Through the districtwide second grade enrichment program with Jamie Kanner, Chatterton second graders had the opportunity to learn all about stop motion animation. Over the past few weeks, Chatterton students discovered the hard work and determination it takes to animate a movie.

“First, students learned about the features of stop motion animation and brought popular stories such as ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and ‘The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly’ to life,” she explained. “Students even learned how to enhance their videos by adding audio and utilizing green screen technology.”

Students applied what they learned to complement their reading unit by animating different poems. In partnerships, students used their imaginations to determine what the character in the poem would be doing, decided on a green screen background, and even recorded their audio.

Date Added: 3/16/2023

Since there was not a snow day earlier this week, the first grade Makerspace Club at Chatterton decided to make their own with teacher Rachel Obergh. Students created snow using household items (baking soda, water and shaving cream) to make their own snow day.

Date Added: 3/16/2023

Third and fourth graders at Chatterton School became animal experts on March 8 after attending assemblies presented by a regional environmental educator from the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation.

For third graders, Ron Gelardi reviewed the different strategies animals and insects use to protect themselves. The interactive assembly ties into portions of the science curriculum. He reviewed how shells, armor and exoskeletons protect skin and bones, as well as other anatomical features of certain animals.

“Some animals, like armadillos and hedgehogs, can even roll up into a ball and their entire body is protected by the armor or quills,” Gelardi said.

Lukas, a student in Ms. Colfer and Ms. Zaita’s third grade class, said he found the camouflaging animals the most interesting.Valentina, another student, added that she did not know that some animals can mimic others to avoid being captured or eaten.

The fourth graders learned all about Long Island bats.

Date Added: 3/9/2023

Kindergarten classes at Chatterton were amazed by the science learning and entertainment brought to the school by Mad Science (Long Island) on March 7.

Click here to view the slideshow.

Date Added: 3/8/2023

The Chatterton School community was so happy to get together for their monthly assembly.

They read the book, "What the Road Said" by Cleo Wade and students of the month received awards.

A special guest, Roland, even made an appearance.

Date Added: 3/3/2023

Chatterton's fourth grade recently completed a Longhouse model project.

Students used items from home to remake an Iroquois longhouse, or wigwam, based on what they learned.

After completing the models, Jodi Scavelli's third grade joined Anna Rose Savino's fourth grade class for a tour of the longhouses.

“My students taught the third graders about the Iroquois way of life, and the role the longhouse played,” Savino added.

Date Added: 3/1/2023

Students in Dr. Cinnamon Green/Jamie Feltman, Patricia Kelleher and Gina Stephens first grade classes celebrated their restaurant reviews on Feb. 10 at Chatterton.

Guests left hungry after hearing about all the delicious restaurants that students reviewed.

Click here to view the slideshow.

Date Added: 2/16/2023

To kick off 100th anniversary celebrations for the Merrick School District, teachers treated students to a presentation about “The Velveteen Rabbit,” a book written in 1922, the same year the district was founded.

Students and staff across the district were encouraged to dress like they were 100 years old or in 1920s era garb.

Birch teachers incorporated various math, literacy and history lessons about the last century.

At Chatterton, preK and kindergarten students paraded around the building to cheering peers. Fifth graders celebrated their 1,000th day of school with reading, writing and math activities.

At Lakeside, first graders strutted the catwalk for a fashion show. They adorned T-shirts with 100 items on them to signify the 100th day of school.

Click here to view the slideshow for Birch.

Click here to view the slideshow for Chatterton.

Click here to view the slideshow for Lakeside.

Date Added: 2/15/2023

Fifth graders at Chatterton School collaborated with their peers to code the school’s new Tello drones on Feb. 10.

“This lesson is designed for students to make real world connections to coding drones,” explained technology teacher Rachel Obergh.“Students utilized their previous coding experiences to successfully guide their drone through a challenge.”

Students took a real-life scenario approach and applied it to their coding.

“They designed a flight plan and successfully "coded" their drone to fly though New York City,” added Obergh.

Date Added: 2/14/2023

Traci Colfer and Annemarie Zaita's third grade class worked alongside their class captains to research and learn about the contributions of important African Americans to the history of our country.

“The students read books, watched videos and utilized the Epic reading platform to gather their information,” explained Colfer.“Together the class decorated letters to spell words that we felt symbolized the achievements and contributions of these Americans.”

Date Added: 2/13/2023

Students in physical education classes across all grades in Merrick’s Chatterton School are staying fit and having fun. Through the fitness unit, students have been challenging themselves with myriad activities.

From hula-hooping to rope climbing, a series of different stations were set up across the gym that were designed to allow students to exercise in creative ways. They were able to improve their muscular and cardiovascular strength all while being entertained.

The sixth grade Media Club was able to capture the action on camera.

Date Added: 2/7/2023

Chatterton students were challenged to read over 60,000 minutes as a school during the week of PARP. Students read about 79,000 minutes. To celebrate this goal, the student from every class that read the most were able to silly string the Principal Bermas and Assistant Principal DeLuca.

Date Added: 2/6/2023

To celebrate World Read Aloud Day, first graders in Trish Kelleher's class and third graders in Traci Colfer and Annemarie Zaita's classes at Chatterton worked together to tell stories in the round.

The students had fun working together and encouraging creative ideas to tell a story with each child adding one sentence of the story.

Date Added: 2/2/2023

Chatterton sixth graders recently visited the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center in Glen Cove. Docents from the Center spoke to the students about being tolerant, kind and respectful to all, and about how important it is to be an upstander even though it may be difficult. After touring the center, students broke into small groups and discussed among other things, that words matter.

Sixth graders have been learning about the Holocaust with Ellen Widawsky during library class.

Date Added: 1/30/2023