The Ross School’s seventh-grade class has spent the last few weeks becoming what just might be the South Fork’s youngest art gallery curators.

Their exhibition, “The Illusion of Definition,” opens tomorrow at the Upper School and features abstract works by three professional artists, Roisin Bateman, Don Christensen, and Anne Raymond.

The annual project connects students’ art and art history classes to real-life lessons in the workings of an actual gallery. Sixteen students visited the artists’ studios, interviewed them to write biographies, and composed descriptions to accompany each work. They arranged the art in the gallery, will act as tour guides at the opening reception, and will even cook food to be served at the reception.

“The students create their own tone, their own mood, their own title, their own arrangement,” said Jennifer Cross, dean of visual arts at Ross. “The walls change. The flow of the way they want people to enter the gallery changes. The gallery changes depending on the students.”

A seventh grader named Ava explained that the students first had fun playing with a random name generator before settling on “The Illusion of Definition.” One of her classmates, Chandler, explained that the chosen title means the abstract works in the show “can’t really be defined. Definition is an illusion in this case.”

Ava, who played the role of gallery director, said the project was “a lot of work, but everyone had each other’s backs.”

Both students said they will have a new appreciation for all the work that goes into running an art gallery, and said they hope the community will learn something new at the show.

“It won’t be just, ‘This art makes me happy,’ but ‘Wow, this show made me feel like a human,’ ” Chandler said.

The opening reception tomorrow runs from 4 to 6:30 p.m. at the Ross School Gallery at 18 Goodfriend Drive. The show itself will run through June 23.

Meet HippoDuck

At the Wharf Shop in Sag Harbor on Saturday, children can listen to an author read her own book starting at 10 a.m. Sandra Kiegiel Magura, the author of “HippoDuck: Trouble at the Airport,” will share a story that introduces youngsters to the procedures of airport travel these days. The Wharf Shop is at 69A Main Street.

Madoo After Hours

The gardens of the Madoo Conservancy in Sagaponack will be the setting for the Children’s Museum of the East End’s monthly Pizza and Pajama Night tomorrow at 6 p.m. Kids and their grown-ups can explore the gardens, join in a scavenger hunt, listen to a story, and munch on pizza. The cost is $10 per person, but members are admitted for free. Reservations are a must.

Laurel Valley Excursion

Crystal Possehl of the South Fork Natural History Museum will set out on an exploration of the Laurel Valley Preserve in Noyac with kids 8 to 12 on Saturday at 10 a.m. Participants will borrow museum backpacks stocked with tools to study what they see, and then record their findings in a journal. The program carries a $2 materials fee for a journal, or kids can take their own. Advance registration is required.

Yoga at the Goat

Parents in need of a night on the town without the little ones can drop them off at the Goat on a Boat Puppet Theatre in Sag Harbor on Saturday for an evening of yoga, dance, meditation, and calming fun with Peaceful Planet Yoga. The program — for ages 4 to 11 — runs from 6 to 8:15 p.m. and costs $25 per child and $15 for additional siblings. Registration in advance is required at peacefulplanetyoga.com.

From 3-D to Duct Tape

Lava lamps, 3-D printing, duct tape crafts, and more are on tap at the local libraries this week. Tomorrow from 4 to 5 p.m. at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton kids 4 and older will use household items to make their own lava lamps. The library will have 7 to 12-year-olds making duct tape wallets on Tuesday from 4 to 5 p.m.

On Saturday, the Montauk Library will give kids an introduction to 3-D printing, allowing them to pick and print a favorite 3-D template from thingi­verse.com or create a 3-D image of their own. Grades one through six have been invited in from 2 to 2:45 p.m. Grades 6 through 12 will take over the printer from 2:45 to 3:30.

A Flight of Fancy story time at the Amagansett Library on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. will be followed up with a hot air balloon craft. On Sunday, kids in second grade and above can make decorative placemats with recycled materials starting at 2.

Advance sign-up has been requested for most library programs.

About 60 small hands moved in sync — mostly — in a drum circle at the Amagansett School on Monday, with results greater than the sum of its parts.

