On March 14th, the Fifth Grade presented its annual Latin American Travel Fair in the New Gym.  This program culminated a three month study of Latin America.  Each student chose a country to research - choices were Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Brazil, El Salvador, and many more.

After writing a formal report, the students created a travel brochure with the help of computer teacher, Laura Sacco.  Using Adobe PageMaker, colorful pictures were added to the brochure.  The final product was laminated for a great effect. The day of the fair arrived and the students set up their "booths" in the New Gym.  Fantastic foods were served.  Did you try the banana smoothies, rice and beans, plantain chips, coffee ice cream or empanadas? Everything was delicious!  The students learned not only about their country and its culture, but that of their class mates as well.  

The annual Third Grade State Fair on April 11th was a culmination of months of independent student research into individual states. Students honed public speaking and technology skills via speeches and PowerPoint presentations and proudly exhibited writing samples and artwork.
 
Each student chose a famous individual from the state that they were assigned to research and represented that person at the State Fair. For example, Bella Drabin, whose studied California, elected to be Shirley Temple. Their costumes were wonderful. Students (with some help from their parents) made recipes indigenous to their state -- visitors to the State Fair were welcome to sample the homemade fare. There was chili from Texas, cheese biscuits from Wisconsin, Key Lime tarts from Florida and etc. 

Please click here to see more photos of the Third Grade State Fair. 

On April 4th, several students in Kindergarten through Second Grade shared their many talents with their peers and teachers at the annual talent show. Performances were varied, from instrumental recitals, including the piano, violin, trumpet and saxophone, to gymnastic skits, a magic act, Irish dancing and choreographed karate moves.  Kudos to those students who bravely performed in front of such an enormous audience. Many thanks to all of the students who encouraged the performers with cheers and applause. 

Please click here to see more photos

A team of East Woods student participated in a fast paced question and answer science competition at Brookhaven National Laboratory on April 12th. Over twenty schools, totaling to approximately 120 students, fiercely competed throughout the day in hopes to win this regional event and advance to the nationals this summer in Colorado. This is the second year in a row that our students took part in this day, and again, we just fell short of winning our division to advance into the "playoffs." In addition to the fast paced question and answer portion of the day, there was also a fuel cell car competition. However, we weren't as successful with our car as we were with our academia. Our team consisted of Isabel Hanson, Andries Feder, Brandt Beckerman, So A Ryu and Madison Little. The team was coached by ninth grader Colin McFaul and science teacher Jeanne Lore. The students celebrated their accomplishments with a barbeque at Dr. Peirce's house.

Congratulations to the East Woods School Chess Team who was named the overall Inter School Exchange (ISE) Chess champion 2007-2008. Green Vale School hosted the third and final chess competition of the year on April 4th. Nearly one hundred students ranging in age from five to fourteen from East Woods School, Buckley Country Day School, Green Vale School, Friends Academy and Portledge School participated.

In the final ISE competition, the following East Woods students competed in the Fifth-Ninth Grade Division and won trophies: Anthony Cortese, first place; Steven Cortese, third place; Dillon Wilensky, fourth place; Jesse Wilensky, fifth place; Michael Kliger, sixth place.

On Friday, April 25th, the East Woods Kindergarten presented a touching rendition of Go Fish, a musical play by John Higgins and John Jacobson. The East Woods stage was transformed into an aquatic wonderland of quirky, singing sea creatures, including an off-key tuna fish who couldn't carry a tune, a glamorous star fish who couldn't get an acting job, a seven-legged octopus, a blow fish with allergies, clown fish who were not funny, a zebra fish with spots, and so on. In this ocean, the tiger sharks wanted to be friends with everyone. After being round-up by the sparkly sea horses, all sea creatures listened to the sage advice of the great white sharks, who encouraged the unique collection of friends to discover how their differences made them each special. They were reminded that it takes all kinds of fish to make the ocean the beautiful place that it is, just the way it takes all kinds of people to make a world filled with harmony and color. 

Felicitations to the East Woods French students in Seventh – Ninth Grade selected to participate in a French Poetry Competition, sponsored by the AATF (American Association of Teachers of French), and held on April 17th at Sanford H. Calhoun High School in Merrick, New York. Under the guidance of their teacher, Madame Martine Tawaji, the East Woods students entered two competition categories: Recitation and Original Poetry. For Recitation, the students were expected to memorize a poem appropriate to their level of study. The evaluation criteria were pronunciation, intonation, poise, interpretation and level of appropriateness. For Original Poetry, students were judged on the basis of originality, usage of French and poetic quality. Recognition awards consisted of first and second prize and three honorable mentions for each grade division and competition category.

Congratulations to eighth grader Elisabeth Sulger whose poster that she created for the Limit the Sun, Not the Fun: 2008 SHADE Poster Contest won for New York State. The New York Department of Health contacted Headmaster Dr. Peirce on April 30th to announce the exciting news. According to the New York State Department of Health, this is a really great achievement as nearly 6,000 posters were submitted from students in grades K-8 from across New York State. New York State's by the SHADE Foundation, which is based in Phoenix, AZ, conducts the contest yearly to help teach children to protect themselves from ultraviolet radiation at a young age, decreasing their chances of developing skin cancer later in life. 

Winning the contest for New York state has qualified Elisabeth to take part in the national contest. The national winner is determined by an online voting system. Online voting for the SHADE National Poster Contest began May 1st. To vote, click here. Please note that Elizabeth's poster is #23 with the title, "Fans of Sun Safety."

If Elisabeth wins the national contest she will win a trip for four to Disneyworld and East Woods will win a Weatherbug Tracking System.

To see Elizabeth's winning poster, please click here.

On April 22nd, the East Woods Ninth Grade students were given a unique challenge – to develop a signature ice cream for the School, which they elected to call Spartan Swirl. Bob Liebolt, the proprietor of Goosebury Grove in Oyster Bay, donated the ingredients and supervised the students making the ice cream. Each student was given a mixing bowl, spoon, vanilla ice cream and a choice of three ingredients to mix into the ice cream. In a blind tasting, Headmaster Nathaniel Peirce, chose student Stephen Serota’s mixture to represent the School. Spartan Swirl is now selling at Gooseberry Grove. Go and try it!