News for the Week of April 19, 2021

 

Our Brown School Staff is deeply committed to supporting the whole child. We believe academic rigor and social-emotional well being are equally essential to a student's development.  

Our "why" for doing what we do every day...

This Week at Brown School

5th grade M-STEP testing begins this week.

4/19  P2 Character Strength: Appreciation of beauty & excellence

         Wear your P2 shirt!

         Coin War begins (see details below)

          

4/20   Virtual PTO Meeting @ 7pm - please join by clicking here

4/21   Late Start Day - 9:45 arrival

4/23   Ren Baldwin Student Technology Festival entries due

Coming Up...

4/26  Board of Education Meeting 6pm 

4/28   Late Start Day - 9:45 arrival

4/30    5th grade can & bottle drive collection

Tech Bytes

2021 Ren Baldwin Student Tech Fest Entry Deadline Extended

The entry deadline for the 2021 Ren Baldwin Student Technology Festival has been extended to Friday, April 23rd.  Please visit the Tech Fest Info Site for entry form links.  We look forward to your submissions!

Revised Testing Window

Grade 5 - April 12 through May 21

Grades 3 and 4 - April 26 - June 4

M-Step Testing Begins

Our fifth grade students will begin M-STEP testing this week. They have the opportunity to express their knowledge in four subject areas: Science, Social Studies, ELA, and Mathematics. The testing window is open through May 21st, meaning the assessment sessions may be scheduled anytime within these dates. Our third and fourth graders will begin as early as April 26th and will have until June 4th to complete the required Mathematics and ELA assessments.

Please see your child's teacher's blog for additional information related to dates/times for testing sessions. We greatly appreciate families limiting non-essential appointments during the scheduled testing sessions. Additionally, as with every day, thank you for providing extra words of encouragement, ensuring quality sleep the night before, and for providing a healthy breakfast each day. 

 

Welcome to St. Joseph Public Schools!

We are delighted to welcome our new Superintendent of Schools, Mrs. Jenny Fee. At a special meeting on Tuesday evening, our Board of Education approved her contract and wholeheartedly welcomed her to our school community. 

Mrs. Fee joins us from East Grand Rapids Public Schools where she currently serves as the Assistant Superintendent of Instruction. She has also served as a high school principal, assistant principal, teacher and coach. Mrs. Gaideski will continue to lead our district as our Interim Superintendent until Mrs. Fee begins on July 1st. 

Information for Our Families

PTO Corner

Join us Tuesday, April 20 at 7pm and on Google Mee for our monthly PTO meeting. We will be presenting the budget for the 2021-22 school year. We hope to see you there! 

Bylaw Changes

A proposal to modify the bylaws has been put forth, up for vote at the next meeting.  The change will permanently allow the board to vote via email with the requirement that the results of such votes be recorded at the next meeting.  These votes only apply to budget changes as unforeseen needs arise.  A copy of the proposed bylaws can be viewed here.

We are opening up the sale of your 2020-21 yearbook for one more week! This year all sales will be done online. Please place your order by Sunday, April 25 at http://www.geskusphoto.com/?YB=3716

 Please contact Sheri Baker at sheribk@gmail.com with any questions!

 

 

Attention 5th Grade parents! One of the Fifth Grade Farewell traditions is to have a display of baby pictures and guess who is who. We will do this a bit differently this year, but we will still need a baby picture and a recent picture of all our 5th graders. You can upload pictures here: Fifth Grade Farewell Baby Pics

 

                       

Also, just a reminder to send in $10 for your fifth grader for the celebration. Money can be given to their teacher.

Mark Your Calendars and Save Your Cans...

The 5th graders will be holding the following fundraisers this spring to raise money for their class gift to the school:

• Can and Bottle Drive  - Volunteers will be collecting them at both the front and back drop off lines every Friday morning in April. Please open your trunk and we will grab the cans from your car. In order to keep the lines moving please stay in your car if possible. We are also holding a Saturday drop off on May 1st from 11am - 12pm at Brown School for those unable to make it Friday mornings. 

• Coin War the week of April 19th, in which each 5th grade class will be competing to raise the most money.  Pennies increase the total earned for the class while dollars and silver coins reduce the amount earned.  Students can donate pennies to their classroom jar and dollars and silver coins into the other classrooms' jars.  The class with the lowest negative number wins!  The Coin War will take place from Monday, April 19th, through Friday, April 23rd.  The winning class will receive a prize.

Attention all virtual students!! We love seeing what you have been learning in your virtual classrooms! 

Please continue to share your pictures with us on our Facebook page in the Brown Bears Virtual Learning album. 

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

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Save the date for these upcoming virtual PTO meetings:

May 18 @12pm

 

Classroom Blogs

Our Brown School classroom teachers have important information to share with families. Please click on your child's class below to view weekly updates.

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

SJVS BLOG LINK Click HERE	DISTRICT TECHNOLOGY WEBSITE Click HERE to access our fantastic resource site put together FOR YOU to help navigate district technology! Having trouble with your district device, email - support@sjschools.org	MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCES Click HERE to access a wealth of resources put together by our SJ counselors and social workers!

Check out the positive messages and celebration of our community on the St. Joseph Public Schools Foundation blog.

 Click here to enjoy!  

Looking for spring 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.