IMPORTANT DATES
Tuesday January 12 - SLT meeting, 4:15 PM (contact: SLT_Info@ps154.org)
Wednesday January 13 - Virtual Tour for Prospective Families, 9:00 AM (see below for info)
Wednesday January 13 - PTA Virtual Executive Board Mtg, 6:30 PM
Thursday January 14 - Virtual Tour for Prospective Families, 6:30 PM (see below for info)
Friday January 15 - Deadline for Winter Warmth Drive Donations
Friday January 15 - Read-a-Thon starts
January 18 - School is Closed, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
January 20 - PTA Virtual 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
Find the A/B Cohort calendar here: Weekly Schedule
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 is open NOW and the deadline to submit your application is January 19. If you have a child born in 2016, you will apply to kindergarten this winter and your child will begin kindergarten in September 2021.
Find out more information here: NYC Kindergarten Enrollment
Prospective Rising Kindergarten Families, please join us for a virtual tour by signing up here:
Prospective Family Virtual Tour Sign Up
DO YOU NEED ASSISTANCE?
Please take this confidential survey to let us know what you need:
The PTA is working with Debby Wattenbarger to provide extra help to anyone in need this winter. The deadline to complete the survey is January 15. (more information below)
RECENT COMMUNICATIONS
LATEST MESSAGES FROM THE CHANCELLOR
All families can continue to go to any school building (9 AM -12 PM 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
PTA UPDATES
PTA GENERAL MEETINGS & SLT MEETINGS
Wednesday January 20 - Virtual General PTA Meeting, 6:30 PM
Tuesday February 9 - Virtual SLT Meeting, 4:15 PM (contact: SLT_Info@ps154.org)
Wednesday February 24 - Virtual General PTA Meeting, 6:30 PM
Tuesday March 16 - Virtual SLT Meeting, 4:15 PM (contact: SLT_Info@ps154.org)
Wednesday March 24 - 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
WINTER WARMTH DRIVE: deadline midnight tonighT
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit some of the families in our community very hard, and it has also made it difficult to share used items. We are running the WINTER WARMTH DRIVE to provide assistance to those that need it. We believe that all of the PS 154 families in our community should be able to stay warm and safe throughout the winter season. Please consider giving a donation that will be converted into gift cards for families to buy the coats, hats, gloves or supplies they need to keep warm through this extra challenging winter! We thank you in advance for your generous donations that will help families requesting assistance privately through Debby Wattenbarger. You have various ways to give. You can donate online below:
Debby Wattenbarger, will confidentially donate gift cards to families who are in real need of assistance.
DEADLINE FOR DONATIONS - FRIDAY, JANUARY 15
We can only accept payments through these methods as we are obliged to provide fully deductible receipts for 2021 tax year. For more information, please email pta_treasury@ps154.org.
READ-A-THON FUNDRAISER
Our 14th Annual Read-A-Thon, will run from Friday January 15th through to Valentine’s Day, February 14th. Particularly, during this time when much of our children’s learning is through a screen, we want to encourage them to develop a life-long love of reading. Each child that reads the most in his or her grade will get a gift certificate to Terrace Books, and each grade's class that collectively read the most will get a special reading session with our own Principal Foreman. Stay tuned for details to be announced next week.
PS 154 AUCTION
We are looking forward to our next major event, the PS 154 Auction. As we embark on a new year, we ask if you could 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
Our kids have faced many losses and traumas through 2020. Now as we embark on a new year, we begin with a new challenge of explaining to our kids about what happened on January 6, 2021 in our nation’s Capitol, the seat of democracy. Child Mind Institute provides some resources for talking to your child about this. In addition, they provide advice and resources for other social and emotional topics such as how to keep our kids engaged in remote learning after the break, or how to modify an IEP or 504 for children facing challenges with distance or hybrid learning.