001Good evening and welcome to the Cheshire High School virtual curriculum and activities night. I'm Mary Gat. I'm the principal of the high school and I'd like to introduce our administrative team and the head of our school counseling department. So, uh, Mrs. Broadway, she is the supervisor of special education for middle school and high school. Mr. Steve Trafon, he is our athletic director. Mrs. Michelle Katusi, she is the head of school counseling. Mr. Dan Tardarelli, he's one of our assistant principles, currently assistant principal for grades 9 and 11. Mrs. Kristen Pel, assistant principal for grades 10 and 12. And last, but most definitely not least, Dr. Reid. She is the assistant principal for curriculum and instruction. So, we're very happy to have you join us at this rather unusual uh curriculum and activities night. We were
002saying before the meeting began that we are very used to a different kind of curriculum and activities night and so I'm going to present my screen for all the parents who are watching and I want to share with you just a little taste of what our typical curriculum and activities night looks like. So you get a wee bit of a window into what Cheshire High School Curriculum and Activities Night can be when we are all here in person together. [Music] So in the past we were all gathered in first in the auditorium then in the commons and the calf. So you could see our buildings, see our school, interact with teachers and students. So this evening we're going to we're not going to try and approximate what that was, but we certainly are going to
003give you a taste of what our programs are all about and answer some of your questions. So tonight we'll share with you our Cheshire High School vision of the graduate and performance standards. Actually, it's the Cheshure Public Schools, but we like to say the Cheshire High School vision of the graduate and performance standards. We'll talk about an overview of graduation requirements, freshman course offerings, the mastery based performance assessment, which is a requirement, uh supports for entering nth graders, and then following the administrator's uh brief introduction into what we do in our programs. Then our humanities faculty will join us at about six a little after 600 6:15 uh and you'll you'll hear from them about each of the academic departments. So I'll keep rolling in our in our presentation. um our vision of the graduate
004that's posted on the screen. Really, I think what's important is to highlight some key words here. We want our students to be lifelong learners. We want them to be adaptable. And oh my goodness, if this year from March to now hasn't shown us that our students are adaptable, I don't know what can. Uh and as they continue to develop complex thinking skills and develop knowledge, they're successful. they are engaged and that's what we want them to be. We want them to go out and change the world uh to influence our society and also to find happiness to find a deep sense of meaning in their educational experience. And how we do that is really drilling down into our performance standards. There are six of them. Complex thinker, creative thinker, self-directed learner, effective communicator, collaborative and
005cooperative learner, and community contributor. And today uh our high schoolers went through a transition day where they worked with administrators, school counselors, social workers, school psychologists. We had a former graduate uh who who came in and delivered an extraordinary program for them all around taking this incredibly unique and complex time and making it meaningful. How do you set goals for yourself? How do you create the kind of experience that really will demonstrate your skills, your strengths, and help you to grow in the areas that you need to grow? We see right now that our students are extremely creative, uh, self-directed, and they are really collaborating with one another in this new learning environment um, and contributing to their community. But the foundation of what we do at the high school remains and we'll talk a
006little bit about that and Mrs. Katusi and Dr. Reid will help me through this. Mrs. Katusi, would you mind talking a little bit about our graduation requirements so that our families get a sense of what courses do incoming ninth graders typically take and how does this high school schedule work? If you could talk about that, that would be great. Of course. So, you'll notice on here that it says these are the graduation requirements starting with the class of 2023. So, um this year we do have some students that are in these graduation requirements and some that are not. So, if you already have a child um at the high school that is um in 11th or 12th grade, their graduation requirements do look different. So, we want to make sure you know that there are
007some differences here. So, um, the state department of education kind of put all of the different subject areas into different larger categories. So, the first one, the humanities, um, is English, social studies, and fine arts. So, all students will need four credits of English, which means they're going to take English every year of high school. Three credits of social studies, and that must include a half credit um, or more of civics and a full credit of US history. one elective course that's in fine arts. So that could be through music or visual arts or theater and then one humanities elective. So from those areas that were just listed above, that one um humanities elective could be in addition to any of those other classes there. So if a student takes a fourth credit of social
008studies, that would cover the one credit for humanities. That next bucket is science, technology, engineering, and mathematics or STEM. So students need three years of math or three credits of math, three credits of science, two credits in career and technical education or business. So those are two different elective areas but two credits within those and uh half credit of that has to be in personal finance and then one STEM elective. So similar to what I said above that any additional credits in math, science, CTE or business beyond those areas would cover that one STEM elective. Students need one credit in physical education, which means they'll be taking physical education all four years of high school. Some years they'll only have it one semester. Other years they'll have it for the full year. One credit in
009health and safety. So we cover that through health in 9th and 10th, I'm sorry, in 9th and 11th grade. Um a course called healthy, balance, and achievement freshman year. And then in grade 12, seniors have the option of picking um an elective for their health from a variety of options that we have. Students need a full credit in world language. Although many of our students take more than one year of a world language while they're at Cheshire High School, especially if they're considering going on to post-secary education. Most colleges want to see two to three, sometimes even four years of a high school world language. Um, a credit in senior experience or the mastery based performance assessment, which I think Dr. Reit is talking more about in a bit. And, um, then three additional elective
010credits. So, anything that could anything that goes over the again, if they took um three credits in I'm sorry, four credits in science and four credits in math, one of those would then be applied to that elective credit area for a total of 25 credits. Our students are all required to take at least six and a half credits every year. So, even a student doing that minimum course requirement will still graduate over 25 credits, assuming they pass all their courses um and get credits for those classes. Okay. And this is a little reiteration of some of the typical courses. Our department leaders will go into the into more depth about the specific courses that students take when they join us momentarily. Uh but I did want to touch on a question. Um what exactly is
011CP and CCP? CP means college prep. CCP means a competitive college prep course. So, typically students who are a little bit more independent or can can move a little more quickly through the through the curriculum would be taking a competitive college preparation course. And placements really are based on any number of data points from standardized tests, previous classroom performance, teacher recommendation, and student student interest. That motivation is never to be underestimated. So, course selection again, I turn to Mrs. Katusi to talk a little bit about kind of the specifics of how that's going to look for the students at DOD and also anyone who's joining us from St. Bridget's. Yes. So, for our students there at Dodd, um we um were over there last th I'm sorry, time is now blending together, right? I think
012it was last Thursday, the 21st, um to do a virtual presentation to all of the students um there to walk through um a presentation that will be it's actually already on the website, but I'll make sure that that parents do get that information from Lisa Rasca as well, so that if you'd like to view it, you can. Um, I believe it also went out in the letter, but it really just goes through the specifics of um, the courses that are available to them and then kind of reiterating the importance of creating good study habits as eighth graders so they can come into the the high school prepared to be a more independent learner since we're not in a team model. So, all students received a paper copy of the program of studies and then it's
013also available electronically on our website. Um, Mrs. Rasco will work with the students to put in their elective selections. Um, I believe that's happening. I know it's in February. I want to say it's next week. Um, and then all of their core class recommendations come from their DOD teachers. So, their teachers will make recommended courses for them and those will automatically be uploaded into P school. Um, they're currently in the process of making those recommendations. So, if you do have questions, the DOD teachers are the best people to answer those questions about the level for your child that they are recommending. Oh, and I'm sorry, we said St. Bridget's really quick. St. Bridget's I did drop off I was like, I forgot something. Um, I did drop off the program of studies over at St.
