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JerichoSchool NewsVOLUME 50, NUMBER 2 December 2013
Jericho Debuts New Elementary Report Card for First
Trimester
Congratulations to the boys varsity soccer team for winning the
New York StateClass A Championship. This is a three-peat for the
team, who also won the lasttwo years. The team is coached by Dani
Braga and James Whelan. The team wasrecently honored at a Board of
Education Meeting and commended for winningwith class and
sportsmanship. Congratulations Jayhawks!
The Jericho School District recentlyintroduced a revised,
standards-basedreport card for kindergarten throughfifth grade
students. The districtElementary Report Card Committee,consisting
of teachers representingall grade levels as well as
administra-tors, worked on the report card forover a year to
produce a documentthat more accurately reflects stu-dents’ progress
in learning new stan-dards.
This report card has been alignedwith the new Common Core
StateStandards in ELA and mathematics,as well as revised social
studies stan-dards. As a result, the report card willmore
accurately reflect what is beingtaught and assessed in the
classroom.
Each report is grade specific, in linewith Common Core grade
require-ments, and contains a third page thatfurther explains
specific standardsfor that grade level. The standards, orstatements
of what children shouldknow and be able to do, are devel-oped in
such a way that they buildupon each other from grade to grade.The
standards-based report cardgives students and parents informa-tion
about individual strengths andweaknesses, as the students work
tomeet and exceed the standards eachyear. World language, art,
music, andPE are reported on the same reportcard form.
“We are very proud of this reportcard, but we realize that it is
a work
in progress,” said AssistantSuperintendent for Curriculum
andInstruction, Barbara Bauer. “Ourcommittee will be seeking
parentfeedback after the second publicationof the new school report
card, with aview toward revising it to further ourgoal of
communicating clearly thealignment among instruction, assess-ment,
and parent reporting.”No printed copies of the report cards
were sent home with children.Instead, they were made available
toparents using the Parent Portal. Moreinformation about the new
reportingsystem is available on the districtwebsite or at the
following
link:www.jerichoschools.org/depart-ments/academics/report_cards/
In this Issue:• Kindergarten Registration Set for January•
Student Named Siemens Semifinalist• Staff Honored at Recognition
Reception• JerEcho Debuts New Look• Elementary Happenings• Students
Honored by National MeritProgram• Mark Your Calendar – Dates
ToRemember
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Jericho High School students Ken Aizawa, Matthew Chun, Joshua
Han,Albert Hsiung, Oliver Hu, Xingan Hua, Kevin Huang, Yu Law,
Nicholas Mu,Dohee Na, Karen Pan, Kaitlyn Shin, Wilson Wang, Amy Xu,
Jerry Xu, andRichard Zhang were named Semifinalists in the National
Merit ScholarshipProgram. These students had the opportunity to
compete for approximately8,400 scholarships, worth $36 million,
that will be offered next spring. Morethan 1.5 million juniors in
over 22,000 high schools across the U.S. enteredthe 2013 National
Merit Program by taking the 2012 PreliminarySAT/National Merit
Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).Semifinalists, who
represent less than one percent of U.S. high schoolseniors, are
made up of the high scoring entrants in each state. The numberof
semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage
of thenational total of graduating seniors.
* * *Twenty-eight Jericho High School seniors were named
commended stu-dents in the National Merit Scholarship Program:
Kunaal Anand,Anuhita Basavaraju, Jennifer Berman, Ross Bower,
Andrew Greenblatt,Daniel Hahn, Estee Hong, Chenle Hu, Kelly Jung,
Preeti Kakani, MinKim, Tae Kim, Young Kim, Ben Kronengold, Vicki
Lam, Peter Li,Richard Li, Aaron Liu, Jiayu Liu, Matthew Osnowitz,
Jordan Peykar,Rachel Reiben, Eric Ren, Chloe Shakin, Sharon Song,
Vincent Wu,Michelle Yan, and Christopher Yao. Commended Students
placed amongthe top five percent of more than 1.5 million students
who entered the2013 National Merit Program by taking the 2012
PSAT/NMSQT.
“We are very proud of all of our students who have been
recognized assemifinalists and commended students,” said
Superintendent of Schools,Hank Grishman. “All of these young men
and women serve as excep-tional role models for students in our
district.”
