Setauket Signals-Vol. 2 - Three Village Central School District

Setauket Signals
Volume 1
April 2011
Sixth Annual Founders Day
a Great Success
The weather was sunny and mild for the Setauket
School’s annual celebration of Founders Day. This year’s
theme, Wigwams to Waterwheels, highlighted the architecture of the Setauket area through the paintings of the
Vance Locke murals in the school’s auditorium.
A presentation was made by Brookhaven Town Councilman, Steve Fiore Rosenfeld to the school from the Brookhaven Town Board.
The Three Village Historical Society honored Dr. Anne
Rullan with the Kate Wheeler Strong Memorial Award for
her efforts in helping to create Founders Day six years
ago.
Mr. Neil Lederer, the Interim Superintendent of Schools, addressed the hundreds of students, parent
and community members present about the significance of the school’s and community’s heritage.
He thanked State Assemblyman Steve Englebright for his efforts along with the school district in securing state grants to restore The Vance Locke murals and other historic aspects of the school’s architecture.
Music was provided by the Setauket School’s Band, Chorus, and Orchestra under the direction of
Richard Wiederman, Laura Cooley, and Suzanne Califano respectively.
A gift to the school was made by the PTA of a reproduction of a William Sidney Mount painting originally painted in 1831. The painting entitled, Dancing on the Barn Floor, was a gift of Mr. and Mrs.
Ward Melville to the Long Island Museums of America Art History and Carriage Museum. The museum graciously allowed the commissioning a reproduction of the painting by the PTA. Danielle
Dunn, the Setauket School PTA president and Christy Radke, Co-Chairperson of Founders Day made
the presentation to Dr. Anne Rullan, the former principal and Kathryn White, the assistant principal.
Founders Day Planning
Committee Recognized
Thank you to the Planning Committee: Dr. Anne Rullan, past
principal of Setauket School, Danielle Dunn PTA president,
Barbara Russell, Brookhaven Town Historian, Bev Tyler, local historian of History Close at Hand, Donna Smith, Three
Village Historical Society and the Co-Chairs of this year’s
Founders Day—Katherine Downs of the Three Village Community Trust and Christy Radke of the Setauket PTA.
Student Docents Perform
For Community
Student volunteers from Setauket School acted in period costumes for
the Founders Day Celebration. The students using a monologue prepared by local historians explained the significance of the architectural details in the Vance Locke murals housed in the Richard Woodhull Auditorium. Our thanks to these students for the many hours of
rehearsals and their performances at Founders Day: Kiera-Kate
Alventosa, Carly Antonucci, Josh Aponte, Ian Baram, Mekye Barnes,
Laureen Berlinghof, Everett Brown, Hanna Brown, Malcolm Brown,
Isabel Della Salle, Isabella Fallon, Arianna Ferretti, Jessica Haegele,
Olivia Harrington, Ashley Hart, Kathryn Hopkins, John Husch, Katherine Kaloroumakis, Sarah Klecher, Julia La Rotonda, Marissa Leombruno, Braxton Maldonato, Rowan Martin, Natalie O’Dell, Rene Orlando, Luke Paccione, Emily Paul, Claudia Powell, Jack Prague,
Emma Rosenzweig, Mary Schuchman, Sylvi Stoller, Bryce Thuilot,
Grey Trovato, and Charlotte Urquhart.
Contra Dancing at Founders Day
The physical education teachers, Mike Still and Matt Brand, taught a Square Dancing
unit during the month of April in preparation for Founders Day.
Student volunteers performed at Founders Day to the live music provided by Larry
Moser and Mary Nagin. Our thanks to all our dancers:
Alex Hart
Ashley Hart
Emily Paul
Alexia Bellini
Kelly Quinn
Olivia Carrion
Carly Antonucci
Emma Rosenzweig
Kathryn Hopkins
Emily Wicks
Madison Bratone
Jessica Haegele
Rocki Munch
Madison Hobbes
Maria Foglia
Maggie Zanone
Matthew Roberts
Lexie Salerno
Dylan Maggio
Sylvi Stoller
Bella Nelin
Danielle King
Dylan Ratner
Bridget Schoendorf
Kerry McKeever
Sarah Klecher
Marissa Leombruno
Jillian Dunn
Brooke Pikiell
Hannah Hobbes
Mary Schuchman
Charlotte Urquhart
Megan Canavarros
Lara Atalay
John Husch
Maya Vishnia
Kindergarten
was a very exciting fun-filled month for kindergarten!
On March 4th, we had a special visit form our favorite pediatric dentist- Dr.
Glen. The very entertaining presentation taught us the fundamentals of dental hygiene.
There were leprechauns on the loose during St. Patrick’s Day and they left
clues of their visit in every kindergarten class! Although no one caught one,
we still had a lot of fun trying. Maybe next year….
