Quogue School Board Notes: New Pre-K Standards on Show

At Tuesday night’s Board of Education meeting, the recently finalized New York State standards were presented to the board by Sarah Adams, Quogue’s Special Education coordinator.

A landmark document, the recently published 76-page, Pre-K standards are the first that the New York State Department of Education has developed and produced for early childhood learning

 “These standards are hot of the press,” said Adams, “and the good news is that it is really based on the 'Tools of the Mind' curriculum already in place at the school.”

Based on the concepts developed by Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky, "Tools of the Mind" is an approach to early childhood education in which a strong emphasis on play enhances learning and development. It is intended to improve the social and academic success of young children.

Adams said that New York State has also released new curriculum standards for the English Language Arts program, which will now integrate social studies and science with the ELA curriculum.

Anti-Bullying Measures Addressed

Adams reiterated Superintendent Richard Benson’s sentiments from a and noted the school’s successful anti-bullying practices. Last month, Andrea Fallick, assistant director for School Based Programs at Student Assistance Services Corp in Westchester, hosted the Bullying Awareness Workshop at the school with more than 40 parents in attendance.

In light of New Jersey schools adding a mandatory anti-bullying policy to its curriculum, and assuming the new New York Governor will also mandate a similar anti-bullying policy, Fallick praised Quogue Elementary for being ahead of the curve, according to Adams.

 “One of the first things the expert noted is that during the morning meeting is that the children feel safe,” said Adams.

 Adams said that Superintendent Benson has been reviewing the school’s Code of Conduct and hopes to add an anti-bullying amendment very soon.

“The word bullying doesn’t always work best, we want to show students how to socialize and treat their friends, so we recently started The Bucket Filler,” explained Adams, “it is a very sweet book.”  

Although they thought it was a grassroots movement that was started at Quogue school, at a recent curriculum meeting the teaching staff discovered that the Bucket Filler is actually a national program, with Islip and East Moriches schools already using it in their curriculums.