On the first day of the new school year at Willow Road Elementary School children were all smiles as they got reacquainted with classmates, met their teachers and settled into their new classroom routines. The students shared how they had spent their summer vacations and demonstrated they were eager to begin learning.
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Willow Road First Day of School
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Day of Patriotism and Remembrance at Dever
To commemorate National Patriots Day, the students, faculty and staff gathered together outside for a remembrance ceremony. Everyone recited the Pledge of Allegiance, The National Anthem, and America. Principal Darren Gruen spoke about Patriot's Day as a day of remembrance and service. He also spoke about 9/11. Three students read poems and then everyone observed a moment of silence.
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Positive Behaviors Supports at Howell Road School
At Howell Road School we are using the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports PROGRAM (PBIS) to teach all students positive behaviors, which we highlight throughout the year. We had our tenth PBIS school-wide program kick-off assembly in September to teach students our positive expectations of safe, respectful responsible and caring behavior.
PBIS has been demonstrated to be effective at reducing behavior difficulties in schools across the nation. This program emphasizes positive, preventive and proactive school-wide practices that are evidence-based to promote social and behavioral competency in children and to enhance a positive learning environment.
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Superintendent's Letter
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Wheeler Students Have School Spirit
Students and staff at Wheeler Avenue proudly wore their blue and yellow school spirit wear as they celebrated School Spirit Day. Each student was also given Wheeler Avenue shoelaces to wear from the PTA.
Assemblies were held throughout the day where students viewed a DVD created by the school staff explaining and reviewing the rules of school. They were also introduced to a new bucket-filler program. As part of this program, Wheeler staff members will be catching students doing the right behaviors throughout each month. Students will be rewarded with bucket notes on which they will write their names. The classroom teacher will then collect these bucket notes. The class with the most bucket notes at the end of the month will be awarded the Golden Bucket Award. That class will then have its picture taken holding the Golden Bucket, and the picture will be posted on the big bulletin board in the main hallway.
There will be one winning class from each lunch period. The winning class will also receive extra recess time. Each month the focus will be on a different behavior. The behavior for October is “Responsible” and teachers will be looking for students who are acting responsibly. The students were so excited to hear about this new program that supports the district’s character education curriculum and the Wheeler Avenue Positive Behavior Program.
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Howell Elementary Hosts Pajama Night
Halloween came early for Howell elementary students, as the school hosted its eighth annual Pajama Night on Oct. 15.
While kindergartners, first- and second-graders arrived to the school wearing pajamas, teachers and school administrators dressed up as characters from popular children’s books, including Dr. Seuss’ “The Cat in the Hat” and other student favorites. Howell elementary reading teacher Patricia Hopkins arrived in costume as “Mrs. Wishy Washy,” and she remained in character while reading the book to students in the school library. School librarian Lisa Geary read the Ed Emberley classic, “Go Away, Big Green Monster!” to a delighted group of kindergartners and first-graders. “Pajama Night is all about parents and children enjoying literature together,” Hopkins explained. “We are hoping that the parents will continue reading with their children at home. We also had sixth-grade volunteers helping the younger students with some of the activities. There are usually three books that are read, and then the students get to color, draw and make an art representation of the book of their choice.”
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Dever’s Intergenerational Reading Program
Over a dozen senior community volunteers visited Dever Elementary School on Oct. 15 to kick off the annual Intergenerational Reading Program, which is now in its 18th year.
The program was founded in 1994 by Valley Stream resident Mimi Friedman, and the focus is to bridge the generation gap between elementary students and seniors with reading. Dever Principal Darren Gruen explained that the Intergenerational Reading Program gives members of the Valley Stream community the opportunity to visit the school and share in the wonderful things being done by local students. “The senior volunteers are incredibly conscientious and very dedicated to the program,” Gruen said. “They develop long-lasting relationships with the students, some that last all seven years. The students and seniors bring each other birthday and holiday presents in some instances.”
Friedman said she got the idea when her grandchildren were attending Dever Elementary in the early 90s, and she kept the program going even after they graduated because the students and seniors enjoyed their time together so much. “The beautiful part about it is, once the children get past the initial greeting, they get to know you and like you,” Friedman explained. “It’s a warm, friendly feeling. It gives the seniors a place to go, and it’s a comfortable communication between the seniors and students. It’s basically how we interact with our grandchildren. We read a little bit, we talk a little bit, and we enjoy our time together.”
The senior volunteers will be meeting with the children every Monday, in four sessions each lasting 25 minutes.
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Nassau County Police Department Safety Tips
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Students Honor Board of Education
Over a dozen students were on hand for the Oct. 23 board of education meeting at James A. Dever Dever Elementary School to recognize the hard work and dedication put in year-round by the members of the Valley Stream UFSD Thirteen school board.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Adrienne Robb-Fund opened the evening by expressing her gratitude to the dedicated group of Valley Stream UFSD Thirteen board members who volunteer their time to help the district move in a positive direction. “You are an exemplar of community service,” Robb-Fund said to the board. “You, as a group of men and women, meet at least twice a month throughout the year to guide our Valley Stream Thirteen community, to make decisions about educational policy and to provide the students of our district with the best education possible. You volunteer and give up your own time. Tonight is the night that we celebrate you, and we thank you for all you do.”
James A. Dever Elementary School Principal Darren Gruen also praised the board for their hard work. “As Dr. Robb-Fund mentioned, the school board is a volunteer position,” Gruen noted. “They do not get paid, and they do it because they care about the students, the local community and everything that goes on with regard to the educational process here in Valley Stream Thirteen.”
