Brown School News!: September 2020

Sunday, September 27, 2020

News for the Week of September 28, 2020

Our students seized the opportunity to enjoy great books, interactive lessons, and the fabulous weather we were afforded this week. Our large tent and courtyard areas are ideal places for outdoor learning, allowing for masking breaks, movement and the gifts that fresh air brings.

This Week at Brown School

NWEA testing continues

9/30 Late Start Day

School Picture Day (see details below)

10/2 Popcorn Friday!

Coming Up...

10/5 - 10/7 Hearing & Vision Screening (K, 1st, 3rd, & 5th grades)

10/7 Late Start Day

Student Count Day - please do everything you can to avoid appointments and non-medical related absences today

School Picture Day is this Wednesday!

We are looking forward to welcome our friends from GPI into our school gym for pictures this Wednesday (9/30). Students will come down in cohort groups and will be safely spaced apart to allow the removal of masks while being photographed.

You are able to order your child's photo package, as well as pay online at geskusphoto.com/fallorders. Our school code is 3716UFWQYTHZTB.

SJVS school pictures will be held on October 16th. Mr. Pratley will provide location details once available - see blog link below for ongoing communication.

St. Joseph Virtual School 's blog is now available!

SJVS Families, click here to access content from Mr. Pratley. Be sure to bookmark the link: https://stjoevirtualschool.blogspot.com/

Classroom Blogs

Our Brown School classroom teachers will each have their own blog this year. Simply click on your child's class below to view weekly updates from his/her teacher.

ECDD

Mrs. Rank and Mrs. LeClear's Class

Young Fives

Mrs. Schueneman's Class

Kindergarten

Mrs. Hooker's Class

Miss Barkovich's Class

First Grade

Ms. Harmening's Class

Second Grade

Third Grade

Fourth Grade

Mrs. Hassenger's Class

Mr. Hernandez's Class

Fifth Grade

Mr. Lignell's Class

Mrs. Lokey's Class

Popcorn Fridays

Due to safety protocols regarding COVID-19 our volunteers will be popping tasty treats in the office vestibule this year. We are so grateful that this Brown School tradition is able to continue for our students.

PTO Corner

Thank You

Thank you to all who helped paint new stencils on the playground for our students.

Announcements

Our Bearwear 🐻 sale has started!

Check out all the great items at our online sale. The sale will run until Sunday, October 11 and the items will be delivered to Brown in early November.

**Virtual students can order, too. We will contact you when your order arrives and you can pick up at Brown***

Please email sheribk@gmail.com with any questions!

Reminders

Please download the Box Tops for Education app by visiting https://www.boxtops4education.com/.

Box Tops receipts for delivery services, such as Shipt, now work with the digital Box Top collection. For more information, visit https://boxtopsforeducation.knowledgeowl.com/help/electronic-receipts

Upcoming Volunteer Needs

Volunteering will look very different this year, but please let us know events you are interested in by filling out the form at http://bit.ly/VolunteerAtBrown. You will be contacted by the committee with specific needs at the appropriate time. Please note that some positions may not be utilized this year.

We have a number of committees that need chair or co-chair positions filled. If you are interested in any of these, please fill out the volunteer form or contact Kristen Bawks or any PTO board member. We will provide as much assistance or information as possible to get new committee chairs started:

5th Grade Events - work with Mr. Lignell and Mrs. Lokey to plan events for the 5th graders.
Credit Union - work with Honor Credit Union to schedule and assist with the student credit union. If we don’t implement the CU this year, the ground work could be established for next year.
Mileage Club Chair(s) - similar to our old walkathon format. This will be a larger scale event without the fundraising component. Co-chair positions are welcome, and we have a few experienced members to help get you started. This event will not happen this fall and spring is to be determined, but we would still like to form the committee.
Staff Luncheon Chair - facilitate staff luncheons via donated items 3-4 times a year.
Ways and Means Chair - we are looking for someone interested in organizing a few giveback or other small scale fundraisers each year.

Save the date for these upcoming virtual PTO meetings:

October 20 @12pm

November 17 @7pm

January 19 @12pm

February 16 @7pm

March 16 @12pm

April 20 @7pm

May 18 @12pm

The SJPSF has started a new blog for the sole purpose of spreading positivity, and building community throughout the district.

Check it out!

https://sjpsfoundation.org/amaizing-times-blog-posts/1-1/

Looking for fall activities to enroll your child in?

