'General Announcements'
PS 62 is thrilled to announce that we will be building a playground in our existing schoolyard! The Trust for Public Land (TPL) is working to transform vacant school lots into vibrant playgrounds and community parks. The effort is in partnership with the City of New York as part of Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC 2030. Visit their website!
The program is focusing on communities that are under served by parks. Our efforts could add trees, gardens, tracks, sports fields, courts, outdoor classrooms, chess and picnic tables, and much more to PS 62’s schoolyard.
BEFORE AFTER
Use this blog to add your ideas. Think about the questions below and post a comment on what you would like to see.
What would you like to see in the new playground?
What natural spaces would you like to see? For example: trees, plants, flowers, seating, etc.
What kind of Play/Fitness components would you like to include in our play equipment?
What colors would you like to include?
(STUDENTS: when posting a comment please include your first name only and your class)
Posted by: Ms. Frizzel
January 26th, 2009
Congratulations to Class 4-306 for creating their own websites for a city wide competition called ThinkQuest. The purpose of ThinkQuest is to get students to use the Internet as a collaborative and interactive learning tool. The students in Ms. Olino’s class worked hard researching topics of study and designing their own unique sites using Macromedia DreamWeaver. Click the links below to check out their final projects.
Posted by: Ms. Holahan
May 13th, 2008
The PS 62 learning community has been hard at work as we learn the in’s and out’s of our new virtual learning environment (VLE), MySuite. Through MySuite every student and teacher at PS 62 has access to a wealth of educational resources through our safe and secure VLE. Click on the screencast link below to find out how to log in to your child’s personal MySuite account, and find out what is happening behind the scenes at PS62.
(If the video does not appear please download the Flash player)
April 1st, 2008
The PS62 community is happy to announce that we have successfully installed 12 state-of-the-art SmartBoards in our classrooms. The SmartBoard is an interactive whiteboard that “combines the look and feel of a regular whiteboard with the power of a computer.”
The SmartBoard user can save and print notes, collaborate on electronic documents, share information, and run multimedia materials–that allow for rich, interactive and engaging learning experiences for our students. As we become a model for technology integration across the city, we are working towards developing model classrooms that will showcase best practices in using the SmartBoard to drive instruction.
We have also been working with the 3rd grade and 5th grade classes to create podcasts. Podcasting is a form of digital authoring that allows our student work to be displayed over the Internet. We hope to develop a series of podcasts that parents, teachers, and students will subscribe to so they can stay tuned into the PS62 community no matter where they are. Our goal is to develop a network of learners that are part of an “any time” learning experience. Check out a sample podcast about ancient China made by a team of students in Ms. Cutrone’s class. The purpose of the podcast was to have students research and present their findings on key arease of Chinese culture, history, geography and much more. Sit back, relax and enjoy the show.
china-podcast.mp3
March 25th, 2008
The community of PS 62 is proud to have met the rigorous criteria and be included among 53 schools nationwide to be on the National Center for Urban School Transformation’s Honor Roll.
2008 NCUST Excellence in Education Awards
Both the NY Daily News and the Queens Chronicle have praised PS 62 for all it’s accomplishments, recognizing the hard work, dedication, and talent of all the teachers and students. Congratulations PS 62!
Ms. Holahan
February 7th, 2008
So much has been happening, in terms of our growth as a 21st century learning community that I don’t know where to begin.
Kudos to all the teachers that participated in the roll out of Editure’s MySuite (click on the link to find out more about MySuite, originally called MyInternet.) package. We will be using MySuite as a tool that will allow us to engage in virtual learning experiences. Many of the teachers involved in the pilot team have all ready set up their class pages, and we will be having bimonthly meetings to track progress and discuss issues and solutions. In order to access the page you must have user name and password. Ms. Holahan did an amazing job of building the school’s official website, and you can easily access the MySuite site by clicking on the “login” link at the top of the page. When you login, be sure to check out the “goals” property to see our short-term goals for February.
When you login to MySuite you will also have an opportunity to see some of the digital story samples that the tech. team has been working on. Through the use of GarageBand and iMovie we are working to create digital story models that teachers can use as they begin implementing project based technology integration projects with their students. We hope to begin implementing these projects within the next couple of weeks. Look for the sample Ms. Frizzel and Ms. O’Dowd made together while taking a podcasting course at a major educational technology conference in Florida.
Also, don’t hesitate to check out our school wiki, which we are using to develop our school technology plan, post meeting notes, agendas and much more. Eventually, or once we finish the tech. plan, I would like to create a page for it to be housed on the blog. We also used the wiki to collaborate and plan for the rollout of MySuite, set goals, and much more. Check it out and let us know what you think.
Happy New Year to everyone, and check back often to see what is happening in our community.
January 27th, 2008
We are very excited to welcome you to the PS 62 blogging portal. We are hoping to use this blog as a resource for extending and enriching our learning beyond the four walls of the classroom. It is our intention that this site will be used as a communication tool among students, teachers and the community. We are also looking to partner with other school communities on a global level.
Currently, we are in the process of connecting with classrooms at the Maryborough Education Centre in Victoria, Australia
Another function of this community will be to display the work our students are producing in the classroom. We hope to engage our community with multimedia based projects such as digital stories and podcasts.
November 30th, 2007
