Kindergarten students at Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School kicked off their butterfly and bee unit with a visit from two special guests on March 22nd and 23rd. Science and Technology teacher Regina D’Orio invited Jamie Arty from Monarchbutterfly.com and Laura Escobar, owner of Oyster Bay’s Hive Market and Maker’s Space, to the school to speak with kindergarten classes about the important roles that bees and butterflies play in our world.

Ms. Escobar spoke with students about bees and the many benefits of honey, while Mrs. Arty shared her knowledge of butterflies and their life cycle. Students asked questions and learned about pollination with the help of Ms. D’Orio. They then created their own wildflower seed balls by rolling together soil and different seeds, courtesy of Mrs. Arty, which will grow into plants that will attract pollinators. These seed balls will be planted in the school’s new butterfly garden and around the Oyster Bay-East Norwich community. Students were also able to take some home to plant in their own backyards.

The new partnership with Mrs. Arty and Ms. Escobar is a special one, as both women live in the Oyster Bay community and are part of the Oyster Bay Main Street Association. Mrs. Arty has children who are currently in the Oyster Bay-East Norwich School District and Ms. Escobar has children who have graduated from the district. Returning to Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School and sharing their interest and love for these pollinators was a meaningful experience. Since both bees and monarch butterflies are on the endangered species list, they wanted to find a way to help educate the community about how to protect them.

“We are planting seeds figuratively and literally,” said Mrs. Arty about sharing their passion with students. “We are planting the seed in their mind that when they see these beautiful species they will say ‘I want to help them’ and grow plants for them.”

Aside from the wildflower seed ball project, kindergarten students are creating flower artwork with art teacher Meredith Brustman and celebrating their butterfly and bee unit by learning fun songs with music teacher Brenda Murphy. The kindergarten classes look forward to continuing their unit by bringing caterpillars into their classrooms and watching them transform into butterflies. The butterflies will then be released into the school’s new butterfly garden which is expected to open one day in June.

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Date Added: 3/27/2023

Students from Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School celebrated the 100th day of school in style on Feb. 9. Students and staff, including Principal Tami McElwee, dressed like 100-year-olds or wore special 100-day shirts and hats. Students also participated in a variety of lessons and activities throughout the school day which were based on the number 100.

Date Added: 2/14/2023

As part of their Readers’ Theater experience, second graders from Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School in Alison Cavuto’s class visited kindergarten classes on Feb. 6.

Readers’ Theater is a school-wide program that is run by literacy coach Christine Bartell and school librarian Roseann Davidson. Each second grade class practices a story with Mrs. Bartell and Mrs. Davidson for about a month and then performs the story for their families.

Leading up to their Readers’ Theater performance, small groups of students from Ms. Cavuto’s class popped into kindergarten classrooms to perform the book “Tacky the Penguin” by Helen Lester. Since all the main characters in their story were penguins, the second graders did some research to learn more about the animal and shared their findings with the young students.

In addition, the second graders incorporated art into their presentation by bringing in stuffed penguins that they created from socks. During their visit, they helped the young students make their own penguin puppets. To include music, the second graders also learned a penguin dance which they taught to the classes that they visited.

The visits were a great way for the students to connect with other classes, while also supporting their expressive language skills and building their self-confidence.

Date Added: 2/10/2023