New Parent Meet and Greet at The Roosevelt Island School

It was great to see all parents of the children from Gifted and Talented class in The Roosevelt Island School at the "New Parent Meet and Greet" meeting! Parents from our K003 class are just as talented as their kids. They are highly educated, ambitious, very enthusiastic about their children's education, and looking to find more ways to participate in the school life. During our group meeting with the G&T class teacher we learned about Ms.C's teaching philosophy, our children's curriculum in reading and math, her approach to differentiating between kids' with different talents at the same classroom. So far, parents were very pleased with the way G&T program is developing in P.S. 217. Our children progressed tremendously since the beginning of the school year, their reading and writing skills improved so much, and their creativity is obviously encouraged in the classroom. Children love their weekly homework, and even ask for more activities that their teacher is glad to provide.

At the general PTA meeting the Principal told us that this year P.S./I.S. 217 is building upon the last years school goals which included more communication with the families, working with teachers on developing their skills of differentiated instruction so they can needs of every individual student, and to examine small learning groups within and across grade levels to further challenge the students.

Ms. Beckman told us that this year again, the teachers will be working with outside consultants who will provide the Roosevelt Island School staff with professional development. It is key for the success of any school to continue to provide on going training to staff, that they can implement in their classrooms. The Principal explained to us how Professional Development comes in the form of the consultants observing in classrooms, meeting with grade levels to plan, co-teaching lessons in classrooms, providing teachers’ feedback and focusing on the school goal of differentiated instruction. Professional developers will be using many professional texts with P.S./I.S. 217 staff to further their expertise. The Principal thanked the PTA for helping to fund professional developers in the school this year.