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Five Scotia-Glenville High School
students and their teacher attended the NanoDay activities in New York City on
Oct. 17 to learn about nanoscience and hear from some of the leaders in the
science world.
The students, Travis
Bailer, Anthony Phillips, Emilio Pagan-Yourno, Will Rudolph, and Stephen
Samela – joined teacher Theresa Carr and hundreds of other high school
students at the program.
They are in the CISCO
program’s CCNA Discovery class in the business department.
Carr said that her
students, through the class studies, have become “excited about what
nanotechnology is and how they can get involved (career pathways, academics,
nanobots, bio-nanobots, etc).”
NanoDay was an all-day, New York
City-wide program designed to introduce pre-college students to the new
interdisciplinary fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology.
The students heard
from several college science professors, who are on the cutting edge of
nanoscience, as well as Bill Nye, known as the Science Guy.
The event was
sponsored by the Columbia University Nanocenter in collaboration with City
College of New York, Columbia University, Barnard College and Rowan University.
The activities of
NanoDay were designed to stimulate student interest in the pursuit of science
or engineering as a major in a college or university setting, and to increase
awareness of the important roles that nanoscience will assume within our
global society.
The program included
discussions of nanoscience and nanotechnology by several highly distinguished
scientists. In addition, the students had the chance to observe a wide variety
of exhibits and demonstrations covering many aspects of nanoscience and
nanotechnology and related scientific fields.
Here's
a PDF of the program from NanoDay.
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Scotia-Glenville grade 4
Scotia Scholars students visit Five Rivers Environmental Center in Delmar
Thirteen grade 4 students from the
four elementary schools at Scotia-Glenville probed the ponds and environment
at the Five Rivers Environmental Center in Delmar as part of their first
lesson of the school year.
Maria Maynard is teaching
environmental science in the Scotia Scholars enrichment program for grade 4
students whiel Cily Rueda is teaching forensics in the Scotia Scholars program
to grade 5 students.
Maynard said the Scotia Scholars
program is using Problem Based Learning techniques: a problem of science
content is given and, through trial and error, questions, experiments and
relation to real world, the problems are solved.
The first
environmental unit will be a pond problem relating to why the organisms/life
are dying in a particular pond on a farm. Students will create an aquarium
pond in the classroom and conduct experiements with pond water. Other topics
throughout the year will study various impacts on the environment.
Below are a few pictures of the trip
to Five Rivers:
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May 19, 2009
Thank You Scotia-Glenville!
The four proposals on the May 19 ballot were approved:
2009-10 budget, 1,253 to 785
(61.5% to 38.5%)
Bus purchases, 1,227 to 787
(60.9% to 39.1%)
Bldg. proposal #3 (renovations, track),
1,119 to 902
(55.4% to 44.6%)
Bldg. proposal #4 (MS library improvements),
1,037 to 960
(51.9% to 48.1%)
John Yagielski received
1,410 votes
Gary Normington received
1,426 votes
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March 30, 2009
Superintendent Susan Swartz
presented a third draft budget that totaled $46,639,381. The Board of
Education added back $12,000 in funding to send one more student to the Tech
Valley High School.
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Over the past several weeks, the
administration and Board of Education sliced about $1.3 million from the
superintendent's February 23 proposal. Among the reductions:
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5.2 full-time
teaching positions:
2.0 positions at elementary (through retirements), 1.0 positions at the middle
school (English, science and art); and 2.2 positions at the high school
(mathematics, social studies and foreign language);
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One full-time
cleaner position will not be filled;
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Young Scholars in grades 4
and 5 will add a math and science component
and be taught by S-G's in-house gifted and talented teachers for a $25,000
savings. Grades 4 and 5 students will continued to be taught humanities by the
Young Scholars program through the Warren-Washington BOCES. Both the
humanities and math/science program, to be called Scotia Scholars as it is in
grade 6, will be half days each and taught at Sacandaga Elementary School on
Wednesdays.
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Supplies will
be reduced by 15% and
professional development will be reduced by 10%;
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Athletics will
be reduced by $30,000 and
field trips will be reduced by $20,000;
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The director of
curriculum and instruction's position will not be replaced until Nov. 1.
Current director Joseph Kavanaugh is retiring as of Aug. 14;
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The BOE contractual line for
NYSSBA Convention will be reduced by $2,500;
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BOCES special
education costs will be reduced by $174,000
- which means current students will receive services, but the additional
funding in the budget for anticipated students who may need out-of-district
programs was reduced;
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The Career and Technical
School at BOCES budget allocation will be reduced.
The district has historically budgeted for 72 students to attend the program;
the 2009-10 budget allocates for 63 to attend. This year, 59 students attended.
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$75,000 less
was allocated for the technology replacement plan;
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Worker's
compensation
costs were reduced by $16,000;
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Academic
contest entry fees
were reduced by $2,500, leaving $5,000;
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The Capital
Region BOCES school district assessment
dropped by $10,000;
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Driver Education
students will be charged a $150 tuition charge, up from the current $3 charge.
The program will be self-supporting.
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$350,000 was
cut from the Teacher Retirement System
budget line because of lower rates this year;
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2.0 FTE special education
positions will be transferred from the general fund to special aid fund
based on federal stimulus funding: $120,000 savings
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1.0 FTE remedial teacher
position will be transferred from general fund to special aid fund
based on federal stimulus funding: $60,000 savings
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A new summer program for
students with Autism will be paid from federal stimulus
funding: $22,000 savings
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Full
details of the latest budget news can be seen here
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Pulling DNA
from onions and peas
Students in Cily Rueda's OPAL
enrichment class extracted Deoxyribonucleic
acid (DNA) from an onion and peas during an experiment today.
The students ground the vegetables
up in a blender to break apart the cells, mixed the concoction with soap and
salt solution to draw DNA out of cells and then mixed it with isopropyl
alcohol to get DNA to clump and 'precipitate' out of the solution. Each
students took a small sample of the DNA home.
Academic Head for Science Randy
Jenkins also joined the students for this experiement.
Last week, they extracted DNA from
bananas.
Students at Glendaal, Glen-Worden
and Sacandaga in the enrichment program have or will do the same experiment in
the coming weeks.
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Students in Maria Maynard's OPAL
grade 5 enrichment class studied DNA on Monday, March 9, by creating an
"edible" version made up different-colored marshmallows, toothpicks and
licorice to kick off a unit of study about DNA
(Deoxyribonucleic acid) at Glen-Worden Elementary.
Each student completed their own
strand of DNA in a particular sequence/pattern, then combined them into a long
double helix of molecules that resembles a hydrogen molecule.
Students in Maynard's classes at
Sacandaga Elementary also completed this project. Enrichment teacher Cily
Rueda classes at Lincoln and Glendaal elementary schools also studied DNA.
Below are some pictures of their
"edible" scientific creation at Glen-Worden:
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At the meeting of the
Scotia-Glenville Board of Education
on Monday, February 23, 2009- Curriculum
Report:
OPAL (Opportunities &
Programs for Advanced Learners) Update –
Joseph Kavanaugh (Director of Curriculum & Instruction),
Maria Maynard and Cily Rueda (OPAL Enrichment Specialists)
The recommendation made to the Board of Education during the
presentation was-
Recommendations: Our primary recommendation this year for OPAL
is not a new one. The Young Scholars program could be absorbed in our S-G
program and taught by both our OPAL teachers. We envision half-day programs
for grades 4 and 5 in the humanities and science/ math where students qualify
for one program or the other (or both) using targeted criteria to that
program. One teacher would teach humanities to grade 4 (am) and then grade 5
students (pm) and our other OPAL teacher would mirror that by teaching science
and math to grade 5 (am) and then grade 4 students (pm). These programs would
occur on Wednesdays and be held at Sacandaga. There would need to be a mid-day
bus run on that day. We estimate no change in other opportunities for our
students at the building level and would absorb this by restructuring planning
time for our OPAL teachers and by having the 10 week science unit on Simple
Machines in grade 3 at the beginning of the year taught by classroom teachers
instead. OPAL teachers would still screen students by going into grade 3
classrooms and administering activities that would call for creativity, task
commitment, above average abilities and extensions/connections to the general
curriculum. The OPAL teachers and I look forward to any questions that the
Board of Education may have about our OPAL program or this report. I
especially want to thank the Board for their openness to new ideas and for
their on-going investment in our most talented academic students.