Over the course of the last three months, the 30 students in grades three and four learned all about playing a type of drum known as the djembe, and Monday’s performance was the culmination of their work with Jerome Liggon, a professional drum instructor. Along with exercises in rhythm and technique came lessons on listening, teamwork, and communication, as well as development of focus and hand-eye coordination.

“There are so many ways it benefits the children,” said Janine Balnis, the school’s social worker, who brought in the program along with Cindy Galvin, the music teacher.

“You’re really communicating through the drumming,” Ms. Balnis said. “The goal of the drum circle is to have one sound, even though there may be 18 drums.”

During Monday’s sometimes chaotic but always energetic performance, Mr. Liggon engaged the students in call-and-answer drumming and changed up the pace for more challenging rhythms. The students used different parts of their hands and a variety of up-and-down, side-to-side, and back-and-forth motions to create the sounds.

The program involved the third and fourth grades, but on Monday, students in grades five and six — and even parents and teachers — were invited to try out the drums.

“With the drumming, they get a real sense of community,” Mr. Liggon said after the performance.

He has worked with children through East End Hospice’s summer camp and through the Stony Brook Cancer Center, where the therapeutic qualities of drumming are emphasized. “They forget about their harsh realities. When they’re smiling and having fun, it’s a beautiful thing,” Mr. Liggon said.

In Amagansett, he said, the children picked up the drumming techniques right away — even faster than adults have been able to learn them.

Amagansett’s superintendent, Elea­nor Tritt, said it was the first time the school had brought in a drum circle program. “We’re always excited about opportunities for children to learn creative ways of expression, working together, and communicating together,” she said. C.S.

The Regional High School Action Committee, a group promoting school consolidation, will hold a forum Thursday, May 21, at the Tuckahoe School.

Some officials from the surrounding education community are expected to attend the meeting, which will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. in the school library.

Chris Dyer, Tuckahoe’s superintendent, said by phone yesterday that the forum is intended to be exploratory in nature, with “no egos” or political agendas involved.

“Something has to be done,” Mr. Dyer said, to ensure that funding for public high schools is sustainable here on the East End, and a regional high school might be one solution.

Tuckahoe School is at 468 Magee Street in Southampton. The meeting will be open to the public.

East Hampton’s littlest athletes will soon have a new place to play sports like tennis, soccer, and basketball.

A successful campaign launched in December by Good Circle, a local crowdsourcing organization that connects nonprofits with businesses and the community, raised enough money for a new, paved sports surface to be installed at the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center in East Hampton over the next few weeks. The campaign actually exceeded its goal of $17,140. Money raised will also cover the cost of sports equipment such as balls, flags, hoops, nets, racquets, cones, and supplies, as well as fencing, benches, a tent, and painting the paved surface.

“We know that it’s going to develop our activities . . . as well as be fun for the children. It’s been a great joint effort,” said Maureen Wikane, director of the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center.

“It’s so sweet to see something for children of this age,” Ms. Wikane added.

The junior sports field, as it’s been called, received support from 27 donors and matching contributions from the Hampton Racquet, owned by John Graham, who also directs the center’s physical education program. Smart Sports Surfacing installed the fence and will be donating the play surface.

Mr. Graham said he is eagerly anticipating the completion of the field. Although recent inclement weather held up the project initially, he said, it should be completed by the start of the summer camp program at the nonprofit center.

“Physical activity basically does everything a child needs. It breeds teamwork and self confidence, and it’s fun,” he said. “It hits every place a child needs to develop and go forward.”

Fred Doss, co-founder of Good Circle, said the campaign “worked perfectly.”

“What we will have, when it’s finished, is a really lovely facility,” he said.

In the Garden

Two garden art workshops at the Children’s Museum of the East End on Saturday at 10 a.m. will get kids immersed in the season.

Rossa Cole, an artist and photographer, will work with 7 to 10-year-olds on solar-powered noisemakers and wind chimes for the garden in an hour-long drop-off class. The cost is $15, not including museum admission, or $12 for museum members.

Younger children 2 to 6 and their adults will work with Lynn Leff to make garden art from recycled materials. This workshop costs $22, including admission; $7 for members.

