September 19, 2023

 

Dear Families,

If you have a child at CPE1, you are part of the CPE1 parent association.  So, this week, you have a meeting.

The first parent association meeting of this year happens Thursday evening, from 6:00 to 7:30.  We always have childcare and pizza in one room so families can talk together in another. 

The more that people participate, the more voices will be heard.  Please lend your voice Thursday evening, and throughout the year.

 

Changing Parent Coordinator

Alana is moving on from her role as CPE1’s parent coordinator.  She is leaving New York City public schools for new opportunities. 

Our hiring committee will look for a new parent coordinator.  The citywide process for hiring parent coordinators takes about two months.  If we find a strong candidate, December is the earliest that candidate would be working in our school.

For now, Donna, Stephanie, and I will be picking up different aspects of a parent coordinator’s role. 

 

Learning Songs for All-School Sing

We have had All-School Sing twice so far this year.  In September, we usually sing fewer songs while new students – particularly pre-K – learn the words.  Our pace quickens as more children know our songbook.  (By winter, when we sing “Skating on the Volga,” we sound fast.)  

Many families want to learn the words and melodies along with their children.  For a copy of the CPE1 songbook, please visit www.cpe1.nyc/resources. 

Some songs to know now are “Make New Friends,” which we sing at the start of the year; “Autumn Song” and “Ghost of Tom”, which we sing as the leaves start to change; plus “Underneath the Learning Tree” and “Love Grows,” the final song of each All-School Sing.

Families are invited to All-School Sing every Monday from 8:30 to 9:10.  If your schedule does not allow you to come, I hope you can plan a Monday in the future when you can stay a little longer after drop-off.

 

Screeners Begin

CPE1 teachers know their students well, as learners and as people.  Teachers observe children purposefully throughout the day.  CPE1 also has developed formal assessments, especially in reading and math.  The assessments we developed help us understanding each child’s thinking.

For the past few years, our public school system has added ‘screeners.’  Screeners don’t check for high-level understanding; they are supposed to be a quick way for schools identify children who might need more support.  We will be starting with the fall screeners very soon. 

In kindergarten through second grade, the screener is called Acadience.  Acadience assesses children by counting – how many letters can a kindergartner identify in one minute, how addition problems can a first grader solve in two minutes, how many words can a second grader read in one minute? 

iReady, the screener for third, fourth, and fifth grade, takes longer.  Students work at their own pace, which usually ends up being about 80 minutes across two days.  iReady is a multiple-choice assessment children take on laptops.  Candidly, if our school system did not require schools to give these screeners, we would not give our children multiple-choice questions on laptops.

I value how much we learn about children from the open-ended assessments our school has developed.   The screeners assess very differently, yet last year’s generally correlated with ours, especially in reading.  For example, when our teachers assessed a child as having deeper reading comprehension, the screeners tended to say the child was a fast, accurate reader.  I wouldn’t replace our deeper assessment with the screeners, but I do see that they overlap.

 

Auditorium Upgrade

Brand-new seats are coming to our auditorium.  Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and Deputy Council Speaker Diana Ayala awarded a total of $260,000 to replace the auditorium seating. 

I applied for a city grant called a Reso A, which gives schools funding for technology and small construction projects.  Past Reso A grants upgraded almost the whole auditorium, except for the chairs.  I think the squeaky wooden seats are almost seventy years old.  The project probably will start in Summer 2024 or 2025.

New seats will benefit every school that shares our building.  I am looking forward to All-School Sings where we hear more children signing and less chair creaking.

 

Coming Up Soon

Parent Association Meeting – September 21 – 6:00 p.m.

  • No School – September 25

  • Curriculum Night – – September 27 – 6:00 p.m.

  • Community Coffee – October 6 – 8:30 a.m.

  • No School – October 9

  • School Picture Day – October 10, October 11