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.

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

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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.

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. p

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!

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

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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