This year has been a whirlwind of excitement and activity. It is hard to believe that it’s over. We are grateful for the support of parents, caregivers, teachers and staff that made 2017-2018 an amazing school year for our kids and our school.
PTA EVENTS
What a bustling year we’ve had at PS8/MS8! We were blown away by the amount of parents helping out with events and building such a warm and vibrant community!
Here are some highlights…
The fall started us off with the fabulous Book Fair, spooky MS8 Halloween Dance and thought provoking Night to Celebr8 Reading! The winter chill didn’t stop the fun with a sweet Craft Fair, boisterous Dunk for 8, and sophisticated Wine & Whiskey Night.
We sailed into spring with a fun Camp Expo, trolltastic PJ Movie Night, rocking 2-5th Grade Dance and MS8 Dance, and a creative Science Fair!
And just when there could have been no energy left, the event chairs knocked it out of the park with a fabulous Paddlewheeler! As usual that event could not have happened without the many many generous volunteers! Click here to see more pics.
Congratulations to our 5th and 8th grade graduates. MS8 8th graders graduated on Friday and will move on to High Schools across the city. PS8 5th graders had their moving on celebration on Monday. We are so proud of our students and all that they have accomplished this year and wish them all the best as they move into middle and high school.
PTA FUNDED ENRICHMENTS
Here are just some of the wonderful enrichments we were able to offer our kids because of your generous donations to the PTA.
STUDIO IN A SCHOOL: These fourteen-week residencies provided kindergarten and first grade students with high-quality visual arts experiences facilitated by a professional artist.
MARQUIS STUDIOS: This year, second gradersstudied songwriting and kindergartners practiced yoga with resident teaching artists.
READY, SET, CHESS: This in-class chess enrichment program was offered to all second and third graders,where students received chess lessons in their classroom once a week for at least 10 weeks.
GUGGENHEIM PROGRAM: Our third (here) and fourth(here) graders created amazing art with teaching artists from the Guggenheim and got to see some of their work exhibited in the museum!
MS8 EXPLORATIONS: MS8 students just finished their second set of Exploration Units — participating in two two-week long in depth studies examining important questions. 6th graders asked “What is courage?” (read more here) and in 7th grade, “How does food connect and divide us?” Read about a group of 7th graders’ Exploration here.
PTA/SLT COMMITTEES
WELLNESS COUNCIL
PS8/MS8 won the Kathleen Grimm School Wellness Council of the Year Award for 2017-18! Read more about it here.
GARDEN COMMITTEE
After a year of careful planning and hard work, the PS8/MS8 Garden Committee, Principal Peterson, teachers and students officially opened our gorgeous lower school garden.
DIVERSITY COMMITTEE
The SLT Equity & Diversity Committee helped begin work we will continue, engaging us in how to become a more inclusive, fairer community. They started with a screening of “Growing Fairness” — a short documentary film by Teachers Unite about restorative justice in city schools — followed by thoughtful discussions, with VERY engaged students! (To see more pics from the night, click here.) The Committee followed that up with an evening training for parents and guardians on May 9th, and a full day training for teachers on June 7th with Border Crossers.
KIDS CRE8
The PS8 and MS8 Kids Cre8 after school clubs not only helped raise funds for our school, but also produced outstanding student projects and performances. Both the lower and middle school launched newspapers, The Hicks Street Journal and The Top Floor Times.
The MS8 Kids Cre8 Theater Club and EPIC Players produced an extraordinary 2 night run of Into the Woods. Go here to read what it was like for 7th grader Thalia to play Little Red.
MS8 students performed in a Showcase of music, dance and theater, highlighting some of their Kids Cre8 clubs like the MS8 Brooklyn Public Players (along with the Brooklyn Music School). Go here to see more pics from the night.