Bobcat Bulletin

Hello Bobcat Families,

Happy Veterans Day on Monday for those who have served in our armed forces! We look forward to honoring our community Veterans at our Veterans Day Assembly with our 3rd-5th grade students. If you are a Veteran or you know of someone, we would love to add a few more to our assembly! Please see the sign-up link below.

This past week staff engaged in our Midpoint Data Review to analyze how students are doing within current allocated supports and resources and made adjustments as needed. Students are making great progress, and we are proud of their hard work. Thank you for all the support you continue to provide from home as well; it makes a difference!

As a reminder, Parent Teacher Conference sign-ups open next week, and we look forward to this time together. Our goal is to connect with every parent/guardian of our students!

Here's to a great week ahead!

Full of Bobcat Pride,

Mrs. Keeley Schmid

Brookdale's Principal

We only have a couple speakers who are able to join us for our assembly Monday. If you are a veteran or know one, please consider joining us! We would love to have our students hear and learn from you or a community member!

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 11th for our 3rd-5th graders, and we would love the opportunity for them to hear from our Veterans in our community!

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

Come support Brookdale 4th and 5th Grade Chorus as they perform at Brookdale on Wednesday, December 11th at 6:00pm. The concert will take place in the Brookdale Gym. Those planning to attend are asked to enter door #2. All parents, families, friends, students, and staff are welcome. It is a wonderful opportunity to see our young singers shine, and your support means the world to them! We hope to see you there!

For Chorus Students Only:

Chorus students should arrive at 5:30pm for warmups in the MPR, and should wear their chorus shirt, dark bottoms, and comfortable shoes.

If your child was absent 10% or more of Quarter 1 school days, you will receive a notification attendance letter. We know when students are not at school, regardless of the reason, they are not receiving the robust resources our school offers. Attendance is one of Brookdale's three School Improvement Goals, which we have continued to improve upon each year! We thank you for partnering with us on this and making school a priority. As we tell the students, coming to school is their job, helping build great habits for continued education and the eventual career field. If you have questions or need support, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Please see the below letter from Dr. Talley:

Dear Indian Prairie Families,

We recognize that consistent student attendance is crucial for success. The learning opportunities and experiences provided at school are invaluable.

Parents are responsible for the daily attendance of their children; however, Illinois School Code does not grant parents the authority to excuse their children from attending classes without valid cause. Every absence is recorded as part of the student’s attendance record and counts toward chronic absenteeism.

"Chronic absence" means absences that total 10% or more of school days of the most recent academic school year, including absences with and without valid cause …”– 105 ILCS 5/26-18. Chronic absences are tracked by the state and are a part of the summative designation on our Illinois School Report Card. Several of our schools earned a reduced rating last year due to the chronic absenteeism data for their school.

Please note vacations, practices/competitions, birthday celebrations, and similar leisure activities are not considered valid causes for absences, and we discourage these types of activities during school hours.

We appreciate your commitment to ensuring that your child(ren) attends school on time every day. If your child must be absent, please continue to report that absence in ParentVue or by calling the attendance line for your school.

Sincerely,

Adrian B. Talley, Ed.D.
Superintendent

Parents Night Out Fundraiser:

Friday December 13th: 5-9pm

Drop off your kids and finish up your holiday shopping or a night out on the town! Evening of fun for your kids will include dancing, craft, snacks, games and a movie!

$30 for one child. $50 for 2 children. $80 for 3 children.

Sign up: https://omella.com/yyl18

Mini Mustangs Dance Clinic and Performance:

Clinic: Wednesday December 18th 6-8pm

Performance: Friday December 20th 5:30pm Sophomore Basketball Game

Join the fun and your child can perform with the dance team at a high school basketball game!

Cost: $40. Includes T-shirt, Hair Bow and Parent Admission to the game.

Sign Up: https://omella.com/mdxfl

Report cards will be available in ParentVUE on 11/1 @4:00pm.

Parent Teacher Conferences on 11/21 (4:30-8:00) and 11/25 (8:00-3:00 & 4:30-8:00).

We will once again use ParentVUE to sign up for fall parent teacher conferences.

• Opens: 11/13/2024 at 6:00 am

• Closes: 11/19/2024 at 6:00 pm

• Please note:

• You will be able to see your appointment in ParentVUE

• You can make changes to your appointment during the window only

We love this opportunity to connect with you, our partners in education, and never want childcare to be a barrier for not getting this opportunity to meet. Please see an opportunity below provided by Metea Valley's Dance Team! Thank you, Mustangs!

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 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.

Your child's Parent Teacher Conference is an excellent time to have 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.

We love to have volunteers at Brookdale! Please see the updated volunteer application process. All volunteers must be approved through this process for the 24-25 school year. You will receive a confirmation email from the district once approved.

Pre-order the Texas Roadhouse rolls and butter to be picked up on the Dine to Donate event! You will be the hit of Thanksgiving bringing rolls as a side! 50% of bread sales goes directly back to our Brookdale PTA!

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 and please note NEW lunch times: 11:00am-12:25pm (Grades 5/3/1) and 12:15pm-1:50pm (Grades 2/4/K). Volunteers can sign up for one or both sessions Men of Brookdale - Sign up.

Please make sure to fill out the updated volunteer application process before your first day. See details in the MOB sign up link. The dates are available a couple Friday’s each month – it’s fun, simple and rewarding! If you have any questions, email Ben Kalnicky at bkalnicky@uwalumni.com

Brookdale PTA makes it easy to submit photos to the school yearbook. Simply email your favorite pictures from the Color Run (or from any other school event) to brookdaleyearbook@gmail.com. Please only send one picture of each memory to help us avoid duplicates.

Monday, November 11th

• Veteran's Day Assembly 3rd-5th @9:30am

Tuesday, November 12th

• Brainfuse @8:00am
• Chorus @8:15am
• PTA Meeting @7:00pm

Wednesday, November 13th

• PTC Sign-Up Opens @6:00am
• BizBuzz Business Bootcamp @3:35-5:00pm
• PA PTA Virtual Meeting @7:00pm

Thursday, November 14th

• No Scheduled School Events

Friday, November 15th

• Robotics Club @8:00am
• Men of Brookdale
• Fox Valley Park District Visits Brookdale @9:20-1:20pm

11/19: PTC SIgn-Up Closes

11/21 and 11/25: Parent Teacher Conferences

11/25: Family Dinner Restaurant Night-Texas Roadhouse

Sync the District Calendar to your personal calendar. Directions here: https://www.ipsd.org/Page/2#calendar1/20241015/month