With this recent snowfall, it's a good time for Physical Education teacher Stephanie Giufre to make sure her students are ready for the time-honored tradition of snowball fights!
Students are provided with snowballs (ok...yarn balls) and are practicing throwing, looking to “hit” their classmates. If they’re “hit with a snowball,” they have to go over to the snow pile (mats) and perform a given exercise, such as jumping jacks, push-ups, sit-ups and more …the exercise changes every few minutes!
More importantly, students are working on throwing, chasing, fleeing, dodging and cardiovascular endurance while having fun! It's an extremely creative way to refine these useful and important skills!
Chasing, fleeing and dodging skills are movement concepts that young students should learn in order to better problem-solve how their bodies should move during certain activities and situations. Movement concepts provide critical foundations for learning how to move in novel situations, such as playing a new sport.
Throwing and catching also helps students to: develop fine motor skills by controlling the small muscles in the hand and fingers needed for specific movement; understand practice helps them progress with their throwing and catching skills; further develop gross motor skills through the use of various parts of the body at the same time; and further develop sensory skills by observing the ball flying through the air.
Otisville Music Teacher Maria Fenfert is combining the study of the blues music genre with boomwhacker fun for her fifth-grade students!
“The Blues” is a musical genre that originated in the American Deep South in the 1860s following the end American Civil War, though that's not fully clear. The rhythmic, call-and-response style of music arose from African-Americans and black communities in the Deep South with music and lyrics describing one's hardships, and heartbreaks.
Students used boomwhackers, which are percussion instruments, to play the songs “St. Louis Blues” and “Boomwhacker Blues.” These lightweight, color-coded plastic tubes are tuned to different musical pitches. Students were given a different colored pitch, and must wait their turn to play their note when it appears on the screen to create the songs’ ensemble sounds!
Boomwhackers are a popular instrument in elementary music classrooms because they’re a fun and engaging way to teach music concepts such as rhythm and pitch, harmony and melody as well as timing, focus and concentration, teamwork, collaboration and hand-eye coordination.
Craig Ramsell invented the instrument in 1994 while cutting down a cardboard gift-wrap tube for recycling. He noticed the different tones produced by the two pieces of the tube and realized he could tune them to play music. Ramsell experimented with different plastics, eventually settling on plastic mailing tubes. He and his wife created the first plastic model in 1995.
District fourth-graders, like Jenna Colman’s and Victoria Frascone’s Otisville fourth-graders, are learning about French explorer Samuel de Champlain and Native Americans as well as de Champlain’s impact in New York State and North America during their Social Studies/history lessons.
Learning about this explorer is important to New York State because de Champlain mapped and explored the area that is now New York in addition to Vermont, and the Great Lakes. He’s also known as the "Father of New France." He relied on Native Americans, who had great familiarity with the area’s land and rivers, to assist in his exploration of the area, knowing that maintaining a strong and healthy relationship helped create a profitable fur trade. In turn, this stable and profitable fur trade allowed for permanent French settlements to be created.
Samuel de Champlain played a pivotal role in establishing French presence in North America, particularly in the region now known as Canada, by founding Quebec City. His detailed maps and accounts of the land and indigenous peoples also provide valuable historical insight into early exploration of the area.
Germination! It’s a big word!
But district second-graders, like Kelly Bernice’s second-graders, understand this big word and are learning about this process during their studies about plants and flowers.
In second-grade, learning about germination provides a foundational understanding of how plants grow, introducing key concepts about the life cycle of plants, the role of seeds, and the necessary conditions for growth (like water, light, and air). These are essential concepts for young students to grasp as they learn about the natural world around them in addition to fostering curiosity and elementary scientific thinking skills.
Brrr…baby, it’s COLD outside! And that means it’s indoor recess in our elementary buildings!
Take a peek at these Otisville kindergarteners, who are spending some time during their indoor recess period working their way around the school’s sensory path in the main lobby! Too cute! These little students are engaged in different kinds of physical movement activities as they saunter around the pathway. Before returning to their classrooms to play with toys before lessons resume, they conclude with a fun freeze dance!
A "sensory path"is a designated area or pathway designed to provide children with physical movement activities that stimulate different senses like sight, touch, and balance. It's often used as a "brain break" to help kids regulate their energy and focus by engaging their bodies through various movements like hopping, crawling, or balancing along a marked route. It can be set up indoors or outdoors using visual cues like colored tape, textures, or different floor surfaces.
