Fall Family Fun Night

Sure, we’ve had Fall Family Fun Night five times before, but this year’s event was a full-blown Halloween festival.

With children — and many adults — in costume, more than 900 people turned out for the festivities on Friday, Oct. 29, and found the school brimming with activities.

Children — dressed as everything from a fairy princess to a superhero, a penguin to Super Mario, a daisy to a mummy — were invited to trick-or-treat at stations around the LMC.

Families found activities like pumpkin bowling, relays, crafts, Halloween mini golf, an eyeball bounce and even storytellers.

All the while, families and groups competed in Family Feud — a Fall Family Fun Night tradition.

Congratulations to the Family Feud winners. The first-place team was Jake Fleming, Evan Lang, Drew Winchester, McKenna Grezlik, Madison Grezlik, Jack Damhorst and Sean Fleming. A team with members of the Bradshaw, Palmquist and Lankish families finished in second place.

For the 400+ children who guessed

The pumpkin weighed 59 pounds, 8 ounces.

There were 2,359 candy corns in the guessing container. Winners will be announced Monday.

Thank you, thank you, thank you

Thank you to the many volunteers who worked extremely hard to make this event happen under the guidance of event coordinator Linda Watkins.

Prior to the event:

• Ken Markiewicz for designing and hand-drawing the very creative events signs

• Jamie, Judy, Connor and Ken Markiewicz and Amber Watkins for painting the signs

• Barb Steinkuller and family for coordinating and making our Trick-or-Treat Station Posters

• Tim Reidy for designing the putt-putt golf course

• Maria Kluemper for managing the Family Feud game communication and coordination

• Beth Siwicki for preparing the Spooky Food Guess and creative spooky clues

• Judy and Connor Markiewicz for sorting the trick or treat candy

• Darcy Hutzler for counting the candy corn and preparing the guessing slips

• Khalilah Phillips for choosing the pumpkin and preparing the guessing slips

• Amy Hausman for planning the crafts 

• Yana Chriss, Maria Kluemper, Beth Siwicki, Karen Johnson, Jessica Harris and Kathie

Smurawski for their many hours of craft preparation

• Saily Joshi, Linda Bock and Theresa Hus for helping with everything the week prior to the event (posters, inventory, last minute errands, etc.)

• Connor Markiewicz, Nicholas Watkins and Brookdale Students for drawing the ghost faces for the Pumpkin Bowling pins

• Lisa Burke for prizes

• Ms. Ory and Ms. Perna for their technical support

• Mr. Korbitz, Mr. Tabisz, Ms. Gelso, Ms. Sampson and Ms. Parks for the use of their

rooms

• All Brookdale Teachers for helping Brookdale students to cut and color Halloween shapes to adorn our Trick and Treat Posters

• Mr. Baldridge and Belen from Brookdale’s Facility Department for the set-up and take down of the event

• Joy Ross, assistant principal at Metea Valley High School, for helping to coordinate MVHS support for the event

• Metea Science Department (Mike Kirkpatrick) for use of the Van de Graaff Generator

• Metea LMC (MaryLynne Stoller / Debbie Turner) for laminating the event posters

• Metea Facilities Department (Bradley Swanson) for the use of their stanchions to form our

event game lines

• Metea Key Club Coordinator Kate Carnevale for arranging for student volunteers

• Christi Grezlik for coordinating the pizza for the high school student volunteers

• Event set-up parent volunteers: Rose Baranyk, Lisa Burke, Barb Steinkuller, Mary Hensley, Denise Munro, Laura Schiro, Beth Siwicki, Tim Reidy, Harkirat Sethi, Vicki Lynch, Jen DeMale, Christi Grezlik, Jessica Harris, Fatima Jeyabalan, Jan Mallak, Kathie Smurawski, Laura Schlicher, Ron Heger, Beth Reiman and Tom Stewart

• Lisa Burke for helping with the student volunteer orientation

• Mike Watkins for bowling pin painting, sign stands, spooky food boxes, event map and

logistical consulting

• Nicholas and Amber Watkins for many hours of event help

During the evening -

• Pat Burke and Rick Bock for hosting Family Feud

• Lori Jones, Janet Anderson and Carey Peterson for storytelling

• LifeSavers Club for collecting games to donate to charity

• Barb Nicodemus for taking the event photos

• Many parent volunteers

• More than 40 Metea Valley and Waubonsie Valley high school students (many previous Brookdale students) for their volunteer help throughout the evening!

