Teaching Kindergarten Conference: Where Did the Garden Go?

Pre-Conference Schedule

Classroom Observations

Participants will spend the morning observing classrooms at Bank Street School for Children or Castle Bridge (PS 513) and will come together for a facilitated discussion and working lunch. Topics may include: questioning techniques, racial literacy, assessment, and the teacher’s role in the classroom. Using observations from the morning and your own experiences as a frame of reference, the group will discuss practical ways of inspiring Curiosity, Creativity & Courage into their own programs and classrooms.

Agenda (On Site)

Time (ET) Activity
8:30 AM – 9:00 AM Welcome and introduction to observations
9:00 AM – 11:30 AM Observations in classrooms
You will spend time in preschool (4/5s), kindergarten (5/6s), and first grade (6/7s) classrooms and other School for Children learning environments
11:30 AM – 11:45 AM Break
11:45 AM – 2:00 PM Lunch and facilitated discussion
  • Castle Bridge, PS 513

    Castle Bridge School
    560 West 169 Street, New York, NY 10032

    Castle Bridge is a K-5th grade dual-language progressive elementary school. Students learn English and Spanish. The school’s mission is to provide each student with a high-quality, arts-infused, project-based experience that will develop the skills and passions for inquiry and engagement in support of their growth as scholars, workers, and citizens.

    Facilitators

    Margaret BlachlyMargaret Blachly, MSEd, is the director and a psycho-educational specialist at the Center for Emotionally Responsive Practice at Bank Street College. She spent 11 years teaching pre-K and kindergarten in dual language and inclusion settings. Margaret is a presenter and consultant to schools in New York City; Providence, RI; and beyond in the areas of social studies, curriculum, and social-emotional practice. She holds a master’s degree from Bank Street’s Early Childhood Bilingual General and Special Education Program.


    Carmen ColonCarmen Colón, MSEd, is an advisor and instructor at Bank Street Graduate School of Education. Her current research includes progressive education practices in integrated, dual language classrooms in a New York City public school. She has been an educational consultant in curriculum development in dual language, general, and special education practice and previously taught pre-K. She also taught Spanish to children in pre-K through first grade in after-school programs. She earned an MS in Dual Language/Bilingual Early Childhood Special & General Education from Bank Street Graduate School of Education. She holds a BA in Management Information Systems from Pace University.

  • Bank Street School for Children

    Bank Street School for Children
    610 West 112th Street, New York, NY 10025 

    Bank Street School for Children is a nursery through 8th-grade private school and a part of the larger Bank Street College of Education. Learning at the school is experience-based, interdisciplinary, and collaborative. Bank Street’s approach emphasizes educating the whole child—the entire emotional, social, physical, and intellectual being—while valuing and reinforcing the child’s integrity as learner, teacher, and classmate.

    Facilitators:

    Emily Linsay is the Lower School Coordinator at Bank Street School for Children. She supports second grade (7/8s) –  fourth grade (9/10s) classrooms as well as specialist teachers, children, and families. Her 30+ years of classroom teaching include pre-K, kindergarten, and first grade in the School for Children and at other public and private schools. She eared a BA in English from Georgetown University and an MA in Early Childhood Education from Bank Street Graduate School of Education.


    Elizabeth Jarvis is the Lower School Associate Division Head at Bank Street School for Children. She has worked with preschool- to high school-aged children and their families. She believes in creating space for communities to engage in the work of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging as they intersect with race and social justice. She earned her BA in English from Fordham University, Lincoln Center, and her MS in Leadership in Technology and the Arts from Bank Street Graduate School of Education and Sarah Lawrence College.

Fee per person: $189 (Includes lunch)
This is an add-on option. Admission to the conference is required.

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