The Classroom Survey 2014

PART I  INTRODUCING THE CLASS

NAME OF TEACHER:  Ashley Rubolotta

GRADE LEVEL:  9-12 (ages 14-18)

FAVORITES:

MUSIC:  Rock, (Selena Gomez, DeadMou5, The Beatles), Rap, (Biggie Smalls, Eminem), Punk, (Echo and the Bunnymen, The Ramones, Rancid, NOFX), Country, (Johnny Cash, Taylor Swift, Faith Hill), Alternative, (The Cure, Maroon 5, Cold Play)

AUTHOR:  George Orwell, Kurt Vonnegut, Jack London, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Bethany Hamilton

TV PROGRAMS:  South Park, Family Guy, Big Bang Theory, Duck Dynasty, Spongebob Squarepants

FOODS:  Pizza, Cheeseburgers and fries, Steak, Sushi, Pasta

SCHOOL SUBJECTS:  Math, History, Literature, Science, Writing

SPORTS:  Basketball, Baseball, Swim, American football, Soccer

VIDEO GAMES:  Mario games, Grand Theft Auto, Minecraft, Skyrim, Assassin's Creed

MOVIES:  Amelie, Fight Club, Citizen Kane, Life is Beautiful, American Beauty

PART II  INTRODUCING THE SCHOOL

NAME AND ADDRESS OF CLASS AND SCHOOL:  The Craig High School, 310 Lathrop Ave., Boonton, NJ 07005 United States

NUMBER OF STUDENTS IN CLASS AND SCHOOL:  There are 19 students working on this project.

SIZE OF SCHOOL:  Our school is very small.  In fact, we share a space with a larger public high school.  We take up one wing of a larger building.

SCHOOL EMBLEM, COLORS OR MASCOT:  Our school emblem is on our school’s web site.  Here is the address so you can see it.  www.craigschool.org  Our school colors are black and red.  Our mascot is a badger.

TYPE AND NUMBER OF COMPUTERS:  Mrs. Rubolotta has 7 computers in her room.  (All the other teachers have seven computers also.)  Mrs. Rubolotta has HP 6730s laptops.  We also have a media center with 6 Apple Desktop computers.

 SCHOOL HISTORY:  Founded in 1980, The Craig School is an independent, non-profit school responding to the needs of students in 3rd through 12th grades who have diagnosed learning disabilities or difficulty succeeding in a traditional classroom setting. Over the years the school has promoted a solid educational program based on the most recent and effective multisensory classroom techniques, assistive technology, social skills curricula, and organizational methods. The school continues to provide a safe, nurturing learning environment with small structured classrooms, positive student-teacher interaction and strong ties to parents. (Taken from Craig’s web site.)

LIST THREE THINGS ABOUT YOUR SCHOOL PROGRAM THAT MAKE IT UNIQUE: 

1.  We have very small classes here at Craig.  Our largest class has 8 students in it.  Also, our students are not all from the same town.  They travel from different towns to attend our school.  And they all get along!

2.  We have unique social opportunities for our students.  We have a Stepping Out program, which is an after-school once a month social field trip to places like the drive-in movie theater or ice hockey games.  We also have a downtown lunch program, where twice a month, (every other Friday), the whole school can visit the local restaurants to enjoy lunch off campus.

3.  We individualize our teaching methods as much as possible.  Each student receives personalized attention from the teachers and our students are taught according to their strengths.  We find out what our students are good at, and then use those skills to help them in the areas of weakness.

LIST SCHOOL CALENDAR FROM THE SESSION DATES THAT MAY AFFECT YOUR PARTICIPATION:  We have off from school on the followng dates:  October 13, 27, November 26-28, December 20-January 4.  We will be taking exams and have half days on November 25, december 2, 3, 4, 19.

PART III  INTRODUCING THE COMMUNITY

NAME OF YOUR COMMUNITY:  Boonton, New Jersey

NAME AND SIZE OF NEARIST CITY:  Boonton is located 13.8 miles from Paterson, NJ.  Patterson used to be a very bustling textile city.   Lincoln Park is also 30 miles from New York City.  New York City is very famous for its theater district and housing the American Stock Market.

LOCATION OF YOUR COMMUNITY:  Boonton is in Morris County, which is in Northern New Jersey.

THE AREA OF YOUR COMMUNITY:  Boonton is 2.56 square miles.

THE POPULATION OF YOUR COMMUNITY:  Boonton has a population of 8,430 according to the 2013 Census count.  

LIST THREE REASONS WHY PEOPLE COME TO VISIT YOUR AREA:

1.  People come to this area because we are close to New York City.  It is cheaper to stay in New Jersey than to stay in New York City.

2.  People come to this area because it is a historic area.  This area was well traveled during the American Revolutionary War.  Our country’s first President, George Washington, stayed in Northern New Jersey when he was planning his attacks against the British Army.

3.  People come to this area because there are a lot of parks and hiking trails in this area.  People also enjoy the changing colors of the leaves during our autumn season.

DESCRIBE ANY UNUSUAL LAND FORMATION IN OR NEAR YOUR COMMUNITY:  The Appalachian Trail runs through part of northern New Jersey.  This is a continuous 2,179 mile trail that goes from Maine to Georgia.  We also live close to the Delaware River, which many people use to fish, canoe, kayak and raft.  There is also a park system of hiking and biking trails, called Patriot’s Path, near by and there are many reservoirs of water near Lincoln Park.

LIST MAJOR INSTUDRIES OR OCCUPATIONS IN YOUR COMMUNITY:  There are many pharmaceutical companies in New Jersey, such as Johnson and Johnson and Merc.  There are also oil refineries located in Elizabeth, New Jersey.  The North Jersey District Water Supply Commission is located in Haskell, New Jersey, which is 13 miles from Boonton.  This Commission is responsible for developing, acquiring and operating the water supply for the 12 northern counties in New Jersey.