September in Review

We have had a great first few weeks of school. Thank you to all that attended Curriculum Night and our first PTA Event. We had an excellent turn out for both. We have made progress in the building and we are excited to now have full use of the gymnasium while work continues on the Library and other areas in the building. We look forward to showing off the building at the completion of construction.

Important Upcoming Dates:

• Thursday 10/3 - Peaceful Bus Meetings (during school). Please remind your child of appropriate bus behaviors, which will be reviewed and discussed. Important behaviors include staying in your seat, keeping your hands to yourself, and following the driver/monitor's instructions.
  
  
• Friday 10/4 - Emergency Early Release Drill - 15 minute early dismissal. Pickups will start at 2:55 PM and buses will be called at about 3:05 PM. If your student needs to follow a different dismissal routine that day, please be sure to send in a note to the office first thing in the morning.
  
  
• Monday 10/7 - PTA Meeting at 6:30 - cafeteria
  
  
• Monday 10/7-Thursday 10/10: Spirit Week (flyer coming home)
  
  
• Thursday 10/10 - Early Release for Professional Development - Elementary Dismissal at 12:30.
  
  
• Friday 10/11 - No School - Superintendent's Conference Day
• 5:00 Homecoming Parade; Line up at 4:15 at Schnurbusch Park
• 6:00 Varsity Boys' Soccer Game
• 7:30 Varsity Football Game
  
  
• Monday 10/14 - No School
  
  
• Friday 10/25 - Trunk or Treat - 6:00 PM
  
  
• If you were not able to do so at Curriculum Night, please take a moment to complete the "Income Verification Form". While all students receive meals free of charge this year, this form does help the district with funding and grants. You can do it online OR on paper, you don't need to do both. Thank you! https://secure.ezmealapp.com/ApplicationScreen.aspx?cid=YzY2MDRhMzMtNTZhNy00ZmRjLWJhMDUtYjI4Nzg5ZTIxYjdj
  
  
• The Plain Language Code of Conduct was previously sent home to all families. If you have not yet done so, please take a moment to complete this short form to acknowledge that you received and read it: https://forms.gle/odQYxwHqSF6EcmgY8

In October, we will be busy learning about Courage - what it means and why it is important! An example of courage is doing the right thing, even when it isn’t easy. Below are some ways that you can help your child continue to learn about the theme of Courage.

Read About it!

Here are some books to help you learn more about Courage: Sheila Rae, The Brave by Kevin Henkes; Oh Yeah! By Tom Birdseye; Courage by Bernard Waber; and The Bravest Fish by Matt Buckingham.

Practice It!

Together with your child, make a list of things you are afraid to try. Everyone in the family can have things on the list and cross them off when they accomplish them. This is a great way to show that courage knows no age!

As of September 30th, we have had 18 days of school. We would hope that students have missed less than two days of school so far. You should have received a copy of our "Golden Saber Attendance" chart, which can be used to track your child's attendance. A copy is attached below. Consistent attendance supports positive habits and long-term school success.

Please review the letter regarding attendance that was sent home via ParentSquare on Monday, September 30th.

Brookside PE worked hard outside for the first few weeks of school. UPK, K, 1st, and 2nd worked on learning our PE routines, and practiced the underhand toss along with the overhand throw. We finally got into our new gym on Wednesday 9/25! ~Ms. Simpson

The 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade PE Classes are doing a Project Adventure Unit, which is a series of collaborative tasks that take teamwork, cooperation, problem solving, communication, and a lot of perseverance to accomplish! ~Mrs. Bidwell

We are off to a great start in Music!

You should have received a paper from your child concerning music concepts that will be taught and graded for this school year. If you need another form, send me an email request.

If your child is in the 4th and 5th grade chorus, they should have received an informational paper as well. Our first concert will be on Dec.12th (Thursday) at 6:00pm. More information concerning this concert will be coming out in November. If you have any more questions, please feel free to email me.

Thank you for your help and support with your child’s music education and look forward to a wonderful school year!

Mrs. Kelly Dyson

kdyson@svsabers.org

Hello from the library!!!

While we don’t yet have the space, we do still have the books! As Mrs. Brubaker quipped, “Have books, will travel!”

Grades 2 through 5 have been working on getting SORA set up, and it’s going well. If your student wants to read their electronically borrowed books at home, please follow this link:

https://soraapp.com/library/susquehannany

They will need their SV log-on/password to access SORA at home.

Grades K through 1 continue to have exposure to books and book-related activities with the librarian. Please stay tuned for checkout amongst the younger grades.

Happy Fall!

Ms. Moore is now our long-term substitute for Art Class. She worked as the Art Teacher at Brookside several years ago and she is excited to be back. We are glad to have her with us.

