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Sullivan County's smallest school district is big in heart and ambition, and our latest School Scene gives you the scoop on how Roscoe Central School's faculty and staff are making a difference in every student's life.
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SCHOOLA S p e c i a l S u p p l e m e n t t o t h e S u l l i v a n C o u n t y D e m o c r a t
SCENE
A look atactivities in theRoscoe CentralSchool District
SECTION R • MARCH, 2015 • CALLICOON, NY
2099
6
Finding dual paths to ensure all students are welcomed, respected
The high school student wasnew, shy and quiet – and hewas being harassed by another
student in the school gymnasium.Suddenly, from out of nowhere a
third student told the bully in nouncertain terms, “You need to stop.”
Roscoe school social worker DawnDorcas relates the story and itsaftermath with delight and empa-thy.
“The bullying stopped,” she said,and over time, the victim becamemuch more outgoing, gettinginvolved in sports and even per-forming in the school play. The fact
Creating a school climate where all studentsmay flourish individually and collectively isthe goal of Roscoe’s PATHS and Olweus pro-grams. At right, Roscoe sixth graders ZenaVandermark, Collin Garofolo and AaronSteele collaborate enthusiastically andrespectfully on an English project aboutApple mogul Steve Jobs.
2R ROSCOE SCHOOL SCENE SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT MARCH, 2015
MARCH, 2015 SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT ROSCOE SCHOOL SCENE 3R
that someone stood up for himserved to empower him to reach hispotential in Roscoe.
Today, supporting students’ socialand emotional wellbeing is a bigpursuit in schools, which work hardon creating safe, welcoming,respectful and nurturing environ-ments.
“If a child is getting picked on orteased,” Dorcas said, “if a child isworried about when they’ll get theirnext meal or that they’re cold, or willsomebody be home when they getoff the bus – those are the thoughtsthat can distract them during theschool day.”
Roscoe students benefit from tworesearch-based programs that fosterpositive student behavior.
From pre-kindergarten to sixthgrade, students learn in PATHS (Pro-moting Alternative Thinking Strate-
gies) how to change behavior andattitudes that contribute to violenceand bullying, how to express andcontrol their emotions, and ways todevelop conflict-resolution strate-gies.
Each week in their classroom, Dor-cas gives students a 42-minute les-son that, depending on the grade,help students learn about readiness
and control (Pre-K);feelings, relationshipsand manners (firstthrough fourthgrade); problem solv-ing (fifth grade); andkindness and civility(sixth grade).
The Olweus BullyingPrevention Program,which Roscoelaunched in October,is designed for pre-kthrough 12th grade.The nationally recog-nized programencourages a whole-school approach toreducing and prevent-ing bullying. The goalis to involve class-rooms, teachers, par-ents and communityin reducing antisocialbehavior.
Students learn whatbullying is – an imbal-ance of power orstrength in which oneperson wants to inflictinjury, discomfort orhumiliation on anoth-er. They learn to dis-tinguish between bul-
lying and rough-and-tumble play orreal fighting, both of which involve arelatively equal balance of power.
“All students participate in mostaspects of Olweus,” said Dorcas,who co-directs the program alongwith Kelly Bullis, the school’sinstrumental/band teacher.
At class meetings, conducted byclassroom teachers, and at monthly
meetings, students and staff learnthe rules to stop bullying: Don’t doit, help anyone being bullied,include students who are left out,and report to an adult at school andan adult at home any time bullyingis taking place.
Eleventh and twelfth gradersengage in ways to involve the widerRoscoe community in the anti-bul-lying efforts, such as asking mer-chants to display informationalsigns in their storefronts. The Stu-dent Conflict Action Team works onthese outreach projects.
Less than five months old, Roscoe’sOlweus project is already reapingrewards.
“It’s created a common languageamong students and staff aboutwhat bullying is and how to reportit,” said Kelly Bullis.
The other day in class, Dorcasadded, a student stood up firmly foranother, saying to an antagonizer,“That’s not how we treat people here.”
“Olweus can really make a differ-ence,” Dorcas said, “and it has madea difference.”Bullying, which includes anything from gossiping and threats to
hitting and kicking, can make children fearful of school or hesi-tant to ride the school bus. They may have trouble concentrat-ing and often do poorly academically as a result of the abuse.
