Hello Bobcat Families,

Thank you to everyone who gave their time and creative effort to make our Fall Party possible for our students on Friday! Fall celebration was vibrant as students participated in various crafts and games, enjoying fall with one another! Thank you to our volunteers for your extra efforts to make this special for our students!

There were many, many helping hands that went into making the 2nd Annual PTA Monster Bash a great success! A huge shout out to Emily Cropper who coordinated the event as well as: Megan Happ, Dave Gargas, Dan Mantucca, Josh and Erin Cox, Lisa and Ben Kalnicky, Sofia Maki, Laura Burgess, Kelly Casmer, Christy Dryer, and Magda Kaminska. Fun was definitely had by all, and we loved getting to see the kids enjoying one another outside of the school day!

This week marks the start of a new quarter, and we move the calendar to November. So many great things to celebrate in Quarter 1! Here are some highlights:

• Beautiful new aesthetics filled our instructional spaces with new flooring and paint
• Our new Bobcat Playground and Gaga Pit brought many new, fun experiences for our students
• Curriculum Night kicked-off the start of the year with parents learning about their child's year ahead. The PTA Activity Fair and learning playground, hosted by our Academic Support Team, filling the LMC with opportunities and parent education.
• All staff provided input into our School Improvement Plan for the year focused on Reading and Math Growth as well as Student Attendance.
• Various assessment data points were gathered at each grade level to allow for the allocation of supports, including our fall benchmarking screener.
• Fall Data Review was a huge success and various district professionals, including our District Superintendent, attended to see this facilitated process in action!
• Interventions and small group reading and math kicked off earlier this year!
• Two successful spirit days where the Bobcat Pride was alive in the halls at Brookdale! We added in a new way of calculating the Spirit winner in October to allow for more opportunities for winners!
• IPEF Fundraisers were a huge success: Brookdale Running Club, Bubblegum Sales, and Movie Night Mania!
  
• Brookdale became not only LARGEST IPEF team but also the #1 fundraising team with the Bobcat spirit squad taking 2nd place and earning additional funds for Brookdale!
• Students got their photos taken (and retaken!) for the yearbook and school year!
• Busy Bobcat saw high sales for the first two months!
• Successful PTA Meeting to kick off the year with high community attendance and an opportunity to each lunch with their child.
• Brookdale PTA met their goal for fundraising at the Bobcat Fun Run--and fun was had by all promoting health and wellness for all students and each student getting a t-shirt courtesy of Essence Realty!
• Family Reading Night was a success with a kick-off of One Book One School--we have spent October Reading and Growing Together with fun trivia, guest read alouds, and activities!
• Men of Brookdale kicked off and continues to be a highlight for the Bobcat students--seeing our male role models in action!
  
• Kindergarten and 1st grade experienced great field trips!
  
• Students learned the importance of practice with our safety and security drills in case of an emergency as we partnered of NPD and NFD.
• Inside Out Club, Craft Club, Robotics Club, Chorus Club, and APPLES Club are all successfully underway creating awesome opportunities for our students before and after school
• Celebrated all things Fall at the Fall Party and PTA Monster Bash was a success!

...and the list goes on and on! It's ALWAYS a great day to be a Bobcat! We look forward to Quarter 2, continuing to learn and grow together!

For those celebrating Halloween this week, I hope everyone has a fun and safe night! As a reminder, fall/seasonal attire is welcomed tomorrow, but we ask that students do not wear costumes to school.

Here's to a great Quarter 2 ahead!

Full of Bobcat Pride,

Mrs. Keeley Schmid

Brookdale's Proud Principal

We hope your child and family have been enjoying reading Charlotte's Web! Be sure to check out the site below for a read aloud of each chapter from our very own Dream Team as well as activities! We have been enjoying celebrating reading together with trivia each week!

Chapters this Week:

10/30- 17 and 18

11/01-19 and 20

11/3- 21 and 22

Let's flood the halls with the Bobcat Pride! Students should wear their blue and yellow to help their classes chances of winning the beloved Brookdale Spirit Trophy and visit from BOB the Bobcat!

Parent University: Top 10 Keys to Early Elementary School Success, will premiere as a video presentation on the District’s YouTube channel on Wednesday, November 1 at 7 PM. District 204’s Assistant Superintendent of Elementary and Early Childhood, Laura Rosenblum and District 204 SEL and Wellness Coordinator, Dawn Forkner will share 10 key areas of student growth and development that have proven to be impactful on a student’s ability to thrive in the classroom. Viewers will hear from IPSD 204 elementary school principals, classroom teachers, and mental health professionals as they share their expertise on how parents and family members can support their child during these critical early years.

*A great resource for our families! Be sure to check it out as you may see some familiar Bobcat faces!

Report cards are viewable in ParentVUE on 11/3 @4:00pm. Please reach out to your child's teacher with any questions.

We look forward to connecting with you at our Parent Teacher Conferences in November! We appreciate your partnership as we work together to ensure your child is flourishing this school year!

Parent teacher conference sign-up will be in ParentVUE:

• Opens: 11/8/2022 at 10:00 am

• Closes: 11/14/2022 at 6:00 pm

District 204 offers a variety of academic programs to meet the needs of our students starting in 3rd grade. Although assessment occurs throughout the school year for all students, some programs require the gathering of additional information in order to determine appropriate placement.

