December Family Newsletter

Happy December! December is a time for celebration, gratitude, and preparation for the year ahead. Thank you for all of your support thus far, especially to the families and community members that supported and volunteered their time to attend these various events! Thank you to all the families that have joined us last month for our STEM First Friday and Friendship Day Feast! Thank you for all of the wonderful food! We appreciate your continued support!

We also thank you for coming to Parent Teacher Conferences earlier last month to discuss your child's progress thus far in the school year. At the conferences, your child's reading level should have been shared with you. We began preparing students in Grade 3 to 5 with mock exams in literacy and these exams will continue into this month. Math mock exams will take place on December 3rd and December 4th. AP Tabbita held a Math Parent Workshop for families on Grades 3 to 5. 

Progress reports.  Beginning in November, progress reports are automatically emailed to families on the first Wednesday of every month through the NYCSA account email. 

Our Data Story is as follows: 

• On the New York State ELA exam, we went from 35% proficiency in the 23/24 school year to 52% proficiency in the 25/26 school year. 
• On the New York State Math exam, we went from 53% proficiency in the 23/24 school year to 61% proficiency in the 25/26 school year
• We are continuing to make strides on the southside. 

STEM and Clubs: Last year, we implemented clubs for our students. One club was the Dance Club. These students will be performing for all  families on December 18th. More information will be posted on ClassDojo. 

Spelling Bee. We held our Spelling Bee Finals on November 22nd. The winning word was "deferential." Congratulations to our three winners! The Champion and the Second Place winner will be representing PS 354Q at the Queens South Spelling Bee. 

Spelling Bee Champion: Temitope A. 

Second Place: Temidireayo B. 

Third Place: Sophia D.  

Open Classroom Week. Last school year, we implemented Open Classrooms Week to support our families learn more about our school community. During Open Classroom Week, you will have the opportunity to visit your child's learning environment and to see your child's student work portfolio. Schedule will be posted on ClassDojo. Though not noted on the calendar Open Classrooms Week will take place during the week of December 15th. 

Winter Recess. On the original 2025/2026 New York City Public Schools' calendar, January 2nd was not listed as part of the Winter Recess. In recent weeks, the Chancellor announced that winter recess will now include January 2nd. As a result, school reopens on January 5, 2026. 

Changes in Grades 1, 2, and 3 in January 2026. As you know, we are implementing small class sizes. Class 131, Grade 1 ICT class, has become too large and it will have to broken up into two classes to adhere to the class size mandates. In order to do this, a Grade 2 class will close and a Grade 3 ICT Class will be converted to a General Education class. The special education teacher from Grade 3 and the general education teacher from Grade 2 will come together to teach the second Grade 1 ICT class. Families that will be impacted and that are part of the new class will be contacted via letter.

Arts Grant and Construction at PS 354Q. We are proud recipients of an $80,000 grant to help support the Arts. This grant will be in support of the whole school inclusive of the 3K, PreK, and Kindergarten. As you know, we were given money last school year to upgrade our gymnasium and to construct a STEM Lab for our students. The construction for both of these projects and the first floor boys and girls bathrooms will begin during the Winter Break. This means that PE will be occurring in the classroom and/or other spaces such as the cafeteria. When the weather gets nicer, PE can be moved to the outdoors. This construction project will also affect SQPA as work begins at 4 pm. We have been assured that this is safe and that we will be having monthly meetings to receive reports on the projects. 

STEM First Friday. Please see the schedule.

Uniforms. We are a uniform school. Please ensure that your child wears uniforms Mondays through Thursdays. More information is found below. 

Attendance. There are 17 instructional days of school in the month of December. It is very important that your child attends school on a daily. Attendance is connected to promotion as not being present causes learning loss. 

Communication. At this time, you should be signed up for ClassDojo. It is how we communicate schoolwide information. 

Thank you for your collaboration, and as always, stay safe!