Dr. Kanas' Newsletter
December 1, 2017
Upcoming Events
Monday, December 4, 2017
- 7:30 PM – PTO Coordinating Council Meeting – Wheatley Board Room
- Beginning of Second Trimester – North Side and Willets Road (Grade 5)
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
- 10:00 AM – Coffee with PPS Director – Wheatley Room 450
- 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM – Willets Road Parent Teacher Conferences
- 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM – Wheatley PTO Summer Opportunity Fair – Wheatley Board Room
- North Side Holiday Boutique
Wednesday, December 6, 2017
- 7:30 PM – Strategic Public Forum – Wheatley Room 450
- BOE Work Session – Canceled
- North Side Holiday Boutique
Thursday, December 7, 2017
- 7:00 PM – Coffee with the Principal – Wheatley Room 450
- 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM – “Bedtime Stories” North Side (K-2)
- North Side Holiday Boutique
Dec. 6th: First Step in Developing our Next Five Year Strategic Plan - We Need your Help
Important Reminder: On Wednesday, December 6th at 7:30 p.m., we are hosting a Community Forum as part of our 5-year Strategic Planning process. The purpose of the forum will be to:
• Evaluate the educational dimensions the Strategic Planning Committee suggests, determining if any modifications, additions or deletions need to be made before being included in a community survey
• Discuss and identify ideas related to the importance of these dimensions and the steps necessary to put them in action
The Forum will be held at the Wheatley School in Room 450. There will be small roundtable discussions. There will also be the opportunity to participate virtually by going online at http://todaysmeet.com/StrategicPlanning. If you are not able to attend the Forum or participate virtually at the time, please go to our Strategic Plan Website next week at http://www.ewsdonline.org/District/StrategicPlan to read about the discussions and to add your opinion. Any questions please do not hesitate to give me a call at 333-3758, or send an email.
Anti-Defamation League Peer Training Program
As you know, the District is excited to have all three of our schools be part of the Anti-Defamation League, No Place for Hate Program.
The ADL describes No Place for Hate as a program “designed to create inclusive school communities by promoting unity and respect, and empowering schools to reduce bullying, name-calling and other expressions of bias.” Earlier in the year, I shared with you in this newsletter, some wonderful professional development training our Wheatley staff participated in on the topics above.
Twenty-five of our Wheatley students are now participating in their own training as members selected for the ADL Peer Training program with the Anti-Defamation League. These students recently participated in a three-day training where they learned to work with their peers to create inclusive environments in their schools and communities.Through their training our student leaders will foster a respectful school climate by addressing issues of bias and bullying through classroom workshops and presentations at the Wheatley School and within the East Williston School District. A goal of the training is to build a core group of students who will be able to recognize and confront bias and the harm it inflicts on individuals and the community.
Our Wheatley Student Peer Educators were nominated by faculty and staff based on various leadership qualities, potential for leadership and demonstrated ability to create a positive influence in our community.
Congratulations and a sincere thank you for your commitment to this important work to our Peer Mentors: Nadeem Al-Okla, Julianna Anteri, Manav Bansal, Jack Fiorillo, Aarushi Jain, Demetrios Kaparos, Tyler Konigsberg, Audrey LaMonica, Emma Melnikov, Temitope Oshodi, Brandon Behar, Norah Gidanian, Katherine Gold, Alex Horowitz, Allie Keller, Jason Koty, Ilana Nimkoff, Joshua Roit, Dean Sheiman, Francis Cappi, Sofia Greenfield, Eva Lamonica, Amanda Molstad, Ivonne Objio, and Nick Tagios.
Robotics Team
The Wheatley Cybercats led by advisor, Patrick Hurley, were finalists at the 2017 Half Hollow Hills Invitational on Saturday, November 17th. With 24 teams present at the Invitational, the Cybercats shined throughout the day in all games. We look forward to the Regional Competition at Hofstra that will take place on April 9th-11th where the Cybercats will build on their success. The expanded competitions for The Wheatley Team, as well as for the Willets Road Team are another example of how our current Five Year Strategic Plan has translated the Community’s identification of STEM as a priority into action.
