Middle School music teacher Julie Daley and Stephanie Gietler headed over to Batavia with 27 sixth, seventh and eighth graders earlier this week to spread a little musical, holiday cheer to Manor House residents.
Students played Christmas carols for the residents and also passed out an ornament made by fifth and sixth grade music students to each Manor House resident!
(Photos courtesy of Julie Daley and Stephanie Gietler)
A special shout out to Myla Wolck and Eva Cook, the winner and runner-up in the ‘Tis the Season to be Sneezin, tissue box gingerbread house contest in our Middle School Library!
Library Media Specialist Stacey Donahue organized the contest this month and provided supplies students could use to decorate their houses.
In addition to creating and decorating their tissue box gingerbread houses, competitors had to write three sentences about who lived in their house, where the house is located and why they live there as a way of getting students to practice using character, setting and plot to create a compelling story.
(Photos courtesy of Stacey Donahue)
We pulled out all the stops for Elf Day yesterday - Buddy the Elf even made a surprise appearance.
Wait a minute. Now that we think about it, Buddy the Elf looks a lot like Dr. Illg.
Hmm…
PLEASE SHARE: The Fitness Center will be closed tonight.
WINTER RECESS COUNTDOWN. This is it, Blue Devils. You’ve ALMOST arrived. Just ONE DAY LEFT.
We can’t have a countdown to Winter Recess and NOT feature Elf Day, right?
Elf and elf-ee alike had an absolute BLAST yesterday afternoon.
It was all kinds of mayhem in the high school library and our two gyms, but the good, making memories for a lifetime kind of mayhem.
Super proud of our seniors for making this such a special day for our kindergarteners.
Full photo album over on Facebook at the link below.
Link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set?vanity=100057106403663&set=a.865112948735577
DON’T FORGET: Tonight at Attica Burger King, 20 percent of ALL sales made between 4 and 9 p.m. will go to our freshman class of 2027!
Be there. Buy stuff. Help our freshmen!
Our girls volleyball team wasn’t the only one to garner All-Greater Rochester honors.
Our football team had five players recognized - three were named to the first team in the small schools division while two were named to the second team.
Congratulations to first teamers Clayton Bezon, Landyn Thomas and Trenton Woods and second teamers Joe Parkhurst and Case Hill!
Link to D&C’s full article here: https://www.democratandchronicle.com/in-depth/sports/high-school/agr/2023/12/19/all-greater-rochester-fall-teams-2023-football-soccer-volleyball-field-hockey-cross-country-swim/71690771007/
Our girls volleyball players CONTINUE to rake in the honors.
Seniors Ellie Cusmano and Maddie Robinson were recently named to the All-Greater Rochester Girls Small School Volleyball Team (Ellie was also named small schools Player of the Year) as determined by a vote of Section V coaches, with the input of Democrat and Chronicle staff.
After her AGR honors, Ellie was ALSO recognized by News 8 and Primetime 585 with their inaugural Elite Award in girls volleyball in the small schools division.
Winners were determined by a committee made up of News 8 and Primetime 585 staff along with guidance from coaches and other experts in high school sports.
Congratulations to Ellie and Maddie!
Full pieces from the D&C and News 8/Primetime 585 are linked below.
D&C: https://www.democratandchronicle.com/in-depth/sports/high-school/agr/2023/12/19/all-greater-rochester-fall-teams-2023-football-soccer-volleyball-field-hockey-cross-country-swim/71690771007/
News 8/Primetime 585: https://www.rochesterfirst.com/sports/high-school-sports/news8-primetime585-elite-awards/news-8-primetime-elite-girls-volleyball/
FARM TO SCHOOL: Members of our food service staff welcomed Megan Burley of Burley Berries & Blooms to their kitchen last Friday for a professional development day centered on scratch cooking tips and techniques.
Burley, a former educator with Perry Central Schools and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Erie County, led food service staff in the making of a creamy ham and potato soup using carrots, potatoes, onions and garlic from Merle’s Fresh Produce and milk from her husband, Ryan’s, family dairy farm.
Burley was kind enough to give us a copy of the recipe, which we’ve included in this post in case you want to give the soup a try at home (we got to take some home with us and can attest to its deliciousness).
For your viewing pleasure at the link below, another Alanna Pellicane original - this time, featuring Attica’s favorite Christmas Spirit Week event, FAMILY PORTRAIT DAY.
This spirit day had everything - flannel, awkward poses, one of those little plush toys portrait photographers use to get babies to smile, a second year social studies teacher reluctantly agreeing to wear a Santa hat.
And look over there, is that Harry Styles? No, it’s just a life-sized cardboard cutout of Harry sporting his Swarovski crystal-covered rainbow jumpsuit by French fashion brand EgonLab at the 2023 Grammy Awards Red Carpet Event.
Could’ve fooled us!
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt1LnIdSlCs
WINTER RECESS COUNTDOWN: Two days, Blue Devils. That’s it. That’s all that’s left.
Today, we head to the middle school, the scene of a fierce door decorating battle that saw classrooms go head to head to see which could create the most compelling holiday door.
Mrs. Elizabeth Kowalski and 8th grade Student Council members served as our judges, picking two winners each for the 5th/6th and 7th/8th grade.
