Sept 24 News

In this Newsletter

A Note from Principal Fitzgerald

Dear P.S. 154 Families,

Thank you so much for coming out for our first series of stoop chats by the picnic tables! It was lovely connecting with so many of you then, and it was great seeing so many of you at the Carnival!

I want to give a huge shout-out to our 3rd graders who completed a wonderful project celebrating Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) last week! Check out the link for more info. Please see below for a picture of Ms. Chiu’s class incorporating their new division strategies to equally share the beans needed for this project. What an amazing connection between our math curriculum and our cultural celebrations. Ms. Chiu’s class is well on their way to becoming magnificent mathematicians!

 

Parent Square is Live!

Are you reading this by email?  We’re also sending it by Parent Square this week!  Take a look and sign up so you don’t miss any important information!  If you haven’t received an invite link by email or text, please reach out to Tanica tgordon@ps154.org as soon as possible.

 

Back to School Carnival

We had so much fun bouncing in the start of the school year with you. Thank you so much to Sarah Gartenberg, Grace Ciaccia and Judd Gartenberg for planning the Carnival, Sheila Fedele for coordinating and recruiting our volunteers, and to Cara Zwerling and Tom Sperduto for the communications.  Thanks to Windsor Terrace Martial Arts for their demonstrations by PS 154 parents Alex Arroyo and Craig Selinger.  And thank you to all of our volunteers, without whom our events would not happen!  Our volunteers were: Stefanie and Luke Schiada, Alina Hurtado, Meibis Lopez, Jaymie Kelly, Amarilys Hidalgo, Stani Dimitrova, Daniel Nachimson, Ahmed Shelbaya, Sheila Fedele, JoJo Farrell, Hilary Kong, Rebecca McDonald, Deeana Brodsky, Cheryl Gladstone, Tareth Mitch, Toby Meyer, Shari Liev, Sarah Vining, Brittany Stenerson, Sheila Fedele, Emi Young, Hannah De Simone, Rebecca Rogers, Alex Arroyo, Chris Anderson, Francesco Brazzini, Lauren Roza, Kristen Larkin, Paula Burke, Ethan Borsuk, Salvatore Mingoia, Colin Clancey, Demario Jones, Harpreey Sia, Heidi Sax, Dana Kochnower, Kate McMahon, Jane Yi, Sean Kelly, Brian Papa, Katy Myers, Chadwick Smith, Eli Schneider, Angie Saleh, Melissa Brown, Caitlin Curran, Elisabetta Colletti, Julie Knight, Theresa Shaheen, Althea Erikson, Lily Pollans, Michael Buckley, Travis Hawkins, Andrew Weiner, Samantha Shapiro, Ross Whiting, Maya Swedowsky, Mary Llamas-Eschrich, Lavanya Chekuru and anyone we inadvertently missed! We made over $13k at the Carnival (nearly 9k in profit!), making our first fundraising event of the year a resounding success!

Thank you again to our neighborhood business sponsors for supporting our school!

The Abby Palanca Team of Serhant

Wysh

 

First General PTA Meeting of the Year - Friday, September 27th at 8:30am in the MMR

We'll bring the coffee; you bring your ideas. Join us after drop-off to start the year together. We will have a budget vote, including a new line item to help support our students with an additional flexible teacher to reduce class ratios during targeted instructional hours.  

It's also election time once again!  Take a more active role and join this year’s PTA of PS 154 Board! We are the group that organizes and executes all fundraising and community activities for PS 154. Every year, the PTA aims to be more impactful than the last.

Elections will take place in person at our first PTA General Meeting: September 27, 2024, 8:30 am, PS 154 MMR.  More information on each role and what it requires can be found in the PTA of PS154 bylaws. These roles do not need to be a huge time commitment; many of us in parent leadership are full-time working parents, parents of multiple kids, or both! No experience is necessary, and we encourage diverse candidates.

Anyone can nominate anyone else at the meeting, including themselves! We have 4 Member-at-Large Spots for new parents at the school, as well as President-Elect, Chair of Fundraising Events, and School Store Manager.  We also have one open 2-year term for the School Leadership Team.  If you can’t attend the meeting, nominations can also be received online via: pta_info@ps154.org.  

During our budget vote, we will consider the following increased expenditure:

To address right sizing and ensure that all students get the support they need, P.S. 154 is hoping to hire two support staff members. The school budget can support one of these two staff members. We are asking the PTA to add a budget line to support the second staff member.

These two staff members will help support a dynamic schedule that will create opportunities across the week for students to engage in learning activities with their classroom teacher at a reduced student-to-teacher ratio. When working with their teacher, students will have the opportunity to receive support in their areas of growth and challenge in their areas of stretch. When students are with the support staff, they will engage in play-based inquiry activities and additional movement time outside. Classes will be scheduled for these small group periods based on need. The schedule will be responsive and adjusted as the school year progresses.

In addition to the small group support, these staff members will allow greater opportunities for teachers to work and learn collaboratively. This will ensure our teachers are always expanding their ability to meet student needs. Having these two dedicated staff members will allow us to leverage the experience and expertise of our current staff and ensure all students are set up for success.

 

PS 154 Sporty Chester Pullover Hoodie Preorder Ends ** Tomorrow **

Calling all sports fans! Get ready to show off your school spirit with this cozy pullover hoodie, featuring our beloved raccoon mascot in action! Whether you're a fan of basketball, football, or soccer, this hoodie has you covered—literally. The design showcases our energetic raccoon playing all three sports, making it the perfect choice for any sports lover.

Order here by Tomorrow, September 25th!

 

Boo Bash is Saturday, October 26th from 2-6pm

We had our first planning meeting this week but there are still lots of opportunities to get involved in the planning and execution of the Boo Bash! Did you know? Boo Bash brings in 25% of our events revenue for the whole year. We need your help to make sure it is a success!  Interested in shadowing or helping and learning how to run an event?  Email pta_info@ps154.org if you'd like to join our spooktacular team! 

 

D15 PTA Fun Run

The Office of Council Member Shahana Hanif and the President’s Council of District 15 are hosting the 16th Annual Fun Run on Saturday, October 26, 2024 at the Lefrak Center in Prospect Park (9 am bib pickup, 10 am race start).

The Brooklyn PTA Fun Run is a family-friendly event where Brooklyn PTAs and community members of all ages come together to run/bike/scoot/walk around Prospect Park loop road (approximately 3.3 miles). The goal of the Fun Run is to raise PTA funds for Brooklyn schools with Title I status in the last three years (i.e. 60% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch).

Every dollar raised by the PS 154 team will help grow the pot of funds for redistribution to Title I schools in Brooklyn. These flexible funds are critical for schools to be able to pay for services like recess staff, extracurriculars like gardening and musicals, and teacher grants. Let’s show the D15 community our solidarity by raising much needed funds for their PTAs and students. REGISTER HERE

 

Equity Committee

Our first Equity Committee meeting of the year was a success!  Our October meeting will switch to the evening at 6:30pm on October 16th. Bring your ideas to our meetings and reach out to Mr. Buckley to let him know how you’d like to get involved!

 

Save the Date: Picture Day is Coming! 📷

Picture Day is on its way! Save the date for Monday October 7th. To view our school’s timeline for all Picture Day events, please visit our Picture Day Page at iloveschoolpictures.com/PS154.

Cara Zwerling

 
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