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Natasha has been part of the Bay Ridge Prep faculty since the founding of the school in 1998. Prior to Bay Ridge Prep, Natasha earned her BS in Physics at Fordham University and her MS in Physics at Virginia Tech. She also worked at the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard, creating educational materials specific to X-ray astronomy and NASA’s Chandra X-ray Telescope.
She has taught a variety of math and science courses including AP Calculus AB, Physics, Earth Science and Astronomy, and is a co-creator of Bay Ridge Prep’s Science Research and Design program. She has presented at the National Science Teachers Association annual conference, served on Bay Ridge Prep’s NYSAIS Accreditation Steering Committee and works closely with math department faculty to enrich the math experience of our students.
In addition to teaching math and science, she is the Chair of the Upper School Math Department, instructor of the Upper School Tae Kwon Do club and proud parent of two Bay Ridge Prep students.
Children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) find it particularly difficult to concentrate on tasks, to pay attention, follow directions, modulate their energy, and control impulsive behavior. Some children only exhibit inattentive behaviors that make success at school difficult, while others also struggle with hyperactivity and impulse control. ADHD presents differently as children mature.
At Bay Ridge Prep we coach children every step of the way to utilize strategies to help them regulate attention and meet their goals.
Bay Ridge Prep helps children with attention difficulties by:
Dyslexia is a language-based learning-disability officially referred to as a “specific learning disorder in reading”. Children diagnosed with dyslexia have difficulty learning to read and can also struggle to organize written and spoken language, reading quickly enough to comprehend longer sentences and sections of text, spelling, and even memorizing number facts.
In classrooms where teachers lack training in effective reading instruction and knowledge about how students with dyslexia learn best, children can become discouraged, anxious, and unmotivated. Bay Ridge Prep’s teachers are highly trained in research-based approaches to help students overcome dyslexia and become more confident, engaged, and independent readers.
Children with reading challenges at Bay Ridge Prep receive:
We explicitly teach skills that build emotional and social intelligence which help students create healthy and constructive relationships in and outside of school.
We provide students the freedom and responsibility to pursue their interests through open ended projects, course selections and student-initiated clubs.
We emphasize innovation, creativity and practical application over acquiring rote knowledge that can be easily accessed on any digital device.
We build social responsibility through school-wide, student selected community service initiatives and projects.
We offer a full array of arts programs and dynamic electives including ceramics, graphic design, theater arts, music composition, band, chorus and studio art.
We value all athletes and celebrate team spirit and positive role-modeling in our championship athletic program.
We value all athletes and celebrate team spirit and positive role-modeling in our championship athletic program.
Students come to Bay Ridge Prep with a complex array of strengths and weaknesses, multiple intelligences, and a vast set of interests and passions. When designing schedules, we look at each student as an unique and evolving individual. There is no static track for children in our support programs.
Our dynamic scheduling includes:
It is very common for children diagnosed with ADHD to have executive functioning issues, but children without ADHD can struggle with weak executive functioning also. The simplest way to explain executive functioning difficulties is to look at how they impact a child’s day. For the most part, a child who has weak executive functions has difficulty with multitasking, taking notes while listening or reading, initiating activities, and /or moving from one step to another. Some children can also have trouble thinking flexibly. These children often overgeneralize new skills, have trouble thinking differently about new concepts, taking the perspective of others, correcting errors, and making course corrections when new information is introduced academically or socially.
Organizing time and materials can also be a challenge for children with weak executive functions. Forgetting books, losing assignments, and procrastinating when assignments require many steps or effort can also be commonplace.
Starting in the earliest grades we help students develop strategies and systems to manage time, attention, and materials that they can take with them into adulthood including:
The success of Bay Ridge Prep students starts with our passionate leadership and faculty. They are experts in their respective fields and animated by the school’s fresh approach to education. Their extensive training to support children with different learning needs both inside and outside of the classroom creates a culture where everyone belongs and everyone learns.
While it isn’t unusual to occasionally feel stress and worry at some point during their time in school, for some students typical school activities like making and keeping friends, public-speaking, managing assignments and test taking can become a source of great discomfort and anxiety.
To support students who experience higher levels of anxiety Bay Ridge Prep:
Writing is one of the most complex tasks students undertake on a daily basis in school. They need to juggle ideas, the content, genre, the perspective of the reader, the rules of grammar and spelling, and motor skills (forming letters or keyboarding). Students that have dyslexia, executive function and/or attention difficulties can find the writing process all the more burdensome.
To help students gain confidence, master skills, and maintain motivation when faced with a writing task Bay Ridge Prep provides intensive writing supports including:
Dyscalculia is a learning disability officially referred to as a “specific learning disability with impairment in mathematics”. Students diagnosed with dyscalculia have difficulty learning, understanding, and performing math tasks. Dyscalculia does not affect a child’s performance in other subjects like English or History. Some children who struggle with reading, executive functions, attention, and anxiety also have difficulty learning mathematics.
To increase student confidence and mastery in mathematics our school provides: