King Street School students in music teacher William Morocho’s band class have been preparing for Band Night, which is their final performance of the school year on June 4. The fourth graders and fifth graders collaborated for the first time as they combined their talents and efforts for the show.

“It was exposure for the fourth graders to work with older students, and the fifth graders were able to help and support the fourth graders through playing along with them, guiding them and helping them get back on track when attempting newer and more difficult music,” Morocho said.

The experience allowed the students to share their love of music, collaborate with their peers and enhance their musical skills.

Date Added: 6/14/2024

King Street School buzzed with excitement as students welcomed their grandparents and special grandfriends for a wonderful Grandfriends Day celebration on May 31. The event began with a breakfast in the school's gymnasium, setting the stage for a day filled with joy and connection. Following breakfast, the guests were invited into the classrooms where the students completed a variety of activities and created artworks. The event saw an overwhelming turnout, with hundreds of visitors joining in to make the day special. Organized by the dedicated KSS PTA, the celebration honored the invaluable role of grandparents and grandfriends and created lasting memories for all involved.

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Date Added: 6/10/2024

A group of King Street School fourth graders has been working on enhancing their reading skills with support from their reading teacher, Sylvia Egana. Having read various nonfiction texts, they’ve been identifying the main idea in the text and supporting details.

They most recently read about the American alligator in “Saving Endangered Animals,” engaged in discussions about the topic and examined different text features throughout the text.

“This serves as a reminder to students that text features are very important as they provide additional information and can support our understanding of what we are reading,” Egana said.

Following their teacher’s demonstration and guidance, the students engaged in independent work to further strengthen their skills.

“When students are working independently, I circulate and support them if needed,” Egana said. “My goal for this group is that they strengthen their reading comprehension skills and apply what they've learned when reading independently.”

Date Added: 6/6/2024

Second graders from across Port Chester-Rye Union Free School District’s elementary schools drew a variety of birds during an interdisciplinary project that intertwined science and art.

“The students have been learning about birds from a scientific perspective, but then they turned their discoveries into a work of art,” said Alie Gallagher, art teacher at Thomas Edison Elementary School and J.F.K. Elementary School. “They created their own birds by either creating it entirely from their own imagination or combining several parts of birds that already exist.”

During the experience, the students worked with artist and bird naturalist Christina Baal, who inspired the students to create their own artwork and become aware of the different types of birds in the world, both locally and internationally. During the lesson, Baal shared with the students that there are 10,000 different types of birds in the world.

“One student created an eagle with a pelican beak,” Gallagher said. “What stood out the most to me was that each student created a different work of art.”

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Date Added: 6/4/2024

All Port Chester-Rye Union Free School District fourth graders had a meaningful experience learning new ways to observe the world around them during a recent field trip to the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah, New York. Thanks to a generous grant from the Friends of Caramoor Center for Music, the students were treated to an enriching arts program, which focused on seeing, hearing, and feeling and allied with New York State Arts Standards.  

Led by Caramoor teaching artists and music teachers, the students explored a variety of locations at Caramoor Center, including an open field, a pergola, a forest and outdoor music installations. At each area, the students learned to focus on what they saw, heard, and felt. In addition, they learned how to construct movement sentences that were invented by the dance pedagogue extraordinaire Rudolf von Laban. The fourth graders enjoyed learning to communicate their observations nonverbally by positioning their bodies in shapes based on their observations and creating movement sentences to communicate what they saw, heard, and felt. 

“It was a joy to see my students observe the world in new and unique ways,” Thomas Edison Elementary School music teacher Abigail Young said. “They were quick to point out the sound of birds chirping and masterfully matched their bodies to the sounds. Their eyes filled with glee as they found a chipmunk in the forest.”

As the students departed the estate, they received a small journal to continue recording what they see, hear and feel.

The Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts is an estate founded by Lucie and Walter Rosen, who began hosting concerts on the estate after their son was killed in World War II. The concerts have grown to encompass music of all varieties, including classical, jazz, pop and folk. Musical installations on site include “in C,” a large structure with 24 tuned tubular bells; “Nafasi Yako Ni Ya Kijani (Your Place is Green),” a rocking chair where listeners can enjoy sounds from Caramoor and Tanzania; and “Stone Song,” a stone sculpture that emits a drone sound affected by the humidity, temperature and the weight of listeners who sit on it.

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Date Added: 5/16/2024