We are proud to note that our school received a “Well-Developed” score on our Quality Review Report and an “A” on our 2006-2007 Progress Report.

To help maintain this high proficiency, we now provide ongoing, in-house professional development to make teaching more individualized.

Our commitment to Arts education is greater than ever, with the introduction of a new music teacher and the expansion of our Horizon Concerts, which help develop a rich appreciation of classical music in all our students.

Not to overlook any aspect of our children’s health and well-being, we have increased the number of gym periods each week so that our children now meet or exceed all state physical education requirements.

To be sure each of our students, at every level, has the best opportunity to progress, we hired part-time teachers for push-in and pull-out small group instruction for children with special needs.

With improved literacy as a clear focus across our entire school system, our school community continues to emphasize monthly Focus Books to build community and enrich our children’s knowledge in this field.

To enhance our students’ entire school experience and further guard their health and safety, we hired an experienced teacher, part-time, to help out and to supervise the children’s lunch hours.

Recognizing the increased role technology will have in our children’s lives going forward, we purchased new computers for the classrooms, as well as Smart Boards to enhance the learning experience.

For the upper grades, we purchased a new program, Science Foss Manipulative Kits that engage our students in inquiry-based science at a much deeper level.

In response to the wonderful diversity of our multi-cultural community, all important parent communication is now translated into several languages to serve all families equally.

Bi-Annual Class literacy festivals with parents and students now celebrate our students’ writing.

In acknowledgement of the greater emphasis our school system now places on standardized test results, we implemented a very well received Saturday Test Prep School for parents and children in grades 3, 4 and 5 to help them be more successful on the state tests. More than 400 parents and students have participated.

This May, Seymour Simon, an author of numerous non-fiction children’s books, visited our school to reinforce this literacy message across multiple grades.

To the same end, this year’s edition of our prize winning school magazine, the Grand Central, will include translated student writing and feature our students’ poetry.

We continue to enrich our literacy program through in-house collaborations with Teachers College staff developers and through conference days at Columbia University.

Beyond literacy alone, we have both our annual Literacy Day and Family Math Games Fair to celebrate our children’s skills in these key curriculum areas.

For those preparing to join the upper grades, we now host a third grade tour for children transitioning from early childhood, to help them better anticipate and embody the changes they will encounter as they move up.

Our children have entered several citywide contests and some of our students have received citywide recognition for their abilities.

Our winter and spring concerts now showcase the talents of our instrument-playing students from all grade levels.

Our chorus continues to provide outstanding entertainment, not only for our immediate school community but for our seniors at the local assisted living facility, Sterling Glen.

Our effort to fully integrate parents into their children’s school lives now extends to Teachers College in-house workshops for early-grade parents, all the better to educate everyone about our reading and writing programs.

To help assure the continuity of our high standards and expectations among all our educators, this year we initiated celebratory New Teachers’ Breakfast to share successes and goals for each upcoming year.

And last, but not least, we continue to upgrade and beautify our school facilities, both inside and out, enhancing our students’ comfort and safety while creating the environment most conducive to their advancement and progress.