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"
Do you know what the “arrow way” strategy is in math? Second-graders, like Lisa Anglemyer’s Otisville second-graders do! Ask them!
In second-grade math, the "arrow way" strategy refers to a method of simplifying addition problems.
The strategy helps the students improve their knowledge of basic math facts, place value and their mental math skills by using arrows to show how a number changes when adding or subtracting chunks, essentially breaking down a larger problem into smaller, more manageable steps.
When using the "Arrow Way" method, students are taught to break down one of the addends in the problem by units. The students are then able to solve the problem by adding the like units, one unit at a time. This method also allows students to visually represent their thought process as they solve problems.
The Otisville Chorus Concert was a wonderful night of music! Take a peek! BRAVO to our students and Chorus Director Skyler Klein!
What’s a great thing to do to get ready for lunch? DANCE! That’s what Jessica Kahn and Julia Ferguson’s Otisville kindergarteners often do before lining up for their lunch break. Don’t they look adorable?
JOIN US tonight, Dec. 4 for the Otisville Elementary Chorus Concert at 7 p.m.!
Bryon Imbarrato’s Otisville third-graders concluded their recent ELA unit on the human body with a guest speaker who talked to them more about the wonders of the human body!
Gina Torres, a Northwell Health administrator and class parent, gave a fantastic presentation to students, who were happy to know what they’re talking about in class has real-life applications. After students completed a review of their content knowledge, they went on an in-class scavenger hunt where they read fun facts about the human body systems and responded to questions. THANK YOU, Mrs. Torres, for visiting!
Otisville PTO Book Swap...leave a book and take a book!. All students went home today with a book! Swapping books is a great way to expand knowledge!
How fun! Otisville's K-2 Quarter 1 STAR students recently attended a special "Breakfast with the Principal" to celebrate their important recognition! Plus: Their breakfast gathering included "selfies" with Principal Julia Downey!
Otisville Elementary physical education teacher Stephanie Giufre’s Grades 2-5 students are seeing how feeling grateful can be part of physical education class!
First, she and students talked about what gratitude is and things they are grateful for. Then, she tasked them with creating a “Gratitude Wreath!” The object was for teams to work together to create a unique gratitude wreath.
On the start signal, one student from each team rolled the 🎲die.🎲 The entire team performed the activity determined by the number rolled/exercise identified on the activity card.
The team’s movement “earned” them one item to add to their gratitude wreath. One student from the team went to the center of the activity area and brought one item (bean bag, scarf, deck ring, yarn ball, etc.) back to add to the team’s wreath and says something he/she is grateful for. Every student had a chance roll the die and choose (and place) the item added to the wreath.
Students continued this process until wreaths are complete or until they heard the stop signal. What a creative class tied to this season of being grateful!
November is National Men’s Health Awareness Month! Join us and wear purple attire to help bring awareness to unique health issues of men!
Please join the efforts of the district's Buildings & Grounds team to bring awareness to important men's physical and mental health issues!
November is also "No-Shave November" and "Movember," movements created to encourage conversations about cancer awareness among men.
Call for photos: Share your student's purple attire for a forthcoming photo gallery by emailing to communications@minisink.com by 3 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 22!
GET WINGS and support the Class of 2025!
Buffalo Wild Wings in Middletown will donate 10% of your purchase on Saturday, Nov. 23 to support Class of 2025 initiatives. Make sure you bring this ticket!
Join us!
As part of last Friday’s Otisville K-2 Quarter 1 Awards Ceremony, K-2 students were treated to a special performance of the Aseop’s fable, “The Tortoise and the Hare.” Guest performers third-grade teacher Bryon Imbarrato narrated the fable, with musical accompaniment by Music teachers Maria Fenfert on the French horn and Sklyer Klein on piano. What a creative way to impart a lesson!
In the fable "The Tortoise and the Hare," a boastful hare challenges a slow-moving tortoise to a race, confident in his superior speed. However, the hare becomes complacent, stops to take a nap during the race, and ends up losing to the tortoise who steadily continued moving without stopping, illustrating the moral that "slow and steady wins the race."
Aesop was a Greek fabulist and former slave credited with inventing the genre we now call fables. He caught the attention of many ancient Greek poets, playwrights and historians with his stories.
Aesop's fables are intended to be told to children. The fables’ characters are generally animals with human characteristics, and the stories provide an entertaining way to impart life lessons to young people.
The Otisville fourth-grade teaching team of Jenna Colman/Victoria Frascone, Erica Alders/Alexa Roach, Susie Balfour and Adriana Eichwald celebrated the end of ELA Unit 2, “Empires in the Middle Ages,” with a themed medieval celebration for their students!
During this unit, students learned about castles, knights and other topics. After taking a virtual tour of a medieval castle’s Great Hall, students learned about the long tables that the nobles would gather at for meals.
Sitting at these long tables under "candlelit chandeliers," students created beautiful stained-glass windows. During the unit, students learned about "rose windows," a type of stained-glass window that looks like a flower. Students used tissue paper and laminating pockets to make their own stained-glass creations that look beautiful when the sun shines through, just like a real stained-glass window.
Students also sat by the Great Hall’s roaring "fire" and created family crests, similar to what would represent a noble family during this time. What a fun and creative way to reinforce Middle Age lessons!
Studying the Middle Ages in fourth-grade is important because it provides a foundation for understanding Western civilization and introduces key concepts like feudalism, the role of the Church, and the development of early European societies and more, which significantly shaped the world we live in today. It also allows students to explore fascinating stories and imagery from this period!
