What's Right with Spackenkill! April 12, 2019

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Egg Hunts for All

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What's Right with Spackenkill!

April 12, 2019

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blue ribbon banner

 

Dear Spackenkill Community,

What makes a great school?  As I attended Thursday’s fifth grade trip at Sharpe Reservation, I found myself thinking about that question as I participated in the program. A school needs to be focused on learning, but learning occurs in many places, not just in classrooms. It can be a pond study, a hike through the woods observing natural elements, or seeing first hand the results of glaciers on rock formations. It's fifth graders serving dinner to the adults and cleaning up. It's teachers going above and beyond their normal work day schedule. It's a principal taking on the challenge of supporting learning in an alternative location and coordinating housing, eating, and teaching. It's clerical support that takes care of the many, many details required. It's meeting some of the 95 parents and guardians who volunteered and may have taken a day off from work to support our school and their children. No, there is no one profile of a great school. But this Thursday I saw a glimpse of a great one in action.

Enjoy your spring break!

 

My best,

Mark Villanti

Mark Villanti, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools

 

Shakespeare Troupe Performs at Middle School

Todd Middle School hosted a five-day Julius Caesar residency with teaching artists from Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival this week. Seventh and eighth graders had workshops with the artists in which they learned about actors’ body language and how to work collaboratively using facial expressions and gestures but no words. The students also enjoyed a performance of the play by the actors on Tuesday morning and had a "talkback" conversation with the cast.

Middle school students enjoy master classes with Hudson Valley Shakespeare

 Congrats to Cast and Crew of Pippin!

Pippin preview
Last weekend, three performances of Pippin took place at Spackenkill High School. Kudos to the cast, crew, director, and musicians on this amazing musical.

Click here to read the program.

 

Environmental Club Hosts Two Alumni

 

Last Tuesday, the High School Environmental Club hosted a preview of a new documentary, Lead and Copper, on the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. Presented by director Will Hart,  who began the project in 2016 as a freelance video journalist working for Yahoo, the documentary was produced by Spackenkill alumni Alex Olsen and Patrick Letterii.(both class of 2005). Mr. Olsen was also at the event and thanked his "fellow Spartans" for coming to the presentation. The documentary interviews Flint residents who were harmed by drinking and bathing in untreated, unsafe water. The director said that he made the documentary in part to call attention to water systems all over the country, not just in Flint. Students asked plenty of questions following the clip and attended a reception in the lobby. Visit facebook.com/leadandcopperdocument and @leadandcopperdoc to learn more.

Environmental Club hosts a documentary about water crisis in Flint, Michigan
 

Exploring Empathy 

Nassau students learned about what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes at an empathy presentation on Friday, April 5th.  School social worker and High School Student Government adviser Joann Klein and Principal Nancy Ferrarone talked with the students about the meaning of empathy and how to put it in action. Students learned that empathy is understanding how someone else feels. Nassau staff and high school students Marcella Breglia, Anna Viano, Madison Setzer, and Hodo Duale put on skits about treating others as you would like to be treated yourself.  Nassau grades were not only entertained, but they learned a lot about how to make the right choices.

.whole school empathy presentation at Nassau


Nassau students learned about what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes at an empathy presentation on Friday, April 5th.  School social worker and High School Student Government adviser Joann Klein and Principal Nancy Ferrarone talked with the students about the meaning of empathy and how to put it in action. Students learned that empathy is understanding how someone else feels. Nassau staff and high school students Marcella Breglia, Anna Viano, Madison Setzer, and Hodo Duale put on skits about treating others as you would like to be treated yourself.  Nassau grades were not only entertained, but they learned a lot about how to make the right choices.

Top Musicians in All-County Festival 

Congratulations to the students who recently participated in the Elementary All County Festival at Haviland Middle School in Hyde Park. The festival is comprised of the top fifth and sixth grade musicians in Dutchess County. Students auditioned to be a part of the festival. Todd students were  Lillian Gold, Daniel Johnson (not pictured), Mason Matheus, Lena Abdelrahman, Elisha Guzman, Jacqueline Gill, Francesca Kim, Thit-sar Kyaw, Katie Park, Effie Thomas (not pictured), and Joshua Wu. Hagan Elementary students were Ana Haridevara, Kaitlin Lian, Angela Liu, Nuri Kim, Ashleigh Burgess, Eva Parsons, and Caroline Sottile.

