September 5 , 2018

Dates to Remember

Sept. 9

Grandparents’ Day

Sept. 12

Safe & Sound Town for 1st Grade Students

Sept. 18

CRP Begins Sept. 21

Peace Day Sept. 26

Interim Reports Sept. 27

Parent Education: “Modern Montessori Family” 6:00-7:15 pm

Sept. 28

Lifeskill Tea for Honesty

Volume 19 , I ssue 02

Principal’s Message

Dear Brockman Families,

Each week I will use this communication

to focus on the important work that we

do in our Montessori school. This week

I will focus on intentional work that we do

to bui ld communi ty in our

classrooms. One of the ways that we do

this is by sharing meals together each

day. Some communities eat family style in the classroom and

others eat in the cafeteria. Regardless of the location, teachers model

mindful eating and enjoy companionship and peacefulness with quiet

conversation. Adults and children eat together and use the language of

courteousness as they say please, thank you and you’re welcome.

Children take responsibility for cleaning the area after the meal as well.

This is important work, because we are building strong communities that

also improve the quality of human interactions. We know that the

democracy in our nation is stronger when citizens are well-educated,

participatory, healthy and strong. Our classroom communities build

these skills intentionally by practicing grace and courtesy every day.

Dr. Stark

Brockman Elementary A National Blue Ribbon

School

PTO News

Get Your Spiritwear!

Short– and long-sleeve tees plus sweat-

shirts are available to order online at

www.brockmanpto.org/shop or check

your child’s communication folder the

week of Sept. 3rd for an order form.

Prices range from $12 to $21. Orders

must be turned in by Sept. 14th.

Expected delivery will be the end of

September.

Support PTO, Volunteer, & Get

Your School Directory Please consider giving and/or serving

our school through the PTO this year.

This drive through the next few weeks

funds our PTO budget, as well as

supports our committee heads with

their service goals for the year. With a

contribution of $15, you receive a

directory. There are other fun prizes at

other giving levels, too. We also have

many small yet significant PTO

jobs, and if we all help a little, our

community is stronger, our PTO leaders

get the support they need, and

we promise your child(ren) will be

proud!! Forms will come home the

week of Sept. 3rd or go to

www.brockmanpto.org/membership-

form. Contact Katie Purnell at

Katietylerpurnell@gmail.com for more

information.

Sponsorship Opportunities

The PTO is looking for corporate

sponsors for the school year. Since last

winter, a special group has worked

hard to develop a more comprehen-

sive sponsorship program, in hopes to

better recognize these fabulous

organizations and hopefully avoid

repeatedly asking throughout the

year. We have been so fortunate to

have generous corporate donors who

give year after year. To allow for the

best exposure, we are hoping

to secure sponsorships by September.

If your company is interested, please

go to www.brockmanpto.org/

sponsorship-form/. If you have

questions, contact Lindsay Shazly at

lindsayrayfield@hotmail.com.

Nurse’s Notes

Medication Reminder

Anytime your child might need to take medication here

at school the parent or guardian will need to bring the

medication in the original container to the health room

and fill out a permission slip for the drug to be adminis-

tered. If the medication is prescribed by a physician and

it is a prescription medication you will need to get the signature of the

physician. We cannot give any medications at school without a permis-

sion slip. If you need to obtain a permission slip you may get those from

the school’s website or please stop by the healthy room.

Nurse Hubbard

MEDIA CENTER

The students

are excited

because the

Media Center

is OPEN!

This week students have be-

gun checking out books and

diving in to read. Ask them

what they are reading and

please help at home with the

following:

Proper book care

Safe book storage

Regular book return

Feel free to send me an email

if you have questions or

concerns. My email address is

karen.roach@richlandone.org

Page 2 Bear Tracks

Corporate Sponsors!

Primary Primary has enjoyed having our

full class of 3, 4, and 5 year olds

this week. Each age level has a

special name in Primary. We call

three year olds “cubs” and four

year olds “Jr. Bears”. Our

leaders, the 5K students,

are called “Big Bears.” This

d e v e l op m e nt a l l ev e l i s

characterized by rapid growth

and development. Primary

children satisfy their natural

tendency to learn through

movement, using hands-on

materials. They select activities

in our primary classrooms that

appeal to their interest. It is the

teachers’ job to guide them

through the lessons in different

curriculum areas, providing new

lessons as prior lessons are

practiced and mastered.

However, at the beginning of

the year the students must learn

all the procedures or “ground

rules” of the classroom, so each

rule is carefully discussed and

practiced. Once students

adhere to the “ground rules”

freedom is given to choose work

in the classroom.

“He does it with his hands, by

experience, first in play and then

through work. The hands are the

instruments of man’s intelligence.”

Maria Montessori, The Absorbent

Mind

Arts Corner

Welcome to the Brockman Arts

Corner, where you come for all

your related Arts News!

Coming up in September: Upper

Elementary begins its Towne

Theatre Drama Residency and

Lower Elementary visits Colum-

bia Children's Theatre to see

Goldilocks and the Three Bears!

Guidance

We hope you can join us for

our annual celebration of the

International Day of Peace on

Friday, September 21st at 9:00 a.m.

This year, we present the Peace

Dove award to Brockman’s former

school counselor, Carol Knight, in

recognition of his lifelong dedication

to peace education. In preparation

for Peace Day, our classroom

guidance lessons will focus on the

experience of peace within

ourselves and sharing peace with

others throughout our community.

Please consider helping your child

contribute to “Pictures of Peace”

which will be displayed at the

Peace Day celebrat ion.

(Information about “Pictures of

P e a c e ” i n T h u r s d a y

communication folders.)

Odyssey of the

Mind Needs You!

Hey, are you a creative, sponta-

neous upper elementary student

who likes to think outside of the

box? We need you! OM gives

you the opportunity to work

together with friends and go

crazy. We will meet once a week

after school until about 4:30p.m.

where we solve hands-on

problems, think crazy thoughts

(What does the Statue of Liberty

think?) and will work on a long-

term performance. We will work

toward the State Finals in

March 2018 where we plan to

perform and see other teams’

performances.

Each team can have five to

seven children. If we have many

students interested, we will

need additional help from

parents. If you are interested,

please have your parents

contact Henning Liese at

(henning@hennningliese.net) or

Sharonda Giles at

(Sharonda.Giles@richlandone.org

at 803-790-6743. There will be an

obligatory meeting in the future.

Upper El Upper Elementary students have

been presented the first two

Great Lessons of Montessori.

Students are currently studying

the “Timeline of Life.” This

includes botany, zoology,

ecology, phys io logy, and

microbiology.

Lower Elementary

Lower Elementary students are

engaged in their important work

during uninterrupted work time.

Children often need multiple class

sessions in order to complete a task.

It’s impressive to see them focus

their attention and persist until they

successfully complete the task.

When they are successful, they will

proudly tell you about their work

and their effort. The Hundred Board

is one Montessori math activity that

challenges the young child who

can count aloud from one to one

hundred to lay out the numerals in

the same sequence. The board is

divided into ten rows with ten small

squares along each row. The

children work with a set of one

hundred tiles that are labeled from

one through one hundred placing

each tile in numerical order. When

they are comfortable with this

exercise, they write the entire

sequence on a blank chart. This

activity reinforces counting and also

develops an increasingly clear

concept of the size of one hundred.

Hopefully you will come and

observe the work time to see your

children in action!

“Recharging.”