December Newsletter

A Message from the Principal

Dear Parents/Guardians/Students: 

On behalf of the Waldwick Middle School faculty and staff, I would like to wish all of you a happy and healthy holiday season. 

I hope that you all have the opportunity to relax and enjoy the company of your family and loved ones.  Hopefully you can use this break to catch your breath, recharge your batteries, and enjoy yourself. 

To provide our students with an enjoyable break, there will be no homework assignments or projects given over the break. 

Be safe, be smart, and be well. 

Happy Holidays!

Sincerely,

Michael J. Meyers
Principal
MJM/mh 

Math

In the sixth-grade Math classes, we are wrapping up Chapter 2 with our test before the holiday break. We learned about multiplication and division of fractions. We also learned how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals and how important the rules are for each of them. We did some stations to practice our skills with money examples and how that correlates to decimals. We will be moving into our coordinate plane unit upon our return to school in January.

In Honors Math, we are currently ending our unit on algebraic expressions. The students learned what a term, constant, and variable is. They also learned we are no longer using x to indicate multiplication; x is now a variable until the end of mathematics. We will be completing this chapter by the beginning of break and moving into Chapter 4, which is our area unit upon our return to school in January. 

Science

Students in Mrs. Maul and Ms. D’Amato’s Science classes have been learning about weather variables. Students completed a lab that helped them answer the question, “Does warm air hold more water vapor than cold air?”  Students used thermometers and hygrometers to gather data to support their answers to the question. Students will be learning how to read weather maps and using data to predict weather.  

Students in Mrs. Presinzano’s Life Science classes have been studying the importance of biodiversity, the effects of losing biodiversity, the characteristics of aquatic and terrestrial biomes, how the elements of energy flow, and symbiosis that can be found in diverse biomes around the world. Students have already selected their Science Fair topics (a testable question!) and began researching their topics. This research will be used to help students form their hypotheses!

Reading

Mrs. Del Piano’s and Ms. Gallagher's classes just read two science fiction short stories and discussed their themes related to technology. Students then practiced their writing and analytical skills with a writing piece. Additionally, they also explored those themes further with projects. Each student developed their own advanced technology house or designed a new piece of technology. They then had to examine the potential advantages and disadvantages of their creations. 

Language Arts

Students in Mrs. Prager's Language Arts class have been practicing their narrative writing skills with realistic fiction short stories. They are drawing on tools they used during our personal narrative unit and building on those. Students are combining elevated dialogue, figurative language, and descriptive details to really make their stories come alive.  

Ms. Gallagher’s Language Arts class has been studying realistic fiction and analyzing the elements that make stories feel authentic and relatable. Students practiced their writing and storytelling skills by crafting their own realistic fiction short stories. Throughout the process, they focused on developing believable characters, engaging conflicts, and meaningful themes. To enhance their work, students also revised their drafts to ensure their stories reflected real-life experiences and emotions, showcasing their creativity and growth as writers.

Students in Mrs. Serabian-Fitzgerald’s Language Arts class finished writing multiple personal essays. During this unit, there was a strong emphasis on understanding and applying the structure of a well-organized essay. By learning a helpful formula (the thesis song, intro/conclusion dance, and hamburger structure), they now have a reliable framework for future writing assignments.

Students in Ms. Sisco’s Language Arts class have finished analyzing personal essays. Additionally, students have conducted research on their Unit 4 vocabulary words. In class, students also created an "All About Me" Canva project that will help them create their own personal essays in the coming months. Students have created a project using their vocabulary words and are looking to finish the project before the winter break. In January, students are looking to complete a personal essay and continue using IXL and vocabulary to build their knowledge. 

Enrichment

In our Courtesy and Respect Unit, students have been working on their Sportsmanship projects describing how lessons learned on the field/court can be translated to daily life. Students will create a project of their choice (poster, Slides, Canva, video, animation, skit, essay, etc.) demonstrating the message they chose relating to sportsmanship. As a culminating activity, students will present to the class.

Global Studies

Classes have been studying early humans and hunter-gatherer societies. Students have learned about the famous discovery of Lucy the Australopithecus afarensis and about the importance of the discovery of fire in human history.  Moving forward, students will start working on performance tasks to display what they’ve learned throughout the unit. 

Spanish

Students continue progressing in the different topics of Spanish. Right now students have begun to learn expressions and vocabulary related to the weather.

French

Madame Ralston’s sixth-grade class just finished a family presentation where they described themselves and other members of their family. We also learned the days, months, classroom objects, and colors so far! 

Stage & Sound

Stage and Sound students are learning to play various sounds on a virtual piano. They also created their own music on a notation program called Noteflight where creative melodies were composed using various instruments.

