Waldwick High School Principal's Blog

As part of the new curriculum, all Junior Health classes will be covering CPR towards the end of the marking period.    As mentioned on Back-To-School Night, upon completion of the unit, the students are provided with an opportunity to test for certification.  Students who choose to participate will be charged $11.00 plus a Transaction Fee.   Payment is due by Friday, October 30, 2015, for students who have Health 1st marking period. Beyond the ability to be prepared in the case of a medical emergency, the benefits of becoming officially certified are: An official LifeSaver card to keep in their wallet Job opportunities such as life guarding, babysitting, coaching opportunities, etc. Resume and college application information MiniKey CPR Key-chain disposable mask, customized for Waldwick High School. If students wish to become certified Complete the Google Form Use Payforit.com - To pay the fee (just like the Chromebook Insuran...

WHS students in Ms. Monell’s Spanish 4H and 5H put their skills to the test recently as they looked for various items related to the Spanish culture along Bergenline Avenue in Union City to practice their Spanish speaking skills in a fun and interesting way, while learning about the Spanish culture. After leaving the bus around 9:30 am, the group walked along Bergenline Avenue from 32 nd Street uptown to 54 th Street.  They sampled the food and the culture that Union City Spanish heritage has to offer, starting with a quick view of the Celia Cruz museum.  It was very timely since the students are studying Spanish music in Spanish 4 Honors. Students had a specific list of items, such as:  "Arnica," a special flour for foods; "Moise’s," an ornate cradle; and, "Tamaño 43," to determine the equivalent of the US shoe size.  They needed to communicate with the Spanish speakers of the area.  In addition to the scavenger hunt for information, they also ...

Students from Ms. Compton's Honors Precalculus class just finished a unit on polar coordinates.  Students used Geometry Sketchpad software to create the graphs of polar equations and then removed the "math" (axes, equations, etc.) and colored in the rest. The students  created some really beautiful designs.   The video below shows what they created! 

Recently, 34 students in Mr. Apap’s Anatomy & Physiology classes traveled to Liberty Science Center to witness a program called “Live from…” The students and chaperons were able to observe Neurosurgery on a 42 year old woman complaining of loss of movement in her neck and severe pain and numbness down her left arm.  The group watched as two surgeons worked effortlessly to expose the vertebrae in the patient's neck, remove the damaged cartilage and replace the cartilage with donated bone tissue and fuse the area.  This would result in the woman, while having restricted movement of her neck, enjoy a pain-free life.  The group was amazed at how small an incision was made and how little bleeding there was.  All came away with a new perspective on what benefits can be gained by today’s medical advances and procedures.

Guest post for Mr. Opderbeck , Social Studies  Teacher @ Waldwick High School  On Friday, January 24, the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department offered the students of Waldwick a glimpse into the world of forensics and crime solving.   First, Bergen County detectives provided an interactive instructional presentation centered on crime solving techniques such as fingerprint analysis, DNA processing, ballistics, and hair/fiber examination.    The detectives discussed real world cases that have been solved in recent years using high tech forensics methods.   After the enlightening presentation, the students were able to tour the mobile forensics lab, which houses advanced forensic processing equipment.    It was truly an exciting hands-on learning experience for our Criminal Procedure students. We would like to thank the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department for their willingness to reach out to students in Bergen County, including our own i...

Photo Credit - WHS Student Olivia Aligo Guest post for Ms. McCann , AP  Psychology  Teacher @ Waldwick High School  Psychologist Shawn Achor explains that if you dedicate "just a two- minute span of time for 21 days in a row, you can actually rewire your brain, allowing your brain to actually work more optimistically and more successfully ."  He suggests logging/journaling/tweeting/blogging 3 new positive events or things we are grateful for each day. Let's take this positive psychology challenge and see if our happy thoughts ripple out into our productivity and well-being.  Great Ted Talk on the subject - Shawn Achor: The happy secret to better work Ms. McCann is inviting everyone to take part in this 21 day challenge.  Are you up for the challenge?  Use this link to participate:   21 Day Positive Challenge    or on Twitter use the hashtag #whs21day .  Parents   This is a great way to take ...

Students in Ms. Lentino's Journalism class are building their own interactive journalism websites.  Looking forward to see the websites!! 

Guest post by Waldwick High School Social Studies Teacher Amanda Fernicola As our society develops, the use of the internet and social media becomes more important each day.  Through Twitter, a social media site, two educators from New Jersey and one from Michigan have decided to create an online global project on the Great Depression. Amanda Fernicola ( @MissFernicola  ) from Waldwick High School in New Jersey, Dana Sirotiak ( @Sirotiak02  ) from Hackensack High School in New Jersey and David Fouch ( @davidfouch  ) from Forest Hills Northern High School in Michigan have developed a research-based project for students in US History 2 classes to complete using Google Presentations. The students in US History 2 have been broken into groups consisting of students from all three schools to work on the project. The project will ask students to research how specific areas of the United States were affected by the Great Depression. Students will be asked to...

Mrs. Ralston's French 4 and 5 Honors students sent a video greeting to their French pen pals in Alsace, France.  "On espere un rendez vous un de ces jours!"

Ms. Monell’s ( @SraMonell  ) Spanish 3 Honors students just finished a powerful unit on heroism.    The class first discussed and reflected on their definition  of a hero and read several pieces of literature on the subject.  They watched the powerful movie, Voces Inocentes ,  and then worked in groups from topics that springboarded from the movie.   Voces Inocentes (English title: Innocent Voices) is a 2004 Mexican film directed by Luis Mandoki.  The plot is set during the Salvadoran Civil War, and is based on writer, Óscar Torres's, childhood.  The film serves as a general commentary on the military use of children.  The movie also shows injustice against innocent people who are forced to fight in the war.  It follows the story of the narrator, a boy named Chava  ( from Wikipedia.com) One of the projects gave a splendid opportunity to the students to have a firsthand experience with the his...