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.

Twenty-four talented students from the Merrick School District’s three Merrick schools were selected to participate in the Nassau Music Educators Association All-County Music Festival concerts at LIU Post’s Tilles Center for the Performing Arts this month. 
Congratulations to our amazing student musicians, as well as their parents and music teachers!