Sunday, October 25, 2020

News for the Week of October 26, 2020

 



Thank you for sharing your "Snacking with Someone Special" pictures with us on our closed Brown PTO Facebook page. Celebrating relationships and staying connected is so important to our collaborative school culture. 

This Week at Brown School

10/26    Hearing/Vision Re-Screening K, 1, 3, 5

             Board of Education meeting 6pm @ SJHS Auditorium

10/28    Late Start Day (9:45 start time)

10/30    Halloween Celebrations - see teachers' blogs for details


Coming Up...

11/2   Picture retakes - return original packet if retakes are desired

11/4    Late Start Day (9:45 start time) 

11/6   Popcorn Friday!


Media Center News

Books are flying off our library shelves here at Brown! We are so excited to be able to get books into kids' hands through our BookHub ordering process. Our elementary libraries have circulated over 7800 books so far this year. That's a lot of reading!

Back on March 13, over 3500 books were checked out between all three elementary buildings in one day. Because we were unsure about what the next few weeks (turned out to be months) would look like, we wanted to make sure kids had books. We were thrilled to have the resources to do this! Thankfully, most books have made it back to our library. However, about 10% of the books have not yet been returned. We would appreciate it if you could check around your home to see if any library books might still be hiding somewhere. Overdue notices were given to those students attending school in person and emails were sent to those families with students learning virtually this year. Students can also view the books they have checked out at any time by logging into Destiny Discover. Thank you so much for your help. If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Bacolor at cbacolor@sjschools.org or Mrs. Berry at jberry2@sjschools.org.

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

Mrs. Brown's Class

Ms. Barron's Class

Second Grade 

Miss Grimm's Class

Ms. Zelenock's Class

Third Grade

Mrs. DeVore's Class

Mrs. Lear's Class

Mrs. Nowicki's Blog

Fourth Grade

Mrs. Hassenger's Class

Mr. Hernandez's Class

Fifth Grade

Mr. Lignell's Class

Mrs. Lokey's Class

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/


PTO Corner


Announcements

  • The minutes from our September meeting can be found by clicking here

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:

  • 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.


Save the date for these upcoming virtual PTO meetings:

November 17 @7pm

January 19 @12pm

February 16 @7pm

March 16 @12pm

April 20 @7pm

May 18 @12pm




Girl Scouts

Do you know a girl who wants to be a Girl Scout? Now is the perfect time for new girls to join! Whether girls and their families are looking for virtual program opportunities or in person ones, Girl Scouts is here to help girls make new friends but keep the old. If you know a girl who isn’t a Girl Scout yet but she should be, sign up to attend one of our Animal Dance parties or Robot Building parties.  These parties are designed to introduce new families to the world of Girl Scouting and get them started on their Girl Scout journey. We don’t want any girls to miss out on participating in Girl Scouts this year! Join Girl Scouts, sign up today!  Brochure  to Join


Check out the positive messages and celebration of our community on the St. Joseph Public Schools Foundation blog.
 Click here to enjoy!  




Halloween Celebrations 

On Friday, October 30th, your child is invited to dress up for the day to celebrate Halloween. Your child's costume will need to be comfortable enough so that she/he can participate in all learning activities throughout the day (please consider leaving bulky items at home).  

Costume masks will not be allowed as we will need to ensure all students and staff members wear approved facial masks coverings per our Return to Learn plan. Thank you for respecting our no gore and no weapons policies as well.  

Students and teachers will enjoy a small fall party on this day. Be sure to stay tuned to your child's classroom communications as teachers will be seeking your creativity and support in planning and preparing for this fun celebration!

While Halloween is a fun tradition here in the U.S., we wonder what other fall holidays our students and their families celebrate. We'd love to learn about other traditions or holidays that our families experience. Please email Mrs. Bawks (
kbawks@sjschools.org) if you are interested in educating our school community about your tradition or holiday! 


Looking for fall activities to enroll your child in? 

Check out local offerings by visiting our 

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.