cleaner, Greener Future; Ode to Terra; Ode to Motha Nature • Ms. Napolitano and classes 723, 752 and 813 are creating PowerPoint about our water crisis. • Ms. Kohm has discovered charity:water. Ms. Kohm and Ms. Napolitano and their classes 723 and 752 have been learning about the global water crisis and have committed to raise funds for charity:water. charity:water donates 100% of the money they raise to build and sustain wells in developing nations around the world. Please support their May 8th BAKE SALE, periods 3-6, in the student cafeteria to raise money for this important cause. • Social Studies teachers, Mr.Brown, Ms. Clyde, Mr. Collado, Mr. Faraci, Ms. S. Gonzalez, Ms. Guardado, Mr. Katz, Mr. Kronberg, Mr. Mack, Ms. Mancino, Ms. Sistrunk, Ms.Suarez, Ms. Williams and their students all watched The True Cost of Food and/or The Story of Stuff. • Ms. Lindsay’s classes are devising water harvesting systems. • Ms. Baxter and her Role Model students are going on a “Green Clean” and will educate us about Relighting with compact fluorescent light bulbs. • Ms. Yordan and her students visited a senior center and distributed food at a soup kitchen. • Ms. Bautista and her students are paying homage to trees in Haiku and posters. • All the 6th grade students and teachers are working hard to recreate their rooms as biomes. • Three of Ms. Alli and Ms. Singhal for working with students, Nicholas Ramdin, Rebecca Cummings, and Alejandra Beltran, who are winners in the Dept of Environmental Protection’s 2009 Water Conservation Poetry and Water Contest • Ms. LaRosa and Mr. Suarez showed and did lessons on The Secret Life of Bees and The Bee Movie to their students • Ms. Williams class is visiting a local farm stand next week, an outgrowth of their study of The True Cost of Food DVD. • Ms. Cardenas’ classes have been studying the pernicious effects certain chemicals have on our environment. • Ms. Sapp’s classes are creating environmental booklets with glossaries and different forms of poetry: cinquains, Haiku, free verse, and diamantes. • Mr. Greggo, Ms. Shyam, Ms. Singhal, Mr. Mindlin, and Ms. Lindsay began composting in their rooms a while ago; soon all of the science teachers will be composting in their classrooms. • Ms. S. Gonzales’ classes are creating posters, based on their study of what is endangering the. • Ms. Sewell is working with the Green Team on a clean up campaign. The students will work in the cafeteria. They have created a skit that they’ll be performing at assemblies. • Ms. Adman’s 7th graders are creating sets to compliment Ms. Caceres’ dancers and Ms. Erosa’s students, performing work related to their visit to the NYC Waterfalls. • Ms. Burgess’ Classes 792 and 891 presented a Green Magnet Show with foods from cultures all around the world, with green poetry, a green Hip Hop African American dance, a Dominican dance, and Indian Dance, all performed to music about the earth. They used recycled materials to create all the decorations. • Mr. Brown’s Social Studies classes have written evaluations of what they’ve learned about the True Cost of Food. • Mr. Mindlin, Judith Council and the Garden Club will be working on the pollinators’ garden this weekend and planting our White Oak tree in honor of Arbor Day tomorrow. At this point, our free white oak tree appears to be only a twig. Ms. Bautista had requested the tree and Ms. Bautista’s class will have a tree naming ceremony. • Ben Palmeri worked the global bee decline into his math lessons. • Lisa LaRosa and Franklin Suarez showed the documentary Silence of the Bee and The Bee Movie.

Environmental and Nature Resources: Thanks to Ms. Sapp for these websites: http://edugreen.teri.res.in/explore/llife/life.htm http://biodiversity.worldpollutionsolution.com/biodiversity-poems-for-kids.php

We have gathered short video clips on environmental issues at the Channel 13 VITAL website: http://vital.thirteen.org/vital2td.html >Click on Register Now >School Information: JHS 217 R. A. VANWYCK JHS Complete the form >Start using Teachers’ Domain >Groups >Join a Group Type in 4803 Folders we’ve created: Climate Change – 8 Quick Time videos of 3-6 minutes each Bees – 5 Quick Time videos of 3-5 ½ minutes each Alternative Energies – 4 Quick Time Videos 2-6 minutes each If you show them from the site, they are small. If you download these videos, you can blow them up larger.

EARTH WEEK at the Green Magnet, 4/20 – 4/24 EARTH DAY – 4/22/09
Earth Week: CONTEST: Create a Nature/Environment-related Superhero! Green Team

Social Studies – Are we eating too much? Math – What’s Left of Earth for Growing Food? • Vocabulary: Sustainability; Carbon Offset; Carbon/Food/Water/Ecological Footprint, arable, arability

Social Studies Teachers – 15 minute DVD – The True Cost of Food from the Sierra Club. Mr. Kronberg and Ms. Sistrunk have two copies we have, and we’ll have 8 more by 4/20/09. You can see a 7 minute and 15 minute version of the film at: http://www.sierraclub.org/truecostoffood/movie.asp. DVD is the 15 minute version. • Social Studies Worksheets: o Three Definitions of “Sustainability” o How Big is Your Food Footprint o Reducing Your Footprint: Some Steps You Can Take • Websites for footprinting on line: • http://www.earthday.net/footprint/flash.html - We used this for Tech Fair • Take the footprint quiz: http://www.myfootprint.org/en/visitor_information/

Math. Worksheet: “Summary of ‘The Earth as an Apple’ Demonstration: Land” Math Teachers can also graph # of earths consumed with footprinting results from Social Studies classroom

Literacy • Nature & Poetry: Differentiated Poetry Unit To Be Folded Into Poetry Matters unit: o Packet of poems will be distributed digitally, including: Shel Silverstein, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Frost, A. E. Housman, Emily Dickinson, Arthur Stewart, Lord Byron, John Masefield, Langston Hughes, Anne Bronte, Andrew Marvell, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. o Teachers can use their own poems; students can bring in and find poems. o For Poetry Search: Most of the anthologies have nature poems in them. o Ideas: Nature and Symbolism; Compare and Contrast Nature/Man/Cities in Poems; • Man vs Nature ; Personification ; Anthropomorphism; Paradox – Nature as friend and foe • Please share other perspectives and suggestions

If you haven’t done the school read, you could do it this week: o Song of the Trees – Linda’s unit plan with vocabulary, ideas for themes available at: • http://greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com/Literacy+-+Song+of+the+Trees • Pick up class set from room 216

Science Teachers. 7th Grade – Composting or Climate Change. 8th Grade – Preparing for science test.

Also Available: “Drop in the Bucket” lesson we did on Election Day about the amt. of water on earth

• • Resources Available at: http://greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com and http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p5rNf4BT4uqGxuxh0PNgwJQ&hl=en • Fill in your plans on the googledoc (some already filled in by us), or ask us to do so. THANKS.

Other Info - This website has not been vetted, but it seems to have a lot of information: • http://www.myfootprint.org/en/redefining_progress/ • Redefining Progress: Environmental Justice and Change-member of the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative (EJCC), o a diverse, consensus-based group of U.S. environmental justice, climate justice, religious, policy, and advocacy groups that represent hundreds of communities across the country. • Have students provide recommendations on the quiz’s music, food categories, etc.: http://www.myfootprint.org/en/footprint_forum/ • For teachers: http://www.sustainable-economy.org/news/16/53.html. Info on: • Economic and Environmental Analysis • Sustainable Development Plans & Policy • Sustainability Education • Sustainability On-Line, and more

Magnet Update 4/6/09
Magnet Tip of the Week. (Source: http://www.care4nature.org/exclusives/exclusives10.htm) Car Care: Maintain proper air pressure in your tires. Don’t let your car idle unnecessarily. Keep fuel filters clean. Don’t haul around unnecessary weight.

Thanks: Mr. Powers worked for months to get the videoconferencing equipment up and running. Mr. Powers also located the Live from the Heart videoconferencing opportunity, a collaboration between The Chicago Museum of Science and Industry and Advocate Christ Medical Center. The Green Team and Ms. Sewell made posters and promoted participation in Earth Hour. Green Team students are: Humanities: Claymar Nelson, 601; Mohamed Yassin, 601; Chynah Hales, 631, Kailyn Mora, 631; Rhenecia Balfour, 631; Shaline Nelson, 631, and Shaya Bostic, 631. Math & Science: Clayondrew Nelson, 721; T’meyah Lawrie, 731; Sandy Sarenzranada, 721. Law & Gov’t: Ciaira Brown, 707. Arts & Tech: Ronny Rodriguez, 814.

News ➨Be on the alert for more news from the Green Team and Ms. Sewall.

4/6/09. YouthCAN. Ms. Lindsay’s students presented the following workshops at the YouthCAN Green Science Fair at the American Museum of Natural History. WORKSHOPS: • Nourishing Earthworms: The Effect Of Earthworms’ Diet On Soil Quality- Why Compost? PRESENTED BY: Tulip Kabir, Mahendra Taramal, Paul Padua, Maimuna Hossain • Bottled Water vs. Tap water: What should you drink? PRESENTED BY: Salma Pasha, Kevin Rivas, Shameza Khan, Fahimnur Alam • Is drinking water in our school safe? PRESENTED BY: Miriam Peters, Natchielii Romero, Juliana Germosen, Sabrina Anirude • Harvesting the Drops of Life: A How To Workshop: Marium Sarder, Raven Shah, Malcolm Xavier, Parbattie Kataballi • Recycling Greywater. What is grey water? How can it be recycled? PRESENTED BY: Alex Francis, Emely Orellana, Mohammad Sarker, Ramona Rameshwer PRESENTATIONS: • How does soil depth affect the growth of a seed? Moontaha Syeda, Rumaan Ali, Nadi Islam, Sahery Arain • What type of soil is optimal to start a school garden? Jeba Yasmin, Astris Vasquez, Mohini Ramdayal • How does contact with different types of soil change the pH of water? Khandakar Islam, Nureshwar Khargie, Diana Matute

4/4/09. YouthCAN Activity Day (Youth Communicating and Networking). 29 MS 217 8th grade students and Mrs. Lindsay-Munroe joined in a walk across the George Washington Bridge and a hike along the trails at the Palisades Interstate Park. YouthCan is a youth run organization that uses technology to inspire, connect, and educate people worldwide about environmental issues. Students were able to study the ecosystem and collect samples. This trip supports our students' Science Exit Projects and is aligned with Unit 3 and Unit 4 in our Science curricula.

The Pollinators' Garden Club Has Broken Ground. This Saturday, April 4th, Judith Council and Steve Mindlin led 17 students in breaking ground for the Pollinators' Garden. The garden club dates are: 3/30, 4/4, 4/6, 4/25, 4/27, 5/2.

4/1/09. Live From the Heart Videoconference. Our first Live from the Heart Videoconference was amazing. Mr. Powers set up the technology and the image was excellent. Dr. Andrade prepped the students beforehand, so they had prior knowledge and could ask intelligent questions. In addition to viewing a live feed of a bypass heart surgery, the students were introduced to medical careers. The doctors, nurses, profusionist (runs the heart/lung machine), and anesthesiologist spoke to the students about their varied daily activities and the education required for the different careers. The heart surgeon said he works about 100 hours/week. The subject and visuals were fascinating and the event was interactive. While the surgery was occurring, the students were able to ask all of the participants medical and career-related questions. We were joined by the Director of the Pre-Med Program and six students from Hillcrest High School, including our former student Sameera Hekmaty. Two other schools, one in Chicago and one in Ohio were also participating. Next videoconference: May 1, 2009.

UbD Per Session Opportunities 4/13-4/16. UbD 101. April Curriculum Writing Institute with Louise Cleveland. Availability: 35 teachers, total from all 5 schools. First come, first served. Deadline was 4/3, but if you’re interested, e-mail Lainie. Since we want many units developed, we don’t want two people doing the same unit of study. So, before you settle on a unit, check with Karen or Ed to make sure no one else has done this unit.

February Institute. If you got your unit back from Lainie, please make the edits and send it to Lainie and Ed or Karen, so that we can post it on the wiki.

Literacy Teachers. Speak to Karen or Ed about signing out books. Books Available: Scat. We got in 10 copies of Carl Hiaasen’s new book Scat. “… Nick and Marta will have to reckon with an eccentric eco-avenger, a stuffed rat named Chelsea, a wannabe Texas oilman, a singing substitute teacher, and a ticked-off Florida panther…” We are looking for teachers to preview this book for future class set purchase. Missing ‘Gator of Gumbo Limbo. 35 copies The Giving Tree. 31 copies

August 17th – 20th – UbD 101. Per Session Opportunity. Louise Cleveland workshop. If you complete a unit, you get per session. If you don’t complete a unit, you get training rate.

Plans for Brooklyn-Queens Day Math Teachers – Training on the graphing calculators.

Earth Week, April 20 – 24. Introduce to Students: Earth Week Contest: Create a Superhero that can save nature and/or improve the environment! The student must research current problems the superhero can address. The superhero’s powers must be scientifically-based. Submissions must include an image and writing. Students can come to room 216 to pick up a submission form. New Resources available for Earth Week: • DVDs: True Cost of Food – 14 minutes, 53 seconds. From The Sierra Club. 2 copies • 4- 5 minute video clips: BEES and Climate change: http://www.teachersdomain.org, Sign up and access Group ID: 4803 • Facing the Future free lessons and downloadable materials: http://www.facingthefuture.org/Curriculum/DownloadFreeCurriculum/tabid/114/Default.aspx#Teacher%20Lesson%20Plan%20Book

Remember to sign onto Googledocs and list plans you have for Earth Week. Googledocs: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p5rNf4BT4uqGxuxh0PNgwJQ&hl=en. Add a 1-2 word description of what you plan to do. Check out resources available on the extreme right hand side of the document.

Magnet Update 3/30/09
Magnet Tip of the Week. (Source: Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating by Mark Bittman). Eat unprocessed foods. “The smart consumer buys few foods that have more than one ingredient.” “A health claim on a product is a good indication that it’s not really food.” Source: Michael Pollan.

THANKS: Ms. Johanny Lama and Ms. Estela Dowd beautifully re-designed and installed our Green Magnet bulletin board in the main lobby Mr. Perez created a Going Green iDoc. Ms. Yordan led her Philanthropy Club on a community service trip to the St. Luke’s Baptist Food Pantry. Wednesday, April 1st Ms. Yordan’s Philanthropy Club is going to the Laurelton Senior Center to interact with the seniors and serve the seniors lunch. Class 822 students provided invaluable assistance during Family Science Night: Mosammat Affrin, Sadia Rahman, and Aneeka Biswas. Ms. Chantay Sewell and the Green Team for getting the school community to particpate in Vote Earth. Ms. Hunerberg and her classes studied and created posters for the green team too.

Curriculum Design Team Tip: Progressive Test. Keep a class set of blue, green, other color pens. First ten minutes of test – each person works alone. Next ten minutes students work in pairs. Next 10 minutes pairs form groups and work together. Last 10 minutes whole class review. When tests are handed in, you can see what students progressively knew.