We also celebrated the wonderful literature of Dr. Seuss this month. We
hosted a Dr. Seuss Fun Day for all families and dressed up as some of our favorite characters.
Thanks to our P.T.A. and their Multi-Cultural fund, kindergarten was able to
travel around the world with Mr. Mouse from Katie’s Puppets. This fun and
interactive puppet show was enjoyed by students and teachers! Mrs. Freeman even had the opportunity to dress up like a cheese ball in order to help
Mr. Mouse in his quest to find cheese!
We also want to thank one of our art teachers, Mrs. Caine for choosing our
hallway for the 6th grade mural this year. She has worked hard with 6th graders and traveling artists to make our wing feel like you’re walking into the
pages of a book! All of kindergarten is so excited to watch the progress each
day and hunt for their favorite literary characters!
Page 6
First Grade
Life is egg-citing here in First Grade! If you walk down the halls of D-Wing you might hear
the sounds of chirping chicks. First Grade has been learning about the development and
life cycle of a chicken and we have been incubating eggs for the past 21 days. On Monday,
April 4th many of the chicks started chipping away at their shells to enter into the world of
First Grade. Ms. Hanrahan's class sings Frere Chickies to wake the chicks up each morning. Katelyn Giordano and Julian Smith from Mrs. Pantelidis' class asked, "Can we keep the
chicks forever?" Jonathan Bussa from Ms. DiBenedetto's class said, "You do have to admit
they are adorable." And Daniel Sobel from Mrs. Cimini's and Ms. DeLorenzo's class said he
was getting an incubator to hatch chickens at home.
First Grade Teachers,
Mrs. Cimini, Ms. DiBenedetto, Ms. Hanrahan, and Mrs. Pantelidis
Second Grade
Let's travel back in time to school long ago in the year 1880. Our class recently went to the Old
Schoolhouse at the Museums of Stony Brook. Our schoolhouse teacher was Miss Helene. We used
a bucksaw to prepare wood for the wood burning stove. We used scratch pens and ink to practice
Spencerian script in copybooks. We also had to memorize and recite The Johnnycake poem. At the
beginning of the field trip the boys and girls were separated and entered the school on different
sides. There were two students at each desk. We had to bring our lunches, referred to in olden days
as "dinners", in a pail, basket or carried in a cloth napkin. Before we had dinner we had to wash our
hands in a pail with a partner. We took turns pouring a cup of cold water over the partner's hands.
We did our arithmetic with a slate pencil on a slateboard. We learned that there was only one
teacher for all the grades K-8. It was a fun trip, but we were happy to be back in the 21st century!
By Lola Zummo and Bridget Valeiko
Page 7
Second Grade (continued)
Mrs. Biamonte’s Class Travels Back in Time
Mrs. Dunbar’s Class
by Natalia Buscemi
Mrs. Biamonte’s class has been learning
about the olden days. They made butter
from cream and Johnny Cakes with a real
chef, Mr. Kevin Sohl!
They went to the One Room School
House at the Museum in Stony Brook. They
all dressed up as children from the olden
days. At the One Room School House, they
did arithmetic on slate boards, reading, and
writing in cursive with ink fountain pens.
Then they had dinner (lunch) which was
carried in pails and baskets, not lunch boxes
or paper bags.
After lunch, when they had recess, there
were two games to play. The first one was
called hoops and the second was called
hoops and sticks. “Hoops” was played with
a big wooden hoop that you roll by your
side as you run. “Sticks and hoops” was
played with four sticks and one small hoop
and two people. The two people put their
sticks in crosses and stood three feet away
from each other. One person put the small
hoop on the two sticks and flung them
apart so the hoop flew through the air and
the other player tried to catch it with his/her
sticks. It was a lot of fun!
Page 8
Mrs. Dunbar’s D-1Aer’s and all second
graders at Setauket had the opportunity
this month to spend a day at the old Nassakeag Schoolhouse at the Long Island
Museum in Stony Brook.
The School Days Program fits into our
second grade social studies curriculum by
providing the children an opportunity to
discover what life was like in a rural 19th
century Long Island school community
comparing it to today.
Each class spent a full day at the
schoolhouse. Through discussion, roleplay, and hands-on activities in the historic 19th century classroom, children
learned about the history of our schools
and school communities. Everyone had
the opportunity to dress in post-Civil War
style, and bring “dinner” with them to eat
at the schoolhouse. It was a magical and
exciting experience for all.
Third Grade
Mrs. Nilsson’s Class
Happenings in room C-3
April 2011
First of all let me introduce you to the students we
have. Dan, Jacob, Dylan, Jack D. Jack U., and Max
all like football and play it all the time at recess.
