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Board of Education to meet April 26 to vote on HFM BOCES budget, HFM BOCES board candidates
The Fort Plain Central School District Board of Education will hold a special meeting on Wednesday, April 26, at 7:30 a.m. for the purpose of voting on the HFM BOCES Budget and HFM BOCES Board candidates.
The meeting will be held in the Ronald H. Thibodeau Conference Room in the District Office.
6th graders decode a masterpiece – and the media notices
Posted April 6, Updated April 17, 2023:
Students in Autumn Slawienski’s 6th grade art enrichment class spent eight weeks using pixelated charts of five colors to decode an image. The group of 21 students worked in collaborative teams to read, transcribe and color code nine 30×40 panels of grid.
“They had no idea what the final image was going to be – although many had a very good guess!” Slawienski said. “Just in time for their final class, the image was unveiled: ‘The Mona Lisa’ smiled upon them and the students returned to the art room to watch a video about the history of one of the most widely recognized pieces of art to date.”
IN THE MEDIA:
Read the April 16 article by The Recorder about the students’ project:
2012 grad Samuel Hoffman graduates first in NCOA class
Congratulations to Fort Plain Class of 2012 alumnus Samuel Hoffman, a Technical Sergeant with the United States Air Force, on graduating with the highest grade point average from the Gunter NCOA (Gunter Noncommissioned Officer Academy), Montgomery, AL.
Hoffman is currently stationed at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia. He completed five weeks of studies at Gunther NCOA, part of Air Force University, in March. He is the son of Fort Plain Class of 1983 graduate and bus driver Marty Hoffman.
“Samuel went into the Air Force in August of 2012, and he recently got his private pilot license in August 2022,” Marty said. “He’s pursuing higher education to be an NTSB flight investigator.”
In the photo: Samuel holds his Academic Achievement Award while standing with an Air Force colleague
Baseball unit covers many academic bases
Fort Plain’s 7th grade class kicked off spring with an interdisciplinary unit revolving around the topic of baseball. Throughout the week before their break, the students learned about various aspects of America’s Pastime.
Interactive stadium tours, walk-up songs, coding baserunning robots, stadium foods, calculating batting averages, escape rooms, cultural diversity, stadium geography and mascots were all part of the learning – and the fun – in their classrooms.
The unit ended with a trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, where the students learned about many historical aspects of baseball in America, as well as the tools of the trade.
“They were even treated to a fantastic lunch at Sal’s Pizzeria in Cooperstown,” said teacher Dale Smith. “A huge thank you to Adria Palmeri for her generosity!”
Proud to be a Hilltopper: Dakota Dodson
Hilltopper pride is strong in Fort Plain. Our Topper Pride video series explores the many reasons why members of the Fort Plain school community, including students, alumni, faculty, staff and administrators, are proud of the experiences, knowledge and friendships they gained here.
Proud to be a Topper: Dakota Dodson, 10th grade student
Dakota Dodson is a 10th grade student at Fort Plain Jr./Sr. High School who enjoys learning how to weld in Kreig Heroth’s Materials Processing class. Here’s why Dakota is proud to be a Hilltopper:
Save the date and join us for fun: PTA Family Night is April 26
Posted April 3; reposted April 17
Save the date and be sure to join us for the Fort Plain PTA’s Family Night kickoff event on Wednesday, April 26, from 6-7 p.m. at the Harry Hoag School. The event is free and open to the public.
Lots of fun activities will be offered in the Harry Hoag gym, library and cafeteria, where there will be 10 stations, including:
Hole in Three
Penny, Penny, Who’s Got the Penny
Noodle Dribble
Movin’ On Up
Cereal Chopsticks
Balloon Air
Junk in the Trunk
Candy Relay
Cone Flippers
Add the Cards
Ice cream will be served, free of charge, to all families. Each child attending will get to choose a prize on their way home. In addition, every family will be entered in a drawing for a Family Fun Night Gift Basket!
All are welcome. See you there!
OK2XL NYC trip features Broadway museum, “Harry Potter,” lunch
Forty-two members of Fort Plain High School’s OK2XL gifted and talented program traveled to New York City for a fun-filled day on April 5, 2023. Highlights include a trip to the Museum of Broadway, lunch at John’s Pizzeria, located in an abandoned church on West 44th St., and the Broadway show “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” which is based upon the novels by J.K. Rowling.
The trip was a hit with the students. Here are some of their reactions:
Vandwane Hisert: “I like the quality time spent with my peers.”
Aidan Guile: “It was the best show I have ever seen.”
Monika Kulczynksi: “I loved the effects in the play and the acting was amazing. The museum had great photo opportunities.”
Sadie Mollel, referring to both the museum and the show: “The most phenomenal artwork I’ve ever seen! I will go back over and over again.”
Brady Keane: “The special effects during the show were unbelievable. ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ is a visual spectacle.”
“The students were very thankful and appreciative of the opportunity they had to go to the city and to experience all of these events,” said English teacher Lisa Trembley.
The trip was supported by the Arts in Education program.
Reminder: No Board meeting April 5; next meeting is May 3
There will be no Board of Education on Wednesday, April 5. This is a change from the printed wall calendar distributed late last summer. The next meeting will be Wednesday, May 3.
A complete listing of Board meeting dates may be found on our Board of Education webpage.
Literary learning takes center court in this March Madness tourney
Students in Amy Bartholomew’s 6th grade English Language Arts classes at Harry Hoag School held their own March Madness tournament during the last two weeks of March . . . but it wasn’t basketball teams competing this time!
In their Poem vs. Song March Madness tournament, eight poems and eight songs faced off in head-to-head competitions each day until there was one champion remaining. Students would listen to the performances as they analyzed the lyrics for tone, mood, theme and figurative language.
There were some clear favorites from the beginning such as “Can We Autocorrect Humanity,” by Prince EA, “The Rose That Grew From Concrete,” by Tupac Shakur, and “This Is Me,” from The Greatest Showman. But none were able to beat out the actual champion of the tournament, the poem, “Explaining My Depression to My Mother,” by Sabrina Benaim.
Sixth grade student Khloe Hisert said, “I liked that we got to learn a lot more about figurative language and listen to fun music.”
Sixth grader Lainie McDuffee shared, “I liked that we got to listen to my favorite songs and try out some new poems. I have never really been into poetry, but I thought that the poems were pretty cool.”
Finally, Connor Lochner shared his favorite part of the March Madness Tourney: “I liked how when we were done, we got to shoot in the mini basketball hoop, and I liked that I got to learn more about what an idiom and a personification was.”
-Article and images by Amy Bartholomew
