Brown Weekly Message #9
September 28, 2016
Dear Brown School Family,
As a school, we are embarking on some very important work and we would love your feedback! Last year our school family worked together to develop a vision for our school. In short, our vision is to forge “reasoned minds and educated hearts” of self-directed life-long learners. We used our original working papers and primary source documents from our founder, along with feedback from stakeholders (parents, students, faculty, and alumni) to eventually reveal our purpose. This vision serves as the guidepost for all our work within our school.
Now, we need to align our self-directed learning magnet program to our vision in order to ensure deeper learning for all our students. We are asking ourselves, “What does self-directedness look like at each grade level?” and “What do we want our self-directed learners to know and be able to do in regards to having reasoned minds and educated hearts?”
Like I said, we would love your feedback, so mark your calendars! On Tuesday, October 11th at 6:00, the J. Graham Brown School PTSA will be hosting a “Brown School Family Conversation”. After a very, very short PTSA meeting, we will transition into table discussions focused on the above questions by grade level. We would love to have parents (all grade levels) and students (grades 6-12) participate in the small group discussions.
Our PTSA will also be providing a free dinner (pizza and drinks) for all participants, and there will be child care provided by our junior class with a donation. Plus, the grade with the most participants in grades K-3 will win a popcorn party, and the grade with the most participants in grades 4-12 will get to walk to 4th Street Live for lunch!
I really hope you can attend.
Sincerely,
Dr. Angela, Principal
Angela.parsons@jefferson.kyschools.us
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Please Help Our Classrooms!
Randy Cox has a project for 4 iPad minis and cases on DonorsChoose.org. This will greatly improve opportunities for students to read in his class. We still need $1606! You can donate here: https://www.donorschoose.org/project/in-order-to-turn-the-page-we-need-ipad/2180018/
Amy Thornton still needs $946 for Lego Mindstorm Robots on DonorsChoose.org! We’d love to get these robots into the hands of our students. You can find out more information and donate at this link: https://www.donorschoose.org/project/lego-mindstorm-robots/2155160/
If you have any old iPads – either full sized or minis – which you’d like to donate, we’d be glad to put them to use. Just send an email to Amy.Thornton@jefferson.kyschools.us to get the ball rolling.
Elementary Field Day
Tomorrow is our annual Elementary Field Day! Students will be walking to Waterfront Park for a fun time of physical wellness. If you can help walk students to Waterfront Park and back, we can validate your parking in the YMCA Parking Garage at 2nd Street and Guthrie. Bring your parking voucher to our front office to have it validated. We will begin walking at 8:15, so please be in the lobby.
Pep Rally for Middle & High School
Middle and high school students need to wear their school colors and let their school spirit shine. We’ll have our first pep rally of the school year and recognize our fall athletes and activity participants.
Debate Team
Any high school student interested in joining the Speech and Debate Team should come to an informational meeting after school on Tuesday, October 6th in room 323. Email Jessie.magee@jefferson.kyschools.us with questions.
Athletics
Middle school basketball tryouts are this week! Girls – Thursday, Sept. 29th from 3:15 to 4:30; Boys – Thursday, Sept. 29th and Wednesday, Oct. 5th from 6:00 to 7:00. All paperwork must be on file with Tom Kiel prior to attending tryouts.
Elementary basketball tryouts will be on Thursday, Oct. 6th at 7:00 PM. All girls and boys in grades 3rd through 5th are encouraged to come.
There are a lot of athletics events coming up! Check our athletic calendar at http://www.mybrownschool.org/groups/15319/calendar?blockId=275234 for a complete schedule.
National Art Honor Society
NAHS will begin meeting on the first Wednesday of every month on October 5th. Meetings are at 2:45. Bring your sketchbook!
PTSA
Our next general meeting is Tuesday, October 11th at 6:00. The meeting will start in the auditorium. More information regarding our PTSA can be found on our website at www.mybrownschool.org/ptsa.
SBDM
The SBDM Council will be meeting at 4:30 on October 20th in the main office conference room. Meetings are open to the public. To enter the building, ring the bell at the main door on 1st Street near Muhammad Ali Blvd. and you will be buzzed in. Then proceed to the main office. The tentative agenda and other items are located at www.mybrownschool.org/sbdm.
Alumni Association
The next Alumni Association meeting is scheduled for October 20th 6:30 PM in the main office conference room. The association is currently planning its 45th anniversary celebration. Our alumni association is involved in some very exciting projects to support our school! Alumni Association involvement is a great way to help our school while celebrating our history! More information about our Alumni Association can be found at www.mybrownschool.org/alumni_association.
Super Kids
We would like to congratulate Tryphena Sithu and Cade Wilson for being selected as Super Kids by Louisville Magazine. Tryphena and Cade will be included in an upcoming publication of the magazine.
REPEAT ITEMS
Sign Up For Remind
In an effort to better communicate with you while giving you more options, I am going to be phasing out sending the link to the weekly message via Infinite Campus email and will be switching over to using Remind. Remind is a system in which you can receive these notifications in whatever format you prefer – text message, mobile app, or email. To sign up for text messages, follow the directions below. If you’d prefer to use the mobile app, download Remind from your app store and sign up with the same code when you log in. To change your notification settings, log in to www.remind.com. We will also be using this system to provide information to you in the event of a school-wide emergency. Please make sure you have signed up by October 14th. You can find an image in the attachment with instructions on how to sign up. If you have questions, email our school technology coordinator Amy Thornton at amy.thornton@jefferson.kyschools.us.
Advance Program Testing
The Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) will be administered on Monday, October 17th. This test will be administered to all third grade students and to students whose parents submitted a request. If you have not requested that your child take the CogAT but would like to do so, please contact Christy.teague@jefferson.kyschools.us (3-5) or Pam.willison@jefferson.kyschools.us (6-10).
Save These Dates!
Our PTSA Fall Festival will be held on Friday, October 21st from 6:00 to 8:00 PM.
Our Prospective Student Open House will be Wednesday, November 2nd from 6:30 to 8:00 PM.
Parents Night Out
There’s a Parent’s Night Out flyer on the last page of the attachment! Sign up right away to reserve your child’s spot.
Box Tops
Looking for an easy way to help our school? Look in your cabinets for Box Tops!
Box Tops are each worth 10¢ for schools and are found on hundreds of products. When students, families, schools and communities work together to collect Box Tops, the money adds up fast. Last year, the Brown School earned $850, which we used to meet several school needs. We can earn even more cash this school year with your help. Our goal this year is $1,000. Here are a few ways you can help us reach that goal:
* Students in Grades K-5 will receive a Box Tops chart. Simply cut out Box Tops that haven't expired yet, and attach them to the sheet. Once your sheet is full, bring it back to school!
* Students in the higher grades can bring in their Box Tops and put them in the "Box Tops" box in the office.
After School Student Supervision
Our SBDM approved a new policy last year, the After School Supervision Policy, regarding students who are remaining after school unsupervised, who are not engaged in a supervised after school activity or who are not enrolled in the YMCA Childcare Enrichment Program (CEP). Instances of students being found after school unsupervised will be documented and reoccurrences may result in students being placed on probation at the school. Please make sure that your student is being picked up each day be 3:00 PM or is enrolled in CEP. To help with locating a carpool, our PTSA has set up a bulletin board on their page on our school website at http://www.mybrownschool.org/ptsa.
Morning Drop Off
Morning drop off begins each morning at 7:30 AM. Please do not drop off students prior to this time as there is not adult supervision in the building. Students cannot be left unsupervised at any time. No student should be waiting outside the cafeteria or library, as these locations do not open until 7:30.
The doors to the school are locked until 7:00 AM.
