PS4 Soccer Teams Go To The Fall Frenzy

Our soccer teams, sponsored by America SCORES NY, recently participated in the annual SCORES NY Fall Frenzy at Jacob H. Schiff Park in Harlem! They played three 15-minute games and shared a poem about teamwork! Take a look at the video below to hear their poem! 

More than 200 America SCORES NY students, 100 parents and friends celebrated the accomplishments of our athletes and poets at this annual event.  For more information about our soccer program, contact Coach Keys or Coach Ovalle.  Special thanks to PS4 parents, Ms. Acosta for another great photo!   Click here to check out more photos on the America Scores NY Facebook Page!

Our 9th Annual Talent Show

Our 9th annual Talent Show was a success!  Thanks to all of the teachers, family members and student-performers for making the show so successful.  Take a look at the slide show below for some highlights of this fundraising event.

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The Ellington Poets Perfrom at NYU (VIDEO)

The Ellington Poets perform at the 2014 No Place for Hate Recognition Ceremony.

No place for Hate is an initiative of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) that offers students educators, administrators and family members the opportunity to work together to combat prejudice and enhance a culture of respect in their schools and communities.  Recently, the ADL awarded the seventy-six schools that participated in this anti-bullying initiative.

This year,  The Ellington Poets performed in front of an audience of students, teachers and honored guests at NYU's Performing Arts Theater!  Under the direction of Mr. Cantu, PS4's Dean and ESL teacher, the talented group of 4th and 5th grade poets were chosen to perform their rendition of Imagine by John Lennon.  Congratulations, boys and girls!

Take a look at the video below or click here to see a video of their entire performance!  Special thanks to the ADL's Associate Education Director and No Place For Hate Coordinator, Jason Sirois for his continued support of PS4.  We love you too, Mr. Jason!

The Ellington Poets with Mr. Cantu at NYU's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts Center following their performance.

Ellington Poets from PS4M on Vimeo.

Famous Poet of the Month: Shel Silverstein

Children's author Shel Silverstein was born in Chicago on September 25, 1932. Though he was best known for creating stories and poems for kids, he was a man of many talents. During the 1950's, Mr. Silverstein was in the U.S. Army in Japan and Korea. He drew cartoons for magazines and wrote poems, plays and songs. He also composed music for the film, Postcards from the Edge, for which he received a nomination for an Academy Award in Music.

Silverstein wrote his first children's book, Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back, in 1963. From there, he went on to write a number of bestsellers which received numerous awards including The Giving Tree (1964), Where The Sidewalk Ends (1974), A Light In The Attic (1981), and Falling Up (1996). More than 18 million copies of his books have been sold around the world and have been translated into 20 different languages.

Silverstein died at his Florida home on May 9, 1999. If you're not already familiar with his wonderful titles, we encourage you to share them with your family. If you would like more information, please visit Shel Silverstien's official website at www.shelsiverstein.com.

The Ellington Poets Society Perform at BAM

The Ellington Poets Society with Mayhem Poets

The BAMcafe stage

The Ellington Poets Society recently performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music with the professional poet group, Mayhem Poets.  The Mayhem Poets take audiences on a high energy verbal adventure that raises poetry to playful and thought-provoking heights, inspiring students with the power of spoken word.  Commenting on subjects from Dr. Seuss to superheroes to fast food, this trio of theatrically trained artists is joined by an electric violinist to explore rhythm in its many forms.

More than two hundred students from all over NYC were invited to this event, but the only student group to take the stage was the Ellington Poets.  One member was very inspired by the Mayhem Poets.  Byron M. asked Mason Granger, who joined the Mayhem Poets in 2005, about his inspiration for one of his poems.  "Do you really love cartoons that much?", asked Byron. "Yea", Granger responded, "I do".  For more information about Mayhem Poets, click here!

Lead by our school's Dean of Discipline, Mr. Cantu, the next two performances by the Ellington Poets Society will be at Aaron Davis Hall (Langston Hughes Choral Speaking Festival) on May 23rd and at our annual Talent Show on June 15th.

PS4 Celebrates Poem In Your Pocket Day

Last Friday, students and staff celebrated Poem In Your Pocket Day by sharing poems with friends and family members.  Poems were read in classrooms, hallways and even in the cafeteria!  Take a look at some of the highlights of the day.

