Instead of decorating pumpkins this year, Otisville Elementary involved the entire school in a scarecrow competition, with a grade-level scarecrows and scarecrows created by the school’s administrative offices created. Students were invited to vote (they could not vote on their own) on their top choice, all entries were presented anonymously. Take a look at the amazing creativity of all scarecrow designs! Winners, as selected by students:
1st Place:
“Beetlejuice,” concept created and scarecrow made by the Occupational/Physical Therapy Department.
2nd Place:
“Spider Witch,” concept created and scarecrow made by the Main Office.
3rd Place
“Unicorn,” concept created and scarecrow made by the School Psychologist’s Office.
Honorable Mentions
• Kindergarten for its “Bucket Filler Superhero Scarecrow”
• First-Grade for its “Book of Scary” words.
Pumpkins and Playdoh! Those are great “letter P” words!
Karen Ruoti’s ES kindergarteners used Playdoh to decorate the pumpkins they picked at the Elementary School’s Oct. 24 Fall Festival! These pumpkin faces are adorable! Plus: Her little students had a chance to work on their fine motor skills. Fine motor skills are crucial in a child's development because they enable small, precise movements with the hands and fingers, which are essential for everyday tasks like eating, dressing, writing, and manipulating objects, contributing to a child's independence and self-care abilities, as well as supporting academic learning and overall cognitive development.
Did you know that this past Saturday, Oct. 26 was National Pumpkin Day? Cynthia Muccari’s and Tasha Buchler’s Otisville second/third-graders did! They spent last Friday marking the day with a STEM-filled afternoon of amazing pumpkin activities!
Students were divided into small groups and went from classroom to classroom to take part in different math and science centers. In Mrs. Muccari's room, they practiced estimation and measuring by using cubes to measure the height and circumference of a pumpkin, as well as their counting skills by counting the seeds from inside of the pumpkin. Students also practiced making small groups of 2s and 5s to practice their skip counting. The pumpkin was 16 cubes tall and 37 cubes around with about 500 seeds inside (students practiced rounding too)!
In Ms. Buchler's room, students completed a STEM challenge of creating a tower using toothpicks and candy corn pumpkins and also saw what happens when they put candy corn in different liquids! The candy corn dissolved the fastest in warm water, with vinegar being next, and then dish soap being last. The dish soap liquid turned brown when it was fully dissolved!
They took a quick break to author Joe Troiano read his story “The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin,” which was part of a live virtual program via Scholastic's “Storyvoice.”
Finally, to conclude the afternoon, students went outside on a beautiful to see what happens when baking soda and vinegar mix together inside a pumpkin: It becomes a pumpkin volcano! Plus, adding in dish soap makes it foamier! What a wonderful STEM lesson tied to seasonality!
The Middle School Craft Club kicked off the school year with a canvas painting project called "Ghost in the Woods, a perfect choice for this spooky season!
At each session, students followed a painting tutorial while also adding their own creative touches to the paintings. Teachers Kaitlin Santos and Alison Miller are planning many creative craft projects for future meetings! To learn more, email to ksantos@minisink.com or amiller@minisink.com!
A baseball rivalry steeped in tradition begins tonight when the New York Yankees take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2024 World Series! The last time the teams met in World Series competition was in 1981, and the last time the Yankees won a World Series was in 2009…so fans are very ready for victory!
Given the World Series excitement in the district, Elementary School Principal Deborah Gallant felt it was the perfect day to present first-grader Everett Camia with his Aaron Judge ALL RISE Summer Reading Program certificate that she received earlier in the week. It was a surprise presentation to Everett, who was coincidentally wearing his Aaron Judge Yankees t-shirt to school, like others who were sporting Yankees attire today!
The Aaron Judge ALL RISE Foundation 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.
Our Board of Education is simply the BEST and we’re very grateful for their support of and commitment to the Minisink Valley School District. Please join us in thanking them for all they do on behalf of our students! To mark the recent School Board Recognition Week, members of the Middle School’s Minisink Motivates Club stopped by the Oct. 24 Board of Education meeting to share thank you posters, cards and specially made coffee cup sleeves. Students offered everyone a meeting snack of water, tea or coffee, as well as crumb cake and a vanilla or chocolate Bocconotti. Thank you to this awesome group of students who are always looking to spread kindness and good will throughout the district!
Tomorrow's the big day! The Intermediate School PTO’s Halloween-themed "Fun Run" at 12 noon. Be sure you're registered!
The “Monster Dash” is open to all district students. The course measures just over a mile and will flow along the fields below the Slate Hill campus’ tennis courts. Runners, who are invited to run in costume, will “dash” from station to station through the course collecting prizes in their supplied tote bags.
The registration fee is $15 per runner and includes a “Minisink Valley Monster Dash” reusable tote bag.
Following the run’s conclusion, a “Trunk or Treat” will be held in the tennis court parking lot.
To register, donate to a participating student or become a local business sponsor, visit: visit myfunrun.com/monsterdash.