Then we have Aidan who loves to read and draw.
Also, we have Colin, Molly, Lily, Sarah, Campbell,
and me who love to read and most of the time we
have Colin in a book and we can’t get him out of it.
Then we have Lauren and Allison who are the best
of friends and Hannah who loves to make things
out of duct tape. Kaitlin likes to draw and do art.
Kosta likes to read the Beast Quest series and has
almost finished it. And then there is Kristin who
likes dogs and the last three people are Hawken,
Luke, and Chase. Hawken is a master artist and
Luke likes things to be very organized and Chase
is always kind. Now that we have that finished the
students lets move on to what has happened. On
Monday we had square dancing in gym, on Tuesday we had music where we are learning to play
the recorder, on Wednesday we had gym again,
and on Thursday we had Library and Health. Thursday three moms and a grandma came in to do a
biome project with recycled water bottles and
plants (it was fun), and on Friday we have art at
2:45. Our class is also studying the layers of the
rainforest and the animals that are in it. Also, we
have to do a power point project on a rainforest
creature. And that is what is happening in room C3.
Mrs. McGrath’s Class
In our class we are having a great time as well
as learning! The class is currently learning multiplication in math. Multiplication has been a
GREAT success!!!! Recently we had a multiplication test and our class average was over 90%.
Everyone did well. Our minute of math morning
work finished on the 100th day of school.
We are getting excited for our WONDERFUL treat of making the classroom a Tropical
Rainforest. Mrs. McGrath has gotten the families involved by asking them to make beautiful
tissue paper flowers. The tissue paper flowers
will be one of the many decorations we will use
to create our classroom Rainforest. We are
turning our classroom into a Tropical Rainforest
to celebrate the completion of our BIG research
project. Everyone in the class has chosen a
Rainforest animal to research. We have worked
with Mrs. Knox to learn how to gather information and take notes. Next week we will create a
PowerPoint presentation with all the information
we learned. We are all so excited!!
The folktales that we have been reading
and writing from around the world are coming
out WONDERFUL in Writer’s Workshop!!!! We
started to brainstorm ideas about settings for
our folktales, problems/lessons, solutions, good
and evil characters, numbers, magic and magical objects. We can’t wait to see the final published stories.
We are still cooking with our kindergarten buddies. Recently we cooked Irish soda
bread for St. Patty’s Day. I wonder what we will
cook next month for Easter! It’s probably going
to be good, like everything else we make!!
Written by: Ashley Zhang
By: Kelly Ratner
Page 9
Fourth Grade
Reinforcements
By Lauren Hansen from Mrs. Wall’s Class
How does your teacher motivate you???? Mrs. Wall uses positive and negative reinforcements in her classroom. She uses treats and rewards for her positive reinforcements. Mrs. Wall has a thing called “Mystery Walker” with “Wallie Bucks”. If
you walk in the hall quietly and follow the rules, you get “Wallie Bucks” if you were
the Mystery Walker. It’s that simple! If you walk in the hall without following the
rules, you don’t get the “Money.”
Mrs. Wall does have some negative reinforcements too! Mrs. Wall uses “How am I
Doing?” cards. If you talk when she is talking or if she is teaching a lesson, you have
to flip your card from green to yellow or yellow to red. You know your in deep doo-doo
when you go on red or double red. The only time YOU have to flip your card is when
Mrs. Wall says “Go flip your card!’’ By the end of the week if your card has been
flipped over to yellow, red, or double red you don’t get any “ Wallie Bucks” but everyone else, who stayed on green, gets the “Bucks”.
If you are wondering what “Wallie Bucks” are, it is fake money you get when you follow the rules. If you get enough money you can buy prizes at the end of the week,
like candy for $20.00, or a trip to the treasure box for $25.00, or a free homework
assignment-pass for $35.00, or lunch ( that Mrs. Wall buys for you at any place of
your choice) with the teacher for $150.00 and more.
It’s that easy! Just follow the classroom rules and you can earn lots of prizes!!!! You
might be wondering if Mrs. Wall ever teaches. She does and she does an Awesome
job at that. Mrs. Wall has these positive reinforcements to keep you on the right
track!
Page 10
Fourth Grade (continued)
Mrs. Negus’ Class
These are your reporters from Mrs. Negus’ class with what’s happening now. There is
so much happening in room B-5. Not only are the flowers outside beginning to bloom,
but so are our radishes inside the class. We are in the middle of conducting our own
experiments with radish seeds. One group is watering their radish seeds with different
color water. They question whether or not the radish will grow the color of the water.
We can’t wait to see what happens! Also in science, all fourth grade classes have begun rotating to a different fourth grade teacher for science. To get ready for the state
test, each teacher is reviewing units with each class. Mrs. Negus reviewed the studies
of Life Science. We are so excited to rotate for a total of five weeks!
