Happy Thanksgiving

Dear NCHS Family,

Thanksgiving is my favorite time of the year. I love everything about it. The football, food, and most important to me is the ability to reflect on life. It is the perfect time of year when I have a chance to step back and think about how fortunate I am.  I have a happy and healthy family and I have a chance to work with a great staff and absolutely wonderful kids in a community that truly cherishes their schools.

Sometimes, like all of us, I get so busy I do not think about the good fortune that I have been given. My hope for all of you is that you have the ability to spend time with family and friends this Thanksgiving and you enjoy every second of the time that you have together.

Happy Thanksgiving and oh yeah - Go Rams!

Mr. Egan

Principal

Veteran’s Day

On Veteran’s day, November 11, 2015, there will be several opportunities at New Canaan High School for the school community to celebrate, remember and honor the service of Veterans. On Wednesday morning, there will be a special whole-school broadcast produced by the TV Broadcasting program that incorporates footage from several interviews with local Veterans that have been conducted at the High School over the past two years. Throughout the day students will view and discuss larger segments of those interviews in their history classes.  Also, the United States History classes, AP United States History classes and American Studies classes have invited Veterans to talk to and be interviewed by students in close connection with curricular units investigating particular conflicts ranging from World War II to the War on Terror. Several classes will use the interviews as a launch pad for individual student research investigations. Additionally, as post-production is completed on interviews, they are being submitted to the Library of Congress Veterans History Project and will become part of the New Canaan High School Library’s collection. Copies will also circulate throughout the Social Studies Department for classroom use where there are many important ties to the history curriculum. Recording of this year’s interviews will also be added to our Veterans history collection with the help of the TV Broadcasting program.

New Canaan High School Athletics will be fundraising at the Friday, November 13th football game vs Ludlowe to help offset the cost of placing wreaths at the gravestones of New Canaan Civil War and World War I Veterans. More than 1,000 wreaths were laid at the graves of Veterans buried at Lakeview Cemetery last year.

Spirit Day October 30

Dear NCHS Family,

Students proposed an additional spirit day at an assembly and during connections groups, so the staff has listened and next Friday, October 30th will be an additional spirit day at NCHS.  

Students can dress up for Halloween, wear all pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, or just put on some red and black to show school spirit.

For any dress up days there should be NO masks or face coverings, NO facsimile weapons such as swords, guns or sabers, NO skateboards, skates, scooters or the like.  Costumes should allow a student to be identifiable, move around freely and although we welcome originality it should not present a disruption to classes.

It is my expectation that all students behave in a way that promotes school spirit and unity. My expectation is that you have fun and be safe.  

Have a great week!

Mr. Egan

Principal

Progress Reports

Progress Reports will be available to view this evening 9/30.

Snack Survey

Dear Students,

I need you to do me a favor and fill out this quick survey below on having snacks after school.  I appreciate your help in completing this survey.  Please complete it during a free period.

I hope that everyone is enjoying Spirit Week. Have a great time and keep it safe!

Thanks,

Mr. Egan

Would you like snacks after school?

Homecoming Week

Dear Parents and Students,

In order to insure that Homecoming Week activities run smoothly, safely, and with little disruption, I would like to offer the following guidelines. This is not intended to be a comprehensive list of do’s and don’ts but rather a set of guidelines which should provide parameters on what is acceptable.

For any dress up days there should be NO masks or face coverings, NO facsimile weapons such as swords, guns or sabers, NO skateboards, skates, scooters or the like.  Costumes should allow a student to be identifiable, move around freely and although we welcome originality it should not present a disruption to classes.

On Friday, September 25 we will be closing the campus for all students.  The schedule for that day is listed below. Any student who must leave the campus for an excused reason (medical appointment, for example) is required to bring a parent note or have a parent call in to the Attendance Office before leaving, and check back in to the Attendance Office upon return.  Any student, even those juniors and seniors with standard parental permission, who leaves campus without obtaining prior permission through the Attendance Office will not be permitted to return to campus and will face disciplinary consequences.  

As with all of our dances, we will be breathalyzing all students who attend the Homecoming Dance on Saturday, September 26. Tickets for the dance will be sold during lunch in the cafeteria starting on Thursday September 17th - Friday, September 25th. We want students to enjoy the event and feel comfortable that they will be safe while in attendance.

It is important to note that Homecoming Week does not disrupt the educational process and that all students behave in a way that promotes school spirit and unity. I expect that the majority of students who make up the NCHS community will not tolerate the inappropriate actions of a few.  Any student who violates the intent or the spirit of Homecoming Week will be sent home, excluded from the rest of the Homecoming activities, and will face other consequences as appropriate.

My responsibility throughout the many activities of Homecoming Week is to provide all students with safe, orderly and enjoyable events. As members of the NCHS student community, your responsibility is to join me in this effort, be at your best, and make this a great Homecoming Week.

Sincerely,

Bill Egan

Principal

2015 Spirit Week Events

Below is a screenshot of all the home games occurring during Spirit week.  Please see http://ncrams.com/ for more informartion about our athletic schedule.

