The Earth School

Weekly News

THE BUZZ.....

October 6, 2019

Dear Earth School Families,

It looks like autumn is bringing us cooler temperatures and some rainy days as we enter our second month of school! We know this is a time of year when children start dressing in layers that they may put on and take off as they feel colder or warmer throughout the day. Be sure to label your child’s sweaters, hoodies, jackets, etc., to make any misplaced items easier to identify!

Interested in helping with C.O.W. Time? C.O.W. (Community Open Work) is when all Earth School classes have Open Work at the same time (Tuesday afternoons). This allows students to work in other classrooms. Students, teachers, and parents also run special “C.O.W. Clubs” to visit other classrooms to work on a common interest or activity (past clubs include sewing, knitting, Japanese, gardening, school newspaper, and others). C.O.W. is an opportunity for parents to share their own interests with the school community, to get to know students, and to contribute diverse and rich experiences for students. If you are interested in helping with or even leading a C.O.W club, please contact your child’s teacher(s) or Linda (linda@theearthschool.org). Time commitment is flexible (one week, several weeks, etc.), whether you’d like to help an existing club or lead a club.

Family Conferences are coming up soon! A reminder that Earth School’s schedule for family conferences is different from the DOE calendar (see our dates below, under Looking Ahead). Keep an eye out for scheduling information from your child’s classroom!

A reminder to come check out Parent Corps, hosted by Shirley, our Guidance Counselor! It’s a fun way to develop a support network with other families at school, and a great way to get ideas from each other about how to manage the challenges of parenting. Kick-off meeting is Monday, Oct. 28, 8:30 - 10:00, in room 106, and is open to new and returning participants.

The Earth School Fall Fair is coming up on Saturday, October 19th! Tremendous thanks to community members who came to school Thursday morning to help re-organize our storage room in preparation for the Fair! You can sign up for other ways to help out with this school-wide event on the Fall Fair board near the office!

Have a wonderful week!

Claudia

Posted Oct 7, 2019, 7:07 AM by Designer Stevie Remsberg

THE BUZZ.....

October 1, 2019

Dear Earth School Families,

We are coming off of an unusually long weekend and into an unusually short week, so I will keep this Buzz short, too!

For families of our youngest students, don’t be alarmed if you notice your child has a bit of trouble with school morning routines tomorrow. It’s not uncommon after very long weekends for our littlest Earthlings to need a bit of time to get back into the routines of school, as four days without school can feel like a long time when you are four or five years old! If you are able to, try to give yourselves a little extra time in the morning to get ready before school.

Interested in connecting with parents and caretakers who know how challenging it can be to get a young child ready for school every day? Come check out Parent Corps, hosted by Shirley, our Guidance Counselor! This is an interactive support group developed for parents and caretakers of Pre-K and K children, but open to families of students of all ages. Each session focuses on an important topic for parenting young children and provides a comfortable atmosphere for sharing strategies and learning from one another. Kick-off meeting is Monday, Oct. 28, 8:30 - 10:00, in room 106, and is open to new and returning participants. See attached fliers for more information.

We have noticed that scooter parking in the room leading to the women’s bathroom sometimes blocks the entrance to the women’s bathroom. Please be mindful of “parking” items as space-efficiently as possible so the bathroom entrance isn’t blocked.

The Earth School Fall Fair is coming up on Saturday, October 19th! There are lots of ways to help out with this school-wide event, and you can sign up on the Fall Fair board near the office!

Have a wonderful week!

Claudia

Posted Oct 2, 2019, 7:01 AM by Designer Stevie Remsberg

THE BUZZ.....

September 22, 2019

Dear Earth School Families,

It was so wonderful to see all the families who were able to make it our Classroom Potluck and Curriculum Night on Thursday! If you were unable to make it, feel free to reach out to teachers for any information you might have missed (many, if not all, will have already sent home their curriculum letters and other helpful beginning-of-the-year information, and we are attaching here curriculum letters for Movement with Vince, Science with Emmy, and Cooking with Time, for your convenience).

Our Community Climate March on Friday was also wonderful and inspiring! Tomorrow is the Equinox and our classrooms will be continuing to explore themes related to caring for our earth this week as we approach our Fall Equinox Celebration on Friday (during Weekly Town Meeting). Your child’s teacher(s) may be sending out more details, as needed, in the coming days.

Safety Announcement The officers who monitor traffic safety at the school in the morning have asked all three schools to alert families that double-parking on 6th street is leading to unsafe conditions, as the congestion is leading sometimes to blocked intersections and decreased visibility of pedestrians. They have advised us that soon, they will start issuing tickets or even towing

Opportunities for parent involvement and supports! We wanted to make sure everyone is aware of some group “kick-offs” and informational meetings coming up that are great opportunities to become involved or learn from and support each other:

—Middle School Information Families of our 5th graders will want to keep an eye out for emails from Shirley and printed materials sent home in backpacks to stay current on middle school information, dates, and deadlines. Shirley sent an email/letter last Thursday with some important information, and Middle School Directories were sent home with students on Thursday. Shirley will be hosting a Middle School Information Session on Monday, Oct. 21, from 8:45-9:45, in the library. (See below for additional October dates related to middle school information.)

