Minisink Valley Central School District -

Stephanie Giufre’s Otisville Grades 2-5 students recently launched the school year with cooperative games! They were tasked with building “King Kong Skyscrapers,” where they worked together to build a free-standing structure. This was a great example of physical fitness fun, teamwork and cooperation combined the STEM components of physics and engineering!

Students talked about working together, how it feels when one’s idea is used (or not); if those ideas will actually work; how to be a good team player and offer constructive comments to assist in the project’s completion, and more!

And because they’re in their physical education class, students had to “run” their “skyscraper parts” to a matching hula hoop, using all their materials to build their skyscraper tower as tall as the group’s tallest person. The last part of the task was placing the toy gorilla as the last item on the top of their towers. Then…they have to “run” those parts to the opposite side of the gym and repeat!

Like other district faculty, Middle School teachers Lauren Pullen and Ashley Beairtso regularly make time to incorporate social emotional learning (SEL) into class time.

Their topics differ but are ones which are helpful for students. They frequently use resources focusing on personal and professional growth, encouraging students to approach each day as a new one, while learning from past decisions and bettering ourselves.

This recent conversation focused on acknowledging what may make someone uncomfortable or anxious, reminding students can come to them and let them know what may be bothering them so they can help them through it. Students were reminded learning how to handle things well minimizes frustrations and helps to keep them mentally healthy. Conversations like this, they stress to students, help them to become better problem-solvers who are more empathetic and reflective.

HOMECOMING 2025!
What a great night!! Not only does the Varsity football team remain undefeated, the high school's incredible Homecoming gathering this past Friday evening included a banner parade, the crowning of Kathryn Jones and Rogan Lynch as Homecoming Queen and King, fabulous musical entertainment by the mighty Minisink Valley Marching Band and the unbelievable support of the crowd, led by our cheer squad! WERE YOU THERE? Take a look at a sampling of the evening! See more photos on the district's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MinisinkValleyCSD

•High school homecoming originated from college traditions, with many universities claiming to have hosted the first event, though the University of Missouri is credited with holding the first official homecoming in 1911 to boost school spirit and unite alumni with current students and celebrate the university’s existence. The concept quickly spread to other colleges and then to high schools across the nation, evolving to include events such as parades, pep rallies, bonfires, and dances centered around a football game.
•The high school homecoming king and queen tradition began in the 1930s as an adaptation of college homecoming celebrations. The focus eventually shifted to selecting a queen and king based on personality and character in later decades. The first queens were crowned much earlier in college history, but the king and queen as a pair was a later development in the high school setting, reflecting the tradition's evolution from a general school spirit event to a more formal, celebrated court.

Tiffany Guareno’s and Bridget Kelly’s ES kindergarteners recently heard the read aloud “Chrysanthemum” book by Kevin Henkes! This read aloud book is about a mouse named Chrysanthemum, who loves her long, unique name until she starts kindergarten and her classmates tease her for it, causing her to feel insecure and sad.

The story explores themes of self-esteem, the hurt caused by teasing and bullying, and the importance of celebrating individuality. Chrysanthemum’s pride is eventually restored when her kind music teacher, Mrs. Delphinium Twinkle, announces her own new baby will be named Chrysanthemum! It was a great opportunity for students to talk about the uniqueness of their names!

As a follow-up project, students used shredded colored paper to spell out their names in a bright and cheery way. And, it was another opportunity for them to practice important fine motor skills!

Our district kindergarteners are doing so many “big kid” things during these opening weeks of school, and that now includes checking out books from their schools’ libraries! Take a peek at Mia McLean’s ES kindergarten library students, who, like all kindergarteners, are learning the checkout process. They’re really good at it, too!

Kindergarten library class is important because it builds crucial early literacy skills by promoting a love of reading, expanding vocabulary, and developing language arts concepts in a fun and engaging way, supporting what’s going on in the classroom setting. It also teaches fundamental library and social skills, such as how to handle books, use library resources, and interact positively with peers in a community setting.

Like all sixth-graders, Lauren Pullen’s ELA sixth-graders are learning about the writing process!

This is a series of steps that helps students go from a blank page to a final piece of writing, involving prewriting (brainstorming ideas), drafting (writing a first version), revising (improving content and organization), editing (correcting errors in grammar and mechanics), and publishing (sharing the final work). This structured approach helps students focus on different aspects of writing and produce quality work by breaking the task into manageable parts.

