Todd Elementary students are in luck. Not only does their school have its very own STEAM teacher this year, but she comes to Briarcliff Manor with background in International Baccalaureate (IB), an inquiry-based learning program.

Google Earth, the program that provides 3D views of the earth using satellite images, was released exactly 20 years ago and is used by governments and private organizations to track and tag geographic data. This week, third graders in Christine Elliott and Lisa Cerrato’s class at Todd Elementary used the program to explore places on earth they had never heard of, much less been to.

In Leslie Newman’s kindergarten class at Todd, the emphasis is on having fun while learning, with a focus on social interaction. During Skills time, Ms. Newman uses creative ways to get students to interact with each other, and which also enable her to keep tabs on students who may need extra help.

With the first day of fall this week, students in Bonnie Seligson’s kindergarten class turned their thoughts to their favorite fall activities.

The students worked on an art project and used cardboard paper to create trees. They glued small pieces of red and orange paper on the trees to create fall-colored leaves. On the bottom of the papers they wrote what they love to do most in the fall.

Donuts, roller coasters and snakes, oh my! Students in Debbie Fried’s second grade class used images of their favorite things to create Name Art in Paul Villanueva’s art class.

Deborah Adelberg has been teaching elementary students – mostly first graders – for 32 years. This year, however, she is teaching kindergarten for the very first time and she is just as excited as the students themselves.