Giddy Up

• March 11 - Progress Reports go home
• March 14 - Crews MS - Rising 6th Grade Parent Night 5:30 - 7:00pm
  
• March 15 -18 - Lunch Visitors Welcome
• March 15 - Five Forks MS - Rising 6th Grade Parent Night 6:00 - 7:30pm
• March 22 - Digital Learning Day #6
  
• March 23-25 - Lunch Visitors Welcome
• March 23 - Boosterthon Fun Run Kick Off
• March 24 - Spotlight on Learning 5:30 - 7:30 pm
• March 29 & 30 - Lunch Visitors Welcome
• March 29 - Dogwood Pizza Night
• March 31 - Boosterthon Fun Run - Visitors welcome for Fun Run (No Lunch Visitors)
• April 1 - Lunch Visitors Welcome
• April 4-8 - Spring Break

We are proud to announce that the BES Gifted Student of the Year for 2021-2022 school year is Caitlyn Chvatal in Mrs. Gibson's homeroom.

Caitlyn was selected as this year's Gifted Student of the Year not only because of her outstanding grades in classes that include Accelerated Math and Gifted English/Language Arts but also her many activities around Brookwood Elementary. At school, Caitlyn has taken on jobs helping her multiple teachers. She also helps kindergarteners with math concepts three days a week, and, at the end of the day, helps younger students walk to the high school. This year, Caitlyn has been active in chorus, Art Club, Student Government, Witzzle Pro, and Intramurals, and she has competed previously with the Reader's Rally team. In her free time, she dances and takes care of her pets at home!!

Caitlyn wrote about how the gifted program has helped her: "I try to be a leader, but the truth is, I'm not very loud. I think the gifted program has helped me connect with other people, and therefore, have a louder voice. It also has helped push me out of my comfort zone." She also wrote, "I feel like the gifted program gave me extra challenges to help keep my mind off of the pandemic."

Each year, to help improve our schools, Gwinnett County Public Schools collects feedback from our families, students, and staff members about their school experience. This year, the school district is giving Educational Effectiveness Surveys (EES) to get feedback on nine characteristics of high-performing schools.

Here are key dates and important information regarding the survey process for our families, students, and staff:

• March 14-April 2: Family Survey is open. (GCPS will send you a SchoolMessenger link to the survey on March 14. The survey—available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese—also will be available in the Parent Portal.)
• March 23-April 20: Student Survey is open for students in grades 4-8. (This survey will be available in the Student Portal.)

Click here to learn more about these surveys, to review the Student Survey, and to learn about the opt-out process if you do not wish for your student to participate.

The month of March is Youth Art Month. This month, sponsored by the National Art Education Association, celebrates visual arts education for our youth. Brookwood Elementary is lucky to have our art specialist, Ms. Cunningham, inspire our students to create beautiful art work like these masterpieces that have recently been on display in the building.

Brookwood Elementary families braved rainy weather to join schools across the state of Georgia in celebrating Georgia Walk to School Day on Wednesday, March 9, 2022. This event, sponsored by the Georgia Department of Transportation and the Safe Routes to School program, supports and encourages students who walk to school.

We were excited to have students, dads, and other caring adults gather together for All Pro Dads. Thank you to All Pro Dad leaders, Tremaine Jordan and Clayton Knapp, for organizing this morning's meeting. All Pro Dads will meet one more time this school year, so be on the look out for information about that meeting.

On March 22nd, GCPS will have a digital learning day for ALL students. We are grateful for the opportunity to have this day to allow teachers to plan future lessons for students.

On this Digital Learning Day:

• Students can find all their lessons and assignments on eCLASS, but there will be no live instruction. Please view the video below for directions on how to get to your teacher's eCLASS page.

• All students will complete their special area class digitally. More information is on the Brookwood ES homepage.

• Meals will be delivered along all bus routes.

Did you know that Brookwood ES has a Health Response Team (HRT) which manages and communicates COVID related information with staff, students and parents? The HRT gathers information, conducts contact investigations and communicates as needed. In the next few months, it is important that you continue to alert the school if your child develops symptoms or tests positive for the virus.

Common symptoms include:

Fever (100.4 or higher), Cough, Shortness of breath, muscle/body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, congestion/runny nose, nausea/vomiting, sore throat, fatigue

Brookwood ES HRT Members:

Brookwood ES: 770-736-4360

Brooke Ahlers: brooke.ahlers@gcpsk12.org

Bridget Fagan: bridget.fagan@gcpsk12.org

Tiffany Pruitt: tiffany.pruitt@gcpsk12.org

Debbie Taylor: debbie.taylor@gcpsk12.org

Cancer has touched many of the staff of Brookwood Elementary School in some way. To help fight back, Brookwood Elementary has committed to raise funds and participate in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life event. The Brookwood Elementary Relay for Life team has set the goal to raise $10,000 for Relay for Life this year! You can help us meet our goal in a few ways:

• Join our Team - Go to the Relay for Life website and become a member of our team.
• Make a Donation - We are accepting donations via our team website.
• Support our Fundraising Events - Be on the lookout for BES Relay for Life fundraisers in the future including a t-shirt sale.

