Locust Valley Middle School sixth graders showcased their Fiction Passion Projects last week in the mini theater. Each class explored the incredible projects, which included dioramas of the setting or themes of a novel they read, such as The White House, a fishbowl and a fake Instagram feed, and more abstract items like a video recap and music video describing their novels. Students leapt at the chance they had to infuse creativity into their book reports.
Locust Valley Intermediate School and the Locust Valley Elementary Parents Council welcomed Caldecott Medal-winning author and illustrator Brian Floca on March 6.
Floca explained how he grew to love writing and drawing as a child and walked students through his process from idea to research to writing and illustrating. Students also had the opportunity to ask Floca how they can create books of their own.
The stage behind Floca at Locust Valley Intermediate School’s auditorium was also adorned with incredible cardboard vehicles and depictions of his book covers. In anticipation of the visit, Ann MacArthur Primary School students created projects under the theme “things that go” as many of Floca’s books center on vehicles and travel throughout history. Students built spaceships, boats and trains out of regular household items. Meanwhile, Locust Valley Intermediate School students drew posters resembling some of Floca’s works, such as “Lightship,” “Locomotive” and “Moonshot.”
Floca gave students a sneak peak of the upcoming book “With Dad” that he illustrated. Locust Valley Intermediate student Griffin Bathie and his grandfather acted as the models for the reference photos that Floca turned into the illustrations in the book. Floca gifted Bathie one of the first copies of the book before it releases in May.
Ann MacArthur Primary School’s robotics team, the Falcon Girl Coders, earned the Challenge Solution Award at the FIRST LEGO League Explore Festival on March 2.
The second-grade students took home the award by showcasing their problem-solving skills and teamwork by presenting their interactive LEGO chess board with sounds accompanying each move. Their coding included a motor that turned red when one player is about to be checkmated and a light sensor that turns different colors to signify the difficulty level.
After presenting their project in front of the judges, family and friends, the girls also used their problem-solving skills with team-building exercises like moving a beach ball onto a perch by only using drumsticks and passing a hula hoop without using their hands.
Locust Valley Middle School students Shannon Aguirre, Corniglia Baran, Chloe Cutler, Katie Hernandez, Layne Kalenderian, Mia Marchand, Michael Miceli and Georgia Uber were honored by Principal Cestaro this week for February’s Caught Being Kind program. Each student performed an act of kindness that was noticed by an administrator, teacher or member of the school staff. Acts included staying after class to help clean up without being asked, giving away a raffle prize to another student, helping classmates who were struggling with assignments and helping a classmate get caught up on work after they missed class.
Locust Valley High School students hit their goal by donating 44 pints of blood to the New York Blood Center on March 1. Students donated a pint of blood each. New York Blood Center estimates that each pint of blood donated can save up to three lives. The high school will host another drive on May 23.
Locust Valley Middle School got a visit from award-winning musician and guest speaker Jared Campbell on Feb. 28. Campbell visited the district’s elementary schools earlier in the year but had a message more tailored to the changing atmosphere middle school students go through. Campbell told stories and sang songs about the mental and physical challenges that growing up brings and how students can make life better for their classmates and their selves.
Prior to the winter recess, students celebrated Bring a Grown-Up to Lunch Week and Pick a Reading Partner Week from Feb. 12-16 in Bayville and Locust Valley, respectively. At Bayville Intermediate School, students welcomed their parents to the lunchroom to meet their friends and see them do a skill showcase near the end of the period. Parents brought in treats for their children and their friends to enjoy a special lunch together.
Students at Locust Valley Intermediate School welcomed parents to come in and read short stories to them in the week before the break as part of the Pick a Reading Partner Week. The program encourages partners such as parents/guardians, grandparents, siblings, cousins and friends to read with a child for 20 minutes daily. Reading partners read books such as “Meet the Dogs of Bedlam Farm” by Jon Katz, “A Map of the World” by Kao Kalia Yang and “A Walk in the Words” by Hudson Talbott.
Locust Valley High School alumna Julia Sabatino, Class of 2020, helped the SUNY New Paltz Hawks to the State University of New York Athletic Conference tournament crown on Feb. 24. The former Falcon guard put up 10 points, five rebounds and three assists in the 52-47 championship win over SUNY Geneseo.
During her Falcons career, Sabatino was named All-County and Defensive Player of the Year in 2019 and 2020, while serving as co-captain of the undefeated Nassau County Class A champions. She is one of the few players to score more than 1,000 career points.
Sabatino has been a star off the court, too, attaining a spot on the conference’s Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll in 2020-2021 and 2022-2023 and the team honor roll in fall 2021 and 2022.
Locust Valley Middle School and High School encourage community members to sign up to represent their countries at the International Night on Wednesday, March 6, from 6-8 p.m. in the school cafeteria.
If you would like to bring food or memorabilia or would like to dance, sing or perform in any fashion, please register using the QR code. Money raised from the event will go towards the school’s next Habitat for Humanity student build.
If you have any questions, please contact Bidania Criscuolo at bcrsicuolo@locustvalleyschools.org.
Middle School parents can start to prepare for next year at the Incoming Parent Orientations on Thursday, March 7, at the MS/HS auditorium. The Incoming Grade 7 Orientation begins at 6 p.m. and the Grade 8 Orientation starts at 7:15 p.m. All parents/guardians in attendance will be given a copy of their children’s course recommendations for next year. Course recommendations will also be posted in the parent portal.
