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A weekly update for families — March 16, 2026
When you have the opportunity to open a brand new school, you get to ask an important question from the very beginning: What matters most for children’s learning? At West Q, one of the clearest answers to that question is literacy.
Learning to read is the foundation of so much that follows in school, so we’re designing the school day to give children generous, dedicated time each day to develop the different skills strong reading requires.
Students will spend time with a reading teacher focused on comprehension, vocabulary, and making meaning from stories. At another point in the day, they will work on the building blocks of reading - letter sounds, word patterns, and spelling. They will also spend time strengthening phonemic awareness, the ability to hear and play with the sounds inside words.
Giving children time to develop each of these pieces helps them build the kind of strong reading foundation that supports learning across every subject.
These are the kinds of choices we have the opportunity to think through carefully as we build West Q, and I’m excited to continue sharing that work with you.
If you ever have questions, you are always welcome to reach out at ps437q@schools.nyc.gov or follow us on IG: @west_q_elementary to stay connected.
Warmly,
Suzanne Sheerin
I.A. Founding Principal, West Q Elementary
