Upcoming Dates for March

I am certain new things will come up between now and the end of the month, but the following are items already on our calendar for 5th graders this month.

Friday, March 11: We HAVE school for a snow make-up day. It's a B specials day, so come prepared for Art on Friday!

Monday, March 14: Musical performance practice at 2:30.

Tuesday, March 15: Musical performance in Brown's gym at 7:30. All students must meet in their classrooms by 7:15. The dress for this evening is smart casual or your Sunday's Best!

Wednesday, March 16: Challenger Learning Center Mision to Mars from 12:30 to 3:30. We will leave Brown at 12:15, so we will be eating lunch earlier on this day. Wear regular school clothes and gym shoes for comfort.

Thursday, March 17: Wear green all day today for St. Patrick's Day! Also, the middle school representatives will be coming to Brown to discuss middle school with everyone at 1:30.

Thursday, March 24: Hendricks County Waste Management program with Mrs. Archer for Landfill information at 10:30. Also, we will do Social Health that afternoon from 1:20 to 2:10.

Monday, March 28-Friday, April 1: SPRING BREAK!

Week of 3/7 Info

Spelling tests have returned for this week! We will test on Wednesday. Packets are due Wednesday, as well. The list went home on Friday for those students that like to spend a little extra time on their words.

Vocabulary tests will not be taken this week!

Math 7.12 Written Assessment is due tomorrow. There is no math homework tonight, but students that wished for and have asked for extra credit were guided to complete Study Links 8.1 tonight. It is due tomorrow for extra credit only.

We began unit 8 today in math. The family letter will go home today via email.

Many students brought their quota of magazines and/or newspapers to recycle today. We're on our way to earning over 5 tons or 10,000 lbs of paper to earn money for our school. Please continue to send recyclable paper into school, and we'll be sure it finds the recycle bin!

Pennies for Peace

Our first week in the Pennies for Peace campaign was a HUGE success! Let's continue to keep 5th grade in first place all while helping other kids, just like us, that need our pennies! Here are the totals for each grade level:
Kdg + Cross CAT = 356 pennies


1st grade = 4,986 pennies


2nd grade = 2,650 pennies


3rd grade = 4,605 pennies


4th grade = 1,735 pennies


5th grade = 7,460 pennies


Total = 21,792 pennies


From Ms. Harres and Mrs. McKenzie's classes: Thank you all for your support. This will make a BIG difference to children who don't have the educational opportunities that we do.
(NOTE: All contributions were converted into pennies--a one dollar bill is reported as 100 pennies.)

Attendance Challenge

It's time to make attendance a priority as we come out of the cold and flu season! Attendance includes absences and tardies. Brown has dropped below its target of 97% of students in attendance, so all of the grade levels are being challenged to have great attendance with the following incentives:

• Every week, the grade level that is able to achieve our attendance goal of 97% will receive a special certificate for each classroom to recognize their awesome attendance.
• The grade level with the highest percentage of attendance each week will receive an extra recess period the following week!

Let the challenge begin!!

Brown Paper Drive

From Mrs. Hill:

• I'm asking that each member of the Dicesquad brings one newspaper or magazine to recycle each day next week. This will assist with the following incentive program for our school:

From the office:

• We hope you are aware of the big green bins in the south parking lot. Each month our school earns money based on how many tons of paper we recycle. Last year we averaged 4.68 tons per month. Any month that we collect more than 4 tons we earn $15/ton. In the month of March of 2010 we collected 5.36 tons. As a special incentive our recycling company has offered to double our payment to $30/ton if we exceed the total of 5.36 tons this month. All money earned in the month of March will be used to buy items for the Brown Buck Store. Please consider dropping off your paper recyclables in our green bins during the month of March!! If it is not convenient for you to drive by the school perhaps you would consider sending your magazines or newspapers in with your child on a daily basis (be sure he/she can still safely and easily carry his/her bookbag).

If you have questions about this promotion, please call the school office!

Mars Mission Job Application

Our Mission to Mars will be on Wednesday, March 16. All students have a permission slip on file and are very excited about this opportunity!

Job applications went home today along with team descriptions. ALL job applications are due by Monday, March 7. Each applicant MUST select his or her top three choices for a job after reading through the descriptions on the handout.

We discussed a few character traits that would be best for each job, and they are listed here:
Communication Team: speaks clearly, patient, prioritize well
Data Team: typing skills, prioritize well, organized
Navigation Team: listening skills, follows directions, math
Medical Team: initiative, active, reads instructions, routine oriented
Probe Team: follows and reads directions, kinesthetic learning (hands-on), reads well, works alone
Remote Team: kinesthetic learner (hands-on), math skills
Life Support Team: can hand stressful situations, math skills
Isolation Team: hand-eye coordination, reading skills, video gamer

Brown Scooper Bowl: Friday, March 4

Please plan to attend the Brown "Scooper Bowl" this Friday, March 4 from 6:15 to 8:00 PM. This is a family fun night with ice cream, a silent auction, and games for kids (and parents) hosted by Wilbur Tague with Lincolnwood Toy Store. Tickets will be on sale Wednesday morning before school. $1 for a small bowl of ice cream, $2 for a large bowl of ice cream, and $1 for a bottled water.

For the silent auction portion of the evening, families will have a chance to bid on our grade level's basket or any other grade level baskets. The theme for the 5th grade basket is "Brownsburg Bulldogs". Information regarding this fund-raiser went home in the Barker last week and yesterday with the kids.***Each one of the Dicesquad members (5th graders in our class) will receive one Brown Buck for each item he or she brings in for the donation to this themed-basket.

For more information, go to the Brown Elementary website @ http://www.brownsburg.k12.in.us/brown. Click on the PSG tab.