Angela Dombal’s and Bridget Kelly’s ES kindergarteners are learning about two and three-dimensional shapes as part of their module on this topic. They used toothpicks and marshmallows to construct a solid shape from a square base. What a fun STEM lesson!
Why is this important? Teaching two and three-dimensional shapes in kindergarten is important because it helps young children develop foundational spatial reasoning skills, which are crucial for future math concepts. This work also enhances visual perception, aids in recognizing letters and numbers, and provides a basis for understanding the world around them through everyday objects with different shapes; essentially laying the groundwork for more complex geometry work as their academic careers advance.
Nicole Lee’s and Jackie Lockett’s sixth-grade students recently took part in a very cool three-part lesson focusing on plate tectonics!
First, students create oversized Pangaea maps in groups, then independently completed a “vocabulary quilt” featuring various terminology.
Then they picked one term and its definition and drew on a mini-puzzle piece, making certain their pictures represented the term and two key words that were in the definition.
Lastly, students competed by having to put together other students' puzzles and guessing the vocabulary word. They kept track of the words and keywords on a travel sheet which then became their study guide.
Students also had a parallel lesson with science pixel art, completed web and scavenger hunts, and “moved” as the plates did. They guessed what was in the “mystery bags” to support phenomena and indirect evidence... they were gummy eyeballs!
•Plate tectonics is the theory that the Earth's crust is divided into large, moving pieces called "tectonic plates" which float on a semi-liquid layer beneath them, causing earthquakes, volcanoes, and the formation of mountains when they collide with each other.
Essentially, the Earth's surface is not solid but made up of puzzle pieces that are constantly shifting around, shaping Earth over time.
•Pangaea was a supercontinent that existed between 300 and 200 million years ago, when all the continents were joined together. The name Pangaea comes from the Greek word “pangaia,” which means "all the Earth.”
•Pangaea is tied to plate tectonics because the theory of plate tectonics explains how the supercontinent Pangaea formed, broke apart, and continues to influence the movement of continents today.
Scoot is a great game to play, particularly when it’s time for subtraction review!
Candace Gale and Cecilia Kosowicz’s IS third-graders recently paired up to work together on their subtraction review work! They did great work, by the way!
Scoot is a game that can be used to review or reinforce concepts in math and other subjects. The teacher places question cards around the room, and students move from one card to another answering questions. The game can be used to assess students in a variety of subjects, including math, language arts, and science.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to Otisville Elementary and BOCES Otisville Satellite’s annual Scholastic Great Bedtime Book Pajama Drive! The numbers of pajama sets collected was simply amazing!
Plus: How fun is this? In even more seasonal spirit, each Otisville and BOCES Otisville class decorated its own “Gingerbread Pajama Person!” These colorful and creative pieces of art are on display in the school’s cafetorium. Take a peek at these creations, with assistance from these cutie-pies!
The Scholastic Great Bedtime Story Pajama Drive is an annual event that collects new pajamas and books for children in need. Educators register their classrooms to collect pajamas from students between September and Dec. 6. Scholastic matches each pair of pajamas donated with a book! What a wonderful way to combine the warmth of pajamas with the gift of reading!
Nicole Gaucher’s eighth-grade science students are learning about photosynthesis and cellular respiration. As part of their studies, they’ve developed models to explain each process, the inputs/outputs of each, but also how the two processes are interconnected.
Do you remember this?
While photosynthesis and cellular respiration are two interconnected processes, they’re also essentially opposites of each other. Photosynthesis uses sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose and oxygen; while cellular respiration breaks down glucose using oxygen to produce energy (ATP), carbon dioxide, and water.
Both processes are crucial for life on Earth as they maintain the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Photosynthesis produces oxygen that is used in cellular respiration and vice versa; photosynthesis occurs in plant chloroplasts, while cellular respiration happens in the mitochondria of cells. Understanding these processes is fundamental to comprehending the flow of energy through ecosystems.
