PTA Newsletter No. 7 - June 2025
Dear BNS Families,
As we approach the end of the school year, what do you anticipate that you will miss the most this school year? What was the favorite thing you learned about your child’s classroom at June Share? Last Friday after showing off all the hard work your child(ren) worked on with their class teacher(s) this year, we thanked our amazing staffs and teachers of the Brooklyn New School with staff appreciation lunch and sent off Kori Goldberg – retiring, Amy Brown – retiring, Khalisha Lewis – leaving to become a nurse, Jessica Berenblum – leaving to teach first grade at our sister School, PS456. We are incredibly grateful for our community and hope to see you this Wednesday for our last Movie Night of the year with a chill potluck area in the big yard to mingle and connect!
Sincerely,
Your BNS PTA
🍍 Send Off To Summer 🍍
Last day of school, Thurs. 6/26
🍏🍎🍐🍊🍉🍌🍈🍍🍒🍓
Send Off to Summer is a day to celebrate in the sunshine, enjoy some fresh fruit and give each other a final squeeze before spreading out into our different plans and places, until we can reconnect again.
Donate fruits your family loves - apples, oranges, pears, cantaloupe, honeydew, pineapples, watermelons and any others that come to mind. Be sure it's something easy to slice, so sadly no mangos or kiwis or grapes (choking hazard!).
Hang out to help slice, dice, and distribute fruit to the kids! We need folks from 7:45-12:30, bring your own knife if possible. (sign up on konstella)
🔦 SPOTLIGHT ON 5th Grade! 🔦
Their time at BNS is coming to a close, but fifth graders are going out with a bang! The overnight camping trip at Camp Ramapo was a recent highlight, with students getting to challenge themselves on the ropes course and roast marshmallows on the campfire.
Recently, a group of students collaborated with BAX teaching artist José Joaquín García on a series of performances to conclude the Interrupting Bigotry program. Their work focused on real-life examples of bias and bigotry and invited audiences to engage in interrupting these dynamics. Fifth graders Carson Cox, Kaia Westbrook, Everly Schneider, Nour Mufadal, Roxanne Egge, Odette Thompson, Emmeline Barkan, Sabine Thomason, Dottie Moore, Esteban Cruz-Vargas, Juliana Brown, and Frances Stimmel even had a chance to participate in a performance exchange with Manhattan’s Ella Baker School.
Earlier this year, the fifth grade visited the Museum of Jewish Heritage and heard inspirational stories of courage and resistance. They’ve been writing in feelings journals and exploring poetry. The results of their efforts were on display last week at June Share, where they presented poetry, artwork, essays and projects on the theme of “what would you stand up for?”
To wrap up the year, fifth graders will enjoy a picnic in Coffey Park on Friday, June 20 and their graduation ceremony on Tuesday, June 24! Congratulations to our amazing graduates!
📱 Food Committee Volunteers Needed
The food committee raises over $10,000 a year for our school through bake sales, cafè sales, and pop-ups. If you are interested in partnering with this team or have awesome ideas, reach out to Nicole DeFino (nicoledefino@gmail.com).
Farm Stand
Every month in partnership with GrowNyc we bring fresh organic food including eggs, fruit and vegetables to the school at wholesale prices without any markup, so that our community can have easy access to healthy food. We bridge the financial gap that comes with this by having cooking pop ups (past examples: mushroom tacos, soups, lil lennies, pork tacos, cheesy eggs and more). If you’d like to help with the farm stand and or if you want to see the farm stand happen twice a month instead of once a month reach out to Juliana Xavier (julianaxaraujo@gmail.com) and Dagmar Weaver-Madsen (dagmarwm@gmail.com).
📅 UPCOMING EVENTS & MEETINGS 📅
Wednesday, 6/18 Last Movie Night + Potluck!
Thursday, 6/19: SCHOOL CLOSED for Juneteenth
Friday, 6/20: Fifth grade picnic in Coffey Park
Tuesday, 6/24: Fifth grade graduation
Wednesday, 6/25: Last day of afterschool
Thursday, 6/26: Last day of school!
Send Off To Summer fruit potluck in the morning; parents can take kids home afterwards (optional, otherwise dismissal at 2:30 and no afterschool).
🔗 HELPFUL LINKS 🔗
Get four free COVID tests sent to you by mail
Fourth graders: Get a free pass to our national parks for a year!
See what’s on the menu at the cafeteria this week (note BNS serves the “high school hot lunch” menu). Remember, FREE breakfast and lunch are available for all students!
