Ossining MATTERS Helps Students Grow with Sustainability Projects and More for 2010 - 2011
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At the Board of Education meeting on Wednesday, June 16, Ossining MATTERS Education Foundation launched its seventh year of funding programs and projects to enrich the education of all children in the Ossining School District. Board President Amy Seiden presented the trustees with a donation supporting eleven different grants in all six of Ossining’s school buildings.
These grants, totaling $34,928, represent a mix of innovative proposals from Ossining’s creative, dedicated teachers and administrators and continued funding for proven successes. Each grant helps to further our mission to support and enrich the learning opportunities for all children in the Ossining School District. Two of the grants tie in with District sustainability and wellness goals.
- A Virtual Journey to Ancient Egypt – This grant will bring consultant Mike Harrold, from JAMBO Productions, to AMD, to give a presentation on ancient Egypt and other ancient civilizations to the entire sixth grade. The program will include a slide show of photos from his journeys to Egypt, and will discuss the Nile River Valley, the Pyramids, King Tut’s tomb, and the geography of the region. The assembly will be followed by five small workshops of thirty minutes each. This presentation supports the current curriculum study of ancient Egypt.
- Classroom Publishing Center – As an extension of the seventh-grade Picture Book Author Study already in place in the curriculum, this grant will fund the purchase of dedicated printing equipment to allow students to make a finished picture book as the culminating project to share with students, friends, and family, and to read to Claremont students as part of a mentoring program.
- District Drumming Residency – Through this donation, world renowned drummer John Arrucci - who also happens to be an OHS graduate - will conduct a residency and present a drumming program focusing on Brazilian and West African drumming at two schools (to be determined by Cultural Arts Director Bradley Morrison). John Arrucci’s huge talent, enthusiasm, and energy will increase the enthusiasm and desire for music making in students, and help further teachers’ understanding of nonwestern music.
- Mbira in Me – This second year of funding will extend this extremely successful project to the entire fourth grade. Students will study the musical history of the mbira and the movement of African music, create an mbira (or thumb piano), and then perform in a school-wide concert with the artist in residence, Kevin Nathaniel Hylton.
- Nursing Career Pathway Program – Through this grant, one hundred OHS freshmen will be able to attend Fall Career Day at Phelps Memorial Hospital. The program provides a broad general exposure to careers in Health Care.
- Summer Mural Project – This grant is the next step in a successful project funded by Ossining MATTERS in 2009. Teachers and students will work together to plan and execute painted murals in the hallways at OHS. As with last year’s project, the grant provides summer art enrichment as well as enhancing the aesthetics at OHS.
- Perfect Pumpkin Patch – This donation covers staff planning and supplies to create a pumpkin patch for the second graders. In addition to helping to plant, care for, and harvest pumpkins, students will learn about the history of pumpkin plants in our country, the nutritional value of pumpkins, and ways to cook and eat them. This seed-to-table project ties in with district sustainability and wellness goals.
- Slim Goodbody – Through this grant, Slim Goodbody, a healthy- nutrition consultant and entertainer, will present a fun, highly interactive assembly at each elementary school to draw attention to the importance of good nutrition. The show addresses the serious problems of excess weight and obesity in an entertaining and non-threatening way. It teaches children the risk factors involved in being overweight, explains how calorie intake needs to match number of calories burned, and explores ways to stay fit and healthy with good nutrition and exercise. This program will reach all students from Kindergarten through fifth grade, and is part of the district’s multi-pronged approach to fitness and wellness.
- Claremont Native Sustainability Garden – This grant covers staff time, equipment, and a small consultant fee to create a native sustainability garden in the school courtyard. The project will involve the entire school via full class lessons on sustainability, and will also tie in not only with science, math, language arts, and enrichment curricula, but also with the ongoing vermicomposting project.
- Claremont Beautification Project -- This grant will enhance the common spaces of Claremont School by building on work already done with muralist, Pedro Ospina. Claremont staff and students will work to improve the look of the entryway, hallways, and classroom entrances by means of decorated ceiling tiles and bulletin boards along with new and improved hallway signs. The school community would be responsible for the theme, design, artwork, and placement of all tiles. The project is theme based, and will support and connect with the visual arts curriculum.
Our donation also includes this contribution:
In 2006, Ossining MATTERS established a Guidance Discretionary Fund at OHS. This fund is used to help college-bound students who have financial needs by making scholarships available for important courses and fees:
- College courses (SUNY, SUPA) offered at OHS
- College application fees
- SAT preparation and review courses
For the coming school year, Ossining MATTERS has donated an additional $9,000 to the fund.
This donation brings the dollar amount for programs funded by Ossining MATTERS to more than $360,000 in total support provided to our school district.
Ossining MATTERS is grateful not only to the teachers and administrators who propose and implement these fine projects, but also for the generous support of the Ossining community, whose donations of both funds and volunteer time make it possible for us to continue to carry out our mission.
Our next fundraiser will be the Eighth Annual 5K Run/2 Mile Walk, on September 11, 2010. Registration is already open: You can register online, or print out forms to register by mail. We hope to see you there!