014Bridgets and we're trying to coordinate a time that I can do a virtual presentation with those students as well. Perfect. Thank you so much. So, the mastery based performance assessment, Dr. Reid, would you take us through this this graduation requirement? Sure. Good evening and welcome. So, the masterybased performance assessment is something that was um put into place starting with our current sophomore class. It's a state requirement. Um it is a project format. Um as you can see on the screen, it's worth one credit. It's pass fail and um if the students are struggling with it, we help them, you know, give them um other opportunities to complete it with a passing grade. So, not to worry on that standard. Um the experience should be completed their junior or senior year. And we do share with
015you next uh fall we'll share with you a manual that goes through the timeline of when certain things are taking place and due and we try to get the the um freshman warmed up to the idea and then a little bit more involved sophomore year and then really working on it junior and senior year. So all the experiences have to um will include a final reflection that um explains how the experience exemplifies the CHS performance standards and all the uh projects will be um presented by the students um either the spring of their junior year, fall of their senior year or spring of their senior year. So there's plenty of opportunities and there are also plenty of options. we have um as you will see seven different options or paths for the students to take
016in order to complete the project. So you will learn a little bit more about this um as time goes on into the freshman year, but we do like to talk about it now so that you're well aware that it's something that starts to take place and concludes before graduation. And Dr. does a great job with uh some of our faculty members to support our students through this process so that in nth grade they begin thinking about what really inspires them, what do they really care about, what what are they interested in they might want to do an independent project about in the future that extends their learning. So the next piece we want to run through is just the supports for our students when they arrive at the high school. Uh I know Dr. Reed
017has has done some some work this year with uh with the help of of Mrs. Broadway and Mrs. Pel and Mr. Tartarelli to to really uh engage teachers in providing learning lab support where students can drop in and get support on executive functioning skills. Uh we have writing lab support, math lab, science, science lab, structured study hall. All of these supports are available to all students to drop in for for some directed assistance or if students have an area of difficulty, we can actually assign that into their schedule. All of our nth graders take a healthy balance course that blends instruction in mindfulness and in executive functioning. So they really do develop a balance between social and emotional learning skills, self-efficacy, self-direction, positive decision making, and strong academic skills. We also have a wonderful program
018that's called Link Crew. And I'm going to ask Mrs. Pel to talk a bit about that. Sure. Just um tonight's really the kickoff to the freshman orientation program. So this this is always an exciting night because students really start the eighth graders really start thinking about and planning for um the the high school the transition to the high school. So there's tonight and then in the spring usually um in early April um students if they're at DD they're coming over by teams and other student other eighth graders are are welcome to set up appointments to come in. There's usually a panel discussion in front of our group of student leaders and they get to tour the building with those student leaders. a combination of our peer advocates and um link crew members. Then in the
019summer um pro about a week before school starts tenatively on August 25th, we have a day that is a full freshman orientation day and it's a program to get acclimated to the building. Um it's run by our link crew leaders which again is our student leadership group and um they start to hear about the expectations and the culture here at Cheshire High School. They get to tour again the building, get another tour of the building, a little bit more in-depth tour, um, learn about the important spaces, learn about kind of the lunch procedures and and other procedures. They get to visit their advisory classrooms and meet those students in their advisories. Um, and they just go through some logistical things and um, such as getting another copy of their schedule. Um sometimes in in a
020typical year they're picking up their Chromebooks again, um locker locks, things that of of that nature. Um this year we did run an orientation program in our in our hybrid model. We had a couple virtual meetings with um freshmen and the link crew leaders and then again the first day in the building that was their orientation day. Um so you can look for information on that coming towards the end of um the end of the school year and over the summer. And we are hoping that this will be in person next year. That is the goal that all of us are crossing our fingers for. And last but not least, we do provide some mentorship support to students as well. And that is scheduled. A person in the building becomes their mentor. I know Mr.
