April 2010
What on Earth?

Dear Families and Staff,

     The Earth School has been busy! Our annual auction was again a big success. As you all know our PA works tirelessly to plan both community building events and fundraisers. The auction is our biggest fundraiser and it helps us to continue providing essential programming like music, dance and overnight environmental trips. Thanks to all parents for their ongoing dedication and commitment to our school.

    I have been actively planning for my maternity leave as my due date grows near. I am due at the end of May and want to make sure that everything is in place for closing out the school year before I leave. Dyanthe, who provides both staff and administrative support, will be available to meet with parents regarding all matters when I’m on leave. She will continue supporting teachers in a variety of capacities. Additionally, our network leader Alison Sheehan (yes, I know it works out nicely that we have the same name and actually spell it the same way) will be the supervisor in charge of the school in case of any emergency. She will be spending mornings at the school and will also be available at other times as needed. Alison has been a teacher, principal and superintendent; I trust her completely as she has been an advocate for the Earth School in many ways. She is thrilled to be supporting us. Dyanthe and I are facilitating a curriculum workshop on Tuesday, May 11 at 8:30. We will also be answering any questions you may have regarding my leave.

                                                    -- Alison

Testing    Some weeks back a few teachers and I led a parent workshop about our philosophy on testing. We shared our thinking along with very specific ways that children are prepared for the testing experience in their classrooms. Standardized testing is beginning next week. I cannot stress enough the importance of children knowing that their best work is all that we expect of them, just like any other day of school. Children need to feel comfortable and not worried about the outcomes of these tests. Over the years there has been MUCH research about the unreliability of test scores. The best thing that parents can do is make sure that children get a good night’s sleep, a nutritious, healthy breakfast and arrive to school early.  The testing schedule is as follows:

Monday, April 26-28 - ELA (English Language Arts) Exam - 4th grade is tested all days, 3rd and 5th grades are tested on the 26th & the 27th. Wednesday May 5-7th - Mathematics Exam - 4th grade is tested all days, 3rd and 5th grades are tested on the 5th & the 6th.

 
Join Us at Annual Town Meeting     Annual Town Meeting, one of our most important events of the year is happening on Saturday, May 1, from 10AM-2PM. Our annual town meeting committee is working diligently to plan the day. Our theme is, “Where will the Earth School be in 5 years?” We are changing up our format this year. Rather than having workshops we are planning to have small groups of parents and teachers collaborate about how we are meeting certain aspects of our mission and how we want to continue growing our work towards this goal. We will begin the day with a panel of teachers and parents who will share personal stories that connect to the Earth School mission. Please plan to participate as this is the best way to share your ideas and learn from others in our community!

Support Team Recognized    The Earth School was asked to present our Support Team work for a very special conference this past Saturday, The Deborah Meier Symposium: Remapping Progressive Education. For those who don’t know Deborah Meier, she began the progressive education, small schools movement here in NYC when she started Central Park East elementary school. Several of our teachers attended the conference along with about 700 other educators. It was truly inspirational to be surrounded by such a diverse group of folks with very similar ideas about education.

Welcome, Donna!    I am thrilled to announce that we have hired Donna Jackson to replace Rachel Shapiro as she goes on her maternity leave. Since September Donna has been working in Gikeno’s class and we are very excited that she will be continuing as a head teacher.

Ending Lice    We have been working with LiceEnders for the past few years to help us prevent outbreaks of lice throughout the school. They are contracted to come in several times a year, usually right after breaks, to check all students for lice. There were several complaints regarding their service last week. I spoke to Deborah Rosen who is the coordinator for LiceEnders to let her know our concerns. Mainly, there were some cases that were not detected one day but were detected the next. Another issue was that some parents were not sure what steps to take in order to begin the process of getting rid of lice. Deborah has clarified that it is in fact possible to not detect “knits” one day and find them the next day, although this is rare. She has also recognized that her staff has not been providing families with letters giving the step by step directions that are required. We had the entire school rechecked this week and have found no new cases of lice. We have very few cases of lice at this time and they are considered light cases. To clarify, when children are detected the LiceEnders staff alerts me to the severity of the case and I then determine if a child needs to be sent home. If any child has live lice in their hair they must be picked up so that the process of removing lice begins and so that it does not spread. Having a few “Nits” or “eggs” does not generally require a child to be sent home. In September we will have a family workshop with LiceEnders so that we are all on the same page.

