A S p e c i a l S u p p l e m e n t t o t h e S u l l i v a n C o u n t y D e m o c r a tSCHOOL

A look at activities

in theTri-Valley

School District

SECTION T,FEBRUARY,

2016 CALLICOON,

NY

SCENE

re our kids college and careerready?”

That's the question at theheart of Tri-Valley Central SchoolDistrict's efforts, and the raison d'e-tre behind the District's newest ini-tiative: crafting a road map for thefuture, that is, a strategic plan.

“I compare it to an architect need-ing a blueprint in designing a build-ing,” says Superintendent of SchoolsThomas Palmer.

“We are responsible for preparingkids for the 21st century,” he empha-sized. “What do we want our studentsto be able to know and do when theyleave here?”

Of course, the District already isdoing much of that important work.One example is its robust workingrelationship with SUNY Sullivan inLoch Sheldrake that, among otherbenefits, has allowed Tri-Valley stu-dents to examine and learn from thecollege's own math entrance exam.

This school year's broadening ofTri-Valley's after-school effortsreflects an awareness of how a morerelaxed setting for learning can con-tribute to student success during theregular school day.

Meeting after the 3 p.m. dismissalbell are 60 students divided into a vig-orous array of learning experiencesthat fall under the acronym ofSTEAM: science, technology, engi-neering, art and math.

Courses include a robotics work-shop, two Odyssey of the Mind teams,“Camp Clay” that gives students anartistic outlet and implants a creativemindset, and Student Council gath-

erings that teach civics, citizenshipand volunteering to benefit the widercommunity.

The Tri-Valley Parent TeacherOrganization's after-school MadScience program invites students todelve into the doings of a crime scenelab, whereby students create, collect,and analyze evidence.

“There are things that you can't doin a regular day that you can do afterschool,” explains Palmer. “We want togive kids opportunities to find outwhat they do like or what they don'tlike,” thus helping them plan for thefuture, he said.

COMMUNICATION & PLANNINGRamping up his own communica-

tion efforts, Palmer holds monthlycommunity forums that haveaddressed testing, communication,sports and extracurricular activitiesand other issues.

But the quintessential communica-tion effort might be the Strategic Planprocess – a review and planningendeavor to develop thoughtful deci-sions for the future – led by AssistantSuperintendent Janine Carpenterand the District's administrativeteam.

Included on the 33-memberStrategic Planning Team are Board ofEducation members, District teach-ers and support staff, parents, busi-nesspeople and community mem-bers.

Divided into subcommittees, theywill work on defining the District'sdirection, informed by the schoolboard's four goals: create academicsuccess; communicate effectively;maintain fiscal responsibility and agood program; and ensure a safe and

healthy environment for studentlearning.

One of the first activities was tostudy community response to aDistrict survey that asked for publicopinion on challenges faced by theDistrict, financial priorities, and whatskills and abilities students shouldgain before they graduate.

The Strategic Planning Team willeventually make recommendationsto the Board of Education on how toallocate funds in order to “live out”the plan.

Palmer said the hope is to beginincorporating the Strategic Plan'sconcrete suggestions during the2017-18 school year.

“The (Strategic Plan) outcomes will,in part, drive decisions made for thefuture,” he said.

A vision, goals and ideas: Tri-Valley

starts strategic plan

process

School Scene: A Look at Activities in Tri-Valley Central School

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February 16, 2016 • Vol. CXXV, No. 70

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‘A

Superintendent of Schools Thomas Palmer says the strategic planning process will give sharpfocus to the District's work of preparing students for the future.

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STORY AND PHOTOBY KATHY DALEY

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rik Franson likes robots, period.“I really like it that robots are

mechanical and that you canmake them do what you want,” saidthe sixth grader. “You can control themfreely and program them yourself toyour liking.”

At home, Erik owns a MeccanoidG15, which is a two-foot-high robotwith hundreds of moving parts and theability to dance, exercise, tell jokes andanswer questions.

At Tri-Valley after his regular schoolday, Erik remains at school, along with21 other sixth graders, for a twice-a-week class called Sphero that revolvesaround a very different kind of robot.

Sphero is a white orb the size of abaseball. It's wrapped in polycarbon-ate plastic and capable of rollingaround when controlled by a comput-er device. The Sphero uses an internalgyroscope to move right or left, changecolor, revolve in a circle or a triangle orgo straight head.

At about 3:30 p.m., student ConnorRafferty is employing his iPad to makethe Sphero circle around on the class-room floor.

Connor echoes Erik's sentimentsabout the joys of tinkering with robots.

“You are basically making them dowhat you want,” said Connor. “You'relearning about math, technology andscience.”

Students are also exposed to engi-neering, programming and informa-tion technology, note Sphero work-shop leaders Jeremy Stephens andJared Ratner. Both are graduates of

SUNY Sullivan in Loch Sheldrake, andJared is an alumnus of Tri-Valley HighSchool.

