Two of our fifth grade students participated in the National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive, at the Levittown Post Office.  The Postmaster wrote to our school to thank them both, and said, "It was truly admirable to witness young people sacrifice time to assist people less fortunate.  Public service and civic responsibility assists in personal growth, and both students should be proud of their efforts."

Furthermore, in part because of their efforts, the 2008 NALC Food Drive was a success with over one million pounds of food collected!    GREAT JOB!!!  

Our volunteers are pictured below: 

     For the past several weeks, 5^th Grade students in Mrs. Gallagher’s and Mrs. Holland’s class have been writing to 5^th grade students in Mrs. Devine’s class from Dinkelmeyer School.  The children exchanged letters on what they’ve learned this year in 5^th grade, including different events in each of their schools and wonderful stories about themselves.  After corresponding with each other all month, Mrs. Devine’s class visited Park Avenue to finally meet their pen pals.  They all enjoyed a snack together and participated in a fun activity under the trees.  What a fabulous, fun-filled experience!  See for yourself!

      Students at our school are certainly creative and passionate learners.  Students in Mrs. Vento's first grade class and fifth graders in Mrs. Hennessy's class collaborated to write a picture book about our district's mission statement.  It featured Parker the Starfish.  They certainly have demonstrated the qualities of the mission statement, and can each say:  "I have the Mission in Me!" 

Our Authors and Illustrators Below!              Mrs. Hennessy and Mrs. Vento at the June School Board  Meeting

     Also at the June meeting, several of our sixth graders presented a puppet show that they wrote to help the children in kindergarten through grade two understand the mission statement.  It featured three characters, a starfish, an orangutan, and a duck.  It focused on the qualities of being passionate learners, and on leading lives with integrity.  Once again, our students exhibited creativity and dedication.  We are very proud of them!

                                                           Park Puppeteers             

     The following article was written by sixth grade students:

     The North Bellmore Student Arts League is a great experience for people who love art.  We learned new techniques, and met people with similar interests. We LOVED the Arts League!  Our favorite projects were:  "moving lines", "radial designs", "silhouette", and "triptych designs"!  Our work was displayed at the "Arts Extravaganza". 

     Drama students really enjoyed the program taught by Mrs. Lo Bosco.  She encouraged us to try new things, and not be shy.  We had such a great experience.  We loved it, especially when we performed the play "The Little Princess".

“Going Grand”

Throughout the 2007-08 school year, Park Avenue’s Site-Based Team has been working to determine how to best support the needs of our current sixth graders with the transition to middle school.  Through student and parent surveys, and discussions with faculty and parents, we have developed a program of workshops entitled, “Going Grand.”  These workshops are an opportunity for our sixth graders to receive valuable information about the middle school experience, and to be able to ask questions while discussing their thoughts and feelings about the upcoming transition. 

“Going Grand” consisted of four, separate workshops which were provided during the school day on May 8, 12, 13 and 21, 2008.  The students were divided into small groups and participated in activities such as: a scavenger hunt of the Grand Avenue website; practice with a combination lock; reading and using a real Grand Avenue schedule to identify classes and teachers; reading a floor plan of the middle school to determine room locations; and a question and answer session.  Mrs. Byrne, Mrs. Marino,   Ms. Connell, Mrs. Levine and Mr. D’Ottavio were happy to provide the sixth grade students with an opportunity to learn about their new school, while alleviating some of the anxiety they might be feeling as they get ready to leave Park Avenue. An educational and enjoyable experience was had by all!

The third grade students at Park Avenue have been corresponding with pen pals from Ms. Speidel's former school, P.S. 21, in Flushing, Queens. It has been a wonderful literature experience as well as an incredible social experience, as students have made friendships and connections with their pen pals. In November, the P.S. 21 students visited Park Avenue for an afternoon that included creative story presentations, a picnic lunch and time to get to know each other. Now, in May, our Park Avenue third graders visited their pen pals in Flushing. We were treated to a wonderful poetry presentation, a pizza lunch, playtime in the park, and terrific memories!

On April 29^th the fifth grade classes explored the Underground Railroad station at The Maine Maid Inn. Dr. Valsper presented an extensive PowerPoint presentation on Long Island's Civil War history encompassing our role with the Underground Railroad. Elias Hicks and his family, the owners of this historic restaurant, provided a safe haven for slaves making their way to freedom. The students were able to see first hand the hiding places for the slaves, along with a meeting house where the Quakers would meet - and still do! Then they observed the Hicks' family cemetery. The students enjoyed seeing and hearing the rich history of the Maine Maid Inn.