Students Earn Honors in National Merit Scholarship Program
December 2013 Jericho School News
Jericho Kindergarten Registration Begins in JanuaryCalling all
Jericho School District children born on or before December 1,
2009. Registration for kindergarten will be heldat the Jericho
Elementary Schools Tuesday, January 7 through Friday, January 10,
2014 at:
Cantiague: 9 - 10:30 am Jackson: 9 -10:30 am Seaman: 9:30-11
amTo register, parents must provide the following: 1. Original
Birth Certificate2. Proof of Residency such as a tax bill or deed
(original lease if renting)3. Immunization Record signed by a
physician
New York State law requires the following minimum immunizations
for all students attending school:Diphtheria & Pertussis (DTaP)
3 dosesPolio 3 doses OPV or IPV Measles 2 doses on or after the
first birthdayMumps 1 dose on or after the first birthdayRubella 1
dose on or after the first birthdayHepatitis B 3 doses Varicella 1
dose on or after the first birthday
Valid medical or religious exemptions are acceptable if written
proof is presented at the time of school registration.This includes
a medically-documented history of disease. Appropriate forms are
available in the school nurse’s office.
Questions regarding medical requirements can be answered by
contacting the school nurse or building principal atCantiague
(203-3650), at Jackson (203-3640) or at Seaman (203-3630), or the
Director of Pupil Personnel Services, Dr.John Castronova at
203-3600 ext. 3254.
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Jericho School News December 2013
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JerEcho Showcases New Design; Allows for Subscription AlertsThe
Jericho High School’s online
newspaper The JerEcho, which isavailable at
www.jerecho.org,debuted a new format last month. The new format
allows for easier
readability and navigation on the site.Main news stories scroll
on the top ofthe site and highlight all of the greatwork that the
students are doing.
The students are also encouragingschool and community members
tosubscribe to newsletters from TheJerEcho, which will
automaticallysend an email alerting users whennew articles have
been added. To sub-scribe, visit www.jerecho.org and fillin your
email address on the right andclick “Subscribe.” “We are very proud
of the transitionwe made this year to use Wordpress topublish our
news,” said faculty co-advisor, Suzanne Valenza. “Thisapplication
puts more of the control ofour publication into students' handsand
increases options for the commu-nity to interact with our
site.”Follow the JerEcho on Twitter
@TheJerEcho.
Jericho Middle School Students Learn Code and ProgrammingMr.
Pagliari’s Technologyand Engineering classesrecently participated
in the“The Hour of Code Week.”Students were introduced tocoding
through a websiteand participated in web-based coding
activities.They learned the basic con-cepts of computer sciencewith
drag and drop pro-gramming. Students alsolearned about
repeat-loops,conditionals, and basicalgorithms.
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Jericho Honors Staff at Annual Recognition ReceptionThe Jericho
School District recently honored staff memberscelebrating 10, 20,
25, 30, and 35 years of outstanding ser-vice to the children and
youth of Jericho. The reception washeld in the Middle/High School
Auditorium and was cele-brated with family, friends, and
co-workers.
Jericho School News December 2013
t
Honored for 25 years were Kathryn Bott, Patricia Minikel,Maryann
Morris, Denise Nieder, and Colleen O'Connell.Honored for 30
yearswere James Caprio, Joan Rosenberg,and David Venuti. Honored
for 35 yearswas Nicholas Maraventano
Honored for 20 years were JillBlumenthal, Meryl Burrows,
BenCiuffo, Carol Ann Dell’Erba,Waldemar Dziemianczuk,
MichaelHartnett, Mona Iraggi, Ryszard,Kania, Ina Levitt, Chris
Noonan,Jody Rosen, Rosemary Scalera,and Flora Zemering.t
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Honored for 10 years wereStephanie Alloggiamento, ReenaBhasin,
Doreen Bianco, MaryBolton, Lauren Ann Browne,Jacqueline Caputo,
FrancineCerro, Giovannina Cerullo,Stephanie Damasco,
LoisDePasquale, Mary DeRiggi, AlbinDiaz Lopez, Henry Galacz,
AnaGorre, Georgeta Gropineanu,Omar Hernandez, Joanna Jochym,Rose
Ann Ketterer, Walter Kirby,Anne Levine, Laura Levine, DonnaNewman,
Jill Piergallini, RobinPisone, Jessica Smith, MarieSwierkowski,
Angela Tepedino,Spiridoula Theotokas, MichelleVevante, Deborah
Wactlar, LiaWalters-Sciarillo, and Thora Zale.