Monday, September 21

High Society Day - Students dress up in their finest/preppiest attire (golfing/tennis outfits, etc…)

Banner night 5:00 -7:00 p.m. - Students from every grade are invited to participate in painting a class banner that reflects school and their class pride. The banners will be hung up in the lounge and judged Tuesday morning before school and will stay up for the duration of the week.

Tuesday, September 22

Costume Day - Students dress up in costumes and emphasis this year is being placed on each grade trying to have the most students in a common costume. Points will be awarded to a grade that has the most students dressed alike. More details to follow.

Wednesday, September 23 - Yom Kippur, no school

Thursday, September 24

Turn Back The Clock Day - Students in each grade dress up in styles from assigned decades.

Seniors-80’s

Juniors-70’s

Sophomores-60’s

Freshmen-50’s

Friday, September 25

Red and Black Day - Students dress in red and black to show their school spirit!

Pep Rally

Bonfire 6:30-8:00 p.m.

Students come together outside at the end of the building near the tennis courts to watch the Bonfire. Student bands will play, and each grade will sell snacks. This is a free event.

Saturday, September 26

Homecoming Dance 7:00-10:00 p.m. Homecoming Queen and King to be announced at the dance. There will be an ice cream social, DJ, and a photo booth.

SPECIAL SCHEDULE for PEP RALLY

Friday, September 25th (Day B)

CLOSED CAMPUS

Revised 9/16/15

4    7:30 – 8:06              (36 minutes)

1    8:11 – 8:47              (36 minutes)

2    8:52 – 9:28              (36 minutes)

3    9:33 – 10:13        (40 minutes) Broadcast at 10:09

     10:18 – 11:18         PEP RALLY

8    11:23 – 12:41         (40 minutes)

1ST Lunch    11:23 – 11:56 Class       11:23 – 11:43          Class       11:23 – 12:03

Class            12:01 – 12:41         2nd Lunch   11:52 – 12:16          3rd Lunch       12:08 – 12:41

                                                        Class       12:21 – 12:41

5    12:46 – 1:23            (37 minutes)

6    1:28 – 2:05              (37 minutes)

Weekly Update

September 4, 2015

Dear NCHS Family,

It has been a great first week of school at New Canaan High School.  On my first day, we were  greeted by music and seniors (at 6:10 a.m.) demonstrating their school spirit.  In the end, all students are little kids at heart.  It was great to see the students back in class and I was amazed by the turnout at the PFA networking events and I look forward to seeing everyone at the PFA General Membership meeting on September 9th.  

Please consider joining us throughout the year at athletic and VPA events.

Upcoming events:

• 9/8 Board of Education Meeting 7:00 p.m Wagner Room
• 9/9 PFA General Membership Meeting
• 9/10 New to New Canaan Parent Coffee
• 9/11 Senior Parents Program 8:00-9:00a.m.
• Open House 9/17 6:30 pm Freshman Orientation and 7:15 all Grades

Department News

September 4, 2015  English Department Update:

This summer several members of the English Department worked on curriculum.  Bob Darken and Mike McAteer developed a unit on “Problem-Based Learning”, an instructional paradigm that focuses on problem solving to increase student engagement and the use of a variety of 21st century skills. Arri Weeks attended an “un-conference” on technology in the classroom this past weekend called Ed-Camp Manhattanville.  Matt Quinn and Marianne Cohen are the new American Studies instructional team, and they spent time this summer writing curriculum for their new course. Emily Hernberg and Arri Weeks spent three weeks in London this summer attending Teaching Shakespeare Through Performance, a program for secondary teachers of Shakespeare.  Jessica Cullen attended the Taft program for teachers of AP Literature and Composition this past summer.

September 4, 2015 This week in the Counseling office

As students settle into the first days, counselors are working to help with the transition. We are adjusting schedules, re-balancing semesters, helping students to become comfortable with new classes, teachers, routines and checking senior schedules and transcripts to make sure graduation requirements will be met. We are informing teachers about our students if there are circumstances that they need to be aware or sensitive toward. Our secretaries have eased anxious parents and lost students, sent out 504 plans and updated our website. We are registering students for the PSAT in the College and Career Center. On the first day, counselors met with their freshmen to go over what to expect this year and introduce ourselves. We met with freshmen and sophomore PFA groups to talk about their respective years as well. This week we are preparing to go into senior classes for next week, to kick off the college application season.

September 4, 2015 - Math Department Update

An Algebra I class played BINGO where they translated mathematical expressions to written expressions and vice versa in order to fill in squares. Precalculus students did a pendulum project to discover the linear relationship between length of the string and time it took the pendulum to swing 10 times.  In Algebra Math Center, an exercise on creating figures led to a discussion on "perfect directions" and how directions can sometimes be too vague or too detailed.  One of our teachers collaborated with the Library Media Specialists to develop their active space in the library and gave them a Lego activity for the Lego table which has students use Legos to model a furniture company.  It is a very common linear programming model used to discuss constraints, feasible regions and systems to maximize profit.