Art Appreciation

In sixth-grade Art Appreciation, the students have been learning about the Elements of Art. While creating our Starry Night grid drawings we discussed color, line, space, and texture. Students created a foreground, middleground, and background in their Starry Night landscape, drawing the viewer’s eye into the two-dimensional space. Once the drawings are completed the students will be moving on to adding color with oil pastels.

Pre-Algebra Apps

Students in Mrs. O'Brien's Pre-Algebra class are learning inequalities, and how to solve and graph them on number lines. Through hands-on activities and collaborative problem-solving, they practice using inverse operations to isolate variables and understand how flipping the inequality sign works when multiplying or dividing by negative numbers. Mrs. O'Brien uses real-life scenarios, like comparing savings or temperatures, to make the concept relatable and engaging. By the end of the unit, students gain confidence in analyzing and interpreting inequality statements with precision. 

In Honors, students are learning concepts of ratios, proportions, and slopes through interactive lessons and real-world examples. They are learning to solve problems involving equivalent ratios, set up and solve proportions, and connect these ideas to the slope of a line on a graph. By analyzing relationships between quantities and understanding the rate of change, students build a strong foundation for Algebra. Hands-on activities, such as measuring objects or graphing data, help make these abstract concepts tangible and engaging for all learners.

Mrs. Brennecke's Pre-Algebra students have been diving into the exciting world of equations! They've been sharpening their problem-solving skills while learning how to use equations to model real-life scenarios. Recently, the class took their expertise a step further by exploring inequalities and applying their equation-solving strategies to tackle these new challenges. It’s been a fantastic journey of discovery and application!

Mr. Kelly’s Pre-Algebra class has spent the month of December entrenched in the early parts of our unit on Expressions and Equations. Since this is such a crucial skill for their math foundation, we have been taking our time to make sure we get the processes right! The students are learning how to evaluate expressions by combining like terms and by also using the distributive property. Next up is learning how to write and solve equations. Bring on the math fun!

Life Science

Ms. Runz’s Life Science classes have begun our exploration of cells and life. We explored the characteristics of living things, the different types of cells, the organelles that make up our cells, and how they keep us alive. Additionally, students enjoyed “Cell-Bucks”, an activity where students compared the different organelles in a cell to the different parts of Starbucks. This served as inspiration for their cell analogy project, in which students chose something such as a restaurant, a school, or a town to compare the cell to. Moving forward after winter break, we are looking forward to learning about why cells are so small, the mechanisms cells undergo to divide and reproduce, as well as viewing different types of cells under a microscope!

Reading

Ms. Magner's Reading classes have been analyzing the Charles Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol, during the month of December. After our field trip to see the New Jersey Shakespeare Theater’s production of A Christmas Carol, we compared this drama version of the story to the animated Disney version as well as clips from the film Spirited. Students analyzed the character of Scrooge, his three ghostly visitors, as well as the themes of redemption and kindness.

Mr. Kelly’s Reading class spent the month of December exploring the Charles Dickens’ classic, A Christmas Carol. They looked at the story through different mediums: the original text, a drama (play) version, a graphic novel version, and the many different movie productions (including A Muppets Christmas Carol). This year the entire seventh grade took a field trip to Drew University to watch the New Jersey Shakespeare Theater’s production of A Christmas Carol. Through the visitations of the three spirits, the students examined the themes of redemption and social justice. They discussed what it means to always strive to be a better person. Hopefully, the students learned lessons that they can take with them throughout their lives.

Language Arts

In Mrs. Edreos' class, students have been studying Literary Analysis through the reviewing of various fiction works. We are focusing on developing skills for essay writing through the study of character’s actions and themes. Students are organizing their ideas through outlines, which is part of the first step of the writing process. As they progress, they will draft their essays, followed by collaborative editing and revision to help improve their writing. As we work on wrapping up our unit, we will focus on a final draft to show the proficiency within our writing. We are looking forward to seeing how the final outcome of our writing work is viewed.

In Mrs. Krysa’s Language Arts classes, students are working on vocabulary activities and writing assignments that involve using vocabulary words in the correct context. Additionally, we are continuing our comparative analysis of two or more works of literature to prepare for our next unit after the break which is writing literary analysis essays. 

Beginning of the US & Civics

Our class has moved forward through the Revolutionary War unit and into the Constitution Unit. The kids continue to do an excellent job with current events as we have detailed debates every two weeks. The next major assignment will be reordering the Bill of Rights and writing a justification for it. Happy Holidays.

Spanish

In Senora Barrios’s class, we started learning about how Christmas is celebrated in Latin America. We learned about cultural traditions. We also learned about all the activities students will do for the holidays using verbs in Spanish. Our last activity is to create a holiday crown. Students wrote verbs of activities they will do during the holiday break. 

