Student Programs
PS11 offers diverse programs: Young Artists, Math Club, Chess Team, Newspaper, field trips, Lunch Leaders, Farm Market, Spelling Bee, all fostering learning and community engagement.
Young Artists
A small group of classmates, grades 2-5, meet once a week during their lunch/recess to create their own artwork with the help of an adult artist! At the end of the 8 weeks of class, their work will be shown in a local gallery for classmates and caregivers to view.
Want to get your child involved? An application goes home in students’ backpacks a few weeks before it starts to the students in grades that are eligible (in 2022-2023, it was 2nd-6th grade). Students choose between 2 choices of art classes and they go into a lottery to be chosen. Unfortunately, not everyone gets chosen to do the Young Artist program. The students that have parents volunteering as teachers in the program get in automatically.
Want to volunteer to help? Please email [email protected]. This program is 100% dependent on parent volunteers!
Math Club
The Math Club is an all inclusive fun initiative to spark a love of Math using fun puzzles, games and concepts to help kids see math beyond basic arithmetic operations and 1- or 2- step problems. Come help us show kids how much fun Math really is!!
The Math Club is led by parent volunteers who are passionate about math. We need more volunteers!
1. Parent volunteers to lead or assist in Math Club sessions:
- Commitment to come to the sessions (once a week for 1 hour).
- To lead sessions, requires an interest in math and commitment to prepare the sessions.
- To assist in sessions, only requires an interest in math.
- Math Club will organize 1 or 2 training sessions, and will assist with materials to prepare sessions.
- Requires DOE fingerprinting
- Coordinate dates/times/rooms, and liaise with volunteers.
- Announcement to students/parents of Program Start, and sending an application form.
- Organize the lottery, and inform students/parents who will be participating.
Please email ps11ptaprograms@gmail.
Chess Team
From complete beginners to advancing tournament players, our goal is that all PS 11 Chess players can experience both the joy & significant social/educational benefits of learning and playing chess. Our PS11 team will prepare for local, city, state & national competitions.
Our in-person programming will match players based on skill, interest level & age. This allows coaches to identify and create the right training environment for each player (from complete beginner to advanced national competitors).
Is your student a future member of the Chess Team? Check out the Impact Coaching Network that runs our program.
Newspaper
Twice a year, our students put their reporter caps on and produce the PS11 Post! Here's the latest edition for you and your families! The PS11 Post investigative reporters have been hard at work and the Winter-2025 edition really showcases it!
This initiative is open to 3rd, 4th & 5th grade students at PS11. The PS11 Post is published twice a year and involves joining 8x early morning sessions which are typically held on Wednesdays in the school library. Contact us if you have questions and/or a budding investigative reporter who is interested in joining the next edition. ps11postnewsroom@
Available to volunteer to help the young journalists? Email [email protected]
Yearbook
The Yearbook Committee needs your help! Please take and/or upload some pictures of the amazing events that are happening at PS11, so we can have a nice selection of images to choose from for the Yearbook. We usually include group shots, activity shots, portraits and kids having fun in general. Please note that we can only accept images of PS11 students and events (please no siblings, friends, family events and extracurricular activities)
All pictures should be sharp and high resolution. As we have limited space in the book, we ask that you only upload your best 10 images per event.
Below are some upload links that are available for events. We will add to this list periodically as events take place in the 2nd half of the school year. Please make sure you upload the images to the correct link.
Events: Fall Festival, 5th Grade D.C. Trip, Spelling Bee, 3rd Grade Farm Market Stand, 3rd Grade Show, 5th Grade Rosie's Theater, 2nd Grade Show, 100th Day Of School, 3rd Grade Farm Trip, Ballroom Dancing, Read-a-thon, 5th Grade Show, 5th Grade Show Backstage Images, 4th Grade Camping Trip
Clubs: Chess Club, Math Club, PS11 Dance Crew, Young Artists, Library Images, Green Team
4th Grade Camping Trip
Each Year on the Thursday and Friday before Memorial Day Weekend our fourth graders travel to Camp Candensis in Candensis, PA (in the heart of the Pocono Mountains) for an overnight camping trip. During the trip the students are engaged in activities such as boating, swimming, rock climbing, hiking, and more. It is trip that our students talk about well after they leave 4th grade!
