Family Newsletter - 3-24-25

• Congratulations to Ms. Vazquez, who successfully ran the NYC Half Marathon through Brooklyn to Manhattan, Prospect Park to Central Park, 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 16 minutes. She continues to be a role model for her physical education students, who she enrolled in Mighty Milers, to encourage them to recognize the importance of health and fitness.
• Mr. Beard, Ms. Abdelwahab, Mr. Zak and our Girls’ Basketball team won the division playoffs, and played for the Brooklyn championship on Saturday. It was a hard-fought game against a team who had 2 players over 6 feet tall. Our girls played tough, but came up short, falling only by 2 points with a score of 34-32. Special thank you to Ms. Singer and our Spirit Squad, as well as those who assisted in chaperoning and going to cheer our Honey Badgers on. We are tremendously proud of their accomplishments!
   
• We had the pleasure of recognizing our 231 students and 16 staff members for having 100% attendance at the mid-school-year mark! They received a special hoodie representing their “Never Been Absent” NBA All Star status.
   
• Our Student of the Month breakfast celebrated those who were recognized by their Deans as excelling in character, leadership and respect.
   
• Mr. Hutton's 6th Grade STEM students went on a trip to the NY Transit Museum on Thursday. The students had the opportunity to explore the museum exhibits and learn about how technology and engineering has influenced New York City's Transit System over the last 100+ years. This was many of the students' first visit to the Transit Museum and were amazed by all the old subway cars and how they have changed over the years. 
   
• Ms. Travis’ students from 617 got to partner with the National Wildlife Federation, NYC Parks, and the NYC Littoral Society to plant dune grass at Coney Island Creek Park.During their workshop, students were able to explain to the facilitators that the dune grass roots help hold the sand dunes in place, which is important because the sand dunes keep local homes from flooding, and without the dune grass roots all the sand tends to erode. They also learned what the high-water level line was during Hurricane Sandy using poles as a visual, and they got to see how high the water level will go if nothing is done about Climate Change and sea level rise. 
   
• Classes 718, 725, 714, 720, 721 took a trip to the SI Zoo and learned how environmental sustainability exists with the systems of the new Zoo
   
• It takes a village they always say. And while our schoolwide Yondr program has been eliminating cell phones in the classrooms and around the building, we are beginning to see an uptick in the number of students that are hiding them in their bags and taking them out in the bathroom or when they have a sub. They are aware of the procedure, any student found in possession of their phone after they have entered the building and are in class will have it confiscated, and the parent must come to the building to pick it up. I appreciate your cooperation.
   
• Senior families, please note, Wednesday March 26^th is senior picture retake day. So if your child needs to have their senior photo retaken, that is the only opportunity they will have to do so.

• I've sent out several emails informing you of our partnership with PRACTICE, a DOE approved vendor, to provide free virtual tutoring for our students from home. Our on-demand tutoring program has been very successful in providing at home tutoring Mondays through Fridays from 4-8 pm. The sessions last 30-45 minutes each. I wanted to remind you about our partnership with PRACTICE, as it will continue through the spring and end on May 23rd.  If your child struggles with homework, needs additional support or someone to help them catch up with work, this is a great opportunity. Most especially, as we move towards unified mid-terms, state testing and regents' exams, your child can receive at home support with live tutors. The PRACTICE team has tutors available who speak multiple languages and can cover all subject materials. 
  Booking a session is simple; click on this video link to see how to sign up. To take advantage of the extra support, please sign-up here: https://form.jotform.com/243126203427144
  See the attached flyers with a QR code and additional information. If you have any further questions, please contact your grade Assistant Principal.
   

Academic Vocabulary Word of the Week: 

3/24/2025 – Imply, Relate

Spanish: Implicar, relacionar

Chinese: 暗示、關聯

Russian: Подразумевает, связывает

Urdu: مطلب، تعلق

Social Emotional Focus Week 26:

6th Grade – Compassion: Engage with the vignette “Helping Hand” and practice compassion; engage with the vignette “New Boss” and practice compassion

7th Grade – Determination: Understand determination in sports; evaluate students’ understanding of determination

8th Grade – Individuality: Engage with real-life scenarios and practice individuality (vignette: “Fashion Friends”); engage with real-life scenarios and practice individuality (vignette: “Athlete and Actor”)