Dear Families,

 Happy Autumn! 

Although we have only been in school a short time, much has taken place. Clear expectations for learning have been set, consistent routines, and comprehensive assessments of every student in reading, writing, math, and spelling have taken place.  Our Goal is to “know our students”  what their interests are, and how they learn best.

 Our Instructional goals for 2019-2020 embrace:

 In order to academically propel your children forward we must meet every child where they are at and understand how they learn best.  Our goal is to grow them along the learning continuum. PS 38 staff continually assesses students throughout the year in regular cycles to better monitor student progress and performance.  We keep open lines of communication with families and we focus on the “whole child,” (socially, emotionally, areas of strength, areas requiring more support, interests, etc).  Currently, students are actively engaged in units of study in all content areas and have acclimated to their school routines.

 In Pre-K teachers are beginning to set up work sampling portfolios which will be shared with you throughout the year as they discuss where your children are in the early childhood learning continuum.   The emphasis has been on establishing rituals and routines throughout the day that will make children comfortable as they begin to see consistency in their daily school routines.  At this young age, children are developing socially and emotionally and much of the learning takes place during play in centers.  For example, as children explore, they are learning how to share, express themselves, problem solve, and play collaboratively.  It is during this time teachers tuck in other learning experiences tied to theme studies.  For example, they may tuck in a read aloud and art activity focused on friendship or a science experiment connected to the season…etc.

 Parent engagement plays a critical role in student achievement and as a school community, we must continue to build trusting relationships with each other through consistent open communication.     Our priority at P.S. 38 is student achievement and preparing “ALL” students to be career ready/college bound.  Therefore, we will continue to foster, and grow family partnerships and ask that all families play an active role in their child’s learning life.  We will provide ample opportunities for all of our families to be involved.  We host monthly Parents as Learning Partners Days (PALP) at 8:35 am, to invite parents into their children’s classrooms to engage in learning along-side their child.  Every month has a different instructional focus and afterward we gather together to discuss your experiences and answer any questions.  PALP is a wonderful way to better understand our curriculum and how your children are learning. 

Our first PALP will take place on Friday October 25, 2019 at 8:35 and in honor of National Bullying Prevention Month, our focus will be interactive lessons on Respect for All and Anti-Bullying.  Please join us this day to engage in learning side by side with your child.  If you have more than one child you will have to select one to visit as we do not switch classes or interrupt the learning.  Next month you can visit the other child.  Also note we have a No Coffee and No Cell Phone policy in classrooms.

We will also be hosting series of workshops for families throughout the year and hope to see many families when we do.

 Our PTA is comprised of parents, teachers and administration working collaboratively to engage families and strengthen family/community ties. The PTA hosts a variety of fun family events and fund raisers to benefit the children throughout the year.  PTA meetings are once a month, will be posted on our school calendar, and are a forum for parents to better understand our policies, protocols & procedures, instruction, and school events.  A lot of ongoing information is shared at these forums and our PTA continues to work rigorously to bring in professional guest speakers for parent information sessions.  We hope that you join us at these informative meetings.  Our next meeting will be on October 22, 2019. This will be our: Annual Title 1 meeting to discuss our Title 1 funding and how we allocate these monies to the children.

Parent Volunteers:  We are grateful for the many parent volunteers who assist us at drop and go in all weather conditions.  To ensure a smooth and safe drop and go in the morning and to ensure the safety of our children and volunteers, we ask that you stay in line and “Do Not Cut Around” another car to get ahead.  Please be patient as cutting ahead can cause accident and or injury and we want everyone to be safe.  More over, once your child is let out of your car by a volunteer, we ask that you please leave promptly as traffic backs up.  Your children are in good hands and there are many staff to help them find their way.

Family Engagement Tuesdays are used to schedule one to one student progress meetings between parents and teachers around how their child is learning.  Your child’s data and work samples drive the conversation, students’ strengths (Glows) and areas in need of support (Grows) are discussed, and strategies to support your child at home are shared. 

What’s new this year?

• Pax Good Behavior Games: Implementing Pax Good behavior Games is a school wide initiative. Pax is Latin and stands for peace, productivity, health and happiness. Pax is a set of strategies to help students learn important self-management skills while collaborating to make their classroom a peaceful and productive learning environment. 
• Comfort Dog-This year we are a DOE approved Comfort Dog School. On October 25, 2019 during our debrief session following our PALP Respect For All/Anti-Bullying Day, we welcome  families back to the all purpose room to meet and learn about our comfort dog program.  Come meet Shelby our Hypoallergenic Comfort Dog.  Regan is the comfort dog handler/owner, and Shelby is a certified and DOE approved Comfort Dog.

***Join us after PALP for a brief overview of these two new initiatives which support our school wide goal for “A More Supportive Environment.”

 Embracing the Chancellor’s Initiative to “Develop People”, this year I am also bringing in a Staff Developer from the Center for the Professional Education of Teachers (CPET) at Teacher’s College, Columbia University to assist us in deepening our pedagogy and developing our Literacy Curriculum maps to include more Project Based Learning (PBL). PBL is student-centered learning where students will be highly engaged as they investigate a “Driving Question” using an inquiry hands-on protocol. We are taking the necessary steps to promote rigorous and productive instruction aligned to 21^st Century real world learning, that is meaningful and brings back a “joy of learning.” This work is aligned to our school wide goal to “Strengthen Core Instruction.”

• Envision Math (E.M.): M. is DOE approved and although it is new, our staff has received and will continue to receive professional development in it’s implementation. We will be using E.M. as a supplement to our Math curriculum aligned to the Next Generation Learning standards.  Our maps guide our instruction and Envision Math is used to deepen mathematical concepts and skills along with number talks, math stations, and S.O.L.V.E for problem solving.  Our goal is to deepen students’ conceptual understanding of mathematical concepts, increase critical thinking skills and problem solving skills.

 As a “professional learning community,” our goal is to work in collaboration with all stakeholders (students, staff, families, organizations) to ensure a successful and memorable elementary school experience for your children.

Once again, we look forward to a year filled with inspiring rich learning experiences with your children. 

~Thank you for entrusting your children to us.

  “Partners with Families…Partners In Learning”

 Believing In Children...

Inspiring Young Minds,

 Nancy Murillo

Principal

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