At the Libraries

Silent Clown will entertain children with a mix of mime, juggling, clowning, magic, music, and puppetry on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Montauk Library.

On Tuesday at 4 at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton, young artists age 7 to 12 will look to the city for inspiration as they create nighttime cityscapes.

At the Amagansett Library, flowers will be the focus of a story and craft time for all ages on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. On Sunday at 2, kids can stop by the library to make a square for a collaborative quilt. 

Under Water

Kids 9 to 11 will learn about the tiny water plants called phytoplankton on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the South Fork Natural History Museum. Melanie Meade will lead participants as they examine phytoplankton under a microscope and make a model phytoplankton cell. There is a $3 materials fee in addition to museum entry. Advance registration is required.

Madoo, C.D.C.H. Will Shine

The Madoo Conservancy in Sagaponack and the Child Development Center of the Hamptons in East Hampton will be the co-hosts in July and August of the Shine Summer Camp, which offers creative arts and outdoor time for children 3 to 9.

Kids will take art lessons in the late Robert Dash’s studio and take part in gardening activities at Madoo on Tuesdays and Thursdays; they will use the C.D.C.H. art room, gym, playground, and nearby fields on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Tuition starts at $120 per day. Details and registration information can be requested at [email protected] or 212-414-5427.

Food Fun at CMEE

Young foodies will find much to like at the Children’s Museum of the East End this weekend. Participants in a Saturday morning workshop may not be able to ditch the salad bowl altogether, but they will get to plant all the ingredients for a salad in what will become a hanging salad ball for the museum’s garden. The workshop is for kids 7 to 10 and runs from 10 to 11 a.m. The cost is $15, not including museum admission, or $12 for members.

Also at 10 on Saturday, younger children ages 2 to 6 can make pasta from scratch with their adults. This one costs $22 including admission or $10 for members. Sunday is Waffle Day at the museum, when kids of all ages can make their own Belgian waffle brunch from 10 to 11 a.m. The cost is $20 including admission, $7 for members. The museum’s monthly Pizza and Pajama Night will be in the gardens of the Madoo Conservancy in Sagaponack on Friday, June 5. The evening will include a story time, pizza, and a scavenger hunt from 6 to 7:30. Members enjoy it all for free; others pay $10. Advance reservations are a must.

Nature and Color

Not everything in nature is what you’d expect it to be and not everything you find on a nature trail seems to belong there. Kids 5 to 8 will search out camouflaged creatures and things that stand out during an “un-nature” walk in East Hampton on Saturday at 2 p.m. with the South Fork Natural History Museum’s Tyler Armstrong.

On Sunday at 10 a.m. at the museum in Bridgehampton, 3 to 5-year-olds will learn about how animals and plants use color, how other creatures see color, and what it all means. Participants will then sort, mix, and match colors to create a colorful craft. There is a $5 materials fee for the class.

Advance registration is required for both.

Birds, Bears, and Reptiles

At the local libraries this week the standout event is an after-school program with creatures from the South Fork Natural History Museum at Sag Harbor’s John Jermain Memorial Library on Tuesday. The program starts at 4 and is for ages 5 to 12. Advance registration is required. Also at John Jermain, on Sunday, kids 6 and older will use recycled cardboard to make a Minecraft creeper from 2 to 3 p.m. Advance sign-up is requested for this one, too.

“Paddington,” the family movie released this winter, will be shown during a family movie night from 5 to 6:30 tonight at the East Hampton Library. The film stars Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins, and Julie Walters as a London family who take in a little bear from “darkest Peru.” On Wednesday, kids 4 to 6 can join in a fish story and craft time from 4 to 4:45 p.m. Reservations are requested for all library programs.

Birds will be the subject of a story and craft time at the Amagansett Library on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

Tax refunds are on the way to residents in the East Hampton, Bridgehampton, Springs, Sag Harbor, Wainscott, Montauk, and Amagansett school districts who are eligible for the school tax relief program known as STAR. The money, called the tax-freeze credit, will come from the districts that have plans to save at least 1 percent of their 2014-15 tax levies over the next three years.

