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
Take a peek at the creative costuming that hit the dance floor at this past Friday's Middle School Dance! It was a fun night for everyone! THANK YOU to everyone who played a role in its success!
See more photos on the district's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MinisinkValleyCSD
--- Alleah Lee, president
--- Olivia Gonzalez, vice president
--- Raegan DePoalo, secretary
--- KatieMae Howell, treasurer
They were among the 35 students were sworn into the middle school student government on Oct. 10.
Being a part of a middle school s' student government gives students an opportunity to develop leadership skills, provides practical experience in decision-making and problem-solving, and enhances communication and teamwork abilities. It also gives students a voice in school matters, fosters a sense of community and ownership, and teaches the fundamentals of democracy and civic responsibility.
The Middle School Drama Club's production "Between the Lines Jr." will take place Friday, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 22 at 1 p.m.! More details and ticketing information will follow soon!
The district has equipped its entire bus fleet with cameras to catch vehicles that illegally pass a stopped school bus. If you see a bus’ red lights flashing and stop-arm extended, STOP! Otherwise, you and the vehicle you’re driving will be photographed and you WILL GET A $250 FINE.
Don't say we didn't tell you: Please pay attention and drive safe!
READ MORE: https://www.minisink.com/article/2365311
For the last few weeks, the Spanish 1 Jacqueline Mazariegos’ Spanish 1 students have been reviewing seventh-grade vocabulary. To put that review into practice Alycia DeVito's and Sra. Mazariegos' classes recently participated in an activity to review basic physical descriptions and informal speaking using ¿Adivina Quién? (Guess Who?) game.
Students used different pictures and boards to practice their Spanish vocabulary. It was also an informal way to introduce speaking with classmates. Speaking is one of the areas that gets evaluated at the end of year proficiency exam. Bien hecho, todos!
The ¿Adivina Quién? game is the Spanish version of the classic board game "Guess Who?", where players ask yes-or-no questions to identify a hidden opponent's character based on their physical features and accessories. Designed to help students practice Spanish vocabulary for physical characteristics, the game can also be adapted to include other themes like shapes, colors, or personality traits for language learning.
The clarinet was invented around 1700 in Germany by Johann Christoph Denner. It’s a woodwind instrument that produces sound using a single reed, and it comes in many sizes and types.
BE BOLD! BE COLD!
FREEZE FOR A GREAT CAUSE!
Minisink Valley is again creating a team for the 2025 Orange County Polar Plunge to support Special Olympics New York! The plunge will be held Saturday, Nov. 8 at the Rez in Highland Mills!
JOIN OUR TEAM and help us retain our title as the “Cool School Challenge” winner! Last year, Minisink Valley won the 2024 Cool School Challenge (retaining this title earned in 2023) and raised $4,022! We are looking to exceed this amount this year!
The “Cool School Challenge” is a friendly competition between local schools as part of the 2025 Orange County Polar Plunge. Not only are our school clubs and teams as well as families and students invited to join us our team, we’re looking for community members to be a part of it, too! It was great to see the large number of people participating last year and we’re hopeful to see this number grow this year!
Director of PPS Jeff Finton is overseeing Minisink Valley’s efforts to create a team. JOIN US and BE COLD: Email Jeff Finton at: jfinton@minisink.com.
Thank you for whatever you’re able to do to support this initiative!
The lab tasked them with following a long list of instructions requiring them to place the measured liquid into the proper test tube. When the measurements leading to chemical reactions to create color changes are done correctly, the result was that students created rainbows via their test tubes of color!
What a colorful chemistry lab! Their complete rainbows in test tube racks provided immediate feedback on their accuracy while teaching the importance of following a multi-step procedure carefully and handling lab equipment properly
Girls Soccer Modified Coach Dave LeBlanc reports the team went toe-to-toe with Goshen and fought to a hard-earned 0-0 tie after a full game of nonstop effort yesterday, Sept. 30.
“Both teams left it all on the field — and what’s better after a match like that than coming together for a big group photo?” he said. “I’m proud of how our players competed and the heart they showed today. The season is just getting started, and the potential on this field is huge.”
He’s also proud to announce this season’s team captains: Evie Mead, Jeanell Martinez, Salma Mechkour and Rossella Ricca!
How better to learn about density than with KitKat candy bars?
Kristine Ostensen's middle school science class students used these chocolate bars in a recent density lab tasking them to measure and compare density!
Density is the ratio of an object's mass to its volume. Students used triple beam balances and graduated cylinders to help them find the mass and volume to be able to calculate density.
Many students were surprised to see that the KitKat bar floated when dropped into a graduated cylinder of water. This correlates to its density. KitKat bars have a density of 0.9g/mL which is less than water's density (1.0g/mL) allowing it to float.
What a fun, cumulative lab allowing students to showcase what they’ve learned/reviewed so far this year which ended with everyone enjoying a sweet treat!
•A triple beam balance is used to accurately measure the mass of an object by balancing it against known weights on three beams. It's a common tool in science classrooms and laboratories to teach about mass, and to measure chemicals, reagents, and other specimens in disciplines like chemistry and biology.
•KitKat bars are ideal for density labs because their unique wafer and chocolate combination allows for accurate measurement of mass and volume, making them suitable for calculating density. Unlike other candy bars, KitKats' consistent structure makes it easier for students to measure these properties and apply the density formula (mass divided by volume) to understand how a candy bar's internal structure affects its density.
•KitKats originated as a four-finger bar called "Chocolate Crisp" in the United Kingdom in 1935, named "KitKat" in 1937, and became a wartime staple in World War II.
•The name "KitKat" does not officially stand for anything. It originated from the name of an 18th-century London literary and political club called the Kit-Cat Club, which was named after an innkeeper named Christopher Catling, or "Kit Cat."
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.
WHAT A GREAT IDEA!
Victoria Ingrassia's eighth-grade FACS students have been running a "Fill Your Mug Fridays" coffee/tea cart! On Friday mornings, selected students in her class don specially designed aprons and take turns traveling the building offering complimentary coffee/tea for faculty and staff as a way of thanking them for all they do.
As a scrumptious bonus, their cart includes a delicious treat they made during class this past week. Today's offering was a delectable, homemade coffee cake for anyone who wanted a companion treat to their coffee/tea (And, just about everyone did!) Take a peek at their travels this morning!
This experience gives them an opportunity to further refine skills such as customer service, inventory management and food preparation as well as teamwork, communication, responsibility, confidence, and self-esteem through their interactions with faculty and staff.
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.
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.
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.
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.
• “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.
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.