September is off to an amazing start here in Pre- K. We have been busy learning the rules and routines of our classroom as well as making friendships. We can't wait to get busy learning so many great things as the year goes on. In the last weeks of September we focused on learning our body parts as well as building and drawing a person with the help of Mat Man. We also explored apples and did some fun apple activities!

Kindergarten has been busy getting into the routines and expectations of the classroom! We are learning how to “fill a bucket” by being kind to one another and our classmates. We have also been learning about the lifecycle of a butterfly, as well as the life cycle of an apple. We got to release our butterflies and taste yummy homemade applesauce!

In First Grade we have been working on writing personal narratives. The students have been focusing on including a beginning, middle, and end in their personal narratives. We have been working on using capital letters at the beginning of sentences and adding punctuation at the end of our sentences.

Welcome back to school. 2nd grade is working hard establishing routines and procedures in writing. We will begin personal narratives in the upcoming weeks. Writing is a journey and we will be encouraging the children to extend their stories; moving from simple sentences to more complex sentences. We will also be moving from inventive spelling to more conventional spelling of most words. Journal writing at home would be a great activity to begin, even if it's a couple days a week. The more children write the more comfortable they become. We look forward to a great year ahead!

Hello Families,

As we enter the fall season, we are busy here at school learning new routines, getting to know classmates, and starting to jump into all of our subjects. In writing, we are learning about the writing process and its stages. We are planning, drafting, making changes (revising), editing, and publishing a good copy of a narrative. We are loving our new “Mystery Writing” program. We have written pond stories and are currently crafting a constellation story with a forest animal that includes a setting, main character, problem and solution, as well as including a beginning, middle, and end to our story!! Our stories also include a lesson the character learns too. We are enjoying learning that writing is a process and good writers like to tell their stories in their own ways. We will spend a few months writing narratives and learning how authors craft a good story!! Thanks for any encouragement you can provide at home!

Greetings and Welcome to 4th Grade!

We have had a great start to the school year and are glad to have everyone back in the swing of things. Our word of the month for October will be "Courage" and we show courage in a variety of ways. Coming to school everyday with an eagerness to learn, meeting new teachers and classmates, and showing kindness to new students are all ways we can demonstrate courage.

Math has a new series we are piloting this year. We are using IReady and the first two weeks have been great! We are also using IReady in ELA with similar results. We started the science year with our investigation on Plant parts. We will move into our studies on NYS as we enter October. Thank you to all who were able to attend Curriculum Night. We encourage you to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

Mrs. Brewer ELA Sbrewer@SVSabers.org

Mrs. McPherson Math Jmcphers@SVSabers.org

Mr. Ruffo Science / Social Studies ARuffo@SVSabers.org

Fifth grade is off to a positive start to the school year with settling into the students' schedule and demands expected of them. We are using a new math and ELA series this year. We have been and will be continuing to share curriculum information for math and ELA through ParentSquare posts. Writing Workshop has begun, we have been outlining the routines and expectations necessary to make it successful. In addition to this, we have also spent time working on digital citizenship with the 5th graders. We look forward to a great 2024-2025 school year!

Mrs. Harlow's class has been settling into September nicely! They've begun their first writing unit on personal narratives. We have been learning about the writing process through a shared writing of a personal narrative.

Fall is upon us and that means flu season is right around the corner. Flu season generally begins in October and peaks during the months of December and February. Flu viruses are thought to spread primarily from person to person through coughs and sneezes of infected people. Less often, a person also might get flu by touching a surface or object that has flu virus on it and then touching their own mouth, eyes, or nose. Let’s help encourage our students to slow the spread of the flu by teaching them preventative actions to stop the germ:

· Stay home when you are feeling sick until you are 24 hours free of fever or signs of a fever (chills, feeling very warm, flushed appearance, or sweating) without the use of fever-reducing medication.

· Cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or a bent arm.

· Wash your hands often with soap and water for 20 seconds, dry hands with a paper towel, and use the paper towel to turn off the faucet. If soap and water are not available, an alcohol-based hand sanitizer containing at least 60% alcohol may be used.

· Encourage children to keep their hands away from their nose, mouth, and eyes.

The best way to reduce your risk from seasonal flu and its potentially serious complications is to get a flu vaccine every year. Flu vaccines are offered in many doctor’s offices and clinics. Even if you don’t have a regular doctor or nurse, you can get a flu vaccine somewhere else like a health department, pharmacy, urgent care clinic, college health center, and even in some schools and workplaces. Please see additional tips on the attachment below.

Let’s work together to keep our students healthy and fight the flu this school year!

~Mrs. Pappas BSN, RN

Please see the attachment below for more information about the Homecoming Parade. The PTA has also sent information about the Brookside float to families.