From Our Superintendent: Announcements!

NYCDOE
DISTRICT 14
ALICJA WINNICKI
SUPERINTENDENT
Fourteen News
V O L U M E
SPECIAL
POINTS OF
INTEREST:
 CEC Elections
 Presidents’
Council
 Coming Soon:
Spring Break
 Coming Soon:
Garden of
Happiness
INSIDE
THIS ISSUE:
Elementary
School News
2
Middle
School News
15
Assistant
Principal
Study Group
20
Young Men
of Color
22
Learning
24
Walkthrough
1 ,
I S S U E
1
M A R C H
2 0 1 5
From Our Superintendent:
I am thrilled to present
to you another edition
of the Fourteen News.
With great pleasure, I
am introducing our new
editor-in-chief, Samantha Jimenez, the Administrative Assistant to
the Superintendent.
She started in this position only a few weeks
ago and made the
newsletter one of her
priorities knowing how
much our families, educators, students and
community members
appreciate to hear from
our schools. I am very
laborative share of
practices, study groups
and panel discussions.
Thank you all for your
support and for inspiring us with new ideas.
proud of all the great
activities and programs
we are providing to enrich teaching and learning for our students.
Yours,
Alicja
This month, we are also
presenting adult learning opportunities our
principals, assistant
principals and teachers
engage in through col-
Announcements!
Community Education
Council Candidates Forum
I.S. 71
Presidents’ Council
P.S. 257
March 26th - 10am
April 16 - 6pm
CEC Meeting
March 12
100th Anniversary of John D.
Wells Middle School 50!
Giando’s on the Water
April 17th - 7:30pm-11:30pm
Farewell Celebration of P.S.
19 Robert Clemente Magnet
School
Giando’s on the Water
June 25 - 5pm-9pm
Highlights from Leonard Dunkley School P.S. 16
Left: On February 12th students,
staff, and parents attended P.S.
16’s Chinese Auction where
books, games, toys, etc. were
auctioned.
Right: On February 24th, P.S. 16’s
students and staff enjoyed “Twin
Day” activities where everyone gets
to be a twin for a day.
Left: On Friday, February 13th,
students enjoyed their annual
Valentine’s Day Dance before
their winter recess.
P.S. 34 Chess Dance-A-Thon Fundraiser Event
On Saturday, February 14th P.S. 34 students took part in their 1st Annual Dance-A-Thon.
They enjoyed dancing in the school cafeteria to music provided by our parent volunteer, Mr.
Villella and Principal Carmen Asselta on the microphone, to help support the PS 34 Chess
Program. The event was divided into two separate sessions 2nd - 3rd graders from 1:00pm 2:45pm, and 4th - 5th graders from 3:15pm - 5:00pm. In the glow of the shimmering party
lights, the children enjoyed dancing to three rounds of exciting popular song selections and
earned fun goodie bag prizes. Board games, chess shirts and boxes of chocolates, donated
by parents, PTA and Principal Carmen Asselta, were raffled off to dance participants at the
end of each session.
P.S. 84’s February 2015 Celebrations
P.S. 84 celebrated Black History Month
during our monthly ‘Wonderful
Wednesday Celebration’. Students created different art projects and celebrated the wonderful contributions made by African Americans—not only to our country, but worldwide as well.
P.S. 84’s February 2015 Celebrations
P.S. 84 families and staff celebrated together their rich ethnic diversity during
our annual International Night. It was
an evening filled with international music, dance, and delicious foods from various countries representing the rich cultures of our wonderful students and
families.
Great News P.S. 110!
“Trees” Grow in P.S. 110 Brooklyn
Nestled within P.S.110’s second floor science lab, something special is going on. With the help of Ms. Fortunato, science teacher to our departmentalized fourth and fifth graders, and Ms. Greenwood, paraprofessional to the fifth grade, there are “trees” growing in Brooklyn. Currently, within our lab we have both a
traditional and hydroponic garden. In our traditional garden one can find an assortment of herbs including
rosemary, parsley and bay leaf. Housed within our hydroponic garden one can find more than thirty plants
of kale, mesculin salad and broccoli (our trees). These gardens were started with the help of our hydroponic enrichment cluster, which consists of students in grades three, four and five. These students took
these gardens from seedlings to harvest, enjoying the rewards of their hard work with a meal that they
grew, harvested and prepared. Much learning went on during this process and many experiments were
conducted by the children during this time including: learning all of the vocabulary for soil and hydroponic
gardening, learning about the specific plants we were growing, learning what type of nutrients were needed to be added to the hydroponic reservoir and why, tracking the growth of both gardens independently
and collectively to establish which garden grew at a faster rate and learning to harvest from the plants
without harming them. Currently, our garden is re-growing after our bountiful harvest. We look forward to
our spring garden when options such as tomatoes and cucumbers become available to us.