Information has come home with your 5th grade student from the Brookwood cluster middle schools. You can find information about important dates and events below and on the Rising 6th Grade page on the Brookwood Elementary website.

Crews Middle School invites you and your rising 6th grader to meet the orchestra teachers and learn more about the Bronco Orchestra. Your student will be participating in a Zoom visit with the Crews Middle School's orchestra teachers during an upcoming music class.

You and your student will also have the opportunity to try out orchestra instruments at the Instrument Petting Zoo events:

• Tuesday, March 22, 1-3pm
• Thursday, March 31, 5-7pm

For more information, please view the Bronco Orchestra flyer and visit the Crews Orchestra website.

At Crews Middle School, the Chorus meets as a class during the school day. Students interested in joining the Crews Chorus can learn more about the program at the Crews Chorus website. Students will have the opportunity to sign up for all performing arts programs at the end of March.

Rising 6th graders at Crews Middle School have the opportunity to sign up for a new connections class called Nature of Science. During this class, students will focus on the natural world, manage the Crews Student Garden, and solve problems found in nature.

Interested students can select this class when completing their Connections Preference Survey later in March.

Brookwood families!

We are excited to kick off our Brookwood Colts Fun Run on March 23rd.

Our goal is to raise $40,000 for technology and instructional materials to strengthen our school community. Our school has always relied on fundraising to provide exceptional opportunities to enhance student learning. And this year, we have more needs than we’ve ever had before, which means we need your support more than ever.

Please watch the video below from BES PTA Member Elizabeth explaining why this year’s fundraiser is so important.

We completely understand if your family is not in a position to financially support the school right now. You can still be involved by simply SHARING about our fundraiser with friends and extended family online at mybooster.com. Sharing IS supporting!

Just as we worked to safely begin school this year, we are also safely hosting this essential fundraiser based on our school’s current guidelines. We’ll send more details, as we get closer to our kickoff.

Key dates to remember:

• REGISTRATION OPENS - 3/9 - Register on MYBOOSTER.COM

• DONATING STARTS - 3/16

• Fundraiser Kickoff - 3/23

• Event Day - 3/31 - SAVE THE DATE! You’re Invited!

We are grateful for our Brookwood family! Thank you for your support this year. We all need it!

Help support Brookwood Elementary's PTA every time you shop at Amazon! Go to the Amazon Smile website and search for Brookwood Es PTA. Amazon will donate to our PTA without additional cost to you!

You can now help support Brookwood Elementary PTA just by shopping at Kroger! Just enroll your Kroger rewards card to Brookwood Elementary PTA. (Don't have a Kroger rewards card? Stop by the Customer Service Desk at your favorite Kroger!) Watch the video below to see how to enroll via the app.

Have you joined Brookwood Elementary's awesome PTA? It is not too late! Go to the PTA website to purchase your membership and help support the students and staff of Brookwood Elementary school!

Registration for the 2022 Football and Cheer season begins THIS Saturday, March 12th, at 10am. There will be a walk up registration from 10am- 2pm at the BHS Lodge or you can visit the BFA website to register anytime after 10am on the 12th. We can't wait to get this season started!

Brookwood Volleyball Academy is now enrolling for 2nd - 8th grade students. Sessions will begin on March 21 at Brookwood High School. For more information and the registration form, please view the Brookwood Volleyball Academy flier. Space is limited so register early!

Bronco Aces Club is for future Brookwood Bronco tennis players ages 14 and under. They will be hosting the Bronco Aces Tennis Fun Days on Sunday, March 20th and 27th. Elementary and middle school students will get a chance to receive instruction from the Brookwood Tennis Coaches as well as the Brookwood JV and Varsity tennis teams. For more information and registration, please view the flyer or go to the Brookwood Tennis website.

Gwinnett County Public Schools' ISC Relay for Life Team will be hosting the Cars for a Cause Car Show on April 23, 2022 at the J. Alvin Wilbanks Instructional Support Center from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm. All proceeds benefit the Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society.

• Earlybird Registration – $20 – Online registration available now through Saturday, April 16th.
• Registration Day of Event – $25 – Registration will be available the day of the event starting at 9:00am.

For more information on the event and how to register, go to the ISC Relay for Life Car Show website.

Gwinnett Public Schools is looking for entry level to experienced applicants to join their team. View the linked flyer for more information on pay, benefits, and how to apply.

The Summer Adventure Career Exploration at Maxwell High School will run May 31 - June 3 from 8:00 am - 12:00 pm. The Career Exploration programs are designed for current 5th - 8th graders. Students can choose to explore programs in the careers of animation, automotive services, cosmetology, culinary arts, and more. For more information , go to the Middle School Summer Adventure website. Registration opens March 1 on MyPaymentsPlus.