Parents clean 1st grade wing

Parent volunteers this week spent two mornings this week organizing closets for first grade teachers Ms. McNeil and Ms. Marshall, while other volunteers helped Ms. St. Onge in the classroom. The parents also tackled the common closet in the first grade wing. The parents were too sweaty to consent to a group photo, but these pictures show the dauntingly disordered closet, before and after:

September PTO Meeting: Playground & silent auction

Tuesday night saw this year's opening meeting for P.S. 9’s PTO, held in the auditorium. Approximately 70 people attended. At the meeting, Ms. D’Avilar announced that the first phase of the playground construction will be done in three weeks, around October 14. The noisy drilling for constructing play equipment, she said, will be completed by Thursday this week, according to the contractor.

The PTO officers encouraged parents and family members to buy discounted tickets in advance for the Oct. 22 Silent Auction, which is traditionally the school’s biggest fundraiser and supports the arts programs. To learn more about tickets, please see the forms sent home with students, or visit the auction website. The officers also announced their main goals for the year. You can read the goals here.

Please click here to read a fuller summary of the meeting, including news about the afterschool program, announcements of upcoming fundraisers and school events, and more of what Principal D’Avilar said.

Calling all parents: first meeting of the year!

Please join the PTO Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. in the P.S. 9 teachers' lounge, which you reach by turning left at the main office and walking to the last room on the right. The officers encourage all P.S. 9 parents to attend. Please note that CHILD CARE WILL BE AVAILABLE IN THE GYM.

At the meeting, PTO officers will describe their vision and goals for the year, committees will describe what they hope to achieve, and the principal and parent coordinator will address parents.

Come mark the start of the year by bringing your enthusiasm and ideas!

See you tomorrow! (Don't worry if you can't make it, the blog will post a summary later this week.)

(For older posts about previous meetings, click here.)

Current parent volunteer opportunities

Below is a list of some immediate ways for parents to help the school and the PTO. The blog will provide regular updates of this list.

1. Ask your child's classroom teacher if s/he needs help setting up the classroom or with other tasks.

2. Picture Day: Be a part of putting together the classic images that we love of our children with freshly combed hair and awkward smiles.

3. The Candy (and other stuff) Sale: The PTO needs help setting up and managing this fundraising sale.

4. The PTO afterschool program needs extra adults to help during the hour between 5-6 p.m.

5. The PTO Lunchroom Committee needs a kindergarten parent to help coordinate volunteers during first lunch period, when lower grades eat.

Please email the PTO officers at ptops9@gmail.com to help.

What you can do to improve morning dropoff in the cafeteria

The administrators are working to smooth out morning dropoff in the cafeteria for Grades 1 and 2 — and request your help. In the morning, please seat your children at their lunch tables (marked by yellow signs). Students will wait there until their teacher signals them to leave.

Parents who are waiting with their first and second graders, please stay out of the main walkways so that groups can pass through easily.

For the rest of this week, parents of first-graders may accompany their children to classrooms. Next Monday, please allow all students to proceed to class independently with their teacher.

Sign up for a committee!

P.S. 9's PTO committees are organizing. Which way can you contribute? Please select one (or more) and try it out. Clipboards with sign-up sheets will be on a table in the lobby this week. You may also email your name, phone number and email address to ptops9@gmail.com. Committees organized so far:

Communications

Fundraising

Hospitality & Events

Grant-Writing

Lunchtime Volunteers

Wellness

Parent Advocacy

Gardening

Afterschool program: download registration forms

The fun begins! PTO's afterschool programs are under way today. Please pre-register each child. Families may use the program for 5,4,3,2, or 1 day a week. You may also use the programs on an emergency basis as long as you pre-register your child.

To pre-register:
Click here to download a program description, fee listing, and registration forms.

You must also submit this 2-page enrollment agreement with the registration form.

You may contact the PTO Afterschool program at:

ps9ase@gmail.com
(718) 809-6005

Thanks to all for their extensive preparation for this year's program. If you would like to help run the program or to lead activity and enrichment sessions for a half-hour or hour each week, please contact us. Your help is welcome!

First-day info session for parents

Welcome to the new year at P.S. 9! After you drop off your child tomorrow morning at 8:20 a.m. and meet your child's teacher, please stop by the PTO table in the lobby. We will have available information about the after-school programs and PTO volunteer opportunities. Please consider joining a PTO committee. Signup sheets will be available.

Also, please enjoy the bagels, coffee and juice in the auditorium.

From 9:30 - 10 a.m., the principal and administrative team will hold an orientation in the auditorium, where they will answer questions. The PTO will introduce officers and provide descriptions of committees.