Throughout the year the students in the Vlasic Early Childhood Center participate in a number of special events that emphasize community, participation, imagination, and, of course, fun. During the annual Halloween Parade, imaginations blossom as Vlasic students are transformed into ghosts and goblins, or princesses and clowns. Our youngest students take part in supporting fundraisers such as Kaleidoscope, and they show off their achievements to parents on designated visiting days.
Special programs are one more way that students are given the opportunity to expand the boundaries of the classroom and learn about themselves and their community through experience.
Brookside takes great pride in continuing to develop and introduce new ideas and programs outside of the classroom. Our Brookside students never search too far to find special opportunities for individual growth and exploration. Our young poets and storytellers are celebrated at Brookside's Young Authors' Tea.
The importance of community service is instilled through hands-on experiences such as donating canned goods to local shelters, raising funds for food banks, and holding "read-ins" for the March of Dimes. Grandparent Day invites our students' older family members to experience their grandchild's daily life while meeting their teachers and friends. These programs work to unite our community and widen each student's perspective and experience. |
| 5th Grade December Program The December Program, which is the fifth grade chapel, is a dramatic program supported by music.  Universal themes are stressed, such as giving, sharing, and caring. Fifth graders provide all of the acting parts and instrumental ensemble. Students in grades 1-4 participate as singers and recorder players. |
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| Grade Level Performances Annual Grade Level performances, presented by grades two through four, incorporate music, literature, drama, movement, and the visual arts. Students in a single grade participate as actors, instrumentalists, and singers, gaining a variety of performing experiences. Although one grade is responsible for the performance, all grades participate musically. The First Grade Sharing is an ensemble experience based on similar musical and dramatic elements to which parents are invited. Early childhood students attend as audience members for a dress rehearsal of each chapel or sharing to anticipate what is to come as they move forward in the grades. Sometime in the spring (generally on Earth Day), the early childhood students come together to share songs, poems, or dramatic stories with each other. Formal grade level performances do not occur until first grade. |
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| Community Service Nurturing a sense of social responsibility begins from the time students enter the Early Childhood Center at age three. Brookside students and their families support and participate in numerous Brookside school-wide service projects, including food collection for Gleaners Food Bank, UNICEF, March of Dimes Reading Champions, hat and mitten collection for Orchards Children's Services, food collection for Pontiac Lighthouse through Brookside's Adopted Grandparent Program, collection of "Cuddles for Kids" stuffed animals distributed to five children's charities, C.A.T.C.H.-Run for Henry Ford and Children's Hospitals, and collection of books, clothing, money and school supplies for the education of young girls, through an ongoing relationship with the village of Nametenga, Burkina Faso, in Africa. |
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| Grandparent Day Brookside's Thanksgiving Program for grandparents and older special friends, a thirty-year tradition, provides an opportunity for students to foster and celebrate their relationship with older adults. Students sing songs, play musical instruments, and recite prose or poetry. |
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| Halloween Parade Carrying on a longstanding tradition, Brookside students and many teachers dress in costumes and parade to music on Halloween. Parents are invited to attend a morning parade for students JK-2nd grade and an afternoon parade for students in afternoon JK and grades 3-5. Pre-kindergarten (three-year-old) children celebrate Halloween in a manner most appropriate for their age and development. Pre-kindergarten parent representatives decorate the center of the arrival circle with cobwebs, pumpkins, and scarecrows, and children create their own costumes at the art center. Both morning and afternoon classes parade outside around the traffic circle for their parents and a few other classes. Pre-kindergarten children are also invited to view the larger Brookside Halloween parade without participating in the full extravaganza. Next year as juniors (four-year-olds), they will join this larger-than-life experience! |
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| Kaleidoscope The major school fundraiser, Kaleidoscope, is an evening event that brings faculty, parents and friends together to socialize while providing the opportunity to support the programs of the school. The event includes a strolling dinner and live and silent auctions. Faculty development, school programs, and facilities are expanded and enriched by proceeds of the event. |
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| SK Music/PE Parent Visiting Day On assigned days during the second semester, parents of Senior Kindergarten (five-year-old) students are invited to attend both music and physical education classes with their children. |
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| Spring Festival The Spring Festival is a music-oriented program supported by the other arts. Selections are carefully chosen to represent and culminate educational experiences for students in grades 1-5 during the year. Fifth grade students have the opportunity to specialize their participation in a given area: Orff ensemble, drama, photography, or dance. |
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| Young Authors’ Teas Drawing upon their varied reading and writing experiences, fifth grade students create an original work of fiction. The finished products are bound and shared with parents at Young Authors' Teas in May. |
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| | | Lower :: Brookside School | | Lower :: Special Programs | |
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