Nova’s Extreme Ice. If you missed it, you can view an interactive slide show (click on the thumbnails from left to right) and a short video: http://eeweek.org/resources/water_curricula.htm. Other info: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/extremeice/ Classroom Lesson/QuickTime video: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/teachers/activities/3604_extremeice.html

Earth Week, April 20 – 24. Remember to sign onto the Googledocs and list plans you have for Earth Week. Update on Arbor Day: Ms. Bautista’s class will be planting a white oak tree. Googledocs: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p5rNf4BT4uqGxuxh0PNgwJQ&hl=en Add short description of what you plan to do. Check out resources available on the extreme right hand side of the document.

Earth Resources/Videos/Lessons: Go to VITAL: http://vital.thirteen.org/vital2td.html - sign-up at “Register Now” Our school is listed on the website as: JHS 217 R. A. VANWYCK JHS We’ve set up a Folder: Earth Lessons - Bees, Fuel, Water, Climate Change Group ID# 4803

Carbon Footprinting: http://www.earthday.net/footprint/index.html You don’t have to sign-in. Go to “If you want to proceed directly to the footprint quiz, click here.”

Water Lesson Plans, Grades 5-8: http://eeweek.org/resources/water_curricula.htm

Green Team – Students and Ms. Sewell.

Our First Videoconferencing Event. April 1, 9:45 – 12:45. Live from the Heart – Operating Room to Classroom. 21st Century Learning and Career Exploration. The following students from class 823 will be participating: Daniel Dzhurayev, Wendy Ordonez, Diksha Sach, Samantha Roopnarine, Lubaine Haider, Samantha Gauchier, Priya Lall, Mond Sakib, Fariha Sadat. Six students from Hillcrest High School’s Pre-Med program will also be attending, including some of our former students.

3/27 Donna Elam visit. Donna was impressed with how much work we have accomplished in one year. She said, “Think big about Going Green.” There will be money for green initiatives for Title I schools; we could be a green demonstration school.

4/13-4/16. Per Session Available. April Curriculum Writing Institute with Louise Cleveland. Speak to J. Echeverria, C. Castillo, J. Council, and C. Cardenas about their experience in February. Availability: 35 teachers, total from all 5 schools. First come, first served. Deadline 4/3.

Magnet Update 3/23/09
Magnet Tip of the Week. (Source: Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating by Mark Bittman) Refill and reuse drink containers. “A 12-ounce can of diet soda-containing just 1 calorie-requires 2,200 calories to produce, about 70 percent of which is in production of the aluminum can. Bottled water? A 1-quart polyethylene bottle requires more than 2400 calories to produce.” Kp can’t give up her diet soda – it’s her comfort food. Is it food?

THANK YOU. So many of you came through with descriptions of units for our final report. We ended up with 46 units. Magnet Director Lainie Leber said, “This looks really good.” Thanks to: M. Adman, S. Alli, P. Bautista, K. Brown, T. Caceres, C. Cardenas, C. Castillo, J. Council, J. Echeverria, E. Erosa, M. Goldstein, A. Greenberg, D. Guadalupe, L. Hoffman, D. Hunerberg, F. Katz, P. Kohm, R. Melendez, G. Munz, G. Nelson, B. Palmeri, M. Powers, K. Ravizee, V. Rodi, N. Shyam, R. Singhal, F. Suarez, T. Taylor, R. Yordan. Dr. E. Andrade.

Family Science Night**. The Family Science Night was a success. We had about 165 students and their family members and 20 staff/professional participants. Quotes from “Feedback Survey” are attached; read what parents and students wrote about teachers, our school, and the environment. Reading the responses helps make all of our hard work worthwhile. Thanks to: Urban Advantage, which funded the NY Hall of Science presentation, representatives from NY Hall of Science and Center for the Urban Environment, and especially our staff: C. Cardenas, J. Echeverria, C. Gonzales, M. Jackson, S. Marshall, S. Mindlin, M. Morrison, C. Sewall, N. Shyam, R. Singhal. Mr. Greggo, Ms. Baxter. Mr. Burns, his wife, and two daughters helped serve dinner and socialized with the students and their families. Ms. Lindsay initiated the program, and we missed her.**

Nova, March 24, 2009, 8 p.m. **“An acclaimed photographer teams up with scientists to document the runaway melting of arctic glaciers.” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/extremeice/.**
 * Viewing Ideas, Teacher’s Guide: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/teachers/programs/3604_extremeice.html**


 * E**XCITING NEWS**. Live from the Heart – Operating Room to Classroom. 21st Century Learning and Career Exploration. To extend the Heart Surgery Program, run by Dr. Andrade and Steve Mindlin, Michael Powers researched and set up a videoconference. Through a program run by the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry and Advocate Christ Medical Center, and our videoconferencing equipment, students and school staff watch a live heart surgery. At the end, Drs. Run a Q & A with the students. Our videoconferences will be April 1 and May 27th.**

Think Quest: **Entries by 5/4/09. Prizes–Laptops/Trip to San Francisco. Essay topics include: How can humans and animals live together harmoniously? How do you imagine the school of the future? How can we provide access to safe drinking water for everyone in our world? How can we take better care of our world and its resources? http://www.thinkquest.org/competition/narrative/topics.html -**

3/27 Donna Elam visit**. Anyone who wants to meet with her – contact us. Let us know if we can come visit your classroom to share: Environment/Technology/Career/or Anything else you are particularly proud of. We’d appreciate you doing something that week and/or that day regarding the environment/careers/technology.**

4/13-4/16. Per Session Available**. April Curriculum Writing Institute with Louise Cleveland. J. Echeverria, C. Castillo, J. Council, and C. Cardenas recently completed this institute in February. Ask them if they would recommend it. Availability: 35 teachers, total from all 5 schools. First come, first served. Deadline to register is 4/3 – unless filled before that date.**

4/20 - 4/24 Earth Week **We invited everyone to a googledoc and we’ll be attending House meetings. If you didn’t get the e-mail about the googledoc, let us know. Ideas:**
 * •Think Quest Narrative Competition (see above);**
 * •Food – The True Cost of Food - http://www.sierraclub.org/truecostoffood/**
 * •Water – http://www.flowthefilm.com/ (we have copies of the DVD)**
 * •Waste – The Story of Stuff**
 * •Climate Change – see Nova special above.**
 * •Innovations in Green Living – renewable energies, green architecture, etc.**
 * •Investigate PlaNYC2030. http://www.nyc.gov/html/planyc2030/html/home/home.shtml . The plan focuses on the city’s land, air, water, energy, and transportation.**
 * •Environmental IEP for the school - Mr. D. Jackson’s idea.**

Magnet Update 3/16/09
Magnet Tip of the Week. (Source: Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating by Mark Bittman) “Global livestock production is responsible for about one-fifth of all greenhouse gases – more than transportation. We can have an immediate impact on our own health and a very real effect on global warming and the environment. It’s very simple: eat less meat and junk food, eat more vegetables and whole grains.

EMERGENCY. Info needed for magnet final report. The federal government recently advised that the final report is due 3/17 instead of in June, as it was last year. PLEASE fill out the template (attached) and write a short description of units that integrate any technology, the environment, and/or career exploration. If a unit is listed on the template, that you already do, please add your name at the top of the template, and add the classes you do the unit with in the left-hand column (even if the length of time might not match your timetable). If you send a unit, and you know other teachers do it too, please add their names to the template. Empty templates for descriptions of units are at the end of the file. There are a lot of units you can use and describe that are posted at www.greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com.

BLOGS**. We’re listing classroom blogs in the final report, so please send us the link to your classroom blog, if you have one.**
 * Math Teachers: If you do the unit that Franklin Suarez included, please add your name and classes, and send the template back to me.**
 * Social Studies: Who participated in Teaching Matters’ Civil Rights unit? In this section, add your name and classes on the template.**

Literacy Teachers**. If you haven’t read Song of the Trees with your students, please come pick up a class set. Linda Hoffman has posted a unit of study for Song of the Trees at www.greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com. The book is about 45 pages, it’s a fast read, but it’s rich with content, interesting ideas, and figurative language.**

Thanks to Ms. Shyam, Ms. Singhal, Ms. Gonzalez, Ms. Cardenas, Ms. Lindsay, and Mr. M. Jackson for successfully encouraging their students to attend the Green Magnet Family Science Night. Thanks to science teachers C. Cardenas, J. Echeverria, C. Gonzales, M. Jackson, Lindsay, S. Marshall, S. Mindlin, M. Morrison, C. Sewell, and N. Shyam for working at socializing with the students and their parents. Special thanks to Ms. X. Baxter for helping during the Family Science Night. Ms. Lindsay was the inspiration and driving force for this evening; we hope she recovers quickly. Thanks to Ms. Gentry for showing Flow: For Love of Water to the Law & Govt House.

World Water Day, 3/22**. “In many communities around the world, women and children must walk up to 6 miles a day to retrieve clean water for their families. The Walk for Water on World Water Day 2006 is a symbolic act of solidarity and an effort to educate the public about the World Water Crisis. We hope you’ll join us.” http://www.worldwaterday.org/page/560. Ms. Gentry might take students to participate in World Water Day, 3/22 -**

3/27 Donna Elam visit. **Anyone who wants to meet with her – contact us. Let us know if we can come visit your classroom to share: Environment/Technology/Career/or Anything else you are particularly proud of. We’d appreciate you doing something that week and/or that day regarding the environment/careers/and-or technology.**

4/13-4/16 Per Session Available. **April Curriculum Writing Institute with Louise Cleveland. J. Echeverria, C. Castillo, J. Council, and C. Cardenas recently completed this institute in February. Ask them if they would recommend it. Availability: 35 teachers, total from all 5 schools. First come, first served. Deadline to register is 4/3 – unless filled before that date.**

4/20 - 4/24 Earth Week 4/22 **– Earth Day**
 * What Academies have done that you can build upon:**
 * Humanities house watched Who Killed the Electric Car?**
 * Law & Government watched Flow: For Love of Water. http://www.flowthefilm.com/aboutwater**


 * Plan – We will use a googledocs spreadsheet, so teams of teachers can coordinate, support each others’ work, and at least know what your team members are doing. To facilitate this, we will post a googledoc where people can give a short description of what they’re doing.**
 * Examples of what people are doing :**
 * Polar Extinctions – Grace Nelson**
 * Peacepals Project – Gail Munz**
 * Trees/Tree Planting – Perla Bautista**
 * Nature and Art – Renee Melendez, Kendra Ravizee**
 * Song of the Trees – literacy teachers**
 * Bees – Lisa LaRosa and Franklin Suarez – Silence of the Bees movie**
 * Water – Ragini Singhal and Shamena Alli**


 * We have a lot of resources. That are listed at greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com**


 * I**dea for Law & Govt. Investigate PlaNYC2030**. By 2030, 1 million more people will be living in NYC. If we achieve the goals of PlaNYC2030, we will be living a “cleaner, greener, more responsible” life in NYC. What is PlaNYC2030? How will it affect me, my family, my school, my neighborhood?**

Magnet Update 3/09/09
Magnet Tip of the Week. Recycling at Staples. (Source: www.staples.com/sbd/content/about/soul/recycling.html). Staples offers $3 in Staples Rewards toward a future purchase of ink or toner when HP, Lexmark™ or Dell cartridges are returned to their retail stores for recycling. They also offer an InkDrop®. When a cartridge runs out, customers simply drop a new one in the printer and mail us the empty using the prepaid shipping materials. We send a replacement automatically, and all shipping is free.

Just Past • Queens Botanical PD**: On Thursday, March 5, science teachers and Judith Council attended a full day workshop at the Queens Botanical Garden: The Art and Science of Composting; Composting Strategies for the Garden; Setting Up a Classroom Worm Bin. Big Ideas: Biomimicry. Essential Question: How can we copy nature? Topical Essential Question: What can we learn from the way nature creates soil?**
 * Science teachers will begin composting in their classrooms.**

Upcoming and Happening Arts & Tech. Curating the Teri Pakier Nature Collection: Bringing the Outside In
 * On Friday, March 6, the artist Sol Aramendi began working with Ms. Ravizee and class 816. Sol was impressed with the students’ understanding and perceptions. Sol will meet with Renee Melendez’s class 723 for the first time on Monday, March 9th. Classes 723 and 816 will visit the Queens International show at the Queens Museum of Art on March 12th.**


 * •** Family Science Night, 3/13/09, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. **We are closely approaching the Green Magnet Family Science Night. The purpose of this event is four-fold: introduce parents and students to the 8th grade NYS Science performance exam; introduce concepts of Sustainability and Eco-Footprinting; as part of recruitment, introduce P. S. 117 6th graders to our science department; bring teachers, students and parents together socially. Our science teachers will be presenting the NYS exam. The Center for the Urban Environment will present Sustainability and Eco-Footprinting. The New York Hall of Science will present a workshop on Newton’s Laws.**


 * I**n the Classroom
 * • Paula Kohm did the Center for Urban Environment water scarcity workshop with her classes. Her class couldn’t believe how little fresh water we have available to drink.**
 * • Shamena Alli is doing a water unit with her sixth grade class. They are fascinated by the NYC watershed and will hopefully visit the exhibit at the QMA.**

School-wide • EARTH WEEK. See resources available at: www.greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com.

Magnet Update 3/2/09
The Green Magnet Tip of the Week. (Source: www.bestbuy.com) “Now you can bring everything from TVs and computers to DVD players and more to any U.S. Best Buy store, and we'll recycle it. Best Buy does not charge a fee for recycling most consumer electronics. However, we do charge $10 for TVs, CRTs, monitors and laptops, which

Just Past • Understanding by Design – Mr. Echeverria, Ms. Council, Ms. Cardenas, and Mr. Castillo attended the four day Understanding by Design (UbD) institute over the February break. They reported finding it rigorous and worthwhile. We will be posting the units they developed at: greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com. Thanks for all their hard work.

Upcoming YouthCaN. Stacey Lindsay’s students are presenting 6 green science-based workshops and 3 green science-based presentations at the YouthCan event on Monday, April 6 at the American Museum of Natural History.

Reminders: Math & Science Academy Projects • Composting. On Thursday, March 5th, science teachers and Judith Council will be attending a composting PD at Queens Botanical Garden. After the PD, as part of ecology units, science teachers will develop composting lessons, teach it to the students, and train the students to maintain the composting project in the classroom. Ragini Singhal and Nalini Shyam are already composting in their classrooms. If you’re interested to see how it works, I’m sure they’d be happy for a visit.

Arts & Tech. Bringing the Outside In – Curating-Photography Program. • Renee Melendez’s class 723 and and Lakendra Ravizee’s class 816 have begun their partnership with artist Sol Aramendi from the Queens Museum of Art. The students will be curating the Teri Pakier Nature Collection, creating a digital and hardcopy catalog for the exhibit. The catalog will include the students’ writing and create a digital story with their own photographs from our school neighborhood. The program will culminate with a celebration of the students’ work at the Queens Museum of Art on Wednesday, June 3rd, 5:30 to 8:30.

