There was a special celebration Tuesday, Jan. 24, at Stacey Venzel and Jessica Fobert’s class at Pine Bush Elementary. It was Clemmy’s birthday! Clemmy is the now six-year-old guinea pig that is beloved by the class! As part of the celebration, the students had creative choice on their project – they could do a research …

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Students in Molly Terpening’s first grade class at PBE are making lanterns to celebrate Chinese New Year, which began on Sunday, Jan. 22. It’s the Year of the Rabbit! Those born under this sign are said to have quiet personalities; they are strong and confident, with good reasoning skills and attention to detail. They make …

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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 …

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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, students included rivers and farmland in their …

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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, …

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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 in their groups – …

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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 their emotions. …

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