A
complete copy of the OPAL curriculum Report handout is available here
If you have any comments or questions regarding this
recommendation
Board
of Education members can be contacted here
Hearing/Privilege of the Floor is available in the beginning of
every board meeting and individuals
may comment at this time
List
of upcoming Board meetings
Glen-Worden
'Thinkin' Like Lincoln' and celebrates Abraham Lincoln
The 250 students at the Glen-Worden
Elementary School celebrated everything Lincoln - from his public life and
statements to his dog, Fido - during the Morning Program on Feb. 9.
Coordinated by enrichment teacher
Maria Maynard each class presented information, videos and other items about
the nation's 16th president in recognition of his 200th birthday on Thursday,
Feb. 12. The entire school sang happy birthday to the former president.
The school also saw information
about the Abraham Lincoln
Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois as well as a YouTube
video about Lincoln.
Library Media Specialist Liz Ryan
and all teachers at the school were involved in the program.
Capital New 9 was also at the
assembly. Here the link to the station's report - http://capitalnews9.com/Default.aspx?ArID=133428
Below are some pictures from the
event:
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Scotia-Glenville
students compete in district-wide Spelling Bee
Fifteen students from the four
elementary schools and middle school took turns spelling words during the
annual Spelling Bee at the Middle School on Tuesday, Feb. 3.
Two students - grade 5 student Aubrey
Gallop from Glendaal and grade 6 student Avery Maycock
from the Middle School - will represent Scotia-Glenville at the 27th annual
Regional Spelling Bee on Monday, March 16, at Proctor's Theater in
Schenectady.
The winner of the regional bee
receives an all-expense paid trip to the Scripps Howard Spelling Bee in
Washington, DC May 24-29. The regional champion will also receive a computer
as well as other prizes for the area's top spellers.
These students were the building
champions who competed in the school-wide Spelling Bee:
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Glendaal
School: Graciana
Cox, grade 4; Aubrey Gallop, grade 5; and Joie
Prentice, grade 5
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Glen-Worden
School: Erin
Zeman, grade 4; Zachary Ladouceur, grade 5; and
Liam Rooney, grade 5
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Lincoln
School: Stratton
Yerman, grade 4; Maggie Holley, grade 5; and John
Pierce, grade 5
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Sacandaga
School: Dylan
Van Patten, grade 4; Carter Gibbons, grade 5; and Natalie
Straut, grade 5
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Middle School:
Avery Maycock, grade 6; Teddy Meiners, grade
6; and Jenna Greene, grade 7
Lincoln Princpal Ann Comley
pronounced the words while Glen-Worden Principal James Dunham, Glendaal
Principal Tom Eagan and Sacandaga Principal John Tobiassen were the judges.
Superintendent Susan Swartz opened
the ceremony by discussing the importance of correct spelling in writing and
telling the students that "you are already way ahead of a lot of other
students - even college students - that I have known."
Comley assured the students that
they are all champions just for making it through the process in each
individual school. She also mentioned a truism of spelling bees - "you may end
up being able to spell every other word you hear today - except for the one
that you are given. That is how it is."
She went on to challenge them with
words such as "reckless," "thermal," "tutu," "finale," "feudal," "tendency,"
"legible" and "mahogany."
Among the top two spellers, Avery
correctly spelled "occupancy" and Aubrey correctly spelled "vocable" to become
the two SG representatives to the Regional Spelling Bee.
Below are some photos from today's
Spelling Bee:
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