A beautiful and majestic bald eagle watched drop-off students arrive to the Intermediate School campus today! Bald eagles can be found in New York year-round, with large numbers often congregating in winter. In the 1970s, there were believed to be just two bald eagles left in the entire state of New York. Now, there are close to 1,000, and they're no longer considered endangered.
District fifth-graders, like Mike Conklin’s IS fifth-graders, are practicing how to round numbers in math. Rounding in fifth-grade math is important because it teaches students how to estimate answers quickly and accurately in real-life situations where exact precision isn't always necessary, making calculations simpler and helping them understand the relative size of numbers, especially when dealing with large numbers or complex problems. Rounding also serves as a valuable tool for students because it allows them to check and see if their final answer is reasonable
District sixth-graders were treated to a special assembly which ties into the work they’re doing in their science classes: Seeing how science is all around us as they continue to investigate, experiment with and observe how our universe works.
Pathology Manager Lisa Everle spoke to students on Sept. 25 about the field of clinical pathology and how a clinical pathology laboratory works!
A clinical pathology laboratory performs tests on bodily fluids, tissues and cells to help diagnose and/or monitor diseases. Laboratory specialty areas can include: Blood bank, clinical chemistry and biology, toxicology, hematology, immunology and serology and microbiology.
Reminder: We're GOING GOLD on Monday, Sept. 30! Please join our efforts to bring awareness of the need for new treatments and hopeful cures for pediatric cancer. Thank you to the High School's Youth Against Cancer Club for spearheading this initiative.
CALL FOR PHOTOS: Share photos of your student's gold/yellow attire! Email to communications@minisink.com to be included in a forthcoming photo gallery!
The High School’s Career Achievement Program (CAP) students provide weekly assistance to teachers and educators in various buildings throughout the Slate Hill campus. It’s a great inter-school collaboration! Students recently helped ES reading teacher Valerie Zubikowski prepare for her lesson by gathering, organizing and cutting letter sounds cards. Using these letter sound cards, students will be practicing being able to fluently say the sounds of letters to help build their phonics skills!
Letter sound cards are a tool used to help students learn the relationship between letters and the sounds they make. They can be used to help children learn to automatically associate letters with sounds; to review letters and sounds to help students become more fluent; support phonological awareness by helping students sound out letters and combinations of letters; and support spelling through the review spelling sounds!
DON’T LET THIS TROPHY LEAVE THE DISTRICT!
We invite you to be part of the Orange County “Cool School Challenge! ” Join the team representing Minisink Valley and participating in the Nov. 9 Polar Bear Challenge at the Rez in Highland Mills! We want to retain our title as the “Cool School Challenge” winner!
The “Cool School Challenge” is a friendly competition between local schools as part of the 2024 Orange County Polar Plunge. Students, staff and community members are encouraged to create a team of “Plungers” to support the good work of Special Olympics New York. Because of your efforts, Minisink Valley won the 2023 Cool School Challenge, and we're proudly displaying this trophy in Central Office!
Director of PPS Jeff Finton is overseeing Minisink Valley’s efforts to create a team. Join Minisink Valley’s team by clicking on the QR code in this flyer or email Mr. Finton at jfinton@minisink.com If. If you know of community members, families or students or student clubs who’d like to represent Minisink Valley, please share this flyer.
We hope you can join our team!
Otisville Elementary Grades 3 to 5 families....Reminder: Tonight is your student's Open House! We look forward to seeing you there!
Please note times:
6 to 6:30 p.m.: Fifth-Grade
6:35 to 7:05 p.m.: Fourth- Grade
7:10 to 7:40 p.m.: Third Grade
Cheers to the Cross-Country boys freshman team, which took second-place honors (out of 24 teams) at the Sept. 21 Suffern Invitational held at Bear Mountain! There were 244 freshman at this event, with “Top 25” performances coming from Santiago Martinez (7th), Landon Straw (11th), Matthew Milby (18th) and Rylan Young (23rd). The varsity boys team also fared well, placing 7th out of 23 teams, with “Top 25” performances by Ryan Capo (8th) and Carter Rossi (12th) who were among 178 varsity runners in the event. There were extremely solid efforts by all members of the Varsity and Junior Varsity boys and girls teams!
District third-graders, like Andrew Fenner’s IS third-graders, are learning about the commutative properties of multiplication and practicing this knowledge in their word problem work.
The commutative property of multiplication states that the order of numbers in a multiplication problem does not change the result. The formula for is (A×B) = (B×A). By the way, the same is true for addition operations (A+B) = (B+A).
The commutative property is a well-known and basic property used in most branches of mathematics. Its official use began at the end of the 18th century. The first recorded use of the term "commutative" was in a memoir by mathematician François Servois in 1814. The word “commutative” originated from the French word “commute” or “commuter,” which means to "switch" or "move around," combined with the suffix “-ative” means “tend to.”
