Administrators, Board members, faculty members and students received a special visit from Roger B. Tilles on May 15. Mr. Tilles, a Regent for the New York State Education Department, stopped by classrooms at Elwood Middle School and James H. Boyd Intermediate School to learn about the educational opportunities taking place.

Regent Tilles met with Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kenneth Bossert, central administration and Board of Education members before touring the schools.

During his visit to the middle school, seventh-graders showcased how they have been using their Chromebooks to learn about linear equations. The students used Desmos to answer a series of questions designed to help them gain a deeper understanding of how to determine if two lines will intersect and how to find the intersection point. Teacher Erica Giordano showed Regent Tilles how she can view student responses to plan instruction.  

At James H. Boyd Intermediate School, Principal Denise Toscano spoke with Regent Tilles about what exciting things are happening at the school. They visited a third grade classroom, where students demonstrated what they are learning in math to program Dash and Dot robots. Teachers Krista Albrecht and Liz Held planned a series of challenges for students to complete that involved measuring dimensions of different quadrilaterals and then programming Dash to travel the perimeter of the figure in two ways. The students recorded their work using SeeSaw to document their learning and share with parents.  

In addition, Regent Tilles visited another third grade class and read the class different types of poetry that the students enjoyed. It was an exciting day for all!

Students, faculty members, board trustees and administrators gathered at Harley Avenue Primary School on May 3 for a special ribbon cutting ceremony to open a new school playground.

Donated by the Harley Avenue PTA and the Elwood Booster Club, the playground will serve as a new outdoor space for current students and generations to come. Through the fundraising efforts of both organizations and the support of the district, the playground quickly came to fruition. To kick off the ribbon cutting ceremony, the students sat outside by the playground and sang “It’s a Small World” and the “Harley Spirit Song” under the direction of music teacher Christina Long.  

Principal Elissa Millan introduced Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kenneth Bossert, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Maureen Hull, Assistant Superintendent of Business Keri Loughlin and board trustees Heather Mammolito, James Tomeo and Deborah Weiss to the students. Dr. Bossert praised the dedication of all those involved in bringing the playground to the school, especially the family members of the PTA. He encouraged students to go home and thank their parents for the school’s new addition.

“The people that you have to thank for this new playground are your parents who worked very hard to make it happen,” he said. “Not only will you be able to enjoy it but students that aren’t even born yet will be able to as well.”

Dr. Bossert also acknowledged the PTA executive board for their hard work and dedication. PTA president Heather Ross spoke to the students and thanked PTA member Annemarie Savage for being such a significant part of the process.

“We started this goal over a year ago and we are so happy to be here today,” said Mrs. Ross. “It really was a team effort.”

The school’s 2016-17 Harley Knights of the Month had the opportunity to be the first students to try out the playground after the ribbon was cut. These students were selected throughout the year based on their excellent character. The playground was open for students to enjoy during recess that day.

Ten Elwood Middle School sixth-graders in troop 85 recently earned the Girl Scout Bronze President’s Volunteer Service Award for completing more than 30 service hours in 2016.

Members include Giuliana Brown, Kate Doerzbacher, Anya Kassan, Chloe Keil, Riya Kumar, Rachel Leon, Maggie Murphy, Eva Musgrove, Stela Ristic and Arianna Vouthas. Under the guidance of their leaders Allison Keil, Sharon Leon and Jen Musgrove, the troop participated in a project called “Fun for Angela’s House.”

Angela’s House is a non-profit that services children with severe medical disabilities who need 24 hour nursing care. The children live in community homes so that their parents can continue to work and care for their other children at home. The troop took a special interest in Angela’s House and wanted to provide them with specialized play equipment to add more fun to their lives.  

They raised money by selling Girl Scout cookies and rubber bracelets and initially used the money to buy "star machines” that light up the children's bedroom ceilings with mesmerizing lightshows. The troop raised so much money that they were also able to contribute handicapped accommodation swings to a new playground being built on the grounds of one of Angela’s homes.

In addition, the girls collected and donated more than 200 slightly used children’s CDs and DVDs that the children of Angela’s House would enjoy.

“It feels good to win this award knowing that our hours were spent helping others and making our community a better place,” said Chloe.

Members of the Elwood-John H. Glenn High School World Language Honor Society recently visited James H. Boyd Intermediate School to teach two to three classes a new language. The high school students taught either Spanish, Italian or American Sign Language to the third, fourth and fifth-graders. Each group developed their own lessons prior to the visit.

Forty-five juniors and seniors and twenty Boyd teachers participated in the fun-filled day. “Both the high school students and the Boyd students were very excited,” said World Language Honor Society advisors Nicole Correia and Nicole Gendjoian. “The high school students did an amazing job and enjoyed the enthusiasm of the third, fourth and fifth-grade students.”

Elwood Middle School students heard from former professional football player and best-selling author Tim Green on April 7.