Written by Caroline Greenwood
Schmitty Predicts the Weather
On Wednesday February 25, the Pre-K students of PS 110K enjoyed a very unique STEM Weather/Science
Assembly starring Schmitty the Weather Dog! Schmitty, a 4 pound Yorkshire Terrier who dresses for the
weather, was accompanied by her “two-legged dad” meteorologist Ron Trotta and children’s author Elly
McGuire. The assembly began with author Elly reading her book Schmitty the Weather Dog: Daydream to
the students, teachers and parents in attendance. The story follows Schmitty’s use of her strong dog senses of hearing and scent to help predict the weather, thus helping her “two-legged dad” become a TV
weatherman. The children were then introduced to the real-life Schmitty, wearing sunglasses, of course,
on a very sunny day, by meteorologist Ron Trotta, who assured the children that the super calm Schmitty
was really a dog and not a puppet! What followed was an interactive, musical weather lesson that was
great fun for both the children and their parents, with the grand finale being a group sing-along to
Schmitty’s own song. The assembly concluded with every child getting a chance to meet Schmitty personally for a sniff on the way back to class. The attentiveness of the students to the combination of literature,
science and music spoke volumes to the success of the event, as did hearing the Pre-K students use
weather words and continue to sing the Weather Dog song later on in class! This was a special day, and a
wonderful time was had by all.
Written by Melissa Ferraris, Pre-K Teacher
P.S. 110 Continued...
Great News from P.S. 257!!
The students at P.S. 257 have been taking etiquette lessons at the school. A custodial employee at the school, Maximino Tavarez, who hails from the Dominican Republic, talked to principal Brian De Vale about the "Etiqueta y Protocolo" curriculum
that is taught back home. He shared how he feels American society has become
very fast-paced and abrupt with a culture where folks don't speak to each other
properly, look each other in the eye, shake hands correctly nor know how to
dress for formal events. They decided to bring the manners curriculum to P.S. 257.
Several staff members including cleaners, paraprofessionals, teachers and administrators did assemblies and class visits discussing the importance of proper
manners, teaching young men how to put on a tie, ladies how to sit, dress and act
properly. They also showed our boys how to hold the door for a lady, and other
chivalrous behavior that has sadly fallen out of style in today's world. A formal luncheon was held where the students set the tables, learned how to use different utensils properly and the young men escorted the ladies to the tables. Students are learning that to be "educated” does not
only mean to have book learning but also to have
manners, class and style. We discussed how in
Spanish being "educado" does not refer only to
"book learning" but rather having proper manners
and grooming in other words: being a lady or gentleman.
Great News from P.S. 319!
P.S. 319 was proud to celebrate Black History Month. Our students learned about George
Washington Carver, Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, Barack Obama, Martin Luther King Jr. and
many other influential African American leaders.
Great News from P.S. 319!
On February 27th, Ms. Polly Nugent.
Pre-k Social Worker, hosted our Pre-K
‘Parent Morning’. Parents participated
in a round table discussion about our
school. Ms. Nugent hosts Pre-K ‘Parent
Morning’ each month.
Project Based Learning at Brooklyn Arbor
By: Heather Costanza, First Grade Teacher
For the past two months, first graders at Brooklyn Arbor have been engaged in a project based
learning unit centered around the magnificent blue whale! After a visit to the American Museum of
Natural History, students were amazed by the life-sized blue whale, but were outraged to learn that
they were endangered! Realizing that this was a big problem, our first graders decided to take action to
try and help them. The project centered around the driving question, “How can we protect endangered
animals?” Through the course of the unit, students researched whales and other endangered ocean
animals and discovered the issues that harm them the most. They were quite upset about these issues,
and collectively decided that they wanted to construct projects to teach people about ways to help
them.
Each student chose what threat they felt most strongly about, and broke into groups to decide how
they wanted to share the information they learned. Students created posters, dioramas, and
infomercials and presented them to our Arbor community. They also created sea-life magnets with our
science teacher, Ms. Olenick, and raised over $160.00 to support the World Wildlife Federation!
