Update from Mr. Artie

Dear Children’s School Families,

I hope this message finds you well and in good spirits. Now that we are two months into the school year, I believe it is important to communicate what has taken place thus far and how the future is shaping up. Know that the education and safety of the children remain a priority and we will continue to work hard to make sure they are provided with the necessary tools to succeed.

School opened up on a strong note and classes are now in their routines. The children, as always, are terrific. Hurricane Sandy shut down the system for a week but not our spirit. The sound of children’s voices once again is resonating throughout the building bringing a smile to my face. I would like to thank the PTA and he parent body for their efforts and support in helping make the beginning of the school year so successful. The children make my heart smile and my parents help keep it smiling.

In an effort to make sure children are college ready, the Department of Education continues to hold schools and their students to a higher standard. Most states across the nation have adopted what is known as The Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS). Performance expectations are higher across the grades and state exams will now be aligned to the CCLS. As a school, many staff members have been going to professional development workshops in this area and classroom practices are being reviewed with these standards in mind. In an effort to make you more aware of how these changes will affect your child(ren), we plan to hold a parent workshop in the near future on this topic. We’ll keep you posted.

The implementation of a higher standard means all students are being held more accountable for their work. Please make every effort to stay n touch with your child’s teacher if they are struggling with homework or completing assignments. Report card grades will be more reflective of expectations based on the CCLS.

Parent/Teachers Conferences will be held on Wednesday, November 14th. As we have done in the past, report cards will go home the previous day. Please keep to the time allocated by the teachers, about 10-15 minutes, so that the day runs smoothly.

We started a new initiative at school known as Tough Text Tuesday (TTT). Every Tuesday morning from 8:30 to 9:05 all classes from K-5 will engage their class in reading higher level texts, asking higher level questions and building vocabulary. This initiative should help raise the expectation of student learning and is directly correlated to the CCLS.  It is important that all classes start on time for this initiative to be successful.

The ASD site under the leadership of Ms. Rosa Amato continues to thrive. This year, three students articulated to the main site. We are confident they will continue to transition well into our ICT site. Kudos and keep up the good work.

The expansion to grades 6-8 continues to move forward and I am hopeful that the DOE will confirm the location at 345 Dean St which houses Math and Science Exploratory School and Brooklyn High School of the Arts.  The final step will be when the Panel of Education Policy gives their stamp of approval which should occur over the next few months.In the meantime, a committee of staff and parents has been actively planning what grades 6-8 may look like. In an effort to determine who is interested in articulating to the 6th grade at The Children’s School a survey will be sent out shortly to 5th grade families to get their feedback. Informational sessions will be ongoing for our school community. Please be on the lookout for further information and if you are interested in being part of a sub-committee (Admissions, PR, and Technology) please contact the PTA so they can forward your contact information to the expansion committee.

As always, I appreciate everything you do. I’ll update you again after the holidays.

Sincerely,

Mr. Artie