• A special thank you to Principal LeCrone, Candy Michelli, Cindy Minch, Judy Markiewicz and Amy Hausman for their endless hours of consulting!

A visit from Kids on the Block

As Brookdale students learn the lessons of Red Ribbon Week and strategies for stopping bullies during the school’s month-long anti-bullying focus, they’ll have the chance to see an assembly that reinforces the ideas of respect, responsibility and acceptance.

The Kids on the Block programs feature life-sized puppets that deliver scripts on topics such as diversity, prejudice and disabilities. The presentations are interactive, allowing for a question-and-answer session and some situational role-playing. Together, the elements are intended to foster understanding and positive attitudes toward others.

On Thursday, Oct. 28, our children will see age-appropriate a Kids on the Block performances designed for each grade level. The assembly will focus on the “three Ds of daily living,” decision-making, diversity and disabilities. The assembly is sponsored by the Brookdale PTA.

Kids on the Block is a program of Camp Fire USA’s Illinois Council and has been performed in schools in the Western suburbs for 25 years. For information, visit campfireusa-illinois.org.

The rest of the lucky winners

We're pleased to announce the rest of the winners from the fall product sale.
Five students will join top-seller Jake N. of 1I in the VIP seats in the front row of the Matt Wilhelm assembly:

• Maddie D. of 2C
• Alex F. of 4O
• Bryce J. of 2B
• Lindsay M. of 3B
• Cameron M. of 4O

Five students will have VIP seats in the second row for the assembly:

• Lourdes C. of 1I
• Brady M. of 2C
• Sean R. of 1B
• Ryann R. of KT
• Timmy S. of 3G

And 20 students won autographed pictures of the BMX champ:
Aryanna A. of 3M     Kaiya H. of 4O        Nicholas K. of KR       Ethan N. of KB
Jaylen B. of 4J          Christian H. of 1B   Connor K. of KE         Amari R. of 1I
Emma C. of 4F         Ryan H. of 4O        Daysha L. of 5W         Anna S. of 5P
Jenny F. of 3B          Malcolm H. of 2C    Kevin L. of 3B             Jacob T. of 5F
Jenna G. of 4J          Paul K. of 4O          Mackenzie L. of 1B    Sam U. of KE

Winners, prizes and anticipation

We are thrilled to announce that the fall fundraising sale was a whopping success. You and your family, friends, neighbors and coworkers helped us raise more than $11,500 by buying wrapping paper, gifts, jewelry and cookie dough. Thank you!
With proceeds from the sale, the PTA will fund assemblies, field trips, social events and more. And because we sold so much, BMX bike champion Matt Wilhelm is scheduled to visit on May 23 to demonstrate his trick riding and give a motivational talk.
Students who sold items had the opportunity to win a range of prizes for themselves, their class and their teachers. And now that you have your items, we can start announcing the prize winners.
So, without further ado (drum roll, please) ...

• The top-selling classrooms, each winning a popsicle party are Mrs. Ouellette's fourth grade, which sold $2,387, and Mrs. Bischoff's third grade, which tallied $1,957 in sales.
• The teacher of the top-selling classroom, Mrs. Ouellette, receives a gift basket of goodies from Great American Opportunity, the new vendor for this year's sale.
• The class with the highest level of student participation is Mrs. Fitzgerald's fifth grade, where 68 percent of students sold items. For their efforts, the class will get to duct-tape a Brookdale staff member to the wall before an assembly.
• The top-selling student is Jake N. of Mrs. Iwinski's first grade. He wins a bunch of really cool stuff. He'll get to sit in the front row when BMX bike champion Matt Wilhelm comes to school in May. He'll get to have his picture taken with the X Games gold medalist, and he'll get an autographed photo of the stunt biker. Finally, he'll have a $50 gift certificate to spend at Target.

Congratulations to everyone, and keep watching for more winners!

