The Brickton Weekly, February 28, 2014

Thank You Corner

Thank you Phil Moran, husband of Pat in Room 101, for fixing a door lock.  Also, thanks to John Barrett, Middle School student Mica's dad, for replacing the light switch in the lobby bathroom.  These little fixes keep the school building fresh and functional! Many thanks to speaker, Dr. Felix Casados, for leading our parent enrichment discussion this week on “Parenting with Choices, Consequences, and Limits”.

Save the Date for Brickton's First Annual 5K!

Saturday, May 17th 10:00 a.m. at Catherine Chevalier Woods is the First Annual Brickton 5K!

This 5K Run/Walk and Fun Run for the kids, will be open to the public.Currently, we are looking for volunteers to help make this a success. Please contact Kelly if you are interested in giving your time and talent.Registration information coming soon!

Operation Child Find

This early childhood screening process, which covers vision, hearing, physical, cognitive and social/emotional development for children through age 6, begins on Monday, March 3^rd.   If you would like your child to participate in this screening process, please return the completed permission slip for your child by Monday morning.  Additional permission slips are available in the office or through your child’s Directoress.

Brickton Reads

Jen Cozad is in sync with Olympic competitors as she reads Mind Gym: An Athlete's Guide to Inner Excellence. Beth Peachey recommends The Hummingbird's Daughter by Chicago author Luis Urrea. The following students have completed at least six hours of reading for the "Six Flags Read to Succeed Six Hour Challenge":  Jaeden R., Jacob P., Enzo C., James D., Sarah D., Toby A., Jack F., Nate N., Ben N., Marrete A., Luke Wilcek., Ria K., Zach C., Jack W., Matthew M., Jonathan C., Sydney F., Sophia D., Ellie A., Declan M., Sam A ., Sebastian M., Amelia D., and Ephraim G.

Read Across America

March is a great month for book lovers and those working to foster new book lovers.  It roars in with Read Across America Day (typically on Dr. Seuss's birthday, March 2, but this year observed on Monday, March 3), a nationwide celebration of reading. It's followed closely by LitWorld's World Read Aloud Day, held on the first Wednesday of every March, which aims to highlight the importance of (you guessed it!) reading aloud.

"Book holidays" like these offer schools and homes the perfect opportunity to reignite the reading fire. Want to keep those flames stoked all spring long? Here are some ideas:

-          Attend one of the Dr. Seuss celebrations at a local library.

-          Parents read your own childhood favorites again, and to your kids!

-          Attend to (or start) your own family library.

-          Start a book club—even a nontraditional one – you and another person, you and a small group, you and your family.    You can even start a "text-book club" - you just text about your book reading.

Upcoming Events

Open House, Sunday, March 2^nd, 10:00-12:30pm

Operation Child Find, Monday, March 3^rd and Tuesday, March 4^th

Club Day, Friday, March 7^th

Manna Orders Due, Friday, March 7^th

Elementary Testing, Monday, March 10^th through Thursday, March 13^th

Hot Dog Lunch, Friday, March 11^th

Club Day – Parent teacher Conferences, Friday, March 21^st

Parent Alliance, Tuesday, March 18^th  from5:45-7:15.  Care and pizza are provided.

Manna Orders Due, Friday, March 21^st

Spring Break – Club Days, Monday, March 24^th – Friday, March 28^th

The Brickton Weekly, February 21, 2014

Big Leap Thank You

Thank you to everyone who attended and supported our Annual Benefit, The Big Leap!

Thank you to our Co-Chairs, Deb DeYoung and Maggie Bauer, and to our many parent volunteers:

Mike Messina

Ivana Drazic Cunningham

Sharon Gooday (Grandma to the Urbanski kids)

Olina Dolly

Larry & Diane Stenert

John Joyce

Joe Somers & Jessie Casteel

Erika Bolte

And to the countless parents who donated items for the silent auction - we couldn't have done it without you!

Please enjoy a slide show of pictures taken by Mark Treppa.  Thank you, Mark, for taking such nice photos of the event.

