Dear P.S. 360Q School Community,
Welcome!! My name is Rachel Thomas and it is an honor and privilege to serve as the Principal of P.S. 360Q; where our school is “Our Home Away from Home.” P.S. 360Q is a District 29 school, located in Saint Albans, New York and we serve scholars in Pre-K to Grade 5.
My first priority as the Building Leader is to ensure that we have effective Safety; Structures and Systems. We pride ourselves on maintaining academic rigor, school spirit and social/emotional activities.
With respect to academic expectations and rigor, our Instructional Absolutes that teachers incorporate into lessons include:
1. Active Student Engagement:
- Real life / real world connections
- Interdisciplinary connections
- Hands-on learning
2. Check for Understanding:
- Activate prior learned knowledge
- Teacher feedback is constructive and in the moment
- Mid-point check-in and End-point summary
3. Applied use of the Academic Language:
- Students use content based language (oral and written)
- Language of the rubric applied within teacher feedback
- Hands-on learning
Our scholars engage in Social Emotional Learning lessons and activities. Our primary social emotional curriculum is the Sandford Harmony Program. Cluster / Special classes are Music (Music in the Brain Program) and Physical Education (P.E. Works) and Health (NYCDOE Health curriculum). P.S. 360Q prides us on our School Spirit and School Pride. Our school mascot is “Zander.” He is an owl. The owl represents: wisdom, endurance, patience and fierce intelligence. Our school colors are navy blue and gold. We have two school songs: Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now (McFadden and Whitehead) and “Hail to P.S. 360Q School Song” written by our Music Teacher (Cassandra Dorcely). Our students engage in School Spirit Day; Respect for All; Breast Cancer Awareness; Heart Awareness; Gun Violence Prevention; African-American Read-in Day; Veteran’s Awareness Day; Pajama Day; Dr. Seuss Week; etc. The P.S. 360Q Facebook and Instagram page is where we showcase our weekly events.
Our communication and technology platforms include: email; Zoom; telephone; iLearnNYC, Class Dojo; Microsoft Teams; NYC Schools Account.
Our academic curriculums include:
- NYCDOE (Team Teaching Learning Communities) – Pre-K
- Phonics: (Fundations) – Grades K, 1 and 2
- Literacy: (HMH Curriculum) – Grades K-5
- Science (Amplified Science)
- Social Studies: (Passport to Social Studies)
- Social Emotional: (Sandford Harmony)
- Health: (NYCDOE Health Curriculum)
- Physical Education: (P.E. Works)
- Music: (Music in the Brain)
Our online academic support programs include:-
- iReady (ELA and Math)
- Acadience (ELA and Math)- Grades K to 2
Our School Implementation Team (S.I.T.) works with families who have students with special needs. The SIT members consist of Special Education Teachers, Guidance Counselor, Psychologist, Family Worker, Social Workers, Speech Therapist, Occupational Therapist and Physical Therapist. Currently we have three I.C.T. (Inter Collaborative Teaching) classes, where the class is supervised by a General Education Teacher and a Special Education Teacher.
Our staff members call P.S. 360Q their “Forever Home.” Our teachers and staff are supported, provided with opportunities for professional development and are members of School Culture Teams. Our School Culture Teams are run by the staff and this has been the highlight of our school community. Examples of our School Culture Teams are: Building Beautification, Technology Team, Building Response Team, Crisis Team, Safety Team, etc.
At P.S. 360Q we work together; support each other and ensure that professionalism goes hand in hand with trust and respect. Our scholars and families feel welcome. Together we work hard for the betterment of our school and district. Our scholars love to come to school where it is brightly decorated, friendly, fun, safe and clean. Thank you for sharing your time and learning about the P.S. 360Q school community.