Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Assembly (VIDEO)

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said his 'I Have A Dream' speech on August 28, 1963.

"I have a dream that little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" is what Dr. King told an audience of millions in August of the year 1963.  As America continues to struggle with racism, students at PS4 honored the great man by listening to presentations by our students and inducting fifteen new members of our National Elementary Honor Society.  Hosted by our Social Studies Teacher, Mr. Harris, this celebration included students reading excerpts from Dr. King's most famous speeches:

• Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech (December 10, 1964)
• Montgomery Bus Boycott Speech (December 5, 1955)
• I've Been to the Mountaintop Speech (April 3, 1968)
• Letters From A Birmingham Jail (April 16, 1963)

After learning about the meaning of each speech, Mr. Harris spoke about why we celebrate Dr. King and encouraged students to learn more about his life by doing some research.  Here are some kid-friendly websites about the life of this great man;

• Brainpop.com - Martin Luther King, Jr. (VIDEO)
• Time For Kids - Honoring King's Dream (VIDEO)
• Social Studies for Kids - Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Our assembly to honor Dr. King also included a candle-lighting, induction ceremony for the fifteen new members of PS4's National Elementary Honor Society (advised by Ms. Lennon), a great vocal performance of Estelle's song 'Conqueror' from Kasiyah O. (class 502) and a poem from the Ellington Poets (directed by Mr. Cantu).  To see their performance, click the video below.

Ms. Lennon with the new members of the National Elementary Honor Society.

Kasiyah O. (502) sings 'Conqueror' by Estelle.

MLK Jr. Celebration - Ellington Poets from PS4M on Vimeo.

PS4's Joy Ambassadors

Members of PS4's Honor Society delivers toys to Little Sisters of the Assumption.

The student members of the PS4 Honor Society have partnered with Little Sisters of the Assumption in Manhattan. Little Sisters collaborates with public, governmental and other non-profit organizations to improve the physical, social and spiritual health of needy children and impoverished families. The members of our Honor Society have chosen this organization to donate toys, holiday cards and letters to the children that they service.  Thanks to a special 'Joy Ambassadors' grant an a referral from 4th grade teacher Ms. Cruz, donations of toys were delivered to this wonderful community organization.

The donations of toys were greatly appreciated by Martha Andrade, Director of Education and Youth Services.  She expressed her thanks to the students during a tour of the facility.  "Thank you so much for your donation of 36 toys for our children" she says.  "Meeting you is indeed a pleasure and I hope that through the experience of giving, you learn to be generous with your hearts".  

Special thanks to Martha Andrade, Pura Cruz (Client Advocate) and Trish Gough (Coordinator of Volunteer Services) for helping us with this enjoyable service learning project.

PS4 School Store

Honor Society member Brianna (521) helps a customer.

Each day, during each lunch period, the PS4 Honor Society runs a School Store!  Under the direction of Ms. Lennon, student members sell school supplies in the cafeteria.  With money raised through this fundraising activity,  the school is able to bring special programs to PS4!

Currently, the items that you may purchase from our school store are:

Pencils - 25 cents
Erasers - 25 cents
Mini-notebooks - $1
PS4 Folders - $1
Pencil Sharpeners - $1
Bookmarks w/Stickers - 50 cents

Please contact Ms. Lennon or see any Honor Society Member for more information about our school store.

 

PS4 Improves Recycling Efforts

Student Government members Adrianna H. and Leslie V. recycle.

Members of PS4's Honor Society have joined forces with members of the Student Government to improve recycling efforts in classrooms throughout the school!  With new recycling bins, funded by a grant from DonorsChoose.org, each classroom now has a blue bin for recycling paper and a brown bin for trash.  Tall blue bins for plastic and another for paper have been placed near the elevator on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floor.  Offices have also had their bins replaced! 


Honor Society students created presentations for students in first and second grade to teach them how to recycle.  "They are in the process of visiting lower grade classrooms to show students what to do," said Ms. Lennon (adviser of both the Student Government and Honor Society).  "They've been instrumental in making our recycling program a success and have been encouraging students to recycle at home." 

