Weekend Update 10.23.06

Saturday night HARBOR HALLOWEEN on the Tall Ship "Peking"!!! FREE FOR STAFF!!! BRING FRIENDS!!!

Thanks:
1) Lettie Overnight: “First off, let me thank Alan, Roy and Rick for making these sails possible. This past overnight was a huge success, and a great end to the fall sailing season. Despite the howling winds and the wet weather Friday morning, we managed to head up the Hudson from SSSM and anchor off of Alpine, NJ. The 3 Junior Watch Officers were amazing, so be sure to thank Janette, Leydi and Heidy for their awesome sense of responsibility and great personalities while on board. Be sure to thank all the students for representing themselves and the school very well.” -Tizoc
2) College Acceptances: Congratulations to Christina B. and Daniel L., our first students accepted to college. Both were accepted into the EOP program at SUNY Old Westbury, which means that EVERYTHING is paid for, including books. This is a great first step for our students. Thank you to Nicole for taking students to the Instant Admissions day. Our college acceptance wall will begin this week.
3) High School Fair: Thank you to Sam, Nihar, Murray, Tanasia and any others who worked the Brooklyn Borough High School Fair this weekend at Brooklyn Tech HS.


This Week: (week #2)
Monday 10/23

-Perrin Wicks from Urban Assembly visiting to discuss Partnerships at 3:30
UA New Teacher Reception @ Brooklyn Museum

Tuesday 10/24
-UA Visitors: 3 Urban Assembly School Principals will be visiting Nate on Tuesday from 8-11am. They will visit classes, and meet with Nate to discuss ongoing professional development that we are doing in our school.
-Murray at Harbor Water Quality Symposium with DEP
Wednesday 10/25
-Harbor Department Meeting: 12:10 pm
-Staff Meeting: 2:25-3:55 pm (This meeting will include some time for UFT)
-Cabinet Meeting: 4-5pm.
Thursday 10/26
-Three visitors from the Inland Seas School in Buffalo, NY will join the Harbor Science Class with Murray. They have modeled their school after the Harbor School and want to learn from us!?!
-At 4 PM Murray and the Harbor Corps will lead an oyster gardening workshop at Pier 40 in the Hudson River as they lead an effort to reestablish oysters in the Harbor that will end in the creation of a new Hudson River oyster reef.
-Parent-Teacher Conferences: from 5:30-7:30 will be Open School Night. Dinner for staff will be available at 4:30. We will set up tables in the cafeteria and all teachers will meet with parents there. Please have print outs of your mygradebook.com grades ready for parents.
Friday 10/27
-Parent-Teacher Conferences: Friday afternoon from 1-3 pm teachers will meet with parents in their rooms. We will have a room layout, and tentatively operate a period 1-5 schedule on Friday (to be confirmed Wednesday in Staff Meeting).
-Alan’s House-Warming

Upcoming Events:
1) 11/7 (Tues) – Full day PD – No Students
2) 11/8 (Wed) – 8th Grader Open House (Ali is coordinating)
3) 12/1 (Fri) – End of 2nd Marking Period

Information:
1)Hallowe'en Candy Grams: Sonia's advisees are selling Hallowe'en Candy-Grams this year. They will be coming around to advisories to take orders soon. Candy-grams will be delivered in advisories on Hallowe'en. Thanks for your support and understanding -- they have come up with these fundraising projects on their own and I'm very proud of their hard work!
2) Harbor Uniform Sweatshirts: Alma has placed an order so hopefully we'll have them in a few weeks. 9th graders will get one free, after that they're $15. Upperclassmen will NOT get one free.
3) Lunch Books: Advisors, make sure to pick up all lunch ticket books from Maureen for distribution to students. Ticket #1 must be used for lunch on Monday, otherwise students must pay $1.50. If there is no book number next to the student's name on the sign in sheet, then the student did not return a lunch form, and should do so as soon as possible. Remember every lunch form is worth approximately $1000 in school funding for our school. Even if students do not eat school lunch they should bring the lunch form in.
4) Computer lab open for students: Lauren will be staffing the computer lab from 2:25 to 4 p.m. on Thursdays for students. If anyone else is interested in doing this on another day, please email Jen.
5) DIAL-A-TEACHER: Teachers, let your students know that they can get homework help over the phone by calling Dial-A-Teacher at (212)777-3380, Monday through Thursday, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
6) Teacher’s Contract On-Line: http://www.uft.org/member/contracts/teachers_contract/
Para’s Contract On-Line: http://www.uft.org/chapter/paraprofessional/contract/

Edutopia Magazine Profiles NYHS

Click here to read about our school in Edutopia Magazine!

Extended Day

Extended day at the Bushwick Campus (aka Credit Recovery Program)
began this week on Wednesday. Program cards are now available. PM
school is Mondays and Wednesdays.  They  must attend BOTH days.
First period is from 4:00 - 5:30 and second period is from 5:30 - 7:00.
If students are programmed for Saturday school (ESL and PE), first
period is from 10-12 and second period is from 12-2. Contact Ali or
Nicole with questions or concerns.

