On the last day of classes before spring break, Village School had its annual Festival of the Arts. Festival of the Arts is special because students get to showcase their talents and interests for peers and teachers. The day is organized by students and made possible by student enthusiasm and participation. 

The day was divided up into 25-45 minutes sessions for workshops and performances, with two- three different workshops running per session; students had a choice as to  which workshop they wanted to attend. For performances, the entire school would join together; no other sessions went on during a performance. 

Two teachers, Lauren and Megan, attempting- and failing- at origami!

One workshop was an  introduction to origami, led by Margaret. In this workshop, the students were taught how to fold an origami rose. They were given the choice of what color they wanted their roses to be as Margaret brought in a large variety of colors. Although some projects didn’t turn out as well as others, the students in this workshop enjoyed and introduction to the precision needed for origami folds. 

David demonstrates a drill as Adrien, Fen, and Nathan look on.

Another workshop was a soccer workshop held on the front lawn. David taught different soccer drills to students including learning the proper way to dribble and pass the ball. The students in this workshop also did different stretches and warmups before doing any drills. David could not teach shooting drills, as the space on the front lawn did not permit. Despite this, the Village School students in this workshop had fun and got in a quick workout!

The adorable Cogsworth.

A third workshop was a presentation by Rose. Rose brought in Cogsworth, a rat from her animal care program at BOCES. Her presentation was full of interesting facts about rats and was very detailed. The students in this workshop learned things about rats that they never knew before. Some of these facts included the lifespans rats, the maximum weight rats can weigh, and how to properly care for an adult rat. Rose’s goal was to debunk fears and myths people have about rats and in the end, she seemed to do just that with many students lining up to meet and pet Cogsworth after her presentation. 

A fourth workshop was cooking, led by Alexia and Ronni. The students made pizza in the kitchen during this workshop. It took teamwork to cook the pizza and was an excellent experience. While a student blended the tomatoes to make sauce, other students floured and stretched the dough. Then some students poured on the sauce while others put cheese on the dough. Then it was spread out in pans and baked in the oven. The pizza came out delicious and everyone at Village was invited to try it.

Kayleigh with her Paper Marbling project in Megan’s room.

Other workshops included paper marbling in Megan’s room, board games with Emma and Danielle, and beading with Margaret later in the day, both in Ronni’s room. Ryan gave two presentations entitled, “Intro to Documentary Theory,” and “Art Movements in Film.”

There were also some student performances in the gym. Amanda sang “Creep,” and was accompanied by Max on the guitar.  Kayleigh then sang “Landslide,” and then paired with Max in a performance of “December, 1963.” Afterwards, Matt performed “Chasing Cars.” Later on in the day, the author of this article, Britt, played guitar and sang an original song. 

Max and Kayleigh performing “The Four Seasons” classic.

Festival of the Arts was a really fun day at Village and everyone is already looking forward to what’s in store next year!

Here at Village School, we have many interesting field trips. Some reasons we have trips in the first place include learning and experiencing education in different fields (mostly social studies and science related things), getting some exercise in order to get physical education credit in the place of a gym class, and lastly, having some fun.
I recently did an interview with Sam, our history teacher, so he could tell us about some of these trips.

One of our upcoming trips is one to Sand’s Point Reserve, where the school will hike up to the beach, picnic there, then hike back on a fitness trail. A field day in Memorial Park and an end of the year hunt and BBQ in the park is also planned.

A trip we are repeating is one that proved to be liked by most of the students in the past years. This trip is a walk on the Brooklyn Bridge followed up by a taste test between Grimaldi’s and Julie Anne’s Pizza. This is also the trip that Sam is looking forward to the most! Aside from that, two city trips are also in the works and have yet to be determined.

This year, the canoe trip was unfortunately cancelled due to changes in safety conditions and laws, even though it was a trip that Sam and a lot of the students liked and had looked forward to. However, plans are ever-developing, and Village school traditions like our bowling and IHOP trip return every year. There is no doubt that this year will be filled with fun and new experiences!

By Mhaya Polacco

Village School’s 2014 Starry Night Dance

I hope you’ve got your dancing shoes on, Village School, because our second annual dance is right around the corner! For those of you who didn’t attend our dance last year, here are a few things to look forward to. This year, there will be a 1920’s ‘Great Gatsby’ theme, and we will provide everything from food to music to a photo booth and so much more!

We hope you will be able to swing your way over to our extravaganza. Remember your bow ties, boys and girls, make sure to wow us with your shimmery flapper dresses! It’s sure to be the talk of the town.

By Jon Roshan

Students feasting at iHop

The bowling trip at Village School has been a tradition for a long time, and in some cases going on for longer than some of the teachers have been working here. Starting 24 years ago, it is a long standing custom for our school. On March 21, 2014, we walked off the school bus in Massapequa with smiles on our faces, ready to devour breakfast at iHop.

This iHop seemed to look like any other and as we walked in, despite being such a large group, we were immediately seated. We chose where to sit and who to sit with,  so everyone had their own group, which eventually led to the groups that would form at the bowling alley.

Many students ordered the go-to pancake or waffle specials, but others ordered items such chicken dinners, French toast or omelettes. Other guests at iHop that morning were confused about why students, who would typically be in school, were in iHop instead, so several students explained how our school has field trips rather than traditional gym classes.

And, with our stomachs full and the bills paid, we began our walk to the bowling alley.

Bowling at Massapequa Bowl

The walk was approximately 1.8 miles, and although the walk seemed far, we found ways to make the walk as entertaining as possible. Some students sang songs such as Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, while others, such as Toby, the science teacher,  were content to observe the nature around us.

As soon as we arrived at the bowling alley, we were greeted by the kind staff, grabbed our pairs of appropriately- sized bowling shoes, gathered our groups got to it! The atmosphere was great and the bowling alley itself had many features that made the games fun and simple.

Some of the features that the bowling alley had consisted of assist bars for those with a bit less bowling experience, interesting animations on the monitors, and a really simple interface on the moniors where names and settings were entered. The bowling alley also had vending machines and arcade machines that the students used.

All of these things contributed to a wonderful bowling experience and I can definitely tell that my fellows students enjoyed the bowling alley as much as I did, and I certainly hope this tradition continues for years to come.