Weekly Newsletter

May 25, 2025

We hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend. We have school Tuesday, but we do not have school Wednesday. Athletics Fun Day (Field Day) is Thursday at the Upper Campus. Please send your child ready for outdoor play, with sneakers, hats, sunscreen, and a full water bottle. Thursday’s forecast is sunny and 74 degrees. Friday is Fan Day. Students can wear a top that shows off a special interest - a favorite team's colors, Poly gear, or tees with a special hobby, or beloved musician.

Summer Math Workbooks were sent home last week. Please make sure you know where it is and keep it in a safe place until summer begins. We recommend spreading out the workbook throughout the summer and especially focusing on it in August, so students can enter third grade feeling confident in math. Practicing the addition and subtraction algorithms (carrying and borrowing) will be the most important concepts to keep fresh over the summer. 

We’ll be working on our Tenement dioramas a lot this week. Students are motivated and excited about recreating early 20th century life in their models. You can continue to send in small cardboard jewelry boxes, corks, beer caps, jar lids, bottle caps, etc. Thank you! 

We have one more field trip and it’s to the Eldridge Street Synagogue on Wednesday, June 10. We will learn about Jewish immigration in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. We’ll go on a walking tour of the Lower East Side, and picnic at Seward Park, the nation’s oldest playground. Let us know if you’d like to chaperone. The trip will be from 9:30 AM to 2:00 PM.  

Please remember to check Pick Up Patrol, the Lunch Menu, and our updated Photos Page. There are pictures from tenement diorama building, math class, reading, recess, and both Gray’s and Anjali’s families’ immigration stories. 

What’s going on in our classroom

Reading

Students are reading independently and enjoying the quiet time to explore their own books. 

Math

Second Graders completed an end of year assessment last week to let us know what they need to work on in the final weeks of school and over the summer. This week and next we will do a short unit about time and money. 

Social Studies

Students are building their tenement apartments inside shoeboxes. Tomorrow we’ll finish wallpapering each room. Then, they’ll start their furniture such as coal stoves, beds, and sofas. Then they’ll add details such as paintings on the wall and clotheslines. Ask your child how their tenement is coming along!

We are continuing to learn about life in New York City’s Lower East Side and immigration in general. You can look at our slideshows on our Social Studies page. 

Fundations

Students are continuing to learn about r controlled syllables. Click for our May Trick Words for spelling.

Read Alouds / DEIB 

We read Grandfather’s Journey and Tea With Milk, both by Allen Say. We’re still enjoying our chapter book read aloud, All-of-a-Kind Family Downtown by Sydney Taylor. 

MAY

27: School Closed: Eid al-Adha

28: Athletics Fun Day for G1 to G4

29: Fan Day

JUNE

2: Athletics Fun Day Rain Date

3: POLY PM: Last Day of Spring Enrichment

4: Noon Dismissal: Open School Night

5: School Closed: Commencement

8: United Voices - End of Year Celebration

8: POLY PM: MakeUp Week for Spring Enrichment 

9 & 10: Final Lost & Found Recovery Days 

9: Changemaker Day

10: 2A and 2B Field Trip to Eldridge Street Synagogue

10: Last Day of Poly PM for the 25-26 School Year

11: Clapping Out and Grade 4 Graduation

12: End of Year Community Time, 11:15 AM

12: Last Day of School, Noon Dismissal