Official Facebook Page

We are pleased to announce the launch of our school's official Facebook page: www.facebook.com/178QHolliswood. Please "like" our page on Facebook to receive alerts and notifications about our school. Thank you.

Grades 1-2 Percussion Residency

Dear Grades 1-2 Parents/Guardians: As you are aware, PS/IS 178Q is committed to ensuring the growth and potential of each student. We are preparing all of our students to be college and career ready with rigorous new learning standards implemented in our classrooms every day. Along with our strong academic program, we also feel that it is vital that students develop confidence and one of the ways this can be accomplished is through performing arts. Therefore, we are pleased to announce that we have extended the partnership with Marquis Studios to provide a percussion residency to grades one and two with the instructor from the Fall program, John Bellia. The program will take place one period every Friday for six weeks, beginning February 1, 2013, for each first and second grade class. During the residency, your child’s teacher remains in the classroom with the teaching artist. The students will perform at the March 14th Arts Benefit Concert (SAVE THE DATE). If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. Thank you. Sincerely, Jennifer C. Ambert Principal

Common Core Standards

Dear Parents/Guardians: The transition to the Common Core standards represents an opportunity to strengthen instruction. In observing classrooms, we have seen teachers and students participating in rigorous, text-based discussions. Teachers are asking higher-order questions, and engaging with the standards during this transition period. As you know, this spring’s New York State English language arts (ELA) and math tests for grades 3-8 will align with the Common Core standards, and we expect the tests to be significantly more challenging. We have been informed that, at least initially, students’ scores may decline. However, the richer tests we will be seeing over the next few years can help move us toward stronger teaching that emphasizes cognitively demanding tasks and assignments. To support parents’ understanding of these changes, the New York State Education Department recently released ELA and math testing guides on their website: www.engageny.org. These documents describe the content changes at each grade level and provide guidance about how the Common Core standards will be assessed this spring. In ELA, for instance, the tests will include authentic texts that require students to read critically and to write using text-based evidence. In math, the tests will reflect the major work of the grade and the instructional shifts requiring fluency, application, and conceptual understanding. As in other situations that involve significant change, and this combination of new tests and potentially lower scores, I encourage you to make yourself familiar with the Common Core Standards and the newly aligned tests. Therefore, I would like to remind you to attend the parent workshop on January 23, 2013 on the Grades 3-8 ELA and Math Assessments at 8:30 AM. The workshop will be presented by our instructional coaches and our parent coordinator. I encourage you to acknowledge the transition period that we are currently in by participating in our parent workshops and visiting the Common Core Library on the DOE website:http://schools.nyc.gov/Academics/CommonCoreLibrary/ForFamilies/default.htm Thank you. Sincerely, Jennifer C. Ambert, Principal