During their May meeting, the Merrick Board of Education and administration honored the district’s students who were selected for this year’s Nassau County All-County Art Exhibit held at Farmingdale State College in March. All-County artists were nominated by their respective art teachers, who, along with their principal, awarded them certificates of recognition for demonstrating exemplary creativity in their artwork.

Congratulations to the following students and their teachers:

Birch School:
Elena H. 
Matthew K.
Matthew R.
Teacher: Cory Gerard

Chatterton School:
Ryan K. 
Bridget L. 
Bianca P. 
Teacher: Justine Dujardin

Lakeside School:
Aliza B. 
Rosina P. 
Samantha T.
Teacher: Alexandra Muzek

This year, more than 400 art educators from more than 200 schools in 50 Nassau County school districts submitted student artwork for this prestigious exhibit. Merrick Superintendent of Schools Dr. Dominick Palma is pictured congratulating students along with their respective principals and art teachers. 




 

An annual tradition continued at Birch School as it recently conducted STEAM Day, which was filled with science, technology, engineering, arts and math activities that sparked curiosity and promoted ingenuity in young students.

STEAM Day brought the entire school together, as older students guided younger students through multiple stations in which students designed and built structures from recycled materials and also coded to navigate robots through various challenges and mazes. They designed and crafted Hoop Gliders that flew through the air and creatively moved objects Rube Goldberg style. Dominoes were utilized to tell time and index cards were constructed into towers capable of holding multiple textbooks. Students also created and decoded secret messages and even launched their own rockets. Several classrooms were transformed into “escape rooms” where students demonstrated their critical thinking skills by solving puzzles to help them break out. 

The Birch School STEAM Day committee and the teachers planned many exciting and invigorating activities to engage every student on this special day.

In recognition of Agricultural Literacy Week, Birch School welcomed Patricia Voll, master gardener and volunteer from Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County to speak to second-graders about how the soil and environment are used to grow healthy vegetables. Voll brought different types of vegetables that are grown at Cornell’s horticulture center and farm in East Meadow. She also gave students insight into farming and how the vegetables grown through the cooperative are prepared for local markets and even donated to food banks. 

Students will put their knowledge to good use this spring as they plant seeds to grow vegetables of their own in the school garden. Birch teacher Mindy Seltzber arranged Voll’s visit to the second-grade classes.

Congratulations to the six student musicians who were chosen to represent the Merrick School District at the Long Island String Festival Association (LISFA) concert held at Uniondale High School in March. Thank you for continuing to make us proud!

Elena Hyzak (Birch, violin)
Ian Klimov (Chatterton, violin)
Ryan Levinter (Chatterton, viola)
Jason Lin (Birch, viola)
Rachel Watson (Lakeside, viola)
Jocelyn Yeung (Lakeside, cello)

For the fifth consecutive year, the Merrick School District has been honored with the Best Communities for Music Education designation from The NAMM Foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education.  

The Best Communities for Music Education designation is awarded to districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement in efforts to provide music access and education to all students. To qualify for the designation, the district answered detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, and support for music programs. 

“We are truly grateful to be named one of the 2019 Best Communities for Music Education by the NAMM Foundation,” said Merrick School District’s music coordinator Dr. Richard Nasto “We are tremendously proud of all our students and their accomplishments. It is a testament to our Merrick Schools community – our music department, school and district leaders, students, teachers, staff and parents for their consistent support of arts education. They have all played a part in making this recognition possible."

The NAMM Foundation is a nonprofit supported in part by the National Association of Music Merchants and its approximately 10,400 members around the world. The foundation advances active participation in music making across the lifespan by supporting scientific research, philanthropic giving, and public service programs.