Livingston Manor School Scene 2019

SCHOOL SCENE A Special Supplement to the Sullivan County Democrat

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A look at activities in the Livingston Manor School District

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LIVINGSTON MANOR SCHOOL SCENE

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CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Eight students benefit from a video-conferenced college course in Psychology this semester at Livingston Manor High. From left front to left back, students Caitlin Evans, Tayl'r Porter, Haley Peck and Courtney Rampe. From right front to right back, Annabelle Marchese, Emma Carlson and Nicole Davis. Not pictured: Hannah Tuso.

Good learning and great behavior when teacher is on TV

BY KATHY DALEY

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t first, the class in Livingston Manor high school was disconcerted. A teacher up on a screen? With live students from elsewhere captured in little boxes around the perimeter of the screen?

“For the first two weeks, no one liked it,” said tenth grader Caitlin Evans.

Interactive video conferencing, or Distance Learning, took some getting used to. But the eight students got the hang of it last September, and each scored an A grade in the college sociology course piped into their classroom. This semester, they are making their way through college psychology, again by means of a live teacher on a screen.

“This is giving us a step forward,”

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said student Emma Carlson. And, she added, taking college courses in high school saves tuition money later on.

Like many high schools, Livingston Manor offers students a jump on their college careers by linking with a local college. Through SUNY Sullivan, Manor teachers who are adjunct professors with the college teach in-high-school college courses in Spanish, speech, elementary staPublisher: Co- Editors: Editorial Assistants: Advertising Director: Assistant Advertising Director: Special Sections Coordinator: Advertising Coordinator: Business Manager: Assistant Business Manager: Telemarketing Coordinator: Monticello Office Manager: Classified Manager: Production Associates: Circulation & Distribution:

tistics, pre-calculus, calculus, biology and English composition.

But, said guidance counselor Christian Towsley, the school wanted more college options for kids.

“We struggle in small K-12 schools to provide what’s available in bigger schools,” said Towsley. “There are courses we can’t offer because we don’t have enough kids.”

“Nothing beats face-to-face (learn-

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ing),” Towsley said, “but this is the next best thing.”

Towsley and school librarian Melanie Schwartz supervise the video-conferenced course, which takes place three days per week from 8-8:50 a.m. The high school received a grant for a 70-inch TV screen to see and hear the teacher and for a dropdown movie projector and microphone so the teacher can see and hear the students.

“The teacher has a seating chart and gets to know the kids, calling them by name,” said Towsley.

Students mostly interact with the teacher, although, by means of the screen, they are aware of other students in the “room.”

Offered through Hudson Valley Community College in Troy and Laurens Central School near Otsego, the program hires Otsego North Catskill BOCES to handle technical issues.

Last semester, the Manor students taking the sociology course launched the project for their district. Now, in psychology, they are focused on the structure of the human brain and how the brain is used. Utilizing the educational technology system

THALMANN’S

named Blackboard, they take quizzes and tests, submit assignments, make presentations and find out when projects are due.

“Our homework is due every Sunday,” said student Courtney Rampe.

Blackboard also allows them to work at home on their cellphone or laptop.

Now in psychology, more is expected, the students said. “It’s more demanding, less hand-holding,” said Carlson.

Towsley said that interestingly, Distance Learning students tend to be better behaved than those in a regular classroom. “They’re on video, they’re being recorded and it makes a difference,” he said.

The whole project has been so positive that Livingston Manor Central School hopes to become part of the program in a big way in several years.

“During our third year [of Distance Learning] we would like to offer college Spanish, math and science through our own video-conferenced teachers,” Towsley said. “We’re benefiting now from these courses, and we want to give back.”

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Kids plant, reap, preserve foods, all from community garden

BY KATHY DALEY

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n March, thoughts turn to birds singing and planting seeds, and the Livingston Manor Community Garden stretches its legs to the sun.

The three-year-old green space plays a major role in the lives of Manor’s second graders who help with planting, weeding, watering and harvesting. Later, older students at the high school use the veggies to study and cook in Food Science class.

“Initially, we were approached by Lisa Lyons (of the store Morgan Outdoors) when she was in the process of getting a grant for a community garden,” said second grade teacher Gina Ballard. “Lisa wanted a

school component.”

Situated on Pearl Street not far from the Sunoco Station, the garden began its new life in 2015 with a Sullivan Renaissance grant through its Healthy Communities initiative.

In teaching that centers on the garden, “We are able to make that healthy food connection while we reinforce the life cycles of plants,” Ballard said.

Julie Bauer, also a second grade teacher, noted that children tend the entire garden on their visits, which take place in early spring for planting and then in late May and early June for maintenance, watering and weeding. Then there are two fall trips for cleaning up beds to be ready for

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

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Throngs of happy, working second graders weeded, collected seeds and cleaned out the Livingston Manor Community Garden beds in September. The students walk from school to the garden, about a 10-minute jaunt. From left, are Victor Payton, Lily Stone, Brooke Severing and Jacob Davis.

