James Wilson Young Middle School students enrolled in Robert Donarummo’s technology class have been learning advanced engineering and computer principals. Most recently, the seventh graders learned to design and create wooden signs, called name boards, using the Aspire program.

The students first decided the design of their nameboard. Many of the choices included, in addition to a name, an image that reflected their interests or the message he/she was trying to convey. Once a bitmap image was captured from the internet, it was then imported into the Aspire Program and converted into a vector image, a line made up of start and end points which eventually rendered a 2D image. The students then determined the tool path in which the kind of bit, the width of the bit and the depth of the carving was chosen and which would create a 3D image. The final step was to carve the sign images with a CnC router to create the final product.

Some of the signs included the students’ names and images of the sports they play, while other students created signs with images and names of their favorite sports teams. A number of nameboards served as gifts to a parent and included the names of their businesses or as a memory of a favorite vacation spot.

Date Added: 1/26/2022

High school students enrolled in a social studies class called Participation in Government are prepared to exercise their right to vote, now that they have pre-registered to vote with the assistance of teacher Katina Cokinas and the social studies department.

At the time of local elections, the class discussed the importance of voting and studied a unit on the electoral college, examining how many people in the United States actually voted during the presidential election. During an exercise called Let’s Get Registered, the students wrote the answer on a Post-It note to the question “What motivates you to vote?” The answers were then stuck onto the bulletin board for peers to read and served as a topic of discussion about the voting process.

Additionally, the class learned that under New York State law, individuals can pre-register to vote at 16 years of age. With the help from the district, voter registration forms were printed for each student in the class and Ms. Cokinos walked through the pre-registration process with the students. The forms were then mailed by the district, so that students will be ready to vote when they turn 18 years old.

Ms. Cokinos said, “Our goal is to have the students register as a voter in NY State in order to understand the importance of exercising their right to be informed and politically active.”

Date Added: 1/24/2022

Gone are the days when students gleaned their knowledge primarily from textbooks. In Katina Cokinos’ economics class at Bayport-Blue Point High School, seniors are learning how to navigate the real world through their recently acquired knowledge of world and personal finance, retirement and retirement accounts, saving, spending, budgeting and so much more.

This month, the seniors learned the importance of writing an effective cover letter. After discussing what should be included in a cover letter, types of cover letters and what makes them effective and ineffective, the students were put to the task of writing one.

“Submitting a cover letter for every job you apply for is crucial,” Ms. Cokinos told the class. “The cover letter sets you apart and demonstrates your work ethic.”

In Goggle Classroom, students uploaded a cover letter template and wrote a letter as they applied to a fictional position as a retail sales associate, a pizzeria hostess, babysitter or for a position in a warehouse.

The economics class is mandatory for seniors. In addition to learning about supply and demand, economic systems, an introduction to economic theory and current economic events, students have explored personal finance, cryptocurrency, social media and its effects on spending and personal finance strategies.

Date Added: 1/18/2022

James Wilson Young Middle School students unlocked their families’ history through a unique project which afforded them the opportunity to explore the past through Ancestry.com. Through a grant acquired by library media specialist Susan Henke-Brinkman, students in Peggy Vallely’s eighth grade social studies class explored their family history and elders’ immigration history using the district’s technology.

The project turned out to be more successful than initially intended with students accessing invaluable, digitized documents that told their relatives’ stories. For example, one student accessed a relative’s yearbook information and a World War II draft card, which a personal signature. Another student found a photo of the ship his grandfather sailed on to America. Interestingly, another student found information about his great uncle being the creator of the zip tie.

“I had always heard the stories about how he invented the zip tie, but now I can actually prove it,” the student said.

“The students were able to download digitized copies of the information that told their relative’s story,” Ms. Henke-Brinkman explained. “This project elicited so many conversations and opened the lines of communication between the students and their grandparents.”

One student learned more about his family tree by examining a 1930 census that explained his relative’s immigration data, where he lived and with whom. Likewise, another student learned from census information that her great grandmother was born in Germany.

Ms. Vallely said, “So many pieces of the puzzle helped the students fill in the gaps of their relatives’ stories. The project was an exceptional and invaluable opportunity for the students to learn more about their families’ history.”

Date Added: 1/13/2022