news from hoosic valley schools - Hoosic Valley Central School

News from K-6
News from HVSC
Students Win Opportunity to Attend Science Camp
Five Hoosic Valley students were
selected to attend the ExxonMobil Bernard
Harris Summer Science camp at
RPI from June 15-25. The successful
a p p l i c a n t s w e r e : D a r w i n
Honsinger, Will Morris, Riley Nevins,
Kyle Norton and Jade Yando. This two
-week, free residential camp offered
innovative programs to enhance student
knowledge in science , technology,
engineering and math, while also
fostering leadership and citizenship.
For the two weeks of the program,
50 students in fifth through seventh
grades stayed in residence halls on the
Troy campus and attended daily
classes and workshops in science,
engineering, mathematics and technology.
The camp also includes field trips
to places such as the Museum of Natural
History in New York City.
The students were chosen to participate
based on recommendations
from their teachers, a demonstrable
interest in mathematics and sciences
and an overall grade point average of
at least ―B‖ in those two subjects. Emphasis
was also placed on selecting
members of traditionally underserved
and underrepresented populations.
RPI was one of 30 institutions chosen
in the United States to host a
ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer
Science Camp (EMBHSSC). The program
is named after Bernard A. Harris,
MD, an accomplished NASA astronaut,
physician and entrepreneur;
Dr. Harris, the first African American
to walk in space, plays an active role
in the Summer Science Camp program
and other programs for underserved
youths. He joined the students at RPI
via a live video feed one morning to
encourage them to continue studying
sciences and mathematics even if
faced with pressure from their peers.
―I‘m a geek and it‘s fun to be a
geek,‖ Harris told them. If anyone
ever makes fun of you for being
smart, he said, ―I want you to point
your finger at them like this and say
‗one day, you‘ll be working for me.‘‖
Information for this story and the photo are from an article on The Record website by Jessica M. Pasko.
The students in RPI‘s program also
worked with the school‘s New York
Center for Astrobiology, which is part
of the NASA Astrobiology Institute.
Darius Bendon of Troy and Riley
Nevins of Hoosic Valley test the raft
they crafted at Science Camp.
Addressing the Needs of our First Graders—Reading Recovery
Hoosic Valley Elementary implemented the Reading
Recovery program during the 2009-2010 school year.
Reading Recovery is a highly effective, short-term, one-onone
reading intervention for first graders. It is ranked one
of the most effective scientifically based reading interventions
by the What Works Clearing House, a branch of the
United States Department of Education. The goal of the
program is to dramatically reduce the number of first-grade
students who have extreme difficulty learning to read and
write and to reduce the long-term cost of these learners to
the educational system. The intervention is most effective
when it is available to all students who need it and is used
as a supplement to good classroom teaching.
This past year, first grade teachers Keri Rosher and Jessica
Rossetti, as well as Title I Reading Teacher Megan Cooney
were extensively trained in Reading Recovery through a New
York University Graduate course that took place at the Albany
School of Humanities. They began the program last
summer and continued each Wednesday afternoon through
the school year. The training continues with once a month
sessions to continue the professional development.
Keri and Jessica co-taught one of the first grade sections.
While one of them worked with the entire class, the
other would work one-on-one with the students enrolled in
the program. Megan Cooney spent half her day teaching
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Reading Recovery and the other as a Title I reading
teacher. 24 students benefited from Reading Recovery this
year. Twelve students took part in the program in the fall
and 12 different students were part of the program for the
second half of the year.
The individual students receive a half-hour lesson each
school day for 12 to 20 weeks depending on the needs of
the student. As soon as the students can meet grade-level
expectations and demonstrate that they can continue to
work independently in the classroom, their lessons are discontinued,
and new students begin individual instruction.
The few students who still have difficulty after a complete
intervention are
recommended for
further evaluation
and support.
We are excited
to be offering this
intervention to our
first grade students
as part of the
Response to Intervention
(RTI) district-wide
tive.
initia-
Keri Rosher, Jessica Rossetti and
Megan Cooney