(APRIL 2022) —Students in Amityville’s Northwest Elementary School learned about different landforms during their Amplify Science class. The Amplify Science program allows students to experience interactive, hands-on experiments and conduct meaningful investigations.

“This classroom activity was a great way to spark interest in landforms. Students were able to use their creativity and knowledge to create their own landforms out of clay and paint as they worked in groups,” said Kathleen Hyland, Principal of Northwest Elementary School. “Group work promotes collaboration, and cooperation and also helps to build healthy relationships in the classroom.”

After learning about different landforms, the students investigated how landforms are changed by wind, water, and ice, and incorporated that knowledge into their original landform creations including waterfalls, caves, volcanos, islands, rivers, ponds, and beaches. Students learned that each type of landform is defined by its size, shape, location, and what it is made of and that nothing is static, always evolving as a result of weathering and erosion.

 

(November 2021)— World Kindness Day is an international observance that was introduced in 1998 by the World Kindness Movement in an effort to build compassion between nations. The global day, celebrated on November 13 each year, promotes the importance of being kind to each other, to oneself, and to the world.

In honor of World Kindness Day, Ms. Davi-Ortiz’s 2nd-grade class in the Amityville School District’s Northwest Elementary School published a book about kindness. Helping Ms. Davi-Ortiz with the project were Ms. Soto, the school’s ENL teacher, and Ms. Hyde, a teacher assistant. Each student wrote a page detailing what kindness is to them and drew a corresponding illustration. Students were able to flip through the pages and witness their contributions to this unique publication.

“This was a wonderful experience for these second graders,” said Ms. Kathleen Hyand, Principal of Northwest Elementary School. “I want to thank Ms. Davi-Ortiz, Ms. Soto and Ms. Hyde for engaging these students in such a rewarding and informative project that involved both individual and collaborative efforts by the students.”

“This was an important learning experience for these students,” noted Ms. Davi-Ortiz. “Having the kindness concept reinforced through each student’s own writing and drawing helped make the experience more personal for them.”


In addition to creating the kindness book, the students and teachers wore Be Kind t-shirts on Friday, November 12, in honor of World Kindness Day.