News for the Week of May 10, 2021
Curiosity spurs our innovation.
We are innovators - full of wonder and courage to explore new adventures.
This Week at Brown School
M-STEP & NWEA Testing begins/continues this week!
5/10 Virtual Student Support/CST Meetings - see calendar invitations
5/10 Virtual Student Support/CST Meetings - see calendar invitations
Jeans & P2 shirt day!
P2 Character Strength: Curiosity
5/11 IEP Meetings (a.m. only)
4th grade virtual Capitol tour @ 9:15 a.m.
5/12 Late Start Day - regular PLC time
5/14 Last day of NWEA testing!
Coming Up...
5/17 P2 Character Strength: Teamwork
Last week for book checkout
5/18 Virtual PTO Meeting @ 12 p.m. - Zelenock & Lignell
Staff/SI Meeting from 4 - 4:30 p.m. (face to face in M.C.)
5/19 Late Start Day
5/20 New Teacher Training @ 4:15 (virtual)
5/24 P2 Character Strength: Open-Mindedness
5/26 Late Start Day
5/28 All books to be returned to the M.C. by today, pretty please!
5/31 No School - Memorial Day
6/1 P2 Character Strength: Outro Week
6/2 Late Start Day
6/4 Popcorn Friday - enjoy outdoors, please!
Senior Clap-Out (outside around track - map to follow) @ 10:15 a.m.
6/7 IEP/CST/IRIP Day
6/9 Picnic Lunch (outside) by cohort - not planning on activities to follow
6/10 1/2 day of school - teacher on-site work time in the a.m.
6/11 1/2 day of school - non-contract afternoon
6/14 Virtual Record Day
6/15 Grades due by 4 p.m.
2021 Ren Baldwin Student Technology Showcase
The 2021 Tech Fest website opened today at 12:00 PM. Students received certificates and ribbons throughout the morning, as well as a note to share with parents with the festival website address. Be sure to check out our students' creativity here:
Please note that the winner Flipgrids are password protected to ensure student safety & privacy. If you'd like to view them, you can either sign in with your stjoebears account or use this password: RBTechFest2021
The festival is entirely asynchronous this year, and all information will be on the website. Thank you for your support of tech fest and congratulations to all of the winners and students who shared their creativity with us this year. Go Bears! 
Wishing all of our mothers, grandmothers, and caregivers a very restful & enjoyable Mother's Day weekend!
Our P2 calendar has "Outro Week" planned for next week. Since we have 5 more weeks to learn together with the power of Positive Project messaging, we thought it might be nice to circle back to the character strengths that we missed in the first trimester. Here's the plan:
Curiosity - May 10 
Teamwork - May 17
Open-Mindedness - May 24
Teamwork - May 17
Open-Mindedness - May 24
Outro Week - May 31
Week of June 7th - no character strength
If your class "piloted" one or more of these strengths prior to our second trimester launch, please plan to teach a strength you didn't work on.
End of Year Events
While the end of the year will definitely look and feel different than past years in effort to ensure safe practices are in place, we recognize the importance of celebrating our amazing year of growth. Therefore, we will hold the following events:
*All School Hot Dog Picnic Lunch on June 9th - outside, one cohort @ a time - no games/activities this year, but sno cones & cotton candy (to go) will be handed out
*5th grade Farewell Breakfast - June 10th @ 9:30 in gym
*5th grade Farewell Assembly & Walkaway - June 11th @ 11:00
Both the breakfast & the assembly will be live on google meet for our SJVS fifth graders and families to attend remotely.
Classes are welcome to watch the brief assembly on Friday 6/11, however you may have closure activities that will be more applicable to your grade level.
Classes will line the track (distanced between cohorts - map to come) to clap (not high five) the "graduating" fifth graders. Celebrating their transition as a school is so important!
Summer Learning Challenge 2021
Looking for new ideas to help students "chew" content? The edutopia article linked below may provide some great ideas! Check it out!
Want students to remember something? Ask them to draw it.
#CelebrateSmallWins!
One more week of NWEA testing. Breathe in and out & know that your students have grown in more ways than ever throughout this past year- ways that can't be measured on a test. Just to name a few: patience, flexibility, respect for people's space, appreciation of togetherness, ways to learn and monitor understanding outside of the classroom walls, the value of a team, online meeting etiquette, and the importance of self-care (wash those hands!) to name a few.
