As a means of promoting heart-healthy activity and collecting funds to benefit the American Heart Association, staff and students from John Pearl Elementary School recently took part in a two-day “Kids Heart Challenge” jump rope event. With assistance from physical education teacher Nicholas Sturtz, the school’s gymnasium was transformed into a marvelous area designated for students to engage in jumping rope as they received support from their parents on the sidelines, along with motivation from an upbeat music soundtrack. The district is thrilled to announce $10,002 was raised during the course of the two-day event due to overwhelming community support. 

Kindergarten and first-grade classes from John Pearl Elementary School recently welcomed Stony Brook Children’s Hospital Trauma Center registered nurse Kristi Ladowski to the school for a fun and informative “Teddy Bear Clinic” event.

The students were asked to bring a stuffed animal to school to serve as their “patient” as they worked with Ms. Ladowski during the clinic, carefully listening as she described important safety lessons to be used at home, at play or in school. The attentive students also listened as Ms. Ladowski described the importance of seat belt safety and using helmets to protect themselves while riding bicycles and skateboards.

The students also enjoyed watching an experiment that had two eggs dropped at the same time, in which each egg was into a plastic bag, but only one egg was protected inside a special “helmet.” As predicted, the unprotected egg did not fare well in the drop, while the protected egg was still in one piece.

At the conclusion of the safety demonstrations, the students sat at their desks and played “doctor” using band-aids, gauze, and tongue depressors on their stuffed animals’ “injuries.”

In coordination with the year’s theme of the 50th anniversary of landing on the moon, students of all grade levels at John Pearl Elementary School were recently paid a visit from Cradle of Aviation educator Tim Sarro for an informative presentation on space exploration.

Throughout the course of the assembly, Mr. Sarro spoke to the attentive students about the many aspects of outer space, including how rockets operate, the daily routines of astronauts and scientific facts about the sun and the solar systems’ planets. According to Mr. Sarro, water, food, oxygen, fuel/power and shelter are absolutely essential to an astronaut in order to complete their mission while in space, bearing striking similarities to our survival needs here on Earth. 

Additionally, two student volunteers were asked to mimic the spacesuits that astronauts wear as they geared up with two layers of thick gloves and attempted to tie their shoelaces, both to success.

In recognition of Parents as Reading Partners Month, students of all grade levels at John Pearl Elementary School were treated to a schoolwide assembly led by musician/historian Patricia Shih for her “Big Ideas About Literacy” presentation.

With assistance from her husband and musical accompaniment Mr. Steve, Mrs. Shih introduced the students to a number of catchy and informative songs which celebrated literacy and the importance of books. During one of her songs, Mrs. Shih asked a number of student volunteers to present popular children’s books such as “The Cat in the Hat,” “Cinderella” and “Winnie The Pooh” when they were called upon. 

Mrs. Shih also touched upon foreign and world languages during the assembly as well, as she asked student volunteers to speak a phrase in a foreign language, which was then incorporated into a fun song for all to enjoy. 

In an effort to show respect toward the nation’s veterans, third-grade students from John Pearl Elementary School were recently visited by two active military servicemen along with Suffolk County Legislator William Lindsay III in support of his Valentines for Veterans initiative in which they created tokens of appreciation for the visiting veterans. 

Meeting in the school’s atrium, the students were elated to interact with U.S. Marines Sgt. Davis and Sgt. Ferraro. The students were given the opportunity to ask informative questions of the special guests, inquiring as to why they joined the military in the first place, and their favorite part about serving the country. 

The veterans informed the students that they’ve completed tours overseas in countries such as Afghanistan, Kuwait and Korea, and are currently pursuing their bachelor’s degrees from St. Joseph’s College located in Patchogue. 

Prior to the conclusion of the event, Legislator Lindsay thanked the veterans for their service, along with thanking the students of John Pearl Elementary School for participating in his annual Valentines for Veterans event.