Library class offers so many different learning opportunities! For example, Aimee Hardy’s IS third-graders recently completed another unit on internet safety. This includes conversations about the importance of being kind online, in addition to cyberbullying issues and what kinds of information they should keep private.
During this recent class, students learned about passwords and how to make unique ones that would be almost impossible for someone to figure out and use to access their data. Students were tasked with coming up with a phrase (as a password) that means something to them, such as “SAVE THE MANATEES.” Then, they were shown how to substitute letters with numbers and symbols to make their password becomes even more secure. So “SAVETHEMANATEES" becomes "5@w37n3W&u@t335."
Now they have a really great password that is hard to crack, and one that they can remember. Ask them about this!
Reminder: The 2025-26 student calendar has been available for everyone's use!
Last Friday's Hawaiian-themed IS Fifth-Grade Dance was a great evening which celebrated the fifth-grade class! Take a peek; and thank you to the IS PTO for organizing and running this event which will give these students such a wonderful memory!
See more photos on the district's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MinisinkValleyCSD
ADORABLE, EMPATHIC LEARNING
Sarah Casillo’s IS fifth-graders’ classroom has been home to nine honored guests, with the recent hatching of nine chicks! The initial 12 eggs were graciously donated to her class by Minisink Valley parent Erin Ferraro –thank you, Mrs. Ferraro!
Students watched a video about the egg incubation process and completed interactive quizzes so they understood what would be happening. For the prior three weeks, students were a variation of expectant relatives, happily looking forward to the chicks’ arrival! While some chicks hatched when school wasn’t in session, a few did while students were in class. Ms. Casillo said that was a magical experience for her students to observe!
“I've never seen the kids light up so much,” she said. “You can see on their faces how much love they have for these chicks. Based on this experience, I think all classrooms should have interactions with animals like this. It teaches social-emotional learning in a way the kids would never grasp without this experience. Having a living creature in your hand and knowing it's only a day old really touches the kids. They really stepped up and took such responsibility for making sure these chicks were healthy and happy.”
The chicks were named Midnight, Freckle, Kakalaka, Sunny, Oreo, Chirp, Mr. Clean, Mr. Sirico, and Chick “Chicksillo” Casillo.
Students, she added, had a first-hand experience in learning about empathy, how to care for someone else and even how to be gentle and stay calm.
“Some students were even afraid of them at first and by the end of the week, grew to adore them. It was a more emotional experience than academic,” said Ms. Castillo.
See more photos on the district's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MinisinkValleyCSD
Briana Barrett and Nicole VanderDrift's IS fifth-graders have been learning about volume during their math lessons, as are all district fifth-graders.
This recent lesson focused on recognizing that volume can be measured by using unit cubes. They worked on measuring volumes by counting unit cubes that represent cubic centimeters, cubic inches and cubic feet. At the end of this lesson, students were able to compose and decompose right rectangular prisms to find their volume by using layers.
•In fifth-grade math, understanding that volume can be measured by using unit cubes is helpful because it provides a concrete, visual foundation for understanding the concept of volume as a measure of three-dimensional space, which then allows students to grasp more complex volume formulas later on.
•Composing and decomposing right rectangular prisms into layers to find their volume provides a visual and intuitive understanding of the concept of volume, allowing students to see how the area of the base, multiplied by the height (number of layers), equals the total volume.
BOWLING --- we’ve all played it! It’s an enjoyable game where players roll a somewhat heavy ball down a lane to try and knock down a group of 10 pins, aiming for a high score by accumulating points for each pin knocked down! Ross Potter’s and Anthony Licata’s IS physical education students are having a fun time developing their bowling skills during class (using not-so-heavy balls)!
•Bowling's history stretches back to ancient Egypt, with evidence of early forms of the game dating back to around 3,200 BC.
•Bowling has been banned or restricted in the past, such as in England during the reign of King Edward III who feared it distracted soldiers from archery practice, and in colonial America due to its association with gambling.
•While up to 17 pins have been used historically, the standard number of pins in modern bowling is 10.
•The heaviest bowling ball allowed is 23 pounds.
•Bowling can be a fun and accessible way to get exercise, with each hour of bowling burning anywhere from 150 to 300 calories.
Karen Nicholson’s and Tara Guyette’s IS fifth-graders, like all district fifth-graders, have been reading "The Adventures of Don Quixote" in their ELA classes!
"The Adventures of Don Quixote" is often read in fifth-grade as part of a core knowledge curriculum to introduce students to a classic literary work, explore themes of fantasy and reality, and develop reading, writing, and critical thinking skills.
We’ve all probably read this book in our younger days! It’s the story about a man who loved to read about “the knighthood.” People actually thought he went crazy from reading so many books! He went on many crazy adventures with his friend, Sancho. At one point while they were approaching some windmills, Don Quixote actually thought they were giants and tried to fight them. All the while, Sancho was trying to tell him they were just windmills.
During their ELA unit work, Mrs. Nicholson and Mrs. Guyette set up a 'throne' in their classroom. A student who was 'knighted' was given the honor of sitting there with two members of their” court.”
