Six students in the Robbins Lane Orchestra proudly represented their school in the All-County Music Festival on Sunday, January 10th at the Tilles Center at L.I.U. Post. These students have spent hours in rehearsals practicing their music in preparation for this exciting event. They were fortunate to work with an expert conductor – an experience that they will never forget. Congratulations to these young and talented musicians on a stellar performance!
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Six All-County Musicians
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Singing Spirit
Members from the Robbins Lane Orchestra helped the students get into the holiday spirit by performing festive holiday and winter songs in the lobby during their arrival to school. Students and teachers from different grades stopped in the hallway to enjoy the musical that these young and talented musicians provided!
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Making Magic in the Maker Space
The Baylis Elementary School Maker Space is up and running…and buzzing with busy minds! Small groups of students in grades two through five have been submitting “Idea Forms” describing their interests in learning, solving and trying in the Maker Space. Groups have engineered projects such as a better plant supporter, Tech Gloves that light up using Little Bits technology, gloves with suction cups attached for crawling up a wall and even snapping LEGO alligators programmed with WEDO Block Coding. Some groups have been designing complex “towns” for Ozobots to navigate using codes to command movements, while others have been learning about gravity and physics using Tumble Trax Magnetic Marble Runs. “Glow in the dark” jewelry has been designed and a working digital camera has been assembled. Groups are using Raspberry Pi devices to build their own desktop computers as well!
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KEN Wins Another Award
For the fourth consecutive year, Syosset High School's KEN Literary and Art Magazine received first-place recognition in the American Scholastic Press Association Contest. Named after the definition of one’s range of knowledge, sight or perspective, KEN received the most points of any other magazine in the contest. Judges take into account creativity, page design, layout, cover design and overall content. “The students are thrilled with the recognition and the awards," said KEN adviser Tracey Brice, who oversees a staff of 30 students who worked on the magazine. KEN is published at the end of every school year. Brice is pictured here with many of the magazine’s contributors, displaying their award.
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Making from Scratch
Students enrolled in the Research Skills and seventh-grade Project Beyond programs at H.B. Thompson Middle School recently participated in their first Maker Faire Day, a festival of invention inspired by the “maker movement,” which calls for the creation and marketing of products that are recreated and assembled using unused, discarded raw materials, including computer parts.
HBT students were given boxes filled with a variety of materials, including cardboard boxes, egg cartons, old floppy discs, plastic bottles, straws, little toy cars and a lot of tape. They were asked to explore the materials available, collaborate with their groups and create an art piece or invention with what they were given. Students planned, innovated, encountered challenges and exchanged ideas with each other in order to create something new. The wide range of creations included a life-sized model of the Statue of Liberty, various art pieces representing important humanitarian issues, models of cars, robots, energy-efficient buildings, working catapults and marble run structures.
Maker Faire Day at HBT not only provided students with an opportunity to be creative and experience “making,” but also allowed them to connect the experience to this year's theme for National History Day: Exploration, Encounter, Exchange. Students did an outstanding job of exploring different possibilities with their materials, encountering and overcoming challenges, and exchanging ideas with their peers.
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Family Math Day
Dear Past FMD Participant Family,
Family Math Day will be held this year on March 5, 2016 at Stratford Road School, Plainview, NY. We, once again, have a wonderful program and we look forward to seeing you there.
Please note that registration is on a first come first served basis, so please return as soon as possible to ensure your spot and workshop choices. The attached program contains everything you need to know. Please read all directions carefully
Feel free to share it with your friends and classmates. We look forward to seeing you on March 5, 2016.
The Family Math Day Committee
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District-wide Lockout
At approximately 9:50 AM this morning we were advised by the Nassau County Police Department that there was police activity on Jericho Turnpike in the Syosset school district. At their request and as a precautionary measure we have instituted lockout procedures at all of our school buildings. This means we will not allow any persons in or out of our buildings until the police have issued an all clear directive.
More information will be made available on the school districts website and via connect ed.
Update: All scheduled afternoon activities will proceed and adhere to the regularly scheduled times, including SCOPE.
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HS Pre-School Program
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Alumni Return to Share Their Wisdom
Before heading back to their respective colleges for the second semester, 41 Syosset High School alumni returned to their alma mater to talk with current students about their postsecondary education experiences.
Coordinated by the high school guidance department and Syosset High School PTSA, Alumni Day brought current juniors and seniors together with former students to discuss a wide range of issues. Topics included making adjustments in study habits and budgeting work time, getting along with roommates, overcoming homesickness and major commonalities among the student bodies of the different universities.
Max Carol, Syosset’s 2015 valedictorian who now attends Cornell University, participated in a panel discussion with upperclassmen in the Little Theater. “The biggest thing is transitioning to living in a new place on your own and paying for things yourself,” he said. “Academically, it’s hard too. Syosset High School prepared me well with all of the different kinds of classes and AP courses that it offers. It definitely helped in adjusting to the larger [college] workload.”
Panel discussions were also held in the school library and guidance resource center. Alumni were treated to a breakfast in the guidance center prior to breaking out into discussion groups.
PTSA Co-presidents Ellen Fielding and Perri Mekalainis and Parent Connection Co-chairs Belinda Wiseman and Sharon Georghiou sent out Alumni Day invitations earlier this school year. In conjunction with the guidance department, they also publish an extensive campus connection booklet that includes the names, phone numbers and email addresses of approximately 150 participating alumni, along with the colleges/universities they attend. The booklet is available to current Syosset students who wish to contact the alumni to learn more about a particular college or campus life.
