Newtown High School Blog

The first meeting of the Math Team will be Tuesday, September 7, 2010 at 2pm in B236. Anyone with an interest in math is welcome to attend. Please see Mrs. Sherman in the math office if you have any questions.

Attention students enrolled in AP courses next year: Many AP courses require that students complete a summer assignment. Information about AP summer assignments will be available on June 1, 2010 in department offices and on department web pages.

Students in Mrs. Sherman’s Honors Integrated Math II class recently completed their final project in geometry, “The Ultimate Tennis Serve”. Students had to prove or disprove the claim by a 5’10″ tennis player that she could ace her opponent by brushing the net with the ball and having it land at the back of the service box.  Students presented their work as powerpoints, posters, booklets, and 3-dimensional models. Well done period 2!

Annette Chionilos has been selected as a Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction for excellence in teaching and for encouragement of and dedication to the academic success of students by the National Society of High School Scholars.  Ms. Chionilos was nominated by one of her students for this recognition.  Congratulations, Ms. Chionilos!

Students in Mrs. Hall’s and Mrs. Greene’s period 5 Integrated II class used similar triangles and trigonometry to measure objects outside. They used tape measures to measure themselves, their shadows and the shadows of taller objects such as the flagpole or the tree in front of the school. They then set up a proportion to solve for the unknown height. They also used mirrors to create similar triangles as a means of indirect measurement by putting the mirror in between themselves and the object and again setting up a proportion. Lastly, they created inclinometers from protractors, string, straws and paper clips to measure the angle of elevation looking up at an object. They then measured their distance from the object and used a trig ratio to solve for the height of the object. It was a really fun way to enjoy a beautiful day outside!

Kyle Bella holds a freshly printed “PI Day” T-Shirt being prepared for a Math Department celebration. Erik Hoffman designed the shirt and produced all of the working materials and Shannon Barra is pictured helping out with production. 32 shirts were printed in advance of PI day which of course falls on 3.14.10. The project is being completed in Mr. DeFeo’s Enterprise program- NHS Graphics, the Company.

Teachers and administrators will be wearing these shirts in mid-march and the design of course, points to the power of PI, a message that is clearly communicated.

The results are in for the American Mathematics Competition. The average score for all students was 65.4. The winner of the AMC – 12 was Amar Agashe with a score of 94.5 and for the AMC – 10 Brandon Luxkaranayagam and Ajit Singh tied for first place with a score of 94.5. Congratulations!

The top three scorers on the AMC – 12 have been invited to compete in the American Invitational Mathematics Examination. Amar Agashe, Justin Domhan, and Amy Kung will be compteing on March 16th from 7:30 to 10:30. Congratulations and Good Luck!

The Governor’s Office has asked through a recommendation from the CT State Department of Education that CT Academy, CSSA, and CSTA extend an opportunity to schools to invite high-achieving, science-oriented seniors to apply for the honor of attending the National Youth Science Camp® (NYSC). Two student delegates will be selected by the Governor’s Office to attend. Two alternates will also be selected at this time, in case one or both of the selected delegates are unable to attend.

The NYSC is hosted by the State of West Virginia. Initiated in 1963 and held in West Virginia’s magnificent Monogahela National Forest, this three-week long summer program honors academic excellence in science and promotes science leadership through its lecture series, hands-on research and education activities, and challenging outdoor adventures. Read the rest of this entry »

For three days this fall, five of our teachers attended state-sponsored training at Western Connecticut State University to become cooperating teachers for education students and mentors to new teachers. Tim DeJulio and Maura Mancini of the Science department, Cathy Hall of the Math department, and Kristin English and Jacqui Kaplan of the English department all attended the training on November 16 and 17, 2009 and December 11, 2009. The training was part of the state’s new beginning teacher education and certification model, TEAM (to replace the BEST program). The teachers learned about the new beginning teacher mentoring program, the new learning modules for beginning teachers, and the requirements and protocols for taking on a student teacher. They participated in activities that helped them remember the pressures of being a new teacher, showed them how to effectively evaluate student teachers, and prepared them for the role of coach and mentor for new teachers. All five teachers found the training informative and exciting, and are pleased at the prospect of giving back to their profession.

The Math department will again be offering a Peer Tutoring program this year. Students who need support in their math class have the following options.

• One-on-one tutoring by a higher level student
• Participation in a study group
• Drop-in extra help session between 5:00 and 7:00 pm on Mondays

Volunteers have the following opportunities to earn community service hours.

• Tutoring another student
• Facilitating a study group
• Working in a classroom with a teacher

This is a rewarding experience for all involved! If you are at all interested in any part of the program, talk to your math teacher!

The Math Team will be meeting this year on Mondays in B236. The team is a part of the Fairfield County Math League and will compete the first Wednesday of each month. A bus will take us to Wilton for competition. The competition is tiered for all levels of mathematics, so please join us.  All are invited. If you have any questions please see Mrs. Sherman in the math department or Scott Kim, club president.

The Math Team will have it’s first meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 9 in B236. This will be an informational meeting and all are welcome. We will be discussing the format of the Team, competitions, and challenges.

Scott Kim, a junior at the high school, was recognized Tuesday for Excellence in Math and Science by the Fairfield University School of Engineering. He attended a luncheon at the Fairfield campus with Karen Sherman, Math Department Chairperson, and Christian Canfield, Science Department Chairperson.

Students may pick up Advanced Placement Summer Assignment information from Department Chairpersons on Tuesday, May 19th.

The American Mathematics Competition results are in!!

The high score on the AMC for juniors and seniors was Haotian Zheng with 102.0.  The high score for the AMC for freshmen and sophomores was Greg Campbell with 121.5.  Both of these students have been invited to compete in the AIME (the international level) on April 1, 2009. Congratulations, Greg and Haotian! Read the rest of this entry »

On February 10th, 2009 students will be extended the opportunity to participate in the 60th annual American Mathematics Competitions contest. This contest has grown from a single citywide competition in New York City in 1950 organized by a local chapter of the Mathematical Association of America to a sequence of contests involving over 250,000 students worldwide.

With these contests, there are awards in each school for the students with the highest score, certificates for high-scoring students, statewide awards, regional awards, and national awards.  Read the rest of this entry »

On Monday, December 1st, the Math Team competed with six other schools in the Litchfield County League at New Milford High School.  Our 6 students had a perfect score on the team round, had one perfect score on the individual round, and came in second place overall.  Nice job!   On December 3rd they will compete in Wilton as part of the Fairfield County League.

• Integrated Math 1 Thursdays 2 – 3
• Integrated Math 2  Tuesdays 2 – 3
• Integrated Math 3  Thursdays 2 – 3  (or D-day period 4)
• All courses are welcome Wednesday 5 – 7 to focus on homework OR Monday 5 - 7 to focus on concept understanding