BALLSTON SPA — The Ballston Spa High School Robotics Team OxBe4 originally coordinated various STEM activities and supplied materials to encourage the spread of STEM education in rural Afghanistan.

After coordinating a donation drive to send LEGO Mindstorm kits to teens in Afghanistan in 2018, FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Team 3044 is again spreading the word about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education to rural parts of the world. During their most recent campaign to spread STEM education, Team 3044 selected a few simple STEM projects, translated instructions into Pashto and Dari, and conducted a 10-month donation drive, collecting specific items for each STEM activity and general school and craft supplies. The kits have been assembled and the first set of 10 boxes is being shipped to Helmand Province in Afghanistan this week. Each box holds up to 20 pounds of sustainable science activities that can be used for building, problem solving
and experimentation. 

Team 3044’s Co-Captain Maddie West indicated “We believe that no matter who you are or where you come from, everyone should have a chance to create their own future and strive to be the best you can be.”

While competitions have been cancelled and all meetings suspended, the team is using social media to share the materials that they have compiled to encourage STEM education with their local community during this time of school closures.

Families are invited to visit the team’s website,  frcteam3044.team/, to learn more about the simple but fun STEM projects.

JOHSNTOWN — Students at Fulton Montgomery Community College are making their dorm rooms a second home during the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Jane Kelley, vice president for student affairs, said during the college spring break, FMCC offered a place to stay for residential students that didn’t have a place to go. Kelley said 14 students stayed on campus during spring break, but that number has since decreased. 

“We made the opportunity available for the international students to stay if they were having trouble getting home,” Kelley said.  “We have, as of [Wednesday], we have three international students that are staying, and then one residential assistant who has been there throughout, and one student who doesn’t have a great situation at home so he’s staying there as well.”

A total of five students will stay on campus for the duration of COVID-19. FMCC closed March 13, the Friday prior to spring break, and would remain closed through March 31. Since then, the school has moved to a remote learning format. 

“What has changed since then is that we decided, along with a lot of other Suny colleges, is to go to a total remote learning model for the rest of the spring semester, so no students will be on campus for the rest of the semester,” Kelley said. 

Because the campus is shut down, not a lot of services can be offered to the students on campus, but the food service provider is still delivering food to the residential halls each day. 

“We have a fridge set up in one of the lounges so they’re making sure that the students are fed,” Kelley said. “We’re making it work.”

Kelley said the remaining students would be able to partake in remote learning from the residence halls.

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While those five students remain on campus, 282 high school students were flown from Israel to return to families during the virus outbreak. The high school students were studying at the Alexander Muss High School in Hod HaSharon Israel. 

On March 16, the Jewish National Fund USA released $500,000 from the organization’s endowment to charter an EL AL Boeing 787. 

“Its money that we want to put towards education and making sure all students can go and attend the high school we are running in Israel,” Stefan Oberman, director of communications said. “In circumstances we had to unlock this funding in order to bring the kids home.”

According to the press release, the students were escorted by bus to Israel’s Ben Gurion airport where chaperones accompanied students through passport control and to the plane. Students then flew to JFK and were greeted by parents, and member of the JNF. 

“Everyone was crying and parents were crying, but it was the right thing to do because given what has happened in Israel right now, it’s not on the top of the radar of anyone, but it’s basically on lockdown and if we weren’t able to get the kids out last weekend, I doubt we could get them out today,” Oberman said. 

Oberman said that once in JFK, students continued their travel to their hometowns in Albany, Boston and Saratoga Springs.

“It was a huge operation and never had we thought that one day we would charter a private dreamliner to charter those kids back home,” Oberman said. 

OK Everyone, I want to congratulate you on a job well done…you have successfully made it through 2 weeks of homeschooling.
I assume you may be running out of fun and creative projects to keep the kids busy, so here are some fresh ideas…

ELEMENTARY GRADES 4^th – 8^th

RESEARCH FLAGS
of other counties or the 50 states and create mini flags with pencils as the flagpole. 

GREAT WEBSITES:

• Quizlet.com
  Flashcards, games, and quizzes for almost every subject.

• bls.gov/k12/games/geography-quiz
  How well do you know the United States? Great for a family competition.

• printables.atozteacherstuff.com 
  Are your younger children feeling left out of schooling? This site has fun printables for younger children on almost every subject.

• seussville.com
  Read, play games, and hang out with Dr. Seuss and his friends.

• funbrain.com
  Play Games while practicing math and reading skills.

POETRY:

poetryfoundation.org/poems 
Have your child choose a poem that corresponds with the time period they are studying in History.  Don’t shy away from the classics. Children can learn Shakespeare, Longfellow, Frost, and Whitman.
Memorize a couple of lines each day.  When completed, have them recite the poem and video it for friends and family. 

