To coincide with its annual Parents As Reading Partners celebration of reading, Dogwood Elementary School held a literacy fair in March. Students in kindergarten through fifth grade showcased their favorite book in a unique way. The students could present the book in any manner they chose; some created posters, models, cereal boxes and dioramas. The idea is to give students a host of ideas to spark their love of reading as well as encourage them to try new books and genres. The fair is displayed by grade level, and each class visits the different tables throughout their tour of the fair.

More than 250 parents, students and staff members participated in Smithtown Central School District’s virtual Parent University on March 8. Parent University is hosted by the district’s Wellness Committee. The evening, themed “Responding to this Moment,” featured more than a dozen workshops for participants in two different sessions.

Workshops were facilitated by both community members, professionals and staff. Mental health counselor Ron Villano addressed how to manage concerns for students during this time such as anxiety, stress, feeling trapped and mental health, and school performance. Dietitian/nutritionist Colleen McDermott talked about different nutrition components to lead a healthy lifestyle, while registered sleep technologist Brendan Duffy spoke about how to protect and improve sleep.

Smithtown’s administrator for guidance and related student services Kevin Colon provided strategies for effective communication between parents and teenagers. Nesaquake Middle School reading teacher Julianne DeSilva spoke about how to encourage reading at home with ideas for how parents can engage with reading with their children and model good reading habits.

Dr. Beth Forhman’s workshop offered evidence-based suggestions to foster family and children’s resiliency during this challenging time. Dr. Marissa Abram also spoke about the impact of mental health during the pandemic and how to create self-care plan. Psychologist and therapist Craig O’Brien addressed biological stress reactions and strategies for managing anxieties.

Smithtown is one of nine schools districts to be included in the recent Smart Start grant received by Western Suffolk BOCES. The purpose of the Smart Start grant is to develop, implement and share innovative programs that provide professional development and support to increase expertise in computer science, engineering and/or educational technology among teachers in grades K-8.

Smithtown was one of the component districts that expressed interest in participating in the grant. Western Suffolk BOCES was awarded $500,000 a year for each of the next five school years (2021-2022 through 2025-2026). The money allocated to each district will be based on the student population. Smithtown’s portion of the funds will support 115 teachers in computer science professional development. Beginning this summer, the district will be able to open up the training to 23 teachers per year.

Teachers will be involved in four days of professional development during the summer months and two-and-a-half days during the school year. Teachers will be trained in computer science by the company Mouse. “Our goal is to further enhance our computer science offerings here in Smithtown as well as support teachers in the delivery of our Project Lead the Way program,” said Paul Strader, assistant superintendent for curriculum and assessment.

This summer, the district will offer the training to interested K-5 STEM specialists, K-8 library media specialists, middle school math teachers and K-5 elementary classroom teachers. They will continue to expand the pool of teachers offered the professional development each school year. Teachers will receive a stipend from grant for their participation. Following the training, the teachers will be delivering at least 15-20 computer science-based lessons.

Second graders at Dogwood Elementary School worked as young engineers during a recent Project Lead the Way lesson. As the final activity in their properties of matter module, students designed and built containers to keep the heat out and their ice pops frozen. The students explored states of matter, learned about insulators and conductors, and planned in groups to make models to solve the problem. They are looking forward to testing the models to see which one of the structures saved the ice pops.