NewBrook Families,
I hope that you and your families enjoyed this beautiful weekend here in Southern Vermont. The flowers are pushing up through the duff, and the birds are singing in the morning! How nice! At my house, I have been spending a lot of time cutting and stacking downed trees, and rebuilding our goat enclosure and our garden beds. Spring is an exciting time, and a VERY busy time here at NewBrook Elementary School!
We are all very grateful for Amy Duffy, our garden coordinator, who is planning our annual Farm & Field Day on Friday, May 22 beginning at noon. Our Farm To School Committee is organizing a fun and interactive day for our students and families. We will meet out on the playground to get into groups, and then we will rotate through learning stations led by community volunteers and our own staff. Please let your child’s teacher know if you will be able to join us for this fun event! The rain date is May 28. We will remind you to please remember to prep your child for an afternoon outdoors with sunscreen and/or a hat, a full water bottle, and appropriate footwear.
We will be hosting NewBrook’s annual Science Fair on Tuesday night, May 28, from 5:30-6:30 PM, in our multi-purpose room. Please join us in discovery as we walk through the fair together. We will feature the rigorous work of NewBrook students who have been inspired by an audience of family and friends! Thanks to Joyce VanPamelen and Jason Gragen for heading up this excellent curricular programming for our students and their families.
Thanks to our INCREDIBLE Parent/Teacher Organization (PTO) for all of their efforts to make our NewBrook Staff Appreciation Week so special. They scheduled treats, goodie bags, flowers and love notes, and they organized and encouraged our students to show their appreciations as well. We are all very lucky to be part of this special community here at NewBrook Elementary School.
It is my intention to communicate the information that NewBrook families need to know in this newsletter. Please offer me your suggestions about our methods of family communication. And do not hesitate to call or email me to set up an appointment if you have any questions or concerns. Please let us know when difficulties arise. We would love to help and we all have time for you!
Scotty Tabachnick, School Principal
We are a community of kind, responsible learners.
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May 4-8 - Staff Appreciation Week
May 6 - Teacher InService/ Early Release at 11:50
May 11 - All School Sing (Last One of 2025-26) at 8:30 AM
May 11 - Family Input Group Meeting at 9:15 AM
May 14 - PTO Meeting in the Library 8:30-10:30 AM
May 17 - PTO Playground Work Party! time TBD
May 21 - Grade 3 Trip to Grafton Nature Museum 8:45-2:30 AM
May 22 - Farm and Field Day! begins at noon
May 25 - Memorial Day NO SCHOOL
May 28 - Farm and Field Day (RAIN DATE)
May 28 - Science Fair 5:30-6:30
May 29 - 5th Grade Move Up Day at L&G 7:50 AM-11:50 AM
Jun 3 - Grade 1 VINS Field Trip
Jun 3 - Grade 5 Trip to Boston Aquarium
Jun 4 - Teddy Bear Tea in Library 1:00-2:00 PM
Jun 5 - Joyce VanPamelen Playground Dedication at 12:30 PM
Jun 8 - Joyce VanPamelen Playground Dedication (RAIN DATE)
Jun 10 - 2026-27 Kindergarten Orientation Day (No School for current Kindergarteners)
Jun 12 - PE Field Day 12:45 PM
Jun 16 - Fifth Grade Graduation 6:00 PM
Jun 17 - Final Student Day, Early Release!
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All School Sing Scheduling - Please join us for our final All School Sing of the 2025-26 school year, at 8:30 on Monday, May 11!
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Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS) Update: This month, we are focused upon earning pennies and reviewing our "classroom expectations,” hoping to earn a school-wide celebration: a school-wide DANCE PARTY. Thanks to our generous and hardworking PTO for collaborating with staff to create this incentive event! When we meet the goal, earning 24 "falcon bucks,” our generous PTO will then donate real money to our local collaborators West River Valley Thrives. Nice!
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Playground Dedication - We are planning to dedicate our playground in honor of our grade five classroom teacher, Joyce VanPamelen, who has been teaching for over 50 years! At 12:30 PM on Friday, June 5, we will be gathering on the playground to celebrate Joyce VanPamelen's remarkable, and ONGOING, career. We will listen to a few speakers, and then share a sweet treat in her honor. A video crew from Brattleboro Area Community Television (BCTV) will be documenting the event; we contracted with them to create a short video, and to celebrate her career. So, we would like to include folks that have a story about her to share with a wider audience.
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After School Planning - Please be sure to communicate your after school plans to your child’s classroom teacher and Priscilla Halvey, our Administrative Assistant (phalvey@windhamcentral.org). We need documentation (either email, phone call, or a written note) for any changes to your regular plan prior to 2:00 PM daily. We will follow the regular plan unless we have received notification directly from the family.
