Bobcat Bulletin
Week of September 7th
From the Desk of Mrs. Schmid
Hello Bobcat Families,
We did it!!! We made it through our first two days of remote learning together! Thank you very much for ALL of your support, grace, patience, and understanding as we worked through technical issues, slow zoom loading, and everything else that came our way! Our main office reminded me of the control center on the movie "Apollo 13". Everyone jumping in to help troubleshoot, and when we would get a student on, we would all start cheering! Yes, it wasn't landing on the moon, but in those moments, it felt great to get a child connected to his/her teacher! It truly took a team effort to get Remote Learning off the ground, and I thank everyone who had a part in that!
If you didn't get a chance to see it, be sure to check out our First Day Video. Thank you to all who submitted their first day pictures. It was so wonderful to see all those smiling faces!
I hope your family has been able to step away this Labor Day weekend and rejuvenate as we continue to get into the routine of remote learning. I have asked teachers to build stamina within the blocks of your child's schedule as we continue to build routines and relationships. I was able to pop into some of the classroom's last week, and it was wonderful to see the students engaged and ready to learn! I was also incredibly inspired by our teachers' creativity, flexibility, and problem solving skills. I am very appreciative of ALL they have done to get us to this point. If you have any questions about the remote learning process, please connect with your child's classroom teacher. This truly is a partnership, and we value and appreciate your collaboration.
Thank you for ALL you are doing to support your child's successful remote experience!
Respectfully,
Keeley Schmid
Principal
Brookdale in the Media!
Check out some clips of the kick-off:
Naperville Community Television
NCTV17 Clip (Forward to :50)
Naperville Sun (article in Friday, September 4, 2020 paper)
If you didn't get a chance to watch Dr. Talley's first day of school video, you will see some familiar faces interacting with their students in those initial moments of the school day! Right before 9:00am, I went around to check on teachers. I wish I could have videoed the teachers' EXCITEMENT as they awaited the moment to get to see their students! Hearts were bursting, and I felt an overwhelming amount of joy for each of them as they made it to that moment.
What a true honor to have Brookdale Elementary representing District 204 on so many various media forums. Dr. Talley told me after his visit, "Wow, you really have a special staff; this is truly a great place!", and I could not agree more!
Typically our fabulous safety patrol would ring our bell each morning but in current times, we have our staff members singing up to ring it. It will ring each morning at 8:50am as a reminder that remote learning is about to begin! If you hear it, know there is a special staff member behind the bell kicking off our day of remote learning!
Curriculum Night: Date Change
Materials/Resources Pick-Up
It was great meeting many of you at the materials pickup this past week! A huge shout-out to our teachers for preparing all of the materials to go home, and to our WONDERFUL Teaching Assistants, LMC Director, P.E. teacher, and various other teachers who helped make this event possible. If you still need to pick-up your supplies, please contact our office for a contactless pick-up.
We will coordinate other pickup opportunities to ensure student's have the supplies they need for a successful learning experience. When those dates are determined, I will let you know.
School Supplies
A Day in the Life
We wanted to highlight a portion of this document. We have added some additional notes to this section below (bold):
Tips for Parent Success in Supporting their Child During Remote Learning
Provide a space for your child to work. Create a quiet place to work with all materials within reach for learning. Help your child know where the camera is on the device, and be able to mute and unmute themselves. Remember, anything within the camera is visible to all people on Zoom. You may want to ensure there is a wall or something that does not move behind them to limit distractions for the learning community.
Have your child in their workspace ready to go at 9am. Help your child be on time. Please be aware Zoom takes time to load as all are trying to get into the platform. We encourage you to sign on early each day to ensure your child is ready for the 9:00am start. Just because you login early, does not mean your child has to interact. Sound and picture can be off until the start.
Reinforce the importance of them participating and learning. Encourage participation.
Allow your child to complete the work. We know parents want to be helpful and supportive. Often the best way to do it is to allow them to try and encourage them to persevere. Build independence by allowing your child to listen to the directions of the teacher and manage their materials to be ready to learn on their own much like they would if they were in the regular classroom without you. We got this! We are going into this new adventure with the mindset of mirroring a typical school day. We appreciate your support in that!
Share your questions and concerns with the classroom teacher. We are here to help. Remember, this is a partnership. Your feedback is helpful as we continue through this journey together. Your first contact should always be with the classroom teacher if you have concerns, questions, or comments.
Remote Learning Community
Put the Remote Learning sign in your residence, so we can see our community of learners because we are all in this together! Teachers have their very own signs as well!
Chromebook Help
K-1st Grade Student Instructions
2-5th Grade Student Instructions
See the district's "Parent University: Chromebooks".
Still have questions? Call the main office, our staff is happy to help support you!
Child Supervision Programs
Just a reminder, information about child supervision can be found at Child Supervision Programs. If you are in need of financial assistance, please contact our school social worker, Ms. Oliver at liz_oliver@ipsd.org/630-428-6813 or our school principal, Mrs. Schmid at keeley_schmid@ipsd.org/630-428-6800. It is important to make contact as as soon as possible.
Upcoming Dates
Sept. 14 - No School: Institute Day
Sept. 15- Receive Virtual Curriculum Night (pre-recorded) at 6:00pm
Oct. 12- No School: Remote Learning Planning Day
District Calendar:
Stay Connected
Check out who is on the Brookdale Dream Team this year; we have some new faces and student teachers who have chosen Brookdale as their place of their final schooling. Be sure to also check out a new section we added of Staff Photos and put a face to a name. We will continue adding photos and updates as they occur. Thank you to Mrs. Lisa Sadler who manages our website; we are very appreciative of her work and creativity!
Email: keeley_schmid@ipsd.org
Website: brookdale.ipsd.org
Location: 1200 Redfield Road, Naperville, IL, USA
Phone: 630-428-6800
Twitter: @brookdalebobcat