Team Coyote News

Anne Berardinelli, Team Leader & Science Teacher
Justin Shank, Social Studies Teacher
Kay Ippolito, Math Teacher
Nia Davis, Language Arts Teacher
Kerri Shotwell, Intervention Specialist
Ashley Szewczyk, Foreign Language Teacher

We are so glad to have the chance to have all of your students on team Coyote this year! It has been a pleasure so far getting to know each and every one of our new students. We look forward to a wonderful, productive year with your kids. It is so important to have an open line of communication between parents and teachers, so please contact us at any time via email or voicemail with any concerns you may have about your child. 
In Mrs. Berardinelli’s science classes, students will begin the year studying the scientific method. Students will generate a hypothesis about how many paperclips they could fit into a cup filled with water before it overflows. After they master that skill, they will move onto a short but informational unit on the metric system. Science is based on metrics, yet the United States still follows the standard system – this poses a problem for students, since they have a difficult time relating to units other than the mile or foot. After this unit, students can better understand the numbers used in a science text. Lastly, they will begin learning the first major unit, physical science, which covers sound and light.
In Mrs. Ippolito’s Honors Algebra class, students will be working in the new books that have been adopted by the Board of Education. Chapter one will be covered, which introduces variable expressions, real numbers, powers, exponents, square roots, order of operations and simplifying expressions. In Connected Math, students will be studying data and statistics.
In Mr. Shank’s Social Studies classes, students will begin the year with colonization. Look for the “colonial flag” project handout in the next couple of weeks! Also, please keep the social studies binder organized. A binder list can be found at Mr. Shank’s website, www.mrshank.com, a valuable resource for being successful in class.
Ms. Davis and Mrs. Shotwell’s Language Arts classes are currently discussing the summer reading selections. They are collaborating on writing book reviews and creating illustrations of their favorite scenes. We are also introducing the Word Wisdom vocabulary units which will help raise students’ awareness of grade level core words. Later this month, students will begin their “I am from…..” poem that will display a peek into their identity.
Bienvenidos a la clase de espanol! In Senorita Szewczyk’s Spanish classes, students will be learning the Spanish alphabet, numbers, colors, days of the week, months of the year and so much more! They will also be completing an Aztec project and an internet project on Mexican culture. Please bring a folder, five divider tabs, paper, two writing utensils, and name tag to class every day. Adios!

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