Honor Society Members give a recycling presentation.

Student Government members have the very important job of placing all recyclable materials in the blue bins in the hallway.  Our students are doing their part to save the Earth!

New Members of PS4's Honor Society

Twenty-five 4th and 5th grade students have officially been inducted into PS4's Epsilon Chapter of the National Elementary Honor Society.  Parents, friends and teachers were invited to a ceremony hosted by Honor Society Adviser, Ms. Lennon.

Guest Speaker, Candece Tarpley discussed the importance of service.  "Helping people builds character", she said to audience members in the school's auditorium.  Ms. Tarpley is an actress, poet-writer, artist, dancer, singer, craft person and educator who currents works with LOTUS Music & Dance as a resident instructor teaching our 4th grade students about Native American Dance.  She is a World Champion Eastern Blanket Dancer who has dedicated her life to service.   Click here for more information about Ms. Tarpley.

During the event, Principal Delois White-Jones and Mr. Cantu (Co-Adviser of the Honor Society) lit candles to represent the main characteristics of every Honor Society Member:

1. scholarship
2. service
3. leadership
4. character
5. citizenship

Congratulations to our new members who were chosen based on those characteristics as well as high scores on the NYS Math and ELA exams.  Click here to learn more about the NEHS and see the slideshow below for some highlights from the ceremony.

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Auntie Brooke by Jeff Foxworthy

Happy Poetry Month!  Last week, members of the National Honor Society celebrated Poetry Month by reading selected poems by Jeff Foxworthy from his book of poems called Dirt On My Shirt.  Poems were read during morning announcements!  Here is one of our favorites:

Auntie Brooke by Jeff Foxworthy


My Auntie Brooke just just loves to cook
From turkey to cookies to bread
When she makes spaghetti,
You'd better get ready
For meatballs the size of your head!
She once made a cake as big as a lake
A cement ruck stirred up the batter
She put on the icing that was so enticing
With the oar from a boat and a ladder

For more fun poems about food, click here!

Visit Our School Store

The school store has new items just in time for Valentine's Day!  Money raised from our store helps pay for performances and special programs held in our school's auditorium.  Take a look at the items currently on sale:

Honor Society President Jared R. with Feliz P.

School Planners - NOW $2
School Folders - NOW $1
Pencils - 25 cents
Valentine's Day Erasers - 25 cents
NEW Valentine's Day Smencils - $2

The PS4 school store is only open at the beginning of each lunch period and it is located in the cafeteria.  Please see any member of the National Honor Society or Ms. Lennon for more information.

The School Store is Open for Business!

The PS4 Planners are going fast!

Have you visited PS4's new school store?  It's located in the cafeteria and is open during student lunch periods.  Managed by members of the National Elementary Honor Society, students are able to purchase the following items:

• wallets for $3
• planners for $4
• PS4 folders for $2
• pencils for 25 cents each
• erasers for 25 cents each

Members of the Honor Society with a customer.

For more information about this on-going school fundraiser, contact Ms. Lennon.

New Members of the Honor Society

New members are announced.

On Friday, October 21, twenty-two students were inducted into PS4's Delta Chapter of the National Elementary Honor Society.  Newly elected president of the Honor Society, Jared R. from class 501, had a message for the audience and Honor Society members.  "My goal is to make the community a better place to live in and I look forward to working with you to do that".

Ms. White speaks to the audience.

Members discuss donating to UNICEF.

Since then, the new members have been very busy.  Recently, they have collected $160 in donations by Trick-or-Treating for UNICEF.  After learning about UNICEF, members have decided that their donations should go toward medicine and food for poor children in other countries.  Honor Society members have also learned about the sacrifices that Veterans make during wartime.  Thanks to a visit from Vietnam Veteran, Tommy Parker who received a Purple Heart Medal from being injured during his years of military service,  members are now prepared to write letters to soldiers stationed in Iraq as part of Operation Letters to Santa.

