 Dear Families, Let’s start off with.. Some Good News! -Our State Test Town Hall was well attended and offered the opportunity for community conversation around our own values surrounding testing. Many different perspectives were shared and everyone left with some food for thought! -First Grade Women’s History Celebrations - students used padlet, written booklets, flipgrid, posterboards, jamboard to celebrate sheroes -Student Council led the school in a mindfully themed morning meeting -Students in PE learned about the Iditarod and the physical challenges of being a dog musher in the great Alaskan race at the beginning of March. -2nd graders had a virtual cooking class where they made delicious healthy pasta salad with Shiloh Stephen’s dad - Chef Thomas! They also did a diy science experiment and had a virtual field trip to the Bronx Children’s Museum! -5th Grade did a virtual field trip with a guest visitor - Katie Dunn who works at the National Archives. The students explored primary source documents connected to the Women's Suffrage Movement and the passing of the 19th Amendment. They gathered their learnings on a collaborative document. https://docs.google.com/document/d/16dNoaQtcGjucpwlu7Yl6NEB6xhEk8UyJlG-Wg4Z9sFo/edit Also a group of 5th graders - about 20 of them - are proactively revising and editing our 5th grade family charter in light of some of the challenges we've been facing as a community and our goals to increase communication, for everyone to be heard and for folks to ask & receive help from one another (student engagement WIG) -K teacher Denise celebrated International SEL Day with a bedtime read-aloud and a lunchtime encore of 100 Days Inside: This is a story about an only child navigating her new reality and BIG feelings during the stay-at-home orders during the pandemic. With the help of her mommy, she learns how to deal with the changes and her emotions amidst the stay-at-home orders. As a reminder: another Hybrid Learning Opt-In window has been announced. Remote only families may indicate their interest in opting into hybrid learning by completing this survey between March 24th and April 7th. Please see this attached letter for further information. Take note that the window is not open yet and hybrid is not reflected as a choice on the survey at this time. We wish everyone in our community a happy and healthy spring recess, as well as a happy holiday to all those celebrating in the coming weeks.  AmPark STEM The sign up for the AmPark Morning STEM program with Casey and Matilda is here: https://forms.gle/urCqdyC6YJjzb1ve8 We are offering this morning program where students will be able to do STEM activities and chat in the morning before school. Students will be able to use any materials they have at home to participate! When? 8:00-8:45, Tuesdays & Wednesdays What dates? Weekly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from April 6th - April 28th As a reminder the remote to hybrid opt-in window is open until April 7th. We do not yet have a start date for when students new to in-person learning will begin and remote instruction will continue until it is announced. Based on our current in-person numbers, classroom size, and staffing needs we do not anticipate being able to change from our A/B model to offer full-time in-person learning. State Testing Thank you to all who attended our Town Hall Meeting for families on Tuesday of this week. As a reminder please know that the New York State ELA exam will be administered during the following testing window: April 19th - 29th. The New York State Math exam will be administered during the following testing window: May 3rd - May 14th. The state has determined that exams will be administered in-person and that there will be no remote option. The tests will be administered in one session. Schools have the option to administer the second session of the test for their own assessment purposes. AmPark will not be administering a second session for either exam. Schools are not expected to bring students into the building to participate in the exams if the students are receiving entirely remote instruction during the testing windows. If remote only families would like for their child(ren) to participate, please reach out to Kelly at [email protected]. If your child is a hybrid learner and you would like to opt out of the exams, please send an email to Kelly at [email protected] as soon as possible. It is most helpful to all of our students to have the most accurate information regarding testing numbers as soon as possible in order to reduce interruptions to instruction by scaling our testing windows, classroom locations, and staff members to the appropriate number of students testing.  Vaccines for All NYC Workers We are happy to announce that, given New York State’s updated guidance on vaccine eligibility, all New York City employees are now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. This means that, even if you have not previously been included in one of the eligible categories, you may now be vaccinated. In addition to available public vaccination sites, the City has established vaccination sites specifically for City employees, all of which are ADA accessible. With high schools reopening this month, some of the current Workforce sites may change location. (Appointments made at the original locations will be honored and rescheduled for the new locations.) To sign up for an appointment at a City site in the borough most convenient for you, click on the links below:
1200 Manor Rd, Staten Island, NY 10314 Again, please note that you may also visit any of the public sites. Find a complete list of those New York City locations here. New York State also maintains a list of available vaccination sites here. You must bring proof of eligibility to the vaccination site:
 Alvin Ailey Camp Application form From our partners at Alvin Ailey: I'm writing to share with you the application form for AileyCamp New York 2021. As one of AIE's valued partner schools, we would be delighted if you will share this application with your middle-school aged students and families who may be interested. AileyCamp is a summer day camp for children aged 11 - 14 where students learn to dance and explore their creativity. AileyCampers come to respect the discipline of dance as a physical activity which requires athletic ability comparable to skills demanded by any sport. Campers will also increase their leadership skills and enjoy a variety of athletic and social activities. While there are still some details to be confirmed, camp is expected to take place in-person Monday-Thursday, with Fridays taking place virtually. See the application for more information. AileyCamp is free and there is no cost for application or attendance. Attire, breakfast and lunch are provided at no cost. No prior dance experience is required, and prior dance training is not a consideration for admission. The application deadline is Friday, April 2nd; however, please forward any completed applications you may receive from students, even if they are returned after the deadline. I've also included a link to a video on AileyCamp New York should you wish to view: AileyCamp New York https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZpSP3Sj9_M If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me, or reach out to [email protected] Spring Recess Safety & Travel Advisory Coding West-Windsor Plainsboro High School South near Princeton, New Jersey wants to see if students at Ampark Neighborhood are interested in a free coding program they are offering this Spring. As part of their chapter of the completely student-run nonprofit organization, Codivate, they will be running 8 comprehensive coding courses to help students improve their computational thinking and practical programming skills. They are currently looking for both students and tutors. Registration for all Spring courses closes on Saturday, March 27. Please feel free to check out our website at codivate.org and get more information about each course at nj.codivate.org. Charter Schools
The DOE has scheduled a public hearing for two unrelated charter schools located in Community School District (CSD) 10. Please find the respective notices which provide further context linked below: International Leadership Charter High School Atmosphere Academy Public Charter Schools Charter School #1: International Leadership Charter High School Charter School #2: Atmosphere Academy Public Charter School Authorizer: The State University Board of Trustees Acton Type: Revision Date: Thursday, April 8, 2021 Address: Register at http://bit.ly/charterhearings Speaker Sign-Up Deadline: 5:00 p.m. Hearing Start Time: 5:30 p.m. If any parents or community members are unable to attend the hearing, public comment can be submitted to the authorizer directly to SUNY Charter Schools Institute Associate Counsel, Carrie Gee, at [email protected]. *Please note that this application does not pertain to any changes to the utilization of school district space. Any changes to the utilization of school district space would be addressed in separate processes and public hearings. This distribution list is BCC’ed. Please reach out with any questions, comments, or concerns. Have a wonderful and healthy weekend! Comments are closed.
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