Before the refund checks are cut, however, New York State must approve the districts’ savings plans. Local school administrators said this week that the amount of the refunds was not yet clear.

The refunds are connected to a state law enacted in 2014 that encourages local governments and school districts to share services, consolidate, merge, or find other ways to cut costs. Schools have found those efficiencies in various ways, from tuition discounts and shared transportation to more efficient copy machines and changes in pay for certain employees. The law says that regular teaching staff and educational programs cannot be touched.

The East Hampton School District’s 5-percent discount in tuition, which is part of its five-year tuition contract with most of its feeder schools, qualifies the district for the tax-freeze credit. All but Wainscott signed that agreement.

East Hampton had to find $478,843 in savings, which was also accomplished by bringing in more efficient copying machines and cutting the amount of paper the district will use. A centralized system for buying cleaning supplies and reduced maintenance expenses will also contribute savings.

“We have been working really hard to control costs,” said Isabel Madison, the district’s assistant superintendent for business. Ms. Madison is spearheading the collective efficiency plan on behalf of Amagansett, Wainscott, Springs, and Montauk.

Springs had to cut $240,738 from its 2014-15 tax levy. The savings there will be realized largely through a negotiation process that resulted in staff members paying an increased share of their health care costs, starting in July 2014. Springs is also realizing savings related to energy-efficient lighting fixtures and automated switches, which were recently installed. The district also made some cuts in field trips, intramural sports, and internal audits.

“We had to scour old budgets and new,” said Thomas Primiano, the Springs School District’s treasurer.

In Sag Harbor, Jennifer Buscemi, the school business administrator, said the district had to find savings totaling $332,239. To do so, the administration negotiated a lower starting salary for new custodians and a lower pay rate for substitute teachers. A previous retirement incentive for long-term teachers and a decision not to replace the director of facilities also yielded savings. Ms. Buscemi said the district was then “over its target for savings.”

“It was actually very challenging, because we had to cross everything out,” she said. “We had to figure out exactly what we saved in every area.”

To save money in Amagansett, Eleanor Tritt, the superintendent, said the district is absorbing the position of grant coordinator, which it had previously contracted out to the Eastern Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services, to save about $9,000. Other savings came from a hard salary freeze for employees and negotiations that ended with employees paying a larger percentage of their health insurance premiums. The district had to cut about $87,000, but instead wound up with about $300,000 in savings when the East Hampton tuition discount is taken into consideration.

Bridgehampton’s assistant superintendent for finance and facilities, Robert Hauser, said the district had to cut $106,302. Mr. Hauser said it was accomplished by not replacing a principal and a head custodian, both of whom had retired. Lois Favre, the superintendent, assumed the duties of the principal and Mr. Hauser assumed those of the head custodian. Changes to the busing system and a previous staff salary freeze also contributed savings. Bridgehampton actually saved $136,000 beyond what was required, Mr. Hauser said.

Wainscott had to cut about $50,000 from its tax levy, which Stuart Rachlin, its superintendent, said is being accomplished through shared transportation with Montauk and Sagaponack.

“Regardless of the Government Efficiency Plan, this has been and will continue to be how East End districts function — to seek savings however possible,” Mr. Rachlin said in an email.

Sagaponack’s administration did not return a request for comment.

David Diskin visited China with a friend in 1982, a trip that helped him better understand the world outside the United States. China had just begun a series of economic reforms, and in December of that year, the country’s current constitution was adopted.

“It really opens your eyes . . . when you see folks who have limited opportunities, politically and socially,” Mr. Diskin, a member of the Sag Harbor School Board, said Monday.

The school board recently voted unanimously to approve an international field trip to Cuba for up to 30 Pierson High School students during the 2015-16 school year. Looking back upon his trip to China years ago, Mr. Diskin said he thinks the students will benefit from a trip to Cuba.

“It’s a great opportunity for the kids to see something different. It’s a time in history when they’re going to see Cuba at a point where it’s still not so free,” he said. “The whole board of education is excited about the opportunity for the kids to do something really different. It’s part of the bigger vision to have kids be lifelong learners with a global vision.”