In math we just finished our unit on Geometry. With a million vocabulary words to learn
we are glad that is over. Now it’s on to fractions and more review for the math state
test.
On to social studies… We are at that point of saying good bye to a dear friend, named
Jonathan Barlowe. He is the main character in the book “Spies on the Devil’s Belt.”
Jonathan brought us in to the world of a spy during the revolutionary times. With secret
messages and code names, we got so inspired to do our own mini-project about the
book. Some students chose to create Culper Spy Ring advertisements while others
created diary entries written from the point of view of one of the characters. Next up,
government!
The most exciting news of all is about the new addition to the class, Kevin! With open
arms we welcomed Kevin to our family. In such a short time he already fits in! We look
forward to learning more about Kevin!
That’s all folks!
Page 11
Fifth Grade
Mrs. D’onofrio’s Class
Mrs. Prinzo’s Class
Have you ever peeked through Mrs. D’Onofrio’s door and wondered what it’s like when it’s
open to explore? Here is a short tour.
We have been learning about percentages, rocks and minerals, and weathering and
erosion; plus we have started a new PowerPoint
presentation about a country we have chosen
from Latin America.
In science, we are learning about rocks
and minerals. We learned how to use Proscopes, which is a special camera that magnifies
objects 50 times. We used Proscopes to take
pictures of different types of rocks, and then we
were able to classify the rocks into categories
(igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks).
We also created posters to help us learn about
the inside layers of the Earth; which are the
crust, mantle and the inner and outer core.
In math, we are learning about adding
and subtracting fractions with like and unlike denominators. Mr. Gustafson has set up fun stations for us, such as computer websites, fraction
games, versatiles, algebra wrap-ups and learning
circles to help us learn fractions and other math
concepts in a fun way. Thank you Mr. Gustafson!
In social studies, we are learning about
immigration. Did you ever wonder why our country is called the melting pot? Well, it’s because
many cultures migrated to our country for better
lives and freedom. Have you ever wondered how
you got to America? Our class used an interactive website to make up our own immigration trip
to America.
Our newest surprise is our wonderful student teacher, Miss Vogel. She has been teaching us about social studies, science and reading.
Miss Vogel is currently studying at St Joseph’s
College.
Another fun activity we are currently doing
is our writing project on Hybrid Texts. In our Hybrid Texts, each student has chosen a specific
subject. We are transforming our discovery drafts
into a real storybook. Hybrid Texts include fiction
and some non-fiction.
Lastly, we are studying for our two upcoming state tests, the ELA and math! Wish us luck!
By, Alexandra Romanoff, Liv Halvorsen, and
Victoria Wood
In Writers Workshop, we are writing hybrid
texts. In case you are wondering, these are informational stories that have a fictional piece.
Some of these topics are exotic animals, war
planes and holidays.
At last your tour is coming to an end, but there
will be much, much more for us to comprehend!
By John Ragozzino, Jack Hardy and Shannon
Coughlan
Page 12
Fifth Grade (continued)
Mrs. Shaughnessy’s class
In Reading, the class participated in Literature circles. There are four different groups all reading historical
fiction novels. Each person in the group is assigned a role, in order to recall thoughts and points throughout
the book. In each group there is always a Team Leader or a Discussion Director, who has to lead the group
and pick discussion topics. There are also other jobs or roles such as, Literary Luminary, Illustrator, Summarizer, and many more. Most groups have between 3-5 people participating. When each group is finished reading their book, they have to decide how they want to share their book with the class. Then, the group makes a
project showing something they have read, learned, or liked about the book! Now we are reading a new novel
with our group. Reading is always exciting in the Shaughnessy Classroom!
Written by Samantha Rutt
In the Shaughnessy class, we finished up our unit on book reviews. The class read a lot of book reviews. We
started out using graphic organizers to organize our ideas about our favorite picture book. Then we wrote a
book review about it. Now we’ve been promoted to writing our very own book review, on one of our favorite
chapter books, we already read. Currently, we are working on hybrid texts. A hybrid text is factual but has a
story line to it. We are not quite finished but they are all turning out great! We are looking forward to do much
more fun, writing activities in the Shaughnessy class.
Written by Joshua Meyer
In science, we are finishing up your unit on rocks and minerals. We made lots of cool, colorful posters and
some of the students brought in rocks of their own. It’s been fun learning about the different rocks and minerals. In social studies, we are learning about immigration. It’s not boring, it’s actually really interesting and cool.
I learned things I never even knew about my family, and I think the other kids did too. We have to hand in a
poster all about our heritage and where we come from next week. We learned many new things in this unit
and it was fun. Of course, Mrs. Shaughnessy ALWAYS has something new and fun up her sleeve!