Our identification process for Project Arrow and Accelerated Math programs includes the use of multiple measures when considering the whole child for academic programming. We consider standardized and normed assessment data including, but not limited to, the following: Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT), Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS), iReady, classroom assessments and student learning characteristics.

Parent Teacher Conferences is an excellent time to begin having a discussion with your child's teacher if you are interested in having he/she complete additional testing this winter in consideration for placement.

Any questions regarding our Academically Talented programming and testing can be directed to our Student Services Coordinator, Lindsey Stepper, lindsey_stepper@ispd.org.

If your child is interested in being highlighted in our Friday video announcements, please complete the form here https://forms.gle/cneg5K9iszjUEC8CA or submit it via email to Mrs. Schmid.

We look forward to getting more of our students featured on our Friday video announcements!

Parents, please check to make sure your student’s Chromebook has its hinge cover. The hinge cover will fall off if device has been dropped and failure to replace it will cause further damage to your student’s Chromebook. If your student has the hinge cover it will be replaced for free. If the hinge cover is missing there will be a $15 replacement charge in your Pushcoin account. Please send your student to LMC for replacement.

We are so grateful to all of our Veterans who have served this great country! We are hosting a Veteran's Day Assembly on November 10th for our 3rd-5th graders, and we would love the opportunity for them to hear from our Veterans in our community!

Please complete the form below if you are interested in speaking at our assembly or know a Veteran that would be willing to join us!

Our school’s highest priority is the safety of our students and staff. In order to maintain a safe environment, it is necessary that we practice our emergency and crisis response plans.

We are required by the Illinois School Safety Drill Act (105 ILCS 128/1) to conduct a minimum of six safety drills per school year to ensure that our staff and students know their role and are prepared to act during a potential crisis. These safety drills are designed to protect students from danger in and around a school.

We do not conduct surprise drills. We teach students that drills are for practice, and when practicing, want to learn and grow from these experiences. We will conduct our safety drills on the following days and times this school year:

8/30 @9:30-Evacuation/Fire Drill-Completed

9/12 @2:30-Evacuation/Fire Drill-Completed

09/22 @9:30-11:00 (scheduled times)-Bus Evacuation Drill-Completed

10/2/23 @10:00-Law Enforcement Drill with NPD School Resource Officer-Completed

10/25/23 @9:45-Evacuation/Fire Drill with Naperville Fire Department

11/3/23 @9:30-Severe Weather Drill

3/6/24 @2:30-Severe Weather Drill

Friday, November 3

6:30 - 8:00 PM

Brookdale PTA is excited to bring back our second year of Sports Night in Open Gym– come out and join us this fall/winter for these free, open gym-style events in Brookdale Gym. Parents and students are both invited to come play and have fun! There will be areas for basketball, soccer, jump ropes, bean bag toss, pushups and squats and hopscotch. Nov 3, Dec 15, Jan 19, Feb 19, Note: these are not drop off events. Parents are asked to stay with their students. Water bottles are encouraged.

Morning Greeter – Volunteers Needed

Help support Brookdale Elementary by volunteering as a Morning Greeter! The greeter is a friendly, welcoming face who directs adult visitors to the office, assists students who arrive late, and delivers items to the classrooms. The time commitment is only 30 minutes from 9:00 – 9:30am (9:10-9:45 on Wednesdays). Help is needed each school day – you can sign up for a single day, choose a day per week, or select as many days as you can to help keeping Brookdale mornings running smoothly! SIGN UP HERE

Men of Brookdale – Volunteers Needed

Calling all enthusiastic and caring male role models (dads, grandfathers, uncles, etc)! Ignite a positive impact in your child’s educational journey through our remarkable Men of Brookdale (MOB) program. Join in on the playground and in the lunchroom and help play games, open containers and have fun with your child and peers. Please sign up at the link below and timing is flexible. There are two sessions each day: 11:00am-12:25pm (Grades 2/1/5) and 12:15pm-1:50pm (Grades 4/3/K). Volunteers can sign up for one or both sessions. Dates are available a couple Friday’s each month – it’s fun, simple and rewarding! SIGN UP LINK If you have any questions, email Tim Phelan at timphelan15@gmail.com.

Monday, October 30th

• Quarter 2 Begins!
• Robotics Club in Room 131 @8:00am

Tuesday, October 31st

• Brookdale Chorus @8:15am
  
• No APPLES Club--digital assignment to be completed at home by end of the week

Wednesday, November 1st

• No scheduled school events.

Thursday, November 2nd

• On Your Own Presentation @9:15am in 3O

Friday, November 3rd

• Spirit Day!

• Craft Club @8:00am
  

• Inside Out Club @8:00am

• Robotics Club @8:00am

• Severe Weather Drill @9:30am
  

• Men of Brookdale

• Report Cards posted in ParentVUE @4:00pm

• Sports Night In @6:30pm-8:00pm

Upcoming Dates:

11/8-11/14 PTC Scheduling Opens for Parents

11/10 Busy Bobcat Store, Veterans Day Assembly 3rd-5th Grade

11/14 Chipotle Family Dinner Night @4:00-8:00pm, PTA Meeting @7:00pm (Child Care Available!)

11/15 IPSD Project Arrow PTA @7:00pm (Virtual)

11/17 Men of Brookdale

11/16 & 11/20 Parent Teacher Conferences