021Trafone is a is a is a mentor. Um, a number of us are. And it's a it's a wonderful way to connect uh 9th graders to another adult in the building aside from their advisory person, their advisory teacher. Also, not to be underestimated, our school counselors. Uh, our school counseling staff are always available to support struggling learners and also through our special education department and just also to support all students. We have uh three school psychologists and two social workers uh who can support our our students. So, we'll just do one last little piece of just sort of general information about the high school program. Mr. Trafone and Mr. Tarter, can you talk a little bit about extracurriculars? Certainly. Um I'll start with the clubs. We strongly encourage our students to get involved in some
022kind of club or extracurricular activities. And we have plenty of them. By last count, I think we had 104 clubs total. And as you can see on this list, um under the athletic teams, we have service organizations. We have uh clubs that range from academic area clubs like math league for example all the way up to uh to music clubs to theater clubs, print um and publications and also sports and game clubs like Ultimate Frisbee. Uh there's something for everybody. I would say that 100% sure. If your child has an interest or a passion, uh, very, very likely there's a club that will fit for him or her. Um, if you'd like to know more about clubs, you can go to our CHS homepage and if you drop down the academics list at the bottom,
023there's a link for an extracurricular clubs website. And from there, you can click either on an interest form on a club that you would like to join and the adviser will get an email. So that way they can reach out and tell the student a little bit more on how to how to connect. Or you can go to our CHS student and family um handbook. And at the end of that, the last few pages is a very thorough description of all of our clubs, what they do, the meeting times, the um advisors, and the places where they meet. Uh currently, all of our clubs are still running. Uh most of them are running right now and they are virtual but we do all kinds of events that are um again good for the kids to
024get involved in and also good for the community too. They are usually supportive and um you know and and a good opportunity for everyone. Just to uh piggyback on that with Mr. Tartarelli, we do have 29 uh athletic teams that we offer. Uh we we do also offer nine freshman dedicated teams. Uh so any freshman that does come and try out for those teams uh we usually keep every freshman that we can to give them that experience uh allow them to grow with our athletic programs. So you can go to the uh Cheshure High School website under athletics. If you want to click under that, you can see what sports are offered during the se in what season they are offered. Uh any questions that you may have with athletics, by all means, please contact
025the athletic department at the high school. And Mr. Traffon, I did get one question from from uh from our our questionnaire and it was will girls ice hockey be considered a varsity sport in Cheshire? Yes, it is. It's part of our athletic program here. It's part of our athletic uh varsity program. And I believe in the second part of that there there was a question on whether or not you can letter in that sport. And yes, you can. Uh as long as that athlete meets the requirements of lettering that they're in good standing with with the team, they finish obviously finish the season and whatever the coach uh recommends for lettering on that team. Usually it's a percentage of games that they're played in. Thank you so much. Thank you all of you for for
026for sharing some of the introductory information. And now uh we are welcoming and you've seen some some folks join our meeting as we've been chatting uh our humanities teachers uh actually department leaders are with us uh our our department head our English department head music social studies theater and world language and so uh we we took a look at the questions that came through and we thought we would begin by having each of the department leaders just introduce themselves so you could put a face to a name and then um I'll I'll ask some questions and they can share uh some information. What I will do on my end is I can I can pull up uh the the course sequence that they shared with you in this letter. And before we go further just
027just a little logistics parents in the letter that you received and here is a copy of it. If you scroll to the bottom and if you get seasick don't look as I scroll uh there is a drop in with department leaders to ask questions access this link. If you access this link in your letter, you'll see a link to each department leaders Google meet. So after our discussions and if there's time within each session, uh we can pause this live stream and you can get on a meet with a with an individual department head to ask a more a question related specifically to your own to your own child. So, if uh I I would like to begin with Mr. Costro if you could say hello and believe he's on. And I see Mr. Wilder.
028Pardon me, I was muted. Um hi everyone. My name is I'm Joe Casardo. I'm the art department leader here at Chester High School. Um thank you for having us tonight. Thank you for being part of this process. It's it's uh it's really nice to be involved um with everybody here and and move forward and show you what we offer for the communities. Thank you. And Mr. Wilderman. Uh hi, I'm uh Ian Wilderman. I'm the English department chair at the high school. Um and then I can also address any questions uh pertaining to theater. And Mr. Kuner. Good evening everyone. I'm John Keer, music department chairman. I'm happy to uh address any questions about the music program, including our ensembles and our general music classes. Thank you. Thank Thank you, Mr. Galvin. Good evening, everybody. Uh
029my name is Tim Galvin. I am the department chair for social studies and uh hope to answer any questions that you might have. And last but not least, world language. Mr. Bronco. Good evening everybody. Uh my name is Arua Bron. from the world language department chair. Welcome to our meeting tonight. Thank you. And I also believe I have Mrs. Wellspeak on our meet who is our library media specialist. Hi, good evening everyone. I'm Ann Wellspeak. I'm the library media specialist and in addition to uh being the manager of the books, I also will assist your student with their Chromebook when they get to the high school and so much more which we will get to in a minute. So, uh, let's start with Mr. Wilderman. If you could just tell us I we know that
030students need four years of English to graduate. What's the typical path, uh, for for a ninth grader and what are the options over their four years? And would you like me to put the English course sequence up? Sure. Yeah, if you want to pull that up. All right. Um, as Dr. Gab mentioned, uh, you need four four years, four credits of English at the high school. Um and so the progression we hear just kind of shows that that vertical alignment and the progression over those four years. The the first year grade uh grade nine is world literature one um literature from really it is pretty much anywhere around the world. More some classics in world literature one um with a real focus on on comprehension and citing the text and identifying uh themes and looking
031at analysis. Um that's the kind of focus for that year. The second year, grade 10, um goes to world literature 2. Um as the name suggests, also world also literature from around the world. Um a little more contemporary, some classics there too, but a little more contemporary than world at one. And that focus shifts a little bit more from just kind of the comprehension and identification um to focusing on on theme and message. Uh grade 11 is the first time that students have a choice between continuing that progression to American literature. Uh there's also the AP language and composition uh option and grade 11 that focus shifts a little bit towards the author uh and then the craft and and purpose of writing. And then in grade 12 uh students have even more choice um
032and kind of the focus depends on the choice they make. Uh senior literature as you can see continues that traditional progression and probably has the broadest um in terms of curriculum and content. And then there's two other fullyear choices with AP literature or British literature. And then there's also halfyear courses that can be taken in conjunction uh to form that final credit. And those each are a different kind of area of special specialty. Uh journalism, film, creative writing and speech. So the the amount of choice student has students have increases as the as those four years go on. I have two quick questions for you. Sure. One is what's a typical book that a nth grade student might read? And the other one is can you explain when it says AP and then Yukon? What