This project incorporated Social Studies, Math, and ELA standards and aligned with our mission of
immersing our students in project based learning where they are asking questions, finding answers, and
reflecting on the process. Our first graders felt empowered as they acted on their abilities to think
deeply and critically about the world around them. We are so proud of our conservationists and believe
that one of the strongest lessons we can instill in our students is that you are never too young to make
a difference in the world.
Hard at work researching the blue whale
Sharing our teaching projects with Brooklyn Arbor families
Students problem solved as they tried to figure out how many rulers
were needed to make a 25 foot blue whale.
John B. Wells School—M.S. 50
Rise to Grace
On February 26, 2015, M.S. 50 welcomed alumnus Mr. Angel Huertas to present at a special assembly. Mr. Huertas is the author of the book Rise to Grace, which is a heart wrenching biography that
tells of his life in the streets and his transformation to become a motivational speaker and advocate
for children. Mr. Huertas shared with the 7th and 8th grade students the story of his life as a gangster and drug dealer here in Williamsburg. As a result of his lifestyle he suffered two near death
experiences which encouraged him to change his ways. Mr. Huertas now dedicates his life to serving the community and he is determined to save the lives of troubled young people like his former
self. He spoke to M.S. 50 students about the importance of education, guidance and making the
right choices.
Free Glasses for M.S. 50 Students through Helen Keller
Sixty-four students at M.S. 50 had their vision tested and picked out frames of their choice through the
Helen Keller Organization during the first week of February this year. The students were extremely excited and had the opportunity to ask questions. Students are expected to receive their new glasses on
Thursday, March 4, 2015. The organization has been proving this service to our school for over the last
eight years.
Great News from I.S. 318!
Chess
The I. S. 318 Chess Team won the New
York State Jr. High School Chess Championship held in Saratoga Springs on Saturday February 28, 2015!
Band
5 students have been selected for the
New York Pops Kids on Stage program.
These students will have the opportunity
to perform onstage with The New York
Pops at the 32nd Birthday Gala Concert at
Carnegie Hall on Monday May 4, 2015!
The students are: Troy Sheppard, Kayla
Parker, Philip Fletcher, Jesdelson Vasquez,
and Jake Oztan.
Science
6th grade student Zuzanna Wishowski received a grant, that she wrote, from
Katie’s Krops. As part of the grant, she will
be attending a three day camp in South
Carolina from July 8th - 11th ! During the 3
day camp she will attend workshops that
range from gardening to photography.
M.S. 582 - THE UPPER ACADEMY
STUDENT LEADERSHIP COUNCIL AND PEER
MEDIATION CEREMONY
“Designing the Future”
Complete with pomp and circumstance
the inauguration of M.S. 582's Student
Leadership Council ceremony took
place on February 5, 2015 at 10:00am.
The inauguration reconfirmed the importance of student voice and the student council's purpose to support M.S.
582's mission to foster a studentteacher learning community through
building self-esteem, developing leadership skills, and creating pathways for
a successful future. The ceremony
opened with a musical interlude as the
color guard carried flags leading the
procession of student council members,
ceremony participants, administrators
and guests. Naisha Baidy, student council advisor, was the mistress of ceremony. The M.S.582 Chorale sang
the National Anthem under the direction of Pasha Griffin, special education teacher. Student council members recited their promise of leadership and representation to all who were present. The ceremony hit a high
note with the keynote address given by NYC Councilman, Antonio Reynoso. Brooklyn Deputy Borough
President, Diana Reyna, was pleasantly surprised as she was presented with the “Trailblazer” recognition
award from the student council president, Johnnise Nieves. The Hon. Diana Reyna captivated her audience
with her words of encouragement and commitment. In addition to this student council inauguration ceremony, M.S.582 installed 10 young leaders as peer mediators trained through the NYC Commission on Human
Rights. The NYC Commission on Human Rights, peer mediation program director, Charlene Bryant, J.D.,
installed the M.S.582 peer mediators. The ceremony came to a close with a thoughtful insightful message
from Mr. Brian Walsh, Principal. In addition to many parents, PTA members and honored guests, words of
encouragement and certificates of recognition were given by Evelyn Cruz, Office of Congresswoman Nydia
Velasquez, Tamara Slogosky, Office of Senator Martin Dilan, and Office of Assemblywoman Maritza Davila. Special thanks were given to Dr. Delia Loney, grants manager for the 21st Century grant from which all of
this has been made possible.
M.S. 582 Continued...
M.S. 582’s STUDENT LEADERSHIP COUNCIL PURPOSE:
To support the M.S.582 mission to foster a student teacher learning community by nominating a student representative body to participate in the planning and execution of learning opportunities at
M.S.582; to be trained in leadership, governance, and peer education; to become models of positive
behavior within M.S.582 & the community at large.