Sponsored by the school’s PTA, Mr. Green spoke about his career, the importance of reading and his newest book, “Baseball Genius.” The students learned about how Mr. Green evolved from a successful athlete to a writer and also heard the inspiration behind some of his stories.

Throughout the presentation, Mr. Green stressed the significance of what education can do for a person. He explained that his own education allowed him to follow new and exciting opportunities that would not have been presented to him otherwise.

He also encouraged the students to find books that speak to them personally and not to judge books by their covers, adding that there is a book for everyone.

“Students who read become more compassionate,” he said. “You are putting yourself in another person’s shoes so find books that you enjoy.”

Family members were invited to Harley Avenue Primary School on April 6 and 7 for a special Earth Day performance by their second-graders.

Dressed in black and white attire, he students showcased their singing skills and facts about the Earth in the school’s cafetorium for their loved ones. Music teacher Christina Long directed the show with accompanist Marge Margolf.

Songs included “It’s a Small World,” “What a Wonderful World” and “We’ve Got the Whole World.” Between each song, the students would recite poetry about keeping the world a safe and healthy place. Untraditional music props were used for a variety of songs, including old detergent bottles and cans to use as drums for a song titled, “R-E-C-Y-C-L-E.”

The students prepared for the two-day performance by creating their own covers for the show’s booklet which they handed to family members before the show took place. In addition, the students worked together to create posters inspired by the illustrations in the book “What a Wonderful World,” and raised their designs up when singing the song to conclude the show.

Harley Avenue Primary School and James H. Boyd Intermediate School students had the unique opportunity to hear from author, poet and photographer Charles Smith Jr. on March 30 and 31.

Mr. Smith visited kindergarten through second-grade students on March 30 to present on his life and career. He spoke about his writing process, his photography experience and read excerpts from some of his books. Thanks to a school grant, students were each given one of his books to take home with kindergartners and first-graders receiving “I Am America” and second-graders receiving “I Am the World.” Mr. Smith visited classrooms in the afternoon to sign copies.

Students at James H. Boyd Intermediate School also learned about the author and received deeper explanations of his books when he visited the school on March 31. He spoke about the importance of the mind, body and spirit and how the three correlate with success. The Boyd PTA bought each student one of Mr. Smith’s books and the district bought his book collection for the classroom libraries.

“He was dynamic, related well to the students and covered real character traits,” said Principal Dr. Denise Toscano. “He blew us away.”

Six Elwood-John H. Glenn High School science students were recently crowned first place presentation winners in Northwell Health’s annual Medical Marvels Program.

The Medical Marvels program was established by The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and the Center for Workforce Readiness to encourage Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) career pathways for Long Island High School Students in ninth and 10th grades.

Tenth-graders Ivan Andrade, Akhila Kanneganti, Yeji Lee, Meghan Rivardo, Annie Song and Laura Taylor presented on “Fountain of Health: Replacing Water Systems Within School Districts.” The goal of their project was to create an efficient and inexpensive water filter system to eliminate the risk of disease and create safe drinking water. The students discussed what their plan would be, what policies they would put in place throughout the district and their budget.

The students worked on the project in their Independent Science Research class and also wrote a 15-page paper. They devoted more than 30 hours of their own time twice a week after school to make their project idea come to fruition.

Elwood-John H. Glenn High School students in Mrs. Regan's and Dr. Kamhi's AP Biology classes recently conducted a DNA Barcoding Lab at the Cold Spring Harbor DNA Learning Center.

The students extracted the DNA of different plants and amplified a gene to determine its unique DNA sequence. The sequence was then used as a "DNA barcode" to be loaded into a computer database in order to identify the species. 

DNA barcodes are important as they can be used to catalog unidentified organisms before they disappear due to habitat destruction. Students also learned that DNA barcodes have many applications beyond species identification. For example, DNA barcodes can be used to detect food fraud (seafood mislabeled as a more expensive species) or product fraud (identifying designer handbags vs. knockoffs). 

Eight Elwood-John H. Glenn High School seniors in Laureen Kennedy’s AP Government and Politics class recently participated in the “Student Day at the Suffolk County Legislature" program.

Sponsored by the League of Women Voters, the eight lucky Elwood students included Nicholas Chieppa, David Hermanns, Emma Hines, Derek Lee, Katherine McPherson, Kyle Morlock, Sylvanna Politio and Eva Sheldon. The group took part in a mock legislative session where they assumed the roles of legislator, lobbyist, concerned constituent, or representative of a bureaucratic agency. They actively debated and voted on a bill that proposed Suffolk County become a sanctuary county for undocumented workers.

In addition, the students met with several of Suffolk County’s legislators who explained the leadership of the legislature, the roles of its members and the activities of committees. They learned the responsibilities that county government has to its constituents to provide daily services.

“It was both an educational and rewarding experience,” said Ms. Kennedy.