Benefits of Poetry Memorization:

• It builds vocabulary and reading comprehension.
• When a student performs a recitation, he is building speech and presentation skills.
• When students see references to great poems in plays, movies, comic strips, and other books, they will understand the references. This is especially true if your students memorize Shakespeare because he isquoted more than any other author.
• It fills up students with patterns of language. When your students start writing, these patterns will spill back out.
• They may be on Jeopardy someday!

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LOWER ELEMENTARY Grades K – 3^rd

FAMILY FUN:

Play games with your children. Here’s a list of fun, but educational games: Monopoly, Bananagrams, Boggle, Scrabble, Rummikub, Rush Hour, Go, Chess, Mastermind, Risk…

Play the good old-fashion card game War.  It teaches number recognition and helps them learn number order in a fun way.

CREATIVE IDEAS:

• Write and illustrate a story together. 
• Make a comic book together.
• Use shaving cream on the counter or table to write in.  Practice math facts, spelling words, shapes,fractions… the list is endless and it’s ok to get messy because it’s basically soap!

NATION WIDE — While schools closed down for up to a month and switch to online classrooms, Scholastic announced free courses for families, administrators and teachers.

According to their website, Scholastic Learn at Home provides three hours of learning opportunities per day for up to four weeks of instruction. The grade levels are divided up into four sections; Pre-Kindergarten to kindergarten, grades 1 to 2, grades 3 to 5, and grades 6 to 9. Subjects cover ELA, STEM, science, social studies and social-emotional learning. 

“As more and more teachers, students, and families around the world are affected by the coronavirus, our priority is to support them in the best way we know how—by providing them with rich stories and meaningful projects that will keep kids academically active,” says Lauren Tarshis, Senior Vice President & Editor-in-Chief/Publisher, Scholastic Classroom Magazines. “We designed Scholastic Learn At Home knowing that administrators and teachers need to create extensive virtual learning plans, quickly, and that students need uplifting and engaging experiences. Our hope is that even though daily routines are being disrupted and students may not have valuable time in school with their educators, together we can support meaningful learning at home while it is necessary.”

Scholastic Learn at Home is accessible on all devices and no sign-up is required. Instruction for each lesson includes writing and research projects based on nonfiction articles and stories, virtual field trips and reading and geography challenges. The courses are flexible for using any writing materials students have available at home and no printing is required. 

The editors of Scholastic Classroom Magazines have also launched a collection of kid-friendly resources for learning about coronavirus: classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/coronavirus.html

SARATOGA COUNTY —As schools close through the end of March, districts in the area are providing free meals to students.

Ballston Spa Central School District is offering free and reduced breakfast and lunches available to students who are enrolled in the reduced meal program. Meals can be picked up each weekday starting this week between 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Here are the locations for pick up:
• High School/Middle School Students – HS main entrance
• Malta Students – Malta Ave. Elementary School main entrance
• GC/MT/WR Students – Milton Terrace Elementary School Cafeteria Side Entrance
• Town of Milton – Community Center
• Town of Malta – Community Center
• Town of Ballston – Town Hall

Saratoga Springs School District will offer breakfast and lunch, free of charge, for any student under the age of 18. Starting this week meals can be picked up between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Families who plan to take advantage of meals are asked to fill out a Meal Distribution Survey to help with planning. Meals will be provided in a grab and go style.

Here are the locations for pick up:
• Saratoga Springs High School (outside of the main entrance)
• Greenfield Elementary School (outside of the main entrance)
• Dorothy Nolan ElementarySchool (outside of the main entrance)   

Shenendehowa buses and food service staff will be delivering breakfast and lunch for those in need, free of charge, for students while schools are closed

Locations:
• Cheryl’s Lodge/Halfmoon Heights: 12 p.m.
• D&R Village: 12 – 12:30 p.m.
• North Pointe Apts: 12 – 12:30 p.m.

South Glens Falls Central School District is offering grab-and-go meals for families who qualify and were contacted by the school. Pickup is available Tuesday and Thursday from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. Families will not enter the building but can grab the meals at the rear of the building. 

Schuylerville Central School District started March 18 with delivery only meals to any students under the age of 18, regardless of their free or reduced lunch eligibility. Deliveries will be Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Contact Sarah Keen, food services manager at keens@schuylerville.org or 860-309-7490 to arrange a delivery.

Overseeing your child for a month (minimum) while they do work sent home by the teacher is not the same thing as families who choose to home-school full-time. Full-time Home-schooling parents have the opportunity to spend many months planning their curriculum and preparing for the year. What you are being asked to do is much different, and comes with it’s own unique set of challenges.

