Sag Harbor students donate books to Louisiana school affected by Hurricane Katrina

A Sag Harbor school is helping to foster a love of reading among students at a school in Louisiana impacted nearly a decade ago by Hurricane Katrina.

Eighth-graders at Pierson Middle School have collected and donated more than 2,000 gently used books so far this winter for Theodore Roosevelt Middle School, a Kenner, Louisiana, school that suffered flooding during the deadly hurricane in 2005. The school — which has roughly 650 students in grades 6-8 — is in need of various classroom supplies and books, school officials said.

The collection was spurred by a friendship between Sag Harbor School District Superintendent Katy Graves and Katy Clayton, an eighth-grade teacher at Theodore Roosevelt and a former student of Graves'.

"It's just tremendously meaningful," Clayton said of the collection. "We don't have some of the resources that we want to have, so I'm so grateful that there will be texts here that the kids will be excited to read."

The donations have included everything from math textbooks to books from the Harry Potter series — as well as school supplies such as pens, pencils and notebooks. Pierson officials are exploring the most cost-effective way to ship the packages to Kenner at the end of the school year.

In addition, Pierson students participated last month in a video chat with a group of 50 Theodore Roosevelt youngsters in which they discussed the similarities and differences between each other's schools.

"When you see kids paying it forward to help out peers of their own, it's always joyous," said Pierson English teacher Christine Farrell, who has been overseeing the book collection.

Hauppauge: Peaceful school bus

Forest Brook and Pines elementary schools have been striving to create positive traveling experiences for students with the implementation of the Peace School Bus Program, an initiative created by a trainer of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. The program consists of periodic assemblies in which kids review proper bus behavior and get to know their drivers and each other.

In addition, Pines has implemented a Bus Compliment Program in which building staff rewards bus groups that receive positive remarks and compliments from their bus drivers.

"Students are given an opportunity to have their voices be heard and ideas put in action," said Pines Elementary School Principal Claudine DiMuzio.

Middle Island: G.R.E.A.T. students

A group of 100 students in Longwood Middle School's Gang Resistance Education and Training, or G.R.E.A.T., program recently participated in the school's first G.R.E.A.T. Olympics that included a mix of academic questions as well as relay races, beanbag tosses and tugs-of-war. The annual program is led by the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department.

The 13-week program, now in its seventh year, is a life-skills competency initiative designed to provide students with tools they need to avoid gang pressure and youth violence.

"Even when G.R.E.A.T. is over, it doesn't mean we forget the bundles of fun we had or lessons we learned," sixth-grader Kaela Marie Dimanlig said.

Islandwide: PBS Kids contest

PBS Kids has announced it is accepting submissions for a contest in which children nationwide in grades K-3 can submit original stories with illustrations. To enter, kids can submit stories to local PBS stations and the local winners will be entered into the national round of judging, with national winners being announced in July.

Grades K-1 must not exceed 200 words, while grades 2-3 must not exceed 300 words, and entries must have at least five clear and colorful illustrations. Entries will be judged based on creativity and expression, story structure and illustration quality and originality.

Prize packages will include books from the "Arthur" series and personal technology items. The local deadline is March 31.

For more contest rules, visit pbskids.org/writerscontest.