NJ State Standards

**NJ State Standard Connections. Following are some of the benchmarks our programs aim to achieve taken from NJ State Standards in Science, Math, and ELA, as well as for literacy in History/Social Studies. These standards promote the literacy skills and concepts required for college and career readiness in multiple disciplines.

MS-PS2-3 ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SCIENCE, GRADE 5.
Asking Questions and Defining Problems. Asking questions is essential to developing scientific habits of mind. Even for individuals who do not become scientists or engineers, the ability to ask well-defined questions is an important component of science literacy, helping to make them critical consumers of scientific knowledge. We pose such questions as “What is Kinetic Transfer of Energy?” and “Why is it vital for a baseball pitcher?” “What is a pitching ‘stride’ and how do we calculate it?”

MS-PS2-1 MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE, GRADES 6-8.
Apply Newton’s Third Law to design a solution to a problem involving the motion of two colliding objects. “What happens when a ball collides with a bat?” Or any ball in any sport collides with another object?

NJ STATE STANDARDS OF LEARNING in MATH, GRADE 5
Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication and division. Interpret a fraction as division of the numerator by the denominator (a/b = a ÷ b). Solve word problems involving division of whole numbers leading to answers in the form of fractions or mixed numbers, e.g., by using visual fraction models or equations to represent the problem. In our Math program we ask students of all ages to practice games in probability – what is the likelihood that something will happen? (E.g., that a batter will hit the ball?) Where do batting averages come from and how do we calculate them?

ELA-LITERACY.W.8.2.D, GRADE 8
Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic. What are the specific details of your life that make you who you are? How can we connect them to Yogi Berra’s famous “Yogi-isms” and his playfulness with language? How does rap and poetry expand vocabulary and/or explain a topic?

ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.1.C10, GRADE 9 &10
Speaking & Listening. Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that relate the current discussion to broader themes or larger ideas; actively incorporate others into the discussion; and clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions. Why was Yogi Berra’s friendship with Jackie Robinson considered unlikely? How did Jackie and Yogi affect civil rights change some 15 years before Martin Luther King became the leader of the Civil Rights Movement?

HISTORY/SOCIAL STUDIES, GRADE 6-8
Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts. How can a famous moment in baseball history be understood or explained through photos, videos and graphs?

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS, GRADES 11 & 12

Reading (Craft & Structure)
NJSLSA.R6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.

Production & Distribution of Writing
NJSLSA.W5. Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.

NJSLSA.W6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.