While every family has different goals, motivation, structure, and expected outcomes, we spoke to a local homeschool group and asked them from tips and guidelines to help you navigate your way through these uncharted waters.

Saratoga TODAY will provide you with additional tips and/or ideas in the upcoming weeks. Good luck in this adventure. Just remember, take a deep breath, stay calm and make it fun.

GENERAL ADVICE:

Academics, while important, should be secondary. Take this time to really get to know each other and genuinely enjoy each other.  Limit the time spent on phones, computers…view this as bonus time to bond as a family. 

Don’t put unwarranted stress upon yourself to live up to teaching standards that you think you need to live up to.  Don’t stress and get upset if your children are having a difficult time learning material. Changes in routine can affect the learning process. Impatience can lead to frustration for everyone and could lead to hurt relationships. 

The internet has so many programs that it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Sticking to books can be more liberating and easier to control, especially with kids who may end up just playing games on the computer!

Write down a schedule or routine and share it with the family. Keep it general and make sure getting outside every day is part of the agenda!

SCHOOLING:

Have a family meeting each day to go over plan for the day.  Kids know their school schedule, but this is a new routine.Everyone will work better if they know the schedule and expectations. 

Make sure each child has a designated place to work within your view, and give each child their own checklist of schoolwork they should get done each day.Be available to help your kids, but let them do what they can on their own. 

Get required schoolwork done early in the day, then use the rest of the day to bake together, plan a garden, declutter/spring clean, makeover a room in the house… Enjoy each other’s company!

Admit that you are learning together. Take the lead, but be flexible and responsive to whatever the family needs most.

Set small daily goals.

Make it interesting and take school outside -practice math facts while throwing a baseball, writing math facts or spelling words on hopscotch squares…go for a run and discuss the book they’re reading. 

Read outside while lounging in the sun- the Vitamin D is good for you!

Look around your house with “home-school eyes.”Which books, games, and toys are educational?  Do they cover a certain subject? You may have more resources than you realize right under your nose. Gather them up and use them- Learning should be fun! 

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GATHER AROUND THE TV

Netflix and Amazon Prime have some wonderful educational and historical programming. Spend this time watching things you otherwise would not watch. Following are some great programs to get started with:

The Men Who Built America
Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan and Henry Ford are names synonymous with innovation and big business in America. They all built empires and created advances in technology. They helped shape the country in its early days by doing things such as developing the models for modern railroads, creating the modern financial system and making cars accessible to the masses.

Washington
Washington tells the story of how a fatherless young soldier full of personal ambition becomes a leader of men willing to sacrifice all for the common cause. How a once-loyal British subject rises to battle an empire in a liberty-or-death campaign to forge a new nation. And then how, at the zenith of his power, the victorious general voluntarily steps down, becoming what King George III would call “the greatest man in the world.”

Inventions That Shook the World
Go on a decade-by-decade voyage of discovery through life-changing inventions, like the radio that made the world smaller, the machine gun that made it more dangerous, or the parking meter that made it more expensive. Witness the discovery and creation of billion-dollar inventions and financial disasters – all players in the most innovative century the world has ever known.

NEAT IDEAS:

Have your kids keep daily journals to practice their writing skills.  Kids can write about what is going on, how they feel, observations they make about society during this time, and what they do as an individual and as a family during this time.

These will become primary documents for the future and could even be used in a book later. 

Let the kids sleep later than normal- you’ll be surprised at the growth spurts you’ll see when they aren’t getting up at the crack of dawn for an early bus! But don’t get in the habit of letting them stay up later than normal, that often leads to crankiness in everyone the next day.

MOST IMPORTANTLY:

Relax! If some days go down the tubes, let it go and start over tomorrow.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — On Leap Day, two teams from Geyser Road Elementary School competed in the regional Odyssey of the Mind Tournament. The team coached by Peter Murray took 2nd place in the Networking Problem and the team coached by Michelle McMurtrie took 1st place in the Effective Detective Problem. Both teams are going to Binghamton on April 4 for States.

SARATOGA SPRINGS/SCHUYLERVILLE — On Saturday March 7, Girl Scouts from 12 troops in the Saratoga-Schuylerville Service Unit held their annual EXPO and this theme this year was Women First. 

The Service Unit was rewarded a grant from the National Girls Collaborative Project to provide Limited Edition Matchbox cars created with Mercedes-Benz to commemorate Ewy Rosqvist’s 1962 Argentinian Road Rally record breaking victory.