The two are robot experts and soft-ware engineers who will be presentingin March at an expo hosted by thevideo game development companyEpic Games, Inc., which is headquar-tered in North Carolina.

“We'll be presenting a quest-basedlearning system for college students,teaching them how to use the pro-gramming engine,” Ratner explained.

But at Tri-Valley on Mondays andWednesdays for Sphero's three-weeksession, they are leading young stu-dents into the future.

“Robots are a way of teaching pro-gramming,” said Stephens. “Andthere's a lot of work out there for pro-grammers.”

Plus, he said, “learning programminghelps in logical thinking, and logicalthinking is helpful in everything we doin life.”

The two have taught other work-shops at Tri-Valley, including one thattaught students to build Darwin minis– 10-inch high “humanoid” robots thatare capable of headstands, rolls andpicking themselves up from theground.

Ratner explains that Tri-Valley stu-dents gain from the hands-on natureof robotics.

“It's physically handling a device ver-sus sitting at a screen with blank text,”he said. “It opens their creative side,the right brain. It allows them to bemore independent thinkers.”

Tri-Valley sixth graders Connor

Rafferty and Erik Franson

learn programming bystudying robotics in an

after-school programcalled Sphero.

FEBRUARY, 2016 SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT TRI-VALLEY SCHOOL SCENE 3T

E

Round and round:Learning logical thinking in Workshop

STORY AND

PHOTOBY

KATHYDALEY

4T TRI-VALLEY SCHOOL SCENE SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT FEBRUARY, 2016

STORY AND PHOTO BY KATHY DALEY

Andrea Klevenger is passionateabout education, and, as Tri-Valley Elementary School

Principal, she reveals that zeal infrequent exchanges with students:“Tell me one thing you learnedtoday,” she suggests to kids.

Sometimes the answers are non-committal.

“Math,” said one student. SoKlevenger digs a little more.

“I learned my number bonds,” thestudent responds, referring to thepairs of numbers that make up agiven number.

Or another student will look up atKlevenger and tell her “I learnedabout the habitat of a frog.”

As principal for the past year, sheis all about making a very goodschool into a great school.

It began with setting a welcomingtone, recounted Klevenger, whosigned on as top leader of the pre-kto 6th grade school in January 2015.

“My first big purchase,” she said,“was Tri-Valley Elementary Schooltee shirts with an emblem of gearsworking together, symbolizing howall of us need to work together forstudents to be successful.”

Then Klevenger turned to buildingtrust and relationships, and beefingup communication.

Each Monday, she emails out tostaff a full document with upcom-ing school and district-wide events,a quote for the week, dates of facul-ty meetings and breakfasts, anditems to think about. For example,the school focuses on a good char-acter trait each month; January'swas perseverance.

Right now, Klevenger and AssistantPrincipal Jennifer Jessup-Rushtonare beginning work on a compre-hensive three-year plan to boostsuccessful teaching practices.Beginning next September, the twoschool leaders and trained teacherswill begin “instructional rounds,” aneducational practice inspired by themedical-rounds model used by doc-tors.

They will visit classrooms “with

the goal of observing teacher andstudent behaviors related to con-tent,” Klevenger said. That is, arestudents engaged in the classroom?Are their tasks rigorous enough? Arethe questions teachers ask studentslow level questions or higher?

The answers will fuel special staffdevelopment training sessions tohelp teachers do their job even bet-ter, always with the goal in mindthat students must master new waysof acting and thinking in a globaland competitive world.

Klevenger herself began her teach-ing career in Pine Plains as an ele-mentary school teacher. Then, forthree years, she served as assistantprincipal in charge of seventh andeighth grade for the PoughkeepsieCity School District.

She is enjoying Tri-Valleyimmensely.

“I make it a point to tell the kidsI'm always glad to see them. I wantthem to know me,” she said. “I greetthem in the morning, I visit them atlunch time, I say goodbye to them inthe afternoon.”

At dismissal, she invokes the time-honored teacher reminder: “Don'tforget to read!”

Principal Andrea Klevenger relishes her lead-ership position at Tri-Valley ElementarySchool in Grahamsville. Here she meets withtwo of the school's 557 children, secondgraders Ariona Zeininger and Grace Deyo.

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STORY AND PHOTOS BY KATHY DALEY

he best things you learnhappen after school.”

Many wise adults wouldagree with that reflection on lifelonglearning, in this case voiced by Tri-Valley fifth grader Michael Geraine.

Michael is one of 14 students par-ticipating in Tri-Valley's two Odysseyof the Mind (OM) teams, which,indeed, meet after the regular schoolday and involve compelling learning.

In Odyssey, “You help other peopleat the same time as you are doing thework you need to do, and you workon your creative side,” said Michael.

