Students Study Physics at Six Flags Theme Park

Last week, CHAH students in Ms. Korn's Advanced Placement Physics class experienced applied physics at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey.   

"Learning science from a book or in a classroom can only take a person so far," Ms. Korn, said.  "By going to Six Flags for Physics Day, we were able to see how the concepts that we learn in class are applied to real life." 

Advanced Placement classes are a lot of additional work for the students, but the pay offs are enormous.  Learning first hand how classroom theories are applied in the real world is what science education is all about!

As Ms. Korn says, "Experiences like this are the moments that truly excite and inspire!"

9th Graders Visit Washington, D.C.!

Last week, CHAH 9th graders visited Washington, D.C.! The students met at the school at the crack of dawn, 5:00am, and returned at 11:30 pm. 

"It was a long day but was extremely enjoyable and educational," Mr. King, their US History teacher, said.

The main purpose of the trip was to supplement what the students are in learning in Mr. King's United States History class.  The trip made the history come alive.  

Starting with The White House, the students saw where The President lives and works.  They were also able to see other aspects of America's democracy.  In front of The White House was a protest against nuclear weapons.  The protesters have had people there every day since March of 1981. The class had just covered the nuclear arms race so they were able to make a lot of connections to what the protesters spoke about.

After that students visited two Smithsonian Museums on The Mall: The American History Museum and the Air and Space Museum. The President's exhibit in The American History Museum and the table from the famous Greensboro sit ins were highlights as well as seeing the remains of Sputnik, the Russian satellite.  These topics had also been covered in class and the students were fascinated to see the real thing. 

After lunch we had an excellent tour of The U.S. Capitol building where students saw where the laws of America were made.

The final stop was at the Lincoln Monument and The Korean and Vietnam Memorials.

This educational trip allowed the students to make real-world connections to what they learn in the classroom.  And that, ultimately, is what education is all about.

AP Lit Students Attend a Reading and Discussion with Junot Diaz

Junot Diaz is one of the most famous and influential writers working today.  His first novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao won a Pulitzer Prize and is on the 12th grade Advanced Placement Literature syllabus here at CHAH.  It tells a multigenerational story of a Dominican-American family, blending the lines between history and fiction.  The novel, like the other books by Diaz, deals with themes of family, culture, diaspora, love, and what it's like to not always fit in.   

This week, the AP Literature students got to meet Junot Diaz at a reading at St. Francis College in downtown Brooklyn.  The students heard him read from his collection of short stories, Drown, and listened to his incredibly candid responses during the question-and-answer discussion.  Junot Diaz encouraged the audience to "read more rebelliously" and find books that they enjoyed and that related to their own lives. 

After the discussion, Diaz signed books and posed for photos with his readers and fans. 

"I connected a lot of the things he said to what we've been talking about in AP Lit," Zaria said.

"He wasn't like I thought he'd be," Alexis noticed.  "He was cool.  It was chill."

"I still would have gone, even if I didn't get the extra credit," said Jeffrey.  "I will attend more things like this in the future."

An article by Samantha Samel in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle describes the content of Diaz's talk in much more detail here: SAMEL ARTICLE. 

Oh, and 2 teachers, Ms. Korn and Mr. Dickhudt, giddily got their photo taken with Junot Diaz as well.

Designer Glasses for CHAH Students...for FREE!

About a month ago, many of our students were tested for vision impairments.  If a student was found to have worse than 20/40 vision, a free prescription for glasses was written.  This week, those prescriptions were filled by a NYC-based designer eyewear company and the students were fitted for their free pair of prescription classes.

Research has shown that if students have vision impairments, their reading comprehension suffers.  If a student can’t see the words on the page clearly, they will certainly have trouble reading and comprehending them. 

Getting these free glasses is a simple and concrete step to improving students' reading.

 Hopefully, they'll be more confident readers in the classroom, on tests, and in their everyday lives.  

Glasses won’t only make our students look smart – they might even improve their grades! 

Hispanic Students' Dental Association at Columbia University Medical Center

The Hispanic Students' Dental Association from Columbia University Medical Center made a visit to CHAH's 6th graders on Tuesday, March 10th.

Our students learned about dental hygiene, how to brush and floss correctly, and how often to visit your dentist. Students received goodie bags and healthy snacks, but that’s nothing compared to the pearly smiles they’ll have for the rest of their lives!

Then, on Wednesday, April 1 the students visited the dentists-to-be at their school at the College of Dental Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center.

The Hispanic Students' Dental Association invited the students to tour the dental school and share in a lunch.

The highlight of the trip was seeing the pre-clinic labs, where dental students practice their dental procedures with real tools on dummies with fake teeth.  Maybe someday one of our students will be cleaning your teeth in their own dental office!