Our Village & Beyond

Project A.P.P.L.E.

Wed, 14 Feb 2018 00:00:00 GMT

And Birthday Celebrations at FPCNS

As most of you know, Project A.P.P.L.E. stands for "A Place for Planting Learning and Eating," and for six years its focus has been to offer healthy snacks and gardening at First Pres. In addition to healthy food choices at school, we’ve started a dialogue about good nutrition. Since then, our healthy snack program has been inspiring children to try new foods, and to participate in the preparation of healthy recipes. Not only are our children eating healthier, but the program brings enthusiasm to snack time discussions about the food we’re making and eating, and appetizing aromas often greet families as they arrive at school. Second helpings of broccoli have been reported! Alphabet letters have been designed with carrots before being gobbled up! Kohlrabi has been attempted!

By extension, Project A.P.P.L.E. wants to inform the birthday celebrations we have at school. While cupcakes have been standard fare for birthday celebrations, the mission of Project A.P.P.L.E. reminds us that there are also healthier ways to celebrate that avoid the frequent consumption of sugar and the “sugar rush” syndrome - a concern that many of our parents share. In addition, many children in our school have allergies to chocolate, dairy or eggs. Some healthier choices for school celebrations can avoid some of these issues.

We would like to offer a few suggestions (and a few links) to keep in mind when you plan your child’s next school birthday celebration: fruit skewers, fruit flowers, oatmeal cookies, banana or zucchini bread, yogurt parfaits and smoothies can be great choices.

Don’t forget, baking with your children promotes math and chemistry skills!

We greatly welcome your collaboration with Project A.P.P.L.E., and wish you all good eating, happy birthdays and a healthy New Year!

Fruit Skewers: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/338684834448055992/

Fruit Flowers: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/111604896988026560/

Yogurt Parfaits: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/171136854573170205/

Fruit Popsicles: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/418201515380080099/

Beyond Resolutions

Mon, 08 Jan 2018 14:12:28 GMT

Renewal, restoration, reimagining, resolutions and…rebranding…..

Dear FPCNS Families & Friends,

I am delighted to welcome all of you back after the Winter Break and to this new year. Once again, the children seem taller and more confident. I also expect that some may appear to be tentative as they navigate the reality of returning to school after a lengthy break with parents and extended family members. The Administrative Team and Staff look forward to the amazing developmental leaps our students will experience in the coming months. As we move from Winter to Spring, you will see tremendous and exciting growth.

As you may have noticed by now, we have already taken some leaps of our own.

As we approached the launch of our new logo and website today, we did in fact engage in the process of renewal and restoration. We reimagined who we are as a school and community of professionals who are charged with caring for children and families both here and “beyond.” The name of our blog space is intentional: we are in the village, literally but we certainly are a village, figuratively.

We will use this space to engage readers to think, to learn and to ask questions. Most of the time you will see posts from me, but I will also invite other administrators and staff members to share their inspirations with the community. In the future, you may even see someone outside of the school share their reflections or expertise on a particular topic.

Take a moment to look closely at our new logo. Our tree is a true symbol of growth with strong roots that started back in 1952. I hope you have noticed the bird, perched on top ready to take off and explore on its own, as all of your children will do once they have transitioned out of FPCNS.

Lastly, I can’t help but address one final word in my opening statement: resolutions. I truly admire those who are able to follow through with them! I tend to be far too ambitious with mine and find myself falling short. The beauty of a typical school year is the multiple opportunities to start again. September, January, and April are the more obvious starting points. However, educators are constantly looking for starting points. The project based work of the Reggio process, emergent curriculum and children’s queries provide such opportunities on an ongoing basis. What a gift!

So I ask all of you, will you give yourself that “gift” as well? The children are always watching and listening. If we are willing to fall, get up, start again, ask questions and think “beyond,” they will do the same.

I hope you will take some time to explore the new website . As usual, please be in touch with your thoughts, ideas and questions should you have any. I’m looking forward to continued, wonderful conversations with all of you.

Best,

Kathleen

A Manhattan Nursery School Where Gardening is in the Curriculum

Wed, 11 Sep 2013 00:00:00 GMT

Read about us in Gardenista

In Manhattan’s Greenwich Village where space is tight and gardens rare, the First Presbyterian Church Nursery School recently transformed a “baking hot” rooftop playground into an edible garden. And yes, the kids are eating the green vegetables.

Read the whole story here .