LI teachers put seasonal spin on classroom activities

Autumn's arrival inspired many teachers to put a seasonal twist on curricula.

Long Island schools hosted everything from apple-themed art and math projects to pumpkin-oriented science experiments in an effort to inject unique learning opportunities into classrooms.

Kindergartners at Seaford Harbor Elementary School conducted a variety of tests on pumpkins -- determining whether they floated or sank, how much they weighed, and how tall they were. The kids recorded their predictions and observations in "pumpkin books" and sounded out words that describe the orange fruit, school officials said.

"Pumpkin Day is a wonderful hands-on way for students to apply and reinforce the math and science skills they're learning in the classroom," Principal Donna DeLucia-Troisi said.

NASSAU SCHOOLS: In Hicksville, fourth-graders at Old Country Road Elementary School celebrated Johnny Appleseed Day in September by making applesauce and using balancing scales to measure the mass of apples. They also compared the legends of Johnny Appleseed with biographical details of John Chapman, a frontier nurseryman upon whom the folk hero is based.

In Locust Valley, third-graders at Bayville Intermediate School turned pumpkins into globes by using pencils and paint to sketch oceans, continents and the equator onto the fruit. The project was designed to test kids' fine motor skills and geographical knowledge.

Children in prekindergarten at Bellmore's Charles A. Reinhard Early Childhood Center made apple-print artwork and determined the most popular type of apples by graphing their preferences: green, red or yellow.

"One of our goals in the pre-K program is to build the students' sensory skills through their activities," Reinhard teacher Alison Burke said.

SUFFOLK SCHOOLS: In Copiague, kindergartners at Deauville Gardens East Elementary School participated in a variety of apple activities -- making applesauce, tasting different types of apples, and reading about apples and Johnny Appleseed, a folk hero and pioneer apple farmer in the 1800s. They also used apple slices to create apple-print artwork and completed apple-themed coloring booklets.

"Since many of our students come from diverse backgrounds, we thought this would be a great way to enrich their learning and promote healthy eating," teacher Maritza Benavides-Winkler said.

Kindergarten students at Arrowhead Elementary School in East Setauket attended a mock Oktoberfest that included face-painting, pumpkin-decorating and scarecrow-making activities.

In Moriches, fourth-graders at Moriches Elementary School harvested corn, beans and squash they had planted in the spring and learned how planting the crops close together aids them nutritionally through a process called "companion planting."

In Deer Park, children in prekindergarten at John Quincy Adams Primary School created pumpkin candle holders using glass jars, glue and colored tissue paper.

"The pumpkin workshop is an opportunity for students to practice fine motor skills," Quincy principal Christine Criscione said.

FREEPORT: Science computing

The Freeport school district is Nassau County's first district to offer a science computing program in collaboration with Brookhaven National Laboratory. The program focuses on topics including data types, quadratic factorization and frequency analysis for students at Freeport High School and J.W. Dodd Middle School.

Participating students will have the chance to enroll in a more advanced computer class held at Brookhaven National Laboratory in the summer, and would be eligible to work on science research projects with Brookhaven scientists upon successful completion of the course.

HERRICKS: Life skills center

Herricks Middle School recently hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony to unveil a new life skills center designed to help equip kids with day-to-day living experiences.

The facility includes an apartment learning center that features a living room and dining space, laundry nook, and a full kitchen with dishes, utensils and supplies. Lessons range from learning to bake and cook using produce from the school garden to tackling laundry "as a favor to the school's sports teams," school officials said.

"The energy that has come from this really has revitalized our whole building," Herricks principal Joan Keegan said.

AMITYVILLE: Hispanic heritage

Several schools in the Amityville district held cultural celebrations in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month in October.

Northwest Elementary School hosted a dinner that included dishes ranging from quesadillas to coconut bread pudding served by the National Junior Honor Society. Alfred Pena, the founder of Rhythmology dance studio in Westbury, was on hand to demonstrate Latin dances such as salsa, mambo and bachata.

Meanwhile, Northeast Elementary School kindergartners created posters about famous Hispanic celebrities. The posters were displayed during a concert that featured kids singing songs such as "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" in Spanish and in English.

WEST BABYLON: Junior broadcaster

Daniel Papillo, a fifth-grader at Forest Avenue Elementary School, won first place in the New York Yankees Radio Network's 2015 Junior Broadcaster Contest, which challenged kids to write an essay on why they want to be a broadcaster.

He was awarded the opportunity to broadcast the bottom of the second inning against the Chicago White Sox alongside broadcasters John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman on Sept. 25.

ISLANDWIDE: Young Scholars of Math

Eighty-four students beat out 600 nominees to be named Long Island Young Scholars of Mathematics by the Institute of Creative Problem Solving for Gifted and Talented Students at The College at Old Westbury. The title means they are in the top one-tenth of 1 percent of all local math students in their grade, and they will spend 60 hours in math classes over the span of 20 Saturdays.

NASSAU: Local selected students and their school districts are Nijka Young of Baldwin; Zachary Neiger of Bellmore-Merrick; Arjun Panickssery and Nikhil Panickssery of East Meadow; Mark DiLapi of East Rockaway; Charlotte Iannone, Ian Kim, Krittika Prajapati and Aaron Zachariah of East Williston; Monika Cepeda of Freeport; Elizabeth Ferencik, Jason Li and Jenny Zheng of Garden City; Matthew Tran of Glen Cove; Jin Won Kim, Eric Pei, Christopher Yang and Anthony Zhan of Great Neck; Victoria Joseph, Preethi Krishnamoorthy, Rhea Rasquinha, Rachel Won and Tyler Wu of Herricks; Anika Bokka, Razeen Hossain, Aryan Jain, Priyansh Raval and Dhanush Sivasankaran of Hicksville; Thomas Chen, Joanne Li, Jennifer Lin, Jack Mok, Dia Shah, Davesh Valagolam, Yaxuan Wang and Patrick Zhao of Jericho; Andrew Juang of Manhasset; Sofia Cataliotti, John Zihou Chen and Amelia Medved of Mineola; Jason Luo, Emma Ouyang and Sophie Wang of New Hyde Park Park-Garden City Park; Justin Guo of Progressive School of Long Island in North Merrick; Kinsale Reilly of North Shore; Keith Macias of Island Trees; Benjamin Mascuch of Oceanside; Eshan Tivakaran of Plainview-Old Bethpage; Alex Liu, Daniel Liu and Harshita Sehgal of Roslyn; Myrna Jean Michel of Sewanhaka; and Sabrina Guo, Alex He, Jarrod Li, David Wang and Michael Wang of Syosset.

Camilla Grimaldi of Our Lady of Mercy Academy in Syosset also was selected.

SUFFOLK SCHOOLS: Local selected students and their school districts are Michael Chan and Andrew Hexiang Wang of Commack; Peter Vouthas of Elwood; Melissa Chen, Mark Gandolfo, Jessica Horowitz, Danielle Luntz and Calia Kugler of Half Hollow Hills; Albert Zhang of Harborfields; Grace Kenny of Huntington; Keiffer Acoba of Kings Park; Patrick Sweeney of Northport-East Northport; Silas Hokanson of Sag Harbor; Sonia Arun Joseph and Christian Wesselborg of Shoreham-Wading River; Suraj Karthic and Tarun Karthic of Smithtown; and Daniel Schwartz, Neil Shady, William Sun, Benjamin Templeton and Rebecca Zhang of Three Village.

Michael Doboli of Harbor Country Day School in St. James also was selected.