Elmont

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TALKING ABOUT THE ELMONT UFSD ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

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Fall 2019

Elmont UFSD serving the Elmont, Floral Park, Franklin Square, New Hyde Park, South Floral Park,

Stewart Manor and Valley Stream communities.

The Elmont School District has been upgrading its infrastructure and integrating technology across all of its schools at every level. Classroom activities, clubs and even professional development for teachers has been centered around the advanced educational opportunities technology provides our students. We have made it a priority, and our students are loving the enhancements to their education.

Just in the last few years, the District has:

• Implemented 1:1 iPads in grades 3-6.

• Added 1:1 iPads for our ENL students and staff.

• Outfitted every classroom in grades 3-6 with a 75-inch, flat-panel LED smartboard.

• Replaced 300 Dell Desktops Districtwide.

To accommodate this, the

District has had to increase its infrastructure capabilities. To offset the costs to taxpayers, Elmont utilized grants and E-Rate money to outfit each building with the necessary equipment. This included:

• Replacement of all the network switches, patch panels and backup batteries in each of our 26 wiring closets throughout the six schools.

• Running brand-new fiber throughout the buildings.

On the next two pages, you will see examples of all the amazing ways our teachers are utilizing technology in the classrooms and throughout the school day.

Advancing Opportunities With Technology

“Technology provides a fun and interactive way for students to engage with the curriculum.”

–Fernando DeBartolo, District Director of Technology

Follow Us On FacebookSearch for: Elmont Union Free School District

Our Facebook page allows us to showcase stories, photos and announcements regarding the outstanding academic achievements by students, staff and

administration on a daily basis. “Like” us on Facebook to stay up-to-date with all the wonderful Elmont happenings.

https://www.facebook.com/elmontufsd

Last spring, a reporter from Newsday spent several days at Stewart Manor School, speaking to staff, parents and students on the school’s successes and statistics. As a result of that visit, Stewart Manor School was recently featured in Newsday as one of the most successful and most diverse schools on Long Island. Check out the full article and video highlighting our school. It is available via links on the District’s website and Facebook page, or through these direct sites:Article: https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/elmont-school-demographics-real-estate/Video:https://projects.newsday.com/long-island/real-estate-investigation-videos/

Featured in Newsday

Elmont Union Free School District135 Elmont RoadElmont, NY 11003-1609

Board of EducationMichael A. Jaime, PresidentTameka Battle-Burkett, Vice PresidentMichael Cantara Patrick Emeagwali Anthony S. Maffea, Sr.Sheldon Meikle Karen Taylor-Bass

Superintendent of Schools Al Harper

Colum P. Nugent, Attorney

Non-Profit Org.

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID Flushing, NY

Permit No.1365

Elmont

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TALKING ABOUT THE ELMONT UFSD ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

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Visit us online at www.elmontschools.org

The District continues to ensure the safety and security of all staff and students by regularly making updates to its systems and practices.

While fire drills, lockdowns and evacuation drills are necessary protocols for any school district, each of the Elmont schools has been working in collaboration with the Third and Fifth precincts’ POP Units to streamline their drills and increase the efficacy of their emergency plans. In addition, the District has integrated the Rave Panic Button app and has been conducting tests with Rave users in recent weeks. The Rave app allows any staff member to call for help at the touch of a button, without the need to make a phone call. The app works directly with the

Nassau County Police Department and allows for a much quicker and more direct response.

New this year, all Elmont schools have incorporated the LobbyGuard Visitor Management System at their main entrances. LobbyGuard will be used to protect our students and staff by tracking volunteers, vendors, parents and others who visit our schools. With this new system, all visitors must present a valid driver’s license or identification card that can be scanned into the system. LobbyGuard will then print a badge that the visitor must wear throughout their stay in the building.

All visitors are required to leave through the same door they entered in order to sign out through the LobbyGuard system. To ensure the safety of all a badge must be worn in the buildings at all times. While this new technology may be an extra step for parents and those who regularly visit our schools, the District believes it will be a welcome addition to advancing our efforts in providing the most secure learning environment possible for our students.

Technology Provides Added Safety for All

At Alden Terrace, each student in grades 3-6 has their own iPad, and technology is being integrated across all subject areas. For example, the candidates running for Student Council are integrating social studies, government and civics by using green-screen technology and creating their own campaign commercials. With the help of advisers Katherine Bennett and Nancy Gaspar, the students recorded their campaign promises in front of the screen and then edited other images onto the backgrounds.

To make it a whole-school experience, those running for Student Council also created a PSA for the younger grades explaining what voting is, how to do it

and why it is important. Each classroom then viewed the PSA, along with a virtual read aloud, on their smartboards in the classrooms. On the day of the vote, the entire student body is asked to serve as active audience members and take notes on each candidate’s platform before voting.

