Elementary School Students Learn How Other Countries Celebrate the Holidays

First grade students at Miller Place School District’s Andrew Muller Primary School recently participated in the District’s annual Holidays Around the World event, during which they made arts and crafts projects to celebrate the different holiday traditions from countries around the globe. As part of the event, teachers set up stations that each represented a different country so students could learn about their individual holiday customs. The countries included Sweden, England, Italy, Mexico, Israel, Germany, France and more.

 

The initiative is part of the Miller Place School District’s ongoing mission to celebrate diversity and give students a better understanding of the lifestyles, backgrounds and traditions of nations around the world.

 

 

The Andrew Muller Primary School recently held an outdoor kindergarten Nursery Rhyme Parade. Students in kindergarten designed and decorated their own colored aprons with their families. These aprons represented nursery rhymes being discussed in class, including Jack and Jill and Humpty Dumpty. During the parade, students teamed up with classmates who illustrated the same nursery rhyme to create a visual storytelling collage and connect with other students. The parade was the culmination of the first kindergarten unit of study in English Language Arts which includes; reading, writing, listening and speaking.

 

This event was part of an ongoing District initiative to engage students in classroom material in an interactive, hands-on way.

The North Country Road Middle School students recently helped spread holiday cheer throughout the community by decorating a tree on behalf of the school at the Tesla Science Center. Eighth grade student Patrick O’Connor and seventh grade student Abigail O’Connor spent time with local members of the community exploring the Tesla Science Center’s grounds and searching for a Christmas tree to decorate.

 

After decorating the tree with tinsel, bows and ornaments, they placed a homemade sign reading ‘N C R Middle School’ on the tree to share with the community.

The Miller Place School District recently celebrated the philanthropic efforts of 22 students from North Country Middle School who recently participated in the Town of Brookhaven’s seventh Annual Polar Plunge competition to raise money in support of the Special Olympics. The event gives Brookhaven residents an opportunity to have the exhilarating experience of swimming in the chilly waters of the Long Island Sound, while competing for the team that can raise the most money for athletes of the Special Olympics New York.

 

The North Country Middle School students, “Team Extraordinary,” raised more than $10,000. The team was started by North Country Middle School seventh grader Robert Fitton in 2014, after his brother was born with Down Syndrome. Robert personally raised more than $2,000, which was the fourth largest at the event.

Miller Place High School recently held a food donation drive to help support families in need during the holiday season. Students brought in cans and boxes of nonperishable items, and then packaged them in Thanksgiving-themed gift bags to be donated to local community members.

 

Donated items included, stuffing, corn, green beans, butternut squash, cranberry sauce and rice. They then packaged the products in Thanksgiving-themed gift bags and donated the bags to local community members.

 

The Thanksgiving food drive was part of a Miller Place High School initiative to teach students the value of community service and recognizing what they have to be thankful for in their own lives.

An eighth grade student of North Country Road Middle School recently qualified to compete in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association’s (NYSPHSAA) 2016 Swim Championship. Angelina Harris recently swam at Ithaca College, claiming 7^th place in the 100 yard breast stroke and 11^th in the 200 yard individual medley. The NYSPHSAA is a non-profit, voluntary, educational service organization composed of public, parochial, and private schools dedicated to providing equitable and safe competition for the students of its member schools.

 

Miller Place School District’s Andrew Muller Primary School students were recently engaged in lessons about the importance of members of our armed forces. During the lesson in Ms. Ashley Tinter’s class, she showed students a picture of her sister on the smart board. Ms. Tinter’s sister is a sailor in the Navy currently stationed at a submarine base in Georgia. Ms. Tinter taught students how to salute a member of the armed forces. The students then asked if they could salute Ms. Tinter’s sister to thank her for everything she does to protect the American people. This lesson was part of the Miller Place School District’s dedication to teaching students about the importance of honoring veterans and active servicemen and women.

 

Laddie A. Decker Sound Beach School’s third grade students recently celebrated Veterans Day in the classroom. To honor veterans and active servicemen, students created a care package and wrote letters for third grade teacher Allison Brenner’s brother-in-law, and currently deployed Navy Petty Officer, Joseph Monaco. More than 20 students wrote thoughtful letters about the importance of veterans, asked about Petty Officer Monaco’s deployment and experiences and thanked him for his service. Students also included Halloween candy from home, some of their favorite coloring books and activity items and a group ‘Thank You’ poster. Ms. Brenner showed students a picture of Petty Officer Monaco’s ship, the USS Comstock LSD-45, and explained how packages are delivered to currently deployed naval vessels.

 

The purpose of this event was to raise student awareness about what it means to be a member of the military during Veterans Day. This event is part of the District’s initiative to teach students the meaning of Veterans Day and to help them express their appreciation in a creative way.

 

The Miller Place School District recently held an interactive driver-safety workshop at Miller Place High School in an effort to promote safe driving habits among students. During the program, seniors learned about the dangers of being impaired and distracted behind the wheel using interactive, virtual-reality technology. The program, “Save a Life Tour,” is a comprehensive, high-impact, safe-driving awareness program offered to high school students throughout the country. Miller Place High School was the tour’s only stop on Long Island this year.

 

One of the workshop’s main features was a high-tech driver’s-seat simulator, which mimicked the impairments of having a high blood alcohol content. The simulator enabled students to experience the potentially deadly consequences of drinking and texting while driving.

 

The purpose of the “Save a Life Tour” was to make students more aware of driving dangers by showing how one poor decision can lead to crashes, injuries and sometimes death. Students experienced how much the brakes and steering wheel “lag” as blood-alcohol levels increase on the simulator. They experienced difficulty in stopping, turning and accelerating as alcohol affects reaction times.