Written by Theresa Gerrity
In math, we are doing fractions. We’re taking improper fractions and transforming them into mixed fractions.
Were also seeing and finding out what fractions are equivalent. Basically, we’re doing different concepts with
fractions. And now, Mr. G gave our class fun math stations that we now do every Friday, like learning circles,
key wrap ups and other fun activities!
Written by: Annatje Clark
Page 13
Fifth Grade (continued)
Mrs. Austin’s Class
St. Patrick’s Day Baking
On March 17, 2011 Mrs. Austin’s class made Irish Soda Bread. Mrs. Mc Avoy, Mrs. Grillo, and Mrs. Ulrich came in to
help out. The recipe is below.
- 1/2 stick of unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cups dried currants
- 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 3/4 cups buttermilk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 eggs, well beaten
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted & cooled to
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 cup sugar
room temperature
- 1 tablespoon caraway seeds (optional)
1. Smear 2 tablespoons of the butter evenly over the bottom and sides of a 10” cast-iron skillet. Line the bottom of the
skillet with a circle of wax paper.
2. Preheat the oven to 350degrees
3. Sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Then, add the currants and toss well to coat.
4. In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter. Add this to the dry ingredients along with
the caraway seeds, and mix just until blended. Do not over mix.
5. Spoon the batter into the prepared skillet, and smooth the top gently with a spatula. Dot the top with the remaining
two tablespoons of butter.
6. Place the skillet in the oven and bake until the bread is puffed and golden brown, about one hour. Cool in the skillet
for ten minutes and serve warm, or then transfer the bread to a wire rack to continue cooling. Cut the loaf into wedges
to serve.
Enjoy!!!!!!
On April 1, 2011 we made origami cranes to help Japan’s Earthquake and Tsunami disaster. The Bezos Family Foundation pays 2 dollars per crane.
How you can get involved:
Make a paper crane-you can view a how-to video (youtube.com)
Snap a photo and upload it, along with a message of support, to Facebook page “paper cranes for Japan”
Turn your crane into dollars for reconstruction
You can help too!
By: Malachy Mc Avoy, Sean Mattson, Yuto Koga, Matthew Grillo and Zach Hobbes
Page 10
Fifth Grade (continued)
Events in Ms. Tortorici’s Class
So far it has been a very exciting and interesting month in Ms. Tortorici’s fifth
grade class! In Social Studies, we just finished putting together our Class Immigration
Cookbooks, with every student’s delicious family recipe in it. This cookbook coincides
with our unit on Immigration. In Science, we are currently learning about the earth’s
layers. We made earth pops to represent each layer of the earth. First, we put a gumdrop on a Popsicle stick to represent the core. Next, we took a rice crispy treat and
molded it around the gumdrop to form the mantle. Finally, we crushed chocolate graham crackers and rolled the rice crispy treat in them to represent the earth’s crust. It
was an educational and scrumptious activity!
We received a very special treat on St. Patrick’s Day from our teacher, Ms. Tortorici, and our class aide, Mrs. Manna. We had a breakfast celebration with green bagels! Another exiting event we had this month was a performance by our very own
classmate, Zach Carnevale. Zach informed us that he was a “self-taught” guitar player
and then went on to play a few songs on his electric guitar. Ashlynn Hernandez, a student in Ms. Tortorici’s class, is the “Artist of the Month.” Her beautiful artwork is hanging on the bulletin board by the art room for all to see! A few students in our class have
been traveling the world! Husain Dhoon is spending some time with family in India,
Alex Sobel is enjoying himself in Rome while visiting friends with his mom, and Maddy
Licalzi recently returned from a fun-filled trip to sunny Puerto Rico. We were all pretty
jealous! Lastly, in writing, we are working on our hybrid texts. A hybrid text is a fictional
story with factual information in it.
We have been having a wonderful time in Ms. Tortorici’s class and are all so excited to go on our next field trip to Mangoes Mexican Restaurant! We look forward to
learning about the culture and geography of Latin America!
Written by Ashlynn Hernandez and Schuyler Tasman
Page 15
Sixth Grade
Mrs. Varacchi’s Class
Mrs. Miele’s Class
2 Hours, 7 Carts & 1 Happy Shelter
Upcoming 6th Grade Events
Written by, Charlotte Urquhart
There are many memories that we’ll last you
a life time. Your experience in sixth grade is nothing
short of wonderful. Some memories stand out more
than others, but in the end they’re all grand. Sometimes memories fade, but it’s hard to forget these
wonderful times. Some of the memories created in
sixth grade are the barbeque where kids are able to
bond and socialize together, the superb New York
City field trip at the Pompeii exhibit, and the magnificent moving up ceremony.