Our 5th/6th grade winners were Mrs. Cali’s class and their “Egyptian Christmas” door and Mrs. Mitchell’s door, decorated by Mrs. Datzler’s class, with their “We Love Christmas a LATte” door.
For the 7th/8th grade, winners were Mrs. Treichler’s class’s “Bills vs. Chiefs” snowman door and Mrs. Kelsey’s class, who created a “Swiftie Christmas” door.
Congratulations to our winners, who earned themselves a round of hot chocolate and donuts!
(Photos courtesy of Elizabeth Kowalski)
WINTER RECESS COUNTDOWN: Three more days.
Today, we travel to Miss Lauren Kocher’s and Mrs. Dylah Fagan’s classrooms at Attica Elementary School where, for the past three years, the two teachers have established a “Reading With a Buddy” tradition where Kocher’s third grade students bring books down to read to Fagan’s first-grade students.
“We started this tradition two years ago so my former first grade students, who are now in her third-grade class, had the pleasure of having this tradition come full circle for them,” said Fagan. “Two years ago, they had a third grader read to them and now, they got to be that third grader that read to a first grader. It was the perfect snowy day to curl up in a corner and read to a buddy!”
WINTER RECESS COUNTDOWN: Four days left, Blue Devils.
Today, we travel back in time to last week when members of our Future Farmers of America chapter headed down to Attica Elementary as part of their Ag Buddies program, which seeks to introduce younger students to the district’s ag programs and get them excited to take an ag course when they get to middle school.
This year, the Ag Buddies visit had an international flair. First, members started out by reading “A World of Cookies for Santa” aloud. As the title suggests, the book brings readers around the globe to explore the different kinds of cookies children leave out for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.
After the read aloud, students rotated through different stations to make reindeer food, a marshmallow snowman, a 3-D paper tree and play a matching game, which tested students’ ability to recall some of the different countries’ flags they’d just seen during the read aloud.
Make sure you check out our two videos linked below. In the first, FFA President Larissa Hyman reads “A World of Cookies for Santa” aloud to a class of second graders. The second features highlights from the day.
Read aloud video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa3VkKMOdps
Highlights video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7wSWS5fKUM
Our PageTurners team traveled to Letchworth Central Schools for their fall meet last week and came away with a third place finish out of six competing schools.
PageTurners is a literature-based competition that challenges teams to answer trivia questions about a collection of works.
Our team, comprised of students in grades three through six, read one poem and nine books and prepared themselves to answer questions about the author, genre, characters, setting, plot and theme, among other things.
Although there were 20 students on the team in total, only 6 students competed in round one and 6 in round two. The remaining students came prepared to be an alternate.
Our PageTurners team is coached by library media specialists Stacey Donahue and Wendy Jerge.
WINTER RECESS COUNTDOWN: You’re in the home stretch, Blue Devils. 5 days to go.
Today, we welcome Stasia Struzik to the countdown.
Stasia, a seventh grader at Attica Middle School, reads “How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney,” by Mac Barnett.
With illustrations by Jon Klassen, this book tries to shed some light on a question that’s befuddled true believers for time out of mind.
We hope you give it a watch at the link below. If you’ve got a copy at home, follow along!
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwEUFus8rSE
AG IN THE FAMILY: While her father, Thane, was speaking to students about his job as an apiarist Friday in our middle-high school cafeteria, Alyssa Wright was down in Mrs. Michelle Barber’s class, teaching her agriculture students about a pair of goats from her family’s Falling Leaves Farm.
You probably know Thane Wright best as vice president of our board of education, but did you know he’s also a professional apiarist?
That’s right! Mr. Wright has operated his own beekeeping business, Wright Apiaries, for many years and today, he stopped by our cafeteria to speak with middle and high school students about what the job entails.
Wright brought along a selection of his beekeeping equipment to show to students and honey sticks for them to try.
Mr. Wright has been a strong supporter of our agricultural programming over the years and, through his work on our cafeteria committee has helped lead the way toward improving and expanding the food offerings our students have access to here at Attica Central Schools.
Thank you, Mr. Wright, for stopping by (and for the free honey sticks… yum)!
Many thanks to Diane Deleo, a licensed veterinary technician (LVT) with Attica Veterinary Associates, for coming to speak with our students today during a Lunch and Learn in the High School Library.
Deleo walked students considering pursuing a career in the field through what kind of education you need to become a vet tech and what a typical day on the job looks like.
WINTER RECESS COUNTDOWN: 6 school days to go until Winter Recess.
Today, we turn things over to Tressa Smith, a middle school art teacher who also leads our after-school Art Club.
During yesterday’s club meeting, Smith led Art Club members in making their very own Hopes and Dreams Treasure Chests!
First, Smith asked students to think about their hopes and dreams for the future. Then, students went right to work ripping out images and phrases of things that inspire them from a collection of magazines, glued them down and created a special place to store their favorite things.
We think our students’ chests turned out great and encourage you to reflect on what you want your future to look like and create a treasure box of your own!
Need an inspiration jump start? Check out Smith’s “How-To” video at the link below!
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOfJqUe6j5o
(Photos courtesy of Tressa Smith)
Heads up, Blue Devils: Our Fall Newsletter will be delivered in this weekend’s edition of the Attica Penny Saver.
We’ve also posted the newsletter to our website - give it a read at the link below!
Link: https://www.atticacsd.org/page/newsletter