Odyssey of the Mind is an interna-tional educational program that pro-vides creative problem-solvingopportunities for students.

Team members apply their inven-tiveness to problems that range frombuilding mechanical devices to pre-senting their own interpretation ofliterary classics. They then bring theirsolutions to competition on theregional and state level.

The Tri-Valley teams of seven stu-dents each will compete in a regionaltournament at Orange-Ulster BOCES

in Goshen on March 12. A statewidecompetition for the regional winnerswill take place on April 2 inBinghamton.

“It's a wonderful opportunity forstudents to learn collaborative skills,to problem solve and to have fun,”said one of the Tri-Valley team lead-ers, teacher Lucretia Gilles.

Each year, five new competitiveproblems are presented for the teamsto solve. The long-term problems aresolved over weeks and months. Someof the problems are more technical innature, while others are artistic orperformance based.

The second half of the tournamentasks teams to solve a spontaneousproblem. The school's team is takeninto a room, given the problem, andmust work out the solution, all with-out their teacher/advisor.

After trying out in November for themuch-sought after OM spots, theOdyssey teams – one for fifth gradeand one for sixth grade – meet twodays each week after school.

Each team writes a script, designsand builds sets, makes costumes, andcomes up with music and dialogue.

Gilles' team chose to write and per-form a skit about the fable “The Thief

and the Innkeeper.” According toOdyssey rules, the fable must go“viral,” that is, it spreads out amongthe community somehow.

“It must be done through sound,visuals and one lost form of commu-

nication, such as hieroglyphics orpony express, for example,” saidGilles.

Tri-Valley's second team, advisedby teacher Brian Heller, is working ona skit about animals who have tosolve a problem in a humorous way,explained student AlexandraCossack.

In the performance, the animalsmust encounter a door but they areunsure as to where the door will lead,adds Samantha Morgan.

The team has finished the skit andis now working on costumes, back-ground and on assigning roles.

Sixth grader Brandon Kaplan islooking forward to the tournament.

“We know we'll be learning stuffabout ourselves, others and solvingproblems,” Brandon said.

“This is a nice experience for me,”he added. “I always enjoy cominghere, planning the play and talking tomy friends.”

Student Ethan Mentnech said hevalues the after-school learning time.

“When you're in school, you're seri-ous all day,” said Ethan. “Here you getto create, to think outside the box.”

‘Odyssey’ invites 5th and 6th graderson a mind’s creative journey

The Odyssey of the Mind provides teamswith open-ended problems that appeal to awide range of interests. From left, sixthgrade Tri-Valley Odyssey team AngelBeltram, Andrew Cox, Brian Kelly,teacher/advisor Brian Heller, EthanMentnech, Brandon Kaplan, SamanthaMorgan, Alexandra Cossack.

6T TRI-VALLEY SCHOOL SCENE SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT FEBRUARY, 2016

Teacher Lucretia Gilles advises Tri-Valley's fifth grade Odyssey of the Mind team, two ofwhose members are Brook Delaney and Michael Geraine, above. Students learn how to iden-tify challenges and to think creatively to solve those problems, Gilles said.

‘T

STORY AND PHOTOS BY KATHY DALEY

Student Idris Encarnacion learnshow to be a leader. Dylan Poleylearns responsibility.

“Everyone here learns more aboutteamwork,” said Brianna Torrens.“We all have to work together to makethe student body and the school bet-ter places.”

Tri-Valley Elementary SchoolStudent Council “is an activity wherehomeroom representatives, and thepresident and vice president of theStudent Council talk about problems,fund-raising, games and sports,” saidDominic Plescia, fifth grade home-room representative.

But Student Council is also a lessonin democracy and in serving as rolemodels for others.

“Students look up to us,” said Idris.“They ask us questions. You can haveexperience in Student Council thatwill help you later on.”

Although only fourth, fifth and sixthgraders participate, they do representthe entire elementary school, notesteacher/advisor Lauren Rosenberger.

Fundraising for local and regionalworthy causes is a big part of studentgovernment's work.

“The fundraisers change each year,depending on the ideas of the stu-dents,” Rosenberger said. “ A majorityof the funds they bring in is acquiredthrough our Sneaker Nights that areheld monthly, and through our annu-al talent show in April. The studentscome up with various other activitiesthroughout the year and discuss ifthey are suitable fund-raisers for ourstudent body.”

Student Council Officers arePresident Andrew Cox, Vice PresidentBrian Kelly, Treasurer TheresaConway, Recording SecretarySamantha Morgan, SocialChairperson Alexandra Cossack,Service Chairperson Brandon Kaplan,and Historian Brianna Torrens.

Younger kids learn democracy through Student Council

At left, fifth grade homeroom rep-resentative Dominic Plescia pre-pares to make a point at a meetingof the Student Council, for whichteacher Lauren Rosenberger(above) is advisor.

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