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planting in the spring.

The second graders also get to plant certain boxes for themselves apart from tending the garden as a whole, noted Bauer.

Lyons leads the instruction for students as they plant. For example, in October they learned that garlic must be planted pointy side up.

Now, as spring is just around the corner, the endeavor begins for the school with donated vegetable, herb and flower seedlings from the Root and Roost Farm in White Sulphur Springs and the horticulture department of New Hope Community in Loch Sheldrake.

“We’ve ordered ourselves, too,” said Ballard, “and we'll be ready to plant in late April or early May.” The children will plant string beans, peppers, lettuce and more.

Last year, seventh graders also helped tend the garden, said Family and Consumer Science teacher Mary Ellen Reynolds.

Then, Reynolds’ high school stu-

dents studying Food Science learned about preserving and canning using the fresh garden produce. They employed the garden’s basil, parsley and garlic to make pesto for pasta and bread. Another of their pesto recipes involved tomatoes, garlic and peppers.

“I believe in buying fresh stuff,” said tenth grader Dakota Marks, a Food Science student who plans to go into the culinary field. Marks cooks most of his own food at home.

“When you grow it yourself or buy from a farm, you know where it comes from and that it doesn't have the bad stuff (chemicals) that the supermarket’s fruit and vegetables have,” Marks said.

Teacher Julie Bauer notes that even the youngest kids are beginning to have that “green” awareness.

“They are bringing in raw vegetables and fruit as snacks,” Bauer said.

“This year, we want to get parents going to the garden along with their kids.”

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Asian food & the post office: Starting young to learn community

BY KATHY DALEY

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CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Five-year-olds Alivia Brady, Rilee Darbee, Marlee Kleingardner and Charlotte Park dig in to yummy Chinese food at the Chinatown Kitchen on Main Street in Livingston Manor. The outing centered around study of the Chinese New Year celebration in February.

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n old African proverb posits, “It takes a village to raise a child.”

And so it goes in Livingston Manor where even the youngest students enjoy authentic connections to the local community as they stroll along their educational path, literally.

“We are so lucky that we can walk to everything,” said enthused kindergarten teacher Michele Hemmer.

Stores, eateries and institutions like Jeff Bank and the U.S. Post Office are just a stone’s throw from the Livingston Manor Central School’s front steps.

Last year in warm weather, Hemmer and colleague Lydia Ryan began a teaching unit on Community Helpers, which invites kindergarten teachers to explain and explore the work of police, firemen, ambulance workers and so on. It also encourages

students to visit local businesses.

In June, the 28 five-year-olds, accompanied by teachers and teacher aides, toured the community, learning the various street names and hearing about the famous river, the Willowemoc, that puts Manor on the map.

“We went to the post office, Peck’s Market, the bank, the library,” offered Hemmer.

At Peck’s, students got a close-up look at how the store works and even went behind the scenes to see where fresh fruit and vegetables are stored.

At the Post Office, they experienced the loading dock where all the mail comes in. They thrillingly sat in a mail truck and marched back to school with stickers and coloring books.

More recently, the children studied the Chinese New Year, which is the largest family holiday in Asian com-

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and thank you.”

“So we are talking about what rules are in our community,” said Ryan, “And our classroom is also a community.

What are the rules in our own community?”

The “enrichment” door swings both ways for kids at Livingston Manor. The people, the workers who keep the community going frequently enliven the school corridors. They include the fire department, which visits for Fire Safety Week and allows the kids to squirt hoses, which they love, said Hemmer.

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A dental hygienist visits. School Resource Officer Keith Stephenson speaks to students. “You can tie it all in to possible careers,” said Ryan.

The teachers noted that at age five, children tend to be a bit egocentric.

“At this age they have trouble thinking about the world,” said Hemmer.

“It’s more ‘me, me, me.’”

By contrast, getting the kids out of the classroom invites them to experience a wider outlook, said Hemmer. “It teaches them, this is my library, my Peck’s, my post office.”

KATHY DALEY | DEMOCRAT

Lydia Ryan, left, and Michele Hemmer teach kindergarten children, introducing them to the wider world of service, careers and community.

“The town is always so great to us, always so accommodating,” said Hemmer.

Each event is a learning experience.

Of course, safety while walking through town is a given. And before outings, “We talk about proper public behavior,” Hemmer said, “How to sit nicely, use proper manners, say please

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munities from Beijing to New York City.

Technology allowed the children an upclose look at New York's Chinatown parade when teacher Ryan displayed the fabulous extravaganza on her classroom Smartboard.

Then the kindergartners were treated to lunch at Chinatown Kitchen on Main Street in Manor.

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