Locust Valley Middle School wrestler Finn O’Brien placed third in his weight class at the 2024 New York State Championships in Albany on Feb. 24. After a defeat in the second match, O’Brien won six straight matches to climb his way up to third place. The eighth grader put together a 39-2 record this season.
Locust Valley High School’s Hispanic Heritage Club and Greek Club presented a check for $410 to the Moreano World Medical Mission on Feb. 16 after a bake sale earlier in the month. The bake sale saw students produce creative treats like s’more cupcakes, brownies, cookies and cupcakes with a beach scene, umbrella and gummy bears.
The Moreano World Medical Mission has provided free reconstructive surgeries to children born with deformities or have suffered from trauma or burns since 1999. Dr. Edwin Moreano, whose daughter Gianna attends LVHS, travels to Latin America each year to provide care for those in desperate need.
Seven Locust Valley High School students recently helped paint the interior of a new home in the community as part of Habitat for Humanity.
Students learned about the application process and work that goes into building, furnishing and customizing a new home. The seven volunteers then spent the day painting the entire interior of the home. After painting the walls, ceiling and adding trim where needed, the student volunteers and their adviser Farrah Tringas stopped to enjoy pizza and discuss how they got involved in the project.
“Everything went smoothly and everyone enjoyed giving back to the community,” Tringas said. “We look forward to the next build.”
The students have a fundraising goal of $400 for another building project that they hope to hit while selling t-shirts, magnets, keychains and handmade baskets at the Locust Valley Central School District’s International Night on March 6.
Locust Valley High School wrestlers Robbie Burns, Justin Dvorak, C.J. Kelly, Dylan Mueller, Finn O’Brien and Thomas Rutherford all qualified for the New York State boys wrestling individual championships during the county tournament at Cold Spring Harbor High School on Feb. 9 and 10.
Burns, Kelly and O’Brien became county champions at the tournament, while Mueller finished second in his weight class and Dvorak and Rutherford finished third in theirs.
“I can’t say how incredibly proud of this group I am,” coach Brush said. “It was definitely not an easy road for any of them, but despite any challenges they pushed through and kept fighting and I know they will continue to upstate.”
All six students will head up to Albany to represent the Falcons on Feb. 23 and 24 with hopes of becoming state champions.
Elementary school students throughout the district looked grown up on Feb. 12, as the schools celebrated 100 days of school by dressing up as if they were 100 years old. Each Bayville Primary student received a $100 Bayville Buck when they got to class, went on a scavenger hunt for 100 hearts hidden around the school, and had a sing along and dance party to celebrate the day. Ann MacArthur students had their own dance party, and each had a laminated number to help count to 100. Bayville Intermediate students showed love for their school with Instagram cut outs.
Fifth graders at Bayville Intermediate School spent a week learning circus acts from professional performers during their gym classes, culminating in a memorable performance on Feb. 9 in front of friends and family.
Students chose activities from balancing, juggling, walking on stilts to diablo sticks and putting on physical comedy sketches as clowns and spent the week honing that skill for the annual performance on Friday. The National Circus Project continued its partnership with the school and the Bayville Elementary Parent Council to give every student an opportunity to showcase their focus, timing and coordination, as well as their teamwork, confidence and communication skills.
Eight Locust Valley Middle School students were recognized for their random acts of kindness in January. Students Jason Eisenberg, Hailey Jankowski, Liam McGovern, Joseph Mercario, Timothy Sheehan, Coralinda Sostre, Jasmine Thomas and Simon Zaikowski performed acts of kindness for their classmates that were observed by staff.
Acts of kindness included helping a new student around the school, trying to get a lost school project back to its owner and staying after school to help decorate their classroom door with their teacher.
Due to inclement weather, all LVCSD schools will have a traditional snow day on Tuesday, Feb. 13. There will be no online instruction. Please stay safe and enjoy the day.
Debido al clima inclemente, todas las escuelas de LVCSD tendrán un día tradicional de nieve el martes 13 de febrero. No habrá instrucción en línea. Por favor manténganse a salvo y disfruten del día.
Locust Valley Intermediate School and Bayville Intermediate School student actors will take the stage in the High School/Middle School auditorium on Feb. 12 and 13 to perform Roald Dahl’s “Willy Wonka Jr.” as part of the Mainstages program. Doors open to the public at 5:45 p.m. and the show begins at 6 p.m. Tickets are not required.
Locust Valley High School/Middle School welcomed more than a dozen robotics teams to its school gym for the FIRST Long Island Robotics Competition qualifying tournament on Feb. 3 and 4.
Locust Valley teachers and student volunteers along with FIRST staff helped turn the school gymnasium into an arena with two grids for the robot matches and a pit area for teams to test and adjust their creations as needed.
Two Locust Valley teams, the ninth grade FalconBots and 10-12th grade Team Kuiper, competed against and formed alliances with 14 teams on Feb. 3 and another 21 teams on Feb. 4. Each team spent the last few months of the school year building its bots to navigate obstacle courses, shoot paper planes as far and they can and stack plastic pieces on a board.
The FalconBots and Team Kuiper finished first and second, respectively, in the qualifying rounds on and formed an alliance that won in the finals. As the winning alliance, both teams advanced to the Long Island Championships in Mineola on March 2.