Fierce Frogs Music Video

John Joyce, parent of Stefan and Malina and member of the awesome band Poochamungas, wrote an amazing song in celebration of Brickton.  Titled Fierce Frogs, this song was recorded right here at Brickton with the help of John’s bandmates.  It features Dave Degand, father of James and Sarah, on vocals, John Joyce on guitar, and John Huber on banjo.  The song is all about Brickton, and the video features Brickton staff and students.  It is a beautiful tribute to our school and our community.  We are proud to have such talented members of the Brickton family!  Thanks go to Joe Somers for putting together the spectacular video.

Picture Orders

All families who ordered picture packages from Interstate Studios should have automatically received a class picture with their order.  Some were delivered to school in the late fall but recently, several parents have stopped in the office and reported that they have not received theirs. If you placed an order with Interstate but never got the class picture, please stop in the office or email Sara (sara.gregory@brickton.org) by Friday, February 21st, so that she can get in touch with the company and request all the missing pictures at one time.

Parent Enrichment Seminar: Parenting with Choices, Consequences, and Limits

Would you like for your student to develop responsibility and self-reliance?  Would you like to encourage mutual respect and cooperation with your child while enhancing your relationship? In this seminar, we’ll discuss different strategies to set effective limits, improve motivation, offer choices, and utilize natural consequences for any age child. In addition, we’ll explore opportunities to boost parent-child relationships, how to diffuse conflict, and how to use strategies for reducing tension at home and at school.

Please join our guest speaker at Brickton, Dr. Felix Casados, for this parent enhancement seminar on February 26, 2014, 6:00-7:00 pm. Care will be provided, and dinner is available for all. Please RSVP to kelly.mcdermott@brickton.org or in the office.

Upcoming Events

Room 103 In-School Celebration, Friday, February 21st, 8:30am

Hot Dog Lunch, Friday, February 21st

Manna Orders Due, Friday, February 21st

Raising Autonomous and Competent Children, Friday, February 21st, 7:00 - 8:30 PM, Register.

AIMS Conference, for teachers, Saturday, February 22nd

Parent Education Night With Dr. Felix, Wednesday, February 26th, 6:00 – 7:00pm

Pizza Lunch, Friday, February 28th

Open House, Sunday, March 2nd, 10:00-12:30pm

Operation Child Find, Monday, March 3rd and Tuesday, March 4th

Club Day, Friday, March 7th

Manna Orders Due, Friday, March 7th

Elementary Testing, Monday, March 10th through Thursday, March 13th

Hot Dog Lunch, Friday, March 11th

Club Day – Parent teacher Conferences, Friday, March 12st

Manna Orders Due, Friday, March 21st

Spring Break – Club Days, Monday, March 24th – Friday, March 28th

The Brickton Weekly, February 14, 2014

The Big Leap is Saturday!

See below for an exciting slide show of posters for the Big Leap made by Brickton students!
The Big Leap is this coming Saturday and we have quite a party planned for you! Buy your tickets online, or stop in the office.

·  "Love" themed Team Trivia **Hint...Celebrity Couples, Movies on Valentines Day in History, Songs and more!**

·  Raffle tickets for the Bears game of your choice (Saints excluded) are selling fast!  Get your tickets for $20/each in the office, today!

·  The online silent auction is up and running, but don't delay as it closesThursday night! biddingforgood.com/brickton

·  Questions about The Big Leap? FAQ's are here

·  Classroom Art Projects are in the main lobby! Read below for descriptions of some of the fabulous projects.

Wood Block Found Object Collage

The Toddler students were asked to collect small "found" objects at home and bring them to school to decorate the wood blocks. The Toddlers painted and glued their "found" objects onto their respective wooden blocks. Each child created two art pieces in the shadow box. Look for their initials to identify which one belongs to your child!

Lower Elementary Oil Pastels

The Lower Elementary students have worked collaboratively to create four oil pastels on paper renditions of volcanoes, to highlight our geography curriculum.  The four pieces will be contained in one frame.