Over the first weekend in April, four 6th graders did something that helped the oldest no-kill shelter on Long Island. Little Shelter does not kill any animals that are taken in. The shelter has been saving
animals’ lives and finding new homes since 1927.
On Saturday Charlotte Urquhart, Megan Canavarros and Luke and Eric Paccione stood for 2
hours standing outside of Stop and Shop handing out
flyers that they made, with a wish list of things that
the shelter needed. The kids asked the shoppers if
they could donate one thing from the list. In the first
hour, they got over 4 carts full of animal food, paper
towels, and treats. “I thought we would only fill 2
carts, or three carts maximum, but over the 2 hours,
we filled up 7 carts, and the whole trunk!” Charlotte
said. People also gave us money and by the end of
the drive we got $54.00! One lady even donated a
GIANT bag of dog food, a bowl, and 2 bags of dog
treats.
On Sunday, the group went to Little Shelter to
deliver the food. Two people who worked there came
and helped unpack the trunk. The paper towels and
bleach were taken inside and all of the food was
taken to the pantry. They told us it was the biggest
donation they ever received. Then the group got a
tour of the shelter. Sadly, a skinny Great Dane with
his ribs and pelvis sticking out was there. The group
hopes that food they collected will help him.
If you are interested in adopting a pet please
either go on www.littleshelter.com, or call 631-3688770. Little Shelter is located at 33 Warner Road,
Huntington, NY 11743.
On a bright beautiful sunny day, when the
birds are chirping, sixth graders gather outside to enjoy the stunning weather and delicous food at Setauket Elementary school. Parents volunteer to help assemble the best time celebrating the excellent year.
Kids and teachers are exercising after an immense
meal. There are so many games it’s difficult to
choose which to play in such a short period of time.
Sixth graders load on to the coach buses for
an unforgettable field trip in New York City. The Pompeii exhibit is a fascinating place to experience before
the school year ends and we leave for middle school.
This is an educational field trip which is also an enjoyable experience for all sixth graders. There are over
250 artifacts that we will be marveling over as we
explore this amazing exhibit.
On this memorable last day of our Setauket
experience, we will be commemorating our spectacular days here at Setauket. We will be moving on to
another brilliant school. Our years here in this school
have been inspiring, but now it’s time to progress to
another school. As we celebrate our last few moments at Setauket we remember all the great times
we’ve had here.
As we look back on these amazing last few
months, we remember all the good times we’ve had.
It’s heart breaking to see Setauket go by so quickly,
but it’s time to move on. It’s almost time to say,
“Good bye Setauket!”
By: Marissa Leombruno, Kiera-Kate Alventosa, and
Fernanda Arevalo
Page 16
Sixth Grade (continued)
Mrs. Miele’s Class (continued)
Square Dancing
Thanks to our new principal Mr. Harrington, who is a great dancer, the whole
school has the opportunity to square
dance. It is a wonderful experience for all
the kids because you learn to be social
with the other gender. All the dances we
do include running around, holding
hands, skipping, honoring your partner,
and swinging your partner round and
round. The country songs make the kids
excited and ready to dance. All the students love and enjoy this dance unit. The
floors of the gym have squares on the
floor made of white tape so that the children know were to dance. Mr. Still, our
gym teacher, assigns the dance partners.
He lines up all the boys in the hallway and
he lines up all the girls in the gym. Then
he takes one boy out from in the hallway
and pairs him up with a girl. Some kids
take this dance unit seriously, but on the
other hand some kids don’t enjoy it as
much as the other children do. Most of us
enjoy square dancing and hope to do it
again.
By: Madison Bratone, Maria Foglia &
Megan Hill
Page 17
Mrs. Miele’s Class (continued)
Meeting Gordon Korman
I had never met an author before,
so it was very interesting to meet a famous one in person. Several of his books
are well known, such as Schooled, Liar,
Liar Pants on Fire, and many more.
Gordon Korman acted was very
comfortable and natural during our assembly. I felt that he was very open to personal things, and even some embarrassing things. But, he also mentioned funny
things too. For example, when he published Liar Liar Pants on fire, it was translated to, ‘Your trousers are in flames and
your pants have combusted’ which he
thought was definitely not as good of a
title, and I agree. He even told us that his
most popular books were rejected on the
first time he tried to publish them. He was
also very happy to hear our questions.
He shared facts of his life with us,
which I thought was very interesting to
know about an author or “celebrity’s” life.
Did you know he wrote his very first book
at the age of 12? And it was published!
He wrote it in the 8th grade when he had
an assignment in English Class. Since the
teacher was not a registered English
teacher, he assigned the students to write
a story, giving them one period each English class. I think he used his time well. I
wish that we had that much time to write
stories because I would like to be an author when I am older, just like other students in this school.