Students also wrote an epitaph for Don Quixote at the end of the novel, written in the epitaph was written in a “Mad Lib” style. Mad Libs-style writing involves creating a story with blanks that are filled in with words of a specific part of speech (like nouns, verbs, adjectives) by someone else, which can also result in a humorous and unexpected narrative.
PLUS: Snack items always make learning fun! At the unit’s conclusion, the teachers gave their students “windmill” cookies and they decorated them as “giants!” (The cookies were happily devoured!)
How do art and music and art manipulate emotions?
IS Music Teacher Deanna Feuerbach and IS Art Teacher Joan Giardina recently explored connections in music and art with their fifth-grade students in companion “specials” lessons! What a great, creative idea!
In music class, Ms. Feuerbach asked students to name three emotions that music can make one feel, or three things it can make on thing of. Then, she asked them to name three things in music that can have an effect on the feeling of the music.
Later, she spoke about the concept of synesthesia, which in music means experiencing music with other senses, like seeing colors when they hear notes or feeling a physical sensation from the music, rather than just hearing it. Some musicians and composers have a form of synesthesia that allows them to "see" music as colors or shapes. This is called chromesthesia. Mozart and Kandinsky are said to have had this form of synesthesia.
Students then took a look at Wassily Kandinsky's 1925 painting "Yellow Red Blue" that was painted in 1925. Kandinsky heard music when he painted with different colors and shapes, and he also felt different emotions for each color and shape he painted. In this activity, the students were able to interact with "Yellow Red Blue" on the promethean board, listening to Kandinsky's painting as he may have heard it. The different shapes and colors represent different instruments and emotions. The students were asked to describe the sounds and emotions they heard when playing with "Yellow Red Blue"
Meanwhile, in art class, Mrs. Giardina tasked her students to select four different types of “lines” and draw four color circles. For each she asked them to describe the kind of emotions they represented. She, too, spoke about synesthesia in art, which means experiencing one sense through another, like seeing colors when you hear music or smelling a color. It's a fun way to explore how brains connect different senses and can inspire unique artistic expressions.
Then they spoke about the applying their line designs to music. What emotions or feelings does it evoke? What comes to mind when thinking about the music. If they were to represent the feel of the music visually, what types of lines or colors would they use?
Then, they were tasked with sketching their ideas using thin, thick, straight, curved, solid and/or interrupted lines. Their work is amazing, and like in music class…. there’s no wrong thoughts or answers! Everyone sees and feels things differently!
March is Women’s History Month, and IS Librarian Amiee Hardy was thrilled to find out that the IS Library won a Women’s History book bundle! These new books are welcome editions to the library’s collection! Remind your IS student these are great books to check out and read!
Women's History Month is a celebration of women's contributions to history, culture and society and has been observed annually in the month of March in the United States since 1987. The 2025 theme is “Moving Forward Together! Women Educating & Inspiring Generations.”
Today, March 14, is the All District Choral Festival, which was held at the High School! Fifth-grade, eighth-grade and high school choral students gathered to make music and share their choral experiences. Part of the day included rehearsing for their performance of "Connected," which will be performed on Tuesday, March 18 as part of the Music in our Schools Concert at the High School! Be sure to be there to see the results of their hard work! This large ensemble sounds magnificent! Thank you to everyone who played a role in today's event!
REMINDER: HAVE YOU SIGNED UP?
OPEN TO ALL AGES....DON'T MISS OUT, there's limited seating and a similar program held last fall SOLD OUT!
The High School Art Club is hosting a Spring fundraiser called “Printing” on Tuesday, March 25 at 4:30 p.m. in Room 217 at the high school.
In this workshop, participants will learn the art of printmaking on fabric. They will create stamps and use ink as a medium to make beautiful, handmade, wearable pr hangable art.
Participants will be guided by a talented Minisink Valley Art Club student to create one-of-a-kind artwork.
Reservations are required by scanning the QR code on the flyer below. Refreshments and snacks are included in the admission price:
Adults: $12
Children/students: $10
Siblings discount: $5 per additional sibling
Cash only, payable at the door.
All proceeds will go toward art scholarships, museum field trips for art students, additional supplies for our art club studio, and other events.
The Intermediate third-grade Junior Great Books group recently read a nonfiction piece about birds and how they take care of their young!
As part of this, they also learned about egg drop contests and what components they’d need to have in their containers in order to keep their eggs safe. It gave them a chance to learn more about engineering design processes, while exploring concepts like gravity and force while developing problem-solving skills by designing and building protective structures for eggs with recycled items.
But! It’s no fun unless those eggs are actually dropped so students could see if any eggs survived the fall…which meant their containers had the safest designs. (P.S.: Two eggs survived the drop.)
QUACK-QUACK!
Thanks to the kindness of parent Erin Ferraro, Kim Marasco’s IS fourth-graders had the opportunity to observe the incubation process of six Khaki Campbell ducklings!
