Gratitude from the president

In the latest edition of BrookTales, PTA President Barb Peterson reflects on the volunteer spirit evident at our school even as other PTAs in our district struggle to recruit helping hands.

Without our volunteers, there is no Fall Family Fun Night, no classroom parties, no enrichment classes, no Reflections or Braniacs - no PTA. Thank you for everything you do for the PTA and for our children.

Here are Barb's thoughts on the topic:

Believe it or not, one of my favorite aspects of serving as president of Brookdale's PTA is the opportunity I have on a regular basis to go to meetings.

Certainly there are times when I would much rather be doing something other than go to yet another meeting. But more often than not, I come away from those meetings with a much greater understanding of the workings of our school district.  It helps me understand the difficulty in moving such a large machine, but also helps me understand the basis for so many things that happen. And I love listening to our superintendent, Dr. Kathy Birkett, speak. She always makes me laugh. 

In November, I attended one such meeting, and spent a few minutes in a round table discussion with PTA presidents from other elementary schools in the district. We were discussing the issues our schools are facing with respect to volunteers and participation. I listened to quite a few ask for ideas on how to get more people involved and how to increase participation in fundraising. 

As I listened to some of the ideas, I realized what a great school community of which I am a part! Brookdale is already successfully doing so many of the ideas that were brought up. 

In the years of my involvement with the PTA, I do not remember having to discontinue the valuable activities provided to the kids by the PTA due to lack of volunteers. And though we sometimes have made budget decisions in anticipation of lower fundraising participation, we have always come out ahead at the end. 

  Wow. 

How blessed we are, in this season of thankfulness, for a GREAT group of parents supporting the education of our children. 

I recognize that this role as president does not always come easy at some schools. So I wish to say a hearty collective “THANK YOU” to all of you who are so dedicated to organizing and administering many activities as well as stepping in when there are needs that come up. 

Brookdale is a great school. We have a very
committed administration and staff as well as a solid family base for our students. 

I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday and a Happy New Year!  May you have some wonderful time together with your
family!

Who wants pie?

Mmm … pie. It’s a classic ending to a holiday dinner and a special treat any day.

But pie not only treats your family, it feeds the PTA’s ability to sponsor activities, assemblies and education purchases for our children and our school.

This month, the PTA earns 15 percent profit from each delicious pie we buy through Market Day. If we sell more than 100 pies, we will earn a 30 percent profit. Imagine how much money the school could earn if each Brookdale family ordered even just one pie this month.

You'll find a list of pie options and prices below.

You can order and pay for pies online at marketday.com, until 11 p.m. Friday, Nov. 12. Pie pickup will be the same date and time as regular Market Day pickup: 9:45 to 10:15 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 16, in the Multi-Purpose Room.   

Never tried Market Day? There is a 100 percent guarantee on all items; just return the unused portion to coordinator Tricia Smith, who will get you a refund. Market Day accepts the LINK card as payment.

Thank you to everyone who ordered in October and helped us raise $170.80 for Brookdale. 

Tracey Perna won the raffle for the Staff Market Day Basket and Susan Corrigan won the raffle of the Mini Cinnamon Sugar donuts. 

Contact Tricia with questions at triciagreg98@wowway.com or (630) 416-3255. She is happy to deliver pre-paid orders to your home. 

• Chocolate Pecan Caramel Supreme $13
• French Apple Cream Cheese Layer $13
• Lemon Supreme $13
• Turtle Cheesecake $12
• French Silk $13
• Pumpkin $11
• Pecan $11
• Fruit Medley Deep Dish $11 
• Apple Deep Dish $11
• Apple/Cranberry Deep Dish $11
• Black Forest Cheesecakes $12
• Caramel Apple Tarts $12
• New York Style Cheesecakes $12
• Chocolate Turtle Saucy Cakes $12

Please drive carefully

At Brookdale, our children are taught every day that they should "be respectful, be responsible and be safe."
It's good advice, some that we as adults should follow as well - especially when we're waiting behind the wheel to drop off and pick up our children. Those are crazy, hectic times and sometimes our desire to get in, get out and move on just takes over.
But it's those moments when we need to remain calm and courteous. The safety of our children depends on it.
Today, Brookdale administrators and the PTA set out guidelines for traffic around school. Heeding these reminders will ensure drop-offs and pick-ups are both efficient and safe.
The letter from Principal LeCrone, Student Services Coordinator Candy Michelli and PTA President Barb Peterson follows:

Dear Brookdale Families,

The purpose of this letter is to review traffic and safety procedures at Brookdale.  Please keep in mind that the procedures have been put in place to create a safe environment, while maintaining the best possible flow of traffic.  These procedures have been established with the support of the Brookdale PTA and the Naperville Police Department.                

Drop Off/Pick Up Procedures on Redfield Road:

· Please pull forward as far as possible.

· Do not get out of your car; school staff will assist your child if necessary.

· You may park and get out of your car if you are parked outside of the “End School Zone” signs posted on both sides of the street.

· Please have your child exit/enter your car on the curb side. 

· Carefully merge to the left after your child has exited/entered the car.  Be aware of other vehicles to your left as you proceed.

· Be aware of the crosswalk area and obey the instructions of the crossing guard.

· Do not park in or block the driveways of the residents.

· Please use the circle drive to make a change of direction.  Three-point turnarounds impair the vision of the crossing guards and negatively impact the flow of traffic.

Drop Off/Pick Up Procedures on Bainbridge Drive:

· You may park in any area that is not marked as a “No Parking” zone.

· Please monitor your speed and use extreme caution when approaching the unsupervised crosswalk and obey the instructions of the crossing guard at the Bainbridge/Redfield crosswalk.

· Please have your child exit/enter your car on the curb side.

· Do not park in or block the driveways of the residents.

Parking Lot Procedures:

· The circle drive may be used at any time to turn around.

· The front lot is closed to parking from 8:45-9:15 AM and from 3:15-3:45 PM.

· The front drive is for buses only.

· You may park in any area of the front lot that is not marked by red paint.

· You may not park along the curve.  The buses have difficulty making the turn if vehicles are parked in that area.

Cell Phone Law:

· Please be aware of a new law that took effect on January 1, 2010, Senate Bill 72 titled “Vehicular Phone Use in School Zones”.  According to the new law, “A person, regardless of age, may not use a wireless telephone at any time while operating a motor vehicle on a roadway in a school speed zone.”

Thank you for your continued commitment in helping to keep our students safe!

Sincerely,

Brian H. LeCrone, Principal

Candy Michelli, Student Services Coordinator

Barb Peterson, PTA President

Welcome aboard

We'd like to introduce several volunteers who have stepped in to help with a variety of projects and events this year:

• Barb Marshall and Rueben Lerma are leading the planning for the fifth-grade social. 
• Anne Staskon and LaShandra Moore are heading up production of the fifth-grade DVD. 
• Bernadette Young represents Brookdale on the district’s Project Arrow PTA and helps with the Parent Diversity Advisory Council.
• Susan Corrigan-DeLucio will coordinate the Staff Appreciation project in the spring.

 Thank you all for your time - it means the world to our students and our school. 

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