The Student Senate, led by Ms. Susan Poulos, visited kindergarten and second grade classrooms at Gribbin and Deasy elementary schools to teach and create ocean-inspired paper art with the younger students. The Students Rebuild Program sponsors this project. This year’s theme is Ocean Challenge/Ocean Conservation. For every piece of artwork the students created, the Bezos Family Foundation donated $2 to programs training coastal youth in ocean conservation and coral restoration. Thank you to Addison Huvane, a Student Senate member who brought and inspired members of Student Senate to participate with this civic action project.

Special thanks to Principal Antonio Santana, Principal Francine Santoro, Principal Melanie Arfman, Mrs. Susan Poulos and all the faculty and staff who supported this program. A total of $ 1,338 in donations was raised from this project by creating a 669 pieces of artwork.

The Deasy first grade visited the Cradle of Aviation on April 16 as a culmination of 11 weeks of research on the solar system, in which students focused on the sun, Earth, moon and stars.

The trip enhanced the students’ understanding of the solar system; highlighted the engineering and design of the lunar modules, astronaut life and exploration in space; history of space travel; and showcased the planets in the planetarium show. In preparation for this exciting adventure, each class met with STREAM (science, technology, research, engineering, art and mathematics) teachers Jessica McKenna and Giselle Taylor weekly, diving into research driven by their curiosity and questions. Students used an online database, PebbleGo, and books and videos to answer focus questions. They also learned that scientists gather their information and share their work with each other when they participated in a “Skype-A-Scientist” talk, with a scientist, Salvador Ribas, from Barcelona, Spain, whose research focuses on light pollution. He was able to answer many of the students’ pressing questions.  

The first graders created models of the sun, Earth and moon and identified the patterns of these galactic bodies, which is a Next Generation Science Standard. The research classes may have concluded for this year, but the hope is that the students continue to have questions about their universe and search for answers as scientists and lifelong learners!

During a math lesson that focused on the differences between 2D and 3D shapes, Mrs. Christine Maddaloni’s kindergarten class at Deasy School explored different ways to model 2D and 3D structures. The class used wooden sticks and Play-Doh to make their creations.