033does that mean? Does it mean the course taught at Yukon? Is it is it not seen as an AP course? If you could explain that for our parents. Sure. Uh the first question um typical book there's not the books the curriculum is built around the skills and so teachers have a pool of books in the curriculum to pull from. Um, so there's not a set exact pattern of books. Um, all teachers don't teach the same exact ones, but the ones that are most typically used are, uh, To Kill a Mockingbird, uh, Lord of the Flies, and then all teachers do freshman year, one Romeo, uh, one Shakespeare play, either Romeo and Juliet or Midsummer Night's Dream. Um, for the second question, so the AP or the AP classes, um, you know, it's still taken like
034a normal course at the high school. Um, but then most students in that class will enroll to take the AP exam in May for that course. Um, and then in order to earn college credit, you have to score a three or higher on that AP exam. Uh, the ECE courses, the early early college experience are offered through Yukon, but they're taught at the high school. Um it's student teachers who have been certified through Yukon to teach the courses professional development and workshops through Yukon to maintain that certification. Um and so they're sort of technically teaching the the Yukon course. And so while it's taught at the high school, students are actually getting Yukon credit uh a Yukon transcript. Um there's not an exam like there is with AP. The grade they get in the course
035is actually the grade they'll get on a on a Yukon transcript. And the great thing about both advanced placement AP or Yukon credit is they're all they they they do uh get they're accepted at colleges. The college board uh the scores on an AP exam range from three to five for scores that are typically accepted at universities and colleges. Uh but most colleges accept the Yukon transcript because it is an accredited nationally ranked and known university. Um if we could now ask Miss I actually but I did want to say one thing. I was remiss and I did not introduce Mrs. Baro who was our d our department head for special education and support services. Can you say hello? Sorry, I was just going to wave hello. I didn't want it um interrupt. But um
036I look forward to working with all of your children. I'm also the uh one of the link crew um coordinators. So, I'll be heavily involved in freshman orientation and um we're really happy to to have your child with us. So, we look forward to um working with you all. Thank you. I apologize. Mr. Galvin, you're you're next up in the line of questions here. Uh what social studies courses do incoming ninth graders take and what are the required courses and elective options? And would you like me to put your course sequence up? Yeah, sure. We can put the the organizer up there. Um, as you as you take a look at the course sequence, you'll notice we have our department mission statement up at the top. Um, first and foremost, our emphasis is to graduate
037students who are informed and engaged citizens. Um, and to that and we're focused on skill development. So, not just the delivery of content, but um, our department places a heavy emphasis on skill development, critical thinking, writing, research, um, etc. So that's kind of uh the foundation for everything we do. Freshman year, all students are enrolled in modern world history. Uh you'll notice next to each of the the uh typical courses, I have a question uh which kind of guides in essence what the student will be learning about freshman year, they're focused on learning about their world and what has shaped the world that they live in. Um then we shift in sophomore year to United States history in which case they're focused more on what uh historical forces have shaped the the nation in which
038we live. Uh you'll also notice that in sophomore year they have an option to move to the advanced uh sequence and we offer AP United States history as an option. The uh junior year we focus more on uh civics and government and what their their eventual role as a citizen will be. Um civics is a mandated course of the state requires it. It's a state graduation requirement. Uh if your son or daughter takes AP United States government in the advanced sequence that suffices as the um mandated course. We also, you'll see, have a lot of choice available to students by the time they get to their junior year. Um, multiple AP and ECE offerings are available. Um, and we also have, uh, history through pop culture, um, black and Latino American studies, the Vietnam War.
039Those are either CCP or CP electives. And, um, there's a slew of AP and EC offerings. We just added two new courses this past year. the AP comparative gov and the ECE human rights in the law which are each a semester course. So some students pair those that option with civics if they elect to take civics. And then senior year really the guiding question more so is what really grabbed your attention? What are you passionate about? What would you like to study further? And um the electives include AP psychology or any of the other AP offerings or ECE offerings that they haven't yet taken. And then we add three additional senior electives to the pool of electives and they can take global uh global citizenship, psychology or sociology. So that uh that provides the overview
040of the core sequence. Thank you so much. And as I I hear uh both our English and our social studies department leaders talk about what the students are studying, I can't help but ask the question um how does the library support our students uh academically and socially? How how can you how can you support them this year? You know, certainly things look a lot different than they have in the past, but um one great thing that we've had here in the library is our learning labs. And we typically have hosted for many many years the writing lab for students as a support for writing not remediation but just any student that has issues with writing a paper, a college essay, a lab has come in. Now we have a array of of offerings for every
041subject so that students can come in to get um help from a science teacher with science labs. They can get help with um working on a social studies FAQ. they can do anything that they um that they're having any sort of concerns with, we we have that support here for them. Um, additionally, you know, we have um great databases that we pay for here. And we, you know, I personally come out to social studies and English classes and um help our students use those. And those have been really helpful because they do not require that you actually be here in person. They're accessible through our passcodes and also um through um certain directives that we can give students so they can access really good quality information when they're doing um research of any kind. And
042again, technology starts here. This is where we are Chromebook central. So, um we are the hospital for the Chromebooks. We support both remote and in-person students right now. Hopefully, we'll be able to see all of our students in person next year. But any issues that students are having with, you know, technology, we can help um, you know, mitigate those here. Thank you so much. And Mrs. Baro, how do special education teachers support students in humanities courses? Um, we do that in a variety of ways and our role in the humanities area is really driven by the PPT process um, and specific IEPs. So, we have some of our teachers who are co-teers in in um the English courses. We have instructional assistants who support some of our um social studies courses. Um we run small
043classes. Um so, it it really is student driven. But um on the other flip side of things, we cons we consult and confer with teachers often about uh how to help students who um are struggling. Thank you so much. So, what art classes can incoming freshman take? Um the arts department offers a pretty wide wide range of courses for incoming freshmen. Um specifically, um the the top four courses that we see most of our freshmen, uh lean toward are drawing one, clay one, studio art, and 3D art. Um basically the main reason that that is the case is those four courses do not have any prerequisite requirements in order to sign up for those. Um in addition, um we have many students that come over from Dodd with a strong interest in wanting to paint.
