Brookside Updates

We were so glad to see everyone back at school this week! I know there are many illnesses going around right now. If you are unsure about whether your child should attend school, feel free to call the Health Office (through our main number, 607-775-7513) to talk to Nurse Pappas. If your child is absent, please call us to let us know and send in a written note upon their return.

We made great progress with construction over break:

• Expanded nurse's office
• New flooring in the main lobby
• Combined two smaller rooms for a new Pre-K room
• Completed library

Everything looks great! We hope to have families in soon to check it out. Stay tuned for details.

Classes will start mid-year reading and math assessments this week and next. Please be sure your child comes to school on time, well-rested, and ready to work. The drop-off door is open from 8:50-9:10. After this time, students are considered "late" to school.

Students will continue to go outside for recess as long as the windchill is above 20 degrees. Please be sure your child(ren) have appropriate coats, hats, gloves, and so on for the weather. If you need help with obtaining these items, please message Mrs. Barry on ParentSquare, send her an email at abarry@svsabers.org, or call our office at 607-775-7513.

Attendance: As of December 20th, we have had 70 days of school. Hopefully students have missed 6 or fewer days of school to stay on the right track for consistent progress this year.

*Please note: Wednesday, January 29th, Asian Lunar New Year, is now a required school holiday. There is no school that day. Please see the attachment below for more information. There is also no school on Monday, January 20th for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Important Dates:

• Monday, January 13 @ 6:30: PTA Meeting in Cafeteria
• Thursday, January 16: 5th Grade & Harlow's class to BU Basketball Game
• Friday, January 17: Peaceful Bus Meetings (during school)
• Monday, January 20: No School, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
• Friday, January 24: Gr. 3-5 NYS Testing "Simulation" (Practice test) - morning
• Friday, January 24: Half day - Early Dismissal at 12:30 pm
• Friday, January 24, 6:30-8:00 - 5th Grade Trivia Night Mixer with Donnelly at the Middle School
• Wednesday, January 29: No School, Asian Lunar New Year
• Thursday, January 30: Two Hour Delay for Professional Development

The Word of the Month for December was Kindness. We had a great concert with Jared Campbell on December 5th. The students always love his concerts and he shares positive messages of kindness, friendship, and trying your best. Students also made "Kindness Chains" with their buddy classrooms, on which they listed examples of ways to be kind.

Our new words for January are Integrity or Honesty. Integrity means doing the right thing, even when no one is watching. When we teach kids about integrity, we are truly preparing them for situations and challenges they may face as they grow up. Integrity teaches them to begin considering what is right and it helps them to begin to develop moral values. Honesty is a key part of this that even younger children can understand.

We are already planning for the 2nd Annual kickball game between Brookside and Donnelly students. This year it will be even bigger and better, moving to the new ball fields at SVMS. Organizers are looking for business sponsorships - please see the following attachment if you're interested!

Brookside families! Please remember to document your student's name and send a screenshot of your successfully uploaded receipt (or forward your earnings email!) to be entered in our contest for a $20 gift card to Binghamton Hots for submitting Box Tops from 12/1/24 - 1/31/25! Screenshots or confirmation emails can be sent to boxtopsforbks.pta@gmail.com (make sure to include your name for the contest drawing!). There is no limit on the number of entries; the more you enter, the better your chace is at winning!

Thank you, and happy earning!

Preventing the “Stomach Bug” In 2025

What is it?

Norovirus is a very contagious virus that causes vomiting and diarrhea. It is sometimes called the "stomach flu" or the "stomach bug." However, norovirus illness is not related to the flu. The flu is caused by the influenza virus.

Most people with norovirus illness get better within 1 to 3 days; but they can still spread the virus for a few days after.

A person usually develops symptoms 12 to 48 hours after being exposed to norovirus.

• Most common symptoms: Diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, stomach pain
• Other symptoms: Fever, headache, and body aches
  
  

Norovirus is very contagious, but you can take steps to protect yourself and others, including:

• Wash your hands well and often
• Clean and disinfect contaminated surfaces
• Wash laundry in hot water
• Stay home when sick for 2 days (48 hours) after symptoms stop
• Avoid putting your hands in your mouth

https://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/about/index.html

~Mrs. Pappas BSN RN

♪♪♪From the Brookside Music Department♪♪♪

Wonderful job to all the musicians who performed on Dec. 12th at our Advanced Music Concert! We are so proud of the performance you displayed and all the hard work paid off.

We now will be preparing for:

♪ Oakdale Commons Music Concerts in March (Date TBD)

♪ Brookside Chorus will be performing The National Anthem, at the Black Bears Hockey Game on March 1st at 7:00pm.

