Blog Entries

Dear Scarsdale Middle School Students/Graduates and Families,

     The purpose of this post is to let you know what SPL is doing to support you in completing your SMS + Rising 9th-grader summer reading assignments this year. 

The Fourth of July, aka Independence Day, is surely the most iconic of American holidays.  The official birthday of the United States has long been celebrated with fireworks and family gatherings but the day did not officially become a paid holiday for federal employees until 1941. A bit of background: on July 2nd, 1776, the Continental Congress voted in favor of independence from Great Britain and two days later delegates from the 13 colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, which was drafted by Thomas Jefferson and edited by Benjamin Franklin and John Adams.

There’s no better vacation - or staycation - companion than a good book, a real page turner that you absolutely cannot put down. The books pictured below encompass a wide variety of styles and themes; the one thing they have in common is their ability to transport.  Click on a book jacket to be taken to a catalog link.  

“One benefit of Summer was that each day we had more light to read by.” Jeannette Walls

June is National Audiobook Appreciation Month, a celebration created by the Audio Publishers Association (APA) to acknowledge the significant role of audiobooks not only in the lives of busy people needing to multitask but also as an indispensable tool for the vision impaired and to advance literacy.

While many of us think of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day as twin holidays, the two celebrations had very different historical trajectories. Mother’s Day became a national holiday only seven years after it was first celebrated on May 10, 1907, in Grafton, West Virginia.

Juneteenth - a term combining June and nineteenth - is our newest  national holiday and the first new federal holiday since the establishment of Martin Luther King, Jr., Day almost forty years ago.

Hello Scarsdale Teens!

Here's the 11th installment of our bite-sized writing exercise: Post-it Prompts!

Our latest question for you is: What do you expect to be the highlight of your summer?

Here's what you said:

• air conditioning
• The Hamptons
• Trisha and Carolyn's pool!
• not being sleep deprived and stressed <3
• going to Greece and spending time with friends before college
• college applications!!

Our next Post-it Prompt is TBD.

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month was established by the Federal Government thirty years ago to celebrate the many contributions of Asians and Pacific Islanders to the history and culture of the United States.