Published byCatskill-Delaware Publications, Inc.
Publishers of the
(845) 887-5200 Callicoon, NY 12723
March 3, 2015 • Vol. CXXIV, No. 74
School SceneA Look at Activities in the
Roscoe Central School District
Publisher: Fred W. Stabbert III Senior Editor: Dan Hust Editor: Frank Rizzo Sports Editor: Ken Cohen Editorial Assistants: Jeanne Sager, Kaitlin Carney, Kathy Daley, Guy Harriton, Allison Ruef, Alex Rau, Matt Shortall
Advertising Director: Liz Tucker Advertising Coordinator: Sandy Schrader Advertising Representatives: Cecilia Lamy, Barbara Matos Marketing Director: Tera Luty Business Manager: Susan Owens Business Department: Patricia Biedinger, Joanna Blanchard Telemarketing Coordinator: Michelle Reynolds Classified Manager: Janet Will Production Associates: Ruth Huggler, Tracy Swendsen, Rosalie Mycka, Elizabeth Finnegan, Petra Duffy, Nyssa Calkin Distribution: Bill Holmes, Thomas Duffy
Credits:All photographs and stories for this
special School Scene are by Sul livan
County Demo crat Photo grapher/
Reporter Kathy Daley.
The Democrat would also like to thank
the Roscoe Central School District for all
its cooperation in this project.
“If a child is getting picked onor teased, if a child is worriedabout when they’ll get their nextmeal or that they’re cold, or willsomebody be home when they getoff the bus – those are thethoughts that can distract themduring the school day.”
Dawn DorcasRoscoe Central School Social Worker |
Teach the youngest through interaction, movement and modeling
Thirty years from now, stu-dents who graduated fromthe Roscoe Central School
are likely to remember the teacherswho gave them their start: RebeccaAckerly, Cathy Griebel andBrenda Dahlman.
The three teach first grade,kindergarten and pre-kinder-garten, respectively – and they taketo heart the task of jump startingstudents academically and sociallyso that they succeed in school, col-lege, work and adult life.
“The three of us have lunchtogether every day,” said Dahlman.“We also meet throughout the dayif we have questions about some-thing, or need extra support, orwant to share ideas with eachother.”
“It is very important that certainskills are developed at an earlyage,” Griebel pointed out.
In the lower grades in schools,students gradually become profi-cient in reading, writing, listening,
speaking and math. For example, they start out in
Pre-K learning to understand spo-ken language and vocabulary, tohear the sounds that make upwords and to comprehend.
In kindergarten they work on rec-ognizing and identifying 25 wordsby the time school is over in June,and they learn to make predictionsand form questions when they readstories.
In first grade, “the focus is ondeveloping phonics, decoding, flu-ency, comprehension and writingskills,” said Ackerly.
But the youngest students alsoengage in activities that fostersocial and emotional develop-ment – “expressing one’s self effec-tively, listening attentively andrespectfully to peers and adults,and participating in class andgroup discussions,” said Ackerly.
For example in “think-pair-share,” students learn a story or alesson, and then the teacher poses
a question to get them thinking.“They first have to think about it,
then they are paired up and theyshare their thoughts with theirpartner,” Griebel said. “This is agreat way for students to listen aswell as give their thoughts toanother student.”
As adults, say the teachers, theirstudents will be able to communi-cate ideas and figure out ways todeal with difficult situations – allbecause of the communicationskills they are learning now.
Strategies for keeping the chil-dren energized and engagedinclude “brain breaks,” dancing tomusic and doing basic exercises.
“When I see the class is getting a
little chatty or having difficulty sit-ting on the carpet during a lesson,I use a movement strategy,” saidDahlman.
“Being social and playing is partof the kindergarten day,” addsGriebel. “We have ‘center time’where students can play in a sand-box, at a dollhouse, in a kitchen.They can do puzzles, play withblocks, and play games. This givesthem the opportunity to be socialand learn how to interact withtheir peers.”
Always, the teachers are “model-ing” for their students – revealingto children the proper way to doeverything from using classroommaterials to interacting politely
Roscoe teachers Cathy Griebel, Brenda Dahlman and Rebecca Ackerly teach, respectively,kindergarten, pre-k and first grade, teaching social and communication skills along withearly academics.