College Readiness Workshops

The following workshops will be held on Saturdays from 10 am to 2 pm to help our seniors complete the college application process.

October 14, 2006: Writing and editing personal statements; Preparing all components of the college application (including references, extra-curricular activities charts, and resumes); Last call SAT registration

October 28, 2006: College Application Marathon (CUNY, SUNY, and private school applications)

November 4, 2006: College Application Marathon, cont.

November 11, 2006: Show Me the Money! Filling out scholarship applications

Rowing on Saturdays

Please be advised rowing on Saturdays has been changed to 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM

We had 10 Harborstudents this Sat. out of 19. If you want to volunteer to come down and help out it would be great and it is a chance to work with great kids from all over the city.

Weekend Update, 10-10-06

This Week: (week #2)
Monday 10/9
• Columbus Day
Tuesday 10/10
• Princeton Review begins in 11th Grade advisories
• Becca at NYHS to talk about Maine Coast Semester from 8:30-10:30am
Wednesday 10/11
• Department Meetings
• Cabinet Meeting
Thursday 10/12
• one more day until Friday
Friday 10/13
• END OF FIRST MARKING PERIOD!!
• 10th grade overnight on Lettie

Upcoming Events:
1) 10/18 (Wed) – PSAT
2) 10/18 (Wed) – College Night 6-8pm (see Nicole’s email)
3) 10/26 (Thurs) - Parent Teacher Conferences, Thursday Night
4) 11/8 (Wed) – 8th Grader Open House

Information:
Rowing with Brendan: - Saturday All City Rowing Days - 10AM beginning on October 8th, with Brendan Malone and attended by crews from City As School, Graphic Arts H.S. as well at the NY Harbor High where Brendan is a teacher. To take place at Pier 40 on the western end of Houston Street.

Senior meeting: On Thursday, October 12, 3rd period, there will be a senior assembly in the library. There are a number of crucial deadlines looming for college applications, etc., and other things that they need to get charged up about as a class. Nicole and Ali will lead the meeting. 12th grade teachers, please bring your classes down at the start of the period.

Saturday college and scholarship application work sessions: Plans are in the works to offer special work sessions, starting October 21, on Saturdays and Monday afternoons to help seniors complete various applications. We want to make these fun and productive, with lots of staff present to help students, food, etc. Some compensation will be available; details to follow.

Harbor Humanities: Again, a big thanks to teachers who have taken some of their time to allow HH students interviews. Stop by and see the lovely finished products. They are impressive. An extra thank you to Nasiha, Murray, Shaun, and Tizoc who kindly dealt with a lot of the last minute-ers. We are starting our Survival Unit and hopefully will be taking a trip to watch inflatable rafts receive their safety inspections

Student Council & Halloween Dance Idea: The student council has submitted to Nate and I a well written proposal to host a Halloween Dance in the cafeteria on Friday, October 27. An excerpt: “We the student council are proposing at Halloween dance. This event will promote more student activities, create a more comfortable learning environment, and promote a strong student culture . . . there will be contests for most original costume . . . It would encourage more students to participate in school activities if they have fun at this one. There would be less separation in class or ranks of students socially. The students would be able to connect and create a non-stiff learning environment . . . “

We have agreed to this under the following conditions:
1) Student council raises the money for decorations, DJ, refreshments, etc. themselves and are completely in charge of them, plus cleanup.
2) The dance will be from 6-8:30 p.m.
3) ONLY NYHS students are allowed to attend. (no guests)
4) Kids who’ve been suspended this year may not attend.
5) Student council members are responsible for recruiting 5 staff chaperones (will be paid) and at least 3 parent chaperones.
6) Tickets cost $2 in advance and $4 at the door

The Harbor School Scuba Club had our third open water dive trip of the year on Sunday. This time Manny V. and Jose E. finished their open water diver certifications. They joined Angel T. as the 2nd and 3rd certified Harbor school divers.



Lettie 10th grade Overnight: Congrats to all the 10th grade sailors! we had an AMAZING time! The weather pounded us south past the Verrazano Narrows Bridge where we reached a top speed of 11.7 knots. We were screaming all over the lower bay, and despite a few trainees getting sick (it couldn't be helped), they all jumped in when there was work to be done. At night, we anchored in Graves End Bay, spent a drizzly anchor watch, weighed anchor at 0800 and by 1200, we were by Alpine, NJ. All along the way back north, every single trainee either got head rig or aloft certified. The students also worked on homework and schoolwork for a solid hour without complaining! Included are some pics... Just a sample of the good times.

Next Cabinet Meeting

Our next cabinet meeting will be this Wednesday, October 11, after department meetings (NWEA testing for Math and English).