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Recess-Ready Reminder - Here at NewBrook, we spend time outside almost every day! Please send your children to school with clothing and outerwear that is appropriate for the weather. This time of year, the temperature varies widely throughout the day, so please keep that in mind! Thank you! If your child comes home with clothing that is not yours, please launder it and send it back to school so we have clothing and outerwear to lend. Please try to label your child’s clothing…our lost and found is getting bigger and bigger!
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Flower pickup: Thank you so much to everyone who purchased flowers for our Spring Flower Sale. We raised over $1000! Get your order this Friday, May 8th, during school pickup time. Please email us if you are not able to be there at that time. Thanks to our student helpers, our latest bingo fundraiser was also a big success.
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Save the date: Our annual NewBrook Playground Work Party is Sunday, May 17th, with a rain date of Sunday, May 31st. We have some exciting plans to make the playground an even more engaging (and musical!) place, and we hope you'll join us.
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Teacher Appreciation Week: Keep an eye out for information throughout the week about how you can help shower the incredible NewBrook Staff with love each day! There are still plenty of items needed on the Signup Genius, please check it out! Just a reminder, Wednesday is Flower Day - vases are provided for every staff member & kids can bring in flowers from home or "pick" blooms as they enter school. Thank you to Tanglebloom for providing the flowers!
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Next Meeting: Join us Thursday, May 14th at 8:30 AM to discuss upcoming events and fundraisers. Questions? Email newbrookpto@gmail.com.
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Earth Day Scavenger Hunt reminder - it's not too late to win prizes! Submissions accepted through tomorrow (May 5). Find as many of the items as you can and submit a photo to be entered into a raffle for your choice of great prizes. Kids are welcome to enter, see attached flyer! Feel free to make a list if you can't print the flyer. Questions? Contact Sara Webb at wrvtengaged@gmail.com.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, a time to foster open conversations about mental well-being, expand education, and, in the spirit of this year’s theme, work toward “More Good Days, Together” for every family and community. Join the Parent Venture this week for a webinar on sibling relationships:
Mark your calendar for a webinar on the transition to middle school coming up later in May:
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THANK YOU to the NEWBROOK PTO! - Again, a HUGE thank you to our PTO for all that they have done for our programming and our students! The NewBrook PTO are truly incredible in their organization, their diligence and their efforts to make our school a great place to learn and to work.
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Calendaring - You can find our Google Calendar on our website. If you would like to add it to your Google calendar, so you can overlay it with calendars you use, go to the bottom righthand corner of the calendar, and click the Google button. If you need a hand, please send me an email, or give me a call.
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After School Planning - Please be sure to communicate your child(ren)’s after school plans with us either by sending a note in the morning, or by emailing your child’s classroom teacher and cc’ing Priscilla Halvey, our administrative assistant. Email is preferable to phone calls. If you need to change your plans, please call or email before 2:00 PM so we have time to communicate. Thank you!
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Family Support - We know that, at times, things get tough for our families. I encourage you to call or email us, if you or your family are in crisis. Our understanding of the assets available in the community make us a wonderful resource for families who need a hand. We are here to serve you. Please reach out to Carrie Towle, our School Counselor at ctowle@windhamcentral.org, Bre Madison, our School Social Worker, at bmadison@windhamcentral.org, or Scotty Tabachnick, our School Principal, at stabachnick@windhamcentral.org
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Curriculum and Instruction - Our Curriculum and Instruction web page outlines the curriculum we employ, and the standards that we teach. All of our programming is intended to create cohesion among schools in the WCSU, while respecting and enhancing the professionalism and creativity of our instructors.
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Volunteering Opportunities @ NewBrook - Our school community is enriched by the volunteer efforts from our families. Please consider offering your time. Our PTO meets once a month (remote/ in-person). Contact Sara Webb for more information. Our Family Input Group (FIG) meets monthly (after our All School Sing!) to discuss issues important to NewBrook students, staff and families. Contact Scotty Tabachnick for more information. Our Farm to School team meets several times throughout the year to plan educational and social events that revolve around sustainability, local procurement, and place-based and environmental education. Contact Amy Duffy to learn more. If you enjoy books, our Librarian, Monica Sullivan, is looking for help shelving books and organizing our library collection. If you are interested, please contact Monica Sullivan.
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School Meals - NewBrook offers universal free meals for all students. Lunch Menus are available online at our school website, and will also be sent home in physical form priorto the beginning of each month. Please send your children with water bottles; we have a bottle filling station here at school.
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