044They have they do they do have a strong painting um course over at Dodd. So when they when they follow over to here at Cheshire High School, students are really interested in painting and drawing specifically. Um most of the time we do as such we do um we do tell students if you're interested in drawing, if you're interested in painting, we try to lean them toward drawing one because that is really one of our our foundational courses and it does open the door for for freshman students to progress further through a lot of the courses that we offer at Cheshire High School. As such, it is important because currently uh there is a graduation requirement with art. One full credit of art is required by students by the time they become seniors at Chester High.
045So, um that would require them to take at least two art courses um with us at some point. So, the nice part is for the for freshmen coming in, there's a pretty good range of courses, specifically the four that I mentioned, the drawing one, the clay one, um studio art, and 3D art. Clay and 3D art are the more hands-on based courses where students really get to get involved um building, sculpting um and working with different materials and something that they they're used to in the past. Um these are courses that are going to teach them very very strong skills skill sets. So clay one's going to teach them handbuilding skills um such as pinch pots, coil pots, um slab constructed pottery. Uh 3D art is going to give the students a really strong chance
046to work with materials that they're probably not used to working with as far as sculptural materials. Uh we try to work with carving um assemblage and collage. Uh students would also work with something called earthworks where it's they actually would um gather natural materials and create sculptures from those. So we try to offer a wide range of opportunities uh to the incoming freshmen. Um last but not least is studio art, which that is definitely a popular course for um for many reasons. Uh sometimes students are coming in and they're really not sure. We get a lot of students saying or parents saying, you know, we're not sure what our son or daughter would be interested in. And studio art is a great course um that encompasses all of the areas that I just mentioned. It
047encompasses drawing, encompasses painting, sculpture, and a unique uh area also called printmaking. So students get to really delve in four different um areas of art making in that one course, which is always a nice um it's it gives them a wide perspective on art. So that's a good that's a good all-encompassing course for students that just are really coming in and they're just not sure what art course they'd be interested in. So um those are the four that that that make the top list as far as incoming freshmen. Um, but like I said, if you have a son or daughter that's really interested in drawing and painting, that drawing one course is a strong one for them to take because it really is a door opener uh for other courses that we offer. Thank you
048so much. And I I it's important for me to point out that the next three department leaders you're going to hear from are districtwide department leaders. Mr. Gustardo leads the K through 12 art department and Mr. Kuner leads the K through2 music department and Mr. Bronco leads the 6 through 12 what? 7 through 12 language department. So, Mr. Kuner, uh, how do students get involved in music when they get to the high school? And another question that came up that I'll add on is, can you take electives while you enroll in music? Yeah. Uh, the best way to get involved is sign up for the CHS choirs, uh, CHS bands, or the string orchestra. So, if students have participated in the past, um, at Dodd Middle School or at St. Bridget in those programs or
049if they have very little experience, we'd love to have um all students who are interested in music um sign up for those ensembles. Um we start uh start off in our um grade nine uh classes with uh most of those students staying together in the larger ensembles. So for instance, uh the chorus would be the first coral ensemble for for most students. uh they can branch out from there and um pursue uh some specific choirs such as vocal jazz, different styles, vocal jazz, the VIPs, a more classical um organization, VIP select singers, uh a female voice, uh I should say treble voice, um corral, uh which actually has been expanded out. We've had the um three parts in that group now. And then we also have a bass voice chorus uh that meets on Friday
050afternoon. So there's some a little bit of something for everyone in in the in the coral area. Uh the string orchestra would be um where our string students should start and then other opportunities beyond that after school for chamber orchestra and symphony orchestra where we combine all the winds and percussion along with the strings. Of course, CHS bands starting off with symphonic band, our largest uh instrumental ensemble with about 110 students. Um, and then wind ensemble, which is about 50 with a little more difficult repertoire. And jazz ensemble, of course, the marching ram band. All of that starts up in August for preseason. We automatically enroll our first year students in band in the marching band. Um, and uh, that's a soft requirement. If students aren't able to participate because they're involved in sports or
051another activity, uh, then we wave that requirement. And the reason we put that there is so that students will jump right in and, uh, give it a try in their first year. It's that's the that's the best thing. I I loved hearing about the art offerings and that uh, students can explore um, all the different areas in art. Uh, we we want uh, our first year students to have those opportunities and then maybe make some more decisions as they progress. We also have some general music offerings, a history of American popular music, history of jazz, music technology, which are uh great uh um for students who may not be members of ensembles who have an interest in music, who would like to learn more about music. So, biggest thing is uh sign up for it.
052And yes, there is still room for other electives and study halls. Um so if a student is participating in the coral or band or or strings uh there is another slot available for students at least um and I would say take other electives because you're still going to have once out of the rotation you'll have uh something you'll have a study hall and I think u um it would be important to explore some of these courses rather than um have a whole lot of study hall time at this point. probably my the other teachers here would agree. And for arts uh for the arts requirement, music does uh also um you know count for that first uh for that one-year arts requirement. Music and art be applicable for those. Look forward to uh seeing all
053of you in the breakout if you have any more questions. Thank you so much. Mr. Bronco, can you talk to us a little bit about the world language offerings for ninth graders? uh what what does it look like when they transition from DOD to the high school? Sounds good. Uh good evening. Uh Dr. Gad, if you could uh present that uh the core sequence uh that would be great. I'll use that to explain our program here at CHS. Uh just so just so you all know all of our programs in the Cheshure School District are in war language are proficiency based uh where we put a greater emphasis on speaking, listening, writing and reading and obviously culture as well. So from sixth grade all the way to 12th grade uh uh all of our entire
054language program centers around that. Uh so if you look at the chart and I'm going to go from left to right starting with seventh grade that's when you know your son or daughter started at the middle school taking their first experience of world language. they took the first half of of our year one equivalency high school program and then in uh eighth grade they finished that one year equivalency program which for that work that they've done in seventh and eighth grade they've been awarded one credit. So and when they come up to the high school they will have already one credit uh on that transcript after 8th grade if you look at the next at the progression uh most of the students in that that come from that do continue with the language that they've
055been study at middle school. So most of them uh move on to in ninth grade to the placement of the year two of the language that they've been studying at Dodd. However, if somehow uh the student didn't have a good experience or somehow that they've had a change of heart and they want to go on and and and try something new or add another language, which is uh common sometimes with some students, they can always in ninth grade make that change or add another language. And we still offer those same languages, Spanish, German, French, Latin, and with the addition of Italian as well. So, in ninth grade, they'll continue on with the study of the language. And as you can see from the chart in 10 in 10th grade, 11th grade and 12th grade, they