See more photos on the district's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MinisinkValleyCSD
Kara Walsh's Otisville K-5 art students haven been creating some very innovative found-object mandalas as one of their art stations in recent weeks. They have been working together to arrange the objects considering radial symmetry. Take a peek at their creativity, and see more photos on the district's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MinisinkValleyCSD
Radial symmetry in art refers to a design where elements are arranged evenly around a central point, creating a balanced composition that radiates outward like spokes on a wheel; essentially, it means the artwork is symmetrical if you rotate it around a central axis, with repeating patterns on all sides
Radial symmetry in art refers to a design where elements are arranged evenly around a central point, creating a balanced composition that radiates outward like spokes on a wheel; essentially, it means the artwork is symmetrical if you rotate it around a central axis, with repeating patterns on all sides.
Before the break, the Middle School’s Minisink Motivates Club traveled to Otisville Elementary for their annual reading of the "Weird" series by Erin Frankel to second-grade classrooms. Middle schoolers read a story from the series and then completed an activity with students.
For the third consecutive year, middle school students and elementary school students had a great time interacting with one another and completing the activity. This is wonderful example of inter-school cooperation and relationships!
Before the break Cynthia Muccari’s Otisville second and third-grade students made gingerbread houses out of milk cartons, graham crackers, frosting and candy! There were many creative and tasty creations! They also made beautiful gingerbread ornaments and listened to the story “The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School!” What a fun, seasonal activities! Take a look!
STAR MATH BAKERS!
Before the break, Lillian Preziosi’s Otisville fifth-graders completed their math unit on addition and subtraction with unlike denominators.
Students took part in a fun project which focused on the topics they’ve mastered!
To complete the assigned tasks, students pretended they were bakers on a competition show. They had to complete their baking competition by adding and subtracting fractions (planning and timing their morning, prepping in the kitchen, shopping for items, baking, etc.).
After they finished their “baking” project, they made and ate "Sprinkle Chow"!
"Otis," Otisville Elementary's magical elf, has had a great time watching students and their wonderful, kind behavior this holiday season! Today, he and his reindeer friend greeted students in the cafetorium!
ALL ABOARD, TICKETS PLEASE!
Sherri Jennings’ Otisville kindergarteners “took” a train ride to the North Pole today, Dec. 19, on THE POLAR EXPRESS! They needed their punched ticket in order to board the train and enjoyed hot cocoa on their ride! Wearing PJs made the ride even more comfy!
Thank you to the Otisville PTO, which sponsored a two-day “Earth Dome” enrichment program yesterday and today, Dec. 19!
The Earth Dome is a gigantic inflatable earth balloon standing 19-feet high and 22-feet in diameter. It's made of 24 huge panels silkscreened with photographs shot from satellites of the surface of the world on cloud free days. It has been used extensively across the U.S. to educate students about geography as well as environmental issues.
The topics presented were appropriate for each grade level ---- ask your student about this!
Among other topics, students saw and better understood the scale of concepts such as continents, time zones, latitude, longitude, and more! Major cities, in comparison to the total Earth, were also recognized! What a great Geography and Earth Science program!
Kara Welsh's Otisville fifth-grade art students have been creating gorgeous, vibrant watercolor mandalas inspired by the sand mandalas of the Tibetan Monks and the Aztec calendar.
A mandala, the Sanskrit word for “circle,” is a circular, geometrical design with repetitions of patterns, symbolizing the cyclical nature of life and the idea that everything is connected. All lines and shapes are organized around a singular, central focal point, which can be understood as a map of the pathway between the external and the internal.
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!
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!
CAN YOU HELP?
The High School cheerleaders' SOCK, HAT and GLOVE DRIVE runs through Dec. 20. Please see the details and thanks for sharing!
Skyler Klein’s Otisville fourth-grade music students learning how to apply literacy skills to instruments using George Bizet’s "The Carillon Ostinato."
They used different instruments to discover how timbre changes can impact performance. Soon, students will be arranging "The Carillon Ostinato" to create their own version!
Applying literacy skills to instruments, also known as "musical literacy," is important because it allows musicians to understand and interpret musical notation, enabling them to play a piece of music independently, communicate effectively with other musicians and develop a deeper understanding of the music they are performing, essentially giving them the ability to "read" music just like reading written language!
Percussion lessons! Take a peek at the focused work of Otisville Music Teacher Maria Fenfert’s percussion students. Lessons in school support practice at home and combined, make for a great musician!
A percussion instrument that produces sound when struck, shaken, or blown. Examples include drums, tambourines, and maracas. The word "percussion" comes from the Latin verb “percussio,” which means "to beat" or "strike"
The Otisville Chorus Concert was a wonderful night of music! Take a peek! BRAVO to our students and Chorus Director Skyler Klein!
