Studying regional history is important because it can promote a sense of place and identity, enhances critical thinking, and connects individuals to key events in the history of a particular area. By understanding “the past,” students can better understand “the present,” including its challenges and strengths, which helps in being better prepared for what will happen in “the future.”
Robert Abate’s Archaeology and Metal Detecting Club members and Ezra Clementson’s, Frank Cherry’s and Jonathan Grady’s Global 9 students recently had the unique opportunity to step back in time during a visit to the historic Minisink Battleground Park in Sullivan County! Take a peek at their outing!
Their field trip offered a powerful, hands-on learning experience about one of the most tragic and heroic episodes in the region's Revolutionary War history. The trip was organized as one of the many ways the Minisink Valley History Department is recognizing the nation’s 250th anniversary of declaring independence.
Sullivan County Historian John Conway, whose knowledge and storytelling brought the events of July 22, 1779, vividly to life, led the tour along with reenactors Daniel and Joshua from the Fort Delaware Museum. They dressed in period attire and also demonstrated how to fire a musket.
The group toured key battleground areas, including Hospital Rock, where wounded militia members were treated, and Sentinel Rock, a silent witness to the fierce and fateful battle that unfolded on these very grounds.
Students gained insight into the significant losses suffered by local militia, who bravely engaged in combat against the forces led by the notorious Mohawk leader Joseph Brant. The field trip not only highlighted the sacrifices made by local patriots but also deepened students' understanding of the complex alliances and conflicts that defined the Revolutionary War in this region.
“This immersive experience left students with a greater appreciation for our area's rich history and the enduring legacy of those who fought and fell at Minisink,” said Mr. Abate. “We are grateful to Mr. Conway and the Fort Delaware reenactors for helping bring history to life in such a meaningful and memorable way.”
The group finished the trip with stops at the Roebling Bridge, the oldest existing wire suspension bridge in the U.S. and an eagle observation point along the Delaware River.
First, they created their own “best pumpkin in the patch,” each vibrantly colorful and unique. Then, they were tasked with writing an opinion paragraph which provides details about why they believe makes their pumpkin the best. What a great way to blend ELA, art and the Halloween season into a learning experience! Take a look!
Opinion writing helps students develop critical thinking, organize their thoughts, and communicate respectfully. By 3rd grade, students have a strong enough grasp of expressing preferences to begin structuring a more formal, reasoned argument, or opinion. It’s also part of a larger, structured literacy progression that moves from informal communication to more advanced writing skills.
Rachel Forde and Julia Ferguson asked their Otisville third-graders for suggestions, but there was an ELA and art component to their request as well. Students were tasked with offering a suggestion (the main idea) and providing three reasons why (supporting details) while drawing their suggested costumes.
There were many varied ideas: A pencil… a carrot… a McDonalds French fry… a zombie.
Our favorites: “A princess, because she is so beautiful”; and “Spiderman, because she always saves the day for me.”
Jen Levin’s ES second-graders have been spending time together working on their choral reading skills. In this recent gathering, students were reading about Big Jim’s and Pete’s frogs!
Choral reading is a whole-class or small-group technique where the teacher and students read a text aloud together in unison, developing fluency, pronunciation, and expression. The strategy uses repetition and unison reading to improve sight word recognition, build confidence, and make reading more engaging for young learners, often with texts that have rhythmic patterns or repeating phrases.
JOIN IN on the seasonal art fun and support the High School's Art Club!
The High School's Art Club is hosting its next "Paint n' Snack" fundraiser on Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 4:30 p.m. in Room 217 at the High School.
A talented Minisink Valley Art Club student will guide participants in creating a beautiful fall-themed painting. There'll be apple cider to sip and yummy treats to snack on while painting.
Adults and children of all ages are welcome, but seating is limited to 25 people, so act fast if interested! All supplies and food are included with admission and all proceeds will go toward art scholarships, museums field trips for art students, future events, and additional supplies for the Art Club studio. THIS EVENT WILL SELL OUT, so sign-up now and don't miss out!
Pricing (cash at the door): Adults - $12; children/students - $10; and siblings discount: $5 per additional sibling. To reserve your spot, click here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeFcFIzph-R4RHdlh3S0YmBrlAi_BxFCxZ7woOyck9kGSe2rQ/viewform
The girls helped welcome participants during registration time and participated in the walk. Well-done to all!