Congratulations Wheatley Cybercats: Zachary Azevedo, William Cafarelli, Eric Chu, Nadav Cohen, Michael Cornachia, Joe Feimer, Jonathan Friedrich, Jamie Horowitz, Abhishek Kumar, James Marini, Elan Mizhiritsky, Justin Parker, Steven Popovitz, Natalie Scudero, Neil Shah, Arham Sheraz, Ashley Vincenzo, Danyal Zulfiqar.
National Honor Society Inductees
On Thursday November 16, I had the pleasure of attending Wheatley’s National Honor Society Ceremony where sixty-nine students were inducted. These students are to be commended for meeting the rigorous requirements of the organization’s four pillars: Scholarship, Leadership, Character and Service. Current National Honor Society officers spoke about each pillar of the society.
Anne Yan spoke about Scholarship and how students at Wheatley must have a minimum GPA of 3.3333 by the end of their sophomore or junior year.
Jacob Chimerine spoke about Leadership. Student leaders are those who are resourceful, good problem solvers, and idea contributors.
Carol Wu spoke about Character. A student of good character is cooperative; demonstrates high standards of honesty and reliability; shows courtesy, and respect for others.
Caroline Crimmins spoke about Service. Service involves voluntary contributions made by a student to the school or community, done without compensation.
There are many layers involved in meeting the qualifications to be inducted into the National Honor Society. After achieving the academic criteria, the student must submit a student portfolio detailing at least 25 hours (40 for the Class of 2019 and beyond) of pre-admittance service activities, as well as eight teacher recommendations (at least one from each major subject area). The service activities are to reflect mostly out-of-school and some in-school experiences, beginning after the end of eighth grade. Successful candidates are inducted in mid-November.
Another highlight of the night was the Keynote Address, given by Kelsey Eckhoff, a member of the Wheatley Class of 2011. Kelsey spoke passionately about creating one’s path through life by following one’s passions. She reflected on her own experiences and how her willingness to engage with her community, receive advice and, at times, put herself outside of her comfort zone has led to a remarkable post-Wheatley life of studies and work. Here is a listing of some of Kelsey’s outstanding accomplishments and achievements: BA in Intelligence Studies, BS in Criminal Psychology, MS in Biodefense at George Mason University, Intelligence Analyst for the U.S. Department of Justice, Sergeant of the U.S. Army Reserves, Intelligence Analyst for the Department of Homeland Security, and a Defense Intelligence Agency Analyst for the NGIC Biometric Intelligence.
I want to thank Wheatley’s National Honor Society Advisor Allison Chanin-Bermudez for orchestrating such a wonderful ceremony and for all she does to support our National Honor Society Students with their ongoing commitment to the Four Pillars.
Congratulations to the following inductees for their outstanding hard work and dedication: Dina Aldad, Karan Amin, Sarah Amselem, Devorah Anayati, Miles Baker, Paige Barrett, Tiffany Bernot, Julia Braito, Lucy Brancaccio, Nicole Buchheim, William Cafarelli, Francis Cappi, Megan Chau, Ziyi Chen, Sarah Chimerine, Brooke Christman, Anthony Di Fiore, Lauren Druz, Domenique Dunne, Jesse Futerman, Anthony Giunta, Charlotte Goldbaum, Sean Gray, Sofia Greenfield, Brittney Guerra, Andrew Gullotta, Farah Hasan, Tiffany Jiao, Yexinning Jin, Cecilia Jozef, Maritsa Kanes, Amanda Kim, Joshua Koelsch, Matthew Kreitzer, Eva LaMonica, Kristen Leong, Yusuf Meghji, Aliza Moezinia, Ethan Moreh, Tyler Mosca, Jessica Nussdorf, Ciara O’Brien, Justin Parker, Mahesh Pitchayan, Pricilla Prasad, Hailey Ramalhete, Avani Ramnarayan, Samantha Rothstein, Jamie Ryan, Brooke Schwartz, John Scudero, Manan Shukla, Angela Signorile, Joanna Signorile, Vedant Singh, Andrew Sivin, Abigail Smichok, Danielle Smichok, Michelle Smichok, John Tretolo, Kristen Tursi, Caleb Varghese, Dustin Wong, Kenton Wu, Justin Wu, Chloe Yadegar, Camellia Ye, Brandon Zhu and Mara Zuckerman.