Kitchen Basket from Room 107

The community of Room 107 used their fingerprints to fashion gorgeous flowers and animals, and decorated a set of 12 drinking glasses.  We've added two aprons -- one sized for an adult and one for a child -- as well as a pair of pot holders, decorated with outdoors scenes and signed by the children.  A basket makes it easy to carry these items, along with a few kitchen utensils.  Megan has included a set of cards, describing with words and pictures, how to implement some of the children's favorite food preparation activities from this year.  What a terrific addition to your kitchen life!   

Thank You Corner

The staff at Brickton is very excited that we will be getting a new table for the school’s kitchen.  Cheryl’s brother-in-law, Mike Doyle, is going to deliver the table to Brickton.  From all of us here at Brickton, thank you very much!  The donation of the new table was arranged by Liz Skrodzki, Brickton's reading specialist, and is being donated by Darvin Furniture in Orland Park.  Thanks Liz, and thanks Darvin Furniture!
Crochet Club

One of our many exciting extracurricular activities is the Crochet Club.  The Crochet Club has been busy using their hooks and yarn to create beautiful accessories.  The club members are modeling their creations. Left to right: Clare (belt), Francesca (earrings), Liadan (earrings), Marete (bracelet).

Brickton Reads!

Heather Wilcek and Agnes Guerra are still pondering, Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects. Third graders are reading widely for their Needs of People research projects.  Malina Joyce is looking into Ancient Greece. Charlie Disse is learning about the Iroquois.  Selena and Ian Brosnan are fans of the Captain Underpants series. SoumilSarmah can't get enough of the Magic Treehouse books.  Madeline Parrilo is sharing a book about Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Everyone is welcome to check out Dr. Seuss books from the Little Free Library. Let Brickton Reads in on your latest book:  liz.skrodzki@gmail.com.

Upcoming Events

Valentine’s Day Celebrations, Friday, February 14^th

Annual Benefit, Saturday, February 15^th, 6:00pm, above Moretti's in Edison Park

Bad Weather Make-up Day, Monday, February 17^th

Board Meeting, Wednesday, February 19^th, 7:00 pm

Toddler and Children's House Parent Ed Night, Thursday, February 20^th, 5:30pm – 7:00pm

Room 103 In-School Celebration, Friday, February 21^st, 8:30am

Hot Dog Lunch, Friday, February 21^st

Manna Orders Due, Friday, February 21^st

Raising Autonomous and Competent Children, Friday, February 21^st, 7:00 - 8:30 PM, Register.

AIMS Conference, for teachers, Saturday, February 22^nd

Parent Education Night With Dr. Felix, Wednesday, February 26^th, 6:00 – 7:00pm

Pizza Lunch, Friday, February 28^thz

The Brickton Weekly, February 7, 2014

School Open Monday, February 17th - Bad Weather Make-up Day

School will be open on Monday, February 17th as a make-up day for the three cold weather closure days in January.  This date was originally scheduled as an InService Day for staff, with school closed for students. While our calendar far exceeds the minimum number of instructional hours required by the state, we want to recapture some of the lost instructional time.  If you already have family plans that preclude your child from attending school, they will have the opportunity to make-up any missed presentations.   

The Big Leap

The Big Leap is next weekend - have you gotten your tickets!! Please join us for this very fun, adults night out benefiting Brickton! Click below for all of the details.

THE BIG LEAP (Frequently Asked Questions)

WHAT IS THE BIG LEAP?

The Big Leap is Brickton Montessori School’s Annual Benefit event. It is an opportunity for the Brickton community to raise funds for the school and have a wonderful evening out at the same time.

WHO GOES TO THE BIG LEAP?

Anyone who’s invested in the future of Brickton Montessori School. That includes parents, staff, friends, family and anyone else who wants to participate in this once a year event!

WHAT CAN I DO TO SUPPORT THE BIG LEAP?