School-wide • EARTH WEEK. Ask your students to come up with ideas for Earth Week. What would they be interested in doing as a class? What do they see as the big issues and problems? What are some scientific, social, economic, and aesthetic questions? How do they think their lives are being affected and could be affected in the future? What is their dystopia look like? What does their green world look like? They can think home, neighborhood, planet.

Magnet Update 2/9/09
Tech Fair. Today. Come see students presenting: Math Explorations - Wikis Science VideoPaper Labs Future Cities Engineering: SimCity4 & Physical Models Google Docs Constitution TodayPowerpoints Eco-Footprinting Classroom Blogs Writing eZines: on-line magazines iMovies - Digital Movies Mouse Squad

Upcoming • Understanding by Design – LAST CALL FOR FEBRUARY 16-19 o PD. Lainie Leber, our magnet director, is looking for 5 more teachers to participate in the Louise Cleveland UbD training, Feb. 16-19 at Linden Place from 9:00 – 4. Teachers will receive 24 hours of per session. Interested teachers have to come with materials to develop a unit of study. It’s a great per session opportunity to develop UbD curriculum. You can take a pre-existing unit and learn to develop it using UbD, or you can take materials for a new, green unit. To sign up, let Karen or Ed know you are interested, but you must personally contact Cmcevoy@schools.nyc.gov with the following information: • Your first and last name • School name • Email address • phone number to best reach you • The subject you teach • The grade you teach • # of years teacher • Any experience with UBD • The unit title you will work on (include grade, subject and unit title)

Teachers already signed up for February UbD Training, remember you have a February 9th deadline to submit the description and breakdown of your unit.

In the Works Math & Science Academy Projects • Composting. On March 6th, science teachers will be attending a composting PD at Queens Botanical Garden. After the PD, as part of ecology units, science teachers will develop composting lessons, teach it to the students, and train the students to maintain the composting project in the classroom. Ragini Singhal and Nalini Shyam are already composting in their classrooms. If you’re interested to see how it works, I’m sure they’d be happy for a visit.

• Sustainable Buildings - Innovations in Green Living. We are sending curricula to the Business Owners and Managers Association (BOMA). BOMA wants to develop an on-going Green Building Program for our students. We will send topics from our science, math, social studies, and our architectural curricula to BOMA, so they can develop meaningful educational experiences. We will then make a pre-visit to the Hurst Building, an interesting architectural landmark with a new green addition to see what they have to offer. Teachers and students from all disciplines will be able to take these field trips. BOMA is doing this pro bono.

Arts & Tech. Bringing the Outside In – Curating-Photography Program. • Renee Melendez’s class 723 and and Lakendra Ravizee’s class 816 will begin the Queens Museum of Art Curating-Photography program on February 23rd.

Law & Government. • 100 Days in History Celebration. Students could be developing: timeline of events and Obama’s accomplishments; they could be collecting, organizing, and commenting on news articles from now until May. Students will be eligible for AWARDS will be available for: best timeline; best opinion piece; best news article.

School-wide • EARTH WEEK. Think about big issues. Think about the possible upcoming crises: water, bees/ food security, climate change, waste reduction, recycling. Also think about green careers. We have resources, and possible per session, if you have a unit to develop. Come to us with your ideas, we’d be happy to meet with you. o Ideas: Interclass visitations for students who want to present green poetry, projects. For example, 6th graders who entered the DEP poetry contest on water, could make visits, or come perform for Mr. Burns and A.P.s.

Thanks to Ms. Adman for her dedication to the Future Cities competition. Thanks to all staff members who helped Ms. Adman and her students, including Mr. Burns, Ms. Aleshin, Ms. Rodi, and Mr. Mindlin. Mr. Mindlin helped the day of the event. Ms. Aleshin helped some students’ with their oral presentations. Ms. Rodi printed images for the display boards.

Magnet Update 2/2/09
The Green Magnet Tip of the Week. (Source: Living Green, Saving Trees. http://www.unahi.org/living-green.htm) “If we all modified our habits and [choose] our purchases with the environment in mind, it [will create] a demand in the marketplace for environmentally sustainable products. Buy goods and materials with less packaging. Avoid buying products that have more than one layer of wrapping.”

Future Cities Regional Competition. We’ll probably be putting up the models in the lobby. Come take a look when they’re up.

Upcoming • Understanding by Design o PD. Lainie Leber, our magnet director, is looking for more teachers to participate in the Louise Cleveland UbD training, Feb. 16-19 at Linden Place from 9:00 – 4. Teachers will receive 24 hours of per session. Interested teachers have to come with materials to develop a unit of study. It’s a great per session opportunity to develop UbD curriculum. You can take a pre-existing unit and learn to develop it using UbD, or you can take materials for a new, green unit. To sign up, let Karen or Ed know you are interested, but you must personally contact Cmcevoy@schools.nyc.gov with the following information: • Your first and last name • School name • Email address • phone number to best reach you • The subject you teach • The grade you teach • # of years teacher • Any experience with UBD • The unit title you will work on (include grade, subject and unit title)

In the Works Math & Science Academy Projects • Composting. On March 6th, science teachers will be attending a composting PD at Queens Botanical Garden. After the PD, as part of ecology units, science teachers will develop composting lessons, teach it to the students, and train the students to maintain the composting project in the classroom. Ragini Singhal and Nalini Shyam are already composting in their classrooms. If you’re interested to see how it works, I’m sure they’d be happy for a visit.

• Sustainable Buildings - Innovations in Green Living. We are sending curricula to the Business Owners and Managers Association (BOMA). BOMA wants to develop an on-going Green Building Program for our students. We will send topics from our science, math, social studies, and our architectural curricula to BOMA, so they can develop meaningful educational experiences. We will then make a pre-visit to the Hurst Building, an interesting architectural landmark with a new green addition to see what they have to offer. Teachers and students from all disciplines will be able to take these field trips. BOMA is doing this pro bono.

Arts & Tech. Bringing the Outside In – Curating-Photography Program. • Renee Melendez’s class 723 and and Lakendra Ravizee’s class 816 will begin the Queens Museum of Art Curating-Photography program on February 23rd.

Law & Government. • 100 Days in History Celebration. Students could be developing: timeline of events and Obama’s accomplishments; they could be collecting, organizing, and commenting on news articles from now until May. Students will be eligible for AWARDS will be available for: best timeline; best opinion piece; best news article.

School-wide • EARTH WEEK. Think about big issues. Think about the possible upcoming crises: water, bees/ food security, climate change, waste reduction, recycling. Also think about green careers. We have resources, and possible per session, if you have a unit to develop. Come to us with your ideas, we’d be happy to meet with you. o Ideas: Interclass visitations for students who want to present green poetry, projects. For example, 6th graders who entered the DEP poetry contest on water, could make visits, or come perform for Mr. Burns and A.P.s.

Thanks to Ms. Adman for her dedication to the Future Cities competition. Thanks to all staff members who helped Ms. Adman and her students, including Mr. Burns, Ms. Aleshin, Ms. Rodi, and Mr. Mindlin. Mr. Mindlin helped the day of the event. Ms. Aleshin helped some students’ with their oral presentations. Ms. Rodi printed images for the display boards.

Magnet Update 1/26/09
The Green Magnet Tip of the Week. (Source: Living Green, Saving Trees. http://www.unahi.org/living-green.htm) Use 100% recycled paper towels. Fact: If every household in the U.S. replaced just one roll of 180-sheet virgin-fiber paper towels with 100% recycled paper towels, it could save: 1.4 million trees, 3.7 million cubic feet of landfill space, 526 million gallons of water, and prevent 89,400 pounds of pollution.

Future Cities Regional Competition. The Saturday, January 24 event was thrilling for Marlyne Adman and her students, Raven Shaw, Becky Choe, Miriam Peters, Salma Pasha, Tulip Kabir, Diana Babayeva, Olivia Thompson, Gulnoza Sultanova (moved schools), Layla Rahman, and Shanaz Pasha. Sanjay was a last minute saviour, preparing beautiful display boards. We were competing against schools that were entering for the 8th year. The students did a wonderful job, considering that this was our first year and we were never visited by the promised volunteer engineer. Kudos to our students and Marlyne Adman. Marlyne, Steve Mindlin and the students left The Green Magnet at 7 a.m. and returned at 6 p.m. Mr. Burns, his family and friends, and Karen came to cheer the team on. We’re looking forward to next year.

Upcoming • Understanding by Design o PD. Judith Council, Mr. Castillo, and Chastine Cardenas are taking the 4 day UbD training with Lainie Leber and Louise Cleveland, Feb. 16-19. o Curriculum Design Team. Shamena Alli, Ed Andrade, Linda Hoffman, Renee Melendez, Karen Phillips, and Kendra Ravizee continue to learn about using UbD to develop units of study. All members of the Curriculum Design Team will be attending Creating Multidisciplinary Units of Study with Heidi Hayes Jacobs February 20-22 and Columbia Teachers College. Registration is still open for UbD Training 2/17-2/20 at Linden Place (former ROC). Time: 9-4 p.m.; E-mail: cmcevoy@schools.nyc.gov. cc Karen, and we’ll e-mail the flyer to you with more specific directions.

In the Works • Science Department. We are planning a Composting PD for all science teachers. Science teachers have agreed to then prepare composting lessons for their classrooms and institute composting in their classrooms, to be maintained by students. We are hoping to be able to enter this composting effort as part of the Golden Apple Awards “Golden Shovel Award - We Compost.” • Garden in the Classroom. Judith Council, our co-sponsor of the Pollinators’ Garden, is planning to sow seedlings in her classroom to prepare for our spring planting for the pollinators’ garden. Children will understand the steps for creating and sustaining a viable pollinators’ garden. • Humanities Academy. Sixth graders will be entering the Department of Environmental Protection’s Water Poetry contest for fifth and 6th graders. As part of this effort, the Humanities Literacy Dept. will develop a water curriculum. LEAP will conduct a Water Ecology residency to support the Humanities focus on water. • EARTH WEEK. Only one person has come to speak out specifics for this week. All are welcome. We need your input. • Eastern Queens Alliance offers free Four Session Workshops (3 in school and 1 field trip): o Conservation: • Water, Water Everywhere, But Do We Have Enough? • This Land is Made for You and Me … But! • Power Up! Power Down! Let us know if you want to participate. • 100 Days in History Celebration. To mark Obama’s first 100 days, and to keep students involved with the democratic process, we will be marking the period with events. Can students come up with some plans?

Thanks to all staff members who have helped Ms. Adman on the Future Cities project, including Ms. Rodi and Mr. Mindlin.

Magnet Update 1/19/09
The Green Magnet Tip of the Week. (Source: Bee Maid - http://www.beemaid.com) Honey is the most sustainable sweetener. The energy required to make a pound of chocolate is equivalent to the energy used to produce an equal weight of gasoline, with sugar and jam not far behind. The cultivated crops used to make sugar, including sugar cane, corn and sugar beets, need fertilizer, pesticides and irrigation to grow. Honey, on the other hand, is either a byproduct of cultivated crops or comes from wildflowers.

Recruitment. The deadline for applying has passed, but we will hold a Welcome Tour for P. S. 217 6th graders and their parents, sometime in March.

Upcoming Future Cities Regional Competition. On Saturday, January 24, Marlyne Adman’s students are competing in the Future Cities Engineering Competition at Polytechnic University, Brooklyn Campus. Future City competitions are also occurring this weekend in Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Las Vegas, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Washington, and more states.

Using SIMCity4, the students envisioned and created a digital version of a sustainable city. The students wrote a research report, emphasizing water conservation and sustainability, and then built models. You are all invited to come see the competition. Top winners will participate in a national competition in Washington. Participating Arts & Tech and Math & Science students: Raven Shaw, Becky Choe, Miriam Peters, Salma Pasha, Tulip Kabir, Diana Babayeva, Gulnoza Sultanova (moved schools), Layla Rahman, and Shanaz Pasha. Come support our students!

//Family Science Festival// – **Still being planned. Proposed date: Friday, 2/13/09.**

AMNH Climate Change Institute, 2/17 – 2/19**. Ragini Singhal, Nalini Shyam, Stacey Lindsay, Steve Mindlin will be participating in this three-day institute for secondary science teachers, explor[ing] some of the scientific and instructional issues of teaching concepts related to weather and climate. The institute builds on the Museum's exhibition on //Climate Change: The Threat to Life and A New Energy Future.//**

//EARTH WEEK//**. Start Planning Now. We will have lessons available, but if you have a specific project you want to do, and you want to discuss the possibilities, come speak to Karen or Ed. Daryl Jackson came up with the idea of developing an Environmental IEP for the school. Sample Disability? Nature Deficit Disorder.**

PTA Movie Night/Fundraiser**. January 23, 6:30. The PTA will show Wall-E.** FIELD TRIP Opportunity. BOMA, the **Building Owners and Managers Association has invited us to plan a visit for students to buildings in Manhattan that are ecologically innovative. If you would like you and your students to participate, let us know.** Thanks to: Louis **for mounting the R. C. Gorman print in the teachers’ cafeteria (the vending machine delivery man then broke it). Thanks to** Mark Schreier **for connecting us to his sister Lori, an organic farmer in New Hampshire. Thanks to** Stacey Lindsay **for completing the application for The Green Magnet to become an Urban Advantage Demonstration School.**

Magnet Update 1/12/09
The Green Magnet Tip of the Week. Calculate your carbon footprint: For Youth: http://zerofootprint.net/youth/neew - Our schools is listed: Green Magnet 217 For Adults. Check out and let us know which one is best: [|www.carbonfootprint.com/] [|www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/carboncalculator/] [|www.Conservation.org/CarbonCalculator] http://carbonfund.org/ [|www.CarbonCounter.org] [|www.nature.org/initiatives/climatechange/calculator/] http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/ind_calculator.html CAN THE STUDENTS Compare and contrast these different carbon footprint calculators?

