Firing on all Cylinders: Pirate Pit Crew at NRC with Mr. Bonadonna

                  Above:  Mr. Bonadonna, Physical Education Teacher at NRC 

teaching students about a lawn motor engine

As part of the NRC Enrichment Program, Mr. Bonadonna, Physical Education teacher at NRC, holds a small engine repair class daily for students grades 6-8.

Named the Pirate Pit Crew this class meets Monday thru Friday 3:20 PM to 4:00 PM in the gym.  Twelve students from grades 6-8 regularly attend to work hands-on with small engines.  Mr. Bonadonna sends out an email to teachers searching for small engines in need of repair and run by gasoline. Teachers with these non-operating engines happily bring them to the Pirate Pit Crew.

An NRC student looks the piston and asks Mr. Bonadonna 

a question about its condition

These engine types include Honda, Briggs and Stratton, and Tecumseh and can be found in lawnmowers, weed trimmers and snowblowers for example.  Each day students learn how to identify and trouble shoot engines that are not running properly. Once the diagnosis has been complete, the necessary repairs begin. 

 Here, students in Mr. Bonadonna's class have removed the cylinder head and are examining 

the valves while Dodge STEAM grant manager, Dina Scacchetti, lends a helping hand

Recently, Mr. Bonadonna joined the STEAM Team at NRC, where he met Art PIR Triada Samaras and he became aware of the fact that color could enhance his class.

Here, students in Mr. Bonadonna's class are removing a gas tank while 

Dodge STEAM grant manager, Dina Scacchetti, observes

Mr. Bonadonna sees the opportunity of using color (an element of Art) in his class to help students distinguish between the different components of an engine.  He plans to create a color coding method so that students can identify, for example, the variety of nuts and bolts that belong with a carburetor, a cylinder, a muffler, etc.  In this class students also need to use math skills.  They must be able to differentiate between standard and metric tools, and ratios for gas and oil mixtures. In addition, students must use technology to research the engines since manuals are not available. Thus, Mr. Bonadonna's small engine repair class embraces cross curricular content areas incorporating science, technology, engineering, art and math and is the ultimate STEAM class!

Here, Mr. Bonadonna's students are dismantling a carburetor

Mr. Bonadonna explains, "Students love this class because it gives them a sense of accomplishment and instant gratification.  Our turn-around is usually one week from broken engine to a fine running machine that is ready to be put to use.  Students are very excited to return these machines back to their owners and have sense of achievement. It is a "win-win" situation for everyone: for the student, the owner of the machine and myself as an instructor."

Here, Mr. Bonadonna's students are discussing the finals steps of reassembly.

Patterns and Post Its at School 7

Human beings have observed patterns throughout their existence.  They have expressed these patterns in numerous ways, one of which is weaving textiles.  The ancient art of weaving can be traced back about 12,000 years.

Many people consider mathematics to be the science of patterns.  British mathematician G.H. Hardy in his book A Mathematician’s Apology, wrote, “A mathematician, like a painter or a poet, is a maker of patterns.  If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they are made with ideas.”

In a project carried out in Art Teacher Nealy’s classroom, with the assistance of Art PIR Myra Winter, students at School 7 first designed unique patterns, and then wove textiles of colored yarns that expressed those patterns.  In the process they learned how warp and weft threads can be used to create a symmetrical and colorful mini-tapestry.



 

This project combined the concepts of mathematical and physical patterns through the creation of woven artworks.
 

Ms. Bertino’s 6th grade Science class was studying the unit of biology that deals with the driving question “How can one explain the ways cells contribute to the function of living organisms?”  They needed to learn that the essential functions of cells are carried out by internal cell structures called organelles.

To help her students learn and retain the crucial information, she designed a lesson in which they created “Post It Cells” that modeled the structure and function of the various cell parts, and ways the parts contribute to the overall function. 

The students then “posted” their finished products on a bulletin board for all to share.

Dodge STEAM Grant High School Students Attend Gala ARTstart Reception at William Paterson University!

On Saturday February 6, high school students from the three Dodge STEAM grant supported high schools:  GOPA/School of Government and Public Administration, SOIT/School of Information Technology, and CAHTS/School of Culinary Arts, Hospitality, and Tourism attended the Gala ARTstart Reception held at the Power Art Building at WP/William Paterson University.  High School art students from these three Paterson schools together with their art Instructors joined students and instructors from all over Northern New Jersey to participate in this annual event organized by Professor Uhlein of the WP Art Department. 