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Your Donations in Action
Mbira Musicians |
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Students display their mbiras. Kevin Nathaniel Hylton leads a class in a traditional Zimbabwean song.
Photos by Diana Lennon |
| In January and early February of this year, artist Kevin Nathaniel Hylton visited seven third- and fourth-grade classrooms at Claremont. In a series of workshops, he taught students about African music and its influence on the Americas, and about the mbira, or thumb piano. Under his instruction, each student then built and decorated a personal mbira. |
Worm Wizards
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| (Left )Madden Outdoor Education Center expert Mary Catherine Graziano helps Brookside students learn more about what we throw away.(Center) Future Brookside Worm Wizards learn about recycling through composting.(Right) Students meet their new class pets. Photos by Ferzeen Shamsi |
With the help of an expert from Madden Outdoor Nature Preserve, three Brookside classrooms held small group, hands-on workshops this fall, designed to build children’s understanding of recycling through composting. The Madden consultant showed the group how nature does a great job returning its own waste to the earth, and shared creepy crawly examples of the decomposers that assist in breaking down nature’s waste: earthworms.
The classrooms then assisted in the building of classroom worm bins, whose occupants have already begun to eat the healthy refuse from class snacks and lunches as well as brown paper towels. In the spring, a large worm-composting bin will be built and housed in the Enchanted Garden, where it will produce compost for future gardening endeavors. All Brookside classrooms will have the opportunity to learn about compost and vermicomposting directly from the new “Worm Wizards” themselves.
Second-grade teacher Cynthia Bardwell wrote the grant, which was awarded by Ossining MATTERS. The grant cited research showing that when young children are introduced to environmentally sound practices in a hands-on manner, they will have a greater sense of responsibility for their earth in later years. Ms. Bardwell hopes to turn out 700 Brookside students who have not just a greater understanding and level of consciousness about recycling, but a greater feeling of responsibility to the earth as well. And it seems to be working. The “Worm Wizards” from Ms. Bardwell’s, Mr. Engelhardt’s, and Ms. Prokopriak and Ms. Rink’s classes have already begun to demonstrate their understanding of the need to reduce the amount of trash they make, recycle into the correct bins, and separate the food scraps that their new class pets happily devour.
Thanks to Cynthia Bardwell. Photos by Ferzeen Shamsi
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deSoL Shines at
Ossining MATTERS Benefit
Ossining MATTERS’ May 1 gala benefit concert featuring Latin rockers deSoL raised nearly $65,000, which the education foundation will use to supplement academic, cultural arts, and athletic programs in the Ossining School District.
Ossining Cultural Arts Director Bradley Morrison welcomed the crowd of about 400 to the seventh annual Spring Gala. Ossining MATTERS President Ginny Loughlin and Event Co-Chair Amy Seiden thanked the audience for attending and introduced the evening’s master of ceremonies, 107.1 The Peak deejay Bruce Figler.
Warning the crowd to “put on your seatbelts,” Figler enthusiastically introduced deSoL, who took the stage with a burst of energy that never flagged. Their obvious love of what they do was palpable throughout their performance. An early highlight of the evening came during an instrument-swapping number, when the band asked for a student volunteer to play the guitar, and the very talented Noah Weisbart answered the call. Two further peaks involved OHS musicians, too. Vocal students, calling themselves Kevin, James, Jason, and the Chicas, added glory to “On My Way,” and instrumentalists, dubbed the Equinox Horn Quartet, burned it up on “Chica de Miami.” Students and even teachers were dancing in the aisles.
Following the concert, the party moved to the Ossining Public Library. deSoL stopped by to celebrate the evening’s success with Ossining MATTERS supporters, serenading the crowd with an a capella performance before joining them in sampling hors d’oeuvres and beverages donated by local restaurants and merchants. The reception featured both a silent and a live auction, conducted by crowd-pleasing auctioneer Ted Donson. Items ranging from exclusive Broadway evenings to artworks, fund-a-program opportunities, and more drew competitive – though always friendly – bidding. The auction receipts gave a considerable boost to the evening’s proceeds, helping to ensure that Ossining MATTERS Education Foundation will continue to be able to fund a broad range of programs meeting a wide variety of student needs and interests throughout the Ossining School District.
Once again, those who couldn’t attend the concert or reception – or just didn’t want to stop bidding – had another chance to further the mission of Ossining MATTERS, as this year’s online auction remained open through May 10. Supporters were able to bid on scores of items, from dinners at terrific local restaurants, salon and spa services, and music lessons to sporting event tickets, house seats at Broadway shows, private Hudson cruises, and special outings with Ossining teachers.
Ossining MATTERS is very grateful to all who contributed to the evening, whether by attending the concert, bidding at the auctions, donating items for the auction and reception, posting signs around town, or lending a hand in any of the dozens of other ways that helped make the gala such a success. Thanks to our community’s generosity, Ossining MATTERS will continue to make a positive difference in the education of Ossining's students. |
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