Celebrating History
On the grounds of James A. Dever and Willow Road Elementary Schools stands a piece of history, several unique-looking Chunky Continuum sculptures. These pieces of artwork, which were designed and created by Long Island sculptor Oliver O’Conner Barrett, were previously displayed at the 1965 World’s Fair, positioned in front of the Chunky Candy Bar Company Pavilion. On October 26, 1965, Valley Stream District 13 purchased the sculptures and has since included them as creative fixtures in the district’s landscape.
In a celebration of the sculptures rich history and in an effort to bring them to their previous glamour, District 13 recently restored the sculptures and, endeavoring leave a lasting mark on the school’s history, created a time capsule to bury beneath the surrounding sculptures at the James A. Dever school. During the school’s dedication ceremony, students read documents of research they discovered about the World’s Fair, the year 1965, and what they hoped the future would be like in 100 years when the time capsule is to be opened.
Late this spring, the time capsule was sealed by custodian Steve Ciervo, Supervisor of Buildings and Grounds Mike Palotta, and District #13 Board of Education President William P. Stris and buried on the grounds of the school building. Visitors to the school have been excited to see the restored sculptures displayed and proud to have one-of-a-kind pieces of history in their community.
Offering Healthier Options During Lunch
Willow Road Elementary School is proud to announce the debut of the Fruit Cart to their school community, a mobile cart that gives students more healthy food options during lunch. The idea came from the Shared Decision-Making Committee, which includes parents, teacher and staff.
Under the direction of art teacher Michelle Daddino students Alyssa Scialabba, Melissa Ciuffo, Mariah White, Gabby Atkinson, Michelle Cinnamo, Stacy Stephen, Tara Franco, and Sabrina Roy worked during their lunch periods and after school to paint the cart to reflect the children’s book “The Hungry Caterpillar”.
Twice a week, the Fruit Cart rolls out during lunch time and students can select from a variety of fruit to purchase. If the success continues, the Fruit Cart could become a daily fixture in the cafeteria.
Monet Garden in Full Bloom
Photo Caption: As a result of their hard work and gardening skills, Willow Road Elementary School’s third-grade students were excited to see the fruits of their labor in full bloom in the school’s Monet Garden, a green area that the students cultivated and planted this past fall. The garden was developed with the help of third-grade teachers Fran Achtziger, Sue McKenna, and Jessica Beyer, classroom aide Debbie Blyskal, and the school’s student council.
Digging Up Adventures
Students in Willow Road Elementary School’s Enrichment/Gifted Program became fledgling archaeologists as they participated in a simulation of an archaeological dig created by their Enrichment/Gifted teacher Karen Skolnick.
Student teams excavated stratified layers of a “dig box”, experiencing the tools that archaeologists use to uncover “ancient” artifacts. Students measured, mapped, described, and recorded their findings on locus sheets and site grid maps.
The simulated dig gave youngsters a hands-on opportunity to understand the role of archaeologists and the importance of keeping accurate records and preserving the context of historical evidence. Students were engaged in scientific reasoning, analysis and meaningful interpretation of the significance of the artifacts.
Students’ Creative Work Placed on World Wide Web
After reading many different versions of The Gingerbread Man, Mrs. Francis’s first graders and Ms. Willis’s sixth graders worked together to write their own take on the familiar tale. After having their created works submitted, Willow Road Elementary School students Adam Amin and Thomas Tator were announced as the winners in the Sillybooks.net writing contest, a competition that receives submissions from all over the world. As a result of this accomplishment, the students’ story, Fruit Roll Up Boy, has been animated and placed on the Silly Books website http://www.sillybooks.net//books/Fruit-Roll-Boy/FruitRollUpBoy.html. Congratulations to both Adam and Thomas on this accomplishment!
Reflections Winners Announced At Willow
As a result of their exceptional submissions to the 2007-2008 National PTA Reflections Program, the following Willow Road Elementary School students were selected as winners and will now advance to the next level of competition.
Brianna LaRocca (Visual Arts)
Nicholas Scelfo (Visual Arts)
Kailyn Sarmiento (Photography)
Submissions to this year’s program were based on the theme “I can make a difference by...” Congratulations also to the following students who submitted projects to the competition:
Visual Arts
Grades K-2
1st Aiden Duggan
2nd Anthony Franco
3rd Nicholas Koches
Grades 3-5
1st Jessica Wade
2nd Luke Malone
3rd Veronica Lusterno
Honorable Mention Thomas Elbert
Honorable Mention Rebecca Schoenfeld
Special Education Grades K-2
1st Nicholas Scelfo
2nd Benjamin Rothenberg
3rd Amiro Mayo
Special Education Grades 3-5
1st Andrew Pisaniello
2nd Theodore Rothenberg
3rd Meena Noory
Honorable Mention Daniel McGee
Special Education Grade 6
1st Brianna LaRocca
2nd Richard Weiner
3rd Erick Flores
Honorable Mention Bernadette Augello
Literature
Grades K-2
1st Laila Drosman
Grades 3-5
1st Michael Antonucci
2nd Sabrina Roy
3rd Michelle Cinnamo
Photography
Grades K-2
1st Ankit Singh
Grades 3-5
1st Cianna Sarmiento
2nd Kailyn Sarmiento
  