Middle School students recently had a fantastic field trip to Pets Alive! Take a peek!
Students toured the Pets Alive kitten nursery, followed by a tour of the barns where they had the chance to feed the goats and sheep.
Later, they visited the training tent, where they had some quality time with Harmony and Ava, two of Pets Alive’s adorable young dogs.
Students also learned more about careers that involve working with animals and finished up up their visit by stopping by the cattery to drop off their generous donations and the fantastic adoption posters they created!
The High School’s Valé yearbook staff has been extremely busy, from group brainstorming sessions earlier this fall to the book’s final development this past October….which has led to first ever announcement of the yearbook’s theme prior to the books’ arrival: OUT LOUD!
To celebrate this milestone and big reveal, yearbook staff will be wearing sweatshirts with the yearbook’s theme artwork on the reverse. Look for them!
And remember, the pre-order deadline to order a book is Saturday, Jan. 25 via www.yearbookforever.com! Don’t miss out!
CAN YOU HELP? The High School's Youth Against Cancer Club is in the midst of a donation drive through Dec. 16 to collect items to brighten the days of Garnet Medical Center patients. See the flyer for what students are hopeful to collect! Your contributions would be most welcome!
How fun!
BOCES Otisville Satellite Principal Pilar Rocha read a wonderful book to all Otisville and BOCES satellite students at Otisville’s recent “Milk and Cookies” gathering, an annual event where the Otisville and BOCES PTOs supply the refreshments. Otisville and the BOCES Otisville Satellite Program have a wonderful partnership, and events like this reinforce this special relationship. Thank you, Mrs. Rocha!
CONGRATULATIONS to the Varsity Cheer team, who earned a bid to compete at the UCA National HS Cheerleading Championship in Orlando Florida in February. The bid was earned following their competition at last Saturday’s UCA Pocono Regional at Mohegan Sun in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The team will be competing in the Small Varsity Division II division! #MINISINKProud
CAN YOU HELP?
The High School cheerleaders' SOCK, HAT and GLOVE DRIVE runs through Dec. 20. Please see the details and thanks for sharing!
CONGRATULATIONS AND WELL-DONE!
The High School Drama Club’s recent fundraising performance of “Club Green Light,” an adaptation of “The Great Gatsby” set to stage by Junior Drama Club Treasurer Gavin McGinnis, raised $2,600!
The event was a dinner theater fundraiser which was mainly student run and they did a fabulous job---take a peek at the show! Fifty Drama Club students volunteered their evening as performers, servers and backstage help.
Gavin McGinnis wrote and directed the play with the help of assistant director and junior Hana Ebbert. Both have been selected as winning playwrights for the upcoming NYSTEA Student Conference next month.
The funds raised are earmarked for “Footloose,” the Drama Club’s Spring musical, the upcoming trip to NYSTEA Conference and the recent trip to see The Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes.
BEHIND THE SCENES:
Take a look at these wonderful photos from Friday's "Heart of a Giant" surprise announcement! We all get a chance to see some of the cool, non-public areas of MetLife Stadium, including the Giants ' locker room! Congratulations again to Senior Vanessa Tepper! See more photos on the district's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MinisinkValleyCSD
Do you know what the “arrow way” strategy is in math? Second-graders, like Lisa Anglemyer’s Otisville second-graders do! Ask them!
In second-grade math, the "arrow way" strategy refers to a method of simplifying addition problems.
The strategy helps the students improve their knowledge of basic math facts, place value and their mental math skills by using arrows to show how a number changes when adding or subtracting chunks, essentially breaking down a larger problem into smaller, more manageable steps.
When using the "Arrow Way" method, students are taught to break down one of the addends in the problem by units. The students are then able to solve the problem by adding the like units, one unit at a time. This method also allows students to visually represent their thought process as they solve problems.
Take a look at these gorgeous, colorful mix media winter landscapes being created by Ilana Kaufman’s ES kindergarteners!