Recruitment. **Our Welcome Tour on 1/6 was successful. We had 20 families and almost all of them were impressed with the school. They were excited about the collaborative, forward thinking teaching they saw and the advanced technology opportunities for their students.**

Thanks to: **Tania Caceres, Emily Erosa and Art Greenberg for conducting their students’ performances. Thanks to Dave Norment, Dr. Kendall, Paula Kohm, and Grace Nelson for conducting the tours and Alletta Hall for planning help. Thanks to everyone in the T-building and the 7th and 8th grade teachers who welcomed the families into their classrooms. Thanks to our student ambassadors: Claymar Nelson-601, Clayondrew Nelson-721, Sandy Sarendranath-721, Natali Aguadelo-721, Raven Shan-821, and Nureshwar Khargie-821 who greeted and signed-in participants.** Thanks to **Stacey Lindsay for initiating the Family Science Night and Danielle Satterfield for initiating the Valentine’s Day restaurant.**

Upcoming //Science Party Night// – **Stacey Lindsay and the magnet are planning a Math & Science Academy sponsored evening, tentatively 2/6/09 for students and their parents. Students and families from all academies will participate. Participants will rotate through two workshops:**
 * a. We are hoping to have the Center for the Urban Environment run the Water, Carbon Footprinting, and Where Does Your Food Come From?**
 * b. The Science Project – What students have to do and how parents can help.**

//Class 831 Valentine’s Restaurant//. **Danielle Satterfield’s students are planning a fundraiser for their 8th grade dues. In the classroom, we will integrate math/economics, health, and PR.**

//Magnet Regional Meeting//. **Ed and Karen attended the Region II Magnet Schools Of America Conference. We met people from public Montessori, Expeditionary Learning, Paideia (Socratic Inquiry), and Museum Studies schools. Ed, Karen, and a couple of other interested staff will visit the Riverside School for Engineering and Design. Their programs include: Ecological Landscaping and Infrastructure Management; Environmental Engineering & Technology.**

//EARTH WEEK//**. This year, Earth Week is April 12-16 which is during Spring Break, so we have to designate another Earth Week for our school. A lot of you have ideas, so we have to start planning now. We will be available to help plan, so please call to make an appointment.**

//Arts & Tech Museum Studies Project//: **//Teri Pakier Art Collection - Bringing the Outside In//. Ms. Melendez and Ms. Ravizee will be working with Linda Hoffman and an artist from the Queens Museum of Art. Ed came up with a great plan. After exploring the school's mounted artwork, the students will go out to the school block and take photographs of nature in the urban environment. They will write about the framed prints and their photographs, and we will blow up and mount a few of the photographs. Linda suggested creating an exhibit catalogue. Students will research the artists, create narratives about the images, and devise guiding questions to accompany each framed print. QMA suggested we add worksheets in the catalogue regarding the prints and photographs. The Arts & Technology Academy will sponsor an event in the spring for the Pakier family, Community Board 8, Briarwood Community Association, and school families.** PTA Movie Night/Fundraiser**. January 23, 6:30. The PTA will show Wall-E.**

BOMA, the **Building Owners and Managers Association has invited us to plan a visit for students to buildings in Manhattan that are ecologically innovative. If you would like you and your students to participate, let us know.**

Magnet Update 12/22/08
The Green Magnet Tip of the Week. (Source: //You Can Save the Planet)//. “Adjusting the temperature by only 3 degrees can reduce the greenhouse gases your household produces by up to a ton … Another really simple but effective thing to do is dust or vacuum the surfaces of all the radiators in your house. This increases their efficiency by improving the flow of heat … If the thermostat is near a window, make sure the window is shut.”

MAGNET PER SESSION OPPORTUNITY - (See Detailed Description in Main Office). Understanding by Design: Writing a Unit of Study. When: Tuesday, February 17th – Friday, February 20th. 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. daily. Location: TBA. Registration Deadline: Friday, January 9th. If interested, contact: cmcevoy@schools.nyc.gov. This four-day professional development institute, will be facilitated by Louise Cleveland and is designed for K-8 teachers from District 25 and 28’s Magnet Schools Program to learn how to develop engaging, standards based curriculum that integrates their school’s theme.

//OPEN HOUSE - Recruitment. We will be hosting walk-thrus for parents of District 25 and 28 during the week of January 5th – 9th. We were originally told that the application deadline was going to be in March; we found out on 12/17 that the application deadline is January 9th. Unfortunately, this means we have little time to prepare. Especially with the budget cuts, we are looking for more hard working students and involved parents. We want to make a good impression. The custodians will be cleaning up the floors and graffiti during the vacation. We have to make sure there’s no graffiti and garbage during the walk-thrus, so let Mr. Carberry know if you see anything that needs to be taken care of. The parents will be looking at work on bulletin boards, talent students will be performing, and we are looking for teachers who would welcome these parents into their classrooms for a brief time. Some teachers have volunteered, but we need more volunteers in all disciplines.// Since we’re touting and people are excited about their children getting laptops, we would appreciate as much laptop/Smart Board use as is possible and makes sense. Be sure to charge the laptops on Monday, January 5th.


 * Hall of Science Labs – SCIENCE TEACHERS**
 * The Microtech, Biotech, and StarLabs rentals are available. For available dates, contact Frank Signorello: See Ed for the rental forms, which you will fill out and Ed will fax to Frank. **

Magnet Update 12/15/08
The Green Magnet Tip of the Week (Source: Mark Schreier). Mulchfest. Chip in! Mulch your tree! Help NYC grow! Saturday, January 10 & Sunday, January 11, 2009. 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Bring your Christmas Trees to be mulched. For locations, including 9 in Queens: http://nycgovparks.org/services/mulchfest/mulchfest.html#top

Goings on Around Green. Thanks to: Ms. Burgess’ class is having a party and a recycled item is the entry ticket. Ms. Lindsay’s science projects are going green this year. Gail Munz is beginning a global recycling project with a class in Japan. Ms. Aleshin is beginning a Climate Change Unit using An Inconvenient Truth.

FUNDRED. Thanks to Ms. Napolitano’s classes for creating Fundred dollars. We will bring the dollars to the Queens Museum where we learned of the project. The Fundred $ will be brought to Washington D.C. The artist is going to try exchange the Fundred dollars for real $ to clean up the lead in the soil in New Orleans. IF YOU HAVE FUNDRED dollars, please hand them in.

Recruitment District 28 Magnet Recruitment Fair on Monday, December 8 at P. S. 99. We spoke to parents from P. S. 196, 139, 99, 50 and other District 28 schools. Thanks to Steve Mindlin who came with his critters and wowed the

Help Us Recruit. Friday, December 19th, periods 3-6 in room 216. Help us brainstorm ideas to bring involved parents and their children to our school.

Supplies We have copies of the following DVDs in room 216: Wall-E Flow – How Did a Handful of Corporations Steal Our Water? We have 30 additional copies of the book An Inconvenient Truth

Visit the following websites and classroom blogs: • Stacey Lindsay’s classes. Everything that goes on in class goes onto the blog: www.sciencemecca.blogspot.com • Nalini Shyam’s science blog with comments on their trip to the Queens Botanical Garden: • http://217discovering-science.blogspot.com/2008/11/queens-botanical-garden.html#comments • On-Line Resources from Channel 13: • Vital NY on Teacher’s Domain: http://www.teachersdomain.org - all subjects o Climate Change - http://www.teachersdomain.org/special/climchg/climchg.clim.all/ o Global Warming - http://www.teachersdomain.org/special/climchg/climchg.glob.all/ Scroll down to: Documenting Glacial Change. This Flash Interactive is downloadable. The video on “Colony Collapse Disorder” is also good. • CIA World Factbook - https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ o Historical, geographic, demographic info on all countries of world

Magnet Update 12/8/08
The Green Magnet Tip of the Week (Source: Michael Powers ). Please be aware of our need to conserve paper. It is not necessary to have your students print news articles from the internet when they can easily bookmark the page on their laptop computer. If they want to save the article to their computer, many articles have a “Save” feature. Students can also copy and paste the article into Word and then format the text to print a minimum # of pages.

Donna Elam Visit. Ms. Adman, Ms. Council, Ms. Kohm, Ms. Melendez, Ms. Shyam, and Ms. Williams met with Donna Elam, our site evaluator. The teachers talked about how they are integrating magnet-related themes and activities into their classrooms and afterschool curricula, including the environment, technology, and careers. Donna was impressed with the teachers, their enthusiasm and intelligence. Ed and Karen sat in on 2/3rd of the session and were amazed to hear all the things people are doing. Although we try to keep in touch and listen, it was wonderful to hear all the ways people are picking up the ball. Donna will be returning in a few months. If you would like to meet with her next time, please let us know.

Recruitment. ** As you know, we’re in the middle of a recruitment campaign. We attended the District 25 Middle School Choice Fair. We saw and spoke to about 60 families. The hit of the fair for children was Steve Mindlin and his wild animals: a hissing cockroach, cute rats, a gecko and bearded dragon with personality, a beautiful orange and black milk snake, a warty cane toad, and curious box turtle. They don’t call him the snake man for nothing. Marlyne Adman supported the effort with her students’ architectural projects. Ms. Shyam gave us photos of students at the Queens Botanical Garden and a biome project. We saw a lot of 5th graders looking for a middle school. Parents and children were excited about the animals, computers, heart program, environmental projects, art programs, and afterschool programs we have. ** // Help! //** We can change our school’s reputation in District 28. Remember to tell people about the work you and your colleagues are doing. We sometimes forget how impressive and meaningful it is. **

Reporting Help. ** Again, we are supposed to capture all of the work you are all doing, so if you can come and speak to us, we would greatly appreciate hearing from you. We can type and take notes while you speak. **

Thanks. Thanks to everyone who has posted magnet-related work on their bulletin boards.
 * · Have you noticed the displays in the entry foyer and second floor composed by Ms. Williams’ students related to the book //Song of the Trees//? **
 * · Thanks to Rosa Yordan and her Philanthropy Club. Did you catch the club’s rap performance at the Monday, December 1 assembly to help raise money for the Penny Harvest? The rap //Team Up to Clean Up// is an original production. The students exhort their classmates to work together to save the environment. The checks and money orders can be made out to Common Sense. Contributions by check or money should be made by Monday, December 8th. Coin contributions can be made through Tuesday. **
 * · Thanks to Renee Melendez and her students who wrote, proofed, edited, and rewrote papers on their trip to the Queens Botanical Garden. Terry Sapp’s class is putting up writing work on //Song of the Trees.// **

PERMISSION SLIPS **. After a magnet field trip is over, please submit the permission slips for all field trips to Karen and Ed; we need to keep the permission to photograph on file. Please turn in slips from previous magnet trips, if you have them. **

Magnet and CEP. ** Our magnet visions are becoming brick and mortar – Arts & Tech’s Pollinators’ Garden and Teri Pakier Museum Exhibit with exhibit book, Law & Government’s Student Government and Recycling, Math & Science’s Science Fair and Climate Change Curriculum, and Humanities Academy’s Water Conservation projects have been written into the schools Comprehensive Education Plan. Special thanks to all of you who are making the bricks and mixing the mortar! **

Magnet Update 12/1/08
The Green Magnet Tip of the Week (Source: // Nalini Shyam // ). Send holiday e-cards. Recruitment. Good News and Thanks! When Emily, Tania and Marlyne saw our call for help in recruiting, they came up with the idea to take our singers and dancers on the road to elementary schools. In the near future, the Green Talent Department will be touring the district, nearby elementary schools. If you have kids with something to share, and you want to take them on the road, let us know.

// Technology, Green, Career, Technology, and/or Academy-Related Projects //. Donna Elam will be back in the building again on December 4th to speak to teachers. If you’d like to speak with her, please let us know and we will schedule time for you. Check Out the GMwiki for loads of lesson plans, powerpoint downloads, and information about books and DVDs that you can borrow.
 * http://www.greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com **

The Green Magnet Update 11/24/08
The Green Magnet Tip of the Week (Source: You Can Save the Planet). “’Noone Wants a Six-Pack”. The plastic that holds together six-packs is dangerous to animals and birds, who get trapped or strangled by the six-pack plastic rings that become nooses. Cut up the six-pack holders before disposing of them, so there are no plastic nooses.

HELP! Recruitment. We went to P. S. 174 and 117’s parent teacher conferences. Ed had a positive response at 174. The parents Karen spoke to who had children at 217 were very happy; but the parents of 6th graders who just knew our students from dismissal time and reputation, didn’t feel their children would be safe in our school.

If you have ideas for letting people know that we are a good school, let us know. Lainie Leber, the magnet director, suggests we have our students work with classes at 117. For years, Daisy Guadalupe has had her class read with an elementary school class. Kendra Ravizee has agreed to do a paired reading program (ideas still in the works) with a 117 class. Our reputation might start changing if P. S. 117 teachers, students and staff see how nice our students are. Maybe a science class could help a class develop green science projects. We could then invite their science fair winners to participate in our fair. Recruitment ends at the end of February. the middle of our recruitment campaign, which will end in March when applications to our school are due.

Special Thanks to Alletta Hall for her time during our parent teacher conferences and 117’s. Field Trips to Queens Botanical Garden: 11/24 – Ms. Sapp 815, Ms. Melendez 723. 11/26 – Humanities Team B: Ms. Guadalupe 601, Ms. Shyam 622, Mr. Anello, and Katz. Thanks to these teachers.

Technology, Green, Career, Technology, and/or Academy-Related Projects. Donna Elam Visit 11/24 – 8:30 – 11:30. We are having a site visit on Monday, 11/24 from 8:30 – 11:30. She’ll be spending time reviewing the magnet report we completed on 11/21 (posted at www.greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com). We will walk around the school with her, and stop and speak to people. We will come to some classrooms. If you are doing any ecological, green friendly lesson, or a technology-based lesson, please let us know. This will be good for future reports, but we also might stop by to speak to you and your students. Ms. Yordan, Ms. Satterfield, and Mr. D. Jackson have already said they’d like us to come by. You can reply to: kphilli2@schools.nyc.gov with periods you’d like to see her. (ALERT! ALERT! Last week Karen’s e-mail was incorrect. If you sent us info on bulletin boards, or what you’ve been doing, PLEASE RESEND IT. We will be talking to her about and showing her the work that Byron Mack is doing with student government, Steve Mindlin and Judith Council are doing on the garden, the work literacy teachers have done with Song of the Trees and The Lorax, the Heart Surgery Program, and the other St. Johns programs.

http://www.greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com Thanks to everyone who recently signed up.

The Green Magnet Update 11/17/08
The Green Magnet Tip of the Week (Source: http://www.thedailygreen.com ) “Use paper wisely. This is the big one. When possible, make double-sided copies, have students write on both sides of the page, save scrap paper to jot notes on, and of course, recycle whenever possible. As a general rule of thumb, if you can move paper correspondence online, then go for it.” Recruitment. We’re in the middle of our recruitment campaign, which will end in March when applications to our school are due. Special Thanks to Alletta Hall for her time during the Magnet Recruitment Luncheon. Representatives from 40 schools from Forest Hills, Whitestone, and other neighborhoods visited our table and collected our brochure and info on our February Technology Fair. Everyone can help us recruit. Talk up the good things you’re doing at our school.

Donna Elam Visit 11/24 – 8:30 – 11:30. We are having a site visit on Monday, 11/24 from 8:30 – 11:30. If you would like to meet with her, please let us know. We don’t know what her agenda is, but reply to kphilli@schools.nyc.gov with periods you’d like to see her. Technology, Green, Career, and/or Academy Related Projects We would like to show Donna your students’ work. Please let us know if you have work up in the hallway or in your room related to these themes or to your academy’s theme. By the end of the week, we need to describe magnet-related work that everyone is doing for our report. Send a short blurb to kphilli@schools.nyc.gov. Technology integrating technology across the curriculum is mandated in the magnet, we want to show Donna and we need to describe all technology-based projects you’ve done or are doing, in our school’s report.

