This past Friday, and in preparation for last night's big game, these students "tackled" a different kind of challenge: Reimagining the shape of a football as something totally unexpected. And wow—did they deliver! Touchdowns for everyones! Their “something elses” are bursting with imagination, originality and first-grade brilliance.
New York Yankees vs. Miami Marlins!
--- Saturday, April 4
--- 7:05 p.m. at Yankee Stadium
--- Tickets: $45 each for Terrace Level seating
--- Online ticket sales close March 1
--- Tickets will be delivered digitally to the email address provided.
--- Transportation is NOT provided.
Purchase tickets here: https://minisink-pto-yankee-game.square.site/
Heather Cardena's and Dan Gallo's Middle School physical education students' volleyball matchups are a lot of fun! It's a great physical education unit because volleyball develops key physical skills like coordination, agility, and strength through full-body movements like jumping or diving.
PLUS: There's also other important life skills like teamwork, communication and strategic thinking involved. Volleyball is a fun, adaptable, and often low-contact sport, making it accessible for many students.
Back by request! Sign up today for the High School Art Club’s Feb. 10 “Paint & Snack” fundraiser! Have a wonderful afternoon painting a beautiful spring design under the guidance of a talented upperclassman art student! And, of course, there will be fabulous snacks! Open to all ages, but space is limited. Cost is $12 per adult, $10 per student and $5 for student siblings.
Sign up here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSejmdJqNRluBrCttWfiMsXZ8Cu5-xqk0U9wP3GPo7oXlMKASw/viewform
--- Fifth-Grade: Tyler Sturge
--- Fourth- Grade: Hailey Barry
--- Third-Grade: Ansharah Usman, Leilani Romero Marin and Yaretzi Vazquez
Varsity Football Coach Kevin Gallagher said this is only the second time in program history that a Minisink Valley football player has won this award. Tom Redmond won it in the early 1970s.
“Zach Filip is a coach’s dream,” Coach Gallagher said. “He is a great athlete with good speed, a very smart athlete, strong, a great teammate, with an incredible will to get better and to win! Zach was our heart and soul and is as tough as anyone in the state, but off the field he is a great kid well-respected by everyone. Zach is also a very good student and is looking to play football in college and become a physical education teacher and coach.”
Class of 2010 alumnus Stefanie Dolson competed in Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (held in 2021 due to the pandemic), winning a GOLD MEDAL with Team USA in women’s 3×3 basketball! The 3x3 sport debuted in the 2020 games, with Team USA defeating the Russian Olympic Committee team 18–15 in the final! Ms. Dolson was a key contributor, leading her team in scoring with seven points and pulling down nine rebounds in the gold medal game!
After graduating from Minisink Valley, Ms. Dolson played collegiately at the University of Connecticut and plays professionally in the WNBA, currently as a center with the Washington Mystics.
Class of 2017 alumnus Nicholas Abruzzese competed in the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, representing Team USA in men’s ice hockey! In his Olympic appearance, Mr. Abruzzese played four games, recording four points (one goal and three assists) for Team USA. The team competed strongly in the tournament, but ultimately didn't medal.
After graduating from Minisink Valley, Mr. Abruzzese played collegiate hockey at Harvard University, where he was among the nation’s top point producers and served as team captain. He's is currently a center with the American Hockey League's Syracuse Crunch!
We’re so proud to have two ALUMNI OLYMPIANS!
Through simple prose and vivid illustrations, this her book encourages positive behavior by using the concept of an invisible bucket to show readers how easy and rewarding it is to express kindness, appreciation, and love by “filling buckets.” While using a simple metaphor of a bucket and a dipper, the book is a reminder that when we choose to be kind, we not only fill the buckets of those around us, but also fill our own buckets!
Afterward, the ambassadors oversaw kindness-themed activities for each grade level. This was another wonderful inter-school collaboration between both schools! WELL-DONE, everyone!
Brian Maione’s eighth-grade art students are creating pop art sculptures inspired by Claes Oldenberg.
