News & Views: October 9

Important Dates:

  • Monday, October 12: No school, Columbus Day / Indigenous Peoples’ Day

  • Thursday, October 15, 7:00 pm: Twos Curriculum Night (via Zoom)

  • Wednesday, October 28: No school, Staff Development Day

  • Wednesday, October 28, 7:00 pm: Threes & Fours Curriculum Night (via Zoom)

School News & Announcements

  • A few reminders:

    • Enrollment for next year will begin in December for current students.  Current students do not need to reapply for next year.  

    • Please swap your child’s extra clothes for something warmer as the weather begins to turn.

    • October 1st tuition payments are due.  Checks payable to Cobble Hill Playschool.

  • Health and safety update: Thank you to all our families for your care and caution as we tiptoe into cold and flu season in the midst of Covid-19.  Here are the steps we are taking to continue to monitor Covid-19 and our school’s response:

    • Our symptom list on the daily health screening is our first line of defense again Covid-19.  Thank you to all our parents for being so diligent about these checks.  Additionally, we are asking parents to proceed very cautiously if your child develops a runny nose.  While we have not officially added it to our symptom list, we do encourage parents to take careful note of any runny noses or congestion and confer with your pediatrician if you have any concerns at all.  Students with runny noses are OK to come to school as long as there are zero other symptoms present and the discharge is not excessive or colored (only clear).  Furthermore, pediatricians seem to be recommending Covid tests if more than one household member has a runny nose.  

    • We are constantly monitoring the positivity rate around the City and in our immediate zip code.  

    • We are tracking Covid test availability in NYC.  The good news is that test result turn-around times seem to be shrinking.  We are getting frequent reports of results coming back in as few as 2 days.  

    • One of our parents shared this video to help prepare children for a nasal swab Covid test.  Particularly for our 4-year olds, it provides simple, reassuring language and explanations as well as some helpful tips, like taking a stuffed animal to the test, taking a deep breath before the test, or counting to three during the test.

    • All children in our school must get vaccinated for flu before December 31st.  Proof of vaccination should be submitted to Stacy via hard copy, email (Stacy@cobblehillplayschool.com), or fax (718-243-0445).

  • Birthdays at CHP: We have a long tradition of celebrating birthdays with books.  On your child’s birthday, they will get the opportunity to look through our birthday book box and select a book to bring home and keep forever!  We will put in a special birthday message as well.  We are catching up with all of our September and October birthdays now.  Summer birthdays will be celebrated in June.

Notes From Our Classroom Teachers

  • Communication update:  We hope you have enjoyed our virtual introduction to school via the teachers’ daily email updates.  Moving forward, we will transition to sending newsletters about twice a month that contain the same updates, announcements, and stories from our classrooms - along with pictures, too!  

    • Twos families should begin receiving weekly updates.

    • Threes and Fours families should begin receiving updates every two weeks.

    • As always, our “doors” are open.  Please feel free to get in touch with any questions or concerns.  Kristin or your child’s classroom teachers are good places to start.  Everyone’s email address is first name@cobblehillplayschool.com.  

    • Our upcoming curriculum nights will be a great chance to learn more about the specifics of what we do in school, ask questions, and talk with Kristin and the teachers.  

    • We will be hosting virtual parent teacher conferences at the end of January to correspond with the first of two sets of narrative student assessments.  If you have concerns or questions in the meantime, please reach out to Kristin (kristin@cobblehillplayschool.com). 

Community Engagement

  • As announced, Narcorns teacher Kelsey has stepped into an additional role this year, as our Equity & Inclusion Coordinator.  In the coming weeks, she will be asking for parent volunteers to serve on a planning committee for this important work.  Please be on the lookout for an email about how you can get involved.

  • 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.  The following group lists will be active as of Tuesday, October 13th.  

Events Around Town

  • Halloween is coming soon.  As we all navigate this holiday amid a pandemic, I’d like to recommend a fun, safe in the neighborhood.  Our friends at Brooklyn Bridge Parents report that, like the rainbow project, families are creating paper pumpkin pictures for their windows.  Check out details here.

Cobble Hill Playschool