Katy Graves, Sag Harbor’s superintendent, said that while many details still need to be finalized, the three teachers who proposed the trip did a lot of research and presented the school board with a viable plan on April 27. While President Barack Obama and Cuba’s leader, Raul Castro, recently re-established diplomatic ties, travel to Cuba is still very restricted. However, Ms. Graves said educational trips “have the green light.”

Safety on the trip is a high priority, she said. But so are lessons in culture, history, politics, and the Spanish language. She said the teachers hope the group can visit places like schools, hospitals, churches, and museums to be able to compare and contrast Cuba and the U.S.

“It’s going to be like a time capsule, I think, for our children to look at,” she said. “It will evaporate so rapidly once the gates truly open. It’s like when the Berlin Wall first came down. . . . This is a moment in time.”

Residents will head to the polls Tuesday to vote yes or no on budgets for the 2015-16 school year, with the impact of those budgets expected to vary by district. Voting hours vary by district. Absentee ballots are due no later than 5 p.m. the day of the vote.

AMAGANSETT

Voting hours: 2-8 p.m. in the school gymnasium, 320 Main Street, Amagansett

School budget proposal: $10,587,479

Library budget proposal: $938,861

Propositions: Vote yes/no on five-year tuition contract with East Hampton and vote yes/no on creating capital reserve fund for renovations and upgrades

School board candidates (1 seat available): Mary Lownes, Steve Grabowski

Notes: Amagansett’s proposed budget is a 1.09-percent increase in year-over-year spending, but it would actually lower its tax levy for the first time. That drop, a .38-percent decrease, means school taxes may go down slightly. In its budget newsletter, the district says a house with an assessed value of $6,000 will see taxes drop by about $12 for the year. The two largest areas of spending are salaries, which make up about 41 percent of the budget, and tuition to other districts, which makes up 23 percent of the budget. In this proposed budget, teacher salaries are increasing by 1 percent as part of contract negotiations that saw a salary freeze for the current year.

Related: A Slight Decrease in Tax Levy for Amagansett

BRIDGEHAMPTON

Voting hours: 2-8 p.m. in school gymnasium, 2685 Montauk Highway, Bridgehampton

Budget proposal: $12,818,345

School board candidates (3 seats available): Doug DeGroot, Ronald White, Lillian Tyree-Johnson

Notes: If approved, Bridgehampton’s overall budget-to-budget increase would be 3.99 percent. That would mean a tax levy increase of 3.51 percent — the maximum the district is allowed under the state’s tax levy limitations. The district is drawing on its reserves and fund balance in order to keep the budget within that limitation. Because the assessed property values in Bridgehampton continue to increase, the district is predicting school taxes will not increase next year for the average homeowner. The biggest jumps in spending are attributed to rising teacher salaries in accordance with a new teachers’ contract and the hiring of additional teaching staff. More money is being allocated for technology and physical education programs, and spending on social security and health insurance is also expected to rise.

Related: 'A Conservative Budget' 

East Hampton

Voting hours: 1-8 p.m. at East Hampton High School, 2 Long Lane

Budget proposal: $66,081,710

School board candidates (3 seats available): John Ryan Sr., Christina DeSanti, Liz Pucci, Deme Minskoff

Notes: East Hampton’s proposed budget carries a year-over-year spending increase of 1.55 percent. Under the state’s tax levy cap law, its limit on the tax levy increase is 1.82 percent. However, the district chose to stay under that threshold, proposing a budget that would increase the tax levy by 1.62 percent. The proposed budget includes funding for full-day pre-kindergarten beginning next year, another math teacher, a computer science teacher for a new coding program, middle school intramural sports, four new school buses, additional Chromebooks for student use, and more. School taxes are expected to rise by 1.35 percent, or about $41 for a property with an assessed value of $6,000.

Related: Windfall Budget

MONTAUK

Voting hours: 2-8 p.m. at Montauk School, 50 S. Dorset Drive

Budget proposal: $18,993,248

Proposition: Vote yes/no on five-year tuition contract with East Hampton

School board candidates (1 seat available): Diane Hausman, Carmine Marino Jr.