056if they choose to do so, they can continue the study of their language and reach all the way to their senior year where they can take the year five uh study of the language um which in some of the cases include AP classes and ECA classes as well. Um we do have some flexibility within the beginning of the years for some uh switching of language or addition of languages. Um however, you know, I I highly encourage you to to encourage your son or daughter to continue the study of a language that they've done that they've started at DOT. Um, a a couple things that I also wanted to add is is that uh um in Spanish, like the other languages, if you look at the chart in ninth grade, we have Spanish 2CP and Spanish
0572CP. So, in Spanish is the only language that we offer these two levels. We we offer the the college prep class or the competitive college prep class. All of the other languages only offer the CCP level. Um, usually the CP level uh uh is recommended to that student that really uh struggles a little bit with the acquisition of language structure uh and that that that have a hard time dealing with with linguistic concepts. Um just so you know the content of the two CP and CCP is the same. Uh the only difference between the two of them is the pacing of the classes. Um, I hope this has kind of cleared a little bit some of the questions you might have and uh and and kind of put a light into the chart that you
058have uh in front of you. That's all. Thank you so much, Mr. Bronco. I think from listening to our humanities group, it it can be a little dizzying to realize all of the opportunities that our students have when they arrive at the high school. We strive to provide uh every opportunity for them to gain the the skills and the depth of knowledge they need to to go on to whatever they seek to do when they when they exit our doors after four years. So, our humanities group is is going to sign off. Uh you have their email um I'm sorry, their link to the Google meet so that you can drop in and ask them any questions you want uh during that that drop in time. And our STEM faculty is going to join us
059in a moment and we're going to ask Mrs. Petaro to stay on because uh her work al extends into every area of our school. She supports every area of our school. So uh I thank you and I thank our humanities faculty so much for for sharing your expertise and your passion for for teaching and learning. Thank you. We'll take a pause. Welcome back. And we are here with our STEM faculty, our department leaders for our STEM department. So I will introduce them and they can say a few words. Uh Mrs. Julie, Miss Julie Barker. She is our department chair for science. Hello. I'm Julie Barker. I'm the science department chair. I've been here for 25 years and I love teaching science to all students. And Mrs. Kathy Sullivan. Oh, you're muted. Knew I do that.
060I'm Kathy Sullivan. I'm department chair for physical education and health K through 12. So I have all the way the whole district. And Mr. Shawn Mchuan. Good evening. I am chair for career and technical education grades 7 through 12. Mrs. Cindy Sarlo. Good evening everyone and welcome. I'm Cindy Sarlo, the math department chair here at Cheshire High School and go CHS math and Mrs. Debaro. You met her last time and she has joined us in the uh STEM portion of our program. So I will present so you can can see some of the information that we had last time and we're going to begin with uh Mr. Mchuan and we wanted to know if you could could share with our our viewers uh what is the best CTE class career and technical education class that
061an incoming freshman should take to open up your information slides. Um yeah it's a it's a couple page pamplet that they can look through. It has all of our courses and okay are available and some some other addition in there but yeah thank thank I mean we have 11 courses that friend can sign up for and by time they're a junior have over 30 courses that that students are available to take. Uh there alone we have 33 section freshmen are currently enrolled in. So we have plenty of them. So I guess I I'm going to turn the question back on to you and say, you know, what is that student interesting about? You know, because we we have department that encompasses family consumer classes all the way to technology um so if a student has
062interest in hospitality tour, I would recommend that they would start off in our culinary arts course because these can lead into other courses and foods and our peticery classes. Um, if a student has any education and training and human services, um, I would recommend that they would till their 10th grade year and sign up for one of our child development classes. Um, and until their 11th grade year, they'd earn college credit for the Yukon C into informationology creating on a computer whole ton of classes in the fresh air that we had more but something like a graph design class or our production course. Um, our one most popular freshman and we also have a class medium print production and they work on our high school yearbook. If you um swing and hammer and uh learning
063learning the parts of architecture, I would recommend possibly a resident class or our technical theater course that builds the sets for our fall play. Maybe maybe you see going into a career with them. Um, you know, we have a robotics engineering design class. I believe also one of our most popular course freshmen. Um, and I did see a question that, you know, if you're interested in being on our team, our robotics team 999 class is wonderful and class in our engineering profit in drawing dimensional dimensional CAD program. But what's really is what next year you coming freshman have opportunity some of our manufacturing course that are in partnership with Nagatuck Valley Community College new courses manufacturing specific manufacturing course um as a manufacturing fundamentals and those are going to be your foundation for more courses
064uh over the next two years where you earn industry level certifications and leave with some serious college credits um and prepare yourself for their advanced manufacturing or STEM or transfer those credits onto another four-year university. So, we have plenty of offerings and that's just your for your freshman people. Um so, come see us. We we have tons of hands-on classes that operate upstairs and downstairs. And if you have come see me later on, thank you so much. And just each segment is balanced. I forgot to introduce someone in the last segment and I forgot to introduce someone in this segment. How could I have forgotten Mrs. Leslie Pere who is the chair of our business department and actually the next question is for her. All right. Well, welcome um eighth graders who are going to
065be coming to the high school next year. We're looking forward to having you here. Um, my name is Lesie Pere and I am the business department chairperson and um some courses that you could uh take your freshman year. We offer four courses that um that really will help prepare you for your high school experience and beyond. And um those courses include a computer essentials class where you're going to learn a um keyboarding skill. I know most of you can type already, but this is a little bit different. Um, you're going to gain speed and accuracy. You're going to learn how to format documents that you're going to be creating at CHS in many of your other classes. Um, you'll learn how to format MLA reports. You'll be writing reports in your English classes, science classes,
066social studies classes. Um, you'll learn how to create tables. You might use those in your science classes, maybe in some of your math classes. So, there's a lot that of um of skills that you learn in the computer essentials course. There's a halfyear course and then there's a year-long course. And the year-long course differs a little bit where you're really going to take your um the skills that you learn to the next level. You'll be um you'll be creating uh documents with graphics um tables that are shaded and have many other um options. um you'll create brochures and you're also going to learn how to use uh Microsoft Excel. So, that's a a great way to get yourselves started um for your high school career. Um we also offer Microsoft Office and um that's another