4R ROSCOE SCHOOL SCENE SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT MARCH, 2015
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with others. Exciting moments
take place routinely.“Sometimes I’m able
to utilize a student whofinishes [a lesson] earlyand allow him or her tohelp a struggling stu-dent,” said Ackerly.“This gives both chil-dren a chance to learnin a different way – thestudent doing the‘teaching’ is reinforcingthe skills for them-selves, and the struggling studentgets the chance to hear the lesson
in the words of theirpeer. It’s very success-ful.”
Dahlman relates thestory of giving her pre-kindergartners a lessonon what makes some-thing a “pattern” – andone four-year-old total-ly getting it.
“The student cameback to school and toldme about a rug at herhouse that had a pat-tern on it. She recited
the colors to me, and it wasindeed a pattern!”
Always, the teachersare “modeling” fortheir students –revealing to childrenthe proper way to doeverything from usingclassroom materialsto interacting politelywith others.
A new ‘green room’ or growing room, adjacent to the high school science lab, engages stu-dents in studying plant and vegetable growth. Here, twelfth graders Samantha McDoal andMikayla Kipp water the tiny shoots.
FROM DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT JOHN EVANS:
Roscoe Central School, home of the Blue Devils, isa small rural PreK-12 central school located inwestern Sullivan County, New York. Our commu-nity, known as "Trout Town USA", has been rec-ognized in the nationally distributed Sports AfieldMagazine as one of the top 50 outdoor communi-ties in the nation, and has been ranked numberone in the State of New York! Obviously, we areproud of our outdoor heritage, and as a result,our student body is extremely active in all co-cur-ricular and athletic activities.Roscoe Central School District is a special place
for students. Its unique size offers many opportu-
nities for students to learn in an environment thataddresses individual learning styles and chal-lenges students to achieve to their highest poten-tial. Students are able to take advantage of theircommunity by learning about lifelong activitiessuch as fly fishing and golf. In addition, studentshave opportunities in interscholastic sports, suchas football, soccer, basketball, baseball, softball,and golf, in addition to participating in musicalactivities of band, chorus, and plays, and other co-curricular club programs.Citizenship plays an important part in our com-
munity. Service in a small community is essentialfor survival. Our educational program emphasizesthe necessity for participation in the activities and
MARCH, 2015 SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT ROSCOE SCHOOL SCENE 5R
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Students earn rewards for grades, behaviorThe fourth graders can’t wait.
For the past year, they’veheard from fifth graders about
Roscoe’s student achievementincentive program and how muchfun it is.
They’ve learned about STAR andabout RAP, the reward systems thatrecognize and reinforce studenteffort with activities like trips,movies and activity days.
“Our achievement incentive pro-grams look at grades, discipline andattendance,” explained teacherJennifer Sabatini, who serves onthe RAP/STAR Committee.
STAR serves grades five througheight and stands for Students TakingAcademic Responsibility. RAP, theacronym for Roscoe AchievementProgram, works with students inninth through 12th grades.
Each 10-week marking period atthe school serves as an opportunityfor students to start afresh atbecoming rewards-eligible, makingthe incentives reachable by stu-dents who have a harder time keep-ing all the rules, all the time.
They work diligently on theirgrade average, behavior infractionsand number of absences from
school. For the high school students, four
levels climbing upward earn morerewards, based upon student gradeaverage from a minimum of 80 per-cent up to 95 percent.
Rewards are paid for through vari-ous fund-raising projects. Theprizes range from a bus ride to theCallicoon Cinema for a daytimemovie to Activity Days, mightinclude an in-school movie, snackand game time, with students mov-ing from one room to another forcontinuing fun.
Students in STAR enjoy outings toamusement parks or outdoor barbe-cues in addition to Activity Days.
A large number of students findthemselves successful, said teacherand committee member SharonRutledge. About 80 to 90 percent ofstudents in the middle schoolgrades meet the criteria. At the highschool, 75 percent earn RAPrewards.
