A HANDS-ON APPROACH TO LEARNING Creating an interactive learning experience for the children of the city, the New York Historical Society has developed a program that uses visual arts to educate students about New York and American history. “The Art of History” is a five-session program offered to different schools throughout the city. Combining art 
Outstanding Grade School By John Friia The motto of PS 199—Jessie Isador Straus Elementary School, located at 270 W. 70th St.—is “Work hard. Be kind,” and Principal Katy Rosen explains the school strives to fulfill those words. Named after the former ambassador to France and president of R.H. Macy & Co., Jessie Isador Straus Elementary 
Outstanding Nursery School Almost 50 years ago, a group of parents in the Lincoln Center area of Manhattan decided they wanted greater involvement in their children’s first school experience and founded the West Side YMCA Co-op Nursery School. The school started as a single classroom with 30 children, one teacher and a daily parent assistant. 
SANDY CAUSES ELECTION DAY WOES New Yorkers helped re-elect President Barack Obama, but not without some technical difficulties. The damages wrought on the city by Hurricane Sandy prompted New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to issue an order allowing evacuated residents to vote at any poll site in the state by using affidavit ballots. Many sites 
By Gale Brewer Midland Beach, New Dorp, Tottenville—these are neighborhoods few West Siders had ever visited, or perhaps even heard of, until last week. Few of us will ever forget them now—and not only for the suffering and devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy. We will remember because we made their names, along with Far Rockaway 
Grisly murder of two children has parents re-examining who is caring for their most cherished possessions As police continue to try and discover the motive behind nanny Yoselyn Ortega’s recent stabbing of two Upper West Side children, the victimized family’s neighborhood faces the challenge of coming to terms with a tragedy that is the realization 
TEETERING CRANE SECURED After six days of precarious dangling 74 stories above the ground, the damaged construction crane alongside 157 W. 57th St. was secured on Sunday. The crane’s 150-foot boom snapped in the middle of Hurricane Sandy’s strong winds, which left it suspended by only a few metal beams at its base as it 
PART HIT MAN, PART SPAMBOT A 50-year-old West End Avenue resident reported to police last Thursday that he received repeated e-mails from an unknown man threatening to kill him. In the messages, the perp explained that someone had offered him $2,000 (half given in advance) to execute the Upper West Sider, and that the resident could only 