    A fifth grader in Mrs. Gallagher's and Mrs. Holland's class, was a winner of the Humane Society of New York essay contest entitled, "If you were the president of the United States, what would you do to help improve life for animals?"  The Humane Society of New York received more than one thousand five hundred well-written and heartfelt essays from Nassau County students.  Two winners from grade 3, two winners from grade 4 and two winners from grade 5 were selected county-wide.  Nassau County Executive, Tom Suozzi, presented  the award on May 5, 2008 at the Nassau County Court House. Congratulations!  We are so proud!        

   Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi  presenting the award to the student and his parents!                  

Students Train To Be Teachers

The students then worked with Mrs. Levine, and each wrote a summary of their wonderful teaching experience. Please read the text, that accompanies the pictures, to learn more!

At the end of the lesson, the first graders enjoyed having their fruit punch drinks. They thanked the sixth graders for working with them. The sixth grade teachers then applauded the first graders for being cooperative throughout the lesson

On a sunny March day, all three fifth grade classes were off to The American Museum of Natural History. The children were thrilled to "see" the history they have learned about as part of fifth grades social studies and science curriculum. Just looking out the window to see all the sky scrapers and vendors in New York City was exciting for me, remarked one fifth grader. Some of the exhibits enjoyed by all were: The Space Exhibit, Vertebrates, Hall of Dinosaurs, Reptiles and Amphibians, African Mammals, South American Peoples, Mexico and Central America and African and Asian Peoples. The children, parents and teachers had a memorable experience!

Additionally, the fifth graders had a wonderful time recently exploring and discovering the qualities of rocks and minerals. By performing various tests and by observing the specimens, our scientists were able to classify each rock and mineral by its luster, hardness, cleavage, magnetism, streak, texture and acidity. These hand on activities inspired our budding geologists to learn more about the earth we live on, and further understand the changes we experience in our environment.

Park's sixth graders joined math enthusiasts around  the world as they celebrated Pi Day - March 14th!  Pi (the number 3.14) is the number you get when you divide the circumference of a circle by its diameter.  Even though scientists have been exploring pi for over 4,000 years -  all the digits of pi are still not fully known.  Nevertheless, passionate, confident sixth graders had a great time trying to memorize pi, listening and singing along with a pi rap - "Lose Yourself in the Digits", calculating the circumference and area of circles, and eating scrumptious pies!  We all agree, we will remember pi = 3.14 for a very, very long time!        

      Park Avenue second graders wrote letters to a Marine unit currently stationed in Iraq.  They also collected personal care items, such as toothpaste and shampoo, and sent the  package to help brighten the soldiers' day!  What a wonderful way to contribute to our global community!

The kindergartners have been learning first hand how to reuse and recycle materials. Our students and their families have been collecting empty tissue boxes, half gallon milk/juice cartons, and brown paper bags. The collected materials are being reused to produce various kindergarten projects.

To celebrate Valentines Day we sponge painted our tissue boxes to create authentic student mailboxes. We also cut up brown paper bags to use as pages of our Valentines Day scrapbooks. As a class, the students wrote a poem titled, Things We Love. A copy of the class poem was incorporated in each scrapbook. Each kindergartner wrote a letter to the recipient of their scrapbook, glued down pictures of themselves, and decorated the cover. The Valentines Day Scrapbooks are sure to bring a smile to all those who read it.

The kindergartners also celebrated the 100^th day of school. We have been collecting milk cartons to create Humpty Dumptys Wall of Rhymes. Our recycled containers are being glued together in rows of ten. When we reach our goal, there will be one hundred milk cartons glued together in ten rows of ten! The students will then write rhymes to add to each brick on Humpty Dumptys Wall of Rhymes.

Several dedicated Park Avenue students volunteered their time and expertise to demonstrate how we use the SMARTBoard technology as a "quintessential learning tool". As part of the presentation, they highlighted many exciting features of the SMARTBoard, and then answered questions from the community. They were informative, skillful, passionate and enthusiastic. We are so proud of each of them!

Mrs. Panchyn and Ms. Birnbaum's 4th grade class had a great time creating "Geo-Pets". Using geometric pattern blocks the students created a variety of adorable pets. Each student then wrote an advertisement promoting his or her pet. It was certainly a "zoo" in the class that day!

Sixth graders have been learning about adaptations. They read about Charles Darwin's trip to the Galapagos Islands, and his observations. Our principal, Ms. Speidel, presented a powerpoint lesson to both sixth grade classes on the SMARTboard. She shared facts about the enchanted islands, and her breathtaking photos of the endemic animals. This was followed by a lively and stimulating question and answer session. Based on the "virtual field trip" she guided us on - many, many sixth graders now hope to visit this majestic paradise!