Overall, the District experienced significant gains in the New York State Social Studies 5 assessment in the percent of students scoring 'Meeting the Standards with Distinction' (i.e., Level 4) increasing 21% (from 50% in 2007-2008 to 71% in 2008-2009). In addition, all elementary schools in the District correspondingly experienced gains in the percent of students scoring 'Meeting the Standards with Distinction' (i.e., Level 4).  Of particular significance are the following school results:

Twenty CCSD Students Qualify for Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) National Conference
The New York State DECA Conference competition, "designed for students interested in marketing, management, and entrepreneurship," resulted in a total of 43 winners and top ten recognitions from South High School and North High School students Click here to see a list of students and awards. Last year the district did place well enough to move on to the national conference, but this year, twenty students are qualified to attend the National Conference in April, a significant and noteworthy achievement.  DECA is an international association of high school and college students studying marketing, management and entrepreneurship in business, finance, hospitality and marketing sales and service.

South High School Academic League Champs
For the second year in a row, the South High School Academic League team won the Rockland County Championship. The team completed the regular season undefeated with a perfect 9-0 record. In last week's tournament, South swept all four preliminary matches and, in the Championship match, South defeated Nanuet.  South is the first team to win back-to-back championships in over 15 years.
 
Felix Festa Student Advances to State Geography Bee
Seventh grade student, Michael G., from Felix Festa Middle School - D School has been invited to participate in the State Level National Geographic Bee in Albany. Only 100 students in New York State qualified to participate.

Congers Student Advances to State Spelling Bee
Sedona B., second grader at Congers Elementary School came in second in the Regional Spelling Bee. Sedona will compete in the State Spelling Bee on April 9th in Port Byron.
 
SHS Students Lend a Hand
On Friday March 13, Clarkstown South's Interact Club prepared and served a delicious dinner for 20 homeless people of Rockland at the Unitarian Church of Rockland. The club members also helped set up and clean up after the dinner.
 
Congers Students Caught Being Kind
In concert with the PARP "I Spy" theme, the Olweus Anti-Bullying Committee at Congers Elementary has sponsored the "I Spy Someone Being Kind" program. Teachers recognize students caught "being kind" to others by submitting their name to the office. The student's picture is then posted on a bulletin board in the lobby.

Friends with Disabilities at Woodglen
Woodglen Principal Lisa Maher arranged for the Making Friends Disabilities Awareness Program to visit Woodglen's first grade students earlier this month. The children all agreed that the program helped them to understand what it would be like to have each of the disabilities that were presented.

Link and Congers Elementary Dimensions Students Involved in a Variety of Educational and Community Service Projects
Link and Congers Elementary Dimensions students have been hard at work learning and putting what they have learned into action.  The Link 5th grade Dimensions students created their own board games entitled, "Poliopoly," a game designed to test knowledge of all the U.S. Presidents, and "Worldopoly," a game that encompasses most countries in the world along with a supplemental world game book. Link's 4th grade Dimensions students are in the process of creating their own glow-in-the-dark planetarium complete with real and imaginary planets, asteroids, meteors, constellation, and more along with a self-written musical score. To aid in their research, they had the opportunity to speak with NASA via a phone call from which they received a tremendous amount of interesting information. The unit is also being tied into a unit on Earth changes, as seen from space. The Congers 5th grade Dimensions class completed the 2nd edition of their school newspaper, "Conger Kids." The students also monitor and post to a blog. Following a unit on illusion and armed with a multitude of handmade tricks, the Congers 4th grade Dimensions class performed a full-length magic show for 40 kindergartners.

Light Goes On at Woodglen
A cultural arts program focusing on Thomas Edison's accomplishments was arranged for Woodglen's 4th grade students. Students explored how Edison solved problems by looking at them from a different angle as well as Edison's rules for life; i.e., there are no mistakes/you always learn something, when things don't work out/look at it from another angle, work hard/play hard, and do what you love/do it for life. Connections were made for students between this workshop and their upcoming science unit on electricity.

Parents of Elementary School Children: An Invitation to Participate
Parents of elementary school students are invited to participate in the Clarkstown Central School
District's Elementary Report Card draft review process.  This focus group will assist the District in gathering feedback for our elementary report card draft. For details, please click here.

Three CCSD Teacher Invited to Present at LHRIC's Tech Expo
Three CCSD Teachers presented on classroom engagement through the strategic use of various technologies.
Nancy Diamond, art teacher and department chair at North High School, demonstrated how ninth grade students use VoiceThread to explain the various techniques they chose to use in their own artwork that they uploaded to the site. She shared how the AP class uses a class blog as a tool to research artists and comment on a variety of different areas. Lastly, she highlighted how students are now using Google Apps for Domains, in particular Google Sites, to create a sustainable four year digital portfolio. Her blog for the Tech Expo presentation provides links to the various projects she shared.

Jaclyn Passanante, kindergarten teacher at Lakewood Elementary School, "wowed" the audience with a multitude of ways in which the SMART Board can be used to engage our youngest learners throughout the school day. Examples she shared in her presentation, "The SMART Way to Enhance the Kindergarten Curriculum" included Lunch Choice, Morning Message, Weather Chart, Letter of the Day/Week (including the hyperlink to the Starfall website), the "trace it, drag it, write it" and more. Her explanation and modeling of how these tools have transformed her classroom were certainly show stoppers.

Heidi Lappi, who also led a standing-room only workshop at last year's Tech Expo, presented this year on the many ways in which wikis, Google Apps and forms, digital video, and discussion threads can positively impact students in any level of class. By highlighting the work of both her freshmen and seniors, she provided the audience with concrete examples of how these technologies can significantly engage students and improve student learning. Heidi's presence on stage and the examples she shared kept the audience engaged despite the late hour of the day. A review and summary of her presentation is featured in the LHRIC Model Schools' Blog.

Kindergarten Document Camera Festival
On Wednesday, March 11 at Chestnut Grove, more than 25 kindergarten teachers attended a workshop led by Woodglen kindergarten teacher Wendy Ansons and technology learning facilitator John Calvert. These teachers gathered to learn how to use a document camera in conjunction with the SMART board that is installed in all kindergarten classrooms. As part of the workshop, teachers learned how to use the document camera to enhance writer's workshop, magnify small objects to larger than life sizes, and quickly scan in materials.
 
Increased Access to Technology Makes a Difference in the North High School Library
Recently, six workstations were installed in the North High School Library, using the cost effective N-Computer model that has been successfully used this year throughout the district. By re-allocating two Dell computers and providing four N-computing devices, the district has responded to the school's request for additional access to technology in the library. Media specialist Josanna Jean-Louis commented, "The six workstations are up and running on the second floor of the library. They have proven their worth as early as this week, with providing students additional computer access during our busy instructional periods." Later this year, as part of a collaboration between both high schools and the Department of Instructional Technology, the library in each high school will have robust wireless networks in order to provide additional access for students and staff.

Google Applications for Domains
Elementary and secondary principals were introduced to the district's Google Applications for Domains during the principals' forums on Thursday March 19th. In a presentation by Technology Learning Facilitator John Calvert and Director of Instructional Technology John Krouskoff to elementary principals, the power of Google Applications was demonstrated.  The resources developed by the learning facilitators and shared through Google Applications for Domains are transformational tools for effective planning lessons and engaging students. Secondary principals participated in an activity that demonstrated the collaborative power of Google Applications for Domains. Google Apps for Domains provides password protected, anytime/anywhere collaborative access (via the internet) to documents (word processing documents, presentations, spreadsheets, and forms), calendars, and websites . Users may share these documents securely with colleagues and collaborate in real-time on the same document.