Intermediate School students, faculty and staff may have noticed that IS/ES School Security Aide Kevin Murphy had a very able assistant helping him make rounds in recent days! IS third-grader Kinsley Starkey won a recent IS PTO contest which allowed her to go on patrol with Mr. Murphy. She was presented with a special badge which allowed her to accompany Mr. Murphy and provide her valuable assistance, observations and counsel! That also included a stop by Superintendent Monahan’s office, where she shared some of her suggestions!
Ilana Kaufman’s ES first and second-grade art students have been studying Austrian artist Gustav Klimt’s “The Tree of Life.” They identified his unique use of the color gold and spiral lines. Inspired by his work, her student artists experimented with gold paint to create their own beautiful spiral line trees with repeated shape and line designs.
Gustav Klimt was an Austrian painter and a prominent figure in the Vienna Secession movement. He is known for his symbolic and decorative paintings that often include hidden meanings. His painting The Tree of Life is a masterpiece that exemplifies his artistic style and is considered a symbol of the complex nature of life.
Kara Welsh's Otisville third-grade art students are learning about "Surrealism," studying the work of surrealist artists Salvador Dali, Frida Kahlo, and Rene Magritte.
They were challenged to create a surrealist work, where the objects are drawn realistically, but what's happening is dream-like or irrational. Students were able to choose what art material best suited the completion of their work- paint sticks, colored pencil, marker, or oil pastel. Most used a combination of materials!
Surrealism is an artistic, literary, and philosophical movement that originated in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. Surrealism is a style in art and literature in which ideas, images, and objects are combined in a strange way, like in a dream.
The High School's Key Club focuses on upcoming volunteer opportunities and small events that help a big cause. Club members are always looking for ways to support or school and community. If there’s a project you think the Key Club may be able to assist with, please reach out to advisor Amy Colella at acolella@minisink.com
Take a look at the club’s recently created bulletin board, detailing what students feel makes the High School strong!
BREAKING FRIDAY NIGHT NEWS! It's a huge Homecoming win!
Minisink Valley beats Warwick in a 34-7 victory which assures the Section IX Class A semi-finals come to Minisink Valley! (Warwick will play Cornwall in the other semi-final match at Cornwall). This is a big deal!
This great night was also SENIOR NIGHT for the football players, cheerleaders and scorekeepers! (Photos are coming soon!)
At tonight's game, Charlie Olsen was crowned Homecoming King; and Sara Delmar was crowned Homecoming Queen! They were members of the Homecoming Court which also included Addision Cole, Patrick Cherry, Emma Kostic, Shawn Crowe, Audrey Guido, Michael Hughson!
Tiffany Guareno/Stephanie Ewanciw’s ES kindergarteners recently completed their Knowledge Unit on the five senses. Students created a book of things they like to see, hear, touch, smell and taste. Part of their learning experience was to take advantage of the beautiful weather to take a nature walk to find some leaves to observe using their five senses!
Leyla Johnson’s IS fourth-grade physical education students are learning the basics about controlling a soccer ball as they begin their soccer unit. Maybe here’s some future World Cup players in this group!
Support the Class of 2025 and add to your collection of outstanding Minisink Valley attire! The selections are great to wear for any occasion and for any event in any building!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
The Middle School’s annual Library Halloween Writing Contest was a success! Students were asked to write an “ode to the season” or create a Halloween themed character and write about it. All students, faculty and staff were invited to vote for their favorites in three categories. The winners are:
• Most Halloween Spirit: Molly Yourman, sixth-grade
• Best Artistic Design: Isabella Kaminski, eighth-grade
• Funniest: Sophia Tropiano, sixth-grade
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Briana Barrett’s and Nicole VanderDrift's IS fifth-graders are masters at completing the Candy Corn Tower STEM Challenge...on National Candy Corn Day! First, students had to brainstorm and sketch their candy corn tower design with their group. Then, they had 20 minutes to use 25 toothpicks and 25 candy corn pieces to build their design. The highest tower reached 7.75 inches tall! Well-done!
The High School’s Youth in Government Club hosted the recent and annual Platform Convention, with over 200 students from 12 Orange and Ulster County schools participating. Students prepared mock legislation for debate in committee.
Aside from hosting the convention and providing a stellar rendition of the National Anthem, the Minisink delegation won the convention by passing the most pieces of legislation in both committee and floor votes. Congratulations and well-done! The Youth-in-Government program has a long history in Orange County dating back to 1944 and has many current government officials and employees who are alumni.
It’s not over yet, Yankee fans! Think positive….and as part of that positivity, Otisville Elementary and Intermediate School presented students with their Aaron Judge ALL RISE Summer Reading Programs certificate received earlier in the week!
Congratulations and well-done to Otisville students Adam Weber and Aria Basso and IS students Callan D'Antono, Nico Santiago, Rehan Usman and Mariah Carrion Castenada! (Aaron Judge did personally sign their certificates, BTW!)