Check out local offerings by visiting our

Community Corkboard.

It is the policy of the St. Joseph Public School District that no person shall, on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin or ancestry, sex, disability, height, weight, or marital status be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to, discrimination during any program, activity, service or in employment.

Sunday, September 20, 2020

News for September 21, 2020

On behalf of the Brown School staff, we'd like to thank you for your partnership. We understand the trust you have bestowed upon all of us to join you in nurturing and growing your child each and every day. This year will present challenges in regards to volunteerism and face-to-face communication. However, we plan to seize the opportunity to innovate in creative ways to ensure our partnership is stronger than ever. #BetterTogether

This Week at Brown School

9/21 Monday

Virtual Back to School Night (see information below)

9/22 Tuesday

NWEA Fall testing begins (K-5th grade)

9/23 Wednesday

Late start day! (9:45 student arrival)

PTO Playground Painting Party @ 4:00 (see information below)

Coming Up...

9/30 Late Start Day

Last call to turn in Summer Learning Challenge 2020

signed sheets! We will be distributing medals soon.

Way to go, Learning Champions!

Virtual Back to School Night

For the safety of our students, staff, and families Back to School Night will be a virtual experience this year. This is not a live event - you are welcome to view the videos when it is convenient for your family.

Please click here to access the Brown School Virtual Back to School Night 2020.

NWEA Assessments

Our fall NWEA testing will begin this week for all kindergartners through fifth graders. Students will take two computer-based assessments: reading and math. We use the data collected to drive our instructional decisions based on your child's unique learning path. These assessment results will provide your learner and his/her teacher with a learning target (goal) for the spring. The testing window will be open for two weeks to ensure all students have ample time to complete both assessments. You will receive a report with your child's first trimester report card.

SJPS Digital Handbook

Thank you for taking time with your child to review our digital handbook (linked below). We greatly appreciate your support!

SJPS Student/Parent Digital Handbook

Thank you for helping your child connect

virtually with his/her teacher and class this past Friday!

Attention Young Fives and Kindergarten Families:

Please help our lunch staff and your child have the most successful and safe lunch experience by carefully packaging items for ease of opening. We would greatly appreciate it if you would consider starting the tearing of packages and selecting drinks that are simple for your child to open. You might even consider practicing at home. Building this independence is a win-win for everyone. Thank you for your help!

Per Friday's email, please plan to pick your Y5 and/or K student up at 3:40 p.m. to help with safety and traffic patterns. If you also pick up older siblings, you might consider having your youngest child wait in a designated spot outside of his/her classroom to meet the older child (at this time 1st-5th graders will not be released early with Y5/K students). They will then walk to the office pick up location together. Instead of parking to pick up your children on Garden Lane, you'd be able to circle around the Brown School office lot and pick them up together at 3:50pm.

Not to worry, your child's teacher will help with this as it is a common practice at Brown. Please email the teacher if this is your plan moving forward.

Fourth and Fifth Grade Pick-Up Line

When picking up your child along Yukon Drive (4th/5th grade pick up location), please pull all the way up to the media center lot to allow for more cars to stage along the curb. Cars should not line up across the road. This presents a safety concern for our students. If you are running behind (4:00), your child will walk to the office entrance off of Brown School Road. You will meet him/her there. Thank you for your patience and attention to these reminders.

PTO Playground Painting Party

Our PTO generously purchased new game stencils for the blacktop. These will provide our students will new options for outdoor recess play! We are planning to spray paint the graphics on Wednesday (9/23) after school. Please join us!

Classroom Blogs

Our Brown School classroom teachers will each have their own blog this year. Simply click on your child's class below to view weekly updates from his/her teacher.

ECDD

Mrs. Rank and Mrs. LeClear's Class

Young Fives

Mrs. Schueneman's Class

Kindergarten

Mrs. Hooker's Class

Miss Barkovich's Class

First Grade

Ms. Harmening's Class

Second Grade

Third Grade

Fourth Grade

Mrs. Hassenger's Class

Mr. Hernandez's Class

Fifth Grade

Mr. Lignell's Class

Mrs. Lokey's Class

PTO Corner

We were happy to see our families at our first virtual PTO meeting this past week. There have been a lot of exciting things going on behind the scenes the past few weeks. Something I’m personally excited about is the arrival of our playground stencils. We can’t wait to create new recess activities for our students.

We’d like to invite you to come out on Wednesday and help us stencil the playground. See Mrs. Bawk’s section for more information.

