Korean Dance At PS4

Class 320 celebrating Korean Dance.

The Korean Cultural Service of NY, along with Lotus Music and Dance, are promoting Spotlight Korea; an educational program which sends traditional dancers and musicians to K-12 New York City Public Schools in order to teach and perform Korean music and dance.  Click here for more information about this program.

Since January, twenty-five students from Ms. Schwartz class (320) have been working with Vongku Pak, a professional Korean drummer and instructor.  Recently, representatives from the Korean Cultural Service and Lotus, students, parents and teachers were invited to the celebration held in the auditorium.  Congratulations to Ms. Schwartz and class 320 who had a very good performance!

Click here to see a video from the show!

Grade Three Goes to China

Students from class 323 discussing Chinese Art.

All third grade students recently had the opportunity to visit the China Institute in Manhattan!  The Discovering China Through Art program for children is designed to introduce students to Chinese art and culture through lectures and workshops based on the exhibition’s theme. Each group visit includes a gallery talk, video presentation and a hands-on workshop.  When asked about how students enjoyed the tour, 3rd grade teacher, Ms. Bonilla said, "The visit went very well!  The students enjoyed the tour...especially the workshop".  Each teacher agreed that the best part of the visit was the art project.  "The students really liked the art project and now know a lot about China", said Ms. Arce after the trip.
  

Students from class 323 at the China Institute.

Special thanks goes out to Yue Ma from the China Institute for coordinating each trip.  For more information about the China Institute, click here and for a fun game played in China, click here.

PS4 Students Learn to Serve!

Service-learning takes place everyday at The Duke Ellington School! With the help of an organization called Penny Harvest, students in grades 3-5 have been collecting pennies to donate to a charity of their choice! Our goal is to raise $800, before January 6th. More than 300 students have received small bags to transport pennies from home to school. Mr. Nycz , co-teacher of class 320, spoke highly of the project. "It's a great idea and our students are really into it". Two of his students, Alexander R. (pictured left) and Luigi T. (pictured right) have helped our school donate hundreds of pennies...and they plan on bringing more!

Boys and girls, if you like contests, enter Penny Harvest's 11-Word Essay Contest for your chance to have your story featured on their blog.

Along with pennies for Penny Harvest, please bring non-perishable food items to the school's lobby to be donated to City Harvest. For information on other service-learning projects done by students all over NYC, check out generationOn.org. If your family has service-learning projects of their own, please send us your story in the comment box below.