Elementary All County Musicians

Math Happenings

Six Spackenkill students traveled to Middletown to compete in the annual New York State Mathematics League contest.  They were part of the four-county DUSO team.  Emily Ma was designated MVP for the DUSO A Team.

Once again the Mathematics Team ranked in the New York Mathematics League competition, garnering the seventeenth highest score (including some ties).  Nice job, team!

NYML team
Pictured above from left to right are Jacob Ruppert, Jonathan Waxman, Nicholas Ristic, Alex Zhu, Emily Ma, and Rachel Li.  Qihang Yao qualified but did not attend.

Cultivating Healthy Habits

High School students participated in a Health and Wellness Fair in the gym this past Wednesday. There were physical challenges, prizes, raffles, and mini classes about self defense, exercise, yoga, and healing. Hudson Valley Healing Center, Niyama Yoga, North Star, and HV Combatives were among the participants. Many students got their daily workouts in!

health and wellness fair

Earth Day Celebrated at Nassau


Recycling presentationKerry Russell, a recycling educator from the Division of Solid Waste Management of Dutchess County Department of Planning & Development, paid a visit to the second graders of Nassau this week. Mrs. Russell explained to the students all the basics of recycling. She covered three big areas: Things that go into the trash, items for the compost, and items for recycling. Mrs. Russell talked about how many people just toss everything into the trash, but most of it doesn’t have to be there! 

Some common items that should be recycled are milk cartons, cans, aluminum foil, plastic bottles, paper, cardboard, cereal and pasta boxes, but not foam products. If you don’t recycle a plastic water bottle, it could sit in a landfill for 500 years! And it takes as little as six weeks for a can to be recycled and back on the supermarket shelf. Plus, plastics can be recycled as t-shirts,  fleece jackets, even chair and playground slides. Don’t throw candy wrappers and chip bags into recycling because they are foil and plastic sealed together and can’t be separated.

Plastic bags need to be brought to the supermarket and other businesses that have a container just for recycling them. Vegetables, egg shells can be composted to make your garden grow.  After Mrs. Russell’s presentation, students played a game, matching an item to the proper place for disposing of it, and they were right every time! Mrs. Russell instructed the students to go out and spread the message and educate family and friends. 

Cool Creations

environmental awarenessThe whole school decorated Earth Day bags. Most of the second grade classes also  made recycled inventions at home and presented them at school. They found many creative ways to reuse items commonly found in households.

Click here for a gallery of photos from Mrs. Boyce’s class.


Off to France!

Seventeen high school French students left for their trip to France from April 11 to April 20 with their teachers.  Not only will students be immersed in French life and be able to practice a foreign language, but will also tour cultural and historical sites, including the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre in Paris plus the Normandy beaches where American troops liberated France from the grips of Nazism. The itinerary also includes Provence and The Cote d'Azur.  Bon voyage!
French trip students.

All-County Festival 

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Great work!

ANNUAL VOTE & ELECTION:


Click here for information about upcoming vote


Click here to download Absentee Ballot Application

Board Seat Petitions:

A seat is available on the Board of Education beginning July 1, 2019 for a five-year term ending June 30, 2024. Petitions for the Board of Education are available in the District Office at 15 Croft Road, Poughkeepsie. Election of School Board Members is scheduled for Tuesday, May 21st. Petitions must be received by the District Clerk by 5 pm on April 22, 2019. For more information, please contact District Clerk Sandra Barbieri in the District Office.  Call 845-463-7800 or e-mail [email protected].
 

 

Every spring, the Grades 3-8 English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics Tests are administered to students across New York State. These annual ELA and math tests for students in grades 3-8 are required by the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015. The tests are designed to measure how well students are mastering the learning standards that guide classroom instruction and help to ensure that students are on track to graduate from high school with the critical thinking, problem solving, and reasoning skills needed for success in college and the modern workplace. The tests also show how schools and districts are progressing with the learning standards and can support professional development for teachers. Click here for the Parent Toolkit for the 2019 tests.
 

Upcoming PTSA Meetings

April 8th High School
May 13th Todd
June No meeting

All meetings at 7 PM in middle or high school library

15 Croft Road, Poughkeepsie,  NY

(845) 463-7800

Mission: Inspired by a tradition of excellence and a spirit of continuous improvement, the Spackenkill School District will provide all of our students with the academic and social skills necessary to pursue their goals and become responsible citizens in an interdependent global community.

Vision: All Spackenkill graduates will be lifelong learners who are inspired to pursue their dreams and contribute to the global society.

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