—Parent Corps (in partnership with NYU; open to new and returning families) is a parent education and support group led by Guidance Counselor Shirley Suares. Kick-off meeting is Monday, Oct. 28, 8:30 - 10:00, in the library.

—The Diversity & Difference Study Group, examines issues of equity, racism, and privilege in America. We’ll be sending out a flier soon with more information, but for now save the date of our first meeting--Friday, October 25, 8:45-10:00.

Additionally, we currently have an opening for a parent position on the School Leadership Team, and voting--open to all parents--will take place this Wed., Sept. 25. The SLT is comprised of parents, teachers, and administration and works on school-wide educational priorities. They meet one Thursday/month, from 4-6:00. If you are interested in serving on SLT, email ESPA@theearthschool.org for more information.

Have a wonderful week!

Claudia

Posted Oct 2, 2019, 6:44 AM by Designer Stevie Remsberg

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THIS WEEK

(See the full calendar)

Tues, 10/8 PA Meeting

Wed, 10/9 School closed for Yom Kippur

Thurs, 10/10

SLT Meeting, 4-6:00 PM, Room 114
4th/4th Grade Camp Information Meeting , 6-7:00 PM, Room 114

LOOKING AHEAD

Mon, 10/14 School closed for Indigenous People’s Day

Wed, 10/16 District 1 Middle School Fair, 5:30 - 7:30 PM, University Neighborhood Middle School, 220 Henry Street, NY, NY 10002

Sat, 10/19 Earth School Fair, 12:00- 5:30 PM, Tompkins Square Park

Mon, 10/21 Earth School Middle School Informational Meeting, 8:45-9:45 AM, Library

Thurs, 10/24

District 2 Middle School Fair, 5:30 - 7:30 PM, Stuyvesant High School, 345 Chambers St., NY, NY 10282
Earth School Evening Family Conferences

Fri, 10/25 Half Day for Family Conferences

HELP WANTED

Art Room Set-Up and Storage Room Organization: As we announced previously, we anticipate needing some help with some art room set up and Storage Room Organization. If you’d like to help out with Art Room Set-Up, please contact George (george@theearthschool.org). Additionally, our Storage Room is in need of some cleaning and organization (which will be particularly important as we begin to prepare for our Annual Fall Fair). If you’d like to help take on that project, please contact Jocelyn (jocelyn@theearthschool.org).

BACK TO SCHOOL BASICS

Arrival and Breakfast The Earth School entrance on 5th Street and Ave B opens just before 8:00 a.m. Students arriving before that time should use the building’s 6th Street entrance (which opens at 7:45 a.m.) and proceed to the cafeteria, where breakfast is available from (7:45-8:15) and Earth School staff are on hand for supervision. Before 8:00 a.m., parents/caregivers should accompany children to the cafeteria to find Carmen, and after 8:00 a.m., children can go down on their own, if preferred. Families are always welcome to stay. Children are escorted to their classrooms at 8:25 a.m. If you prefer to bring your child directly to the classroom, please note that children may not wait outside of classrooms before 8:25 a.m. without their caregiver.

ID Cards All visitors are required to show a picture ID and sign in to enter the building. Parents, caregivers, and those who regularly pick-up should request an Earth School ID Card for quicker entry. To request an ID, email a selfie, your name, and your child's name to stevie@winkink.com . The security of our children depends on accurate monitoring of visitors entering and leaving the building. Failure to cooperate with these safety protocols could result in restrictions to parents’ open access to the school building.

Class starts at 8:30 a.m. Attendance is taken in the classroom, and you must bring your child to the office to get a late pass (which he/she will need in order to enter the class) if they will be arriving to their classroom after 8:35. Although attendance procedures may seem like minor, daily routines, they are actually extremely important for the purposes of student safety (to verify that students are present at school) and collecting accurate lunch information, both of which must be done first thing in the morning.

Dismissal is at 2:50 p.m. Children who are not picked up will be taken to late pick-up in the cafeteria. If you must be late, please call the office. After school can be a very busy time for office staff, so we appreciate that you do your best to be on time.

Door Alarms There are door alarms and video cameras at all building exits. Everyone must enter and exit through doors with a posted Safety Agents: 6th Street Entrance at all times; 5th Street "Earth School" entrance at arrival and dismissal ONLY. People who exit through unguarded doors will set off loud alarms that may trigger a building-wide safety response.