REMINDER: Get your pink attire ready, because this Friday, the district is️ GOING PINK to support breast cancer awareness! THANK YOU to the High School's Youth Against Cancer (YAC) group for leading the effort to bring awareness:
--- Call for photos: Share a photo of your student wearing pink attire that day!
--- Are you ready for some football? PINK OUT at Friday night’s Varsity Home Game against Port Jervis!
--- COIN DROP at CUGINOS: Donate your coins and support the high school’s Youth Against Cancer Club initiative. 100% of what’s collected will be donated to the breast cancer unit at Garnet Medical Center’s Spagnoli Cancer Center
--- Class of 2026 Food Truck Fundraiser continues with a special menu!
•Olivia Bohr: Olivia has been on the team for five seasons and is a team captain and plans on going to college for nursing.
•Madeline Huggins: Maddy has been on the team for three seasons and plans on attending college and getting her degree in elementary education.
•Erin Huggins-Williams: This is Erin's first season competing with the team and plans on attending college.
•Reilly Kain-Dickinson: Reilly has been on the team for three seasons and plans on attending college and majoring in journalism.
•Malunga Kinzonzi: Malunga has been on the team for six seasons and is a team captain. She plans on attending college and majoring in pre-law or political science.
•Siyassa Mathis: Siyassa has been on the team for four seasons and plans on attending college and majoring in political science.
•Syemma Mathis: Syemma has been on the team for four seasons and is currently undecided of her post high school plans.
•Brianna Soriano: Brianna has been on the team for three seasons and plans on going to college for nursing.
STILL UNDEFEATED: 7-0 --- and we are the 2025 CLASS A, DIVISION I CHAMPS!
The Varsity Football team continues to play extremely impressive ball, beating Warwick this past Friday night 37-13!
“Overall, I’m happy with the way we played on offense and defense,” said Varsity Coach Kevin Gallagher. “Warwick had a good game plan and they played us very tough in the first half. The second half --- we really played well with only one penalty and very few mistakes.”
Coach Gallagher also reported: “Zach Filip had another great game scoring five touchdowns while rushing for 150 yards. Robbie played another good game completing 6-8 passes for 94 yards. Max and Stetson came up with some big catches to keep the chains moving. Our defense only gave up 137 yards the whole game and stopped them inside the 10 two times.”
This Friday’s game is against undefeated Port Jervis, which also has a 7-0 record.
“We beat Port last year 28-14 and they went on to win the State Championship in Class B,” added Coach Gallagher. “We’re expecting a great game. They are very good offensively so we will have to be ready.”
This Friday’s game is also the district’s PINK OUT, where everyone is invited to wear pink in support of breast cancer awareness, as well as football/cheer Senior Night.
NOTE: The team's win over Warwick has earned it a Bye Week for the first found of the Section IX playoffs, so there's NO GAME on Oct. 31. Minisink Valley will host the Nov. 7 game with its opponent TBD.
The Otisville Elementary PTO treated students to two important anti-bullying assemblies on Oct. 16, and with a very cool seasonal twist!
The "Franken-Bully" assemblies were a monstrously funny bully-prevention tale with a powerful message about friendship, empathy and treating others with respect. It was an assembly filled with laughs and heart which reinforced to students how to be builders of kindness, not breakers of others’ spirits. Take a peek!
Thank you to the Otisville PTO for their ongoing support of the school! See more photos on the district's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MinisinkValleyCSD
Take a peek at the spooky skeletons, made with Q-tips! Students completed their projects while learning about the skeletal system during their Human Body unit! students labeled several bones and added a few sentences to describe what their skeletons help them do or what they would not be able to do with them!
This was a great STEM lesson which offered a hands-on and creative learning activity combining simple materials with the spooky theme of Halloween and the learning of human anatomy!
The goal is to equip students with tools they can use in their daily lives to improve emotional well-being, focus, and resilience.
DID YOU KNOW that sticker painting can be a surprisingly effective way to relieve stress, thanks to a combination of mindfulness, creativity, and tactile engagement? Take a look at her students and their wonderful pieces of art created as part of their important discussions about stress management!
Here’s how it works:
1. Promotes mindfulness: Sticker painting encourages you to focus on matching numbered stickers to spaces. This slows your thoughts and brings your attention to the present moment—similar to meditation.
2. Provides a creative outlet: Creativity is a powerful way to process emotions and relax.
3. Engages the hands (tactile comfort): Physically peeling and placing stickers activates fine motor skills and gives a sense of control—especially helpful when life feels chaotic.