We appreciate the support from our families so much!

-Sheri Baker

-PTO President

A sneak peek of our stencils:

Thank You

Thank you April Soyk for cleaning, stocking, and decorating the teachers lounge to start out the school year!
Thank you Jessa Calderwood and Jenna Hawkins for the Y5-2nd grade mask straps.
Thank you Sheri Baker for starting our staff out with a back-to-school gifts.

Reminders

Please download the Box Tops for Education app by visiting https://www.boxtops4education.com/.

Box Tops receipts for delivery services, such as Shipt, now work with the digital Box Top collection. For more information, visit https://boxtopsforeducation.knowledgeowl.com/help/electronic-receipts

Upcoming Volunteer Needs

5th Grade Events - work with Mr. Lignell and Mrs. Lokey to plan events for the 5th graders.
Credit Union - work with Honor Credit Union to schedule and assist with the student credit union. If we don’t implement the CU this year, the ground work could be established for next year.
Mileage Club Chair(s) - similar to our old walkathon format. This will be a larger scale event without the fundraising component. Co-chair positions are welcome, and we have a few experienced members to help get you started. This event will not happen this fall and spring is to be determined, but we would still like to form the committee.
Staff Luncheon Chair - facilitate staff luncheons via donated items 3-4 times a year.
Ways and Means Chair - we are looking for someone interested in organizing a few giveback or other small scale fundraisers each year.

Save the date for these upcoming virtual PTO meetings:

October 20 @12pm

November 17 @7pm

January 19 @12pm

February 16 @7pm

March 16 @12pm

April 20 @7pm

May 18 @12pm

News from the Brown School Kitchen

In addition to adding money to your child's food service account, families can now pre-order school lunches from home! Here is the link to access your child(ren)'s account: https://www.sendmoneytoschool.com/Dashboard/Login.aspx. If you need your child's ID number, please contact his/her teacher for assistance. You will not need to pre-order breakfast - students are welcome to grab a free bag and enjoy it in his/her classroom.

Click on the video linked here to learn how to order your child's lunch from home! Thank you for your help to streamline this process.

Mrs. Dokter and Mrs. Punches - our "wonder"ful kitchen staff.

St. Joseph Public Schools Meals Program Update

BIG NEWS! We recently learned that the USDA extended many waivers regarding the National School Lunch Program. One temporary waiver that was extended was that ALL students can receive FREE breakfast/lunch and St. Joseph Public Schools is going to participate in this waiver! This means that all students can get 1 breakfast and 1 lunch per day at no charge! Please understand that this is a temporary program and we are not sure of the end date, so please continue to fill out Free/Reduced lunch applications if needed when the program is over. We are still asking parents/students to pre-order their meals through the www.sendmoneytoschool.com website. Only lunch meals can be pre-ordered and this will help our food service staff plan for your student. Any student that ate breakfast or lunch since 9/8/2020 has not and will not be charged for those meals. If you have any questions please contact me, Demrhy Youngquist at dyoungquist@sjschools.org.

Looking for fall activities to enroll your child in?

Check out local offerings by visiting our

Community Corkboard.

Thursday, September 10, 2020

News for September 14, 2020

What a great first week! The opportunity to welcome our students to the 2020-21 school year safely and slowly was such a gift. We are looking forward to starting our second week together. Thank you for all of your support!

Please note, this blog is a communication tool for families that are currently attending face-to-face instruction. If your child is attending the virtual program, your information should come from Andrew Pratley (apratley@sjschools.org or 269-926-3570).

We always welcome you to stay connected with our Brown School News though much of the content may not be applicable.

Phase-in Plan - Week 2

Schedule for Remote Connections 9/18

The schedule for our upcoming Remote Learning Day on September 18th is as follows:

Students will connect with their teachers and classmates for a class building activity during the assigned time. This is the only connection scheduled for that day. Sessions will be recorded for students that are not able to connect during the assigned time. Students can log in through any device via their Google Classroom account.

Back to School Night 2020

For the safety of our students, staff, and families members, Back to School Night presentations will be sent virtually this year. Please look for this important information to be shared with you on Monday, September 21st.

News from the Kitchen

Our dedicated kitchen staff are committed to meeting our families' needs. Therefore we are now serving "grab and go" bagged lunches on half days this school year!

Click on the video linked here to learn how to order your child's lunch from home! Thank you for your help to streamline this process.

