IMPORTANT DATES
December 24 - January 1 - Winter Break - No School
Find the A/B Cohort calendar here: Weekly Schedule
Tuesday January 12 - Virtual SLT Meeting, 4:15 PM (contact: SLT_Info@ps154.org)
Wednesday January 20 - Virtual General PTA Meeting, 6:30 PM
Please continue to check your Google Classrooms for information from your teacher. As a reminder, you should also check Mr. Foreman's Google Classroom for important updates: class code gk2k2sr
Kindergarten Enrollment
The Kindergarten application is completely ONLINE and is open NOW. The deadline to submit your application is January 19. If you have a child born in 2016, you will need to apply to kindergarten this winter for your child to begin kindergarten in September 2021.
Find out more information here: NYC Kindergarten Enrollment
RECENT COMMUNICATIONS
LATEST MESSAGES FROM THE CHANCELLOR
Schools.nyc.gov/freemeals
All families can continue to go to any school building (9am-12pm on weekdays) to pick up three free grab-and-go meals. No identification or registration is necessary. Halal and kosher meals are available at some sites.
Big Apple Awards for Teachers & Staff
Students, families, educators, school staff, and community members can nominate teachers and counselors by visiting the Big Apple Awards website, today through January 10, 2021. Nominees must be current, full-time public school teachers or college counselors in a district school, charter school or early childhood education center in New York City who demonstrate exceptional success in the classroom.
SCHOOL-WIDE REMINDERS
In person students will need to complete their health screening at home every morning before they arrive in school. Click the link here: Online Health Screening
All families must complete the Family Income Inquiry Form, which helps schools receive money for their programs. This is the lunch form, but even if you do not receive school lunch, you still need to complete the form.
Zoom difficulties? Please reach out to Ms. Rached (lrached@ps154.org) with any issues joining Zoom meetings. This is a much faster way to get support than posting to the class stream.
Complete the Emergency Blue Card here: Emergency Blue Card. Please email the completed form to dwattenbarger@ps154.org
THE POETRY JOURNAL NEEDS YOU! Each year our kids learn poetry at PS 154, with a focus on reading and writing poetry of all kinds in the classroom. Usually, in April or May, students read some of their own (and other poets') work at an evening event. This year, students will participate in a Zoom Poetry Forum during the school day (more details to follow). All students also publish a poem in a school-wide anthology, which is beautifully laid out and printed by parent volunteers. We definitely need parent help to make it all happen. You can pitch in on any or all of these jobs, depending on your schedule:
· work with class parents to coordinate and gather all children’s poems from teachers
· help in June when the journal with a printed and/or beautifully designed digital version
Are you a graphic designer? The parent who has been designing the journal over the past few years is leaving us because her child is graduating. We would love someone to help her and learn the ropes to take this on when she leaves.
Please email pta_info@ps154.org if you are able to lend a hand!
PTA UPDATES
PTA GENERAL MEETINGS & SLT MEETINGS
Tuesday January 12 - Virtual SLT Meeting, 4:15 PM (contact: SLT_Info@ps154.org)
Wednesday January 20 - Virtual General PTA Meeting, 6:30 PM
Zoom details will be provided in the days ahead of the PTA General Meetings.
Minutes from SLT Meetings are posted on the webpage: ps154.org/school-leadership-team-slt
Minutes from PTA General Meetings are posted on PTA’s webpage: ps154.org/your-pta
PS 154 FUNDRAISING
DONATE BY END OF 2020
We are pleased that our PTA funds have been able to supply vital services this year, including an extra substitute teacher, the Read/Write program, as well as activities to engage and connect the PS 154 community. Mr. Foreman highlighted in his talk at this week’s PTA General Meeting, that your donations help to fund essential programs and teaching staff that are not covered by the DOE. We need your help NOW, before the end of the year, to help us budget for a new chapter in 2021, and rebuild the PS 154 our community loves. Typically we ask for $500 per child but in the season of giving, any donation, no matter how big or small is truly appreciated. If spreading out monthly payments is better for you than a one time donation, you can easily sign up at: ps154.org/donate. Your support means the world to us, and helps our kids connect and thrive!
Contributions made before midnight New Year’s Eve are fully deductible for 2020 tax year.
SHOP & GIVE TO PS 154
Still need holiday gifts for someone special? Please select presents from our PS 154 Shop. Most items are discounted so it’s your chance to save and support the school! https://www.ps154.org/shop.
Please remember as you do your holiday shopping, whether it is in the local community, or online that a number of places give back to our school. For example, go to smile.amazon.com and choose “PTA of PS154 Brooklyn Inc.” as the charitable organization you want to support. You’ll find the exact same Amazon site, except that .5% of your purchase will be donated to our PTA. Be sure to bookmark the link so you’ll remember to use Smile, rather than the regular Amazon site, every time you shop. You can also pass on this info to grandparents and other family and friends who might like to contribute. For a full list of participating organizations, please visit: https://www.ps154.org/donate.
PS 154 AUCTION
Thank you for joining us at the Winter Holiday Hangout! It was great community bonding experience for everyone involved, and helped to raise much needed funds for our school. However, those who are familiar with our traditional Winter Fair know that typically our auction is a very big part of this. We chose to postpone this element until the new year. Over the holidays, please take time to think about if there are items you could donate for the auction, baskets you could put together for classes, community businesses or larger scale organizations you could ask for gifts, or an employer who is willing to donate a product or experience. Not only is the auction great fun, but it really brings in a substantial part of our annual budget, which allow us to deliver more staffing support and programs for our wonderful PS 154 children and their families! If you have donations or ideas, please reach out to Chair of Fundraising, Sara Murphy via the PTA email pta_info@ps154.org.
COMMUNITY CORNER
This has been a challenging year for both parents and children, and while we have made several pleas for a Chair or Co-Chairs of a Social and Emotional Committee, we have continued to provide talks for parents to address their children’s needs, and help parents manage their own stress. However, we would really like to do more to support and connect families, and ensure that learning needs are discussed openly. The Social Emotional Committee has provided so much support and training for teaching staff, parents and children over the past few years. We understand that everyone is stretched extremely thin right now, but we would love to maintain this great work at this crucial time. If you are interested in working on this, perhaps collaboratively with a team or you can reimagine this as a PS 154 Parent Support Group, please reach out to PTA President, Jaymie Kelly at pta_info@ps154.org.