Red Ribbon Week

Brookdale, like many schools, will celebrate Red Ribbon Week from Monday to Friday, Oct. 25 to 29.
The week aims to encourage students to make smart, healthy decisions and boost their self-confidence. It's a time for teachers and parents to talk with children about the challenges they'll face growing up and to arm them with the strength and independence to avoid dangerous behaviors such as drinking, smoking or using drugs.
To help keep the message in mind, students are invited to have fun dressing to reflect the theme of each day:
Monday: Wear red to "Give Drugs the Red Light"
Tuesday: Wear a hat as kids "Put a Cap on Drugs"
Wednesday: Wear clothes inside out as a reminder that "Drugs Turn You Inside Out"
Thursday: Wear your favorite team shirt or jersey to "Team Up Against Drugs"
Friday's theme is 'Be a Superhero ... Have the Power to Say No to Drugs." Students will work on age-appropriate writing activities relating to the theme and the goals of Red Ribbon Week. The activities will aim to make a connection between the theme days, Red Ribbon Week and the curriculum, Principal Brian LeCrone said.
Originally, Friday was envisioned as a day when students could wear a superhero shirt or costume. However Mr. LeCrone and the school's instructional leadership team recommended eliminating the dress-up component to dispel confusion since the school moved away from the in-school Halloween parties and costume parade this year.
We encourage you to talk to your children about Red Ribbon Week. Point out the ribbons on the school's trees. Discuss the theme days. Ask about their heroes. And give 'em a hug and tell them they're too special, too important to hurt themselves with bad decisions.

Budget surplus will benefit every student and family

Brookdale parents may no longer be asked to contribute toward classroom parties, thanks to a new approach being taken by the PTA.

The organization will foot the bill for classroom parties for the rest of this year, setting aside $1,100 so that each class will have $50 to split between the two remaining parties. Next year, the PTA would increase the allocation to $75 per classroom to cover all three parties, PTA President Barb Peterson said.

The move aims to eliminate one request for money that parents receive at the beginning of each school year while making the party planning resources more equitable. Each year, some classes receive generous donations toward parties while others receive minimal contributions.

“We are hoping to make that more equitable,” Peterson said. “Our hope is that the parties (in classrooms where families have donated more money) will not become overloaded with stuff that was purchased, but that all classrooms will be filled with interaction and activities.”

Donations collected for this year’s parties likely will be put toward year-end gifts for teachers.

The expense, approved Thursday, comes with the caveat that part of the money be spent on buying bottled water for children to drink at the parties. Some members had asked last month whether the PTA could provide drinks. Until this year, the PTA had provided juice for the parties but cut the $500 expense to help ensure a balanced budget for the 2010-11 school year.

The PTA can afford the added expense because revenues for the 2009-10 school year outpaced expenses by about $3,500. The budget had anticipated a shortfall of nearly $3,500.

Beyond funding classroom parties, the PTA is restoring its field trip contribution to $6 per student, doubling the amount budgeted for this school year. All grade levels will have at least one field trip before the end of the year and an opportunity to use the additional money.

The increase in field trip contributions adds $1,575 in expenses to the current budget.

PTA members also voted to add $100 to the budget for the Fall Family Fun Fest, scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29. The annual event is being re-imagined this year to incorporate Halloween as the fall classroom parties were moved from late October into September and the daytime costume parade eliminated. The addition brings the event budget to $450, and organizers plan to suggest a donation of $1 per family to offset additional costs.

Additionally, PTA members agreed to consider increasing spending on assemblies. The current budget earmarks $2,000 for assemblies, a decrease of $500 from the previous school year. Members would vote on an increase if and when it is needed to provide an opportunity for Brookdale students.

Don't forget these deals

We've said it before, but we're saying it again because we don't want you to miss out.
If you're putting together Halloween costumes for the little goblins or shopping for some fright night decorations, head to Spirit Halloween Superstore (Jefferson Avenue at Route 59, behind Portillo's).
You'll find a coupon on our Too Good to Miss page. Print it and take it with you - you'll get 10% off and the store will donate another 10% to the PTA. Hurry! The offer ends today (Oct. 12).
While you're on the Too Good to Miss page, go ahead and print the flier for Jason's Deli. The Brookdale Dine-Out night is Wednesday, Oct. 13. The restaurant in Freedom Center will donate 10 percent of your dine-in bill to the PTA if you present the flier. The offer's good all day.

Walk to School Day

Today we had fun getting to school - on foot and together. Once we met up on the blacktop, we danced, we cheered and we exercised. And we enjoyed knowing that our streets were safer, our air was cleaner and we were healthier - all because we walked to school. Thanks to the parents,faculty and staff who organized the activities and to the students who led cheers, dances and the pledge!
Here's a look at the fun: