The North Bellmore School District is accepting applications for its Universal Pre-Kindergarten program for the 2023-2024 school year. Due to limited spaces available, enrollment will be determined by a lottery drawing. The program is contingent upon state funding.

Children who will be 4 years old by Dec. 1, 2023, and will be eligible to enter kindergarten in September 2024, may participate in the lottery. The program is administered by the North Bellmore School District and is provided by community-based preschools. It is funded by the New York State Education Department through a UPK grant so there is no cost to families.

The district anticipates hosting both half-day and full-day programs, depending on grant allocations. The half-day program is offered 2 ½ hours per day, five days a week, and the full-day program is offered 5 hours per day, five days a week. Both programs will follow the North Bellmore school calendar. Children are expected to attend every day. Parents cannot choose the school location and transportation is not provided.

The deadline for applications is Friday, March 10. UPK applications are available online at www.northbellmoreschools.org, and at each elementary building from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on school days. For more information, contact Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Janet Pollitt at (516) 992-3000, ext. 3002.

Date Added: 2/7/2023

Books were everywhere at Park Avenue Elementary School on Jan. 27 as the North Bellmore School District hosted its annual Read Aloud Day.

The celebration of reading stretched from kindergarten to sixth grade classrooms, and even into the cafeteria where Park Avenue’s youngest and oldest students came together. Anne Griffin’s and Sarah Mazeika’s kindergartners were joined by their sixth grade buddies from Amanda Dimonda’s and Nicole Giusto’s classes.

Sixth graders welcomed the chance to act as reading role models for their younger peers. They not only read aloud to their buddies, but also helped the novice readers improve their abilities. Together they also made short videos, using either Clips or Flipgrid, about the favorite parts of the books they read.

In Alexa Laskowitz’s first grade class, students worked on their reading fluency. Using Seesaw on the iPads, children recorded themselves reading books aloud, then played the videos back. She said they worked on different skills, such as reading with punctation.

“Giving them a chance to read is giving them a chance to love books,” Ms. Laskowitz said.

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Date Added: 2/6/2023

Fifth graders in the district are immersed in a persuasive writing unit, learning just what it takes to pen a convincing argument.

At Martin Avenue Elementary School, students in Elizabeth Gorman’s class did a social media project about endangered species. Their goal was to create mock Instagram or TikTok posts that would persuade others to help those animals, including amur leopards, black panthers, orangutans and sea turtles.

Ms. Gorman said that students first read “Can We Save the Tiger?” by Martin Jenkins as a mentor text. Students then did research on endangered species, selected an animal they would like to help, and created their posts.

In Melissa Mignoli’s class at Saw Mill Road Elementary School, students began an opinion writing unit by answering subjective multiple choice questions, and giving at least three reasons why they made their selections. Question topics included the most important quality in a friend, the most needed school supply and what they wanted for dinner.

The purpose of this activity, Ms. Mignoli explained, was to show students about the importance of backing up their arguments with evidence. This knowledge will help them as they move on to writing persuasive essays on topics of their choice. As part of their writing process, they will do online research to find factual information to support their opinions.

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Date Added: 2/2/2023

A few dozen cold-weather birds were found at Park Avenue Elementary School on Jan. 27. They may have been just kindergartners in disguise, as they youngsters celebrated Penguin Day, an annual winter tradition.

Students dressed in black and white to look like the birds found in the Southern Hemisphere. The kindergartners read books to learn various facts about penguins, and made miniature books to sum up their new knowledge. Wearing their special hats, children did a penguin dance, waddling along to music.

Date Added: 1/31/2023