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Letter to the Community from Board President and Vice President
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Board Briefs from the January 11, 2016 meeting are now available. Please click here
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Syosset BOE Honors Fall Athletes
Drew Cronin, Syosset CSD’s director of athletics, physical education and recreation, recently highlighted the successes of several fall student-athletes and athletic teams at the January Board of Education meeting. Certificates were awarded and Board members, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Thomas Rogers and central administrators personally congratulated each student-athlete in attendance.
Those honored included News 12 Scholar Athlete Kylie Marlow, All-Long Island and All-State varsity football player Mike Elardo, All-State girls cross-country runner Reilly Siebert, and Nassau Zone award winners Kelly Siebert and Josh Thomas. The teams honored included the girls and boys cross-country teams as county champions, the girls soccer and boys volleyball teams as conference champions, and the girls volleyball team as winner of the Sportsmanship Award.
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South Grove Student Wins Geo Bee
Moves One Step Closer to $50,000 College Scholarship
Daniel Chan, a fifth grader at South Grove Elementary School recently won the school-level competition of the National Geographic Bee. The school-level Bee, at which students answered oral questions on geography, was the first round in the annual National Geographic Bee. As South Grove’s school-level champion, Daniel will take an on-line test; up to 100 of the top scorers on that test in each state will then be eligible to compete in their state Bee.
Congratulations to Daniel, as well as first runner-up Timothy Chan (last year’s school champion) and third-place winner Russell Erfan. The three are pictured. All of South Grove’s Geo Bee participants are pictured separately.
State Geo Bee winners advance to the national competition, with a chance at the grand prize $50,000 college scholarship, or second- and third-place awards of $25,000 and $10,000, respectively.
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Theater Arts Continue to Shine at Syosset HS
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The District will use a 2 hour delay tomorrow, Monday, January 25th.
All students will be picked up at their regular stops 2 hours later than
their regularly scheduled times. All early morning programs including
extra help are cancelled. Please encourage the use of buses in order to
reduce traffic congestion and permit a smoother transportation of
students. For the Transportation Department, you may call 364-5840.
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A Super Bowl High School
Four-time NFL Pro-Bowl offensive guard Ed Newman, who played in three Super Bowls for the Miami Dolphins and won a championship in 1973, returned to his alma mater, Syosset High School, to present school officials with a golden Wilson football to commemorate Super Bowl 50. By accepting the football, Syosset High School holds the distinction of “Super Bowl School” by the NFL.
Newman starred on both the football and wrestling teams while attending Syosset High School in the late 1960s. Members of the current varsity football and wrestling teams were on hand in the school’s gymnasium to witness the presentation and listen to Newman’s story of growing up in Syosset, attending Duke University, being drafted by the Dolphins and becoming an NFL star. He also spoke about his pursuit of a new career once his playing days were over, first earning his law degree and later becoming an attorney and ascending to the bench as a county court judge, his current position. “I can’t tell you the debt I have to [Syosset],” said Newman, who has lived in South Florida since beginning his professional football career. “What a wonderful place for me to grow up. The lessons I learned here have brought me to where I am in life.”
Newman said he hopes his words can inspire students to pursue their goals. “I was just like many of you,” he said, describing himself as a shy student who often carried around a frayed notebook with papers flying out. “In the beginning, I really didn’t appreciate how wonderful an academic institution Syosset High School is. You have a mini-college going on here…Most of you will have serious advantages when you go to college because you will have already seen that material from your Syosset High School experience.”
A Woodbury native, Newman is also a member of the University of Miami Law School Board of Trustees, as well as the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and the Duke University and St. Thomas University halls of fame. Director of Physical Education and Athletics Drew Cronin presented him with a Syosset High School sweatshirt as a memento of his visit.
The Super Bowl 50 football will be displayed prominently in the Syosset High School athletic wing for students, staff and visitors to see. The game will be held at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Feb. 7.
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First Grade Students Learn About Clouds
First grade students at South Grove were given a truly hands-on opportunity to share what they learned about clouds. We gave each first grader a big glop of shaving cream directly on their desk, and the children used their hands to draw cumulus, stratus, and cirrus clouds in the shaving cream. Even Benjamin Bear, our Talents Unlimited mascot managed to become part of the foamy scientific fun. This collaboration between our Enrichment Specialist and first grade teachers was a great success. Students have a strong understanding of clouds and their desks are minty clean!
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Gifted & Talented speaker program Date Change
Gifted & Talented speaker program that was scheduled for this past Monday night (1/25) will now be held on Wed. May 25 same time 7-9PM in the SW Library.
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State Education Department Calendar Revision
Due to State Education Department guidance, the District is in the process of revising the second half of the 2015-16 school year calendar. As a result, the half-day of elementary instruction previously scheduled for February 5th will instead be a full day of regular instruction. You should anticipate additional changes affecting May and June of 2016 to be announced shortly.
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Important Health Notice
Today, the District was informed of a case of Methicillin Resistant
Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) at Baylis Elementary School. While the
Nassau County Department of Health has indicated there is no public
threat, we nevertheless wanted to notify all families and staff. The
student was not contagious while in school; however, over the weekend,
custodial staff disinfected the student's classroom.
Should you have any additional concerns, we suggest you contact your family physician.
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