We will be sending out more information concerning these events in the coming months.

Mrs. Kelly Dyson (Chorus)

Mrs. Eileen Miller (Orchestra)

Mr. Rob Johnson (Band)

The last four days of school before Winter Recess, all grade levels Pre-K through 5th grade participated in our "Winter Wonderland" fun! There were 10 fun "winter like" activities set up for all students to do.

What a fun holiday season we’ve had in Pre-K! It has been filled with fine motor activities, letter exploration, number recognition, and practicing kindness in the classroom. We’ve created candy canes, wreaths, and even had a gingerbread hunt! It was wonderful to meet with everyone at parent-teacher conferences and share the progress your little ones have made. We hope your break was filled with relaxation and peace. Happy New Year!

Kindergarten had a very busy December and we are excited to start the new year! We have been working hard on reading our holiday books and chaining our letters to make one syllable words. We finished up learning about farms and talking about where our food comes from. We are finished with our Jan Brett study and read many books that she has written and explored her beautiful artwork. We focused a lot on spreading kindness and the difference between wants and needs. In math we worked on comparing numbers and adding one more and taking one away to help us get ready for addition and subtraction. Hoping that you had a wonderful break!

First and Fourth graders got together with their “Buddy Classes” in the month of December to talk about ways to show kindness. It was so nice to see them enjoying time together and really thinking about how they can be kind to their friends/classmates.

December was 3 weeks of learning and fun in 2nd grade. The students learned about different holidays and traditions around the world. In math, we continued adding/subtracting with and without regrouping and will continue this work in January. Don’t forget to encourage nightly reading and be sure to check in with your child to ensure they understand what they have been reading. Stay warm!

- Miss. Chapman, Mrs. Gaffney, Mrs. King

Hello families and guardians!

We have wrapped up December by focusing on Kindness! We performed kind acts in our classrooms, highlighted students that displayed kindness, and also made kindness light bulbs sharing how we could “light up” the world with kindness!! It was so nice to see how kids can show kindness in many different ways and we hope this spreads throughout the school year.

We also thank you for coming into parent conferences and discussing your child’s progress. Thanks for all the donations to our gingerbread houses and our sundaes party! We thank you for all you do to support your kiddos and us at school. We will be asking for some replenishment of pencils, snacks, and paper products (tissues, napkins, paper plates, etc.) for the second half of the school year.

In reading, we are going to be focusing a lot on a new unit on nonfiction and the study of the oceans. We will be learning about text features, attributes of nonfiction text, and reading about facts on a variety of topics. We will be studying about countries and cultures. In writing, we will learn how to state an opinion and support it with many details/facts.

Please encourage your child to dress appropriately for the cold weather months ahead and come prepared to go outside even when it’s a little chilly! We also hope kids are taking advantage of doing homework, practicing their multiplication facts, and curling up with some good books in the months ahead!!

As always, we thank you for your continued support of your children and enjoy the opportunity to help them learn and grow!! Wishing you all a very happy holiday season!

Kindly,

Your 3rd grade teachers

Mrs. Harlow's class researched how different countries celebrate winter holidays. They presented their research, and each student got their passport stamped as they traveled around the world!

Greetings families and welcome to 2025. We hope you had a peaceful and relaxing winter break and holiday season. We will start the month with some iReady Assessments and Benchmarks to gauge progress thus far. There is nothing that has to be done outside of school and we plan this for minimum interruptions in class. Our focus for January is "Free Choice" and Kindness. The message for free choice is to make positive choices for ourselves and our larger school community as a whole. We are focusing on when there is some free time, students are asked to make a positive choice on how to spend their time. Some suggestions are to read independently, practice math flashcards, free write or journal, clean up their workspaces, etc. A continuing theme throughout the year is to focus on random acts of kindness. These can be simple gestures like asking how a friend is doing, helping a friend pick up after a spill, offering to play with a new friend at recess, or just a random smile across the room. The simplest act of kindness can positively change someone's day and it only takes a moment to do. Build someone up rather than knocking them down. Remember... Everyone is battling something you know nothing about! Be Kind!

This month Brookside’s 5th grade has been working on showing the characteristics of kindness. This month, we have been working on spreading kindness in every corner of our school. Through class discussions and activities, students have learned how even small acts of kindness can make a big difference. Especially in ELA class, students have spent time reading about artists that have helped spread awareness for people who have struggled in history. We also had the opportunity to create a Kindness Chain with our 2nd grade Buddy Class.