Members of the Student Council will ultimately generate ideas that can further utilize the District’s technology offerings, as well as ways to incorporate the use of technology into the school’s community service efforts. Serving on Student Council and using technology in this manner allows students to practice their public speaking and persuasive writing skills, as well as asks them to think more globally.

For the second year in a row, fifth and sixth graders at Clara H. Carlson had the opportunity to participate in the school’s Robotics Club. Led by co-advisers Deborah Buchanan and Robert Cavaliere, the club consists of one team of 10 students who compete in the FIRST Lego League Robotics Competition.

As part of the team, students take on the role of researcher, designer or coder and work together to build a Lego robot that can complete a task. This year’s task is called City Shaper, which asks students to identify a problem in a city and propose a solution for

how it can be improved. Elmont students are especially interested in this project, as it relates heavily to their real-world issues associated with the building of a large stadium in their community.

Robotics reinforces many real-world skills, including coding, problem-solving, presentation, research, self-motivation and collaboration. Members of the FIRST Lego League Robotics Team at the school have already been brainstorming for this year’s mission and are in the research phase. A robotics club is offered in each of the elementary schools across the District.

This year, the District provided English as a New Language students across all grade levels at each of the schools with iPads to better assist them with their studies. The students are using the new technology to help enhance their listening, reading, writing, speaking and vocabulary skills while learning a new language.

In one example, second graders at Dutch Broadway have been using the iPads with teacher Genevieve Samedy to learn about habitats. Following the lesson, students are able to record their

responses to prompted questions and later hear themselves speak back. Apps like Epic!, Keynote, Kids A-Z and Rosetta Stone have been used in the classrooms, allowing for faster comprehension and increased understanding of the English language. As a result of this integration, students have been more engaged in improving their English language skills and take more ownership of their work.

This is just one way the iPad initiative has been able to facilitate a greater learning experience for our students.

An after-school club at Stewart Manor, Kids Who Code, teaches sequencing of events and problem-solving skills to fourth and fifth graders this year. Led by technology teaching assistant Nicole Termini for the past few years, the club is offered to different grade levels each year and asks students to take on the role of engineers, programmers and builders.

As part of the club, students spend half their time at the computer learning coding skills and the other half constructing a physical design utilizing those skills in real-world settings using the Code and Go Robot Mouse. The goal is to create a code to get a mouse to find its cheese, despite the obstacles that might be in the way. This can be designed with varying levels of difficulty. The game is teaching collaboration, building confidence and enhancing

students’ communication skills in a STEAM setting.Over the course of the year, the club will also be utilizing 3D printers and computer-aided

design applications to design and create a key chain. Our goal is for coding to be incorporated into the school day at all grade levels through the Hour of Code along with various age-appropriate apps on the iPads and desktops.

Third grade students in Ms. Roberts’ class at Covert Avenue Elementary School used their iPads to demonstrate a project-based learning math lesson to the District Nutrition Committee in November.

Three students – Nicholas Arrubla, Jiya Panicker and Kate Rojas – conducted

a survey with each third grade class at Covert Avenue regarding the lunch choices in the cafeteria. They made tally charts, picture graphs and bar graphs from each class on the different food choices to see which were the favorite and least favorite options. Then, using the Keynote app on the iPad to create the presentation, the students entered photos of the tallies and bar graphs from the classes, as well as images of the new food options they were hoping to add to the school’s lunch menu. The math project-based learning was an engaging lesson, as it combined something the students found fun to discuss with math graphing. It also gave the students an

opportunity to integrate technology with their presentation and math skills.

After gathering the information, Jiya and Kate presented the Keynote slides to the committee through the help of a smartboard. Principal Mary Natoli also participated by lending her voice to a recording at the beginning of the students’ presentation.

Across the District, teachers and students have been falling in love with projects that utilize the latest green-screen technology.

As one example, Kathryn Cartwright’s fourth graders at Gotham Avenue School have been using a green screen to bring their unit on animal adaptations and habitats to life. The project asked the students to create an imaginary planet, complete with a consumer (animal) and a producer (plant) that could survive on it.

The students started out on their iPads, using Keynote to

design their ideal producer and consumer, as well as all of the necessary living conditions for their planet. They completed the work in art class, where they physically constructed their animals, and then used a green screen to superimpose themselves on their planets.

The method of integrating art, technology, science and writing while encouraging collaboration, creativity and public speaking skills has created an environment where students are having fun while learning.

Creating Campaigns for CounCil Refining Robotics Skills at CHC

Expanding ENL With iPads at Dutch

Kids Who Code at Stewart Manor

Project-Based Learning at Covert Avenue

Project-Based Learning with Green-Screen Technology

Sixth grade candidate for president Elizabeth Peguero is filming her portion of the PSA with advisers Ms. Bennett and Ms. Gaspar.

Haya Ahmed records in front of the green-screen with the help of her classmates, who are making sure her audio levels and video look good on the screen. She will then superimpose herself on her planet, called Tundrany, where the climate is similar to that of a tundra.

Technology in Action