  
Solving Math Problems & Raising Money For Charity
Willow Road Elementary School’s kindergarten students put their mathematical lessons into action recently and raised more than $1,400 for St. Jude’s Research Hospital, a facility that works to help the children of the world who are stricken with diseases. Some of the diseases St. Jude’s works to help include cancer, AIDS, Sickle Cell, as well as other catastrophic illnesses.
Kindergarten teacher Donna Rezek, along with her classroom aide Irina Lebedeva, coordinated Willow’s Math-A-Thon.
Staying Comfy & Cozy
Willow Students & Staff Wear PJs to School
Imagine, you actually get to wear your pajamas to school! At the Willow Road School in the Valley Stream Union Free School District #13, that is exactly what happened on a February school day! The First Annual Willow Pajama Day was a BIG hit with students and staff alike. The program was a blending of the bedtime story day celebrated in the past with a new twist. Students, faculty, and staff wore their favorite pajamas and brought in a treasured stuffed animal or two to celebrate. After admiring their peers’ PJs, the students enjoyed reading stories in their classrooms. Sixth-grade students made friends with the school’s first graders and were happy to read stories together.
  
THIRD-GRADE STUDENTS JUDGE THE FIRST ANNUAL MARYLAND FROG JUMPING CONTEST
For Danny Rothbard's third-grade A.I.S. Math Students at Willow Road Elementary School in the Valley Stream Union Free School District #13, multiplication took a "hop" towards success, as seven students put their multiplication skills to the test during the school’s First Annual Maryland Frog Jumping Contest. The event, which took place during the month of February, featured eight of the most talented jumping frogs from the entire state of Maryland. A single elimination tournament was held to crown the State Champion, and award a lifetime supply of bugs and a brand new lily pad to the victor.
To become judges for the event, the third-grade students had to master multiplication through the use of an "open number line", and learn how to represent identical jumps, as each frog had a unique size to their jump. After recording the jumps on the number line, the judges had to create a multiplication fact to express the total distance jumped by each frog. After comparing the two distances using "greater than" and "less than", the winner of each match advanced to the next round.
The championship saw underdog Polly Wogg (#6), the only female frog in the competition, square off against Black Shadow (#9). In the end, Black Shadow's long jumps were the deciding factor, as he easily defeated Polly Wogg. With the win, Black Shadow claimed first place and the deluxe prize package, as well as the right to come back next year and defend his crown.
The Maryland Frog Jumping Association extended a grateful hand of gratitude to the seven judges of the contest, Erika S. and Justin M. from Mrs. McKenna's class, Nicole G. and Kyle M. from Ms. Kranz's class, and Brianna M., Chris W., and Michael V. from Mrs. Achtziger's class. Congratulations on a job well done!
  