St. Joseph Public Schools Meals Program Update

BIG NEWS! Last week we learned that the USDA extended many waivers regarding the National School Lunch Program. One temporary waiver that was extended was that ALL students can receive FREE breakfast/lunch and St. Joseph Public Schools is going to participate in this waiver! This means that all students can get 1 breakfast and 1 lunch per day at no charge! Please understand that this is a temporary program and we are not sure of the end date, so please continue to fill out Free/Reduced lunch applications if needed when the program is over. We are still asking parents/students to pre-order their meals through the www.sendmoneytoschool.com website. Only lunch meals can be pre-ordered and this will help our food service staff plan for your student. Any student that ate breakfast or lunch since 9/8/2020 has not and will not be charged for those meals. If you have any questions please contact me, Demrhy Youngquist at dyoungquist@sjschools.org. Have a great school year!

PTO Corner

What does the PTO do?

Whether you are a new or returning Brown family, you may be wondering what the PTO does, who it is made up of, and what it spends money on from our big fundraisers.

To start, the PTO is made up of all the Brown School parents and teachers. Having a student at Brown makes you a member. All members are welcome to join our monthly meetings!

Some of what the PTO Does (why we fundraise):

Provide fun events for students such as Popcorn Fridays, popsicles on hot days, the ice skating enrichment day, donuts/muffins with our superheroes, ice cream social, Lego night, spelling bee, spring picnic, the variety show and more.
Provide additional funds to the media center for the purchase of books and other educational materials.
Provide each teacher with a classroom fund.
Supplement fees for enrichment activities such as author visits.
Provide special grants as needed.
Provide occasional lunches for teachers and staff.
Maintain our teachers lounge as a calm, relaxing space (we all need breaks!)
Save for major expenditures not fully covered by other district funds
… and more! This is not an exhaustive list of ways in which we support our teachers, staff, and students.

Many of our events will look different this year, but we are doing our best to keep as many of them as possible this year.

Reminders

Please download the Box Tops for Education app by visiting https://www.boxtops4education.com/.

Box Tops receipts for delivery services, such as Shipt, now work with the digital Box Top collection. For more information, visit https://boxtopsforeducation.knowledgeowl.com/help/electronic-receipts

Upcoming Volunteer Needs

5th Grade Events - work with Mr. Lignell and Mrs. Lokey to plan events for the 5th graders.
Credit Union - work with Honor Credit Union to schedule and assist with the student credit union. If we don’t implement the CU this year, the ground work could be established for next year.
Mileage Club Chair(s) - similar to our old walkathon format. This will be a larger scale event without the fundraising component. Co-chair positions are welcome, and we have a few experienced members to help get you started. This event will not happen this fall and spring is to be determined, but we would still like to form the committee.
Staff Luncheon Chair - facilitate staff luncheons via donated items 3-4 times a year.
Ways and Means Chair - we are looking for someone interested in organizing a few giveback or other small scale fundraisers each year.

Crosswalks for Safety

For everyone's safety, please use extra caution as you approach the crosswalks in the school parking lot. If you are walking your child to the door, you must use the crosswalk - do not walk between cars staged in line. Thank you for your attention to this.

Classroom Blogs

Our Brown School classroom teachers will each have their own blog this year. Simply click on your child's class below to view weekly updates from his/her teacher.

ECDD

Mrs. Rank and Mrs. LeClear's Class

Young Fives

Mrs. Schueneman's Class

Kindergarten

Mrs. Hooker's Class

Miss Barkovich's Class

First Grade

Ms. Harmening's Class

Second Grade

Third Grade

Fourth Grade

Mrs. Hassenger's Class

Mr. Hernandez's Class

Fifth Grade

Mr. Lignell's Class

Mrs. Lokey's Class

If you or another adult plans to pick your child up from school at least once per week, click on the link below to register for a rear view mirror tag. Tags will be required for pick-up in both the 4th/5th and in the main office parking areas this year. If you have not yet received yours, you should have it by our first full week of school (September 21st).
Pick-Up Mirror Tag Form

Summer Learning Challenge 2020

We have enjoyed seeing the many posts of our summer learning champions hard at work on our Brown Elementary Facebook page throughout the summer. Please have your child return his/her signed Summer Learning Challenge paperwork as soon as possible. We can hardly wait to pass out medals again this year!

Looking for fall activities to enroll your child in?

Check out local offerings by visiting our

Community Corkboard.