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Middle School Kicks Off Anti-Bullying CampaignJericho School
News December 2013
The Jericho Middle School recent-ly held their second annual
BullyPrevention Kickoff. This year, theyheld an all-day Walkathon
to logmiles in demonstrating their com-mitment to prevent bullying!
Thekickoff was the brainchild ofJoanne Verdino, school
socialworker, who is also an Olweustrainer. Joanne and the members
ofthe bully prevention committeeworked tirelessly over the past
sev-eral months to prepare for theevent.The day began with an
assembly
in which students watched a videoof staff talking about their
experi-ences with bullying and about
times that they stood up to bullies.Throughout the day,
students, staffand families walked around thetrack to show their
sincere commit-ment to stand up to bullies; 4,267miles were
completed by the partic-ipants. As Superintendent HankGrishman
pointed out, this is near-ly the number of miles to travelfrom New
York to San Franciscoand back again.“The event succeeded beyond
our
expectations. Everyone had atremendous amount of fun while atthe
same time learning the essen-tials of bully prevention,” said
DonGately, Middle School Principal.
(L-R) Harrison, Dylan, Nicole, and Shruthi were interviewed
bylocal media outlets about the event and their efforts to
preventbullying.
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Middle School Social Worker Joanne Verdino (left)and Middle
School Guidance Counselor KerriSchmitt celebrate a successful event
that they helpedcoordinate.
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Superintendent Hank Grishman, Nassau CountyLegislator Judy
Jacobs and Middle School PrincipalDon Gately helped kick off the
event.
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The students, parents, and staff enjoyed walking the track.
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Follow MS Updates on TwitterFollow Middle School Principal Don
Gately onTwitter @JerichoMSFollow Middle School Assistant Principal
JosephWiener on Twitter @JMWiener
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December 2013 Jericho School News
What’s Happening Around Jericho’s Elementary SchoolsThe 2013-14
school year is off to an exciting and engaging start! Westarted
school with our highest enrollment at 400. Our staff has workedhard
over the last few months to ensure that our reading, writing
andmathematics experiences are not only aligned to the Common
CoreState Standards, but exceed those expectations. Our children
viewthemselves as authors, critical readers and mathematicians as a
resultof their authentic and individualized classroom experiences.
This yearalso featured the expansion of the Math In Focus program
to includeGrade 3 and we recently featured some of the wonderful
math experi-ences of our students at our annual Curriculum Fair. We
are alsothrilled about a new experience this year – the Cantiague
Weekly VideoUpdates featuring many of our students. Children from
each classspend time researching what is happening at the different
grade levels,and then we shoot a short video that we share with
families, via email,once a week. The children love participating in
this experience andthey have really taken ownership of it. The
feedback from the commu-nity has been awesome! Overall, it has been
a wonderful start to anoth-er Bucket Filling year here at
Cantiague!
Cantiague Elementary School
Cantiague students give a report and update at the NovemberBoard
of Education Meeting. This year we coordinated activities that
promote spirit days to teach and encour-age peace and compassion.
Our on-going theme of promoting peace isexpressed in Kindergarten
through 2nd grade by practicing Acts of kindness,and in 3rd through
5th grade by focusing on the practice of Paying It Forward.We
started the year with Peace Week in recognition of the
International Day ofPeace celebrated through the United Nations and
around the world inSeptember. We had a theme for each day of the
week starting with each letter ofthe word PEACE. We had Pajama Day,
Exercise Day, Acts of Kindness Day,Caught You Caring Day and end of
the week Hippie Peace Day Raffle. Twolucky winners from each grade
had lunch with Mr. D’Aquila and Dr. Schwartz.In November, we
celebrated Bullying Awareness week. Students wore peacebracelets
and discussed the concept of being an “up-stander.” Students also
cel-ebrated Laugh It Up day and Have Lunch With Someone New Day. We
endedthe week with students wearing blue and gold to celebrate our
solidarity andsigning and reciting an anti-bullying pledge. Mrs.