067option. Microsoft Office is a semester class. And before I forget, you can also sign up for personal finance. Personal finance is a graduation requirement, but you could take that at any of your four years at Cheshire High School. So, just a few things that um you might want to consider um as adding that to your um nth grade course selection. So, did I answer that question, Mary? You sure did. And I would also add that the business department has a number of clubs where students take the skills that they learn in their classes and apply them immediately in in real world context. You want to talk just a second about some those those p those powerful experiences. I I do. Thank you for that intro. So, we have three great business clubs and it's a
068great way for new students to really meet other students um to get involved at Cheshire High School. And you might be thinking, well, we're, you know, we're not able to get together like we were before. These clubs haven't skipped a beat. They're meeting after school. Um, the Mock Trial Club, great club, especially if you're interested in possibly a legal career, um, or you're just interested in the law or you just want to participate. They're actually competing, um, this Friday against other teams throughout the state. Normally, that would take place in a courthouse, but they've got it all figured out this year, and it's going to be a great experience for the mock trial students. Um, we also have a club called DECA. And DECA used to be much more geared towards marketing, but it's really
069a much um broader business spectrum now. And students in the DECA club, again, starting with ninth graders, are learning great skills, presentation skills. Um, many of our students, including ninth graders, have competed at the state level as well as at the national level. So, as um as Dr. Gad said, you're taking skills that you're learning um in your business classes, also combining skills that you're learning in many of your other classes here at CHS, and you're able to compete. You uh create um all sorts of projects using those skills. Uh the third club that we have are is the Future Business Leaders of America. And um again, our focus is on business. Just a little bit of a a different um a different club um that students join. They're also competing at the state level
070and at the national level. Um they both DECA as well as um Future Business Leaders of America have guest speakers come in um to really um enhance the curriculum um enhance the club um and what students are learning. So, I hope you will consider taking one of our business classes. I think you'll really enjoy it after your freshman year. Many more business classes open up where you can really find uh an area that you're interested in, marketing, accounting, uh there's an introduction to business class. Um there are career classes. So, I won't list them all for you right now. Um but if you have any questions, feel free to email me. uh and um I will share more with you at that point. So, thank you. Thank you so much. And I'm hearing a lot
071of math in those courses that you that you just introduced. So, Mrs. Sarlo, can you talk to us a little bit about the math courses that students take and Mrs. Baro is u intimately involved in supporting a number of math courses. So, I will put the math course sequence up and we'd love to hear uh some of the experiences that our ninth graders have in the math department. Excellent. Thank you, Dr. Gad. And you know, I would be more than happy to talk math and you're only giving me a little bit of time, so hopefully if you have any questions beyond this little bit of time now, certainly uh join me at 7:15 and we can have further conversation about the best subject ever. Math is everywhere. So what you see in the the document
072that we have here is entitled typical course sequence in mathematics. And that's an interesting title for me because our students are all different. They they the piece that's typical for them is the fact that they're taking algebra 1, they're taking geometry, they're taking algebra 2. What's not typical is when they take it and what they take after that. So students graduating Cheshure High School the typical course sequence that they follow at some point they have a credit in algebra 1, geometry, algebra 2 typically. But as you know there are students that take algebra 1 at DOD. There are students that take geometry at DOD. So one of the questions that we had in the Google form was can a student coming from DOD get high school credit having taken alpha 1 at DOD and having
073taken geometry at DOD? And the answer to that is yes. with this new state graduation requirements. Yes, that student will be coming in with two Cheshire High School math credits, having taken algebra 1 at Dodd and having taken geometry at Dodd and successfully passed them. So, that student will be coming in as a ninth grader taking algebra 2. And to kind of segue into another question that we had um in the Google form, can I take AP classes at the high school? Absolutely. Um, so coming in once you get your algebra 2 background and from 10th grade and beyond, we have a number of AP courses that we offer. AB, AP computer science principles, AP computer science A for those who are interested in computer programming. We have um AP Calculus AB which uh provides
074the opportunity to earn a college credit in calculus one and AP calculus BC which provides the opportunity to earn two credits for college calculus calculus one and calculus 2. Um so that is our our furthest course. So we go from algebra 1 through AP calculus BC. And with algebra one, I'm going to defer to Mrs. Buro. We have um the honor and privilege of of having her be part of our math team py um and she helps to support our students in the mathematics classroom. So, Mrs. Petaro, you co-e with one of our teachers, uh Mr. Fidella. So, if you want to talk a little bit about that course, I'll defer to you. Sure. So, um, one of the unique opportunities Cheshire High School offers is what we call a double algebra 1 class. And
075that class is designed to, um, really provide students time to really um, master those foundational math and algebra one skills and um to also build confidence at the same time. And I I have to say that um you know we we we canvas our students often and the response that we get from the students that are involved in that particular classes they are um they have found it to be very successful and helpful and a great launching point or launching pad for the rest of their math career. Um I would have to say overall special education has a pretty strong presence in the math department. Um, we co-e uh algebra 1, geometry, and algebra 2 as well as we offer small groupoup math classes. And again, as I mentioned in the humanities portion of tonight,
076all of that individualized specialized instruction is driven by the PPT process and outlined in an individual IEP. Thank you, Mrs. Baro and Dr. G. I had one more question um that someone submitted. So, do I have time to get to that before you turn this over? All right. So, there was a third question that someone submitted. Can my son take algebra 2 before geometry? So, here at Cheshire High School, the way the math sequence is set up, students go from algebra 1 to geometry to algebra 2. So, here at Cheshure High School, the answer to your question would be no. your um child would take your son would take the algebra 1 then go to geometry and then take algebra 2. So I think that hits all of the questions that were submitted um and
077I did leave out AP stats and Dr. Gat if you give me 30 more seconds can I give a shout out to our extracurriculars. Excellent. Absolutely. Thank you. Excellent. All right. So, we have the coding club for those students who are interested in doing programming, just getting together with with other students who are interested in that same area. We have our our math teams. Greater New Haven Math League meets. Um it it's a wonderful opportunity for those students who are interested in math competitions. They meet once a month and they they meaning students from I believe it's 17 different schools in the area and it's about 300 students that descend on this competition and and do math problems for about an hour. It's a phenomenal experience just to witness the energy in the room and
078now witness the energy in the virtual room. So there's an opportunity to get involved there. We also have coming up next Thursday our um national mathematics competition. So, so there's an opportunity for for all those math lovers out there. So, go CHS math and and I'll turn it over. Thank you very much. Mrs. Barker, can you talk with us about the science offerings for incoming ninth graders? And I will put up your science course sequence. So we offer a variety of classes in science throughout the four years for our students and uh we have a typical science sequence and then we have an accelerated science sequence as well. So I encourage you to watch I did push out to you all the screencast that explains this in a lot of depth and detail for you.