Documentation. For our evaluation report, to justify the trips we’re taking, we have to have digital copies of units/lesson plans that relate the trips to in-class learning.

We Need Anecdotes. We need anecdotes. A number of people have mentioned how they’re changing their behaviors in school and at home based on what they learned during the Election Day workshops. PLEASE let us know how going green at our school has helped you and/or your students change behaviors.

Thanks. Thanks to Rosa Yordan for running the Philanthropy Club. SUPPORT their Penny Harvest. The club is creating posters, raps, and word search puzzles for their Team Up to Clean Up Campaign. They plan to promote green information in the school and in the community. Thanks to Gail Munz who is doing a global technology recycling project with a class in Japan. This fulfills our global technology mandate, our green mandate, and our literacy skills development goals. Thanks to Paula Kohm, Grace Nelson, and classes 651 and 752 who attended workshops on trees at the Queens Botanical Garden. Thanks to Marlyne Adman who is running the Future Cities Engineering Project, with math help from Alan Gold. Thanks to the St. Johns Afterschool program and Mercell Morrison who’s running their Forensics Lab, and Steve Mindlin who’s running their Veterinarian Program.

http://www.greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com - Thanks to everyone who recently signed up. Check out this website for DVDs, books, websites, and lesson plans related to sustainability, school beautification, climate change, etc. The Teri Pakier Nature Collection is posted as a downloadable PowerPoint.

The Magnet Update 11/10/08
The Green Magnet Tip of the Week (Source: Patty Kleinberg Queens Botanical) When you recycle your plastic bottles, unscrew the tops and throw the tops in the regular garbage. Resources to Use in Your Classroom. Center for the Urban Environment (CUE)– we sent a mass e-mail with the hand-outs. Download them, create something like a “Sustainability” folder, and save the hand-outs. Queens Botanical Garden (QBG): During Election Day, QBG was supposed to do a hands-on “Building a Mini Landfill” activity. We’re sorry that they didn’t, but we will send you a digital copy of the activity, when we get it. Queens Museum of Art ¬(QMA) – They sent us the digital work sheet of “Looking at Art,” and we’ll send this out to everyone.

Magnet Trips. Museum of the Moving Image –Trips this week to QBG. Thanks to Ms. Council and Ms. Taylor for taking classes 722 and 809. Upcoming Trips to QBG week of 11/14. Ms. Nelson, 651; Ms. Kohm, 752. Trips correlate with the curriculum on Song of the Trees.

Documentation. For our evaluation report, to justify the trips we’re taking, we have to have digital copies of units/lesson plans that relate the trips to in-class learning. Please send us what you have, or come to a Thursday/Friday study group, so we can type something up.

http://www.greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com Check out this website for DVDs, books, websites, and lesson plans related to sustainability, school beautification, climate change, etc. The Teri Pakier Nature Collection is posted as a downloadable PowerPoint.

Election Day. Thanks to everyone who participated. We hope you learned something for yourselves, as well as for your students. Again, we apologize that the Queens Botanical Garden workshop was not more interactive.

Donna Elam Site Visit. Donna Elam will be visiting our school on November 24, from 8:30 – 11:30 a.m. If you would like her to meet with her, please let us know. All technology-related work, career-related work, and environmental-related work is magnet-related work. If you’re doing Geo Sketch Pad with your students, we would love to be invited in with her to see what you’re doing. All literacy teachers, who are doing Song of the Trees, are doing magnet-related work. If you will be doing this work on 11/24, please let us know.

The Green Magnet Update 11/3/08
The Green Magnet Tip of the Week (Source: http://www.thedailygreen.com) “Plug in coffee makers, grinders, toasters, cell phones, microwaves, air conditioners, etc. to surge protector power strips that have an off/on button. Turn them off when no one's home or when they aren't necessary. Although certain appliances need constant electricity, like refrigerators of course, those that do not are constantly using a small amount of power to enable them to be instantaneously ready -- which is really not necessary. Unplugging all these non-essential items can make a substantial difference in energy consumption.”

Resources to Use in Your Classroom. Picturing America. Mr. Norment has a whole selection of large format, laminated art work that can be used in Social Studies and literacy classrooms. For example, Renee Melendez did a test prep selection on Norman Rockwell. To provide students with context and a deeper understanding, Ms. Melendez used a Norman Rockwell image from the Picturing America collection. To view the images and lesson ideas: http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/ Picturing American History. Another great site that is interactive and has lesson resources: http://picturinghistory.gc.cuny.edu/mtr.php

Why Use Art in the Classroom? When asked if they are visualizing what they’re reading, our students often reply that they are not visualizing. Maybe they have trouble visualizing, or maybe they are visualizing, but they don’t have the language to express or write about what they are seeing. Our students’ abilities to visualize, construct meaning, and understand different perspectives might improve, if we provide opportunities to discuss, describe, and interpret images.

Magnet Trips. Museum of the Moving Image – Special thanks to Mr. Mack-822, Ms. Williams/Mr. Castillo- 892/893, and Mr. Kronberg - 821 for leading these trips with Mr. Isakov and Dr. Andrade. Upcoming Trips: Queens Botanical Garden –Ms. Guadalupe, Ms. Shyam, Mr. Anello, class 602 and 622. Ms. Council, 809; Ms. Taylor, 722; Ms. Nelson, 651; Ms. Kohm, 752; Ms. Sapp, 815; Ms. Melendez, 723. Trips correlate with the curriculum on Song of the Trees.


 * Grant Opportunities**. Target Field Trip Grants. Ms. Williams and Ms. Yordan applied to take students to the Lackawanna Coal mine in Scranton, PA. Ms. Munz applied to take students to Gettysburg, PA. Karen made a proposal for a Math & Science Career Day at the NY Hall of Science. We will be posting these three proposals on donorschoose.org to receive additional funding.

At Mayor Bloomberg’s recent press conference about the public art project The Waterfalls, Bloomberg mentioned that the art department at M. S. 217 had taken students to view The Waterfalls and was incorporating the Waterfalls into its spring concert.
 * Special News**


 * Academy News**
 * Arts & Technology**. Pollinators’ Garden. We have begun meeting to plan the garden. The curriculum will include science, math, and literacy. Future Cities. Marlyne Adman has begun working with three all girl engineering teams.


 * Law & Government**. Student Government. Mr. Byron Mack is our new Student Government sponsor. We will shortly be notifying students and staff of upcoming elections.


 * Math & Scienc**e. Math & Science will host this year’s Science Fair. Anyone interested in planning the science fair and/or a few entries into the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge?


 * All School Read**. Song of the Trees. Ms. Melendez and Ms. Taylor, who have already done Song of the Trees, are following up with The Lorax, a Dr. Seuss cautionary tale of the destruction of trees and habitat. We have 100 copies of The Lorax.


 * Election Day**. Info was put in your mailbox, as well as sent to you via e-mail. Please remember to bring: 1. notetaking materials, which can be pen and paper or your laptop. (If you bring your laptop, you might want to bring an extension cord for plugging in). 2. if applicable, directions for driving to QMA. When you check-in your will be informed which room you will be in during the morning and afternoon break-out sessions. Please be seated by 8:15, when we are scheduled to begin.

Green Magnet Update 10/27/08
The Green Magnet Tip of the Week (Source: http://www.americanwater.com/49ways.htm) Don't let water run while shaving or washing your face. Brush your teeth first while waiting for water to get hot, then wash or shave after filling the basin.

Professional Development Opportunities Dept. of Environmental Protection –QMA. The NYC Watershed. “Learn how teaching from the 700 square foot watershed model and the Panorama of NYC can integrate water lessons into science, math, social studies, and art education.” FREE. October 30, 4:30-6:30. Refreshments NOAA Teacher at Sea Program: http://teacheratsea.noaa.gov/. Deadline 12/31/09. 12-14 day voyages. Oceanographic and coastal research ships. Hydrographic survey ships. Future Voter of America Initiative. The voting curriculum is available at www.nyc.gov/voter. Museum of Moving Image also has great Election website: http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/.

Magnet Trips. Museum of the Moving Image – Mr. Mack, 822; Ms. Williams/Mr. Castillo, 892/893; Mr. Kronberg, 821. Trips correlate with in-class election curriculum. Queens Botanical Garden – Ms. Council, 809; Ms. Taylor, 722; Ms. Nelson, 651; Ms. Kohm, 752; Ms. Sapp, 815; Ms. Melendez, 723. Trips correlate with curriculum on Song of the Trees.

Grant Opportunities – See Karen ASAP, if you want to apply. Target Field Trip Grants. Up to $800.00 to take your class on a trip. Deadline 11/01/08. UFT Mini-Center Grants. Write a proposal for up to $2500. Deadline 10/31/08.

Curriculum Design Team. Eight staff members, all of whom had previous Understanding by Design (UbD) training, began intensive UbD and Curriculum Mapping training. The participants are: Shamena Alli, Dr. Edgar Andrade, Linda Hoffman, Lisa LaRosa, Renee Melendez, Karen Phillips, Lakendra Ravizee, and David Norment. We will: meet for eight all-day sessions during the school year; participate in an on-line Curriculum Mapping Heidi Hayes Jacobs course, or a 3 day course at Columbia; participate in a “Train the Trainers” week-long session over the summer; help facilitate training staff members, next summer, probably during the week before school starts.

Academy News Arts & Technology. Pollinators’ Garden. Steve Mindlin and Judith Council are our two garden coordinators. Congratulations! For composting, we will be asking for your leaves. We could win $6000 Golden Apple Award for School Beautification/Clean Up. Future Cities. Marlyne Adman is working with all-girl engineering teams.

Law & Government. Student Government. We will soon have a coordinator for student government. Shortly thereafter, we will have class elections, followed by L&G campaigns for student government offices. Debating. Law & Govt teachers Tonia Taylor and Judith Council are helping to develop a debate curriculum. Recycling. L&G could win $6000 for the Golden Apples Recycling Award. Recycling in Classroom. We met with the city’s coordinator for recycling. He suggested we only recycle paper in the classrooms, not cans and bottles. Please post your GREEN recycling signs. Keep blue and black pails together. The green paper recycling sign goes on the blue pail. Continue to remind students to put paper waste in the blue pail. Soft paper, such as tissues and paper towels, goes into the black non-recyclable garbage pail. You can bring cans and bottles down to the cafeteria, if you wish to recycle them.

Math & Science. Math & Science will host this year’s Science Fair. We are looking for a few good students to enter the Siemens You Can Change the World Challenge. M&S could win the Golden Apples Waste-LESS $6000 award, if they come up with an innovative waste-less initiative.

All School Read. Song of the Trees. All students will be reading this short novella (about a 40 minute read.) We invite all teachers to join the read. If interested, please come up to room 216 and get a copy of the book, or put a note in Karen’s mailbox. Literacy Teachers – please come and pick up a class set of books.

3. Election Day – Good News. Parking will be free. People in Arts & Technology will leave the Marriott at 12:20 and travel to the Queens Museum of Art; if you’re in Arts & Tech and you plan to carpool, carpool with someone else in Arts Tech, or get a ride to QMA and have ride pick you up. It’s a short ride away from the Marriott.

Green Magnet Update 10/17/08
The Green Magnet Tip of the Week (from //You Can Save the Planet//) “Say no to bottled water. Bottled water isn’t tested … plastic bottles take hundreds of years to decay … tap water contains fluoride, which helps strengthen teeth.

2. Song of the Trees. All students will be reading this short novella (about a 40 minute read. We invite all teachers to join the read. If interested, please come up to room 216 and get a copy of the book, or put a note in Karen’s mailbox.

3. Election Day – Good News. Parking will be free. People in Arts & Technology will be leaving the Marriott at 12:20 and traveling to the Queens Museum of Art; if you’re in Arts & Tech and you plan to carpool, be sure to carpool with someone else in Arts Tech.

4. Post your recycling signs. Blue and black garbage pails. If you haven’t already done so, e-mail: kphilli2@schools.nyc.gov with Name Room # Black Garbage Pail? Yes or NO Blue Garbage Pail? Yes or No

5. Professional Developments – Speak to us if your are interested: The NYC Watershed. Queens Museum of Art -DEP. Thursday, October 30, 2008. 4:30 – 6:30. Refreshments will be served. The PD is about the NY watershed – it’s an interesting exhibit and the museum has a number of great exhibits right now.

Museum of Natural History. Climate Change: The Threat To Life and A New Energy Future. October 23, 2009, 4:00—7:00 pm. This correlates with Exhibit that makes a great class trip.

6. Supplies/Equipment – We are working on our budget for the year. We are considering requests for magnet-related supplies. Please come by and speak with us if you have ideas.

7. Study Groups. We will be alternating Thursdays and Fridays. Friday 10/17 and Thursday 10/23 – periods 3, 4, 5, 6: Siemens We Can Change the World – plans for submissions. Golden Apple Awards Entries. Target Grant Proposal – Think about career-related trips.

Future Friday Study Sessions: What should we be teaching? Song of the Trees through academies’ lenses; using the Teri Pakier and the Picturing America art collections (http://picturingamerica.neh.gov/) in the classroom. Planning units of study that integrate careers, technology, green, and/or an academy’s lens; global water project with distance learning; Electives. Planning Science/Career Fair. Technology/Career Fair.

Electives. The magnet provides the opportunity to develop elective classes. If you have ideas or questions, please see Ed or Karen. These could be one quarter courses.

Green Magnet Update 10/6/08
1. Election Day. We are planning sessions with Queens Museum of Art, Queens Botanical Garden and the Center for the Urban Education. Everyone will be participating in the a.m. light breakfast and keynote address. At 10:15, pedagogical staff will participate in workshops and non-pedagogical staff will return to school. 2. Magnet Documentation Help. To justify the money we are spending on trips, professional developments, and soon to begin in-class session, we need documentation. Please advise us with lessons and descriptions of units. 3. Postings. The posting for the garden will be up shortly. We are also developing a posting for a teacher sponsor for student government. We can do this through the magnet, because the student government committees will be organized to promote each Academy’s green goals. 4. Future Cities. Marlyne Adman is working with 3 teams of 3 students to develop submissions for the Future City competition, an engineering competition. Marlyne and the students will be working with an engineer, who donates his/her time. The theme of this year’s competition is water. http://www.futurecity.org/ 5. Academy Meetings. Thanks to Mr. Norment, Mr. Greggo, the Law & Government, and the Math & Science academies who met with us this week. Stacey Lindsay suggested that Math & Science sponsor a Science Fair in the spring, and have students enter the Siemens Challenge for Change with their science projects. Each member of the winning teams receives a $5000 savings bond and appears on the Green Network. We are planning for Law & Government teams to enter the Golden Apple Awards in the areas of recycling, waste prevention, and clean-up and beautification. 6. During the year, the students will be participating in school and grade reads: a. Song of the Trees by Mildred Taylor – novella – Whole School b. Missing ‘Gator of Gumbo Limbo - 6th grade c. The Talking Earth – 7th grade d. Green Boy – 8th grade 7. Check our www.greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com for resources, including books, DVDs, lessons and unit plans on global warming, Song of the Trees, and the other school reads. 8. Thanks to Ms. Singhal for initiating and Ms. Katz for co-leading a 6th grade trip, full day trip to Shelter Island’s Mashomack Preserve. Thanks to Linda Hoffman for developing unit plans for Song of the Trees, Missing ‘Gator of Gumbo Limbo, The Talking Earth, and Green Boy. They will be posted on the wiki.

