NOVEMBER 10, 2022
Monday, November 7th was Dr. Marie Curie’s birthday and the school was ready to throw a party for her! Fun fact…Dr. Curie would have been 155 years old this year, 2022!
Marie Curie Eastside Elementary School was built in 1975. The original mascot was the Polish Falcon in honor of the school’s namesake, Marie Curie. In 2007, our school became the district’s second magnet school – Marie Curie Institute of Engineering & Communications.
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We look forward to honoring Dr. Curie every year on her birthday or during Women’s History Month. We were SO excited to be able to celebrate for the first time as a school family since COVID. A fun day of activities were planned.
To start the day, members of the Amsterdam High School Drama Club under the supervision and guidance of Mr. Christopher Stefani came to visit our 4th and 5th grade students to talk about their roles in the upcoming play, Radium Girls. We were so very honored to have our high school students come connect with our elementary students. Discussion took place about the role of acting in their lives both academic and personal, external roles that are important such as lighting and costume design, and studying the information and importance surrounding radium and the workplace during that time period.
Storyteller Claire Nolan performed as Marie Curie and entertained all of our students with stories about Curie’s life. Through the “Great Minds Series of the Schenectady Theater for Children,” Nolan also tells the stories of other notable women whose lives have made an impact on the way we live today.
Caller #7 Marie Curie Trivia happened 7 times throughout the day. The students were extremely excited about this event and took their trivia and phone challenge seriously. The winners throughout the day were Mrs. Caruso’s 2nd Grade, Mrs. Meyers’ 5th Grade, Mrs. Cetnar’s 5th Grade, Ms. Rust’s 1st Grade, Mr. Kruger’s 4th Grade, Mrs. Gauthier’s 3rd Grade, and Mrs. Farrington’s 5th Grade.
“Where’s Marie Curie? Scavenger Hunt was also held throughout the day. There were 7 Marie Curie photos/portraits placed around the building. Teachers were given a building map and could take their class on a hunt throughout the halls putting an “x” on the map where they found Marie Curie. There were 7 winners of this event and they were: Mrs. Paquette’s Pre-K, Mr. Kruger’s 4th Grade, Ms. Rust’s 1st Grade, Mrs. Miller’s 1st Grade, Ms. Gustas’ 2nd Grade, Mrs. Kruger’s 1st Grade, and Mrs. Fenton’s Kindergarten.
Students were encouraged to come to school dressed as a scientist or a teacher. Marie Curie was both. We had two fifth grade students who were best dressed in the scientist category, congratulations to Miah G. and Jose S. Some of our first grade students were looking quite professional as teachers and scientists as well.
The birthday ended not with cake but with PIEROGIES, a traditional Polish cuisine. Mrs. Tiemann, Mr. DeRose, Ms. Marek, and Ms. DiMauro cooked and served over 500 pierogies to the students and staff at Marie Curie.
Thank you to the GASD Educational Foundation for approving our request for financial assistance to cover the cost of our historical storyteller.