December Monthly News
BROOKER CREEK ELEMENTARY
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL
November was a very busy month. We took time to honor our Veterans at our Veterans Day celebration. The students had much fun running the Turkey Trot. The Great American Teach-In was a massive success. Parents and outside agencies showed up in large numbers and the students enjoyed every moment of it. As you will see below, the school community was able to provide socks and food to students in need.
December will be busy as well. The Wonderland Gift Shoppe takes place December 4-8. Our annual movie night is scheduled for December 8. There are also holiday activities the students may choose to participate in if they'd like and that information can be found at: https://www.smore.com/gkhj8. If you do visit the campus, be sure to check out our new mural near the butterfly garden. It is a great addition to our already beautiful campus.
Next week we are starting Progress Monitoring Testing, PM2. You should have received a letter indicating the days your student will be testing. Should you have any questions regarding testing, please contact Mrs. Gerber.
December 4th through December 8th we will be Testing ELA.
December 11th through December 15th we will be Testing Math.
Our school lost and found is beginning to grow in size. Labelling your child's jackets and lunch boxes will help us return the items to the owners. Please take a moment to check your child's items.
We are looking forward to seeing you throughout December. Thank you for your continued support.
PRE K 3 and VPK Application Window
COUNSELOR'S CORNER
It was great getting to meet with all the classes Kindergarten through 5th grade before Thanksgiving break! The students were introduced to our district’s new application in their Clever account during our lesson together. A letter was sent home to families explaining in more detail about the online program to help prepare our students for academic, career, and future success. The program uses an investigative, discovery-based learning process where students better understand themselves, their future career options, and the 21st century skills they’ll need to succeed. Please take a moment to ask your child about Xello and I hope they enjoy this engaging learning tool!
Thank you for your time and support,
Mrs. Prillhart
School Counselor
November Prestigious Paws for Patriotism
Brody Rodenbeck **** Ms. Taylor
Dominic Stolar **** Ms. K & Ms. Gina
Audrey Anderson **** Ms.Renee & Ms.Vargas
Adelyn Dean **** Ms. Loftus
Charlotte Robson **** Mrs. Copri
Emma Berry **** Mrs. Crim
Vivienne Greenberg **** Ms. Toye
Tenley Huffman Credo **** Mrs. Mieras
Mara Hull **** Mrs. Schwabe
Dustin (DJ) Bresett **** Mrs. Smekal
Sebastian DiDiana **** Mrs. TenBieg
Teli Pavalis **** Ms. McSunas
Adair Merryman **** Mrs. Price
Embi Boehm **** Mrs. Read
Matthew Mandeville **** Mrs. Skryd
Michael Govatos **** Mrs. Bailey
William Defosses **** Mrs. Fox
Alexander Shell **** Mrs. McMullen
Marius Zummo **** Mr. Rademacher
Raymond (R.J.) Candiano **** Mrs. Vinyard
Vibhu Mantripragada **** Ms. Browne
Talula Giddens **** Mrs. Ficca
Julia Dhima **** Mrs. Hite
Dominic Marzo **** Mrs. Schuler
Lauren Western **** Mrs. Hickman
Brycen Wilder **** Mrs. Katsourinis
Tommy Oddo **** Mrs. Miller
Madison McCoy **** Ms. Smith
Zachary Taylor **** Mrs. Livingston
Roy Shell **** Mr. Ross
Xavier White **** PE Department
Logan Ranahan Roberts **** Ms. Iannello
Carter Coldiron **** Ms. Putnam
Gavin Gonatos **** Mrs. Ortega
Remington Ristoff **** Mrs. Harlan
Ezekiel Archuleta **** Mrs. Finnegan
Socktober Challenge
A big thank you to everyone who supported the cause and donated socks for the Socktober Challenge last month. Through your generosity, we were able to collect 563 pairs of socks for the homeless. They will be donated to Metropolitan Ministries in Pasco.
PTA NEWSLETTER
Hello Bobcat Families!
It’s hard to believe that I am here, writing another note to you all about the winter holidays! It has been a busy first half of the school year here at Brooker. I have had fun serving as your president and hope you have found it a good transition. I know I have some big shoes to fill! Which is why I want to make sure I spread the word about our upcoming events and even ask for some help if you have time!
Our annual Giving Tree is underway! Thank you to everyone who took a tag to help a child in our community. Please return all gifts and tags by December 5th. You or your child can bring the tag and unwrapped gift to the office before school each day between now and the 5th.