(1) Come to the event and participate—that’s the most fun way to support The Big Leap—and get your friends and family to participate, too. But if you can’t attend in person, don’t despair - make a cash donation to the event, contribute to the staff ticket fund, or designate a proxy to bid for you at the event.  You’ll feel like you were there!                            

(2) Visit our online auction at biddingforgood.com/Brickton – invite your friends and family to do the same!  The online portion of the auction closes BEFORE the live event (on Thursday, Feb 13th) Don’t miss out – visit the site now!

(3) Bid on classroom art projects at the Big Leap.  The children in each classroom have worked hard to create beautiful projects to be auctioned at the Big Leap.  We've highlighted a couple below and you can see all of them as they are finished in the lobby art gallery.

Upper Elementary Auction Project: Students revived a well worn toy chest from Katheen's room and transformed it through weeks of sanding, staining and sealing into the base for their hand crafted chess set. Each piece, from pawn to king, had three prototypes and students voted for their favorite design.

This set comes with an extra pawn, knight, rook, bishop, queen and king....just in case.

Room 103 Auction Project: We poured our energy into creating these one-of-a kind works of art. The children collaborated on the backgrounds, mixing and moving colors across the art boards.  The flowers that adorn the green fields were hand-painted and crafted by the children celebrating their love of colors and showcasing their unique designs.  As you gaze at the paintings imagine a field of flowers and the sounds of children's laughter as they play and dance around them.  

Thank You Corner

This Brickton Big Leap Benefit is fast approaching.  The amount of work and planning is staggering, which makes the efforts of Maggie Bauer and Deb DeYoung that much more impressive.  Their tireless and dedicated work as the Benefit Committee is much appreciated.  Thank you for your hard work!

Getting to Know You: Each week this section will highlight one staff member and their answer to the question: How do you express your creativity?

Kathleen Kasser, Children’s House Directress

Like many of my colleagues, I am enthralled by language.  I love words:  their sounds, their origins, the limitless ways they can be combined to convey meaning.  I love to sing, to speak poetry, to read aloud a role from a play or a paragraph from Dickens.  Most of all, I love to tell stories!  Whether it’s how bananas grow in Honduras or Maria Montessori’s life as a very young child, growing up in an Italian village on the Adriatic, I love the way a little tale can spark interest and emotion in a child.  I’m blessed to have found, in my quest to be a life-long learner, that love of language has been a valuable tool to bring along on the journey.  

Picture Orders

All families who ordered picture packages from Interstate Studios should have automatically received a class picture with their order.  Some were delivered to school in the late fall but recently, several parents have stopped in the office and reported that they have not received theirs.

If you placed an order with Interstate but never got the class picture, please stop in the office or email Sara (sara.gregory@brickton.org) by Friday, February 14 so that she can get in touch with the company and request all the missing pictures at one time.  

New Signs Around Brickton

The Illinois Firearm Concealed Carry Act became effective Jan. 1 and requires employers to post a sign in accordance with the law if they choose to prohibit firearms on its premises. While it has always been Brickton policy to prohibit firearms on school property, these new signs have been posted solely to ensure that we are in compliance with this new state law. 

Upcoming Events

Lower Elementary Field Trip, Chicago Symphony, Friday, February 7th, 8:30am – 12:30pm

Valentine’s Day Celebrations, Friday, February 14th

Annual Benefit, Saturday, February 15th, 6:00pm, above Moretti's in Edison Park

Bad Weather Make-up Day, Monday, February 17th

Board Meeting, Wednesday, February 19th, 7:00 pm

Toddler and Children's House Parent Ed Night, Thursday, February 20th, 5:30pm – 7:00pm

Room 103 In-School Celebration, Friday, February 21st, 8:30am

Hot Dog Lunch, Friday, February 21st

Manna Orders Due, Friday, February 21st

Raising Autonomous and Competent Children, Friday, February 21st, 7:00 - 8:30 PM, Register.

AIMS Conference, for teachers, Saturday, February 22nd

Parent Education Night With Dr. Felix, Wednesday, February 26th, 6:00 – 7:00pm

Pizza Lunch, Friday, February 28thz