40 THE QUEENS COURIER • KIDS & EDUCATION • JUNE 27, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
kids & education
LIC early development center starts hands-on STEM lessons for toddlers
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
@jenna_bagcal
A Long Island City early development
center will now introduce STEM (science,
technology, engineering and mathematics)
Photo courtesy of My Treehouse LIC
Queens School District 28 takes fi rst step toward integration plan
BY MAX PARROTT
mparrott@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
As the City Council splinters over its
reaction to Schools Chancellor Richard
Carranza’s eff orts to diversify the New
York City school system, District 28 in
Southeastern Queens took a major step
last week toward integration policies.
Th e district is one of the fi rst recipients
of funding to kickstart a program that
would help engage the community in creating
a diversity strategy. Department of
Education offi cials announced on June
10 that fi ve districts–9, 13, 16, 28 and
31–would receive $200,000 each in grant
funding to begin the process of developing
hyper-local integration plans.
“If you look at District 28 overall, the
racial makeup is diverse. Th e enrollment
data, however, reveals that our student
population is segregated, with the majority
of black students attending schools
in the southern end of the district and
the majority of white students attending
schools in the northern end,” wrote
District 28 Superintendent Mabel Sarduy
in an explanation for the district’s application.
Th e city announced the district-based
grant in fall 2018, with the middle school
diversity plan in District 15 that completely
eliminates selective admissions criteria
as a model.
Th e rents and property values in the district’s
southern half, which includes parts
of Jamaica, Richmond Hill, Briarwood,
Kew Gardens and South Ozone Park, are
signifi cantly lower than the northern part,
which snakes up around the southwestern
tip of Flushing Meadows park and carves
into Rego Park and Forest Hills.
Th is disparity drives socioeconomic and
racial segregation in the district, according
to Sarduy. On top of that, the diffi culty
of commuting from one end to the other
adds another obstacle to integration.
Th is is not the fi rst step that the district
has taken toward addressing these
issues. Last year it received a state grant
aimed at outlining the impacts of racial
and socioeconomic segregation. Th e district
has also been working with the
Offi ce of Student Enrollment towards
a new Diversity in Admissions priority
to be implemented as early as fall 2020
admissions.
“We have already discussed changes
to enrollment policies, but we wish to
connect with our community in order
to consider what next steps our district
could take. Th is grant could give us the
resources necessary to have a meaningful
conversation with our entire community,
hearing the voices of families across
the district,” wrote Sarduy.
De Blasio and Carranza announced
the funding with the news that they are
approving the vast majority of recommendations
made by the School Diversity
Advisory Group, (SDAG) a coalition of
students, educators, parents, advocates
and researchers appointed in 2017 to
advise the Mayor and Chancellor on policies
to advance school diversity and integration.
As part of those recommendations,
the SDAG strongly urged the nine
districts with suffi cient demographic
diversity of population to develop diversity
and integration plans, which included
Queens districts 27 in addition to 28.
to children 3 years old and under.
My Treehouse at 46-07 Vernon Blvd. is
expanding its off erings with a new STEM
program for children aged 8 months
to 3 years in age. Center owner Robert
Cilinghir shared that incorporating these
subjects at an early age creates an open
mind, instills a sense of curiosity and benefi
ts children as learners in the future.
“It allows them to feel confi dent when
learning these subjects in the future. We
mostly follow the John Dewey philosophy,
such as the belief that human beings learn
through a ‘hands-on’ approach. However,
we incorporate STEM,” Cilinghir said.
Xio Rosario, an instructor at the learning
center, said that they try to incorporate
STEM-related subjects every day of
the week. Since the students are so young,
the activities range from reading stories
about topics like car mechanisms and the
ABCs of space to going over fl ashcards
about planets.
Instructors oft en take the children on
nature walks to Gantry Plaza State Park,
where the students learn about Earth science
through seeing rocks, the water and
living creatures. Rosario said that they
teach the children how to respond to
these lessons by encouraging fi nger pointing
and incorporating sign language for
children who may be nonverbal.
“With the repetitive way of teaching, it
eventually sticks,” said Rosario.
Cilinghir opened My Treehouse in June
2016 in an eff ort to help children “make
sense of the world around them through
playing.” According to Cilinghir, the new
STEM program allows the children to
develop social and cognitive skills while
allowing them to mature emotionally and
gain self confi dence.
“Th ey are motivated to engage in new
experiences and environments. Th is is all
through play, which we believe is essential
for children’s growth. We incorporate
these things on our walks to Gantry
Park,” he said.
Th ere are currently three classrooms
at My Treehouse that incorporate STEM
lessons for the children, which will be
off ered year round.
“Th e staff is loving, consistent and supportive
and we’ve formed great relationships
with students and their parents,”
said Rosario. “We’ve made a lovely community
at My Treehouse.”
For more information on My Treehouse
and its programs, visit mytreehouselic.
com or fi nd them on Facebook @mytreehouselic.
Photo courtesy of the Department of Education
link
link
link
link
link
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
link