They choose their favorite candy, cookies, chips or other items… so long as it comes from a bag! First, students drafted a sketch of their snacks which focused on composition, design and layout. The finals are done on 12x18 paper with acrylic paint and Sharpies.
Claes Oldenburg was a Swedish-American Pop artist famous for transforming everyday objects, like hamburgers or lipsticks, into massive, whimsical sculptures, including his well-known “Spoonbridge and Cherry.”
AMAZING! Congratulations to the Varsity Girls Indoor Track 4x400 meter relay team of Chloe Beck, Ferrah Hill, Ella Michelitch and Salma Samdaoui, who proudly represented Minisink Valley in the prestigious Millrose Games, held Feb. 1, finishing fourth in the Suburban division (4:00.37) and besting local rivals Monroe-Woodbury and Warwick Valley in the process! PLUS: It's the first time in program history that a Minisink Valley team qualified for these games!
The Millrose Games is a major indoor track and field meet held every year in New York City. It's one of the oldest and most respected track meets in the world, starting in 1908. High school athletes often look up to the Millrose Games because it features the best runners and field athletes competing at an elite level, showing what is possible with hard work and dedication.
The meet includes many events including sprints, distance races, hurdles, and field events. For high school athletes, the Millrose Games is inspiring because it shows the highest level of competition and motivates young athletes to train, improve, and dream big in track and field.
For professional athletes, The Millrose Games is one of the most prestigious indoor track and field competitions in the world and is a cornerstone of the international athletics calendar. The event attracts elite athletes from around the globe who compete in a range of sprint, distance, hurdle, and field events, often producing record-breaking performances
They used drawings and visual models to show different ways to group numbers, helping them solve multiplication problems and practice skip counting by 6s and 8s.
Using visuals made learning more hands-on and helped students build a deeper understanding of how multiplication works. That’s because it helps make abstract math ideas more concrete. Multiplication can be hard to grasp when it’s just numbers and symbols. Visuals like arrays, groups of objects, number lines, and pictures help students see what “8 × 4” actually means (8 groups of 4). Plus, visual models give them something tangible to reason with and help students to understand why multiplication works. Drawing objects can also make learning more hands-on and interactive, which increases focus and participation.
Students worked in groups to observe and explain how potential energy changes into kinetic energy using a domino chain reaction. During their lab, students set up their dominoes in a line or pattern. They were tasked with observing the dominoes standing upright and still (this is potential energy). Then, students were asked to tip the first domino into another and observe as the dominoes falling (this is kinetic energy) as the dominoes moved through the line. Later, everyone discussed their observations.
Dominoes are a great teaching tool for potential and kinetic energy because they make abstract physics ideas visible, simple and fun. That’s because when dominoes are standing upright in a line, they store potential energy --- energy waiting to happen.
But when a domino is tipped, that potential energy turns in to kinetic energy --- or motion. Each falling domino transfers energy to the next one. This can help students see the cause and effect of tipping dominoes and that energy doesn’t disappear, it just moves and changes form.
Congratulations to Junior and Girls Varsity Wrestler Sara Pauls, who is one of 12 student-athletes representing Section IX and 170 student-athletes statewide attending the upcoming New York State Public High School Athletic Association’s Student Leadership Conference in mid-April in Albany!
Current sophomores and juniors will have the opportunity to sharpen their leadership skills by listening to presentations from a variety of speakers and participating in workshops to help positively influence their teams, athletic departments, schools, and communities.
“We look forward to having Sara share with her peers all the important information she will learn at this conference,” said Athletic Director Tim Bult. “We’re proud she’s representing Minisink Valley and Section IX.”
The idea of the conference was developed by the NYSPHSAA Student-Athlete Development Committee (SADC) several years ago with input from the NYSPHSAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).
“This is a program we have been focused on developing for several years,” said Kristen Jadin, NYSPHSAA Assistant Director, in a statement. “We are a student-based organization and what better way to develop students than to have an in-person conference with outstanding speakers who can share their expertise.”
