Welcome Back Message from Principals

Dear Barnard Families:

We are excited to welcome back our returning students and extend a heartfelt welcome to our new students for the 2018-2019 school year!

We look forward to continuing our vision - teaching the whole child and creating a passion for lifelong learning for every student in our Barnard community. Our teachers and staff will continue participating in professional development to ensure we are engaging our students in learning activities that are being taught using research based curriculum and best practices.

Your children will have the opportunity to learn and grow together as a community, and individually as a result of a wide variety of teaching and learning modalities that meet both the academic and social/emotional needs of children. Barnard Early Childhood Center’s teachers and staff take pride in our abilities to understand the development of children in their most formative years of brain development. We believe in the practice of ALL means ALL as it pertains to every child’s potential and ability to learn, and interact with all of our students in various activities including, but not limited to, Amy’s Greenhouse. We are fortunate to have such a wonderful space for children to learn through hands on experiences.

In addition, we are committed to keeping lines of communication open for all parents/guardians. You are always welcome to email your child’s teachers, and meet with them personally through parent teacher conferences to discuss your child’s progress and needs. Establishing a positive home-school connection is a primary goal for us as we recognize and value this connection and its direct correlation to academic achievement. We are also available to answer questions via email and to meet whenever the need arises.

At Barnard, your children will have fun learning and playing together, and growing in every area of child development. Cheers to another great school year! To the newest members of our community, welcome to a very special place to be with people who cherish each opportunity to help children achieve their potential as well as respect and embrace our cultural diversity.

 

Dr. Nicolas Cracco - Principal

Dr. Lori E. Pisani - Assistant Principal

School Announcements

 

Magnet and UPK Lottery
   
    
The Magnet Lottery was held on February 1, 2019 and the UPK Lottery was held on February 6, 2019. All applicants will receive letters from the Magnet Office within the next two weeks informing them of whether or not they were assigned a spot at their first choice school or placed on the waitlist.
 
Any resident of New Rochelle who did not fill out an application for either Lottery can come to Barnard School between 8:00am and 4:00pm to fill out an application to be placed on the waitlist. 
 
  

 

 

'Queen of Soul' Inspires Barnard Artists
   
  
When the first-graders at the Henry Barnard Early Childhood Center painted colorful works of art this week, their muse was the Queen of Soul.
 
Led by teacher Lourdes Jimenez, each student filled four sections of a sheet of paper, painting each section to the sounds of a different song by soul-gospel-pop icon Aretha Franklin. Their works will be joined together in quilt-like displays as part of the district-wide Black History Celebration at New Rochelle High School at 4 p.m. on February 9.

"Aretha Franklin is a musician who makes you feel," Jimenez said. "A lot of people write about her. We thought that it would be great to show what we feel about her through our artwork."

They painted to "I Say a Little Prayer," "It Ain't Easy," "A Song For You" and "United Together."

The life, music and achievements of the beloved singer, who died in August, are the themes of this year's celebration, which is presented by the Westchester Alliance of Black School Educators and the New Rochelle Black History Month Committee, with support from the New Rochelle Fund for Educational Excellence and the New Rochelle Council on the Arts.
 
  

 

Calendar of Events

  • ** President's Day - District Closed **

    City School District of New Rochelle

  • Mid-Winter Recess - Schools Closed

    City School District of New Rochelle

  • Mid-Winter Recess - Schools Closed

    City School District of New Rochelle

  • Mid-Winter Recess - Schools Closed

    City School District of New Rochelle

  • Mid-Winter Recess - Schools Closed

    City School District of New Rochelle
View Monthly Calendar

Amy’s Greenhouse Update

Mother Nature gave us a sneak preview of Spring during the first week in February as a crew of 4 men from Rough Brother’s Inc. volunteered to spend the day at Barnard School. Rob Tanzer sent his team, T.J. Jones, Jason Fogt, Wes Delong and Eric Clark from Ohio to Amy’s Greenhouse to install an entirely new environmental control system. They worked through out the day with school custodians, Paul Summa and Andre Bryant along with district electrician Scott Benevento. 

 

Barnard Teacher and Amy’s Greenhouse Coordinator, Kathleen Connolly reached out to Rough Brother’s Inc. this past summer asking for some help with the ventilation. “I still can’t believe a premier company like Rough Brothers Inc. answered my email and offered such a generous donation. To think that these men also added an extra day to their travel schedule away from their families to help us is very touching. Amy’s Greenhouse always seems to attract the most kind and caring people. I really can’t express how thankful we are.” Rob Tanzer from Rough Brothers Inc. humbly explained “We feel fortunate we were able to help out.” 