In attendance from the three high schools were students' families, friends, their art instructors Darryl Jones (GOPA), Vivian Reyes (CAHTS) and Marilyn Simon (SOIT), STEAM Grant Coordinator, Dina Scacchetti, and Art PIR Triada Samaras.  Senior art students who had work in the exhibition could bring their portfolios for review prior to the start of the reception to be considered for a potential art talent scholarship to WP. 

 Above:  Dodge Grant Coordinator Dina Scacchetti holds WP certificates for participating GOPA. SOIT, and CAHTS art students.  More than 100 people attended the opening, which was clearly a family affair.

 
Above:  CAHTS Art Instructor Vivian Reyes stands with her students' and her own art work at ARTstart.

Above:  SOIT Art Instructor Marilyn Simon stands with her students' and her own art work at ARTstart.

At left:  GOPA Art Instructor Darryl Jones stands with his students' and his own art work at ARTstart.

Above:  WP Student Art Teacher Ashley Zampino stands with her student Alejandro Garcia (SOIT) and his art work at ARTstart.

  

Above:  GOPA Art Student Ashley Zumba stands with her father in front of her Analogous Color Painting created with marker on paper.

 Above:  CAHTS Art Student Tiffany Rivera stands in front of her "Tiger" drawing created with India ink on paper and her four black and white photographs.

 

Above:  GOPA Art Student Art Eucarys Vizcaino stands in front of her Radial Symmetry Drawing created with marker on paper.

 

Things Are Hopping at School 12!

Students in Ms. Albritton’s 5th grade class learned principles of physics by studying how paper frogs jump. In the picture below, Art PIR Sandler introduces the lesson.

The students first created their frogs using Origami paper-folding techniques.  In the process they
reviewed their math vocabulary (for example, geometric shapes, parallel or non-parallel lines, symmetry) and skills (for example, measurement and fractions.)  Students used different colored papers to individualize their frogs so that each frog was a unique “specimen.”

By pressing down on the back of the frog, and then releasing the pressure, a student could make his or her frog hop forward.  Pressing down stores energy as potential energy, while releasing the pressure allows it to be converted to kinetic energy.  This experiment teaches the concept that energy may be converted from one form into another.

The students competed to see who could make their frogs travel the farthest, and explored various ways of manipulating their frogs to achieve the greatest distance.

Rockin' With STEAM at NRC

The STEAM program is thriving at NRC/New Roberto Clemente School in Paterson, NJ!
Here are some of the wide variety of highlights:

In Ms. Roche's and Ms. Aramayo's art classes at NRC, the strips of paper that have been created in other classes over the past few months for concept and vocabulary re-reinforcement have been patiently collected and sorted.  Students and teachers are now constructing a large scale sculpture with these strips that will occupy a space in this public school building.  Below, Ms. Roche instructs children to form 3-D loop forms to add to the larger structure with these "strips of knowledge" as she calls them.  Students often read the strips as they create this sculpture, reinforcing their knowledge in other content areas.
See images below) 

 

On the first floor of NRC, an attractive new STEAM art/math display created by Ms. Roche and Ms. Aramayo, art teachers, captures the attention of viewers at the school. Creative and colorful tetrahedrons and color strips stressing the range of values existing in color are exhibited together.  See images above and below.)

In Ms. Selino's and Mr. Baldwin's technology classes there are two new and exciting pieces of equipment:  3-D printers! These machines will increase the possibility that STEAM lessons can be created and taught for all grades in the classrooms. In addition Ms. Selino's students recently participated in the "Hour of Code" National Program LINK sponsored, in part, by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  In this program students of all ages learned code using colorful and creative software tools. (See images below)

 

In Ms. Flores' Spanish Classes at NRC, students used STEAM art supplies for a classroom art/architecture project.  These students were asked to imagine, create, and label in detail an image depicting the house of their dreams.  (See images below.)

 

Math teacher Ms. Moose used STEAM art supplies with her students to teach the mathematical concepts of translation, reflection, rotation, and dilation.  Using bright colors and grids helped these students understand and remember these concepts better. (See images above and below.)

Eighth grade algebra  teacher Ms Diaz, as well as several other teachers at NRC including science teacher Ms. Cunningham, are using a creative type of notebook with their students in their classrooms.  These personalized notebooks include tidbits of the a student's autobiography as well as the required concepts and vocabulary in any given content area. The students use colorful tapes and collaged images.  Students also use many techniques from "foldables"  a method created by Dinah Zike. These are used within each notebook to make the content material more personal, more hands-on, and more stimulating for each student.  Below Ms. Diaz proudly displays one notebook.  (See images below.)

Ms. Roche's art students studied two-point perspective in her class creating stunning three dimensional buildings that now make an eye-catching sight on the 2nd floor of the building. (See images below.)