 With summer around the corner, the 217 PTA is already planning the calendar for another exciting and fun year at 217!
BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP! With kids getting older and some of our event chairs and program chairs moving on to other things, several of our beloved events NEED more event planners. Please contact the PTA at psis217info@gmail.com to get involved in your favorite event. We are also looking for help in planning: Fall Festival Winter Wonderland Dance Silent Auction International Dinner Please email today to get involved! All parents are PTA members and your child's experience at 217 depends on all of us!! 217 and the PTA hosted a dance for our Middle School students and 5th Graders this past Thursday. Thank you to Ms. Beckman, the 217 Administration, teachers, staff, parents and PTA volunteers who made this event possible.
Many students got dressed up - and all of the attendees had a great time hitting the dance floor and taking fun (and some silly!) pictures in the photo booth! Thank you also to the MS & 5th Grade parents for purchasing tickets for your child to enjoy the dance! Everyone had a great time. Thank you to the administration, teachers and staff who made Field Day 2017 possible, and to our many PTA and parent volunteers!
The events were a wonderful celebration of 217’s school spirit, sportsmanship and the students’ year of hard work. Special thanks to our PTA President, Erin Olavesen (who has been planning field day for months!), and to Tracey DeBenedictis and Nathalie Chetrit.  Book of the Month continues at 217! For this month, we are reading The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig.
The Invisible Boy is about a young boy Brian who feels invisible. Nobody seems to notice or include him in games or invite him to parties. When Justin, the new boy, arrives at school, Brian is the first to make him feel welcome while the other kids are unkind. Brian and Justin encourage each other and soon discover that small acts of kindness can help others feel good and help you feel better about yourself. Please continue the conversation at home!  Camp out this summer with a good book!
Visit our Book Fair June 5th-7th and June 9thand stock up for all your summer reading needs - everyone needs s’more books! Book fair hours will be: Mon-Weds: 8:45 a.m.-2 p.m., Friday 8:45 a.m.-6 p.m. (Please note the school is closed Thursday June 8). Join your child during their class visit and help them select books - check the schedule to find out when you child’s class will be attending and come directly to the Library on the 2nd floor. Teachers will have class ‘wish-list’ boxes, please consider buying a book or two from your teacher's Wish List box! If you can’t attend, but would like to contribute to send extra money with your child in a Ziploc bag marked “Class Wish List.” If you can would like to help staff the Book Fair and assist children selecting books throughout the week, please email Josie: josiechamla@gmail.com with the times/dates you are available - we’d love to see you there!  Thank you, parents and students, for continuing to clip and send in your Box Tops for Education. We have collected $383 for the school so far this year! Please drop off Box Tops in the collection box inside the front entrance across from security. Put them in an envelope or baggie labeled with your child's name and class number. Please do not attach them to sheets. Each child who submits 100 or more Box Tops this school year will receive a certificate for a scoop of ice cream from Piccolo Trattoria (Nonno's)! Certificates will be delivered to the classroom teachers for: Maxwell Devine - class K004 Diego Mactaui - class K002 Ethan Lenzi - class K004 Daniel Salah - class 204 If you delivered Box Tops to your classroom teacher instead of dropping them in the collection box, and they haven't made it to our Box Tops coordinator, please check in with the teacher. The Box Tops have expiration dates. Happy clipping!  The PTA is excited to announce the order of a HUGE number of books - over 2,000 books worth close to $15,000!
This very large shipment includes fiction and non-fiction guided reading collections for ALL our elementary school students, and hundreds of new books for our Middle Schoolers, including a guided reading collection for 6th grade and over 140 additional fiction and non-fiction titles. This book order was made possible thanks to a legislative grant that the PTA applied for in the amount of $11,500, in addition to YOUR contributions to the PTA. Special thanks to NYS Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright, the 217 Administration, former PTA President Dawn Price, who initiated this grant, and our current PTA Executive Board members, who have been working hard to get the grant money delivered from the New York State legislature! For the second year in a row, over 300 guests at 217’s International Dinner enjoyed an amazing feast from around the world!
Thank you to all of the amazing cooks who shared their culinary mastery & decorations, our entertainers, and Adam Burrows & Desiree Charles from Oxygen Eventworks for providing the stage and sound. Thank you also to the many volunteers who staffed the event, provided henna tattoos (fun!), tended bar, and worked hard at event set-up and clean-up. Special thanks also to the PTA’s International Dinner chair, Dawn Falcone, who truly made this event possible; and to Kim Brown, our MC for the evening - who organized the entertainment provided by our 217 students and families.  To buy tickets, click here:
https://www.nycharities.org/events/EventLevels.aspx?etid=9936  Book of the Month Club continues at 217, with this month’s PBIS theme of Integrity.
This month’s book is entitled Edwurd Fubwupper Fibbed Big, by Berkley Breathed. The book is about a boy named Edwurd who often lies and he lies BIG! The story is told by his sister Frannie. She explains how Edwurd's lies can get out of hand and often lead to big, big messes later on! To discuss what integrity is, this book helps kids understand trust and honesty - important elements of the more complex concept of integrity. Please continue the conversation at home - and discuss honesty, trust and integrity with your children! Thank you to so many members of the 217 community who came out to cheer for the Mets at our first PS/IS 217 Day Citi Field! We had nearly three hundred 217 Hawks in attendance.
And a HUGE thank you to Ms. Warren, who headed up this event! We had a terrific turnout, even though it was a cold day (and a disastrous game for the Mets) - it was great to see so many of you at the game! PTA ELECTION REMINDER Date: Wednesday, May 17th 8:40am Location: PS/IS 217 Cafeteria   Ms. Murphy welcomes all K & 1 parents to a workshop on May 9 at 7:45 a.m.
The theme will be “Thinking Like A Scientist” - Ms. Murphy will be going over expectations she has for our youngest students in science class as they continue their growth in science. Parents will also have an opportunity to see science through the eyes of their children by doing some mock investigations/observations modeled after what might be covered in class. Ms. Murphy is also looking forward to meeting any parents that she has not met yet and will answer any questions that you have. Please join her on May 9, K-1 parents! Second Grade gets into the garden with iDig2Learn. The residency reinforces in school science & math by allowing 2nd graders to experience nature outdoors, learn the origin of food and understand how plants aid our daily lives.
217 continues Book of the Month Club with "Can I Play Too?" by Mo Willems. In this book, a snake wants to play catch, but can't because it has no arms. To include the snake, the characters engage in creative problem-solving. Students expanded on their discussion about perseverance, and also addressed the concepts of inclusion and kindness. Middle school students and Ms. Murphy read to grades K-2.
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