The six ducklings were born between Feb. 23 and 24 and have been given a tremendous amount of tender loving care from their surrogates!
As part of this, students learned about the duckling development process and candling (a method used in embryology to study the growth and development of an embryo inside an egg. The method uses a bright light source behind the egg to show details through the shell, and is so called because the original sources of light used were candles.) and about the breed itself in addition to over duckling care and feeding.
As a bonus, students were able to hold these darling ducklings while doing classwork! The tiny ducklings also had visitors from Tiffany Guareno’s ES kindergarteners. (What a sweet inter-school connection!) Take a peek!
MORE BOOK FAIR FUN! Take a peek at the Intermediate School's Scholastic Book Fair! Thank you to the IS PTO for organizing and overseeing the day. '
Remember, regular reading further develops critical thinking skills, expands vocabulary, improves comprehension, strengthens analytical abilities, and lays the foundation for success in all academic subjects by allowing students to access and process information effectively across different disciplines.
Joan Giardina’s IS third-grade art students are studying and applying the surreal elongation and simplified painting style of Italian painter (and sculptor) Amedeo Modigliani in their self-portrait assignment!
Modigliani’s elongation of faces, necks and figures in his works were not received well during his lifetime, but later became much sought-after his passing. Take a look; her students have really captured his style in their own self-portraiture!
Did you know that authors use structural elements to organize information and ideas and to highlight important parts of the text? That’s why it’s important for readers and writers learn to identify and use a variety of text features, or the elements that can make their writing clearer, add visual appeal, and make their writing more accessible.
IS librarian Aimee Hardy has tied in seasonality to her fourth-grade library students’ lessons. After reading a short piece about Valentine’s Day, they’ve also learned about non-fiction features. In this instance, they’ve been learning about the functions of titles, sidebars, maps, pictures and captions.
The Intermediate School’s Kindness Ambassadors were recently “on the road” to visit the Elementary School’s students! Every year to wrap up Kindness Week, these ambassadors visit the younger students to present a lesson on kindness followed by an activity.
During their recent visit, the ambassadors presented a recorded read aloud of Trudy Ludwig’s “The Power of One.” Her book tells the story that when one child reaches out in friendship to a classmate who seems lonely, she begins a chain reaction of kindness that ripples throughout her school and her community. One kind act begets another, small good deeds make way for bigger ones, and eventually the whole neighborhood comes together to build something much greater than the sum of its parts.
Their recording was made possible through the kindness of Kat Hoolan’s High School “Media Production” students, who took the ambassadors’ recording and created a more polished video of the book for them to use. THANK YOU to everyone who played a role in this visit’s success!
The IS kindness ambassadors are a before-school enrichment program for students who want to spread kindness. Ambassadors are involved in many things throughout the school year, including preparing hygiene kits around the holidays for needy families, creating artwork for the building and serving as liaisons to their classrooms to pass along information regarding the current “Valentines for Veterans” drive as well as sharing information about different holidays.
Harlem Wizard John “Big J” Smith visited the Intermediate and Elementary schools and Otisville Elementary today, Feb. 11 to remind students about the upcoming March 12 Harlem Wizards vs. Minisink Valley Faculty/Staff Basketball game!
“Big J,” who stands 6 feet, 8 inches tall, delighted students with his antics and awesome basketball skills as he reminded students the game is a big fundraiser! He’s been a member of the Harlem Wizards since 2011 and in last six years, has played basketball in 25 countries!
Tickets will be on sale soon for the March 12 game! Basketball aficionados will be treated to great skills, teamwork, slick dribbling, alley-oops and crazy slams. The non-hoop fans attending will find out that this is much more than just a basketball game. The night is funny, theatrical, exciting and spectacular and the gym will reverberate with oohs & aahs, laughter, enthusiasm, and much more!
The Harlem Wizards have been dazzling audiences since 1962 and have played many games with members of our faculty and staff over recent years! Watch for tickets and be sure to come out and support the faculty/staff team!
See more photos on the district's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MinisinkValleyCSD
FROSTY PHYSICAL EDUCATION FUN!
ES/IS Physical Education teachers Leyla Johnson and Ross Potter took their students outdoors for snow tubing for their physical education classes today! Students, who dressed for the weather, had fun rides down the hill....and then they needed to get that tube back up for the next rider's run! It was a great workout! The plan is to offer snow tubing opportunities for as many classes as possible, weather conditions permitting!
•Snow tubing originated in the 1820s in Northern America, when people used inflated tire tubes to get around on snow.
•Snow tubing allows for faster speeds than sledding because of the low friction between the snow and the rubber tube.
It’s time for volleyball for Anthony Licata’s IS fourth-grade students! They’re not ready to play with a net just yet, as they need to learn the fundamentals of the game first. Take a peek at his students learning how to “bump” the volleyball! They’re picking up this new sport really quickly, too!
The ”bump” is a basic volleyball pass that uses the forearms to move the ball to a teammate or over the net. It's also known as a forearm pass or dig.