On behalf of the Honor Society's co-advisers Ms. Lennon and Mr. Cantu, congratulations to the boys and girls of PS4's National Elementary Honor Society!  We look forward to seeing how your actions make our community a better place to live in.

One for Japan

The student members of PS4's National Honor Society and members of the Student Government Organization are raising money to help the thousands of victims of the earthquake in Japan. Please donate $1 to support our One for Japan campaign. All donations will be hand delivered to the Japan Society of NYC on April 15, 2011. Help us reach our goal of donating $1000.00.

This past Saturday, some members of The Ellington Poets Society were given a special art class led by Japanese poet and teacher, Emi Kikuchi. "Each class that donates to the One for Japan campaign will be given an origami crane", said Mr. Cantu. Origami cranes are Japanese symbols of friendship and peace. Feleesha J. (from class 402) felt proud to help. "I feel good helping out with what happened in Japan", she says. "I'm learning that any little thing can help". Origami cranes will be placed in our school's lobby and in each classroom.

For details about earthquakes, click here. For details about the earthquake/tsunami in Japan, click here or go to timeforkids.com/japanquake. For more information about our One for Japan campaign, see Ms. Lennon or contact Mr. Cantu at jcantu@schools.nyc.gov.

Update: $652 was delivered to the Japan Society of New York along with haikus written by students from the Ellington Poets Society. Thank you to all who donated.

PS4 Donates 180 Pounds of Pennies!

For nearly two months, students in grades 3, 4 and 5 have been collecting pennies. On Monday, pennies from all classes were collected and the grand total is $325!

With the help of an organization called Penny Harvest, the full amount collected will be donated to a charity chosen by our student leaders. The boys and girls of our school's National Elementary Honor Society and Student Government Organization (President Omar D. pictured with the clip board) have chosen to donate the pennies to the ASPCA to fight animal cruelty.

A special "thank you" goes to Ms. Thompson's class (301) who donated $71.62 in pennies. "This is a lot of pennies", said Ben G. (pictured below wearing a gray shirt) who helped his class raise the nearly 33 pounds of pennies!

Click here, to see 100 million pennies!

5th Graders Get Awarded

"I'm very proud of each of you", announced Mr. Polubiec, Assistant Principal at the bi-weekly 5th grade meeting. "You and your teachers are working so hard".

At this assembly, nearly 40 students were given certificates for their achievements in math, reading, attendance, and Project Wisdom (our character education program).

Each assembly, members of our Student Government and Honor Society share what they are working on in their classrooms and give updates on our school's Service Learning Projects. Currently, students are collecting pennies for Penny Harvest and donating food to City Harvest.

PS4's Honor Society Inducts 22 New Members!

On October 14th, The Duke Ellington School honored 22 of its students by inducting them into P.S. 4's Gamma Chapter of the National Elementary Honor Society. The members were chosen based on the scale scores from their 2010-2011 state exams in both math and English Language Arts (minimum: 693). "I now call this meeting to order", announced Chapter President Yeni P. from class 520. Co-advisers Ms. Lennon and Mr. Cantu continued the ceremony by informing the inductees of the four characteristics that all members must share; scholarship, responsibility, service, and leadership. "You are now role models for the boys and girls of this school", announced Mr. Cantu. Guest speaker, Rebecca Kraus, from an organization called Children for Children, gave students words of wisdom. In 2008, her organization donated funds to purchase new furniture for the school's library. Along with supporting schools, her organization provides volunteer opportunities for children of all ages. "You are the leaders of the future," said, Rebecca, "I'm proud of you." Pride for these 4th and 5th grade students was shared by our principal, Delois White-Jones, as she acknowledged the many parents in the audience.

Members meet every Tuesday morning. They are required to be involved in four service-learning projects throughout the year and will be creating activities where students can show pride in their school. Members have already begun selling Smencils in an effort to raise money for the school's general fund. Their first service-learning project will be a City Harvest canned food collection for homeless women and children.