French

Madame Ralston’s class just completed a unit about school and learned many functional phrases to speak about their classes, teachers, preferences, etc. They also practiced the different ways in which you can ask a question in French. We are about to tackle the important verb “avoir” (to have) and the many expressions that it is used with. We still continue to have a "mot du jour" (word of the day) and do our weather and dates daily!

STEAM

In STEAM 7, Ms. D’Amato’s students just wrapped up the Creative Design Unit. Students were given the task to think of a dream invention… What problem would they like to solve? Is there something invented already that they could improve? What invention would make life easier? After brainstorming and submitting their ideas, students got to work on a presentation to pitch their ideas in SHARK TANK style. As natural entrepreneurs, they got to bring their inventions to life through the use of 3D Modeling pens. Presentation Day was a success with numerous “deals” made and shared plans for students’ business models to grow!

Financial Fitness

In  Financial Fitness, students learned the value of a good vs. bad credit score. They also learned what it means to pay off a credit card and leave a running balance. The students also learned how to build credit and how credit cards shouldn’t be scary as long as you use them responsibly. They also had our first banking day and auction. They learned how to deposit money, withdraw money, and pay for something.

Art Appreciation

In seventh-grade Art Appreciation, we are learning about the 1960s art movement of Op Art. Op Art, short for optical art, is a style of visual art that uses optical illusions. Op Artworks are abstract, with many better-known pieces created in black and white. Typically, they give the viewer the impression of movement, hidden images, flashing and vibrating patterns, or swelling or warping. To demonstrate what they learned, the students are creating Op Art cubes. They had to pick 6 different Op Art patterns to complete, carefully measuring and coloring each pattern. Once the drawing and coloring are complete, we will cut out our cubes and fold them into a 3D cube.

Exploring Food & Nutrition

Chef Lafferty’s Exploring Food and Nutrition students have been busy working on their nutrition knowledge, ingredients used in healthy cooking, and eating and cooking techniques that can improve their health. They’ve also used the USDA MyPlate website to calculate their daily caloric needs and how much of each of the five food groups they need on a daily basis.

The students are building a “portfolio” of recipes and reflections on their cooking activities that they can build upon in the coming years. Recent cooking activities have included french toast, pasta with tomato sauce, grilled cheese sandwiches, and chocolate chip cookies.

Algebra

In Algebra Concepts, students learned about how to do transformations on the coordinate plane. They also took their test on it before the break. Now we are going into Chapter 3 which involves angles and how they relate to each other. Right now it is a review of the concepts they learned last year. Upon our return from break, we will be learning about parallel lines cut with a transversal.

In Mrs. Del Vecchio’s class, we are wrapping up Unit 2 with a test this week. During this unit, we discussed the difference between the different types of rigid transformations and dilation. We also explored shapes that are similar and congruent. After the break, we will be moving on to Unit 3 which involves angle study and parallel lines cut with a transversal.

Physical Science

In Ms. Vacchiano’s Science class, students are learning about noncontact forces. They learned about the similarities and differences between magnetic and electric forces. Students have learned about how the Earth acts as a magnet and some migratory birds depend on the invisible magnetic field lines of the Earth to help navigate their migration patterns. Students also used Snap Circuits to learn more about Series and Parallel Circuits.

Reading

Mrs. Del Vecchio’s Reading class has moved on to their dystopian/horror unit. We will be reading a variety of dystopian short stories as a class and in book clubs. Students will be analyzing and identifying different elements of dystopian literature and comparing and contrasting how the dystopian societies are different from ours. We are continuing our work on identifying and analyzing the characters, setting, and conflict in our stories as we read.

Language Arts

Mr. Smith’s classes have begun their third unit of the year, focusing on Literary Analysis. The Language Arts classes have done multiple readings of the short story “The Monkey’s Paw”, analyzing a different literary aspect each day. In Humanities, students have practiced their analysis skills with the short story version of "Flowers For Algernon." Both classes have examined how these texts may have been different if told from another point of view.

Ms. Gallagher’s eighth-grade Language Arts class has been studying rhetoric, argument, and research, focusing on how to effectively persuade and inform an audience. Students analyzed rhetorical strategies and examined real-world examples to understand how arguments are constructed. To demonstrate their learning, they conducted research on important topics and created Public Service Announcements (PSAs). These PSAs allowed students to combine their research, writing, and presentation skills to craft compelling messages that raise awareness and inspire action.

Mrs. Del Vecchio’s class completed their Argumentative Writing unit with an essay and a slide show. We have begun our third unit focusing on dystopian/horror/science fiction readings. We will be reading several pieces by Edgar Allan Poe and focusing on a literary analysis of these texts.