We are kicking off December with cheer for our staff. Here are two signups for donations of soups and brownies.
· National Brownie Day is on December 8th, we are looking for different and delicious types of brownies to serve the staff. Please consider bringing in a batch. Sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D4FA5A62EA4FC1-46314500-december/139152039#/.
· Traditionally, we have served our SOUP-er staff with soup around the holiday time, and they always enjoy it! If you have a great recipe (or own a crock pot and live close to a Publix, like me) please consider sending in your soup for our staff on December 19th Here is the sign-up link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D4FA5A62EA4FC1-46315172-december/139152039#/.
Our Winter Wonderland Gift Shoppe is back! Flyers and envelopes went home this week for students to prepare to shop for the holidays! This is a big task; we would love to have some volunteers in the media center to help our students shop! Sign-up here if you can help: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D4FA5A62EA4FC1-46258663-wonderland
I am most excited about our annual holiday movie night!! This will be the best one yet, I know it! Please join us on December 8th! Gates open at 5:15pm and we will have food available. Watch our amazing choir perform at 5:45 until 6:15pm or shop at the Wonderland Gift Shoppe. At 6:30pm our movie will start; this year we are showing The Santa Claus! Bring your chairs and blankets and watch this fun, holiday movie! We are pre-selling tickets to help determine the amount of food we need. Food (pizza, Chick-Fil-A sandwiches, popcorn, and candy) and drinks will be available for sale using tickets. There is no cost to join us to watch the movie, only food sales. Flyers went home this week as well, please return your presale form and money to the office by December 6th. Again, this helps to make sure we have enough food, so please return the form if you plan on attending and eating there. If you have time to help us while at the movie, please sign-up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D4FA5A62EA4FC1-46313470-movie/43543369#/
Thank you to all those who have already signed up to make all these fun events happen! I really could not do anything without the help of our amazing PTA board and you!
I will leave you with a final note about the playground. The playground is scheduled to be shipped from the factory on December 8, and should be delivered to the campus 3-5 days later. Thank you all for your patience and understanding. And thank you all again, for helping with our Fall fundraiser to raise funds for our outdoor learning centers. We are getting under way with designing and building that.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, you can reach out to me via email at presidentbcepta@gmail.com
Jen Reyes
ART NEWS
There’s still time to visit www.artsonia.com and order customized holiday gifts with your child’s artwork. Click on the QR code below to access the Brooker Creek Elementary giftshop. 20% of all proceeds come right back to Brooker Creek Art Department so this is an amazing opportunity to purchase artistic heirlooms while supporting the arts at BCE.
5th GRADE PARENTS:
Your child’s TAG ART is also now available to purchase. I’m sure they’ve told you all about this amazing annual 5th grade project.
Since its 2015 inception, Kids Tag Art Pinellas has raised more than $300,000 for art education in Pinellas County elementary schools!
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Kids Tag Art Pinellas is a Florida Standards-aligned curriculum where Pinellas County 5th-grade students design their own unique vanity tags (front license plates) during art class. These metal tags can be purchased and displayed on the front of vehicles in Florida and many other states.
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100% of proceeds from tag sales and community donations go to participating schools to purchase art supplies and fund art education.
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Kids Tag Art Pinellas is a community program made possible by partnerships between the Pinellas County Tax Collector's Office, Pinellas County Schools, and generous community sponsors.
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Visit: www.kidstagartpinellas.org to view and purchase your child’s license plate.
Wishing you all a very happy holiday season. Thank you now and always for your generosity and support .
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at: livingstons@pcsb.org
All my best,
Mrs. Livingston
December Library Media and Technology News Florida Power Library
Library News:
The media center is a place where kids learn to enjoy reading. When a student chooses the books that interest them, they are more interested in reading. Remind your child to choose a just right book. Please take time to share their books with them. By sitting together looking at the pictures, reading the captions and talking about the story, you are building memories and modeling good reading habits that will last your child a lifetime. If you would like to view our inventory of books, please go to https://destiny.pcsb.org/ and select Brooker Creek Elementary. This will give you a direct link to all the books that we have in our collection available for checkout.
Ebooks! Ebooks! Ebooks!
Did you know you students and staff can read over 1,000 e-books online for free from our very own library?
· Students can do this directly from our Destiny Catalog https://destiny.pcsb.org/
· Click on Catalog at the top of the page to search books and ebooks in our media center.