The PTO will use all proceeds to fiancé school assemblies, fifth-grade “Class of 2032” t-shirts and “Minisink Valley spirit t-shirts” for third and fourth-grade students.
To learn more, email to: chair.is@minisinkvalleypto.com
The Elementary School's Oct. 24 Fall Fest was spectacular! Pumpkins! Tractor rides! Games! Cider and donuts! And, lots of fun with friends on a beautiful and brisk sunny fall day! Thank you to the ES PTO for all their work to make this a memorable day for our youngest students!
JOIN US!
It’s always wonderful when alumni return to the district to visit and share what’s going in their lives! That’s what happened yesterday, Oct. 23, when Coast Guard Seaman E3 Luke Greiner, a Class of 2024 alumnus, visited Jennifer DiSimone’s ES first-graders!
Luke is currently on serving 15 days of “Hometown Recruiting,” where he will be visiting local high schools (including Minisink Valley) to talk about the Coast Guard and what a Coast Guard career entails. After that, he will report back to his unit at Small Boat Station Wrightsville Beach, N.C. Luke is working toward specific qualifications before he goes to his A-School to study ME-Maritime Enforcement.
While visiting these little students, Luke talked about his work, answering a wide range of questions from students. Did you know that Luke has never saved a baby whale, or fallen overboard?
Luke brought John Fitzgerald’s “U. S. Coast Guard A B Seas” to class and challenged students to pick the Coast Guard word used in the book which aligns with an alphabet letter. Students did pretty good with their guesses!
After that, Luke wanted them to experience what every active-duty service member does in all service branches: MARCHING! Luke spoke to them about the importance of marching as a unit, because marching teaches the important lessons of. discipline, professionalism, teamwork, good posture, and pride. Thanks for visiting, Luke, and thank you for your service!
Fire safety cuteness!
Carmela Sill's ES kindergarteners made adorable dalmatian puppy projects as part of their important lessons on fire safety and awareness. National Fire Prevention Month is celebrated every October to raise awareness about the importance of fire safety. The month-long event promotes life-saving practices and home fire safety education.
Otisville Elementary's and the Elementary School's annual Halloween parades is just one week away! And 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!
Class of 2025 families: It's time to order your student's graduation cap and gown! We're resharing details already sent to you! Thank you for your attention to this important information!
It's Day 2 of Otisville Elementary's annual Fire Safety Program, made possible through the support of our local fire agencies. Our firefighter partners presented important life saving awareness assemblies to our Grades 4 and 5 students. Ask them about it!
Measurement skills are also an important life skill! Second-graders, like Joseph Ferara’s ES second-graders, recently went outdoors to apply the estimating and measuring skills they learned in the classroom. Students estimated and measured objects as big as the playground and as small of as a blade of grass. They had to decide if it was more appropriate to use a meter stick, a ruler or a tape measure to measure the outdoor objects. Then, they wrote their measurements and drew pictures of the objects the measured with their partners! What a great outdoor “lab!”
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Who knew owl pellets are important learning tools for students? You do, now!
Take a look at Kimberly Jordan’s Living Environment Freshman Biology students recently completed lab work focusing on owl pellets. In high school, owl pellet labs help students to learn about food webs (the complex feeding relationships between organisms in an ecosystem), nutrient cycles, (the processes that move nutrients through the environment, providing organisms with the elements they need to survive) and energetics (how living organisms capture, store, and utilize energy through various chemical reactions within their cells), as well as even how organisms play ecological roles in their environment. And, of course, students also build their scientific literacy through their work!
It was Fire Safety Day today, Oct. 22, for our Otisville K-3 students! Thank you to our firefighter partners for teaching our students and reminding them about important life-saving information. Ask your student about this!
First-graders, like Erin Chase’s ES first-graders, are learning about digestion as part of their science lessons! They now know that the body’s digestive system helps turn healthy foods into energy and a body’s digestive system includes the mouth, esophagus, stomach, and small and large intestines. Ask them about this!
Registration is open for the Intermediate School PTO’s Halloween-themed "Fun Run" which will take place Saturday, Oct. 26 beginning at 12 noon. PLEASE SHARE!
The “Monster Dash” is open to all district students. The course measures just over a mile and will flow along the fields below the Slate Hill campus’ tennis courts. Runners, who are invited to run in costume, will “dash” from station to station through the course collecting prizes in their supplied tote bags.
The registration fee is $15 per runner and includes a “Minisink Valley Monster Dash” reusable tote bag.
Following the run’s conclusion, a “Trunk or Treat” will be held in the tennis court parking lot.
To register, donate to a participating student or become a local business sponsor, visit: visit myfunrun.com/monsterdash.
The PTO will use all proceeds to fiancé school assemblies, fifth-grade “Class of 2032” t-shirts and “Minisink Valley spirit t-shirts” for third and fourth-grade students.
To learn more, email to: chair.is@minisinkvalleypto.com