Her little artists used bleeding tissue paper to create the trees, chalk pastels to create shadows in the snow, tooth picks and Q-Tips to paint snow and colored pencils to add line details in the trees. Their work will become beautiful seasonal keepsakes!
What’s a great thing to do to get ready for lunch? DANCE! That’s what Jessica Kahn and Julia Ferguson’s Otisville kindergarteners often do before lining up for their lunch break. Don’t they look adorable?
The Middle School and High School drama clubs had a wonderful Dec. 3 field trip to see The Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes! Take a peek at their outing!
This was a great field trip for many reasons: Drama program students experience "drama" in two categories: "Performer" and :Production." In each of these categories, there'a a variety of positions and related skills students need to fulfill their respective "job" in the production. Equally important is that all the district’s drama productions include vocalists, instrumentalists, actors, dancers, set designers, light technicians, sound technicians, technology/device support, set builders, set movers, costumers, house designers --- and more ---- who come together to bring a production to the stage.
That’s no different than the work that happens to bring The Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes to the stage! Students had the opportunity to attend a quality show where they can experience and respond to world-class singing, dancing, storytelling and technical production value, which is aligned with New York State Arts Standards involving art, music, dance and theater disciplines. Add to this a STEAM component as well, as the show heavily relies on the use of technology and three-dimensional set effects.
It’s also perfect timing, because both drama clubs are gearing up for their own spring musicals, so seeing this performance also helps them to better understand professional level quality. (And, the show offers deeply discounted ticket pricing for groups!) See more photos on the district's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MinisinkValleyCSD/
Kimberly Jordan’s Freshman Biology students recently finished up their Biochemistry unit, meaning it was now time to explore chemical indicators! They learned about pH and indicators used to detect nutrients in foods like Benedicts, Biuret, Iodine and even a simple Brown paper bag.
Students merged their hands-on lab experience with the use of our digital lab platform called Gizmos. Using the Gizmo program, they were additionally exposed to SUDAN RED, an additional test for Fats. The labs ran over a week and they had a lot of fun.
THANK YOU to the High School PTO for providing a mini-grant which allowed for the purchase of new lab glasses! Students loved using them!
PTOs do great work in so many different ways!
For example, Middle School sixth-grade ELA/social studies teacher Joanna Dolan wants everyone to know how grateful she and her students are for the very impactful mini-grant the Middle School PTO provided so her students can have personal reading/writing lamps!
Students arrived to ELA class on the Monday following Thanksgiving recess to find a box waiting on their desk to open and assemble: Their reading/writing lamps! Students were very quick to assemble them and used them to read Chapter 14 in Christopher Paul Curtis’ “Bud, Not Buddy,” the story of a 10-year-old orphan who finds his family during the Great Depression:
Later in the day, her Social Studies classes used the lamps to write notes on “GRAPES” of civilizations around the world. GRAPES is an acronym used in history education to represent the key aspects of a civilization: Geography, religion, achievements, politics, economy, and social structure. This framework is used for analyzing and understanding different civilizations around the world by examining these six critical elements.
“I am so grateful for this attention to our classroom,” said Mrs. Dolan. “The students were able to take a welcomed break from the fluorescent lighting by using the lamps and natural light from the windows. Socially and emotionally, these lamps have really already shown to be beneficial. Some students, who often need movement breaks or the use of bouncy bands, remained focused and in their seats for the duration of the class activity that required them to be at their desks. The students, as a whole, were focused and attentive. They all were so grateful and very happy to have their own personal work space while also being next to their classmates.”
THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to the Middle School’s Student Government’s annual canned food drive, which concluded last month! Your contributions will positively impact those in need.
The two classes that collected in the most canned goods have earned an ice cream sundae party, sponsored by Stewart's Ice Cream.
•First place goes to Bailey Riley's seventh-grade Period 1 science class, who collected in 237 canned goods!
•Second place goes to Joanna Dolan's sixth-grade Period 2 English class who collected 170 canned goods.
All the collected items have been donated to Minisink Cares.
