News for the Week of May 14, 2018
It may have been a chilly day, but it sure was exciting for our Brown School students, their families, and our staff. Our students displayed excellent sportsmanship and teamwork. GO BROWN SCHOOL!
This Week at Brown
5/14 2nd graders to the Heritage Center and historical walk 9am-1:30pm
4th graders to Lansing 6:45am!
5/15 Muffins with Moms 7:45am-8:30am - staff volunteers would be appreciated!
Hearing and Vision Screening - ECDD & Young 5s only
5/16 Late start day
5/17 5th grade visit to Upton - 9:00am-1:30pm
Girls on the Run 5K in Berrien Springs
Tech Meeting 4:15-5:15 @ Upton
Skate Night 6-8pm
5/18 Last day of NWEA!
Coming Up...
5/21-5/25 Third grade swimming week
5/21 PTO meeting in the Media Center 7pm - Zelenock, McElroy
5/22 First graders to Sarett 9-11:30am
Staff meeting 4-5pm
5/23 Late start day
Young 5s to Sarett 12:30-2:30pm
5/24 Danapilis to Calling All Colors 9:05am-11:15am
5/25 Fifth graders to the Air Zoo 8:45am-2:25pm
Last day for 3rd & 4th grade M-STEP testing
5/28 No school - Memorial Day
5/29 Fifth graders to Health Works 10:30am-1:00pm
5/30 Health Works coming for fourth grade session 1:00-3:15pm
6/1 Flip-Flop Friday - Student Council Fun Friday
4th graders to Cook Plant
6/6 School Picnic!
DLC 4:15 @ Central
6/7 1/2 of school - dismissal at 12:05pm - teacher workday pm
6/8 Last day of school! 1/2 day - dismissal at 12:05pm
Overage forms due today!
6/11 Staff's last day! Virtual records day
Family trip to Michigan's Adventure
6/12 Grades are due!
Student Engagement
May is the perfect month to reconnect to our goal to increase student engagement through purposeful planning. Dig out and dust off your Kagan book - there are so many ways to get kids up and moving while actively practicing content. It will make you happy and keep the kids busy . . . a great recipe for spring learning!
Update on the Social Studies Standards Public Comments
The 2007 Michigan Social Studies Standards are updated and ready for public comment. In April 2014, Social Studies experts from across Michigan began a process to update the Michigan Social Studies Standards. This team reviewed and edited all content expectations to make them fewer, consistent, and grade level appropriate. Once the draft document was completed, a period of public comment ensued. Given issues with that draft, a Focus Group including a broad range of perspectives, reviewed the standards and made important edits. The State Board of Education received that document on Tuesday, May 8, 2018, prior to a period of public comment.
We are starting to get inquiries from families asking if we know of summer tutors. If you are planning to tutor, please add your name to this district-wide list so we can pass your name along. As a reminder, tutoring arrangements and compensation are between you and the family. Typically, it’s done off site (private residence, library, etc).
F & P Folders
Just a reminder to fill out the front of the F & P folder completely and to document the materials used this year on interior chart. This information is considered part of the student’s scholastic record and helps future teachers understand a child’s progression. Assessment records that reflect the child’s independent level from all the three benchmarks(fall, winter, spring) should be left in the file.
Playground Supervision
When on duty, please strategically split up on the playground so that you’re covering the whole space, including fields. Proximity goes a long way toward helping keep everyone true to our expectations for safe, responsible, and respectful play.
Kudos and Thank You to...
Planning for next year:
This week’s focus of our quest to “get ahead” on year-end tasks includes:
- Please alphabetize your report card envelopes and return to the office with a post it that lists any envelopes that are missing by Friday, May 18th.
- Begin inventory and organization of materials (maybe an opportunity for a parent volunteer to help out).
- Start cleaning out filing cabinets; place anything with names and scores in our shredding box in the conference room.
- Back up everything to Google Drive on the web.
- Update School Webpage if needed (Directions Below)
1. Visit https://sjschools.org/administrator/
2. Login using the same username and password as your school email
3. You can edit the following 3 tabs:
a. Contact Information (name, phone, email)
b. About Me (title, location, teaching grade, education focus, biography)
Kudos and Thank You to...- Kelsey, Sandy, Darla, & Kelly M. for so generously covering classrooms so that our parents/employees could attend the track meet. We appreciate you!
- Kim Caplea for agreeing to stay on with her Kinders until the end of the school year. We appreciate you!
- Sheli and Jamie for being so flexible with your schedules on track meet day.
- Kevin and Rick for being amazing and for keeping our school in tip-top shape.
- Sue P. for preparing the AMAZINGLY delicious teacher appreciation lunch.
- Cheryl, Kelly, Danielle, Johanna, and Cindy for working so hard with our students at lunch time.
- Ben for your hard work in planning a seamless track meet.
- Kathy for greeting our parents with a smile each and every day.
- Natalie for organizing the family fun event to Michigan's Adventure.
- everyone's help to complete M-STEP and NWEA testing. PHEW! It's been a busy month of assessing!