Just ask Carmela Sill’s ES kindergarteners, who were the recipients of a generous gift of pine cones and art supplies. Her little students have created some gorgeous, one-of-a-kind pieces! Take a peek!
Pine cones are natural, textured and easy to handle, which makes them perfect for creative play and artwork! They’re sensory friendly because of all the shapes and textures to explore and allow for fine motor skill practice, too! PLUS, there’s no right or wrong way to use them!
This team entered the tournament prepared and fearless. In Round 1, they dominated Section III’s Carthage with a decisive 50–17 victory. After a BYE round, they showed their dominance again in Round 2 with an emphatic 57–16 win over Section V’s Fairport. Each wrestler competed with toughness, pride and unity — never backing down, never giving less than everything he had.
As they always do, these 2026 Section IX Dual Meet Wrestling Champions represented Minisink Valley with honor, heart and distinction. Their work ethic, commitment to one another, and refusal to quit define what true champions look like. They are winners in every sense of the word!
Please join us in congratulating our incredible wrestlers, coaches, and everyone associated with the wrestling program on a truly spectacular season. This group has set the standard—and make no mistake, they will be back next year!
Mary Kelly’s ES second-graders worked together to create a bar graph documenting the class’s collective prediction of whether Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow on Groundhog Day today, Feb. 2!
They know a bar graph is a picture that uses solid bars to show and compare information, or data. It helps students to see which group has “the most” or “the least.” Taller or longer bars mean a bigger number, while shorter bars mean a smaller number.
In a 16-5 result, students felt Punxsutawney Phil would not see his shadow. For Groundhog Day lore believers, that means an early spring!
After the results were tallied, students chatted about the results, with some hoping for warmer weather to come soon while others didn’t. They also realized that warmer weather would mean there would be no more snow days!
It was a fun, seasonal activity tying in math! But Mrs. Kelly added an ELA and art/fine motor skills component to their work, asking them to write about their predictions, and then create their own gorgeous groundhogs!
Other “famous” groundhogs who are annually sought after for their prognostication expertise include: Ohio’s Buckeye Chuck, New York’s Staten Island Chuck, Quebec’s Fred la Marmotte and Nova Scotia’s Shubenacadie Sam!
Students used “POWER” and “TIDE” as part of their writing process and organization in addition to using their knowledge about the three parts of an essay in their work. (POWER and TIDE are simple acronyms used to help students remember how to organize and improve their writing)
Students created two drafts, did revisions and edits and then created a final hard copy. As an added learning experience, they were tasked with creating a slideshow to present to the class, which gave them experiences in creating presentations along with a chance to building on their growing public speaking skills. WELL-DONE to all!
•The POWER acronym stands for: P – Plan, O – Organize, W – Write, E – Edit and R – Revise.
•The TIDE acronym stands for T – Topic sentence, I – Important details and E – Ending sentence.
•The three parts of an essay are: the Introduction, the body and the conclusion.
Marjori Bobish’s ES transitional kindergarteners did, and they took some time to work through three different stations to complete three different types of puzzles!
There was more than puzzle fun involved, as you’d expect. Their work had a cognitive development component to it, as students had the opportunity to work on problem solving skills --- what strategies could they try until they found the pieces fit --- as well being attentive to remembering where the pieces fit.
There was the obvious fine motor skills work of using their fingers to pick up and place pieces as well visual-spatial skills of understanding how the puzzle shapes related to each other. Additionally, these little students had the chance to practice their growing patience and perseverance skills when they kept trying to see how the pieces would fit together.
Finished puzzles gave everyone a sense of accomplishment and created an opportunity to talk about their successes.
Artist Mary Blair was an American artist and designer, famous for her vibrant, modernist style that influenced Walt Disney's classic films like Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan, and iconic attractions like Disney’s “It’s a Small World” slow boat ride at all its parks worldwide. She is thought of as shaping Disney's post-war aesthetic with bold colors, whimsical characters and imaginative compositions.