Learning writing skills is important in sixth grade because it solidifies foundational skills, drives deeper learning in all subjects, and prepares students for the academic and professional demands of their future.

Nichole Gaucher’s eighth-grade Living Environment students have been learning about microscopes as they ease into their lab work. For some, it was the first time using this instrument!

Students learned about the history of microscopes, the different types, why they’re used as well as the parts of a compound light microscope,

Their first lab was exploring different specimens such as cricket legs, plant cells, ticks, fruit flies and animal cells. During this lab, students also learned that through the microscopes the image is inverted, so if they wish to move an image to the left, they actually have to move the slide to the right.

Cayla Tangney’s High School “Sculpture” students have been working on creating miniature "dream" bedrooms that go along with a form of sculpture known as an “Assemblage.”

They’re using “found” materials such as scrapbook paper, fabric samples, pieces of wood, yarn, beads, and more, to create them. The project’s goal is to literally think “outside the box” to problem solve how they can create new objects from those that already exist.

The best part is that their projects are all completely unique to each student’s identity, style, interests, and what makes them feel "at home."

To start off the project, they were tasked with creating mood boards with a color palette and inspiration found online that would help them piece together their final vision. Take a peek at their work, it’s so creative!

•Assemblage art is a three-dimensional form of sculpture that combines found objects and disparate, non-traditional materials to create a new work of art. Similar to two-dimensional collage, assemblage adds layers and dimensions by using every day or discarded items, which artists arrange to form a new meaning or narrative, challenging conventional ideas about art.
•"Found materials," in an artistic or educational context, refers to objects that are not originally intended for art or learning but are repurposed and incorporated into new works or activities. These can include natural items like leaves and rocks, discarded household objects like bottles and corks, or manufactured materials like fabric scraps and wood pieces. The concept emphasizes recycling, environmental awareness, and creative problem-solving by finding new possibilities in everyday items.

Rich Budd’s sixth-grade technology students are learning to use Tinkercad to design 3D models that they will soon be printing on the 3D printers.

This is their first school exposure to 3D modeling/printing. Students are in the beginning stages of learning the process to design 3D models and will eventually learn how to run a 3D printer to print their creations.

Tinkercad is a free, web-based software suite by Autodesk that serves as a beginner-friendly introduction to 3D design, electronics, and coding. It allows users to create models by combining and cutting basic shapes for 3D printing, design and simulate simple electronic circuits, and write block-based code to bring designs to life. It’s widely used in educational settings due to its ease of use and focus on hands-on STEM learning.

Third-graders, like Shari Cannone’s IS third-graders, are reviewing “skip counting” as part of their math work. It’s an important skill! In this instance, they were practicing skip counting by 3s, but two of her students even offered to demonstrate how skip counting by 2s and 6s results in the same answer! (That's innovative thinking on their part!)
In third grade, skip counting is the skill of counting by intervals larger than one, such as 2, 3, 5, or 10, to count items or recognize patterns. This skill builds number sense and helpings students understand groups of equal size and how multiplication is essentially repeated addition.

Skip counting is important because it builds a foundation for learning multiplication, division, and other complex math concepts by developing number sense, pattern recognition, and fluency with numbers. It serves as a tool for quick calculation, understanding mathematical patterns, and solving problems more efficiently, and is a crucial math skill in higher grade levels and real-world applications like counting money.

HOLA A TODOS!
Lucia Schrag’s High School Spanish 2 students are combining infinitive verb work with vocabulary words tied to those verbs! Take a peek!
So, for example, the infinitive “trabajar” can connect with “mercado” or “escuela.” Trabajar means “to work.” Where can you work? In a market or school. Sra. Schrag is making them think and make correlations!

CAN YOU HELP?
As part of their efforts to increase awareness this month (which is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month) about pediatric cancer treatments and research and to support families dealing with pediatric cancers, the High School’s Youth Against Cancer Club (which is leading the district’s Going Gold Day on Sept. 30) is undertaking a drive to collect coloring books, crayons, books and stuffed toys for pediatric patients at Garnet Medical Center now through Oct. 11.

Collection boxes have been placed in all five buildings and the district’s Transportation Center. If you’re interested in being a part of this effort and joining the students and faculty/staff who are taking part, please email Club Advisor Erin Natalizio at enatalizio@minisink.com.