The Aaron Judge ALL RISE Foundation, founder of this group and the Yankees’ captain, is a nonprofit that aims to inspire children and youth to become responsible citizens. Its summer reading program is a literacy initiative that encourages children and youth to read. This past summer, Minisink Valley invited all students to participate in this summer reading initiative, organized by Physical Education Teacher Theresa Uhelsky.
Elizabeth Hagerty’s Otisville fifth-graders, like all district fifth-graders, have been spending quality time during ELA lessons working on reading and writing personal narratives.
For her class, this recent lesson was near the end of the unit where students are writing a personal narrative about a time they were “surprised.” Students used organizers to make sure their stories were in a logical sequence. They were tasked with adding sensory details as well as similes and metaphors to give their readers a clearer mental image and to make their writing more interesting. Some of their topics included being surprised with a new pet, having a birthday surprise, a surprise snow day, and a surprise trip!
Kindergarten work is always impressive! Take a peek at Carmela Sill’s ES kindergarteners, who are working in their fine motor letter centers and using their Amplify reading software on their Chromebooks! Her little students have been sharpening their ELA skills via Amplify and working on their fine motor skills through the use of manipulatives and dot markers.
Manipulative materials are objects that students interact with to help in the learning process. They can be used to make learning more fun and engaging, and can help children understand different concepts, often times in math.
REMINDER: Tomorrow, Oct. 31, Otisville Elementary and the Elementary School will hold their annual Halloween parades! You're invited to view the parades! It's one of our most memorable days of the year for our elementary students!
CALL FOR PHOTOS: Share a photo of your student's parade costume for a Halloween photo gallery!
REMINDER: A friendly reminder to previous emails sent to juniors and their families: Junior Parking is suspended tomorrow, Oct. 31 because of the expected large crowds visiting the Slate Hall campus for the Elementary School's Halloween Parade.
The Intermediate School’s annual GREAT PUMPKIN Decorating Contest, sponsored by the IS PTO, was a grand success and great time for all! All classes, under the guidance of IS Art Joan Giardina, designed and decorated a unique class pumpkin. All were on display and everyone voted on their favorite (Note: they could not vote on their own pumpkin). Take a look at these very creative pumpkins! The votes were tallied and the winners are:
•Fifth-grade: “Devil Bat,” created by Briana Barrett/Nicole Vanderdrift/ Kendra Soule’s class
•Fourth-grade: “King Bob,” created by Jessica Venettozzi’s class
•Third-grade: “Hot Chocolate,” created by Andrew Fenner’s class
Mrs. Giardina delivered the coveted GOLDEN PUMPKIN trophies to the first-place winners for each grade level, who will now proudly display them in their classes. THANK YOU to the IS PTO for providing these very awesome trophies!
Anthony Licata's ES physical education students are learning about verbal (talking) communication, nonverbal (silent) communication, and teamwork. They recently played a game a game called "Birds Nest," where communication and teamwork to swap nests with the other birds in the class.
For verbal communication, a student starts out in a nest (hula-hoop) and call out to another bird (classmate) and ask them to switch with them. For nonverbal, a student would try to get a bird’s attention without speaking, and using different hand signals and get them to switch with him/her without speaking or making noise. Students would then switch up the movements they would do to each nest by rolling a dice, and doing the movement based on whatever number the dice landed on (Example: If the dice lands on 1 the students would walk, 2 run, etc.)
For the final round, students would add "hawks" to the game. The hawks would not have a nest, and if a bird left the nest to switch with somebody, the hawks could occupy the empty nest, becoming a bird. The bird who lost its nest would then become a hawk! What a creative way of learning verbal/ nonverbal communication and teamwork skills to use in the game.
Eighth-grade Life Science students are studying characteristics of life and in this instance, had the chance to have close encounters with earthworms! Students used touching and water and vinegar to elicit different reactions from the earthworm before returning them to the teachers.
In a life science lab, when studying earthworms with water and vinegar, you can observe their response to stimuli, specifically their sensitivity to changes in moisture and acidity, as earthworms breathe through their skin and are highly sensitive to environmental conditions, causing them to move away from harsh substances like vinegar, which is acidic, and towards areas with more moisture like water.
Stephanie Guifre and Tom Uhrig’s Otisville physical education students are having a “pumpkin palooza” time in their Halloween-themed classes which combine literacy, seasonality and physical activity!
The teachers used Dan Yaccarino’s “Five Little Pumpkins” (which is read in kindergarten classes) as a springboard to physical fitness fun and games!
Students read the book’s poem and reviewed the book's hand gestures. Then, students threw balls to knock over the little pumpkins on the cones of the opposing team. (Each side has five pumpkins.) The lesson also offered students a chance to work on throwing/rolling skills while learning the beginning elements of offense and defense in addition to working together as a team!