Seymour taught lessons dur-ing the week teaching students peaceful
conflict resolution strategies, such asbeing an active listener,
which creates positive friendships. We are excited toparticipate in
many more activities this year!
George A. Jackson Elementary School
Jackson students enjoyed all of the recent activities at
theschool.
Robert Seaman Elementary School
First grade students at Robert Seaman perform theThanksgiving
play.
It has been busy at Seaman this fall. Students celebrated
National BullyPrevention Month. Students proudly wore pink to stand
up to bullying andcame together at Swirls and Twirls to raise money
for the school, as well as tocontinue to share the message that
bullying of any kind is not tolerable.Students also celebrated PARP
(Parents as Reading Partners) with many activ-ities. Seaman
students were very fortunate to visit with the authors of some
ofthe books they were reading, including Authors Dyanne DiSalvo and
GordonKorman. Red Ribbon/Health and Safety Week was held and
promoted healthyliving and smart choices. Students wore red and
were provided with healthysnacks by the PTA to remind us all to be
“Heart Smart” as the front fence states.Students promoted healthy
living all week by participating in different dailythemes to keep
health and safety at the forefront of good choices. Novemberbegan
with the PTA Candy and Costume Drive. Buckets of candy were
donat-ed to children at The INN in Hempstead. Students also
participated in the PTACan Drive, donating food to those in need.
Parents had the chance to visit theschools during open houses, that
were held to spotlight all of the great activi-ties happening in
the classrooms. The families loved seeing their children’swork. The
students are excited and looking forward to more fun activities
atSeaman!
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High School Students Kill Marsha During Successful PlayThe
Jericho High School HarlequinPlayers recently presented Let’s
MurderMarsha, by Monk French. The talentedcast included (L-R)
Bianca (played byJulie Hartman), Persis Devore (playedby Kendra
Kirby), Tobias Gilmore(played by Robert Jenis), MarshaGilmore
(played by Lily Lipman), VirgilBaxter (played by Gregory
Chestler),Lynette Thoren (played by Rose Gulant)and Ben Quade
(played by Edward Tan).t
Marsha Gilmore listens in to what she thinks is a plot tokill
her by her husband, Tobias, and Persis Devore.
p Marsha tries to explain the plotto her mother, Lynette
Thoren.p
Virgil Baxter tackles Persis Devore after thinking she wasgoing
to attack Marsha in the twisted plot. p
Marsha and Virgil come upwith a plan. p
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NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONU.S. POSTAGE
PAIDHICKSVILLE, NYPERMIT NO. 238
December 2013 Jericho School News
Please visit us at our websitewww.jerichoschools.org
Jericho Union Free School DistrictJericho, New York 11753(516)
203-3600
Board of EducationWilliam Ferro, PresidentClaire M. Hochheiser,
Vice PresidentShawn GladstoneBarbara KriegerJoseph H. Lorintz
Superintendent of SchoolsHenry L. Grishman
Newsletter EditorDenise Nash
Mark Your CalendarSchools Closed
Monday, December 23th –Wednesday, January 1st
Kindergarten RegistrationJanuary 7th – January 10thAll
Elementary Schools
BOE Meeting/Budget Workshop #1 Thursday, January 16th
Seaman Elementary School7:45 PM
High School Fashion ShowSaturday, January 18thMS/HS
Auditorium
7 PM
High School – Café After DarkFriday, January 24th
High School Room 1267 - 9 PM
Budget Workshop #2 Thursday, February 6thMiddle School
Library
7:30 PM
ECRWSSRESIDENTIAL CUSTOMER
Student Named Siemens SemifinalistJericho High School
student
Ien Li was recently named asemifinalist in the 2013
SiemensCompetition in Math, Science &Technology, the nation’s
pre-mier research competition forhigh school students. Li worked
with partner Vivek
Shah from Lynbrook HighSchool on a project entitledPatch-Based
Analysis ofNormal Anatomical Symmetry:Females Mature Faster
thanMales.The 2013 Siemens Competitiongenerated unprecedented
par-ticipation, showcasing students’growing interest in
science,math and technology subjects. Arecord 2,440 students
registeredfor this year’s competition, anda total of 1,599 projects
weresubmitted for consideration.
Ien Li and Jericho High School’sScience Research Coordinator
SerenaMcCalla.
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