News Archive 2008 - 2009
April 24th, 2009 - Twelve of our 9th graders and two teachers attended the Million
Trees event in East Williamsburg's Sternberg Park. They planted trees in our
neighborhood, including some right next to the school, celebrated the Million Tree
initiative in New York City and got to meet actress Glenn Close.
April 24th, 2009 - All of our seventh graders and their teachers went to David Yassky's
office in downtown Brooklyn to hand in their application as working artists to potentially
get some mural space in Greenpoint. They were all invited to talk to people in his office
and share their ideas about why they are the right team for the opportunity.
April 10th - 18th. 2009 - Urban Workshop lead a group of staff and students to New Orleans
to do some recovering work with an organization called United Saints. They painted,
caulked, scraped, sanded, installed and learned other skills at various sites in New Orleans.
They also made connections with other volunteers and heard stories from many people who
survived Hurricane Katrina and are still dealing with its aftermath.
April 8th, 2009 - Lyons found out it was the recipient of a $250,000 competitive one-year grant from the DOE to improve our Middle School program.
April 7th and 8th, 2009 - Students in all grades presented work from the third quarter. Sixth graders went to the MET to share their Egypt work. Seventh graders presented their integrated Bodies projects. High School students shared some of their work from both Field Studies, Converging Cultures and Public Works, and some of their MAP 2 classes including, Writing, Get Up Stand Up, and from G's to Gents.
April 4th, 2009 - Lyons' High School Boys' Basketball Team wins the North Brooklyn
basketball league championship besting Brooklyn Communications and Media in a nail biting final.
March 30th and April 2nd, 2009 - Public Work Installations at Union Square. Our 9th
graders went to Union Square and installed their tape sculptures for everyone to see.
They interviewed people who were interested in their art work.
March 3rd and 4th, 2009 - Lyons had its Quality Review. Families, students and staff shared what we've been doing and how we have been growing with our reviewer. We received a score of "Well Developed" the highest possible rating for a school. Read the full report here.
February 25, 2009 - Bent on Learning fundraiser performance - Six of our students were invited by our yoga partner, Bent on Learning, to be the student performers at their gala fundraiser dinner hosted by Gwyneth Paltrow. Each student in addition to performing their yoga routine to the packed crowd, shared with the audience how yoga has impacted their lives.
February 13, 2009 - Library REACH grant - Lyons has been awarded a Library REACH grant for $10,000. These funds will be used to add magazine subscriptions and appropriate storage and display furniture for our library. These funds come from the Fund for Public Schools.
January 26, 2009 - Eight Million Reasons to Read grant - Lyons has been awarded a grant to supply our school with non-fiction books for book clubs.
January 23 - 25, 2009 -
World Religions Tours at the Metropolitan Museum of Art - Lyons'
9th graders brought guests who were mostly family members, to experience each student's
specially designed tour. Each tour consisted of sharing with their guest at least three
artifacts from three different world religions and making connections to a common theme
and each religion's core beliefs. This is considered an essential milestone in every
Lyons' student's education.
January 20, 2009 - Inauguration Day - Like almost every other person in the country, students at Lyons came together to witness the swearing in of our new president.
December 23, 2008 - Literacy Celebration - Lyons middle school students shared work from Brooklyn Lyons, our literary magazine. Students read excerpts from their written works before an enthusiastic crowd.
December 19, 2008 - Talent Sharing - Lyons students and staff graced the auditorium stage and
filled our world with music, dancing and poetry for our second Talent Sharing. At one point
audience members were so moved by the singing and dancing on the stage that they started dancing
themselves in an area in front of the stage.
December 12, 2008 - ELL Success Incentive Grant - Lyons has been awarded a $45,000 grant to support our English Language Learners.
November 26, 2008 - Student-Staff Basketball Games - On Wednesday afternoon the Lyons staff played four basketball games, one with each grade. While the staff won all four of the games (actually the winner of the 10th grade game is still up for debate), a great time was had by all.
November 24, 2008 - College Readiness Grant - Lyons was awarded a $42,000 College Readiness Grant that will enable a group of 9th graders to do a semester long sociology project exploring college and what it means to be be prepared for college. The grant will help support additional staff to work with these students and materials for their study.
November 21, 2008 - Student-Staff Football Game - After school on Friday in some rather frigid weather, the staff coached by David B, and the students coached by Jared, met in the park for a game of flag football. Spectators and participants got to watch an impressive game with some great plays by both the staff and students.
November 19, 2008 - Families and staff joined together for our first annual Thanksgiving Potluck dinner. We enjoyed some delicious food, excellent conversation, and a preview of the 7th graders videos from recent field studies work they had done.
November 12 - November 20, 2008 - Rush artists came to Lyons over six afternoons to create art work reflective of the live and times of Maritcha Lyons, whom the school is named after. The work will come together into a book that will be displayed at our art opening in the spring.
October 30, 2008 - Middle School Success Planning Grant - Lyons was awarded a $25,000 middle school success planning grant along with an invitation to apply for an implementation grant in February. This planning grant will allow us the funds and time to study the academic and social needs of our middle school students.
October 23 and 24, 2008 - Family-Student-Advisor Conferences - Lyons was filled with families hearing from their children about their work so far this year. Families, students and staff all had a chance to talk about what's been working, what still needs more work and how we can all work together to make everyone's year more successful.
September 16, 2008 - Meet the Teacher Night - Families came to Lyons to meet their children's teachers and other members of the Lyons Community School community.
Thursday, August 7th, 2008 - Lyons held its second annual summer potluck picnic at the neighboring Williamsburg Community Center. New students and their families, current students and families and staff all came together to enjoy some delicious food and great weather.
August 5 - 7, 2008 - New students
to Lyons Community School attended our summer bridge program. Students
and staff participated in activities that are the staple of learning at
Lyons. There were team building activities such as "life raft", "human
knot", and "the circle toss." Object observations were done several times
with different objects, giving students a chance to work on their observation
and questioning skills. Both the middle schoolers and high schools had the
opportunity to do some field studies, the high schoolers at the Brooklyn Museum
and the middle schoolers walking in our neighborhood. Students also did their
one-on-one diagnostic interviews with staff members. Most importantly students
and staff had a chance to get to know each other, so when we meet again in
September things will already seem familiar. For more photos from
Bridge, click on the picture.
July 15 - 18, 2008 - Urban Workshop spent the week at the Herkimer Street Community
Garden buildling a toolshed with donated materials, careful planning, and a lot of
sawing, hammering and sweat. PBS showed up on Thursday to watch and talk to students
who spent a week of their summer gaining some skills and helping our a gardening community.
Edwin, Dontae, Jamila, Max, Tarique, Jose and Equan all participated. Friday was voluntary,
but the crew showed up even with the heat advisory to finish the project they had begun.
Kudos for them.
July 1, 2008 – Lyons is awarded funds from City Councilmember Diana Reyna as part of the city budget to purchase two sets of 30 laptop computers and support equipment, and to renovate our arts and dance spaces.