Ellington Poet, Byron M. (Class 523), shares a poem in the cafeteria

Dayanil P. (Class 523)

Students from 201 writing poems

Class 201 shares their poems

Derrick, from Ms. Luciano's class, reads a poem that he wrote

Students from Class 101 share original poems

Happy PIYP Day!

Today is national Poem In Your Pocket Day!  Students and teachers at PS4 will be sharing poems in the hallways and classrooms of the school.  The idea is simple, write an original poem or find one that you like and put it in your pocket.  Then share it with friends, family members and teachers!  Here's a perfect poem to get you started.

Keep a Poem In Your Pocket
By Beatrice Schenk de Regniers

Keep a poem in your pocket

And a picture in your head

And you’ll never feel lonely

At night when you’re in bed.

The little poem will sing to you

The little picture bring to you

A dozen dreams to dance to you

At night when you’re in bed.

So - -

Keep a picture in your pocket

And a poem in your head

And you’ll never feel lonely

At night when you’re in bed.

For some kid-friendly poems, click here!

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!

Respect For All Presentation

Ms. Minaya

Ellington Poets w/Ms. Minaya

For the 2011-2012 school year, the NYC Department of Education designated February 13-17 as Respect For All Week in all NYC public schools.  Since that week, schools are given the opportunity to embark upon new initiatives that promote respect for diversity and engage students in meaningful lessons and/or other activities that focus on preventing bias-based harassment, intimidating and/or bullying.

On March 20, PS4 assembled students in 4th and 5th grade to attend a Respect for All Presentation! Special guest Joselinne Minaya, of the Manhattan District Attorney's Office of Community Affairs Unit, and our very own Ellington Poets, instructed by Mr. Cantu, reminded students that it is important to respect everyone.  "It is not only important to respect your family and friends", said Ms. Minaya, "but, it is equally important to respect people that you don't know...regardless of what they look like, who they marry, or their religious affiliation".   The assembly ended with a student-written poem entitled Silence the Violence performed by The Ellington Poets.

For more information on NYC's Respect For All program, click here.

Poet of The Month: Edgar Allan Poe

Each month, PS4 students study a famous poet! This month's famous poet is:

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was an American poet and short-story author, known as a master of scary stories. He also wrote detective and science fiction stories. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, but grew up in Richmond, Virginia and was orphaned at an early age. Throughout his life, he had many jobs. He was a sergeant in the army, a literary critic and a magazine editor. His most famous poem, The Raven, was written in 1845. Here is an excerpt:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more."

Do you think you know enough about this poet? Take this quiz and let us know your results by posting a comment.

Poet of The Month: Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman is the famous poet of the month! For the month of January, students will be studying his poetry.

Walt Whitman was born on May 13, 1819 in West Hills (Long Island), New York. He is considered by many to be the greatest of all American poets. Walt Whitman celebrated the freedom and dignity of the individual and sang the praises of democracy and the brotherhood of man. His Leaves of Grass, unconventional in both content and technique, is probably the most influential volume of poems in the history of American literature. Whitman died in 1892. Read one of his poems below.

A Farm-Picture THROUGH the ample open door of the peaceful country barn,
A sun-lit pasture field, with cattle and horses feeding;
And haze, and vista, and the far horizon, fading away.

Happy Poetry Month!

I Run
by Adonis M. (Grade 5)

I run to the house
I run to the kitchen
I run to the barn and grab a chicken
I run to the hallway
I run to the basement
I run back upstairs and take a breathe in
I run to the school
I run to the lunchroom
I run to the yard and sit on a mushroom
But, that's not all I do with my feet
I also run to my bed then go to sleep


School
by Stacey P. (Grade 5)

I love playing and laughing
art and crafting

School is so fun
I can play in the sun

You have to be responsible
and lead the way

Because success and victory
save the day

Education and learning
Well, they're the same thing

So, prepared, be nice, share
And remember...be fair.


Flying Squirrels
by Sekou (Grade 3)

Flying squirrels can fly and glide
They jump
They thump
Flying squirrels don't run, but they can
They chew food a lot and have big eyes
They don't have hats
But, they do like bats
They have different colors
and live together