PS 111 Principal's Corner

Your child in K, 1st, or 2nd grade may report that there were extra adults in the classroom one day last week. This is because we had math professional development in grades K/1/2 with our math coach, Emily.

Teachers in grades 3/4/5 have their next study days on March 25 and 26.

For math and literacy (Wit & Wisdom) training, the staff plans for one day. The next day, one of the classrooms acts as a lab site where the teachers deliver the lesson they planned together. This helps us ensure best practices as taught by the coach. It also helps the teachers provide continuity of instruction between classes.

The next date for parent - teacher conferences is this Thursday, March 5th. Most teachers will hold their meetings between 1:00 and 3:00 and again sometime between 4:00 and 7:30. Please make sure you have registered for an appointment. Please sign on to the Zoom on-time as many meetings are scheduled back to back. Teachers need to stick to their time schedule.

Report Cards will be released electronically on March 30th. Note: we no longer send home paper copies of report cards.

The next Kindergarten report card is at the end of June (along with the 3rd/final report card for grades 1-5).

If you need assistance with you NYCSA account to access the report card, please see Ms. Jean-Bernal.

Our 3rd grade students celebrated the end of their 2nd literacy unit (Space) by enjoying a visiting planetarium. How cool is that?!

Our Kindergarten students and staff held their annual 100th Day of School fashion show! A fun time was had by all 🙂

Our career week will take place March 16, 17, 18, & 19. This is a great way to expose our students to the wide variety of career options that will be available to them as adults! If you would like to share information about your line of work, or you know someone with a really interesting job, please let Ms. Harvey know.

All students in grades 3, 4, & 5 sit for state assessments in reading/writing and math. Students in 5th grade also sit for a science assessment.

It is important for the school to have as many students as possible take these exams. The results help us analyze strengths and gaps in our curriculum. They also help us determine intervention and enrichment groups for the following school year.

If you have a concern about your child taking one, or all, of these exams, please see our assistant principal, Clara Harvey.

Parent/Guardian volunteers are needed for both of these events. Please be on the look out for notifications to sign-up to volunteer. PS 111 needs YOU!

The annual carnival absolutely cannot happen without adult volunteers, so please plan to set aside a few hours to help staff a ride or game 🤗

We anticipate being back outside for arrival and recess beginning the week of March 9th! It can't come soon enough 🙂

Arrival will take place outside on any (dry) day when the temperature or wind-chill is above 25 degrees. Since students are standing still during the time, we use more discretion to bring them inside. We will send a notice on Operoo by 7:45 AM each morning to let you know if it is indoor arrival.

Note: PreK and Kindergarten arrival is always through the small yard even when it is indoor arrival.

Recess is outside as long as there is no ice, snow, or water on the ground and the temperature or wind-chill is above zero (0). Students should be dressed for the weather! On days when we do have indoor recess, half the students will go to the gym, and half will go to the auditorium. This will alternate each time we are inside.

Dismissal is outside regardless of the weather.

All of our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students are in tiered support for literacy. This takes place every day from 1:05 to 1:50. These groups range from Sound Sensible and SPIRE for foundational reading skills to Phonics for Reading to close any gaps in phonics skills to advanced reading and writing groups for students who are reading at, or above, grade level.

A small group 4th and 5th graders are also participating in Math Olympiad during this time.

It is imperative that students are in school every day to receive this targeted support especially if they are working on lagging skills to get to grade level performance.

Wanda Watson: Secretary

Wanda, AKA super secretary, is the go-to person for all registration and transfer information, metro cards, and immunization questions.

Gloria Jean Bernal: Parent Coordinator

Gloria is our amazing parent coordinator. In addition to assisting Wanda with fall student registration, Gloria is the point person for all transportation questions and concerns. Gloria is also the first contact for any issues that need to be resolved. She brings those concerns to the appropriate staff member(s) in the school.

School Aides:

Our amazing school aides include Ray Curbelo who is your student attendance point person, Awilda Gonzalez who is our all-around get it done person, Manthio (Thio) Siby who might just be every students' favorite staff member, and giving Thio a run for his money is Demetrius George who joined us in December :)

All parents & guardians are automatically members of the PTA. If you would like to volunteer to serve on the Executive Board, please see a PTA EB member. The next PTA meeting will be a Zoom meeting on December 17th.

The School Leadership Team (SLT) is an opportunity to support the operation of the school to support all students and families. All PTA members are welcome to join SLT meetings as an observer. The next SLT meting is December 17th.

PS 111 partners with several after-school groups for programming. Please reach out to each group individually for more information.

Kids in the Game (KING): every day with in-school pickup and activities

Orchestra of St. Luke's: Tuesdays and Thursdays

Chess (Impact Coaching Network): Thursdays

Table Tennis: Fridays

Girls' Leadership: Tuesdays and Thursdays

We also partner with P.A.L. for an off-site program. They pick-up the students in the school and bring them to their location on 52nd Street between 10th and 11th Avenues.

We are very well aware that some students are not a big fan of structured recess. Three days a week, Kids in the Game (KING) coaches create play "zones". There is almost always a soccer zone because we are afraid of mutiny. Then there is a coach run game. For example, I just learned about Museum Night Janitor where students pretended to be statues and had to hide their movements from the janitor! "Free Play" zones include the jungle gym, the basketball courts, and sometimes a gymnastics area. Students are also welcome to sit and relax during recess or just to hang out with friends (unless a specific skill or strategy is being covered that day). Having trained coaches at recess frees our staff to monitor students to help maintain a calm recess period.