The North Bellmore School District is now accepting applications for its Universal Pre-Kindergarten lottery.

Children who will be 4 years old by Dec. 1, 2026, and will be eligible to enter kindergarten in September 2027, may participate in the lottery, which will be offered contingent upon state funding. While the district recently received expanded grant funds and anticipates having a spot for all applicants, a lottery will still be held to assign placements.

The deadline for completing your UPK application is Friday, Feb. 13 – no exceptions!

Click here to view the application.

Click here for Frequently Asked Questions.

Date Added: 1/5/2026

A trio of toy drives at Saw Mill Road Elementary School District will bring joy to hundreds of children this holiday season. The Students Against Destructive Decisions club and Danielle Brocco’s second grade class both collected toys for the John Theissen Children’s Foundation. Michelle Mittler’s third graders donated toys to Cohen Children’s Medical Center.

On Dec. 18, John Theissen visited the school to pick up the donations. Sixth graders from SADD and Ms. Brocco’s second graders gathered in the lobby to listen to Mr. Theissen as he explained the origins of his organization, based in Wantagh. He talked about a girl, Tasha, who was in the hospital with him and gave him a teddy bear, inspiring him to start his first toy drive in 1992. Since then, it has grown from delivering 800 toys to sick and underprivileged children that first year, to about 130,000 toys last year. Students emptied the donation box, put all the toys in bags and helped load up his car.

“I feel really good about how our school is helping other children and giving them a good holiday,” SADD club member Nathan Smith said. “I hope they know that people care about them.”

“It’s amazing how he started this because of another person’s nice gesture,” Angelina Chen said about Mr. Theissen. “It feels awesome to know that these gifts can help underprivileged children.”

The SADD club, under the direction of Keara McNamara, made several signs by hand to hang around the school to promote the toy drive, which ran from Dec. 1-17. They also made announcements every morning.

Ms. Mittler has been involving her students in a toy drive every year for about a decade. Her family makes an annual holiday donation to Cohen Children’s Medical Center for the care they gave her daughter. Students are encouraged to contribute a new, unwrapped toy, and Ms. Mittler personally delivered the donations on Dec. 15.

“I like to involve my class,” she said, “because it teaches them about generosity and compassion.”

Click here to view the Saw Mill’s Elves Make Big Impact With Toy Drives slideshow.

Children love coloring and they also love making people happy, so second graders found the perfect community service project at Martin Avenue Elementary School. 

Students in Mary Carrea’s and Antoinetta Fischetti’s classes partnered with Color A Smile, a New Jersey-based, nonprofit organization that spreads smiles with cheerful drawings. The student-colored pictures are distributed to hospitals, nursing homes, meals on wheels programs and troops overseas.  

In early December, second graders colored the drawings with crayons and markers. The pictures of butterflies, flowers, ladybugs and more included cheerful messages like “Have a Great Day,” “Enjoy Today” and “To My Friend.” Students from the two classes completed more than 50 drawings, which will be sent to the organization and distributed to others during the holiday season. While they mostly worked on the projects in school, several students also colored at home with their families.  

Ms. Carrea and Ms. Fischetti said that the students will continue their work with Color A Smile several more times, as the organization collects and distributes the drawings year round. They decided to kick it off in December, which is known as the season of giving.  

Click here to view the Second Grades Spread Smiles Through Coloring slideshow.

Date Added: 12/19/2025