4. Triggers a Dopamine Boost: Every time you place a sticker correctly and watch the image build, your brain gets a small hit of dopamine—the “feel-good” neurotransmitter.
Sticker painting doesn’t take a lot of effort, but there’s a low-effort, high-reward activity that helps ground your thoughts, occupy your hands, and create something beautiful—all of which can help calm your mind and relieve stress! You can find sticker painting kits in many stores, try it!
Ms. King talked to their little students about different types of apples and the life cycle and different types. After the presentation, students rotated through three stations:
Station 1: Read a Scholastic Weekly Reader that included more information about apples.
Station 2: Work on fine motor skills by completing an apple craft.
Station 3: A delicious apple taste test! Students tasted apples and graphed their favorite as part of a math lesson!
Thank you, Ms. King, for the wonderful visit and knowledge shared!
Graphing is important in kindergarten because it helps children develop foundational math skills like sorting, counting, and comparing quantities, while also fostering crucial critical thinking and problem-solving abilities through hands-on, visual representation of data. Early graphing introduces children to interpreting and organizing information, sparks curiosity, and builds a positive foundation for future academic success in math and beyond!
A sand tray is a tool for tactile, multisensory learning, typically used for practicing letter formation and handwriting, as well as for developing fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Students use their fingers to trace letters, numbers, and words in the fine-grain sand within the tray, which helps them retain information through kinesthetic and visual pathways. The dark-colored bottom of the tray makes the sand letters stand out, providing a more interactive and less messy way to practice writing than traditional pencil and paper.
Orton-Gillingham refers to a teaching approach named after Dr. Samuel Orton, a neuropsychiatrist, and Anna Gillingham, an educator and psychologist. Developed in the 1930s, it's a multisensory, structured literacy method for teaching reading, spelling, and writing which breaks down language into smaller components and uses auditory, visual, and kinesthetic (tactile, movement) channels to reinforce learning.
Two weeks from today! The annual Halloween parades at Otisville Elementary and the Elementary School, each led by divisions of the Mighty Minisink Valley Marching Band!
CALL FOR PHOTOS! See details:
Ms. Iannucci also talked about why some animals don’t make good pets while showing them a toad, parrot, tortoise, bearded dragon, chinchilla, ball python and kangaroo!
This traveling animal program educates the public and school children about animals, their welfare and conservation, while fostering kindness and empathy for all living things. Thank you to the Elementary School PTO for sponsoring the fun and educational visit! See more photos on the district's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MinisinkValleyCSD
The Otisville Elementary and Minisink Valley Intermediate K-Kids clubs launched the new school year with a joint service project: The K-Kids Lemonade and Warm Cider Stand!
Their stand, which was recently stationed next to the concession stand at Greenville Park, was staffed by six members who volunteered for one-hour shifts to sell their special beverages. They sold $31 in beverages PLUS received $100 in donations! AMAZING!
The $131 will be split between the two clubs and used for community service projects. Their lemonade and warm cider stand also gave them a great opportunity to further refine their socialization, communication, team work, math, service and gratitude expression skills. Watch for more great community work from these two clubs! Well-done to all!
Check out these adorable “Mini Ms. Manganellos!” Wearing their very snazzy and en vogue “Ms. Manganello glasses,” students (um… rather, the Ms. Manganellos) knew how to connect with their reading partners by sitting elbow-to-elbow, looking at the text their partners were reading to follow along and carefully listening to what their reading partners were reading. These sweet Ms. Manganellos knew to offer hints to their reading partners if a mistake is made to support their reading efforts.
Having a reading partner is important for first- graders because it improves their reading fluency and comprehension by providing practice and modeling, while also boosting their confidence and motivation. Partner reading encourages oral language development, enhances social skills like cooperation and turn-taking, and fosters a more engaging and less anxious reading experience by providing peer support.
“Rattenborough's Guide to Animals” is a Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) third-grade reading and language arts unit that uses the fictional explorer named Rattenborough to teach students about animal classification, characteristics like being warm-blooded or cold-blooded, and concepts like vertebrates and invertebrates. Rattenborough, the unit’s nonfiction reader, provides factual information and reinforces vocabulary and content. Their students have been reading about the differences between herbivores, omnivores and carnivores and later completed the lesson with a craft project and word search puzzle.