Early World History

In Mrs. Turnbull’s classes, students have been learning about Ancient India. We started with a map of the region and learned about the Indus Valley Civilization, including the possibilities for their collapse. Next, we discussed the Aryan Migration and how Hinduism came about. Students have been examining the relationship between the caste system and Hinduism and will be learning about Buddhism, the Mauryan Empire, and the Gupta Empire before we go on holiday break!

Spanish

Students in Mrs. Wohlberg’s class did a wonderful job presenting their house projects. They are currently learning vocabulary to talk about and plan a vacation. We reviewed months, seasons, and weather. Next, they will learn how to describe emotions and conditions.

French

Madame Ralston’s eighth-grade class is studying the unit of celebrations and parties, clothes, and weather. This week, the students presented what clothing they wear for each season and what they like and don't like about the different seasons. They then ask the class comprehension questions about their presentations to ensure that everyone is paying attention! We continue to do our "mot du jour" (word of the day) every day!

Creative Coding

The Creative Coding students have just learned how to use a draw function with a counter pattern to make characters and objects move in their computer programs.  The students are looking forward to spending the last week of school December learning how to use conditionals, mouse inputs, and keyboard inputs to design programs that are interactive.  With these skills, the students will be able to design their own video games when we return from the holiday break!

Technology/Manufacturing

In Mr. Blatt’s technology and manufacturing classes students are being introduced to the engineering design process and impact of technology. They are looking at how technology and tools impact everyday lives. They recently completed a three-day card tower challenge testing the design process in action. The card tower project was where the students designed, documented, and built a tall tower using very limited supplies. They are now studying documentation processes and engineering drawing techniques.

After the break they will learn shop and tool safety procedures and then work on their final projects: wooden displays/stands/houses/storage units. These structures are for a project they will be creating in Art: a personalized Funko Pop. They will draw the models and measure, cut, glue, cut again, sand, nail, screw, and eventually stain or paint the boxes. The projects will be based on student designs and I expect the results to be quite varied. 

Video Technology

The eighth-grade cycle classes are off to a great start. All of the groups have learned about the fundamental camera shots of Video Tech and have completed filming their WMS news reports. Currently, we are mastering our computer editing skills on Adobe Premiere. Stay tuned for a new batch of stories that air on our YouTube channel: WMS TV YouTube.

Art Appreciation

In eighth-grade Art Appreciation, we had fun exploring Surrealist Art. Students created 5 different mini surrealist compositions using images and text cut out of magazines. They combined the images they found to create a bizarre little world on each page of their books. Then they added the high contrast zentangle background to each little work of art and finished it up with a strange jumble of words. Each picture was glued into an accordion book the students made themselves. I always love how these books turn out!

In Mrs. Gutierrez’s History class, we have been learning about “Our Place on the Map.” We have looked closely at our town, state, and country. Students looked on Google Maps at their homes and important places in our community.  We compared maps and globes and discussed the purpose of each. Students researched our state, learning important facts about our flag, state bird, flower, and capital. Next, we will continue to expand our knowledge of our country and continent.

ESP 6 students are recording and editing their podcasts for NPR’s 2025 Student Podcast Challenge. They are looking forward to completing their projects and sharing them with each other. ESP 7 students just finished building bird kites based on instructions from the class read, Temple Grandin’s Calling All Minds. The students are excited to test their kites at our next class meeting. ESP 8 students are redesigning the blades of their wind turbines with recycled materials. The students are looking forward to comparing how much electricity their initial wind turbines generated versus their updated designs. Finally, eighth-grade students Erik Cernak, Andrew Krysa, Christine Gedeon, Madison Brown, Amy Benjamin, Lyla Kennedy, Ahsan Salman, and Colin Smith had a great time competing against Ridgewood, Ho-Ho-Kus, and Cresskill middle schools during the December Brain Busters meet.

Congratulations to all the performers of the Winter Concert! Both the 6th and 7/8 chorus groups sounded great! Everyone worked hard to prepare and it showed! In addition to the concert, eighth-grade Chorus members were invited to join the HS groups to go caroling at both elementary schools, and a few even joined us to carol around town! The 7/8 Chorus also took a trip up the road to the Bristal Assisted Living. Students sang concert music, some solos, and small group performances. We even did a sing-a-long with the residents! The holiday season is always filled with performances and the students did a fantastic job all around!

Band students performed in excellent fashion at this season’s WMS Winter Concert! The Concert Band (6) and Symphonic Winds (7/8) all worked extremely hard to be able to perform in such a mature, disciplined, and professional manner!

Mr. Laccitiello’s and Ms. Royston’s Physical Education classes are wrapping up their Pickleball units in time for the holiday break. The students played with partners of their choice each day, and all duos were enthusiastic to compete to earn the title of King/Queen of the court for each match. When students return from break, we will begin activities with our very popular volleyball unit.