This beautiful fall weather sets the stage for FALL CRAFTS!

Carmela Sill’s ES kindergarteners are doing just that, and are getting some terrific fine motor skill work in as part of their project work!

Students worked on strengthening fine motor skills by ripping tissue paper and construction paper to glue onto fall pictures. Soon, they will bring them home for proud families to display!


Fine motor skill work is crucial in kindergarten because it develops the dexterity needed for essential self-care tasks like eating and dressing, supports the academic skills of writing and drawing, and builds independence and confidence while setting a strong foundation for future learning and success in school.

Jenn Olenick’s sixth-grade ELA students have been reviewing the use of the words "there," "their" and "they’re" as part of their ELA work. Do you know the difference? They do, just ask them!

• “There” indicates a place or existence ("over there," "there is a book").
• “Their” shows ownership, meaning "belonging to them" ("their car").
• “They're” is a contraction of "they are," used when "they are" fits in the sentence ("they're going home").

"There," “their” and “they’re” are known as homophones; they sound the same but have different spellings and meanings.

Nicole Lee’s sixth-grade science students recently tested the densities and viscosities of various substances and made predictions where each would fall. They used five substances: Syrup, oil, rubbing alcohol water and dish soap.

After they made their predictions, they poured the contents of each into a glass jar to observe. They later followed up with a density song and game!

•Density is a fluid's mass per unit volume, indicating how tightly molecules are packed, while viscosity is a fluid's resistance to flow or internal friction, describing how thick it is. They are independent properties, as seen with water (high density, low viscosity) and oil (lower density, higher viscosity), but both are influenced by temperature, with density often increasing and viscosity decreasing as temperature rises.
•A glass jar is used to observe the density and viscosity of liquids because it provides a transparent, neutral, and consistent medium for comparison. By simply pouring different liquids, like water and corn syrup, from one jar to another, students could visually compare how quickly they flow. The liquid that pours more slowly is more viscous. When pouring liquids of different densities that don't mix (immiscible liquids) into a jar, they will separate into layers. The densest liquid will sink to the bottom, while the least dense liquid will float to the top.

CALL FOR PHOTOS!
High School families: The High School's Homecoming Dance is this Saturday, Sept. 27! Share a photo of your student dressed up for a memorable evening. Details are here:

Tara Frawley’s and Kelly Manganiello’s Otisville fifth-graders have been exploring the top of how food is used during their science lessons! Take a peek at this recent STEM lesson!

As part of their ongoing work work, students have been exploring how their bodies use food as a source of energy, and discovered that the energy stored in food comes from the sun. Prior to this lesson, students learned that animals need food to grow and live.

In groups, students rotated between three stations, and explored different focus questions.
Station 1 focused on the use of food for human energy. They placed a half-slice of bread into a sandwich bag and added water. Then, a student squished the bread in the bag and everyone observed its physical break down.

At Station 2, students used red Solo cups to illustrate how energy transfers through non-living and living things in different ways. The cups were placed in a random order on the table with an image of the sun, grass, a grasshopper, frog and bird glued to the front of the cup. Students were tasked with arranging the cups according to how energy is transferred through this food chain.

Station 3 served to represent how humans obtain food from different sources and trace the energy chain back to the sun, water, and soil which feeds plants. At this station, students drew pictures of what they ate at lunch, then broke down that food and traced its energy chain back to the sun.

Meghan Donahue’s ES students have been using their hands, ears, arms and brains altogether to learn in different ways through “Whole Body Learning,” ensuring multimodal (one mode or method to accomplish something) understanding and practice!

Students practiced writing letters, numbers and their names using Play Doh and shaving cream, using all of their senses to make these skills stick! Sensory learning allows students to use their whole bodies and our whole brains to better their understanding!

•Whole-body learning is an educational approach that integrates physical movement and sensory experiences with traditional academic learning to enhance cognitive function, information retention, and engagement. By engaging the whole body, it caters to various learning styles, boosts motor coordination, increases blood flow to the brain, and makes learning more dynamic and effective, especially for young children.
•Sensory learning is a method of education where information is acquired by actively engaging the five primary senses—sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell—to create a more profound and lasting understanding. This hands-on, experiential approach allows individuals to explore, interact with, and understand their environment more effectively.