May 2016 Edition. We Got Annie!

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1 May 2016 Edition We Got Annie! Our Middle School Musical Theater students gave stunning performances in the 2016 Spring Musical, Annie, Jr. The musical was directed by Mr. Michael Kravchuk, our Music Teacher. Thank you to our Operations Manager, Erik Boice and his helper, Chris Medrano, for assisting with sound and lighting, and to our Art Teacher, Ms. Conrad, for painting Mr. Warbuck s Mansion backdrop. There were many school community members involved to some degree in this production, but it was worth it to see our student s shine! In addition to Annie, the production featured a dance sequence performed by members of our school s ballroom dance students under the director of Miss Barnaly Pande. We may be the BEST academic program in the region, but our ARTS program is just as great! While other schools are cutting back on the Arts, Brookfield School provides all our students with the opportunity to participate in theater, music, art, and dance!

2 Muchas gracias to our Spanish Teacher, Señora Mertz, who organized a fun Spanish production featuring our primary students in grades Pre-first through Third. Guests watched skits based on the stories, Little Red Riding Hood and The Wizard of Oz all performed in Spanish. Even those who do not understand the language could follow along with the familiar storyline and were entertained! In addition, the students performed a play about colors and sang De Colores among other tunes. Our Spanish program was instituted this year as an alternate language choice to our wellestablished French language program. Students study their language of choice throughout their nine years at Brookfield and become impressively fluent by graduation.

3 Team brookfield Marine Aquatic Above: Kayla and teammate troubleshoot their robot. Brookfield brother and sister, Kayla and Preston, are members of a four person underwater robotics team. This activity challenges them to use programming, engineering, and problem solving skills to design and build a submersible robot to accomplish specific tasks in competition with other team designs. Kayla and Preston also represent Brookfield as members of our school s FIRST Robotics team. Congratulations to our dynamic duo; they came in 7th out of 34 teams their novice year! Way to go! Technology Engineering Defending their design to the judges. 4th Grade Miners 49rs The 4th Grade Class tried their skill (and luck) at gold panning in Jamestown. They had a great time cooling off in the cold water on a warm day. Another part of this trip including exploring the spooky, dark Moaning Caverns. The class studies the Gold Rush as part of the California History component of our Social Studies curriculum. Class trips like are a fun way to bring history to life!

4 Our 7th and 8th graders had fun getting a little exercise after a long drive to Ashland, Oregon. Here they are trying out their rock climbing skills at beautiful Lithia Park. The students attended several plays at the Shakespeare Festival and participated in various workshops and tours during this extended trip. This trip is the culmination of an extended unit of study focused around Shakespeare s plays. Each year, every student middle school student reads the same Shakespeare play that is preselected to match up with professional performances both locally and at the Ashland festival. The students work together in a great project-based-learning activity, where they actually perform a condensed version of the play they studied. Students are the actors, directors, set builders, stage managers, and every other role involved in putting on a play. By the time they get to Ashland, the professional actors who lead the student instructional discussions are always so impressed by our students knowledge and understanding of the play. The opportunity to go to Ashland provides a fun and unique reward for the students hard work and scholarship. It also provides a great environment for community building among these middle school students. Parent and teacher chaperones drive and provide supervision, and we are never short of parent volunteers for this fun and educational experience.

5 A C LU O M R N N I ER She s on the Road to Morocco! Brookfield Alumna Katherine Stiplosek Recipient U.S. Department of State NSLI-Y Scholarship Way to Go! Katherine was awarded a National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) scholarship for Katherine will study Arabic in Morocco for the summer in an intensive six week program. This talented Brookfield graduate is one of only approximately 600 competitively selected students from across the United States who will receive a scholarship to study Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Persian, Russian, or Turkish overseas this year. While in Morocco, Katherine will receive formal instruction and informal language practice in an immersion environment. The NSLI-Y program seeks to increase the number of Americans who can engage with native speakers of critical languages. The goals of the NSLI-Y program include sparking a life-long interest in foreign languages and cultures, and developing a corps of young Americans with the skills necessary to advance international dialogue and cross-cultural opportunities in the private, academic, and government sectors. Katherine is also fluent in the French language, having received a great foundation for language as a Brookfield student, where she attended French class four days a week. Last year, as a Christian Brothers High School student, Katherine received the Excellence in French Language Award. We are pleased to see that Katherine, as have many other Brookfield alumni, will continue to pursue and expand her studies of world languages. Katherine s excellent scholarship and mastery of French, Morocco s official language, enabled her to land this prestigious scholarship as a younger student. Katherine is a member of the Brookfield Class of 2014 and will be starting her junior year at Christian Brothers High School this fall. Your former teachers and I are proud of you, Katherine! That gift of gab you demonstrated throughout your years at Brookfield has served you well ;) -Dr. Jo Where are they going? We have heard from five members of the Brookfield Class of 2012, who have graduated from high school this month. They will be attending the following colleges this fall: University of Vermont, UC Irvine, UC Berkeley, Cornell, and St. Mary s. Congratulations! Let s hear from the rest of our alumni!

6 Our Earth Day Celebration Picnic was fun! Students and parents were enjoying the beautiful sunny afternoon, while our younger students were entertained by a puppet show about environmental themes performed by our 5th grade Earth Science Class.

7 and we ll miss them! We take much pride in the graduating Class of 2016, who, like the classes that preceded them, were ALL accepted to their first choice high schools! Here are five members of this outstanding class of eleven students, taking advantage of 8th grade privilege by wearing the logo wear of their selected high schools. We are proud of you, and look forward to your visits back. Where are they going to high school? Olivia Ang-Olson, CK McClatchy HISP Ayushi Bansal, Mira Loma IB Adithi Benush, St. Francis High School Christoffer Fong, Christian Brothers High School Jonathan Fong, Jesuit High School Adelina Hernandez, CK McClatchy HISP Lauren Kim, St. Francis High School Jayson Taylor JT Leach, Jesuit High School Elliott Lundholm, Christian Brothers High School Emily Sperring, Christian Brothers High School Charlotte Stiplosek, Christian Brothers High School Best wishes for much success in high school, kids! And, take the Brookfield Way with you through high school!