Each board member was presented with a ceremonial plaque from a small group of students from the James A. Dever Elementary Student Council.
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Dever Celebrates Red Ribbon Week
Students from Dever Elementary School took a visible stand against substance abuse by forming a “red ribbon” on the school blacktop on Oct. 23.
The event served as the kickoff to Red Ribbon Week, a national campaign to keep children, families and communities safe, healthy and drug-free. The tradition of displaying red ribbons as a symbol of intolerance towards the use of drugs began in 1985, and the Red Ribbon Campaign has been growing ever since. The 2012 theme of the program is “The Best Me Is Drug Free.”
Throughout the week, Dever Elementary students will participate in various activities to increase awareness of the hazards of substance abuse and to show their commitment to a drug-free lifestyle. On Oct. 24, students will wear headbands, ribbons and hats for “Band Against Drugs Day,” and will sport red t-shirts on Oct. 25 to show school unity in fighting the war against drugs. To wrap up Red Ribbon Week, students will wear backwards t-shirts on Oct. 26 for “Turn Your Back on Drugs Day.” The school has also been decorated with posters, stickers, balloons, pennants and banners with anti-drug messages.
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Howell Road Students Enjoy Sports Night
Howell Road School sixth-graders enjoyed a wide range of team-building activities with their family members at the annual Sports Night on Oct. 24 in the school gymnasium.
While the event has been known as “Sports Night” for over a decade, the games the attendees played were noncompetitive in nature, and the focus was on helping students build verbal and nonverbal communication skills in a team environment. In the first game of the evening, family members and students were instructed to line up in the order of their birthdays (by month and day) without talking. This activity helped students gain practice in problem-solving, as well as in brainstorming effective ways to communicate without using their voices.
Later in the evening, the students and family members enjoyed many more fun team-building activities, including the Walk-A-Hoop Relay, Stepping Stones, Bigfoot and Scooters, and Community Juggle. “We hope these activities teach students to work together, help each other and think of other people,” Howell Road physical education teacher Kevin Olsen said.
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Willow Road Students Observe NASA Webinar
Students from Willow Road Elementary School observed a conversation between astronauts on the International Space Station and student researchers from across the United States and Canada during a NASA webinar on Nov. 15.
During the webinar, astronauts aboard the space station provided an inside look at what life is like aboard a microgravity and space environment research laboratory. International Space Station Commander Sunita Williams has been operating student-created microgravity experiments since arrival at the station, and she answered questions about her research work.
Willow Road Elementary School librarian Carol Anne Gravert has participated in NASA Educator workshops in the past, and she believes the NASA webinar inspired several Willow Road students to think about someday pursuing careers in science and engineering. “While our fifth-grade students were not actually conversing with the astronauts, they were able to see the interchange and exchange of ideas between NASA and the students researchers,” Gravert said of the special event. “The webinar was shown in the library and the science lab to accommodate all students in grade five. It was an inspiring event, showcasing role models for all of our children who might aspire to become scientists and engineers.”
This live video conference was enjoyed by 9,500 students across 24 Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) communities in the U.S. and Canada, and was webcast simultaneously by NASA TV and the Smithsonian for classrooms everywhere. The event was sponsored by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, NASA and the U.S. Department of Education.
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Superintendent's Letter - November 2012
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Art Students Honored
The Board of Education recognized over two dozen of the district’s brightest young art students at its public meeting on Nov. 27 at Wheeler Avenue Elementary School.
While a handful of the students were honored for having their artwork featured in the 2012-13 district calendar, several others were commended for having their artwork displayed at the New York State School Boards Association conference held in Rochester, N.Y. Each student was congratulated by the school board and presented with a certificate of recognition from his or her respective principal.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Adrienne Robb-Fund applauded the students for their efforts and thanked parents for their support. “This is a great honor because very few pieces of art selected to be on display at the NYSSBA conference came from the elementary level,” Robb-Fund said to the crowd on hand. “I was so proud to walk around the art gallery and see our students’ work on display for people from other school disticts throughout the state to see.”
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NWEA BOE Presentation - November 27, 2012
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Parent Safety Letter
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Children's Choir of Wheeler Avenue
The Children's Choir of Wheeler Avenue performs with Central High School's Chorus to bring some holiday cheer to the community. The Concert took place on December 5th in the Central High School Auditorium. The choirs combined to sing Jim Papoulis pieces. The first was Give Us Hope and finishing off the concert was Sing For Peace.
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Egyptian Museum
The Egyptian Museum at Wheeler Avenue School was opened for viewing on Wednesday, December 12 and Thursday, December 13th, 2012 in Wheeler Avenue's Sixth Grade Classes. As part of the Ancient Civilization studies in Social Studies, our sixth grade students study, research and create Ancient Egypt in their classrooms.
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Connecticut Tragedy: Talking with Children
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Dever Elementary Hosts Holiday Concert
Valley Stream UFSD Thirteen’s Dever Elementary School hosted three winter concerts this week to kick off the holiday season.
Fifth- and sixth-grade students, under the direction of orchestra director Mary Ann Cali, chorus teacher Johanna DeJose and music teacher Glenn Guidone, performed several traditional Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year’s songs for a large audience of family, friends and community members on Dec. 10 and 11 in the Dever Elementary School auditorium.
The teachers extend their sincere gratitude to the Valley Stream UFSD Thirteen community for its continued support of the music program.
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