Scouts at the Expo participated in activities to learn about women who were considered the first in their endeavor and broke down gender or social barriers.  Women who were featured included: Danica Patrick, Junko Tabei, Harriet Tubman, Katherine Johnson, Sally Ride, Katie Sowers, Ellen DeGeneres, Greta Thunberg, Ewy Rosqvist, Marie Curie, Shirley Muldowney. 

The National Science Bowl® is a nationwide academic competition that tests students’ knowledge in all areas of science and mathematics. Middle and high school student teams from diverse backgrounds are comprised of four students, one alternate, and a teacher who serves as an advisor and coach. These teams face-off in a fast-paced questionand-answer format, being tested on a range of science disciplines including biology, chemistry, Earth and space science, physics, energy, and math. The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science manages the National Science Bowl® and sponsors the NSB finals competition. DOE’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit www. energy.gov/science.
Inspiring and Challenging the Nation’s Future Leaders in Science and Technology
SARATOGA COUNTY — Middle school and high school students begin competing this month in the 2020 National Science Bowl,® sponsored by the Department of Energy and managed by DOE’s Office of Science, leading up to the National Championship in April 2020. Buzzers, not bells, will ring in the New Year for thousands of middle- and high-school students all across the U.S. That’s because they’ll soon be pitting their math and science knowledge — and their reflexes — against one another in regional competitions of the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) 30th National Science Bowl® (NSB). Students from Saratoga Springs High School and Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School will be participating, among several other schools in the Albany area. The competitions start this month, with four students from each team facing off in a fast-paced, question-and-answer format. (More information about the date and location of specific regionals can be found through the NSB Homepage). The winning team from each of the 50 middle- and 65 high-school regions will compete in the National Finals, held in Washington, D.C. from April 30 to May 4, 2020. At the Finals, winning teams can score exciting adventure trips to Alaska and national parks across the country to learn firsthand about science in the field, as well as trophies, medals, and supplies for their schools’ science departments. But to many, the ultimate prize simply wou ld be the prestige of winning the National Championship. Each year, the NSB draws more than 14,700 middle- and high-school competitors. More than 305,000 students have faced off in the NSB Finals since the first competition in 1991. The knowledge that former NSB competitors have acquired – and more importantly, the habits of study that they’ve learned along the way – have led them to success in a variety of fields. Many have become researchers; others are science and math professors at some of our nation’s most prestigious universities. While those career paths might seem intuitive, the math and science knowledge students need to be successful in the NSB also can lead to successful careers in other fields. The 2020 NSB competitors will follow in the footsteps of previous National Science Bowl® contestants, and will blaze a trail for students in science, math and engineering for the next quarter-century.

Saratoga Sponsor-A-Scholar Appoints Cindy Hollowood as Co-Executive Director
SARATOGA COUNTY — Cindy Hollowood was recently named Co-Executive Director of Saratoga Sponsor-A-Scholar (SSAS), current Executive Director Jim LaVigne announced. Hollowood will serve alongside LaVigne for one year before becoming the new Executive Director. LaVigne will continue with the organization as a board member concentrating on program development and fundraising. “This is a bittersweet decision for me, but I believe it’s time. The past 13 years have been wonderful, and I have loved every aspect of this job, but I needed to put a succession plan in place. For the past three years, the board has discussed finding a suitable replacement, and we’ve spent countless hours reviewing the key requirements of the position and potential candidates,”
LaVigne explained. Hollowood said the she has been impressed with the work of SASS since they first began. “Anything we can do as a community to help deserving students overcome the barriers that prevent them from getting a college education, we should do. The program has done a remarkable job. There are participants of the SASS program succeeding in high school, college and in life because of the effort and commitment of the program’s board, mentors and volunteers. These young people will change the world, and they have the program to thank for that. I am humbled and very happy that Jim and the SASS board think I can continue to grow what they have so successfully nurtured for these 13 years,” she said.
Hollowood just finished a 38-year career as Managing Partner of the Saratoga Holiday Inn. While at the Holiday Inn, Hollowood served in a variety of leadership roles in the community and the hospitality industry. Her community involvement includes serving on the Saratoga Springs Zoning Board, the Special Assessment District, the boards of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, Saratoga Economic Development Corporation, Hudson Valley Community College Foundation and the Saratoga Race Course Community Advisory Committee. She was a founding member and three-time chair of the board of the Saratoga Convention Bureau and Chaired the New York State Hospitality and Tourism Association, the Saratoga America Red Cross and the Saratoga Next Step Downtown Redevelopment Committee. Saratoga Sponsor-A-Scholar’s ninth class graduated from Saratoga Springs High School in 2019. All 84 graduates have been accepted into college. For more information go to the Saratoga Sponsor A Scholar website: www. saratogasponsorascholar.org