Sixth Grade (continued)
Mrs. Miele’s Class (continued)
Mrs. Villari’s Class
Meeting Gordon Korman (continued)
Two weeks ago, our new student, Callita Jickeli,
arrived. Although she is from Germany, she can
speak both English and German. Callita comes
to America every four years and stays four
months at a time. The next time she comes back,
we’ll be in high school (10th grade). Everyone
takes part in helping her adjust to the classroom
routines, but Mrs. Villari assigned two girls, Katie
Pav and Jillian Dunn, to show her around the
school during their free time. Callita is adjusting
well to her new school, thanks to the whole
class. We are excited to learn about Germany
too.
I recommend reading his books, since
some of his books are for all ages. He is a
very detailed writer, but not overly descriptive and boring. I think everyone should
give at least one of his books a try, and if
you don’t like it, abandon it. At least you
can say you attempted.
Overall, Gordon Korman is a very
nice person and an amazing author. He
kind of gave me a vibe of an ‘open book’
person, meaning he doesn’t mind telling
people about himself. I think that is very
important and shows great qualities in a
person. He is a positive role model, even
if you don’t want to be an author. He is
someone you don’t have to relate to and
can still feel for, in any shape or kind of
way you’d like. I loved writing this article
because I could share my experience with
him and also give him a little advertisement. After meeting him, I will definitely
read more of his books.
By Veronica Munch
Another event that took place was the
Gelinas play. The sixth grade went on a field trip
to enjoy Oliver, performed by the junior high students. Grey Trovato’s ninth grade sister, Eva,
sang as part of the chorus in the play. Along with
her, Henry Nelson’s eighth grade sister, Olivia,
participated in the lighting crew. Many students
in our class look forward to being a part of the
Gelinas play next year. Some hopeful actors are
Kathryn Kaloroumakis, Danielle King, and
Arianna Ferretti. Malcolm Brown, Gary Schmidt,
and Quentin Van de Loo would love to work behind the scenes as part of the backstage crew.
We can certainly picture Sarah Prokop, Henry
Nelson and Ian Baram playing their instruments
in the orchestra pit.
We’re looking forward to our next field trip
to the Walt Whitman house in Huntington and
then to New York City in June.
Page 18
Sixth Grade (continued)
Mrs. Brady’s Class
Mrs. Brady’s Class (continued)
Have you ever heard of the famous poet Walt
Whitman? Well, the sixth grade and myself are
visiting his childhood home which is in Huntington. Also, I’m currently learning about literary essays so Mrs. Brady is reading aloud, Mr. Terupt,
recommended by Mrs. Varacchi’s class. I am typing and finishing up my feature article on the aggressive factors of video games. In addition, in
Science, my favorite subject, I’m studying the
much needed Periodic Table. It’s just a chart of
every known element to date. Dimitri Mendeleeve created the rough draft where as someone else completed it. Cool, huh? I personally will
try to keep this school posted on the sixth grade
activities and academic curriculum.
Since our 6th grade classes have had a good time
learning music, most kids are performing in
NYSSMA. NYSSMA is an opportunity for musicians
to display their skills to a judge and makes musicians more comfortable performing in front of
someone. Preparing for NYSSMA takes numerous
hours and loads of perseverance which makes an
end result of total relief. So wish us luck for the
soon up coming NYSSMA.
By Erik Hansen
When I heard Gordon Korman was coming I was
curious about what he looked like and his personality. I was also curious to hear about some
of the books he wrote like The 39 Clues series or
the Swindle series. I was a little excited to meet
an author.
By Vincent Bartlett
By Stephen Durko
Oliver
By Renee Orlando, Sarah Jiang, Andrew Lockhart,
Isabelle Antos
Last week we went to see the play Oliver at Gelinas Jr. Hight. It was fantastic! The show itself was
authentic since everyone had a British accent.
Everyone sang like pros! I was so amazed at the
talent the students had and they’re only in 7th, 8th
and 9th grades. It felt like you were on Broadway
since the actors and the pit did so well! Although
the lead was great, I thought Fagan stole the
show. Overall, it was an amazing and entertaining
show and I cannot wait til next year for Theater
Arts now!
In gym class we are currently participating in
square dancing. Everyone has a partner and four
“couples” share a square together. There are
many fun dance moves that go along with it and
even funny songs. Some people weren’t so excited about being partners with a girl or a boy but
if you take a chance it isn’t that bad. It’s easy
and fun to learn!
