October 2008
President's Message A warm welcome & welcome back to all of our Brookside families. I am pleased to introduce myself as the PTA President this year and I am sincerely looking forward to working with all of our dedicated parents towards our common goal, achieving the finest education that Cranford has to offer. Our school has a powerful PTA, but has no hidden agendas. Your investment in our PTA is a fiduciary responsibility that I, and the PTA executive board, accept with the utmost degree of integrity. Please do not hesitate to call me with any questions that you may have. Regards, Caroline Ford Doolan, President 497-0388 cfordd@verizon.net Thank You... · Diana Constable and Mary Castle for all of their hard work in making the Book Fair a huge success. $150 in books for each classroom, raffle baskets for the Fall Fest & Tricky Tray and an $800 Scholastic merchandise voucher for Brookside. WOW!! · Carolyn Smaka and Lisa Van Dam for organizing the Celebrate with Books program. Many new books were purchased for our library and the two hallway “showcases” were sold out! · Magda Cabrera-Mayol and Mary Beth Cook for their service on the BPS-PTA Board. Hours of generous service for our school and children Bouncing Brookside Babies If you have a new addition to your family and would like the new big brother or sister mentioned in the briefs, please let us know! Brookside Post Office The Third Grade Post Office will start operating in October. This is a school-wide postal service managed by the Third Grade class. Students, teachers, parents, relative and friends may send mail to anyone at Brookside Place School. The mail will be delivered once a week on Tuesday's during their recess time. If you are using an envelope, please place a sticker or draw a picture in place of a postage stamp. Also, don't forget to include a return address. Use the list posted by the mailbox (located outside of the office) for student's numbers and street addresses (classrooms). Please address the letters as follows: Name of Student Student Number, Class Street Address Cranford, New Jersey 07016 Everyone enjoys getting FUN mail, so please help the third graders learn about the postal service and spread some cheer to your child too!! HALLOWEEN IS COMING -- SO SEND A CARD! If you have any questions or are a third grade parent who would like to volunteer - please call Cathy Triano 272-5316 or email at cktriano@verizon.net. October Fall Festival A Very Sad Fall Saga……... Everyone loves the Fall Festival, an inexpensive Saturday afternoon on the school grounds including games, crafts, food, prizes, raffles, Face Painting, Moonwalk, Cake Walk, a DJ and more. Families & local businesses generously sponsor & donate much of what we need, which allows Brookside to raise money for our school. The Fall Festival is Brookside’s 2nd largest fundraiser. Mr. Klimko has even agreed to revive our traditional “Pie in the Face” game and be the victim. The kids have a great time. So what’s so sad? Very few parents volunteer to help with the games!!!! Every year we have to beg friends, enlist relatives and work with way too many teenagers (yuck). Please volunteer some of your time to help with the Fest – or even better – volunteer your husband. Help is also very much needed with the 9am set-up & 4pm clean-up. Having macho Dads around keeps our Fest and children extra safe. Please give us a call….it’s easy and really a lot of fun! Thanks. Jenn Kelly, Chairwoman @ edjennjulia@msn.com 653-1192 Caroline Doolan, Games @ cfordd@verizon.net 497-0388 Fall Festival – October 25th noon till 4: 00 Please see flyer for details. PTC Annual Wreath Sale Attached you will find the order form for the annual PTC Wreath Sale. Please consider ordering your holiday wreath(s) thru this worthy organization. 100% of the profits go towards scholarships for Cranford High Seniors showing a financial need. If you have any questions or would like to volunteer an hour or two on December 1st, 2008, please contact Susan Cave at 272-6665. Parent Workshop on Learning Styles Parents are invited to attend a workshop to learn how we use the Kaleidoscope Profile, a comprehensive, research-based learning styles assessment. The workshop will be presented by Mr. Stephen G. Barkley on Tuesday, October 7, 2008 from 7:00-8:30pm at Orange Avenue School Library. Prior to the workshop, parents will be given an opportunity to take an on-line version of the Kaleidoscope Profile. To make a reservation for the workshop and receive access to the on-line Kaleidoscope Profile, please send an email to yotcoski@cranfordschools.org. Student Directory If you would still like to be included in the student directory or would like a copy of the directory, you can still submit your information and place your order. They will be accepting the forms until Friday, October 3rd. If you have any questions, please contact Amy McCaffery, a.mccaffery2@verizon.net. Honeywell Instant Alert & Brookside Briefs Mailing List If you have not already updated your current information on the district website, please go to www.cranfordschools.org (the link is located on the lower left hand side of the page). If you are new to the district, please sign up for this district notification system. Any questions can be directed to InstantAlertHelp@Honeywell.com or contact Garnet Nichols 709-8872. If you did not receive these Brookside Briefs via email or know someone who hasn’t registered their email to receive the briefs, you can register online at http://www.cranfordschools.org/dn/district_news.html. Even if you were part of our school community in the past, you must sign up again on this website. Walk to School Day/Pastries with Parents Brookside is celebrating Walk to School Day/Pastries with Parents on Wednesday, October 8th to promote safe walking and bicycling throughout the year. Upon arriving at school, please join us outside the 3rd & 4th Grade Entrance for breakfast. Parents, don’t worry about the extra time required, you will be rewarded with coffee or tea. In case of rain, breakfast will be served in the gym. Start time: 8:10a.m. An official from the Cranford Police Department will join us to stress the importance of safety walking to and from school. Any questions – Call Jeannine Harder (908)497-9760 Put On Your Oven Mitts Brookside will be requesting baked treats from our parents a number of times in the near future. Cake & brownie mixes have been on sale – so please pick up a few to contribute to these events: · Fall Festival, 10/25 – We will have our scrumptious dessert table filled with baked goods, cookies or whatever confection you may wish to donate. · Cake Walk, 10/25 – A much anticipated part of the Fall Fest. The winner gets to “take home the cake”. The kids go crazy for this game, but the fun only lasts as long as the cake does. Try the aluminum cake pans with clear covers. You’ll get a couple of cakes from one box & it’s easy to transport to the Fest and home with the winner! · Election Day Bake Sale, 11/4 – On a Presidential Election Day, the Brookside PTA can really clean up! A heavy voter turnout means big business – if we have plenty of goods available. This is a wonderful time to try any new recipes you may have for holiday cakes, pies, Christmas cookies & breads before the holiday season. Senior citizens are our best customers during the day along with our own little tots. God Bless our wonderful country!
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