THE BUZZ.....

March 17, 2019

Dear Families,

Make the Earth Cool Again! Climate Justice is Social Justice! The Earth is Our Mother! Like Sea Level We Rise! What is your favorite Climate March sign?




Friday’s Earth School Climate March was amazing! Please save pictures for the website! Thanks to the teachers for teaching into it and organizing!! Sustainability education is happening at The Earth School and here are some ways that you can help.

• Don’t buy single-use water bottles (the Poland Spring type). Remember, we have a single-use water bottle BAN at the Earth School.
• Please remind kids to bring a reusable water bottle with them for water in the school cafeteria, at recess, and for trips.
• Please donate your extra reusable water bottles. We are collecting gently-used reusable water bottles in the Earth School lobby! We will sterilize them and make them available to students.

March is a busy month with lots of fantastic community events coming up. On Tuesday, we will have the annual Open Mic at Night and next week is the Mystery Art Show. We hope you will join us for these fun family events!

Art update

We continue to plan for next year’s visual arts programming. I have met with a number of excellent Arts Partners and have collected many resumes as I continue to explore funding options. Since the PA budget is “maxed out,” the best options are through Department of Education funds, grants, and discretionary funding from the City Council. We don’t receive our 2019 – 2020 budget until June so having our options in place is very helpful. Rest assured, visual arts programming is an essential component of elementary education and is a priority shared by me, Earth School staff, the PA, and the SLT.

Here’s what is happening to support visual arts learning this spring:

• Meet Me at the Met program: Curriculum-aligned museum tours
• Hottest show of the season: Frida Kahlo at Brooklyn Museum. Class visits, artist study, and art projects
• Visiting parent artists: Work will be displayed at District Arts Fair
• Mystery Art Show: Art activities in all classes to produce for the show!
• Sign-making for Climate March
• Guest Artist Series with Earth Celebrations in April for Sustainability Parade
• Fifth grade Graduation Walking Sticks project with retired art teacher Patrice

It’s that time of the year again: DOE School Surveys!!! Surveys will go out this week and are due back by April 3. This short survey gathers information about your overall satisfaction with the school. The results are published and used to determine our school’s official rating compared to other schools. Each student will receive a green envelope containing a hard copy of the survey to fill out along with postage-paid envelope. You can also complete the survey online at NYCSchoolSurvey.org at home or in the PA Room using your access code (in the green envelope). Only one survey needed per family. It’s easy and it takes about 3 minutes. Jocelyn is happy to help!!

EVENTS & UPDATES.....

March 11, 2019

Dear Families,

It’s that time of the year again: DOE School Surveys!!! This short survey gathers information about your overall satisfaction with the school. The results are published and used to determine our school’s official rating and to compare us with other schools. Each student will receive a green envelope containing a hard copy of the survey to fill out along with postage-paid envelope. You can also complete the survey online at NYCSchoolSurvey.org at home or in the PA Room or Library using your access code (in the green envelope). It is very important that each family completes the survey (one per family). It’s easy and it takes about 3 minutes. Jocelyn is happy to help!!

Warmest regards, Abbe

THE BUZZ.....

Dear Families,

I’m sending a big shout out to our amazing parents for putting on the Annual Magic Show!! Our community is grateful for all the effort and teamwork!

Congratulations to the Earth School band for performing at the Battle of the District One Bands on Sunday. Our student talent show, Open Mic at Night is on March 19. Permission Slips went out last week and are due by Friday, 3/8.

I wrote earlier in the week about a particular form of cyberbullying in which an animated character called Momo is inserted into children’s programs on YouTube. The “Momo Challenge” targets children by commanding them to perform dangerous dares while threatening them with dire consequences for not obeying or for telling their parents! In addition to YouTube, many children are hearing about it through parent conversations, social media, their peers, and the news.

On Friday, I spoke to a few second graders who were absolutely terrified by the Momo character shown on news reports and by their parents in an effort to warn them. These children firmly believed that the character was alive inside computers and devices. When I described it as a prank, they fearfully insisted that it was real. I spent quite a bit of time explaining and demonstrating that it is fairly simple to edit digital animation clips onto an existing show and upload it back onto YouTube. I highly doubt that I was able to convince them enough to erase their anxiety, but it was a start. They then volunteered several other characters from video games, the internet, and movies that were also causing them tremendous fear.

I am reminded of how vulnerable elementary school children are to being frightened. Children have soaring imaginations and are still learning to discern fantasy from reality. Furthermore, their knowledge of the world is limited leaving them susceptible to believing what they “see” online and in films. In spite of this, children may be initially drawn to viewing disturbing content. For some children, exposure to highly frightening content may lead to long-lasting anxiety, sleep disturbances, nightmares, phobias, and may diminish their general sense of safety and security.

I urge parents to closely monitor children’s online viewing and to limit children’s exposure to frightening content via video games and movies. Until the Momo scam is contained, I recommend avoiding YouTube. If you want to discuss the scam with your child, please avoid sharing the actual images or audio. If suspect that your child is experiencing anxiety, please contact me so I can provide resources to help.

Warmest regards, Abbe