From the
Parent Council Excecutive Committee
SA families Bensonhurst
November 2015 Newsletter
What’s Inside 1 Opening Letter 2 Art of Practice 3 For what are you thankful?
100% Fun
Favorite Color
The King and I
4 Calendar of Upcoming Events at School and Around Town
sa-bh PCEC Polina Bulman President
Madeline Vega Vice President
Lana Dziouba Secretary
sabh.pcec@gmail.com Thank you Illona Brobitsky and Elena Gorohovsky! Send pictures or calendar events anytime to contribute_sabh@yahoo.com
Principal Dant greets scholars who gathered early to sing “happy birthday” to him with noisemakers and party hats. photo by Polina bulman
showing appreciation As we continue the PCEC’s collections for our Winter Social and gifts to teachers, we should stop to think about thankfulness. After so many weeks at SA-BH, it’s easy to forget that not every school’s everyday routine includes a handshake with the principal who knows your scholar’s name—an important way to establish individuality in a place filled with uniformity. Reading about school and seeing it in action are different things. A class full of Kindergarteners and chess boards might not sound like a place where 4- and 5-year-olds can act like Kindergarteners. They watch a music video and laugh about the King’s short legs. They have trouble explaining why it’s important to play quietly, but they are all playing games—some are even applauded for good strategy. Probably not many scholars came home Thursday and said they practiced using scissors safely, but that might be because time in the Art Studio is time spent letting the paper speak to them. One scholar is adept at cutting, another is confident composing. They all share ideas in different ways. And unseen outside the school are the ways the staff supports each other to finish prepping a class or find a solution. A lot of rules create structure, but the structure includes room for improvisation and individuality. And what more could we want for our kids than for them to be their best selves?