MS 839 A to Z
Bird – Cohorts are named after birds found in Prospect Park. Sometimes Bird Classes are referred to as Bird Group or meet in Bird Circle.
Crew is a small group advisory, social emotional learning, academic advising, and health class.
Crew Olympics is a competition between crews both within the school and against crews across the city.
Community Meeting is a grade wide meeting.
Cool Things is the weekly awesomeness demonstrated by community members.
Community Care is our approach to school culture: We will build and sustain a caring, inclusive community where all people are fully respected, where all people feel safety, belonging and dignity.
Core Values– MS 839’s Core Values are challenge, community, and responsibility.
Electives are identity and interest based clubs that meet during the day (this year Friday last period).
Fairness, short for Fairness Committee, is a Restorative Justice structure where a student who’s committed harm works with their peers to understand the harm and create a plan for repair.
Guiding Questions are open-ended essential questions that synthesize the “so what” of the topic students are studying and link all elements of a learning expedition or unit of study.
Intensives are special 8th grade classes that students get to pick from a range of offerings.
Learning Targets are student-friendly goals beginning with the stem “I can”—provide learners with concrete statements that they can understand and work towards. Learning targets are the foundation of assessment.
MAP testing –Short for NWEA Measure of Academic Progress, these computer adaptive screeners are administered in the fall, winter and spring, to provide a snapshot of student reading and math abilities.
Morning Meeting – Daily gathering of the entire school at the start of each day. It is a space for announcements, celebrations, and learning.
Parkside Buddies – MS 839 is located in the Parkside Educational Complex alongside elementary school PS 130 and D75 school P53K. During Parkside Buddies, 839 crews join PS 130 or P53K classrooms for community building as a form of service learning.
Passages – In June 8th grade students present to a panel of staff and teachers a reflection on their time at MS 839 and their readiness to “fly the nest.”
Peer Mediation is a conflict resolution tool in which trained students help students work through conflict and make agreements to move forward.
Restorative Justice is an approach to building and caring for community that prioritizes connection, education and growth, especially after harm has occurred.
Slack is a cloud-based messaging app that helps teams collaborate and communicate.
Student-Led Conferences (SLCs)- At most schools, parents attend a student-teacher conference. But at MS 839, families join student-led conferences, where students lead their own conferences by presenting their learning and growth, and reflecting honestly on what they must improve in order to succeed.
TalkingPoints is a messaging system that allows staff and families to communicate.
TeachHub is the NYCPS platform for teachers to take attendance, enter grades, and access digital curricula.
Twinning can be when two or people people dress in a very similar way, often by accident. Overtime the definition has expanded; for example dressing in a similar color to a water bottle, wearing something while standing next to a photo of yourself wearing the same outfit, etc. Two and a half claps is a way to celebrate a community member by clapping two times then gesturing towards the celebrant, then repeated once.