 

At the end of the day, some of the Barnard Pre-K students marveled at the upgraded system donated by Rough Brothers Inc. and Wadsworth Controls. The four-year old students were excited that they were taller than the evaporator cooler. “It kind of works the way it would feel if you jumped in a lake and then came out and felt the wind. It will bring humidity and move air across the plants. This will also help cool down Amy’s Greenhouse during the hottest months of the year. All of the equipment will now work under one control system” explained T.J. Jones.

 

 “Amy’s Greenhouse will continue to be a learning sanctuary for our children for years to come thanks to such kindness and generosity” said assistant principal Lori Pisani.  “This is all wonderful! I am looking forward another great year at Amy’s Greenhouse” expressed Barnard principal Dr. Nicolas Cracco. “Amy’s Greenhouse continues to be a fun and rewarding project to bring to fruition” stated district director of facilities Carl Thurnau. 

 

TJ Jones  Dr Nicolas Cracco and Jason Fogt

Rough Brothers Inc. team Erik Clark, TJ Jones, Wes Delong and Jason Fogt with some Barnard Pre-K students 

TJ Jones with some Barnard students 

  

Andre Bryant, Kathleen Connolly, TJ Jones, Dr. Nicolas Cracco, Jason Fogt and Paul Summa 

Thank you Rough Brothers!

Weather and Recess

Dear Barnard Families,

As the winter weather approaches, we want to inform you of our outdoor recess policy. We have indoor recess when the playground has snow on it limiting access for our students, and when the wind chill readings fall below 30 degrees. We have consulted with Dr. Balchan, District Medical Director who advises all of our students “bundle up” for the days when we will be having recess outside. As they play, they warm themselves, as activity has that effect. Therefore, please send your child in with a winter coat, scarf, hat and gloves/mittens so that they may participate in outdoor recess activities. If you believe your child cannot participate on the cold weather days, please provide the school with a doctor’s note as we will follow medical orders.

Barnard's PTA

For more information regarding Barnard's PTA, please visit http://barnardpta.org/

 

On January 31st, 2019 thanks to a grant from the Barnard PTA, we had The Westchester Children’s Museum (located at Playland in Rye on the boardwalk), come host a literacy and STEAM workshop for all of the Kindergarten students at Barnard School. Students re-read and reenacted one of our favorite story books, The Three Billy Goats Gruff. They learned to be engineers and build a bridge using different materials.  They tested the different blocks, sticks, and building materials to build a bridge tall enough to fit the Troll under the bridge and strong enough to hold the small, medium, and large Billy Goat Gruffs. All of the students had a wonderful time testing out their building structures, working together to make their bridges stronger, and experimenting with different materials. Thank you Barnard PTA and Westchester Children’s Museum!

 
   
      
   
 

Primary Project at Barnard!

Find out more information about Primary Project. Click here!

  

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NEW ROCHELLE BARNARD STUDENTS ARE DETECTIVES OF PACKAGING MATERIAL

New Rochelle Barnard students are fabulous waste sorters. The whole school populations has never seen anything but carefully separating their lunch waste into excess liquid, food waste, and recyclable and non-recyclable packaging.

Students know to walk up to the recycling station after lunch and sort their left overs, under the caring and watchful eye of Nick, the lunchroom cleaner.

  Recently, We Future Cycle presenters were invited to play some more with the students all around sustainability and material identification.

Knowing what is recyclable and what not is the key to doing it right. Wishful recycling, as in just putting stuff into the green bin, is actually counter productive and creates many problems at the material recovery facility in Yonkers.

Students sat in front of a large pile of common packaging material of all types and were playfully “helping” the presenter to place the items into the correct bin. Most rigid packaging materials made out of plastics, aluminum, carton or glass are fully recyclable in Westchester County.

We Future Cycle shared with the adults in the room that Styrofoam contains Styrene, which is now a classified human carcinogen and banned in New York City, with legislation on the books in Albany to make it a state wide ban.

Students also learned that it is easy to avoid making trash. We Future Cycle presenters shared with them just how much they personally did not like to create trash.

Students learned that -oh big surprise- gold fish taste the same if they are packaged in a plastic zip lock baggie or in a reusable container. After learning about where the trash goes and that baggies end up in the trash, every single one of them responsibly voted that reusable containers are a much better choice for our world.

A harder sell were juice pouches. Juice pouches are one of the worst packaging offenders in existence. Valuable aluminum foil is sandwiched between two layers of plastic. Unrecyclable and thus adding to the whopping 2500 tons of trash generated in Westchester County every single day. All for 2 min of sugar laced drink. Students learned and agreed, that a reusable water bottle is a much better idea for our world.