PS91Q's Vision Statement

PACK 91 is a 3K, Pre-K-5 grade elementary school with a student population of over 800 children. Our families and students here at PACK 91 speak over 14 languages and come from all corners of the globe. In order to serve our diverse population of learners we have two ENL teachers who service our ML/ELL population and provide support to all of our teachers around strategies and modalities that they can use in their classrooms to drive instruction. PACK 91 has been making it a priority to support the Social and Emotional Learning of our students and have adopted the teachings of the RULER program. All students begin their day with a mood meter check in and at the beginning of the year create classroom charters which are altered and changed throughout the school year based on student voice. We have SEL teams of students who serve as leaders around the building showing empathy and kindness towards others. Additionally, PACK 91 continues to foster CRSE practices in the classroom to maintain welcoming and affirming environments. We continue to provide opportunities for our scholars to be the voice for change and to share that message throughout the community. Some of the ways in which we empower students to have voice and develop leadership skills is through our student-led Civics team, student government, student attendance mentors, PACK Patrol and ML/ELL student ambassadors. Additionally, we have yearly partnerships with Ping Chong, a company who supports the work around embracing cultural identities. We have developed STEM-Based partnerships with The N.Y. Hall of Science, as well as EIE, and are part of a D24 Grant to bring a STEM ICT class to every grade, K-5. We partnered with SPLAT-Lab and they come to the building to engage students in STEM activities a few times a year. We have a stand alone Robotics Program with an after school Robotics Program. In addition, we have a long standing partnership with the American Debate League and have an after school debate team that competes at city-wide events. At PACK 91, we truly believe in teaching to the whole child, and therefore have built a self-sustaining athletics program incorporating step and basketball programs. We have a strong partnership with Marquis Studio and Counseling Space, as well as Funky Town Playground to support Parent Engagement within our ML/ELL parent community. Musical IQ and Cosmic IQ join us yearly to support students within the art of music. We also have a music program here at the PACK and an early morning chorus program. At PACK 91 we do not have morning announcements over a loudspeaker but rather a student-led news team that reports virtually every morning and streams the message out to the school. We provide ML/ELL families with a resource fair in collaboration with the MOIA. We also are the recipients of a grant through DMIS and put on a Disney performance once a year. We have a strong partnership with CITE and offer our families monthly workshops, as well as monthly parent workshops through our ENL Department. Another unique aspect to the PACK is that we are a fully embedded ASD/Horizon Program with a class on each grade, beginning with 3K/Pre-K and going all the way to 5th grade. We have a partnership with NYU and they provide ASD training. We engage Horizon families in a monthly parent workshop/training and it helps to build community and knowledge around ASD. We partnered this year with The Beautiful Me Program which supported young people with self-esteem. We have worked with Dancing Classrooms and will continue to going forward. This program promotes tolerance and acceptance, and helps to cultivate engaged learners, collaborative leaders and inclusive spaces. Mindfulness is a focus for us here at the PACK and we provide teachers, families and students with yoga opportunities throughout the school year. Our ILT and Cabinet have a strong partnership with Agiri Learning around CRSE Practices and equitable instruction, which then is turnkeyed to the staff. Some staff teams include an Equity Team which meets monthly, a curriculum team, a hiring committee, an ENL Team, Horizon Team, an instructional leadership team, grade teams, vertical teams, SEL team and an inquiry team. We have SEL as a cluster class to help foster positive relationships among students. We hope to incorporate a student led equity team this coming year where we can use their voices to spread the message of love and togetherness throughout Glendale. As a community we believe in deeply knowing each of our students well. We will be focusing this year on strengthening Tier I instruction by incorporating frequent opportunities for Assessment, so that the idea of gathering and analyzing data becomes embedded within the daily learning for our students. Not just assessment to understand their academic access to the learning, but also assessment to identify their social emotional needs, their likes and dislikes and most importantly their perspective on the world so that we can meet them where they are in a culturally responsive way. CRSE is at the core of our instruction and teachers will engage daily in the amplifying of our newly adopted HMH into Reading curriculum, as well as Envisions 2.0, Passports to S.S., Amplify Science and Panorama /National Geographic curriculums, to ensure that all of our students can see themselves in some way in the work.