Digital Citizenship Day at Wheatley
Earlier this week at Wheatley, we continued our Digital Citizenship focus with an assembly consisting of several outside organizations that presented to students: LICADD discussed the myths concerning digital citizenship, Brian Apfel from Marist College spoke about the positive impact students’ digital footprint can have on college admissions, Karen Torres spoke about distracted driving, and LICADD focused on the digital age and its effect on bio-psycho-social wellness.
These presentations discussed many different ways to manage yourself online, express yourself in a healthy manner in the digital world, how to research and build relationships with college representatives, and consequences that can occur if you choose to text and drive.
During the assemblies, students were taught so many salient tips on current and trending topics. You may wish to ask your children to share something they learned during the workshop and how can they apply it to their daily lives. They may enjoy teaching you something new as some of the information below may be new to you, as some of it was to me.:
- Amanda Cioffi from LICADD spoke to our 8th graders, about how “FOMO”, the fear of missing out, can create anxiety, or depression in an individual. And how do we overcome those feelings? What can we do to suppress those feelings?
Brian Apfel from Marist College spoke to our 9th and 10th graders about how Twitter and Facebook are great resources to express interest in a college or university. Students are encouraged to reach out to those social media pages, ask questions, research and build relationships with representatives in a professional manner; and how Instagram and Snapchat give a great insight to what that “college life” is like.
To our 11th graders Karen Torres from All 4 U Dad, had an impactful presentation on Distracting Driving in which she shared stories, some being very close to her heart, video clips, and images of what can happen if you choose to text and drive. Do you know what the number one killer amongst teens between the ages of 16-20 is? The answer isn’t drinking and driving (According to a study conducted by the Cohen Children’s Medical Center of N.Y. it’s texting while driving).
Lauren Navarra, Christie Picconi, and Jessie Elias, from LICADD, taught the 12th grade students mindfulness and meditation exercises, “grounding activities” and discussed the importance of “unplugging”. How many of us take time to “unplug” and what are the potential benefits?
Thank you to Wheatley Assistant Principal Karen Klapper, Janna Varela, Director of Guidance and Dawn Muscarnera, Wheatley Social Worker, for highly informative Digital Citizenship presentations.
Writing Celebrations at North Side
The month of November was a busy time for the authors of North Side! Across all grades, students were busy drafting, editing and publishing their writing. Classrooms were abuzz with discussions about effective writing and many adults throughout the community were invited to share in the celebrations. Below are just a few examples of the challenging and rewarding work going on across the school.
Fourth Grade Explores Many Genres
Students in Stefanie Granville’s class studied the Algonquian tribe and many traditional folktales. Afterwards students crafted their stories, modeling the structure after the mentor tales they had read. They published their writing, staining their covers to look weathered and traditional, and then shared their stories by reading them to their peers.
Students in Monica Gibson’s class studied traditional literature and dug deep into analytical writing. They all read many different versions of Cinderella, and then chose two to write an analytical compare and contrast essay. During their publishing celebration, they dressed up in “fairytale attire” and invited the adults to join them. It was a special treat to see both principal James Bloomgarden and Assistant Principal Christine Dragone dressed in fairy tale gear!
Third Grade Digs Really Deep into Fiction
In Emily DeVito and Jamie Pandolf’s class, students were very excited to share their creative stories. They designed beautiful covers for their celebration and gave their readers an area of their writing to focus on, just like an author would to his or her editor!
In Leslie Rubin’s class, students also shared their extensive creative writing. They spent time prior to the celebration talking about the kinds of feedback or compliments that can help a writer. While the students celebrated and read their peers’ work, they gave specific feedback to really highlight what they were impressed by and what they would like to see more of.