Visit BCE’s website and click on the ebooks link for more information https://www.pcsb.org/Page/21455
Technology News:
Brooker Creek is participating in the Hour of CODE the week of December 4th – December 8th. Every 21st-century student should have the opportunity to take part in creating technology that’s changing our world. The basics help nurture creativity and problem-solving skills and prepare students for any future career. The Hour of Code is a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries. By exposing both girls and boys to fundamental computing concepts on a level playing field, starting with the earliest learners, we can inspire today’s generation of students to build technology.
For more information on the Hour of Code please visit:
Happy Holidays,
Mrs. Danielle Gabbert, LMTS
PE NEWS
Bobcats! We first want to thank all of those who were able to attend the Turkey Trot this year! It is always great to see so much support for our students! This has been a great tradition for Brooker Creek, and we hope everyone enjoyed it. In December, we will have our Run to the North Pole activity. For one week, students will start each class by running or walking laps for 20 minutes. Each grade level will have a certain number of laps, a student must complete, in order to make it into the Reindeer Club. We've found that most students enjoy this activity as it gives them time to exercise and socialize with their friends or try really hard to achieve a goal. We hope everyone has a safe and fun Holiday Season and we'll see you in 2024!!!
PE Dept.
National Elementary Honor Society
Our National Elementary Honor Society spent the month of November collecting snack items for our Pack-a-Snack Drive. Our members enjoyed kicking off our collection at Trunk or Treat and sorting through the collected items before Thanksgiving Break. Our treasurer, Jackson Logan, counted a total of 13 boxes of snack items! Thank you all for donating to this wonderful cause to help children in our community! Be on the look out for some more service projects coming out soon!
Cafeteria News
Parents:
Did you know that all students at Brooker Creek Elementary and Schools in Pinellas County receive Free Breakfast every morning? Brooker Creek’s breakfast runs from 8:15 am to 8:40am daily.
We offer a wide variety of items from Hot to Cold.
Sample of Cold Items,
· A variety of Whole Grain Cereals,
· Nutri Grain bars,
· Whole Grain Blue Berry Muffins,
· Whole Grain Cocoa Cherry bars
· Whole Wheat Cinnamon toast
Sample of Hot Items, all breads are made with Whole Grains
· Sausage Biscuit
· Bacon Egg and Cheese Pizza
· Mini Pancakes
· Egg and Cheese Croissant
· Chicken Biscuit
We also offer 100% Orange juice and low-fat Milk as well as a wide variety of fruits.
Lunch reminders:
Lunch cost $2.25 a day, there are several ways you can add funds to your child’s lunch account:
· Send in Cash, place in an envelope and write your child’s name and their teachers name on the outside and send it in to their teacher.
· Send in a Check, you may write out a check (payable to Brooker Creek Café), if you have multiple students then one check will do, just indicate on the memo line that you want it divided up and we will do the rest.
· My School Bucks get the app on Google play or the App Store, to set up your student you will need their 10-digit student id number. Once your child is set up you may add any amount to the account as you like. The app will also let you set up alerts so that you know when funds are getting low.
Please note a change in ice cream pricing- ice cream starts at $.75 and goes up to $1.00, students may prepay for ice cream any day of the week or bring their money in on Friday.
Winter Reminder, please label your students jackets and sweaters with the students name and their teacher’s name. This allows us to get the clothes back to you. It is also helpful if you label your students lunch box and water bottle.
If you have any questions, please call the Cafeteria at 727-943-4027
Thank you
Shane James
Manager, Brooker Creek El Café
Report Student Absence
Elementary School Wellness Guidelines
While we know that students and families enjoy providing treats to students, particularly on birthdays, there are strict rules and guidelines provided for the elementary student consumption of food items. We try to use our best discretion for these situations. The link provided below will take you to the district website outlining the guidelines, but we have included a graphic below. Items such as candy, cupcakes, and donuts do not meet the guidelines and we ask that you please do not provide them as the office staff will remind individuals of the guidelines and the food items will be returned to the adult delivering them. The link and graphic provided list options that are acceptable, and we ask that you make allowable selections when needed. Thank you for understanding.
Say Something
Birthday Marquee
Brooker Creek Elementary
Email: Hodgesjo@pcsb.org
Website: https://www.pcsb.org/brooker-es
Location: 3130 Forelock Road, Tarpon Springs, FL, USA
Phone: 727-943-4600