Other RAP/STAR committee mem-bers include Dawn Dorcas, presi-dent, and Lorraine Clifford, BrendaDahlman, Robin Francisco,Josephine Formato, Rebecca Geer,Kelly Hendrickson, Toni Hume,
Excited about RAP (Roscoe Achievement Program) that awards high school students forbehavior, grades and attendance are high schoolers Sierra Hendrix, Adam Wilcox, WillColypos, Joey Valentin, Kelsey Kalin, Lucy Kunz, Libby Kuehn, Des Lambe, Mollie Engle andAshley DeCampos.
STAR-struck students in grades five to eight can’t wait to find out if they’vemade it onto the list. They include A.J. Ruiz, Emily Tomah, Cortney Klinegardner,Sam Teipelke, Brad Pruett and Brendan Ryder.
Carmel Lambe, teacher assistantSharon Rutledge, Nicole Sem -erano, and Principal Janice Phil -lips.
“It’s a good way to create achieve-
ment incentives for our hard-work-ing students,” said Rutledge. “Whatwe’re talking about are the well-rounded citizens of the school.”
Teacher and Common Core make beautiful music togetherTeaching the Common Core,
says Rachel Kleinman-McClure, is an essential part of
her curriculum. Nothing new on today’s educa-
tional scene – except that Kleinman-McClure is Roscoe’s K-12 generalmusic and vocal teacher, a profes-sional who goes beyond what isdemanded in her field in order tohone her students’ skills.
“In the primary grades, the focusof the Common Core revolvesaround reading, listening, speak-ing,” she explains. “I do this throughpoems, chants, partner songs andstorytelling.”
All the while, she is teaching theyoungest students to identify sylla-bles and rhyming words. They learn“audiation,” which is the term forhearing and feeling music withoutactually singing and playing it, as inthe children’s song “B-I-N-G-O,”where students clap to replace cer-tain letters.
“With the addition of classroominstruments, the students are imme-diately engaged,” she said. After all,“who doesn't love to play instru-ments?”
At the middle school level, Klein-man-McClure teaches sixth gradersto compose original pieces withboth chords and lyrics for guitar andkeyboard. They also write an origi-nal movie script for a unit on musicand film.
In seventh grade, students analyzethe lyrics of “West Side Story” anddiscuss race, stereotypes and bully-ing – all themes in the famed Broad-way show and movie.
“Students also build their musical
vocabulary by understanding themeaning of form, texture, modality,tempo and instrumentation throughgroup improvisation on the instru-ments,” noted the teacher.
By eighth grade, students learnabout rock and roll history from the1950s to today. They study the per-forming artists, their music and themajor historical events that shapedAmerican rock and roll.
Meanwhile, for this age the Com-mon Core shifts to more sophisticat-ed reading, and Kleinman-McClure’sstudents analyze and interpretlyrics, and they write persuasiveessays on music.
“In the choral setting, the inclu-sion of the Common Core is a neces-sary part of my instruction,” shecontinued.
Vocabulary words like phrasing,dynamics and articulation are com-monplace in choral classrooms, butKleinman-McClure’s students arealso introduced to diverse culturesand languages.
“This exposure is a wonderful wayfor students to build their vocalrepertoire, as well as their under-standing of language,” she said.
Kleinman-McClure herself gradu-ated with a master’s degree fromSUNY Fredonia and is now in hersixth year at Roscoe. Outside ofschool she sings with the SullivanCounty Community Choir, and thisyear will play flute with the Calli-coon Center Band.
What difference is the CommonCore making in her classroom?
“It’s always been a part of my cur-riculum,” she said. “But with theemphasis in the past few years, I amfinding that my work in the elemen-tary classroom has especially
changed. The biggest difference istheir retention from year to yearboth musically and academically.Instead of re-teaching the same con-cept, I’m able to expand and buildon concepts they have alreadylearned.”
This is especially exciting for theteacher.
“I am able to watch these studentsgrow and take on more challenges,”she said. “Basic lessons that I hadtaught in my first two years havenow become more creative, moreengaging and more substantial.”
Music teacher Rachel Kleinman-McClure, here with students Camille Hondromaras, Ceili Hor-ton, Cheyanne Lintz and Amanda Rampe, uses high tech tools like the Smartboard and themore classic instrument, the piano, to drive home lessons.
Vocabulary words like phrasing,
dynamics and articulation are
commonplace in choral class-
rooms, but Kleinman-McClure’s
students are also introduced to
diverse cultures and languages.
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