Woodhull Elementary School’s older students have recently been volunteering their time to read to their younger peers via Zoom during their lunch periods. This idea independently arose from both the Student Council and the Shared Decision Making Committee.

As the program is run remotely, student readers begin the sessions by removing their mask, introduce themselves to the younger students and then read a short story aloud. This program is helping to continue to foster the connections between the school’s grade levels, which is something the district has historically embraced and is reinventing this year due to the pandemic safety precautions in place.

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, the Woodhull PTA helped to give thanks to the school’s dedicated staff with several celebrations this May. These included hosting a bagel breakfast for everyone to enjoy, sending in sweet treats and giving each teacher a commemorative tote bag, with a design showing the names of all of the Fire Island neighborhoods and villages.

For the sixth consecutive year, Woodhull Elementary School has been named one of the Best Communities for Music Education by the National Association of Music Merchants Foundation for its support in music education.

To qualify for the Best Communities designation, Fire Island School District answered detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, support for the music program and community music-making programs. Woodhull has also been named a SupportMusic Merit Award winner by the foundation six times.

Woodhull offers all students two music periods per week. All students in grades 3 and up participate in instrumental music ensembles. Students in grades kindergarten through second grade receive general music twice a week. Students in grades 3 and up also receive one period of general music each week. For the 2020-2021 school year, students participated in vocal activities during remote instruction. The instrumental ensembles continued to rehearse weekly following all COVID-19 guidelines and safety regulations. Despite the challenges brought on by pandemic conditions, Woodhull was able to successfully and safely offer its music program to all students this school year.

Woodhull Elementary School first grade students helped to spread the word about the importance of recycling as they created projects for this year’s Earth Day Challenge organized by Sen. Phil Boyle’s office.

The students used recycled materials to create their original works of art, which included a necklace made from water bottle tops and plastic eggs, a book using a paper bag and handwriting paper, a throwing game using two water jugs and a bird feeder made from a laundry detergent bottle.