P.S. 118 The Maurice Sendak Community School

Morning Announcement Auction Winner 2022

What better way to kick off spirit week and to celebrate Maurice Sendak's birthday than with our morning announcement's 2022 auction winner Poppy McCaffrey-Nitz!!

Morning announcement auction winner Poppy McCaffrey-Nitz

Principal for the day auction winner 2022

Jonah exchanging ideas with our kindergarten teacher Ms. Jaclyn.

Jonah speaking with our school social worker Mr. Cofield.

Our student checking out the garden in the school yard.

Jonah letting other students know about the schedule.

Jonah sharing ideas about the food with our school dietitian Maria.

Jonah speaking to our teacher about the improvements for the classroom.

Every year Ms. Garraway offers to host a student "Principal for the day". This year's auction winner was Jonah Wintraub. He visited classrooms, walked around the school, made suggestions about school improvements, greeted students and staff and more!

Week of May 2-6 3-5 Spring dance

The spring dance at ps118 with Mr. Marc with the 3-5 crowd at the school yard.

PS118 students gather at the school yard for the annual spring dance.

PS118 students gather in a circle for the annual spring dance.

Students made room for dance in the middle.

Mr. Marc announcing the start of the spring dance.

PS118 students running as a part of the dance.

Lunch with the principal

Students enjoying lunch with Principal Garraway, there were storytelling, jokes and lots of fun for both the students and our principal.

Week of April 25-29 - k-2 dance

The fun at ps118 continues with Marc Hernstein animating the K-2 crowd at the school yard dance.

Mr. Hernstein dancing with the students.

PS118 students dancing in the school yard.

PS118 students dancing in the school yard under the guidance of Mr. Marc.

Students huddled together getting ready for the dance.

The playground as a backdrop for the school dance.

Have you wordle'd today?

Wordle, the stimulating and wildly popular daily game has become a cultural phenomenon in a matter of months. Joining the craze, here at PS118, Staff members as well as students have started a Wordle streak. Wordle gives players six chances to guess a randomly selected five-letter word.There's only one puzzle per day where everyone plays to reveal the exact same word, be cautious not to spoil it for your friends! The complete rules for the game can be found on the pictures below. Now, Have you Wordle'd today? If so, How many tries did it take?

The six chances of five letter words scoring.

Thursday, March 10 - Food justice 2

Our students are serious about food equity. They grow food in their classrooms all year long and make regular donations to CHiPS — a community soup kitchen. Here’s a 5th grade class with a fresh harvest ready for donation.

Two students harvested lettuce for our soup kitchen.

5th grade students checking the ripeness of cucumbers.

PS118 student holding a bag of cucumbers ready for donation.

PS118 5th grade students donating the harvest to the soup kitchen.

Monday, March 07 - Dance lesson for first Graders

Dance and French lesson for our first graders with Mr. Mark.

Students learning the dance moves with Mr. Mark.

Showing off dance moves in the music room.

Thursday, March 03 - Food Justice

Our students are serious about food equity. They grow food in their classrooms all year long and make regular donations to CHiPS — a community soup kitchen. Here’s a 4th grade class with a fresh harvest ready for donation.

4th graders donating their harvest to CHIPS soup kitchen in Brooklyn.

Student harvesting lettuce for donation.

Bags of lettuce ready to be picked up for the community soup kitchen.

The students are donating their harvest to CHiPs - a community soup kitchen.

Thursday, March 03 - Read across America day

Reading is fundamental! It is FUN, FUN, FUN! We are celebrating Read Across America Day! Our kindergarten students love dressing up as their favorite characters. Acting out books and using multiple modalities to teach reading and provide access to literature to all students is a strength of PS118 staff.

PS118 student dressed up as their favorite book character.

Students celebrating Read Across America Day.

Wednesday, March 03 - Hydroponics lab at PS118!

Students are growing and tasting their own healthy foods!

PS118's indoor garden with hydroponics setup.

The tomatoes hanging off the branches at the hydroponics lab.

PS118 teacher preparing tomatoes to taste.

PS118 teachers and students are tasting the tomatoes they've harvested.

PS118 students enjoying their tomatoes in class.

Black History Month

February is Black History Month. Black History is Our History. While the month of February is dedicated to studying influential Black Leaders, PS 118 is dedicated to incorporating concepts of inclusivity, justice, and equity into our everyday curricula. For example, in science class, fourth-grade students researched black scientists. They created posters highlighting their achievements in science. Class 1-218 created an underground railroad quilt. Class 4-317 worked together to construct a beautiful mosaic of Amanda Gorman as well as highlighting some influential black leaders.

Amanda Gorman mosaic constructed by 4th grade students.

Illustrated mosaic of influential black person.

Respect for All Week:

Monday, 2/14: Kindness Day: Wear red or pink to spread love
Tuesday, 2/15: Anti-Bullying Day: Wear blue to show you are an upstander
Wednesday, 2/18: Diversity Day: Wear green to celebrate our diverse community
Thursday, 2/17: Acceptance Day: Wear rainbow (colors) to promote acceptance and inclusion
Friday, 2/18: No One Plays Alone" Day: We will encourage students to play with those they do not normally socialize with and learn ways to spot others who are left out and include them. Also, wear black for Black Lives Matter.

Friday, February 18 - 100th day of school

Student makes a 100th day necklace in class.

PS118 student makes a 100th day necklace in class.

Elementary student makes a 100th day necklace in class.

Student finished making a 100th day necklace in class.

Teachers showing the 100th day calendar.

THURSDAY, February 17 at 7:00 PM

You are invited to attend a parent-to-parent talk about middle school.

The volunteer speakers are parents of PS 118 alumni currently attending 8th, 7th or 6th grade in various District 15 middle schools. The speakers will relate their child's experience in their middle school and will reflect on their own experience throughout the application process, the transition, and the adjustment to the middle school world. Adjustment complicated by the pandemic!

We hope you will attend this informative talk.

Zoom Link will be shared on Tuesday

WEDNESDAY, February 16 at 3:00 PM

Join a Q&A session about the middle school process with Teresa, Miwa, and Annie. In this Zoom session we'll answer your questions, help you start your application if you have not done it yet, and clarify anything that you are still confused about. It is very important that you review all the material in this email so you can prepare your questions for the session with us.

You are invited to join us, if you have time, even if you are totally on top of the MS process. We would love you to share useful tips and advice with other parents still working on their application. If you cannot make it on Wednesday but have questions about the middle school application process, please contact any of us and we'll arrange a time to chat with you - by phone, or by Zoom, or in person - and address your questions. Please reach out this week since we will not be working during mid-winter recess (from Feb 21 to Feb 25).

Registration link for the Wednesday Q&A Zoom session will be sent out on Monday.

Monday, 2/14: Valentine's Day Dance

Ms. Arlene dressed up for the Valentin's day.

Students enjoy the surprise Valentine's day dance.

Students dancing with their friends in the gym.

The crowd was dancing on Valentine's day.

BLM Mosaic of Prominent People

In honor of Black History Month, we are creating our second annual BLM Mosaic of Prominent People. Students create an illustration inspired by an influential black person. They include a word, phrase, or short sentence to represent the quality they identify with or admire. We combine all of the artwork to create a beautiful mosaic displayed at PS 118.