This was probably the best turnout ever for Lisa Ruyack’s winter break reading challenge. The Pine Bush Elementary School library media specialist has been encouraging kids to read and helping them to love reading for many years. So this year’s reading challenge over the winter break was similar to previous years’ challenges except for one …
Stacey Venzel and Jessica Fobert’s fourth-grade students at PBE spent a week before the winter break building wigwams and longhouses in villages that represented the environments of the Algonquins and Iroquois, two Native American tribes that battled for territory in New York. For this social studies STEM project, …
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Students in Leilah Austin-Draitser’s fifth-grade class at PBE delved into biographies of many historical and popular figures recently. They learned of the discipline and nonviolence of Mahatma Gandhi, the trailblazing of Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks and Amelia Earhart, the bravery of Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Malala Yousafzai, the brilliance of Albert Einstein, …
Continue reading “Students create far-from-ugly sweaters after reading biographies”
Each month, PBE holds its Shining Stars parade, where students and staff line the hallways and cheer on the shining stars for that month. The students chosen to participate are recommended by their teachers for being kind and respectful, hardworking, helpful and have a positive attitude. They also portray the Positivity Project character trait for …
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Students in Stacey Venzel and Jessica Fobert’s class at Pine Bush Elementary learned all about Hanukkah and its traditions recently. It was part of their nonfiction unit as they learn about their classmates’ cultures. The students learned the meaning of the menorah. Thanks to classmates Delilah and Hayden, the students learned how to play dreidel. …
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What a wonderful way to end a unit! Stacey Venzel’s fourth-grade class at Pine Bush Elementary had more than 30 visitors to their classroom as families were invited for their end-of-unit celebrations in science and writing. These fourth-grade students wrote songs about erosion (that’s a hot topic!), then performed the songs …
Sometimes, visualizing things really helps to understand them. Jessica Abrams’ class at PBE did just that with their emotions. The students worked with Dr. Shannon Renner, the school psychologist, and Sheena Carey, PBE school social worker, to make glitter mixed emotion jars. They added glue, warm water, and different colored glitter to represent …
Continue reading “Students learn to rest, reset in order to focus”
Students in Andrea Gennaro and Amy Green’s classes at PBE had a wonderful treat recently, thanks to their own generosity and that of our local IHOP owners, Raven and Fran Atria. The Atrias rewarded the two classes that brought in the most food items during the Thanksgiving food drive – one class in kindergarten to …
Continue reading “Prized pancakes for PBE classes that donated the most to the food pantry”
Teresa Salvato’s first graders at Pine Bush Elementary went old school as they played some games that children played at the first Thanksgiving many years ago. They learned that you need good eye/hand coordination and patience to play ring pin. Hiding the shell while playing …
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Fourth-grade students in Stacey Venzel’s class at PBE experimented with two types of “lava” to understand different types of volcanoes. To kick off the experiment, the students got dirty collecting dirt and mud in small groups. For the lava experiment, they collected mud in one cup and had water in the other cup to represent …
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