Congratulations to retiring music teacher David Laks, who was inducted into New York State's Blues Hall of Fame on June 1st! Check out his slamin' jamin' retirment party photos on the "News/Photos" drop down menu above.
Retirement Spotlight:
The Spinning Wheel: 1985-present: Music Teacher (all schools); I’ve taught in the Onteora District for 29 years (30 years of teaching, total)
Are you in need of a new wig? Has your horse thrown a shoe? Perhaps your goodwife would like to order a new gown for the ball. Allow any one of the fine 18th century tradesmen and women of the Bennett fourth grade to fill your order! Each one eagerly set up shop, or shall we say “shoppe” on May 15th under the sign of the white tent! It was an exciting day when well over one hundred students greeted an amazing crowd of enthusiastic visitors.
The Bennett instrumental music department celebrated “Music in our Schools Month” this past March by raising more than $1565 for local food pantries. Twenty one students from the 4th-6th grade band and orchestra kept logs of their practice time for the month of March. They obtained sponsors for each minute that they practiced and collected the donations at the end of the month. The money collected was divided between three local food pantries that serve our school community: Family of Woodstock; the Phoenicia Food Pantry; and the food pantry located at the Olive Bridge Unit
During the month of March, the Bennett staff donated much-needed items for the Ulster County SPCA. The Ulster County SPCA is an independent, no-kill shelter which is a private nonprofit organization whose mission is to prevent cruelty to animals by providing temporary shelter and finding adoptive homes for homeless abused and neglected animals. Since this organization doesn’t receive funding from Ulster County government, the donations were greatly appreciated. For more information please access their website at http://www.ucspca.org, email
The Boys Book Club of Guys Read at Bennett is a project that was established and run during the first three sessions or our afterschool activities. I began this project with many different goals in mind. The first and foremost was to re-instill the love of books for many of the boys I have contact with on a regular basis as an AIS Reading Teacher.
On a breezy, sunny day in May, Woodstock Elementary students rotated through presenter booths set up all over the school grounds to learn about and celebrate environmental conservation.
Second grade classes learned about being good citizens.
Both First Grade classes presented a play based on a popular children’s book.