Office of Borough President James P. Molinaro
Staten Island, New York
B.P. Molinaro announces 2nd annual “Staten Island History Day Fair”
4th grade contest now expanded to 5th grade at public, private, and parochial schools
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Borough President James P. Molinaro today announced that the second annual “Staten Island History Day Fair” will be held on May 7th, and has been expanded to fifth-graders at Island public, private, and parochial schools.
Sponsored by the Borough President’s Office and Borough Historian Thomas Matteo, with assistance from the New York Public Library, last year’s inaugural competition to teach fourth-graders about Staten Island history was a great success.
“One hundred sixty enthusiastic students from 24 of our schools contributed very impressive projects last year,” said Molinaro. “This year, I’m pleased to announce that the contest is now open to fifth-graders as well. With Staten Island preparing to celebrate its 350th anniversary next year, the second annual fair should be even more exciting and meaningful for our students.”
Last year’s fair was designed to support the Social Studies curriculum of fourth-graders, which focuses on local history. Now fifth-graders in all the Island’s schools will also learn to research and study our Borough’s rich past. Each school is encouraged to hold its own fair, and school-wide winners chosen by the principal by April 9th, will move on to the Borough-wide fair on May 7th.
Students are encouraged, either individually, in small groups, or as a class, to prepare a project describing a person, event, or significant place in Staten Island history. Projects can be done in various media, including written, video, photographic, audio or web-based, and will be judged on presentation, content, and the student’s ability to answer questions presented to them by the judges in reference to their project.
The winners will have their projects featured on the Borough Historian’s website, www.statenislandhistorian.com, and the New York Public Library’s website, http://nypl.voicethread.com. For more information, contact Borough Historian Thomas Matteo at sihistorian@aol.com or Andrew Wilson of the New York Public Library at ahwilson@nypl.org.
February 17, 2010