Dear PS 107 Community,
Ours is a school like no other, thanks in large part to the way PS 107 families come together to build a sense of community. There are numerous opportunities for you to help keep our school’s community spirit alive in the 2024-2025 school year. Our goal is for 100% of caregivers to volunteer at least once this year; please see below for some ways you can contribute.
PTA Board & Support Opportunities:
Community Outreach Committee Lead
We are currently looking to fill two Community Outreach Committee Co-Chair positions for the 2024-2025 school year. The commitment to being on the PTA Executive Board is not as time-consuming as you might think: Two volunteers will work together as co-chairs with the support of resources from previous years so that there is no need to reinvent the wheel. The Community Outreach Committee will be a part of PS 107’s collection drives which are a great way to learn how school initiatives and community partnerships work! There are also opportunities to spearhead other collections and community initiatives in which you might be interested. Suitcase collection for Floyd Bennett Field? Blanket collection? Book drive? Park cleanup? The sky is the limit.
Email Adam Cobb (adam@ps107.org) or Mike Lew (mike@ps107.org) if you’re interested!
PS 107 Instagram Account
Looking for a way to be involved this year on your own time? We are looking for two tech-savvy volunteers to manage and update our school Instagram account. Responsibilities would involve posting pictures from events and broadcasting reminders about upcoming events.
Email Adam Cobb (adam@ps107.org) or Mike Lew (mike@ps107.org) if you’re interested!
Picture Day Coordinator
We are looking for a parent volunteer to help run and kid-wrangle on Fall Picture Day (Monday, September 30) and Spring Picture Day (Wednesday, May 14). We’re also seeking someone who can help produce and coordinate a schoolwide end-of-year photo (Tuesday, June 17) – our first all-grade group photo in years!
Email Adam Cobb (adam@ps107.org) or Mike Lew (mike@ps107.org) if you’re interested.
Committee Leadership & Volunteer Opportunities:
Math Magic
Math Magic is a weekly morning activity where students and adults come to school early to practice math and socialize. It is a very popular weekly event and we would love to have more folks join in the fun! As a committee member, you would help the [adult] team prepare and execute the magic of math throughout the school year. Please sign up to volunteer here!
Thursday Track
As the name implies, Thursday Morning Track Run is a group of caregivers and children that meet before school on Thursdays to run! This allows kids to get some energy out before the school day starts while growing a love of running. We are currently looking for someone to organize this group so if you have participated in the past and want to see Thursday Track continue, please consider signing up to lead/co-lead! Or, if you have never been a part of the group but have a love of running, we can help you with all the info you need to be a co-leader. Sign up here!
Book Clubs
A few grade level book clubs are already formed and ready to go for the year, thanks to some amazing volunteers! We are still looking for book club leads for Kindergarten, 1st Grade, and 4th Grade. Book clubs typically meet once a month in the morning before school. As a lead, you would help select a book for families to read and then coordinate the meet ups at school. Sign up to lead Kindergarten, 1st, or 4th grade here!
Green Committee
If you are interested in helping the PS 107 community take steps to reduce waste, lower our carbon footprint, and generally improve our planet, then this is the committee for you! The Green Committee will be active throughout the school year, pushing green initiatives in school and advising and supporting leads of school events. We are looking for a co-leader for the committee to join Kajal Below. If you are interested in joining as a co-lead or a committee member, please sign up here!
DEI Committee
The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee acts as a hub for family affinity groups, celebrates the diversity of our school community, and seeks to build connection and empathy throughout PS107 by embracing an ethos of inclusivity. We are currently prepping for the school’s first-ever Welcome Back Potluck (Saturday Sep 14), a diverse books initiative, and heritage/awareness events throughout the year. Sign up to join the committee here!
Latinx/Hispanic Heritage Month Lead
We are looking for a lead or committee member to coordinate with the DEI committee to celebrate Latinx/Hispanic Heritage Month in September. Interested? Join here!
