Commack School District

Excellence in Education

Lunch 'N Learn

This enrichment branch provides opportunities for applying interests, knowledge, creative ideas, and task commitment to a self-selected problem or area of study.

Students can choose to bring their lunches to the enrichment room to eat and learn!

Invention Convention Enrichment Cluster

Are you an inventive thinker? Would you like to be? Are you between the ages of 5&11 and love to engineer?

Well, this enrichment cluster is for you! We will be creating prototypes for Kids Invent Stuff. This program has a new engineering challenge every month for kids to creatively solve. We will be submitting your plans and pictures of your prototype in hopes that your invention gets built by a real live engineer. Kid Invent Stuff will choose the most creative ideas and have them built by an engineer. They will showcase the invention on the Kids Invent Stuff youtube channel. Each week a new invention will be posted. Get your engineering intuition fired up and let's start brainstorming!

Kids Invent Stuff

Jazzy Journalism

Do you like writing? Do you have a way with words? Are you creative?

Be a part of publishing this year’s edition of The Sawmill Times! If you like writing, this is the cluster for you! You will learn how to conduct interviews, write in a variety of journalistic forms, discuss editorial positions, and help produce and edit the school newspaper!

Young Engineers

Straw Shapes

Styrofoam Gliders

Pop-up Cards

Rube Goldberg

LEARNING ABOUT RUBE GOLDBERG

Rube Goldberg is best known for his drawings of complicated machines designed to complete simple tasks. Many know he was a cartoonist, but did you know that he was also an inventor and an engineer? He won a Pulitzer Prize for his political cartoons as well.

Follow the links to read some awesome articles and watch the videos to learn more about Rube Goldberg.

Rube Tube - Check out these videos for some Rube Goldberg Invention Inspiration!

RUBE GOLDBERG MACHINES

A Rube Goldberg Machine is best described as a machine that does something in a very complex way to complete a very simple task.

RUBE GOLDBERG GAMES

Goldberg To Go Game

Dynamic Systems

Get the metal ball to the bucket by building a path with available materials.

Dynamic Systems 2

Tinker Ball

Try different ways to get your ball to reach it's goal.

Dish it Out

Mechanical Madness

Human Rights

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” ¯ Margaret Mead

Speak Truth to Power: Everyone Has Rights PSA Contest

Use your research skills and your creativity and enter the Speak Truth to Power PSA Contest.

CHOOSE ONE OF THE RIGHTS IDENTIFIED IN THE UDHR AND CREATE A 60-90 SECOND PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT THAT INCLUDES:

What is the selected human right and why is it important?
How is this human right being denied for some?
What might it be like to be denied this right?
What can be done to help others achieve their rights?
Why is it important that everyone achieve their rights?

Become a Defender

http://rock-your-world.org/

Use the following links to guide your research:

Mandracchia-Sawmill Intermediate School Library

KidsInfoBits

Google Safe Search for Kids

http://www.youthforhumanrights.org/

http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml#a5

http://www.kidsgoglobal.net/the-issues/human-rights/

The students who joined Sawmill's lunch and learn Human Rights Defenders group worked tirelessly on studying the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and researching how some are denied these basic human rights. Check out the public service announcements they created! We are so proud of them! These are the future leaders of our world!

The following video was created by Courtney in Mr. Zeilinski's class. It demonstrates that Article 18 of the UDHR is not guaranteed in all countries. Her video was a contest winner!!

Another Contest winning PSA created by the students in Mrs. Schoenemann's class: