PINE PLAINS — “I love this school, and I am so grateful to everybody who works so hard to help my son learn English,” Cold Spring School mom Erkhes Galidev said of her first-grade son, Bamboo, and his progress. A native of Ulan Baator, Mongolia, Galidev, whose husband is a pianist at Bard College, spoke sincerely of all the kindness and attention shown to her son.
The directors and teachers, she said, keep in touch with her by email, so that she is always in the loop with school matters. Bamboo’s (a simplification of his Mongolian name) day-to-day learning astonishes his mother beyond words: “Every day,” she said, “it is…,” she gestures as if to describe a head expanding upward.
Galidev and son were one pair of about 50 parents and children who enjoyed an informal evening of crafts and games for kids and families,while learning about offerings in the school district and the community. The ENL family evening was held on Monday, April 24, in the cafeteria at Stissing Mountain Junior/Senior High School. English as a New Language, or English for New Learners, is the updated version of ESL, or English as a Second Language.
Joanne Koch, secondary ESL and reading teacher, outlined the history of the district’s program for non-native speakers of English. “When I started here in the ‘90s, there were just a few students, mostly Russian and Polish adoptees.” Now, she said, most are Spanish-speakers, largely the children of farm workers, as well as a family of polo players from Argentina who come for polo season, attend school and then leave.
It takes five to seven years to get basic skills, Koch pointed out, and achieving literacy can be challenging, especially if a student’s core family do not have literacy in their own language. So students are given a diagnostic screening test even before they enter school, then are placed in not just ENL but also the broader reading program.
State guidelines
As to how long and how often students are pulled out of regular classes for English instruction, their progress is assessed yearly using the NYSESLAT tests. Classroom differentiation of instruction has been an education byword for decades now, the assumption being that teaching needs to be tailored to students’ varying capacities and learning styles. This works well for English Language Learners (ELL). Over the years, teachers have come to encourage students to talk about their cultures, and fortunately the approach to learning language is more dynamic and less academically rigid than it used to be.
Seymour Smith School teacher Alana Garnica and co-teacher Renee Rundall proudly presented their third-grade students’ graphic novel projects. Kids chose an endangered animal, filled out graphic organizers with research about them, and illustrated their stories based on the Maxwell Eaton III “The Truth About …” series. The school had been about to collaborate with the artist when COVID-19 hit, and they and hope to reestablish the relationship.
A pioneering year for the NYSSB
Gian Starr, director of curriculum and instruction, was present to introduce the New York State Seal of Biliteracy (NYSSB), which has been around for six years but was adopted in Pine Plains just this year. For now, the focus is on Spanish as the second language, and the Pine Plains students who are graduating with Seal of Biliteracy diplomas are mainstream, non-ENL students who have taken enough courses at a high level to accrue the needed credit points—three in English and three in Spanish—earning 85% or better in their courses. They must also achieve a set score on national tests, and complete and present a culminating project in English and/or a world language.
In the future, Starr noted, they hope to have ELL students stay in the language program long enough to achieve true bilingual fluency in not only speaking but reading and writing in both languages—or biliteracy. “That’s the goal,” he stated.
Eighth-grader Zayuri De Gabriel Jose, one of relatively few students over elementary age at the event, is an ideal candidate for the NYSSB. She has come up within the Pine Plains system and, despite some challenges, consolidated her English skills by about the fourth grade. She dreams of a career in immigration law.
There was a representative from the Pine Plains Library, and the Willow Roots Food Pantry owners greeted attendees and offered packages of mushrooms to all takers. Lisa and Nelson Zayas run the pantry, a nonprofit that feeds 50-70 families twice a month.
In line with their composting concerns, Nelson Zayas noted that “we’ve had zero breakfast garbage at Seymour Smith for the second year now.” They have compost bins there and are looking to install a similar system at the high school.
After a dinner of baked ziti and meatballs as well as a vegan option, youngsters wove through an obstacle course set up in the cafeteria until their attention was drawn to a decorate-the-cookies activity. Starr and Bon Burg urged everyone not to miss the new season of Unified basketball, which started last week, in which mixed life skills/special education and mainstream students from Stissing Mountain will compete with Unified teams from other schools.
Erkhes Galidev, left, with son Bamboo creating artwork at the Stissing Mountain ENL Family Evening on April 24. Photo by Deborah Maier
“Once Upon a Time in America” features ten portraits by artist Katro Storm.
Part of what became a capstone project for Wolgemuth, she left behind a comprehensive guide to help future student interns manage the gallery effectively. “Everything from who we should contact, the steps to take for everything, our donors,” Wilbur said. “It’s really extensive and it’s been a huge help.”
Art teacher Lilly Rand Barnett first met Storm a few years ago through his ICEHOUSE Project Space exhibition in Sharon, “Will It Grow in Sharon?” in which he planted cotton and tobacco as part of an exploration of ancestral heritage.
“And the plants did grow,” said Barnett. She asked Storm if her students could use them, and the resulting work became a project for that year’s Troutbeck Symposium, the annual student-led event in Amenia that uncovers little-known or under-told histories of marginalized communities, particularly BIPOC histories.
Last spring, Rand emailed to ask if Storm would consider a solo show at HVRHS. He agreed.
And just a few weeks ago, he arrived — paints, brushes and canvases in tow.
“When Katro came to start hanging everything, he took up a mini art residency in Ms. Rand’s room,” Wilbur said. “All her students were able to see his process and talk to him. It was great working with him.”
Perhaps more unexpected was his openness. “He really trusted us as curators and visionaries,” Wilbur said. “He said, ‘Do with it what you will.’”
Artist Katro StormNatalia Zukerman
Storm’s artistic training began at New Haven’s Educational Center for the Arts. His talent earned him a full scholarship to the Arts Institute of Boston, then Boston’s Museum School, where he painted seven oversized portraits of influential Black figures — in seven days — for his final project. Those works became the backbone of his early exhibitions, including at Howard University’s National Council for the Arts.
Storm has created several community murals like the 2009 READ Mural featuring local heroes, and several literacy and wellness murals at the Stetson Branch Library in New Haven. Today, he teaches and works, he said, “wherever I set up shop. Sometimes I go outside. Sometimes I’m on top of roofs. Wherever it is, I get the job done.”
His deep ties to education made a high school gallery an especially meaningful stop. “No one really knew who these people were except maybe John Lennon,” Storm said of the portraits in the show. “It’s really important for them to know James Baldwin and Shirley Chisholm. And now they do.”
The exhibition includes a wide list of subjects: James Baldwin, Shirley Chisholm, Redd Foxx, Jasper Johns, Marilyn Manson, William F. Buckley, Harold Hunter, John Lennon, as well as two deeply personal works — a portrait of Tracy Sherrod (“She’s a friend of mine… She had an interesting hairdo”) and a tribute to his late friend Nes Rivera. “Most of the time I choose my subjects because there are things I want to see,” Storm said.
Storm’s paintings, which he describes as “full frontal figuratism,” rely on drips, tonal shifts, and what feels like emerging depth. His process moves quickly. “It depends on how fast it needs to get done,” he said. “Sometimes I like to take the long way up the mountain. Instead of doing an outline, I just start coloring, blocking things off with light and dark until it starts to take shape.”
He’s currently in a black-and-white phase. “Right now, I’m inspired by black and white, the way I can really get contrast and depth.”
Work happens on multiple canvases at once. “Sometimes I’ll have five paintings going on at one time because I go through different moods, and then there’s the way the light hits,” he said. “It’s kind of like cooking. You’ve got a couple things going at once, a couple things cooking, and you just try to reach that deadline.”
For Wilbur, who has studied studio arts “ever since I was really young” and recently applied early decision to Vassar, the experience has been transformative. For Storm — an artist who built an early career painting seven portraits in seven days and has turned New York’s subway corridors into a makeshift museum — it has been another chance to merge artmaking with education, and to pass a torch to a new generation of curators.
Le Petit Ranch offers animal-assisted therapy and learning programs for children and seniors in Sheffield.
Le Petit Ranch operates out of two small structures next to the family’s home: a one-room schoolhouse for animal-assisted learning sessions and a compact stable for the three miniature horses, Mini Mac, Rocket and Miso. Other partner animals include two rescued Spanish greyhounds, Yayi and Ronya; four guinea pigs and a flock of chickens.
Borreda offers programs at the Scoville Library in Salisbury, at Salisbury Central School and surrounding towns to support those who benefit from non-traditional learning environments.
“Animal-assisted education partners with animals to support learning in math, reading, writing, language and physical education,” she said. One activity, equimotricité, has children lead miniature horses through obstacle courses to build autonomy, confidence and motor skills.
Child working with a miniature horse at Le Petit RanchMarjorie Borreda
She also brings her greyhounds into schools for a “min vet clinic,” a workshop that turns lessons on dog biology and measuring skills into hands-on, movement-based learning. A separate dog-bite prevention workshop teaches children how to read canine body language and respond calmly.
Parents and teachers report strong results. More than 90% of parents observed greater empathy, reduced anxiety, increased self-confidence and improved communication and cooperation in their children, and every parent said animal-assisted education made school more enjoyable — with many calling it “the highlight of their week.”
Weekly small-group sessions with seniors at Le Petit Ranch stimulates cognitive function and improves motor skills.Marjorie Borreda
Le Petit Ranch also serves seniors, including nursing home residents experiencing depression, social withdrawal or reduced physical activity. Weekly small-group sessions with animals can stimulate cognitive function and improve motor skills, balance and mobility.
Families can visit Le Petit Ranch for animal- assisted afterschool sessions, Frech immersion or family walks. She also offers programs for schools, libraries, community centers, churches, senior centers and nursing homes.
For more information, email info@lepetitranch.com, visit lepetitranch.com, follow @le.petit.ranch on Instagram or call 413-200-8081.