Otisville Elementary Grades K to 2 families....Reminder: Tonight is your student's Open House! We look forward to seeing you there!
Please note times:
6 to 6:30 .pm.: Kindergarten
6:35 to 7:05 p.m.: First-Grade
7:10 to 7:40 p.m.: Second Grade
If you stop by Central Office, please make note of this beautiful bench now located outside the main entrance to the building! Thank you to the Class of 1973 and Class of 1974 for donating this wonderful gift to the district. We appreciate your thoughtfulness and kindness!
Rich Budd’s sixth-grade technology students are constructing models rockets….which they will launch once complete! Each student received a kit which explains what they need to do, with Mr. Budd demonstrating each step along the way. Students are just about at a point where it’s time to paint their rockets. There will be two launch blast-off days coming up soon!
Megan St. Clair and Sarah Kocot’s ES second-graders had a great time at their recent pancake party celebrating Paul Bunyan, the giant lumberjack and folk hero in American and Canadian folklore. His tall tales revolve around his superhuman labors, and he is customarily accompanied by Babe the Blue Ox, his pet and working animal.
Students recently completed their fairytales and tall tales knowledge unit, where they learned all about exaggerations and ”larger than life” characters. They read about Paul Bunyan, who was so strong he could do the job of 100 men! According to folklore, Bunyan and Babe’s favorite food was pancakes! After working so hard on this knowledge unit, students were treated with delicious pancakes!
Cliff Loretto’s ES kindergarten music students have started their year in music by learning to keep a steady beat on their bodies and with simple classroom instruments. They recently learn how to sing "Frog in the Meadow" while keeping the beat on an instrument called a “frog rasp.” Students had a great time acting out the song and sharing the instruments so that everyone had a turn!
A frog rasp is a wooden instrument that makes sounds similar to a frog croaking, guiro, or wood block. It's played by gently scraping the frog's back with a wooden stick or lightly tapping its nose with the end of a striker.
It's Peace Day at Otisville Elementary! Students are sporting tie dye attire to mark the day, although the official International Day of Peace is tomorrow, Sept. 21. This year's international theme is “Cultivating a Culture of Peace” and draws inspiration from UNESCO's foundational belief that “wars begin in the minds of men, so it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed."
Jess Paglia’s Elementary School first-graders are marking the International Day of Peace (which is tomorrow, Sept. 21) with these lovely and colorful peace signs.!
The International Day of Peace was established in 1981 by unanimous United Nations resolution. Peace Day, which is officially marked on Sept. 21, provides a globally shared date for all humanity to commit to Peace above all differences and to contribute to building a culture of peace.
Intermediate School students are celebrating the International Day of Peace in style with their tie dye attire!! The International Day of Peace (which is tomorrow, Sept. 21, but being marked today) celebrates the power of global solidarity for building a peaceful and sustainable world.
The seventh-grade science team of Jen Zaro, Bailey Riley, Paul John DeStefano and Rebecca Foster-Faith led their students in a recent “Color Changing Volume” lab where students were tasked with following a series of instructions to make precise measurements. When the measurements leading to chemical reactions to create color changes are done correctly, the result was students created rainbows via their test tubes of color!
Students have been practicing measuring mass, length, volume and using measurements of mass and volume to calculate density. Students are getting hands on experiences with triple beam balances, graduates cylinders, metric rulers, digital temperature probes and electric balances.
CAN YOU HELP? Senior Vanessa Tepper has been nominated by the New York Giants as a finalist for USA Football’s “Heart of Giant Award," presented by Hospital for Special Surgery and the New York Giants!
This prestigious award recognizes tri-state area high school student-athletes, team mascots, team managers and other designated team members who have an unparalleled work ethic and passion for the game. Team members with a “Heart of a Giant” also demonstrate five main characteristics on and off the field: Commitment, character, teamwork, dedication and will!
Vanessa is in a race to be one of the six finalists who will receive a $1,000 equipment grant for the Varsity Flag Football team! The grand prize winner will receive an additional $9,000 equipment grant for their team! BUT, YOU MUST VOTE!
PLEASE SHARE! Voting runs through Oct. 6. VOTE TODAY by clicking onto www. https://usafootball.com/heart-of-a-giant
(Be sure to scroll all the way down this page to find Vanessa and you can vote more than once!)
REMINDER: The Executive PTO's annual apparel sale is taking place now through Sept. 30. There's something for everyone in every school building. Looking for gift ideas? You'll find great school swag! Please share!
To order: https://bsnteamsports.com/shop/saLRszxGDf
or use the QR code below👇👇👇