Green Magnet Update 9/29/08
1. Election Day. On Election Day we are all going to the LaGuardia Marriott. We will begin the day with a keynote speaker, Donna Elom. She is a national expert in the field of equity, the Director of Equity Assistance Center at NYU, and the Asst Director of the Equity Assistance Center in the Southeast Region. She presently serves as the chairperson of the Florida Human Rights Commission. She’s an author and has written several books on the Civil Rights Movement. We are working on a webcast of our keynote speaker for the cafeteria personnel and other school staff who have to remain in the building. 2. Magnet Documentation Help. We have to document all professional developments, whether specifically magnet related or not, as long as the PD’s purpose is to raise student achievement. Please advise us of any meetings/PDs you attend that address student achievement. Examples would be: Achieve 3000, Ex-CELL, FOSS tranings, anything at ICI. Attendance at Ms. Hoffman’s and Ms. LaRosa’s PDs is crucial, as a way for us to show that teachers are attending and working on increasing student achievement. 3. Postings. The posting for the garden will be up shortly. We are also developing a posting for a teacher sponsor of student government. We can do this through the magnet, because the student government committees will be organized to promote each Academy’s green goals. 4. Student Assemblies. At the 9/22 student assemblies, we presented an iMovie and PowerPoint and asked the students to respond to pictures of nature and the urban environment. We will be posting a questionnaire on surveymonkey for students to complete, so we can get an initial sense of the students’ relationships with nature and their urban environment. 5. Thanks to the deans and APs who helped at the assemblies. Thanks to Ms. Hoffman, Mr. Suarez, Ms. LaRosa, Ms. Kohm, Ms. Bautista, and Dr. Kendall for attending the UbD crash course.

Magnet Update 9/15/08
1. Teri Pakier Collection. We have posted black and white images of the prints at the proposed locations on each floor. If you have any suggestions on placement, please notify us ASAP.

2. Postings. There will soon be postings for curriculum development and other magnet related initiatives.

3. Trips. We are planning trips related to the curriculum/magnet theme for each academy. Trips are available to: Queens Botanical Garden, Museum of the Moving Image, Queens Museum of Art, and the Hall of Science. We can also book trips to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to view the originals of the Teri Pakier Collection. Signing up for a trip commits you to developing lesson plans for the trip.

4. Working Green Teams. Each academy will form a working committee that will meet 2-3 times/month for pizza lunches to plan implementation of their Academy’s green theme. We will begin meeting as soon as we settle into a permanent location.

5. Assembly/Academy Presentations. On Monday, September 22nd we will be presenting the magnet’s green theme to all students, stressing each academy’s theme. We are also planning guest speakers on the academy-related green themes at staff house meetings.

Green Magnet Update 9/22/08
Recycling. Marlyne Adman is our school’s recycling coordinator. The Chancellor mandated that every school must have an official coordinator. She will re-enforce the theme of Law & Government: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

PLEASE. If you didn’t inform us that you don’t have both the blue and black garbage pails, LET US KNOW NOW!

GARDEN. A posting for garden coordinators will be up the week of 9/22/08.

Academy Assemblies. Ed and Karen will be presenting the magnet themes at the academy assemblies on 9/22/08. In addition to each academy’s green theme, we will introduce the school-wide theme: RELATIONSHIPS. At a magnet meeting, Mr. Burns, Ed and Karen chose this word as a unifying focus, because we thought it would lend itself to all areas of study.

OCTOBER 3. The Science & Math Academy is hosting a visit from Michael Kondratiev. Mr. Kondratiev is an expert on alternative energies. The seminar will be held Friday, October 3, 4th period. Although the focus is Science & Math, all are welcome to attend. WE will let you know where we will be meeting. Thanks to Rich Carroll for suggesting his friend.

Humanities Trip. On September 25, Ms. Singhal’s students are traveling to the nature preserve, Mashomack, on Shelter Island.

Green Magnet Update 6/23/08
=Thanks= to Hillary Aleshin, Marlyne Adman, Desiree Hunerberg, Frani Rothkin, and Steve Mindlin who created lessons for the wiki: http://greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com. Thanks to Emily Erosa and Tanya Caceres for helping us get ready for our magnet partners meeting. Thanks to Michael Powers for sharing the library to host our various magnet meetings. Thanks to Linda Hoffman for taking time during her busy CEP writing day to participate in our Partners Magnet Meeting. Thanks to everyone who talked to us, shared their ideas, and/or did work on the wiki and with students. If we missed thanking you, please let us know. If you have ideas over the summer for units, projects, and/or ideas for purchases of material you would use in your classroom, please e-mail kphilli2@schools.nyc.gov.

=Sign-Up= 1. Museum of the Moving Image PD will be held August 8 and 9. This PD will focus on the components of and creating Public Service Announcements (PSAs). The following people have signed up: Terry Sapp, Mercell Morrison, Cindy Gonzales, Linda Hoffman, Steve Mindlin, Karen Phillips, and possibly Byron Mack. We would like 4-5 more people, but two day participation is important. IDEA. If summer school ends August 6th, we might be able to switch the PD to Thursday/Friday, August 7 and 8. Please let me know if you’re interested in changing the dates to 8/7 and 8/8. 2. Queens Museum of Art – They still haven’t gotten back to us with dates. I will send an e-mail to the staff, as soon as I hear anything. 3. http://greenmagnet.wikispaces.com I invited everyone to join. PLEASE SIGN UP. If I missed you, please e-mail me so I can invite you. The more people who join, the more we’ll have accomplished.

Summer Institute. People who registered for the JULY 28, 29, 30, and 31 UbD PD received e-mails about the week. If you registered, but did not receive an e-mail, please contact Karen or Ed ASAP. All registrants will receive pre-paid parking passes. There will be internet access, so we would like people to bring their laptops. We will be integrating the magnet themes into curriculum planning and unit development. If there are specific magnet resources you want to use, come sign them out before 6/26.

=Resources Just In= PBS’s Nature Comics. Compared to the ConEd book, Nature is much more sophisticated, aesthetic, and full of interesting information. PLEASE RETURN Green Magnet DVDs and BOOKS by the end of the year.

=Green Magnet Superhero/ine Contest= We will judge the contest by Monday p.m., announce the winners by Tuesday, and distribute prizes by Wednesday.

=Green Magnet Partners Meeting= On June 19, representatives from Queens Museum, Museum of the Moving Image, Queens Botanical, Teaching Matters, and Bank Street College of Education met with Ed, Karen, Mr. Burns, and Lainie Leber the DOE’s magnet director. Our partners will help with specific projects, like the garden, recycling, integrating the magnet themes into our current curricula, and creating Environmental Stewardship Learning Standards. Queens Botanical has a partnership with the Dept. of Sanitation, and they will help us get the recycling project off the ground. Bank Street will help with developing learning standards and integrating the magnet themes into the state and city curricula. Arts & Technology - School Beautification Law & Government – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Math & Science – Water: H20=Life – Innovations in Earth-friendly Living Humanities – Biomes – Seeing, Thinking, and Working Green

Green Magnet Update 6/16/08
=Summer PD= People who registered for the July 28, 29, 30, and 31 UbD PD received e-mails about the week. If you registered, but did not receive an e-mail, please contact Karen or Ed ASAP.

Let us know if you are available for per session PD Museum of the Moving Image – will probably be August 8 and 9. Let me know if you are interested. Queens Museum of Art – We will probably spend one day upstate at a reservoir and one day using what we’ve learned to plan lessons. We want to coordinate QMA with DEP, so we’re still looking for dates. Although dates aren’t set, we hope to do a Friday and Saturday, so people who work summer school can participate; this might not work out. ARE YOU INTERESTED? =Resources Just In= National Geographic: Strange Days on Planet Earth – 3 copies PBS DVD e2 design: the economics of being environmentally conscious – 3 seasons PLEASE RETURN Green Magnet DVDs and BOOKS by the end of the year.

=Kudos= Thanks to everyone who developed lessons and implemented the work in their classrooms. The evaluator, Donna Elom, visited only two classrooms, viewed the wiki (http://greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com), and reviewed the draft of our final report. She was so impressed with the theme, and the work teachers and students have begun. She suggests we organize a high profile “advisory board,” to help us go green. After meeting with her, we think we a green roof, plants and solar panels, is in our future. Please leave the work up in the hallways for a few more days, because we want to take pictures of the work. =Thanks= to Shamena Alli, Perla Bautista, Carlos Castillo, Judith Council, Linda Hoffman, Renee Melendez, Mercell Morrison, Paula Nieto, Rosa Yordan-Samuel, Tonia Taylor, and Terry Sapp, who all created lessons for the wiki. Our goal is that we share and use these lessons. Thanks to all the teachers who did magnet work with their students before, during and after Earth Week. =Super Hero/ine Contest= Students are doing interesting work. If you would you like to help judge the contest, let Karen or Ed know. We’ll meet afterschool, for per session. If you have student submissions for the Green Magnet super hero/ine contest, please turn them in to Karen or Ed in room 220, or let us know where we can view the work, ASAP. =Big Night at the Hall of Science= Our Humanities night at the Hall was wonderful. We had about over 100 students, their families and 6th grade teachers. Thanks to Ms. Singhal, Ms. Shyam, Ms. Alli, Mr. Anello, Ms. Guadalupe, and Ms. Fenoaltea. Ms. Fenoaltea goodnaturedly put on a space diaper in to show everyone what special challenges astronauts face. =Coming Soon. The Teri Pakier Art Gallery= – Bringing the Outside In. Community Board 8, on behalf of the Briarwood Community Association, is giving us $2000.00 worth of framed prints by famous artists. We will bring images of nature inside and relate the art to our magnet themes. Thanks to BCA and CB8. =Lessons and Resources= are available at http://greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com, including vocabulary, lessons, facts and quotes about water, water conservation, trees, career exploration, etc. Arts & Technology - Plants, Bees, Butteflies, Producers Law & Government – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Math & Science – Water: H20=Life – Innovations in Earth-friendly Living Humanities – Biomes – Seeing, Thinking, and Working Green

Green Magnet Update 6/9/08
Resources Just In: //Planet Earth// - BBC's 5 part DVD - 1 set //Day After Tomorrow// DVD - 2 copies //Soylent Green// DVD - 1 copy //An Inconvenient Truth// - 2 copies //The Lorax// DVD - 3 copies

We are having a site visit, next Tuesday from the evaluator for the U. S. Department of Education's magnet program.

Friday, June 6 – Monday, June 9 We would like Science, Math, Social Studies, Literacy, Foreign Language, ESL, Special Ed teachers to do a pre-assessment/introductory lesson on our students’ environmental knowledge of Global Warming, Recycling, Sustainability, Biodiversity, Fresh Water Problems, or another environmentally connected issue – see attached list of Essential Ideas/Vocabulary.

For your pre-assessment, you can use a K-W-L chart or whatever system you prefer – entry tickets, exit tickets, etc.

Resources are available at http://greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com, including vocabulary, lessons, facts and quotes about water, water conservation, trees, career exploration. We have ConEdison The Green Lantern & Friends – Justice League – Comic Books – ASK FOR CLASS SETS IF INTERESTED.

We want teachers to teach what they are interested in, but if it fits, the academies are focused as follows:

Arts & Technology - Plants, Bees, Butteflies, Producers Law & Government – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Math & Science – Water: H20=Life – Innovations in Earth-friendly Living Humanities – Biomes – Seeing, Thinking, and Working Green

HOMEWORK: Have students bring in markers, colored pencils, and other art supplies.

Monday – Friday, June 9 – June 13 - Possible Activities 1. Superheros and Super Heroines Upon completing the pre-assessment/introductory lesson, students will create a superhero/ine that embodies powers necessary to make our world a greener place. The school will select one Green Magnet hero/heroine, and each academy will select a hero and heroine, or androgynous superhero/ine that has scientifically-based powers that help the environment. The superhero/ine can have powers inspired by animals, machines, and/or by physical, biological, and chemical processes.

For example, the Green Magnet could have the ability to attract carbon dioxide and photosynthesize it into oxygen. The attractive ability connects with magnetism and photosynthesis connects with the color green.

For our walk-thru on Tuesday, we will be visiting classrooms where teachers have agreed to be doing environmentally-based lessons.

Artwork. We would appreciate teachers posting any of the pre-assessment work and/or superhero/heroine work in the hallways.

2. Envisioning a garden – measure, map out, select plants that attract pollinators, draw the garden, write a how-to, poem, rap, haiku, etc., using the garden as your inspiration. 3. WATER – Resources on http://greenmagnet217.wikispaces.com and QMA-DEP Professional Dvlp.

Green Magnet Update 5/26/08
Draft of Plan- Earth Week – June 9 – 13 - 5 Days 1. Challenges – Academies will have winners or winning classes a. Create the Green Magnet Superhero/ine b. Create the Green Magnet’s sidekick and the sidekick’s name We plan to soon make morning announcements about the arrival of The Green Magnet and his/her sidekick. (Do you want to teach the word “androgynous”?) c. Create a cartoon strip for the Green Magnet and Indiana Green (?) d. Best rap, song, or poem about recycling, global warming, what kids can do, the dangers facing us e. Best poster re: recycling, best poster re the pollinator’s garden

2. Queens Museum of Arts artist coming to help create a collage mural.

3. Earth Week Lessons – Some people will start before the week starts a. Teachers are creating lessons, which we’ll post on the magnet wiki to be shared, used, changed, etc. Mostly literacy teachers are participating, at this point. Lessons will be available on: The Lorax, Letting Swift River Go, The Giving Tree, A Drop of Water – these all have connections to all the disciplines.

b. The lessons will be available to be used, or teachers can participate in any way they are interested. For our report, due 6/16, we just have to know what everyone will be doing, and how many periods in the week, or previously in the year, students received instruction.

c. People can meet afterschool with Karen to plan. To create lessons in social studies, math, science, check with Karen for meeting times. This is the third offer, so by this point we have limited space available, because Monika has set in stone our per session through June 30th.

Earth-friendly Projects. Arts & Technology Academy –– Imagining and Planning the Garden Law & Government Academy – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Campaign – Contest: Rap, Song, Poster, etc. Math & Science Academy – Innovative Green Ideas – Imagining a Green World –Biodiversity-IDEAS? Humanities – IDEAS????

