News & Views: October 30

Important Dates:

  • Monday, November 2nd: Final tuition payments are due. Checks payable to Cobble Hill Playschool, please.

  • Tuesday, November 3rd: Election Day (CHP is open.  Please vote!)

  • Wednesday, November 11th: No School, Veterans’ Day

  • Thursday & Friday, November 26-27: No School, Thanksgiving

School News & Announcements

  • Election Day: Election Day this year brings with it some additional complications, emotions, and potential hazards, as tensions are high.  I’d like to share some contingency plans as well as tips on talking to children.

    • **CHP Post-Election Day Contingency Plan**: There is some talk about possible civil unrest following Election Day.  We will be sending out an email by 8:00am on Wednesday morning to check in.  If the City (and particularly public transportation used by our teachers) has become unsafe or unstable, we may ask families who can keep their children home to do so, and invite families who need to bring their children to CHP to do so.  Please note that we do not expect to have to do this, but we want to be prepared.

    • Talking to children about protest and civil unrest: Some areas of our neighborhood are experiencing property damage, graffiti, and other physical signs of protest and struggle.  This can elicit some difficult questions from our young children, and I wanted to share some suggestions about how to talk to your children about these issues.  It can be really helpful to bring the conversation into their terms.  Much of what is going on in the world right now has to do with people feeling as though they are being treated unfairly.  Our children are experts on fairness!   While adults understand the complexities of current events, children understand the simplicity: for many Americans, life feels very unfair.  Depending on your family’s feelings about protest and civil unrest, this can be an opportunity to talk about what to do when things feel unfair.  What does your child do when things feel unfair?  What does your child do when things are unfair for a friend?  How can we work together to make things more fair for more people?  This article has some helpful ideas and language.  There is a children’s book series called Ordinary People Change the World, which includes the stories of several famous people throughout history who stood up to unfairness in different ways.  These stories offer a wonderful jumping off point for further discussion.

  • Upcoming Holiday Travel: As we move closer to the holiday season, I’d like to share CHP’s policies on travel in light of the pandemic.  CHP's position on travel mirrors that of New York State.  If your family decides to travel over the holidays, and you travel to a state or country on New York's Restricted States list, you will be required to quarantine for 14 days upon return.  For example, if you travel to a restricted state over the Thanksgiving holiday and return to NYC on Sunday, November 29th, your family would need to quarantine until December 13th.  Your child could return to school on December 14th.  (CHP will close for holiday break on December 21st.)  Similarly, if you are planning on hosting guests from a state on New York's restricted states list, your guests must plan to quarantine for 14 days prior to visiting with you.  While we know the importance of getting together with friends and family, we must continue to be mindful of the circumstances of this pandemic, and unfortunately this year, travel carries with it additional precautions and restrictions.  We thank you for your continued diligence and care for our little school community!

  • Flu shots: Flu shots are mandatory for all children enrolled in preschool programs in New York City.  Shots must be administered before December 31st.  Proof of vaccination should be submitted to Stacy (stacy@cobblehillplayschool.com OR fax: (718) 243-0445).

  • Final tuition payments are due on November 2nd.  Checks payable to Cobble Hill Playschool.  If you have any questions about the amount of your payment, please contact Stacy (stacy@cobblehillplayschool.com).  Thank you!

Notes From Our Classroom Teachers

  • 3s/4s Curriculum Night was held via Zoom on Wednesday night.  

    • Thanks to all those who came!  Notes and videos from the night can be found here.

      • Technology foiled us and we were not able to record breakout room sessions.  Notes will follow next week.

    • If you didn’t come, please enjoy the notes above and also help us improve our parent communication program by sharing why via this very short, 4 question survey.

  • Teachers’ Corner: Welcome to our newly created Teachers’ Corner!  Front and center in our Parent Portal (password: together), we’ve added a video music class with Mel and an article on Limit Setting by Sarah.  Enjoy and stay tuned for more to come.

    • Music with Mel: Mel will be working closely with each pod throughout the year, but it’s always fun to have some songs that everyone at CHP knows and can sing together!  Find a few free minutes to sit down with your child and watch Mel’s music class together.

    • Sarah’s article on Limit Setting covers a BIG issue with young children: limit setting provides huge benefits for children but can feel very hard for parents and caregivers.  Sarah’s article walks though the importance of limit setting as well as some practical strategies.

Community Engagement

  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Parent Committee: As some of you may know, this year at CHP we are taking the critically important step of examining our relationship with diversity, equity, and inclusion. Although already committed to doing this work, recent events in our country have moved this initiative to the top of our priority list here at CHP. It is our position that this work is absolutely vital to the education of young children and by not actively pursuing it we are, at best, not best serving our children and, at worst, contributing to systemic racism and inequity.  Behind the scenes, our staff has been engaging in this work by having open and lengthy conversations, reading and discussing pertinent books, building a resource library, and taking professional development courses around this topic. But we know this alone is not enough. In order to fully engage in this work, it's absolutely necessary to involve our entire community, inclusive of staff, students, and parents.  In that spirit, we are creating a parent committee that will be tasked with crafting a multi-year action plan to make CHP a more inclusive, diverse, and equitable place to learn and play. Although we are still in the planning process, we expect the committee to meet 1-2 times a month with additional meetings being on an as needed basis. Further commitments may arise as we develop and solidify our plan of action and/or as our parent community demonstrates their enthusiasm for this endeavor. The only qualification needed to join is a commitment to social justice, although we encourage those with experience in the following areas to partake: education, non-profits, community organizing, strategic planning, and marketing. At this time, we are seeking parents to volunteer for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. If you are interested in joining, or have any questions, please email me at kelsey@cobblehillplayschool.com. Once we have an idea of how many parents are interested in joining we will reach out to schedule our first zoom meeting.

  • Have friends or family looking for a great preschool?  Please send them our way!  Applications are currently being accepted for our 2021-21 school year.  We are hosting virtual tours of CHP via Zoom evenings and lunch hours throughout October and November.  Please have interested families contact Stacy (Stacy@cobblehillplayschool.com) to register.

  • You’ve got (e-)mail!  We’ve created Google Groups for each classroom this year, to help and encourage the process of getting in touch.  

Events Around Town

Cobble Hill Playschool