Farragut Middle School
Union Free School District
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Welcome to the 8th Grade Team!
Farragut Middle School
27 Farragut Avenue
Hastings-on-Hudson, New York
Phone – 914-478- 6230
Fas– 914-478-6314 http://www.hohschools.org
A National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence
Jennifer Spirelli Kevin HanlonPrincipal Assistant Principal
RE: School Supplies for 8th Grade 2020
Dear 8th Grade Families:
We hope that you have had a wonderful summer. As we all prepare as a community for the reopening of school, we would like to share the school supply list for this coming year. We do ask for your flexibility, since supply needs could change should we be fully in the brick-and-mortar environment later on in the year. We know that students will be responsible for carrying a lot of supplies with them when in school including: Chromebook, charger, PPE, a lunch, snack and water bottle as well as supplies for each class. Since lockers will not be used this year, we suggest that a place at home be set aside for reserve supplies and that students keep one or two of their basic supplies (such as pen, pencil, highlighter, colored pencils, washable markers, post its) in their pencil case. Additionally, it will be useful to have a backpack that has a media section and a number of pockets to assist in organization.
The supply list can be found at this link. Please note that the list may be viewed either by subject, or in list form - be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom for either view.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me or your child’s teacher if you have any questions about the supply list. Wishing you and yours health and happiness as the summer draws to a close.
Warmest regards,
Jon Riss
8th Grade Team Coordinator
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Jon Riss8th Grade Team Coordinator27 Farragut AvenueHastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706914.478.6230
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Teacher
Webpage
Email
Adamo, Jim
Bellavia, Gina
Brownstein, Dan
Cecere, Dom
Cooper, Louis
CooperL@hohschools.org
Day, Eric
DayE@hohschools.org
DeFino, Stephanie
Elliott, Ezra
Epstein, Joe
EpsteinJ@hohschools.org
Felipe, Joan
Forman, Adrian
FormanA@hohschools.org
Gagliardi, Christina
Hecht, Caryn
HechtC@hohschools.org
Lembo, Chris
Marciano, Gerard
Mitlak, Rochelle
MitlakRo@hohschools.org
Otivich, Melissa
Paradis, Joan
Polstein, Martha
PolsteinM@hohschools.org
Raus, Gina
Riss, Jon
Rubino, Mike
Sandhop, Fred
Spiniello, Romeo
Vaccaro, Joe
Wendol, Drew
WendolA@hohschools.org
AREA OF KNOWLEDGE (AOK) COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
Mind and Body Wellness
Our thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and attitudes can positively or negatively affect our biological functioning. In other words, our minds can affect how healthy our bodies are! Stress is ‘taken’ by the individual and not ‘given’ by the pressure of everyday living. It is not about how much pressure one has, but how they react to the pressure. In fact, some people welcome stress, as it acts as a motive to get things done.
Stress is a natural part of life and we cannot eliminate it altogether. Instead, we must learn to control or ‘manage’ stress to avoid the negative symptoms by which we are threatened. Stress is not always a bad thing, having stress in our lives can actually benefit us in some way or another. This course will include stress management skills and techniques and will combine a fitness component to promote the well-rounded “whole” individual. Students will identify and describe stress symptoms and the effects on the body, as well as their own physical fitness level and activity. Students will recognize when their stress levels are high.
Some of the techniques/tools that will be taught are:
- Stress management action plan
- Stress Diary
- Relaxation Techniques (Progressive muscle relaxation, autogenic relaxation, meditation, relaxation response, diaphragmatic breathing, biofeedback, self-hypnosis, etc.)
- Physical activity (aerobic exercise, weight lifting, yoga, tai chi, games, etc.)
- Stress management tests
- Guided imagery
- Diet and Nutrition
- Medication
- Doing things you enjoy (hobbies)
Sparking Courageous Conversations
This course aims to center discussions about race and racism. Digital texts, picture books, articles, essays and other types of texts will be used to spark conversations that help students recognize individual, interpersonal, and institutional racism. Essential to these courageous conversations is the racial literacy skills students will acquire that help them to recognize, name, and challenge various forms of everyday racism.
Common Core Connections: In compliance with Common Core Literacy Standards, this course provides students with frequent opportunities to analyze texts from diverse cultures and time periods, and contribute accurate, relevant information during discussions about race and racism. As a result, students will build a foundation of knowledge and utilize the vocabulary and tools demonstrated in the AOK class to speak about issues of race and racism in developmentally appropriate ways.
Students will:
- Understand that racism exists in many different arenas and capacities
- Understand that biases are often not obvious or immediately present on the surface
- Learn key racial literacy vocabulary such as: race; ethnicity; racism; racial justice; antiracism; allies; assumptions; colorblindness; discrimination; equity; identity; individual, interpersonal, and institutional racism; marginalized; microaggressions; narrative; counternarrative; oppression; prejudice; privilege; supremacy; systems; social, economic, and political conditions; stereotype
- Learn conversational strategies to discuss racism
- Learn tools to challenge topics
- Learn strategies to deconstruct canned, racial narratives and acquire counternarratives that provide perspectives that have been silenced
Theater Arts
The Theater Arts Area of Knowledge class is an acting workshop taught by district Performance Coordinator Gerard Marciano. It is a class in basic improvisation performance art, and an introduction to more formal high school acting study. It is taught in the eighth grade and hosted in the HHS Auditorium.Students become familiar with the stage as a performance space. They also practice, in a warm-up line, various approaches to acting from a character/context perspective. Each student finds their own strength as a performer. While acting is not for everyone, we ask students to enter the world of performance art and find their own comfort level with various stage games and acting prompts.Art and Design
Art and Design is a chance for the 8th graders to build off of the knowledge and practices from the general middle school art curriculum. Students will explore 3-Dimensional Design techniques and methods of construction. They will learn how to use metaphors and symbolism in an artwork, and ultimately create pieces that express meaning and ideas. Art and Design is also a chance for students to create artwork to potentially better the world they live in. They can highlight something in their environment that deserves a closer look, or something that has possibly gone overlooked. Ultimately students will learn that the power of artwork goes beyond simply making things that are aesthetically pleasing. An artist can be an activist and often they are one and the same.
Some of the media and techniques explored:
- Cardboard Sculpture
- Mockette Design
- Acrylic Painting
- Colored Pencil
- Drawing
- Watercolor Painting
- Poster Design
- Collage
- Color Theory
- Expressive Color