Notes: Montauk’s proposed spending plan carries a budget-to-budget increase of 1.97 percent and a proposed tax levy increase of 1.83 percent. The district is expecting to spend less on teacher salaries and facilities costs, but spend more on transportation, administrative costs, and tuition to East Hampton, BOCES, and charter schools. The proposed budget preserves Montauk’s summer school program, restores the morning and after-school care programs, and restores the “late late” bus that transports students home from late activities at East Hampton High School. The tax rate is projected to go up about 99 cents per $100 of assessed value. For instance, a house with an assessed value of $6,000 would see a $59.22 tax increase for the year.

SAG HARBOR

Voting hours: 7 a.m.-9 p.m. at Pierson High School, 200 Jermain Avenue

Budget proposal: $37,552,566

Proposition: Establish repair reserve fund in the amount of $2.5 million

School Board candidates (3 seats available): Chris Tice, James Ding, James Sanford, Tommy John Schiavoni, Stephanie Bitis

Notes: Faced with a 2.53-percent cap on increases to the tax levy, Sag Harbor’s proposed budget actually carries a tax levy increase of about 2.49 percent. The district is proposing a budget-to-budget spending increase of 1.85 percent. It would spend less on administrative costs while budgeting more for teacher salaries, library and audiovisual materials, recreational activities, and guidance services, all while staying within tax cap limitations. The district also wants to set up a reserve fund for repairs in the amount of $2.5 million, which would come from any end-of-year surplus funds the district may have, and would not require the collection of any additional taxes.

SAGAPONACK

Voting hours: 7:30-8:30 p.m. at Sagaponack School, 400 Sagg Main Street

Budget proposal: $1,772,505

School board candidates (1 seat available): Joe Louchheim

Notes: Sagaponack is in the process of transitioning to educate students in kindergarten through third grade, rather than its current model of first through fourth grades. To that end, the district is spending more on new equipment and materials for incoming kindergarten students. Its $1,772,505 budget proposal represents a 1.09-percent increase over last year’s budget, but depending upon assessed property values, a slight decrease in the tax rate is possible — less than 2 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. Although Sagaponack could have increased its tax levy by as much as 3.34 percent, administrators chose to create a budget proposal that stays underneath that, at 2.53 percent.

Related: Sagg to Add Kindergarten

SPRINGS

Voting hours: 1-9 p.m. at Springs School, 48 School Street, East Hampton

Budget proposal: $27,363,316

Propositions: Vote yes/no on five-year tuition contract with East Hampton; vote yes/no to authorize use of $2 million capital reserve fund for improvements including a new parking lot for 150 vehicles, reconfigured drop-off/pickup loop, changes to Ed Hults Lane, and more.

School board candidates (1 seat available): Barbara Dayton

Notes: According to school administrators, the proposed Springs budget maintains programs and services while coming in slightly below the tax cap limitation — 1.58 percent, rather than 1.62 percent. The administration accomplished that by tapping into about $1.17 million in reserve funding and by realizing savings in state-level pension costs, tuition costs to send students to East Hampton High School, reducing professional development, and other areas. The school district is also seeking approval to use all or most of its $2 million capital reserve fund, which voters approved last year, on a series of improvements to the campus outlined above.

Related: Safety First at Springs School

WAINSCOTT

Voting hours: 2-8 p.m. at Wainscott School, 47 Wainscott Main Street

Budget proposal: $3,064,360

School board candidates (1 seat): Kelly Anderson

Notes: Wainscott is proposing a budget that decreases overall spending by 1.58 percent and decreases the tax levy by 2.04 percent. The district is projecting a corresponding decrease in school taxes. It’s the fourth year in a row that the district has lowered its projected spending, and the third year in a row that the district has lowered its tax levy. Unlike other districts that send its students to East Hampton, Wainscott opted not to sign the five-year tuition contract that other sending districts signed this year. Doing so would have qualified Wainscott for a 5-percent discount in the tuition rate, but school officials have said it’s more prudent to take a wait-and-see approach due to the affordable housing project being proposed in Wainscott and Sag Harbor, which could potentially bring in many new students.

Related: Wainscott Eschews Tuition Discount