5th Grade Trip to DC
This tour to our Nation’s capital includes visits to Washington DC’s famous monuments, the National Archives and the Museum of History. This trip is a culminating activity and part of the Social Studies curriculum designed by the fifth grade teachers, reinforcing students’ understanding of the function of the U. S. Government and History of the country. Students travel to by bus, arriving in time for lunch on day one.
5th graders will bring home a permission slip two months in advance of the field trip! Parents will also have the opportunity to chaperone; please indicate your interest on the permission slip.
4th & 5th Grade Dances
On one enchanted evening every spring, our 4th and 5th graders are invited to a school dance in the cafeteria. The dance is sponsored by the PTA and chaperoned by the teachers and Admin. No parents allowed for a fun night of pizza, snacks, and dancing.
Field Day
Every June our 1st thru 5th Graders spend a day outside playing games. Each student is assigned to a color team for a day of fun and inclusive competition. The winning Color Team gets the glory but all the teams get to end the day with an ice cream treat. The program is entirely sponsored by the PTA and run by parent volunteers. Email [email protected] if you'd like to help out with Field Day at PS11!
Lunch Leaders
Fourth grade students participate in our community by volunteering once a week to assist with either the kindergarten or first grade lunch. The upper grade students serve as table monitors and role models for the primary classes by promoting the PS11 Community Standards during their regularly assigned lunch and recess.
This program is run internally by the school! No need to sign any forms or help volunteering!
Farm Market
The PS11 Farm Market has been in operation since June 2008 and operates Wednesday mornings from 8am to 10am in front of PS11, 320 West 21st Street from mid-June through early November.
Third grade students run the market every Wednesday and learn about local, organic and seasonal produce, how it can be prepared, what it tastes like. They operate the market from June through November, selling the produce to the community at or below market prices. To participate in running the market, students must arrive at school by 8AM!
Teaching children and their families about healthy foods and the importance and impact to our environment of supporting local farms is #1 goal of our project.
PS11 is a member of the Chelsea CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and receives fruits and vegetables from Stoneledge Farm, a 90-acre, certified organic farm located in the foothills of the Northern Catskills.
Spelling Bee
It's back! The Spelling Bee is coming back to P.S. 11 this year (2023-2024), and we're looking for participants. The bee is open to all 4th and 5th graders. The 2 winners of the Spelling Bee Final will be going to the Citywide Spelling Bee!
The deadline to apply is October 13th, 2023. If your child would like to be involved, please contact [email protected]
100th Day of School
The 100th Day of School is a celebration for our PK, K, 1st, and 2nd graders to celebrate how far they’ve come in a school year. The day is filled with games that have a theme of 100. Bounce a ball 100 times! Draw a picture of what you will look like at 100 yrs old! Run in place for 100 seconds! And more! The program is entirely sponsored by the PTA and run by parent volunteers.
KG&G Valentines
KG&G Valentines is our schoolwide celebration of our Kind, Gentle and Grateful ethos. KGG happens everyday at PS11 but on Feb 14th it’s extra special. Every student is paired with a student in a different classroom and they write each other a note of friendship and encouragement. The PTA funds the purchase of crafting supplies for the cards and notes are distributed in classrooms on Feb 14th by parent volunteers. Want to volunteer to help? Please email [email protected].
Read-A-Thon
The Read-A-Thon is an annual event where we celebrate reading for 10 days while raising funds for the P.S. 11 Annual Fund. To learn more, please watch this video.
For any questions and volunteering opportunities, reach out to [email protected].