079The two courses that we really have in freshman year are earth science or biology. The majority of our students will take earth science. This gives them that background to understand the the world around them to understand weather, uh, astronomy, geology, all of these things that occur in the world around us that we see every day. Um, and we work on building our science and engineering skills. We look at our crosscutting concepts that cut across all of our science classes. And we have disciplinary core ideas. These are all part of the next generation science standards which are incorporated in all of our classes. So for most freshmen, you will take earth science as a freshman. Um if you're ahead of grade level, uh you can take the CCP biology as a freshman. And this would then
080give you an opportunity to take more of our AP and advanced science offerings in your junior and senior year. All of our students will have the opportunity, should they choose, to uh try to take advanced and AP science classes, no matter which sequence they follow. Um, but by by taking that accelerated sequence, they can get more of them into their schedule. So, we offer a variety of things. All of our freshmen are either going to be in our earth science or our biology. Uh, and then the variety of offerings go from there. So hopefully that addresses the freshman year classes. Um, one of the questions that was on the Google form was about the AP and ECE class uh that we have. So we have many offerings here that are both AP and ECE courses.
081They include two AP physics courses. One is a calculus based and one is a an algebra based. We have a biology course that is ECE and AP. And we have an environmental science course that is both ECE and AP along with our AP chemistry class. So all of the ECE classes allow students to earn college credit through the Yukon program which can be used anywhere. Uh they can transfer those credits to almost any college. It's a nationally accredited program. Um, so that program allows them to transfer those college credits virtually anywhere in the country um, and bring that with them after they leave us here at Cheshure High School. So, um, I think was there another question on the sheet from the Google form or maybe I hit them all. There was one more. Are
082there separate lab periods for science courses? So some of our science classes are single credit classes. So we meet a single period and then some of them are one and a half credits which means periodically you meet for two periods in a row. That gives us this additional time to do extended labs that take longer. Um so you can't walk away from your chem chem lab in the middle. Uh so that gives us that opportunity. But all of our courses are very hands-on. We use a lot of inquiry based instruction. So students are doing lab and they're interacting with the science. They're doing science as opposed to just sitting and passively receiving it. Uh so that takes the extra time. The earth science class is a single credit. So it does not have the double
083lab period. Our biology, our chemistry, uh and our AP classes, they have the double period with them. Thank you so much. So maybe I'll just wrap up with our with our extracurriculars as well. We have a lot of opportunities for you to get involved in science here at Cheshire High and one is the science national honor society. Uh so you can join that. Uh you apply at the end of your sophomore year and participate in that in junior and senior year. uh and we do a lot of different types of activities with that uh outreach doing activities with younger students and also having things like guest speakers former graduates who come and talk about their experiences doing science in the real world. So those are some of the things we have going on in science.
084Thank you so much. And speaking of active engagement, Sullivan, can you talk with us about PE and health classes? And one little tangent there. How did you adapt to PE and the hybrid model? Talk a little about well wellness Wednesdays if you would. Okay. Um so all freshmen are scheduled for physical education in uh the fall semester 1 and then they will be scheduled for health in the spring semester 2. Um in physical education they will cover uh such topics as project to venture and cooperative games. uh volleyball, low organizational games such as ultimate frisbee, flag football, and soccer. Um they'll line dance, they'll get um introduced to the weight room, and they'll um learn how to play pickle ball. So, they get a large variety there. And when they move into health, they cover
085uh mental health, they'll cover skin cancer, American Red Cross first aid, uh relationships and sexual health, uh liver education, substance abuse, and if we have time, vaping and nutrition, depending as the year goes along. Um this year on uh Wednesdays we've been supplementing our curriculum by providing uh Wednesdays periods are health related talking about um positivity in the pandemic dealing with nutrition dealing with exercising. Um so every student in the school will get a little extra um health information and physical um health information uh in terms of um kind of surviving the school year and what they can expect and and how they can help themselves and help others. So it's been kind of a unique experience and we've been able to tap into a little more health education since our time is limited with
086them um especially freshman year. So, um, and typically we have inter murals during the school year. This year they're kind of on hold. Um, we've got the, uh, typical athletics is back. So, hopefully intramurals will find its way back again, at least for your children. So, thank you. Well, thank you everyone. Thank you to all of our STEM department leaders uh, for providing really valuable information and sharing your expertise and insight. And uh again, like I said to the other group, your your your passion for what you do and and the students that you teach. Um to all of our parents who joined us tonight, thank you so very much for participating. Um if you need to have more questions answered, you can go to that link at the bottom of the agenda in the
087letter that I sent you and you'll be able to speak to these wonderful people in a separate Google Meet and ask them some questions about your children. And uh we really look forward to communicating with you a bit more as you make the transition from 8th grade to 9th. It is a big one, but we look forward to wel welcoming you with open arms in person uh to take advantage of all the extraordinary opportunities that are available to you at Cheshire High School. So, thank you so much. Have a wonderful evening. And I would say normally drive carefully, but hopefully you don't have to go anywhere you're home. So, thank you. Have a wonderful evening. Thanks everyone.