By Madison Hobbes
Page 19
Sixth Grade (continued)
Mrs. Castellano’s Class
Mrs. Castellano’s Class (continued)
Going Green in A-10
Science
Mrs. Castellano’s class has come up with a way to
keep the green trees green. We have started an
in-class recycling program. The class will take
empty bottles and cans to Stop & Shop to get 5
cents per can. We will be donating the money to
the school courtyard. The first week was a success. We have already collected over $20.00.
The creators of this idea are Clara, Megan and
Jennifer.
Science has been rocky when learning about the
rock cycle. We are trying to acquire how rocks
change. But the best part has been studying the
layers of the earth as we go deeper into the core.
SPOTLIGHT
The winner of our field day t-shirt is the gecko
gecko by Morgan, Victoria and Liv from Mrs.
Prinzo’s class!
“geico can save you 15% or more on scholarships!”
Math Mania
This March we learned many new concepts of
math in Mrs. Castellano’s class. We are studying
geometry and angles. Geometry has been a work
of art for us. We printed out symmetrical pictures
and drew the other half. We have been using our
protractors to measure angles such as right, obtuse, and acute. We went deeper into triangles—
isosceles, equilateral, and scalene.
Slaveless Social Studies
We are immigrating through the pages of our social studies textbooks to find out immigrants journey and life in the United States. Child labor has
brought us to the conclusion of why times were so
hard back then.
Page 20
Mrs. Vecchio’s Class
The students in Mrs. McGrath’s and Mrs. Vecchio’s classes were truly inspired by the
message of kindness and friendship from the “Kindness Committee’s” assembly. They
learned what it means to be kind to others, and about the importance of treating others
the way they want to be treated. After the assembly, these two classes got together to
discuss how to show kindness. They spent some time brainstorming out loud real ways to
show kindness. Then, each student received a sentence strip to write the way they want to
be kind to others. The students began to share their ideas with each other, and complimented one another on neat handwriting, and good ideas. As the students began to finish,
they started to look at the books in Mrs. Vecchio’s classroom. During the month of March,
the books on main display were the “How-to Books,” that the students had written. The
student’s in Mrs. McGrath’s class were so excited to read the “How-to Books,” and began to
compliment the student’s in Mrs. Vecchio’s class. They took turns writing kind words inside
the books, and the student’s in Mrs. Vecchio’s class were thrilled to share their talent with
their friends. It was truly inspiring to watch two classes come together and innately embrace the meaning of kindness and friendship.
Page 21
Jammies for Japan
We all know about the terrible tragedy in Japan. So our school did something to earn money for
the families in Japan. It’s was called “Jammies for Japan”!
Everyone in the school wore pajamas on April 13th to show their support for the families in Japan. You also got a little paper bear which you wrote your name on and it was put on a school-wide
bulletin board in the hallway by the main office.
Some people even decorated their bears! They put hair on them, dresses, and they even colored
them. There are three huge bulletin boards FILLED with teddy bears of all colors. Pink, yellow, and orange. They look like a big rainbow!
When it came to the day we had to wear our pajamas, everyone looked great! At the very end the
amount of money we earned was incredible. We raised $3,500!!!! I think we really earned a lot of money
and will change so many lives. We will really make a difference. With our help Japan will soon be back to
normal!
By Nicole Hauss
Page 22
Suffolk County Math Tournament
By Sylvi Stoller, Natalie O’Dell,
and Arianna Ferretti
On Thursday, April 7th, Setauket School’s Sylvi
Stoller, Ian Baram, Natalie O’Dell, Arianna Ferretti, and
Dylan Maggio went to the Suffolk County Annual Math
Tournament. Our chaperone was Mr. Gustafson, the
MST teacher. Fifty teams from across Suffolk County
were in attendance with approximately 250 students
competing. The tournament consisted of one individual
event and one team event. Each event had 10 questions. The competition was held at Stony Brook University in the Student Activity Center (SAC).
Our very own Ian Baram came in 6th place in the
individual event. He had to compete in a tiebreaker for
6th, 7th, and 8th place, which he won. Our team came in
2nd place for point total, although we didn’t get a trophy. We didn’t get one because they added our
individual event scores to the team event, and then awarded trophies based on total points. Our individual scores were not high enough. Mount Elementary School came in 1st place. Even though we
were disappointed, we’re happy for Mount .
I was great fun, and we hope Setauket is able to send another group of math students next
year!
Special thanks to Mrs. Della Caputo, our Math Olympiads advisor who prepared us for this
competition through out the year!
Folktale Winners Announced
March was folktale month at Setauket. Each Friday an international folktale was
read to the students over the public address system highlighting a moral or
theme. The PTA sponsored a student folktale writing contest and the winners
had their entries read at the Family Multicultural Night Celebration in March. We
are very proud to present the winning entries by Erin Zipman, 1st place and Emma
Martinez, runner up. Congratulations to each of these talented students.
Folktale Winners (continued)