Congratulations to Merrick UFSD’s five students who were selected to perform in the Long Island String Festival Association’s Nassau Intermediate Festival scheduled for March at Uniondale High School. Best of luck to Alon, Gabriel, Lindsay, Luca and Ryan!

Birch School students recently took a trip to the Nassau County Museum of Art to experience the change in seasons through a variety of media. 

The students viewed “The Seasons” exhibit, which included paintings, sculpture, photography, fashion and design in works by Jasper Johns, Grandma Moses and Norman Rockwell. Students also enjoyed avant-garde works, traditional landscapes and a special showcase of glittering minaudières and fashion accessories by designer Judith Leiber. 

According to Birch art teacher Cory Gerard, the exhibit also gave students an endearing look at holidays through the eyes of artists across the past century. He said that they will be creating a watercolor painting based on the paintings they viewed in the exhibit using bright expressive colors. 

Birch School recently held its annual Pick a Reading Partner multiday celebration. The two-week event is designed to encourage students to read with their families at home while making reading an event in school as well.
This year’s theme was “Birch Readers Are Out of This World.” The celebration “launched” with students taking a trip into the inflatable Sky Dome Planetarium. Special dress-up days were held, including days when students donned stars and Birch sportwear, as well as pajamas. Guest readers from the Merrick community were also invited to the school for a Community Read-A-Loud as they shared their love of reading with the young students. The celebration culminated with guest presenter Joe Romano’s “Take Me To Your Readers!” show, that “transported” students to a world of aliens, magic, comedy and plenty of books. 
During Birch School’s PARP celebration, students logged minutes read at home in addition to the reading that took place in school along with fun reading-related activities.

Sixth graders at Chatterton School in Merrick recently visited the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center in Glen Cove and later heard firsthand testimony from someone who lived through it.
Holocaust survivor Irving Roth visited Chatterton on Feb. 5 and spoke with fifth and sixth graders about his personal experiences in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. Roth travels throughout the U.S. and Europe, educating his audiences about the evils of prejudice and hatred. Last month marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
During an earlier visit to the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center, students participated in small-group, docent-led tours of the museum and listened to testimony from a child of a Holocaust survivor.
In addition to serving as an important part of their studies on the Holocaust, the trip reinforced Chatterton School’s efforts to receive the Anti-Defamation League’s No Place for Hate designation and realize the importance of being an upstander.
“Chatterton students learned that each person has a voice,”  Chatterton librarian Ellen Widawsky said. “And even one person can make a difference in this world.” 
Roth is pictured speaking with students. In an alternate photo, sixth graders stand in the grand hallway of the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center holding a sign that quotes American historian Edward Everett Hale and speaks to being an upstander.

Chatterton School held its annual Pick a Reading Partner (PARP) multi-day, schoolwide celebration, providing students with fun activities to inspire them to read in and outside of school. Seuss was on the loose this year, as the school paid homage to the books of Dr. Seuss.