NYC COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS PEER
MEDIATION PROGRAM:
The NYC Commission on Human Rights offers its Peer Mediation Program to middle and high
schools throughout the City. The Commission structures the program to meet each schools individual
need, furnishes materials and provides dynamic instruction and exercise. Once training has been
completed these student mediators are now qualified to assist peers in resolving differences before
they escalate into threats and violence.
Congratulations
Rayna Paul Page!
M.S. 582’s very own Student Council Vice President, Rayna Paul Page,
won the ABENY Black History Essay
writing contest for 8th graders.
Rayna was honored at an awards
ceremony held at The Cadman Plaza
Public Library on Saturday, February 7, 2015 . She was cheered on
by her mother and principal, Brian
Walsh.
Assistant Principals’ Study Group
with the Superintendent
A group of nine Assistant Principals meets to discuss leadership levers in the context of collaborative share of their best practices. On March 3,
2015 we met at M.S. 582 where Nichole Cicileo
led us in a discussion about creating student and
staff culture. Our next stop is P.S. 257, where
Mary Theresa Nelson will lead a collaborative
share on feedback to teachers. The participants
appreciate opportunities to visit and learn from
their colleagues. Our anchor text is Leverage
Leadership by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo.
Goals of the study group:
To support and leverage leadership
of D14 Assistant Principals
To deepen common understanding
of the Chancellor’s vision for
leaders of Great Schools
To promote instructional coherence,
build capacity and sustainability
and foster trust, collaboration,
innovation and advocacy
Assistant Principals’ Study Group
Continued...
District 14 News!
Working with Young Men of Color – D14 Panel and Discussion
On Friday, February 20, 2015 Brian De Vale organized a seminar, Working with Young Men
of Color, in support of the district diverse population and as a natural extension to a program, Young Men’s Initiative, Allen Kinard, a teacher at P.S. 257, has started a couple of
years ago in collaboration with Brian and Eric Windley. The participants left that day of
learning truly inspired by the leadership, knowledge and passion of our colleagues: Alison
Alexander who presented research, “State of Our Boys”, on the cognitive development of
young African-Americans; Allen Kinard who talked about his initiative through the lens of
his presentation called “Innocence Lost”; James Brown and Eric Windley who shared their
personal accounts in today’s context of educating young men of color and working with
their families; Andrea Johnson, a P.S. 257 counselor and educator who presented research
on solutions to bridging the educational gap for young men of color.
Our esteemed panelists were supported by the audience of principals, assistant principals,
teachers and community members.
I want to thank Brian De Vale for supporting this initiative through his collaboration with
colleagues, Pamela Payne and the CEC and by reaching out to outside resources.
Here are some next steps the seminar concluded with: expanding the Young Men’s Initiative through collaboration with willing principals to ultimately extend a summer program;
facilitate a Professional Development for teachers from interested schools to meet with
Allen Kinard so he can share his resources and units of study; tap in to resources and engage in grant writing to bring more programs like this to the district; initiate and support
similar programs for young women.
Learning Walkthrough at M.S. 577
On February 6, 2015 several elementary school principals, with their teachers, visited M.S. 577 for a
learning walkthrough focused on high expectations for student engagement on a middle school level. In
classroom visits, we looked for evidence of planning (1e) rigorous instruction, which intellectually engages students in learning (3c) through questions and discussion (3b).
I want to thank Maria Masullo and Karen Stevenson, for treating all the participants to this extraordinary, high energy, deep instructional experience of how the high expectations for teaching and learning
support and nurture student engagement in rigorous, vibrant discussions and questioning, in risk-free
and inclusive environment. I also want to thank the teachers of M.S. 577 who opened their classrooms
to many educators from the district and beyond. Their passion for teaching truly inspired each one of us
that Friday.
We walked away with common understanding of how elementary schools: teachers and principals can
better support their students to make the transition to middle school through reciprocal teaching, higher
-order thinking, cooperative groups, independent reading and problem solving.
M.S. 577 Continued...
Alicja Winnicki
Samantha Jimenez
Community School District 14 Superintendent
Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent
[email protected]
Editor in Chief of Fourteen News
Maribel Hulla
Principal Leadership Facilitator
[email protected]
[email protected]
Pamela Payne
District Family Advocate
[email protected]
Sabine Barosy
CEC Administrative Assistant
[email protected]