Happy 100th Day!
On February 13th, Willow Road Elementary School in the Valley Stream Union Free School District #13 celebrated the 100th day of school in various ways. In first-grade classes, the students and teachers dressed up as if they were 100 years old, while in Mrs. Silz’s kindergarten class students made hats and shared their 100-day projects they had created at home. In Mrs. Van Eron's class they created a giant number 100 outside their classroom door and got a chance to walk through the giant zero upon entering their classroom. There were many other projects, and events held throughout the entire school made it quite an exciting day!
  
Young Journalists in Print
Fifth grade students in Mrs. Higgins class at Willow Road School in the Valley Stream UFSD #13 were recently selected by Newsday to be featured in the paper’s May 3rd edition as the Kidsday Class of the Week.
Prior to being selected by the paper, the students brain-stormed ideas and presented them to the Editor, who then chose some for the concept for the feature. Some of the projects that will be included in the paper were Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?, an interview with author Eoin Colfer and Howie Mandel, the host of Deal or No Deal, and an article written by several students on creating autobiographical bottle people.
Be sure to pick up a copy of Newsday’s May 3rd edition to see the journalistic talents of some of Willow’s aspiring young journalists.
  
 
Bringing History to Life
Willow Road Elementary School in the Valley Stream UFSD #13 recently enjoyed a visit from representatives from Benner’s Farm. The in-school program, which was composed of two parts, began with a presentation to the entire fourth grade, during which they shared stories of our early settlers and demonstrated processes, tools, toys, and merchandise from the time period.
Following the fourth-grade presentation, the remainder of the school day was spent with fourth graders attending individual class workshops, during which they had opportunities to participate in many of the creative tasks that filled the lives of their colonial, pioneer, and early American forefathers and mothers. Students carded and spun wool, wove on looms, ground corn into meal, made butter, wrote with quill pens, created stencil art, and made a wooden toy. Students were excited to compare present lifestyles to the lives of their ancestors.
“This unique curriculum enrichment program is designed to give students an in-depth awareness of our Long Island Heritage and colonial life,” stated Principal Stephanie Capozzoli.
 
Campaign Promises & Student Speeches
Willow Road Students Seek Election to School’s Student Council
At Willow Road School, the first Tuesday in November isn’t the only election day. While most years the students enjoy a day off from school on the nation’s election day, the day dedicated to an election held to determine the course of student functions throughout the year often carries a similar level of importance.
Each year, students in grade six at Willow Road School in Valley Stream School District #13 have the opportunity to campaign and seek to hold an officer position on the school’s Student Council, and this year was no different. Creatively made posters hung throughout the building, each working to capture votes for the different candidates prior to the schoolwide “Meet the Candidates” assembly program. During the assembly the students fielded questions from their peers and had the opportunity to deliver a short speech on why you should choose them for the positions they were running for.
Following the program, each member of the student body received a ballot and chose their candidate. The ballot had photos of the candidates and the voters had to check which they wanted, and the votes were tallied up and winners were announced the next day.
Congratulations to this year’s elected officers:
Danielle Evangelista-President
Nicholas Graziano-Vice President
Samantha Cornetta- Secretary
All Aboard!
The Polar Express is Leaving the Station
The students in Mrs. Achtziger's, Mrs. McKenna's, and Ms. Kranz's third-grade classes at Willow Road Elementary School in the Valley Stream School District #13 recently snuggled up in their pajamas for a fantasy field trip to the North Pole.
In order to take their journey, they received a boarding pass, and then they were off to explore the beautiful language used in the story The Polar Express written by Chris Van Allsburg. After reading the classic story and returning from recess, the students were pleasantly surprised by a bell, which each child found in their desk.
 
Music Heard on High
During the holiday season, music students from Willow Road Elementary School spread some holiday cheer by performing during school concerts and well as at local holiday events in the community.
The school’s vocal jazz group, under the direction of Janet Hoffner and String Ensemble, under the direction of Cynthia Shannon, also performed at Franklin Square Senior Center. As a special treat, the seniors had refreshments for the students after the performance.
  
 
Building Houses, Making Memories
Thanks to the school’s PTA, students in grades K-3 at Willow Road Elementary School had a great time making foam gingerbread houses for the holidays.
  
 
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