Maybe Law & Govt, Math & Science, and Humanities will all focus on recycling ideas. Ideas: Census of all the trees on school grounds – drawing, counting, researching, poems about Study of water usage, electricity usage – if we can get info from custodian

Sensory Walks Around the School – Karen will co-lead September 11th Garden Revitalization – Ms. Adman

Thanks to all teachers who are planning green integrated lessons Linda Hoffman –water and the saving of the buffalo at the Bronx Zoo Letting Swift River Go - Terry Sapp, Shamena Alli – Trade-Offs in using natural resources Secret Life of Bees - Tonia Taylor and Mercell Morrison – Pollinators Lake Biomes - Shamena Alli – Compare/Contrast non-fiction book on lake biome and fiction book The Giving Tree - Renee Melendez, Perla Bautista The Lorax – Hillary Aleshin, Linda Hoffman Susan Armstrong – Measuring, Graphing What We Waste at School Ben Palmeri - Measuring, Graphing What We Waste at School

4. Summer PDs Still Available 1. Queens Botanical – July 11th and 12th – 10 Teachers in Total Current Participants: Ragini Singhal, Marlyne Adman, Linda Hoffman, Terry Sapp, Cindy Gonzales, Paula Nieto, Karen Phillips 3 spaces available – Let me know if you’re interested. We could use math and Social Studies. 2. Queens Museum of Art – We haven’t been able to settle on dates yet. 3. Museum of the Moving Image, August 8 and August 9

Green Magnet Update 5/19/08
Summer Institute The following people are signed up for the UbD Summer Institute at St. Johns, July 28, 29, 30, 31

Karen Phillips, Magnet Teacher Specialist (MTS) Linda Hoffman, Literacy Coach, Teacher Center Specialist Paula Nieto, ESL Coordinator/Teacher

Humanities Academy Ragini Singhal, Science Nalini Shyam, Science Scott Annello, Math Florence Katz, Social Studies

Arts & Technology Terry Sapp, 7-8 grade literacy Nandakumar Chenayil – Resource Room Damien Grecco, 7-8th Social Studies Renee Melendez, 7-8th, Literacy Ravizee, 7th, Literacy Perla Bautista, ESL, 6-7-8, Literacy

Law & Government Mercell Morrison, 7-8th grade science Cindy Gonzales, 7-8th grade Science Byron Mack, 7-8th Social Studies

Math & Science John Greggo, A. P. Math & Science/Math & Science Academy A.P. Stacey Lindsay, Science Hillary Aleshin, CTT Literacy Teacher Antoine Bernardin, Dean

Interested, but may do summer school Lisa LaRosa, Math Coach Dr. Barbara Kendall, A. P. Literacy/Arts & Tech Tonia Taylor, Literacy, Law & Government Grace Nelson, ESL, Law & Government

PDs Still Available 1. Queens Museum of Art, TBD (either July 11 + 12 or August 1 + 2) 2. Queens Botanical Garden, July 18 + July 19 3. Museum of the Moving Image, August 8 and August 9

Earth Week June 9th – 13th Earth-friendly Projects. Arts & Technology Academy –– Imagining and Planning the Garden Law & Government Academy – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Campaign – Contest: Rap, Song, Poster, etc. Math & Science Academy – Innovative Green Ideas – Imagining a Green World – IDEAS????? Humanities – IDEAS????

If you are in one academy, but have a strong interest for developing something related to another academy – let us know.

Sensory Walks Around the School – Karen will co-lead September 11th Garden Revitalization – Ms. Adman Thanks to teachers who are planning green integrated lessons Linda Hoffman –water and the saving of the buffalo at the Bronx Zoo Terry Sapp – Trade-Offs in using natural resources Tonia Taylor – Secret Life of Bees Mercell Morrison – Pollinators (to go with garden and Secret Life of Bees) Shamena Alli – Compare/Contrast non-fiction book on lake biome and fiction book on reservoir – LSRG Susan Armstrong – Measuring, Graphing What We Waste at School Ben Palmeri - Measuring, Graphing What We Waste at School

Possibilities Byron Mack – Candidates and the Environment

What do you want to do? Let us know, if you want to talk to come up with an idea and/or if you want to plan a per session lesson making meeting after school. We haven’t been trained in UbD yet, but we are using a 1-page template with guiding questions.

Possibilities for the Earth Week Competitions: Poster, Rap, Poem, Short Story Projects: Arts & Tech: Imagining the Garden – creation of collage/mural

Magnet Trips Still Happening. Queens Botanical by Subway May 29th – Ms. Adman and 7A - Art Class May 30th – Ms. Nieto, Class 852

Museum of the Moving Image by Subway May 23rd – Byron Mack June 18th – Mr. Powers, Ms. Satterfield, Mr. Jackson, classes 791, 792, 793 (30 students) June 20th – Ms. Clyde (Terry Sapp and Class 716 are on a waiting list for a trip date)

Green Magnet-Available Books and Resources for Use in Lesson/Unit Creation for Classrooms http://217magnet.wikispaces.com/Library-Resources Contact Karen to post lessons/units to be shared, and please let us know if you use any of these resources. Graphing Calculators Vocabulary/Essential Ideas - DRAFT - PLEASE MAKE SUGGESTION Books An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore - 12 copies The Lorax - 3 class sets. Dr. Seuss’ story of a ruined environment Letting Swift River Go by Jane Yolen - 1 class set The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd - 1 class set with Teacher Edition

Coming Soon – Please suggest other titles: An Inconvenient Truth - the DVD, Planet Earth - multi DVDs, Soylent Green

Please e-mail us, speak with us, or leave notes in our mailboxes with any suggestions. Thanks. Karen and Ed

The Green Magnet Update – 5/5/08
SOS Reminder. We need names and descriptions of lessons/units. A simple name and 1 line description is sufficient, and we will then come interview you. An elaborate example from Alan Gold: Unit Title: Math Animals. Description: Working in teams of 2-3 students, students research 2-3 animals. Students write about the animal from a math point of view. In class, students developed a list of questions about the animal: how tall, how fast, how heavy, list of foods, habitats, how big is habitat, what do they eat- carnivore or herbivore, # of offspring, gestation period, do they migrate? Students much research the biological description of the animal and describe its environment and endangerment status. Students then use graphs to compare and contrast these animals. After reviewing different graphs formats, students choose a graph: bar graph, line graph, histogram, circle graph, pictorial graphs. The students choose the parameters to compare, and then they create graphs. Students have to find pictures and produce a written report and/or a powerpoint. In class, they watch videos. Culminating Event: Teams make 10 minute presentations.

Magnet Fair Update. We did receive applications, but we don’t know the final count. For working and making the fair successful, thanks to: Ms. Adman, Mr. Bauers, Ms. Baxter, Mr. Bernardin, Mr. Echeverria, Mr. Gold, Mr. Mindlin, Mr. Powers, Ms. Rodi, and Ms. Sewall. Mr. Barberry and the custodial staff made the school look clean, and the security guards were welcoming and friendly. During this visit, the DOE’s magnet director, Lainie Leber, said, “Your school has the nicest, friendliest teachers; I sense so much respect for one another.”

Earth Week – May 27-30th. Mr. Powers, Mr. Bernardin, Ms. Adman, Ms. Rodi, Mr. Echeverria and I got time to talk about an Earth Week at the end of May (Ms. Baxter, Mr. Gold, Mr. Mindlin, and Mr. Bauer were in the lobby as greeters). Some ideas we came up with were:

1 student-made, earth-friendly bulletin board in each classroom regarding a subject of the students' choice: Examples: water; recycling, global warming, pollution, endangered species Student-led, teacher supported Recycling Project Earth-friendly Poster Competition/Per House Viewing of portions of Inconvenient Truth, Planet Earth DVDs. Reading The Lorax, as a school.

Other suggestions: Mr. Carroll will have students research and create a bulletin board on “brown energy.” These are some ideas, nothing's set in stone. Let us know what you might be interested in doing for Earth Week at The Green Magnet.

Available Trips. Ms. Nieto and Mr. Mack signed up for trips. We still have the following trips available. Let us know if you are interested, no matter what academy you are in: Queens Botanical: May 8, May 29. Students will be creating and taking home desert biomes. Museum of the Moving Image: May 20, June 18, June 20. Tour of the museum - Students learn a lot about the history of filmmaking.

SUMMER PDs Available for Per Session – Speak to Karen or Ed: Queens Botanical – July 18 and 19; MMI: August 8th and 9th; QMA – TBA St. Johns 4 Day Understanding by Design Institute: July 28, 29, 30, 31

Small Learning Communities – Teach for Tomorrow Possibilities: Tell us what you think: Law & Government – Recycling Arts & Technology – School Beautification – beginning with Pollinator’s Garden Marth & Science – Earth Friendly Innovators – ideas, inventions Students and teachers would be able to work, through “fellowships,” on projects of interest.

NYC Dept. of Sanitation: Recycling in NYC Schools Website: http://home.nyc.gov/html/nycwasteless/html/recycling/recycling_schools.shtml

The Green Magnet Update – 4/27/08
SOS Reminder. May 9th Report Due. We need the titles and descriptions of the lessons you have implemented that are related to the environment and/or careers for our May 9th report. If you let us know what you are doing, we will come and interview you. Example: pH of Soil. Description: Students learn how to determine the pH of soil, using litmus paper. Example: pH of Soil.

Environmental Teaching Resources Going Green in the Classroom: http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/home.jsp - Search “Going Green. Lessons: http://www.marcopolo-education.org/highlights.aspx?feature=EdEarthDay

AVAILABLE CLASS TRIPS: Queens Botanical: May 7, May 8, May 29, May 30. Students will be creating and taking home desert biomes. Museum of the Moving Image: May 20, May 23, June 18, June 20. Tour of the museum - http://www.movingimage.us/site/site.php. Students learn a lot about the history of filmmaking.

The magnet partnerships are: Arts & Technology-Queens Botanical, Law & Government-Museum of the Moving Image. Let us know ASAP, if you are interested, no matter what academy you are in.

Magnet Fair at M. S. 217, April 29th, 4 – 8 p.m. We are hosting a District 25/28 Magnet Fair. We will be showcasing our magnet theme. If you have anything in a digital format, for which students have already submitted release forms, so we can display their work and images, send it digitally to Karen, or bring it to us on a flash drive for us to download. M. S. 185, IS 237, IS 250, PS 201, and M. S. 217 will be showcasing their schools’ magnet programs. INVITE: We’ll be setting up, beginning at 3 p.m. If you are in the building, please come visit.

Pollinators’ Garden Update On April 11th Patty Kleinberg of Queens Botanical, Mr. Mindlin, Mr. Echeverria, Karen, and Dr. Andrade walked around the grounds and selected an area for the garden at Exits 1 and 2. Garden Creation. Under the direction of Mr. Mindlin and Mr. Echeverria, students and interested teachers will be invited to envision their ideal gardens, and then measure, plan, and create the garden. We will be building berms, “mounds of dirt … erected to add visual interest to the landscape” (landscaping.about.com/b/2005/07/ 20/landscape-design-ideas-building-berms.htm). Composting. We will be composting with leaves and newspaper. In the fall, we will need teachers and parents to bring in their leaves. Future Engineering Project. We will begin watering, using hoses and the spigots, but in the future, we hope to be able to collect rain water. Mr. Echeverria’s engineering degree and experience will guide us.

We are hoping the garden will be a hands-on chance for students to understand the environmental issues of our school’s ecosystem.

Teach for Tomorrow - Identifying Students. Ms. Napolitano, Mr. Jackson, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Marshall, and Dr.Andrade took 60 students to the Water: H20=Life exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. Dr. Andrade and Karen will be taking the Teach for Tomorrow students back to the museum on a follow-up trip on Friday, April 18.

If you can identify specific students who you think might be interested in Teach for Tomorrow, the garden project, in a green public relations campaign, please put the students’ names and homerooms.

Teach for Tomorrow Goal: Students form ecology-related committees and meet during the 37.5 minutes. Teachers sponsor committees they are interested in.

Green Magnet Update 4-18-08
SOS Reminder. May 9th Report Due. We need the titles and one line descriptions of the lessons you have implemented that are related to the environment and/or careers for our May 9th report. Example: pH of Soil. Description: Students learn how to determine the pH of soil, using litmus paper.

Environmental Teaching Resources Going Green in the Classroom: http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/home.jsp Lessons: http://www.marcopolo-education.org/highlights.aspx?feature=EdEarthDay

AVAILABLE CLASS TRIPS: Queens Botanical: May 7, May 8, May 29, May 30. Students will be creating and taking home desert biomes. Museum of the Moving Image: May 20, May 23, June 18, June 20. Tour of the museum - http://www.movingimage.us/site/site.php. Students learn a lot about the history of filmmaking.

We would like Arts & Technology classes to go to Queens Botanical and Law & Government classes to go to the Museum of the Moving Image. Let us know ASAP, if you are interested.

Magnet Fair at M. S. 217, April 29th, 4 – 8 p.m. We are hosting a District 25/28 Magnet Fair. We will be showcasing our magnet theme. If you have anything in a digital format, for which students have already submitted release forms, so we can display their work and images, send it digitally to Karen, or bring it to us on a flash drive for us to download. M. S. 185, IS 237, IS 250, PS 201, and M. S. 217 will be showcasing their schools’ magnet programs. INVITE: We’ll be setting up, beginning at 3 p.m. If you are in the building, please come visit.

Pollinators’ Garden Update On April 11th Patty Kleinberg of Queens Botanical, Mr. Mindlin, Mr. Echeverria, Karen, and Dr. Andrade walked around the grounds and selected an area for the garden at Exits 1 and 2. Garden Creation. Under the direction of Mr. Mindlin and Mr. Echeverria, students and interested teachers will be invited to envision their ideal gardens, and then measure, plan, and create the garden. We will be building berms, “mounds of dirt … erected to add visual interest to the landscape” (landscaping.about.com/b/2005/07/ 20/landscape-design-ideas-building-berms.htm). Composting. We will be composting with leaves and newspaper. In the fall, we will need teachers and parents to bring in their leaves. Future Engineering Project. We will begin watering, using hoses and the spigots, but in the future, we hope to be able to collect rain water. Mr. Echeverria’s engineering degree and experience will guide us.

We are hoping the garden will be a hands-on chance for students to understand the environmental issues of our school’s ecosystem.

Teach for Tomorrow - Identifying Students. Ms. Napolitano, Mr. Jackson, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Marshall, and Dr.Andrade took 60 students to the Water: H20=Life exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. Dr. Andrade and Karen will be taking the Teach for Tomorrow students back to the museum on a follow-up trip on Friday, April 18.

If you can identify specific students who you think might be interested in Teach for Tomorrow, the garden project, in a green public relations campaign, please put the students’ names and homerooms.

Green Magnet Update – 4/14/08
Magnet Team is preparing for a 4/16 recruitment fair. We would like to feature your accomplishments. If you have not contacted Ed or Karen, please be sure to do so by Monday. We could use digital stills, and or video that highlights you and your students’ accomplishments. If you have the stills, we can put it on a flash drive, or e-mail it to us. Reminder: We are usually in Fran Rothkin’s lab, room 220.