Parents' Special Education Support (PSSE)
The PSSE Committee meets monthly to share neurodiverse education and parent resources, schedule parent workshops, host neurodiverse activity tables at school events, and create a safe space where parents can discuss challenges and offer one another support. Previous initiatives include bringing neurodiverse books to the school library, creating a special education middle school survey, and setting up a collection drive and an Amazon wishlist for sensory supplies which were distributed to ICT classrooms at PS107. There are 2 leadership opportunities still available: PSSE Co-Chair and PSSE Volunteer Lead. Please contact Lisa Uribe (lisa.uribe@morganstanley.com) for more information, or sign up to lead or join here!
Making Caring Common
We're forming an exploratory committee to implement Making Caring Common at 107. Making Caring Common is a groundbreaking program, created at Harvard University, which aims to foster a positive, caring culture of kindness and empathy in schools. More than just a K-12 curriculum, this program is designed to teach students how to care for one another by getting the whole community involved: parents, teachers and students.
Over the past 2 years, Making Caring Common was successfully piloted at 3rd Street Elementary in Los Angeles and we're excited for PS 107 to offer the program this year in the hope it will soon be expanding to other school communities. Here's a segment on KTLA that highlights the program as well as this NBCLA clip.
If you feel moved by the possibility of bringing this program to 107, please email parent pamlewy@gmail.com to join the exploratory committee.
Event Leadership:
Fall Festival (Saturday, October 19)
The Fall Festival is our largest event of the first term: a fun-filled block party that allows our community to celebrate the new school year together and doubles as a fundraiser for the PTA. We have a few positions still open for this year’s Fall Festival planning team, and we would love for you to join in the fun!
SPONSOR SOLICITATION: Sponsorships are the most impactful way the Fall Festival raises money for the PTA. Volunteer(s) would reach out to local vendors (great news: we already have a list so no need for additional research!), keep track of donations, and manage communications with these businesses. This person would start sooner rather than later.
ACTIVITIES: Volunteer(s) would keep track of the various activities we have planned for the festival–chalk drawing, face painting, pumpkin decoration, crafts, freeze dance, Donut Dangle, etc. They will work hand in hand with Arts & Crafts and other teams as our list of activities comes together. This role picks up a week after the start of school.
FOOD (PROVISIONS AND CONTESTS): Volunteer(s) would help ensure all food vendors have everything they need for onsite set-up, as well as be the point of contact for the pie contest, chili contest, and bake sale. (Point of contact responsibilities are largely just getting the word out about participation and managing the onsite set-up.) This role picks up a week after the start of school.
This event is a team effort so all roles will have the support of the event leads as well as volunteers to help at the event itself. *If you would like to join the core team in more of an overall position or doing something not listed above, we would be thrilled to have you!
For those interested in signing up or if you have more questions, please reach out to Lisa Esterhuizen, lisa.k.esterhuizen@gmail.com–thank you!
Winter Craft Fair (Saturday, December 7)
The Winter Craft Fair is a family-led marketplace and crafting expo where kids and caregivers show off their skills as crafters, makers, and artisans. We are looking for a leader or co-leaders to make this amazing day happen! Sign up here!
Powerhouse Book Fair (December 2024)
Our annual book fair - held at local fave PowerHouse Books - is a great opportunity for our kids to explore a neighborhood bookstore, choose books they will read with pleasure, and give back to PS 107. We are looking for 1-2 event leads to correspond with PowerHouse and oversee the class trips to PowerHouse. Please sign up to help here!
STEM Day Committee (Saturday, March 15)
During STEM Day, PS107 will turn into an interactive Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics Extravaganza. We need someone to step up and lead the eager group of STEM lovers on this special day. If you love everything STEM, please consider leading or co-leading the group! Sign up to lead or join here!
Spring Auction (Friday, April 4)
Our Spring Auction is the single largest fundraising event of the year. We need team leaders to make it a success, so if you are interested in getting involved in a high impact fundraiser for the school, this is the event for you! Want to lead or co-lead the auction? Sign up here!
We hope you consider signing up to volunteer for one of the many opportunities above!
Thank you for any time you are able to give,
The PTA