Kindergarten has a Publishing Jamboree in PJ’s
All of the Kindergarten classes just published the students’ first stories of the year! Since they have been practicing the letters P and J in their phonics/word work program, Fundations, the whole grade dressed up in their pajamas for a day of celebrating and sharing writing. Students wrote many stories throughout the unit, working on adding settings, characters’ actions and expressions across the story. Then they practiced reading stories and telling them in their “story voices” to emphasize parts of their story. Visiting adults got to sit at the various student tables to listen to and discuss the students’ stories with them. I enjoyed having the opportunity to hear the enthusiasm of the students while sharing their stories and their knowledge of so many story elements.
Book Tasting at Willets Road
In place of a culinary Thanksgiving Feast, The fifth grade team put together a “Book Tasting” event which allowed students to sample various books of different genres expanding their reading interests. A Book Tasting was a wonderful way to get kids engaged in reading and familiarizing them with a wide variety of genres. As an extra bonus, they practiced how to find “just right” books and by the end of the tasting, each student compiled a list of books that they can't wait to read. Many thanks to 5th grade staff, Jessica Liakonis, Jessica Vacchio, Diane Viola, Katerina Skiadas, Vanessa DiMascio, Lynn Flynn, Christine Lopez and Stephanie Anderer for inspiring and supporting such a fun and educational event!
Scrabble Tournament
Willets Road Middle School attended the first Scrabble Tournament of the 2017-2018 school year. The competition was held at Roslyn Middle School on Wednesday, November 29, 2017. Sixteen teams were represented by SouthSide Middle School, Rockville Center, HANC of Nassau County, Roslyn Middle School and Willets Road Middle School. The four teams representing Willets Road were Mitchell Baltzer and Benjamin Friedrich, Ria Verma and Jessica Shaw, Connor Quinn and Tobey Hirsh and Logan and Paris Triantafillou. Five rounds of stiff competition ensued with Mitchell Baltzer and Benjamin Friedrich of Willets Road Middle taking third place in the competition. Willets Road is proud of their teams’ hard work and good sportsmanship. Congratulations Willets Road! And many thanks to co-advisors Lynn Flynn and Diane M. Viola.
Student of the Quarter Award
On Tuesday, November 28th, Wheatley Senior Benjamin Mathew was awarded the Student of the Quarter Award in the Business Service Skills Program for his academic and vocational endeavors at Nassau BOCES Joseph M. Barry Career and Technical Education Center. Benjamin's teacher, Mrs. Savary, expressed support of Benjamin's efforts, stating that Benjamin's diligent work ethic and diverse array of vocational skills sets him apart from his peers. The Wheatley School is proud of Benjamin's efforts and outstanding contribution to our student body. Below is a picture of Benjamin holding his award flanked by Wheatley Guidance Counselor Lauren Silverstein, and Wheatley Teacher Joseph Crotty. Keep up the great work Benjamin!
Parent and Student Technology Tips
Director of Technology and Innovation, Ed Kemnitzer says:
Thank you for your positive feedback regarding October’s monthly tech tip presentations. I hope you enjoy November's tips. Please click this link, https://goo.gl/1fdyTm, to access six tips that will "change your world."
If you have questions or need support using the tips, please feel free to contact Ed Kemnitzer at kemnitzere@ewsdonline.org or at (516) 333-4588.
Bookies and Cookies Reminder
Don’t forget about Bookies and Cookies swap hosted by the Librarians and the District PTOs at Willets Road on Thursday December 14, from 5-7pm. Bring a newly wrapped book for your child’s age group, some cookies and let the night of fun begin. For more information please click here.
Women in STEM Forum
This was such a spectacular event last evening. It was exciting to see it so well attended, and so much was learned by all, including me! A sneak preview thank you to Wheatley student Jamie Horowitz who inspired, organized and moderated the event and to Secondary Science Chair, Alexis Blondage Pace, and Director of Technology and Innovation, Ed Kemnitzer.
Have a Good Weekend!
As always, please email me at kanase@ewsdonline.org or call me at 333-3758 with any questions, suggestions and/or any topics you would like to see in this newsletter.
Best Regards,
Elaine Kanas, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Contact Us
Email: kanase@ewsdonline.org
Website: www.ewsdonline.org
Location: 11 Bacon Road, Old Westbury, NY, United States
Phone: 516-333-1620
Twitter: @EastWillistonSD