Brochure. Thanks to everyone who gave us suggestions, especially Val Rodi, Rick Carroll, Mr. Barzilay, Mr. Mindlin, and Mr. Greenberg. We’re making copies of the brochure in color to distribute to everyone. Because of size limitations, the brochure could not include all of the staff’s and students’ accomplishments; the powerpoint presentation is more comprehensive.

Lesson Plans/Units. Many of you are already doing green theme, career-related lessons. We need to document what magnet-related work is being done in the building. We would appreciate copies of these lessons, in any format – handwritten or digital. For example: Mr. Mindlin graciously developed a soil profile lesson; Marlyne Adman developed an ecology art unit; Mike Powers developed an iMovie/Haiku unit. The ESL teachers have developed healthy living lessons.

American Museum of Natural History Trips Math and science classes are attending the Water: H20=Life on April 14, 15 and 18th. Thanks to Mr. Phillips, Mr. Jackson, Mr. Marshall, and Ms. Napolitano. On Friday, Ed and Karen will return to the exhibit with students interested in being “teaching assistants” and training as part of Teach for the Future.

Queens Botanical Garden Patty Kleinberg from Queens Botanical met with Mr. Echeverria, Mr. Mindlin, Ed, and Karen to begin planning the school beautification project, Friday, April 11. We will have math classes help with the garden’s math.

Thank you all for your support, excitement, and interest. We look forward to helping you advance your specific magnet theme-related interests and needs.

Magnet Update
4/8/08

1. Brochure. We need your input. If you are doing something in the classroom or outside of the classroom that you want us to know about, for possible inclusion in a school magnet brochure/PowerPoint, e-mail us or put a note in our boxes.

2. Magnet Recognition. The federal government wants to know that everyone in the school knows about our magnet designation. We are in the very early process of developing the magnet themes, but at this point, during the Quality Review, if anyone, as Ed says, is “in suits” speaks to you, please be sure to mention that we are:

Robert A. Van Wyck M. S. 217 The Green Magnet School for Career Exploration in the Arts, Sciences, and Government through Multimedia Technology

3. New Idea. Teach for the Future. Over the next 2+ years, we will develop a. Cohorts of students who will act as Teaching Assistants for specific units/skills/content in the classroom. For example, we might begin with a Teachers for the Future cohort to become water conservation experts for next year. b. Interested students will apply to join the cohort. With teachers’ approvals, students will be accepted. Joining the cohort commits them to: i. Attend trips to preview information, gain deeper knowledge ii. Research additional information in the library before a lesson/unit is implemented in the classroom. iii. Meet with Ed, Karen, Mike Powers, the classroom teachers to pre-plan the class and the student’s role. iv. With coaching, students will help make connections across the disciplines on green and career topics.

Example: Students will go to the Water: H20=Life exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History on April 18. These students will be responsible for helping in classes next year, when Ed and Karen co-teach with classroom teachers for specific lessons.

c. Over time, we will develop “Scientists for the Future,” “Political Activists for the Future,” “Architects of the Future,” etc.

4. Curriculum Ideas/Lesson Plans. We spoke to Mr. Pollaci and asked if he had any math curriculum connected to ecology. He found content.

Magnate Update 3/31/08
Heart Surgery Program Students in Dr. Andrade and Mr. Mindlin’s Heart Surgery Program have successfully completed four weeks of the six week program. The students are preparing to dissect a sheep’s heart, the culminating activity of this program.

Teacher Wish List. If you think of any ecology/career related material you need that you could incorporate into your teaching, leave a note in Karen’s or Ed’s mailbox. For example, Mike Goldstein would like to create a M. S. 217 Weather Station, and he’d like to see plasma T. V.’s in every room – weather station yes, plasma T. V.s – not yet. Seriously, he would like T. V.s in classrooms, so he could produce The Daily Show at 217. Ms. Hunnerberg referred us to “Humane Education,” an ecology/values education that we will bring into six classrooms next year.

Outreach. Magnet Fair. Ed and Karen will be presenting our school at a Magnet Fair on April 16. We are currently creating a banner and a school brochure. The brochure will highlight academic, athletic and other programs, including Champs, Chess Club, Heart Surgery Program, Future Cities, Scrabble Club, Peer to Peer Tutoring, etc. PTA. We made a powerpoint presentation about the magnet to the PTA. If you’re doing something that is magnet theme related, or just special, please let Ed or Karen know about it ASAP.

Readings Compilation - We need suggestions. We want to put together a set of readings, fiction, non-fiction, prose, and poetry about nature/ecology, one for teachers and one for students. If you have any excerpts, as brief as one or two sentences and as long as 2-3 pages, please let us know. Rick Carroll has written a funny piece about the Land of Vegetable.

Etymology. “The term ecology comes from the combination of two Greek words: oikos meaning ‘home’ and logos meaning ‘the study of.’ So, the word ecology means ‘the study of home’.” Source: Alabama Cooperative Extension. http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/Y/YANR-0196/ The article is worth reading for an overview of ecology.

http://217magnet.wikispaces.com/. If anyone wants to read an old magnet blurb, they are available at. The report we submitted is also available at the wiki.

FYI. Related to Careers. Mr. Echeverria networked with Infinity Info Systems, so Ms. Hall and Ms. Schelling were able to take fourteen Power Girls to meet with the CEO and several female staff members. Through break-out sessions and a luncheon, the girls learned about career opportunities for women in technology, including development, sales, recruitment, marketing, and accounting. Infinity was so impressed with our students that they extended an invitation for a similar program that Mr. Norment leads for our male students, Mentoring for the Future program,.

Thanks and What’s Doing. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedules to speak with us about what we’re doing, what you’re doing and/or what you’re interested in doing: Mr. Echeverria, Ms. Hunerberg, Mr. Mindlin, Mr. Schreier, Ms. Martinez, Ms. Murphy-Fogg, Mr. Powers, Ms. Taylor, Ms. Morrison, Mr. Greggo, and Mr. Norment. Rick Carroll has graciously agreed to write short plays for ecology and career vocabulary units. Ms. Hoffman offered to develop a genre study. Ms. Burgess, Mr. Castillo, Mr. Thompson, Ms. Grima and Mikhail Isakov took classes 891 and 892 to the Hall of Science. Fran Rothkin has made us welcome and comfortable in the computer lab. The PTA and Ms. Hall welcomed us for a PTA presentation. A special thanks to Marlyne Adman, who has been spending a lot of time on the magnet logo/banner/brochure. None of this would be possible without Monika Filincieri, M. S. 217’s Business Manager, who has put in countless hours. And of course Mr. Burns, who champions creativity and supports the staff’s input.

Magnet Update 3-23-08
We’re Still Going Green…. Ed and Karen had a many hour meeting with the DOE’s Magnet Director, Lainie Lieber. She liked the idea of “Going Green.” She agreed it is timely and she thought it could help us attract students. She told us a lot of things that we have to get done and do, but she also was helpful and interesting. She said we could use the name The Green Magnet School for Career Exploration, on a casual basis; but formally, in our brochure, in signage around the building we must be The Green Magnet School for Career Exploration in the Arts, Sciences, and Government through Global Technology and Multimedia.

Magnet’s Purpose - Curriculum “The Magnet is about attracting students with interesting programming. It is a curriculum and professional development initiative.” Ed and Karen explained that people seem interested in developing curriculum around a green theme, and that weaving in “career exploration” seems doable and worthwhile. Many jobs in the future will have an ecological component. From discussions with teachers (Marlyne Adman, Michael Goldstein, Scott Anello, and others), we thought we could call 6th grade: Green Career Exploration; 7th grade: Career Prep; 8th grade: Career In-service. Mr. Burns suggested that the 8th grade have a community service component. If you have a green/career text you are interested in using, let us know. We might be able to purchase class sets. For people who have ideas/texts to work with to develop curriculum/community service projects, the magnet will sponsor per session curriculum development/peer review sessions. Lainie also suggested that we develop disciplined-based electives, around the magnet theme.

Original Purpose of Magnet Grants. “The original purpose of a Magnet school was … to innovate in instructional approach … to create a school that would be so attractive, it would ‘attract’ students to attend it … [to] promote academic desegregation of students. The goal was to reduce racial segregation voluntarily … The point of them is that they usually have something special to offer over a regular school which makes attending them an attractive choice to many students, thereby increasing the diversity of the student population within them (in theory).” From web page “Public School Review: Public Elementary, Middle and High Schools, http://www.publicschoolreview.com/aboutus.php

PD – Continuing Education Lainie explained that the magnet initiative is also about PD. Ed and Karen explained that we have PD available throughout the week on vocabulary development, assessment strategies, integrating technology, and more. She was understanding, but explained that the magnet mandates we do magnet-theme related PD. We will offer curriculum development/peer review PD, but Lainie suggested that we try to integrate the magnet theme into the PDs we already have. Some of you are already doing it. Dr. Heller told us that 4th Period Monday DigiDoc teachers are creating a PD on global warming!!! Please invite us to the showing. If anyone is doing a PD and integrates the green/career theme – please let us know. If someone want us to help plan a PD theys are implementing, let us know.

P. S. Thank you Mr. Pollaci for coming up to share ideas. Lainie was impressed with our “nice and friendly staff.”

UPDATE on The Magnet School for Career Exploration in the Arts, Sciences and Government through Global Technology and Multimedia 3-14-08
Trips to NY Hall of Science. 3/18 – Selected students-809, 810, 813, 851, 852 3/19 – Selected students Class 801 3/20 – Selected students Class 815 3/25 -- Mr. Castillo’s and Ms. Burgess’ classes

Thanks to the science teachers who submitted names of students for the science trips. Two classes will be attending “I Want to Be a Scientist” trip, which correlates with our “Career Exploration” magnet theme.

Magnet Director’s Visit. The DOE’s newly appointed magnet director, Lainie Leber, will be visiting our building on Monday, March 17 to meet with us. We will take some time to walk around, so we might stop to speak with you.

Future Cities – An Environmental/Career Integrated Project. Marlyne Adman will work with a volunteer engineer and coach four teams of three students each. The students will create the infrastructure of a model city, using the computer program SIMS 3000. After an in-school competition, one of the teams will compete in a city-wide competition at Brooklyn Polytechnic. The winner at Brooklyn Polytechnic goes on to a national competition in Washington, D. C. Last year, Halsey JHS 157 came in 3rd place in the city-wide competition. First place winners win a $5000 renewable scholarship to Brooklyn Polytechnic.

American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). FYI: “World Water Day – In honor of the United Nations' ‘Water for Life Decade,’ 2005 to 2015, the Museum hosts an array of World Water Day programs, some interactive, all informative. Saturday, March 22.” See: http://www.amnh.org/programs/specials/worldwaterday/?src=h_h

Books/DVDs to Order. Thanks to Mr. Carroll, Ms. Singhal, Ms. Taylor, Ms. Melendez, Ms. Rothkin, Ms. Shyram, Ms. Adman, and Rachel Walters for suggesting books to order (see 3/11 e-mail to whole staff). If you have suggestions, please let Karen Phillips or Ed Andrade know ASAP.

Magnet Update, 3/7/08
The Magnet Goes Green. During the past month, we have been talking to teachers, administration, and our partnering organizations, the Queens Botanical Garden and Queens Museum of Art. As a result of these discussions, we have decided to embark on a green campaign. We will begin focusing on water, its science, uses, scarcity, and conservation. In an effort to incorporate this theme across the curriculum, we will be formulating, with the help of colleagues and partners, essential questions, big ideas and themes.

Class Trips. • Queens Botanical (QB). This week Ed and Karen met with the Queens Botanical Garden. We developed 4 class trips on May 7, 8, 29, 30. In May, the garden is at its most beautiful. Students will study biomes and create a desert biome, a take home desert dish garden. • Museum of Natural History (MNH). In relation to the water theme, Mr. Burns asked us to schedule 3 trips, April 14, 15 and 18, to the Museum of Natural History’s exhibit WATER: H20 – Life. “Like few other substances on earth, the show points out, water can exist as a solid, liquid and gas at everyday temperatures and pressures” (NYT 11/2/07). We tried to schedule a June 5 PD for teachers at the museum, but the exhibit is closing May 26. • Museum of the Moving Image (MMI) and Queens Museum of Art. We still have to schedule four class trips to MMI and four class trips to QMA. These trips may or may not relate to the ecology-water theme, depending on our partners’ resources.

Professional Development. • A two-day Professional Development series for 10 teachers will be on Friday July 18 and Saturday July 19 at the Queens Botanical Garden. We made it on Friday and Saturday to accommodate teachers who are teaching summer school. As part of a city planning focus, teachers will study the “importance of water and how environments, whether natural or man-made, offer ecological services that clean water and slow down and absorb storm water.” Participants will conduct a controlled experiment. • We will be scheduling 2 day summer workshops for 10 teachers at the Queens Museum of Art and two days for 10 teachers at the Museum of the Moving Image.

Queens Botanical Visit to 217 • Our partnership with QB includes a school beautification project. Mr. Echeverria and Mr. Mindlin will be spearheading the creation of a butterfly-pollinators garden. To begin this process the QB director of education will be visiting our school on Friday, April 11 beginning at 10 a.m. We will be spending the day looking at the grounds and ecology of our school. Teachers are invited to join us during their preps.

Blurb for the Weekly Calendar Published 2/29/08
Magnet Grant Overview M. S. 217 is now "The Magnet School for Career Exploration in the Arts, Sciences & Government through Global Technology  & Multimedia." Within the last month, we initiated partnerships with NY Hall of Science, Queens Museum of Art, Museum of the Moving Image, and the Queens Botanical Garden. Teachers may attend continuing education classes at these organizations this summer; students and teachers will take trips to the organizations this spring. Next year, the continuing education component will continue, and in-class work will begin. The magnet program is in its infancy, and over the next month we will be delineating the content of the summer classes. When the programs are more defined, there will be opportunities for teachers to sign up for two day per session classes. During the planning stages, Ed and Karen will be speaking with many of you for your input.

Our focus at Queens Museum of Art and Queens Botanical Garden is on water and the watershed. Queens Botanical Garden will help us develop a School Beautification Project that will include the creation of a Butterfly Garden on school grounds.

Partnerships: At this point the partnerships are: Humanities - QMA Law & Government - Museum of the Moving Image Math & Science – Queens Hall of Science Arts & Technology – Queens Botanical Garden.

Continuing Education Opportunities The program will allow for cross-house professional developments and in-class work. The summer programs at New York Hall of Science (NYHSci) are the most defined, so we’ve already arranged for many science teachers, from all houses, to be trained at the NYHSci.

Two day professional developments will also be held at Queens Botanical Gardens (QB), Queens Museum of Art (QMA), and Museum of the Moving Image (MMI). With the aim of developing inter-disciplinary curriculum, we envision teachers from various disciplines participating in the different organizations’ PDs.

If you have a particular interest in working with one of these organizations, please put a note in Karen Phillips’ or Ed Andrade’s mailbox.