In 1992, teachers and parents in Manhattan’s East Village founded the Earth School on a dream: to create a peaceful, nurturing place to stimulate learning in all realms of child development–intellectual, social, emotional and physical. Visit the Earth School and see how that dream has flourished. Today it is a thriving community of approximately 300 children in pre-kindergarten through grade 5 and a teaching staff dedicated to the core founding values of hands-on exploration and interaction, an arts-rich curriculum, responsible stewardship of the earth’s resources, harmonious resolution of conflicts, and parent-teacher partnership. Earth School educators believe that children have different styles of learning and flourish when their individual needs and abilities are respected. While hewing to rigorous academic standards in literacy and math, Earth School students are encouraged to explore, experiment, and even sometimes make a mess in the pursuit of their own particular interests as well as the educational goals set for them. Earth School children come from a diverse array of cultural, ethnic and economic backgrounds. Most classrooms combine two grades so that older students can thrive as guides and mentors while younger ones gain confidence in being part of a caring community of learners. This caring community comes together each Tuesday morning at a lively school wide Town Hall meeting. (Parents invited, of course.)

Earth Studies

Our Earth Studies program is at the heart of the curriculum, a model for teaching children to be knowledgeable stewards of our complex planet. All students attend weekly classes in the Earth Studies lab. There they are introduced to the rigors of scientific inquiry and the wonders of the natural world, from the biggest planets to the tiniest organisms. The lab’s outdoor container garden gives city kids a chance to experience dirt and its glories firsthand. Meal worms? Pill bugs? Madagascar hissing cockroaches? We got ‘em! To strengthen the connection between lifelong learning and the natural world, the Earth School maintains an annual tradition of week-long teacher-chaperoned trips to Camp Sloane and Frost Valley in upstate New York for all children in grades 3 to 5. Pre-K/K students assemble their own guides to the trees in Tompkins Square, while first/second graders conduct experiments to test the buoyancy properties of H2O. Third/fourth graders research conservation methods, and fifth graders organize a yearly science fair to showcase their achievements.

Tapping into children’s expressive capabilities also enhances their math, literacy and social skills, so the arts are integrated into virtually all aspects of the Earth School program. And all students spend at least two sessions each week in the Art Studio, drawing and painting, making prints, collages and sculptures, and compiling portfolios of their work. And, in addition to frequent class trips to cultural institutions and events throughout the city, culture comes to the Earth School in the form of a variety of programs in partnership with arts organizations. The younger children learn music through Third Street Music School, culminating in a spring performance on the auditorium stage before the Earth School community. The older grades have classes taught by a professional dancer from Arts Connection, as well as the Harmony program, which introduces flute, drums and keyboards.

Click & Think

Computer technology is fully integrated into the Earth School, from kid-friendly PC carrels in the pre-K/K classrooms to lap tops used in the upper grades. We have a technology teacher on staff and a dedicated resource room, as well as a state-of-the-art technology cart that can be mobilized throughout the school. (Watch where you step, because one of the programmable Roamer robots might be gathering data in the hall!) Our web site has frequently updated information on school news, class projects and calendar events.

Movers & Shakers

Physical activity is a big part of Earth School life. Each class has two weekly sessions in the gym with our physical education teacher. Lunchtime recess is in the large outdoor play yard, recently upgraded with new climbing structures and a basketball court. On rainy days, we use the Blue Space on the lower level for games and noise.

We welcome you to visit us. At the Earth School, there’s a whole lot of progressive learning going on.

                                        EARTH SCHOOL SPRING AUCTION

Hello Prospective Parents and Guardians,

Kindergarten applications are now available at the Earth School. If you have joined us on a tour and we are your 1st choice school, please come in and fill out an application between the hours of 9 am to 10:30 am or 12 pm to 1 pm.

These are the Kindergarten Admission Timeline as per the Dept. of Education:

• Kindergarten Admissions Begin : February 1, 2010
• Kindergarten Admissions Ends : March 12, 2010
• Schools Notify Families of Kindergarten Offers: March 22, 2010

These are the Pre-Kindergarten Admission Timeline as per the Dept. of Education:

• Pre-K Applications Available: March 1, 2010
• Pre-K Applications Period Ends: April , 2010
• Pre-Kindergarten Offer Letters Distributed to Fmailies: May 31, 2010
  

For more information on Elementary School admissions please visit the Department of Education webpage at

http://schools.nyc.gov/ChoicesEnrollment/Elementary/default.htm

You can also check out: www.insideschools.org for further helpful information.

Remember to tour!

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