Summer activity journals for incoming first and second grade students — Summer is a fun time for students. It is also a great opportunity for children to practice reading, comprehension, writing, and math skills, so that their brains are charged up and ready to go when school starts again in September. The Bradt Planning Team has created a summer writing journal for students entering first or second grades, that your whole family can enjoy! Click here to find out more about the summer activity journals.

Bradt students learn the true facts about reptiles on Earth Day — Bradt students had the opportunity to learn about some creepy, crawly creatures on Earth Day, April 22. Zoologist Dean Davis brought a variety of reptiles to show to students. He taught them about their habitats, adaptation and predator/prey relationships.

Helpful reading Web sites for students and parents — View the following list of Web sites that will help students practice reading comprehension and fluency.

Bradt students study plants and animals up-close — It’s not often that a student gets to watch a monkey swing through the rainforest or see a lion hide behind the tall grass in a regular classroom setting.

Luckily, first graders at Bradt Primary School get to experience this during their plant and animal habitat unit thanks to Teaching Assistant Loriann Lynch.

For the past five years, Lynch has been turning her science lab classroom into different living environments, so that students can see where certain plants and animals live and how they survive. Read more. View photo gallery.

“Healthy Hearts” can be found all around Bradt — Students and staff at Bradt have their health at heart as they participate in the school’s “Healthy Heart” initiative. 

Colorful paper hearts with student and faculty names adorn the school’s hallways, each heart representing an hour of exercise. 

This “Healthy Heart” program compliments the district’s wellness policy, and helps address the growing childhood obesity problem within the United States.

The initiative will be carried out to the end of the school year, and the hope is to have the entire school bordered with hearts!

Box Top collection continues to build — Pinewood and Bradt students collected an additional $1,000 in box tops! That means that our students saved and clipped 10,000 box tops! We will receive this additional $1000 check in December 2008. This amount can go higher if students continue to participate. This program is not finished, so please continue to send in your box tops. Go to the official site, www.boxtops4education.com, to see what products participate in this wonderful program. 

Two Bradt students were chosen from a random drawing of box top submissions to win an official BoxTops sticker, bookmark, and some tasty selections from our BoxTops prize bin. The students are Samantha Dollar (Mrs. Neale) and Samuel Surls (Mrs. Dorado). 

We will send home another collection sheet for the spring, so please continue to save your box tops. You may want to consider asking co-workers and relatives to save box tops for our school as well. Any money collected is spent on supplies and equipment that benefit our students. Special thanks go to Mrs. Dergosits (teaching assistant) at Pinewood for her time spent counting and packaging box tops. Find out more.

Bradt’s 1,000 Book Club seeking membership — Bradt’s 1,000 Book Club has been thriving under the leadership of Colleen Jackson, Lorri Dunleavy, Denise Legasse, Nina Racana and Becky Phillips. Jen Barnes and Kim Struffolino have also been essential contributors. At this point in time, some of our key leaders have their youngest children transitioning to Pinewood Intermediate School.

We are looking for some pre-school parents and parents of current kindergartners, to “join the team” and have the opportunity to learn the ropes from the crew that has everything running smoothly. It will be necessary to begin to transition to new leadership, as the year comes to a close. Please contact PTO Co-Presidents Holly Spadaro or Kelly Blanchard, or Bradt Principal Diane McIver at 356-8400 if you are interested in participating in our 1,000 Book Club.

Bradt students celebrate reading through song — If you walked into the Bradt gym during the afternoon of March 18, you’d probably think you were at a rock and roll concert. Students were singing, laughing, waving their hands in the air—and listening for popular children’s books and characters, such as Dr. Suess’ “Sam I Am” and Shel Silverstein’s “The Giving Tree” included in the songs. Find out more.

Looking at the big picture: What test scores can't reveal — Test scores provide only a “snapshot” of how a child is doing in school, so it’s important for parents to view the whole “photo album” when trying to determine if their child is receiving a well-rounded education. Parents should consider their children’s social and emotional development, in addition to their classroom performance.

“Good exam scores and high grades are what we want for every child,” says an elementary school guidance coordinator. “But we can’t dismiss the reality that in today’s world, children need more, much more, than just good grades.” Read more at the Parent Spot.

Drivers need to STOP for pedestrians — People driving on campus, and anywhere for that matter, need to stop and yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk. There are "pedestrian crossing" signs and painted pavement located at all of the schools. With snow banks and low light conditions during the winter, it is even more important for drivers to be aware of students who are walking. Find out more at the School Resource Officers' page. 

Ten ways to make your child a better reader — Learn some strategies that really work! Read more here.

Parents are reminded to BE SPECIFIC when sending in bus notes — If your child needs to take a different bus home, or get off at a different stop, please send in a written note to the school with the following specific information: your child's first and last name, the first and last name of the parent writing the note, the bus number, bus symbol and bus stop (or address), the first and last name of the resident at the final destination and the name of your child's teacher. Bradt's security monitor maintains a log of all bus notes. After being logged in, the notes are stamped and returned to children as their "bus pass" for afternoon drivers. Read more here.

Mohonasen launches new communication tool: Sign up today! —
Mohonasen is pleased to announce the launch of the new "School News Notifier" (SNN), a system designed to help keep parents and the community more in touch with what is happening at Mohonasen Central Schools. SNN is an opt-in e-mail alert system for which parents and residents can sign up to receive e-mail alerts from the district. With SNN, district officials have the power to send updates and reminders about district activities or information about emergency school closings and delays. Users can choose to receive any or all of the alerts, and they can unsubscribe at any time. **Your e-mail address will be kept confidential.** Visit the SNN FAQ & Help page for information on how to sign up and log in, what notifications are available, how to subscribe and unsubscribe from notifications and much more. Continue to the School News Notifier home page to sign up for SNN. 

Prevention efforts continue in wake of MRSA staph infection cases in our schools — Like most districts around the country, Mohonasen has been taking steps to prevent the spread of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus or MRSA. The district has had three reported incidents of MRSA in students — one case each at Pinewood Intermediate School, Draper Middle School and Mohonasen High School. District officials are working closely with the Schenectady County Health Department to minimize the spread of this antibiotic-resistant bacteria and promote good hygiene practices among students and staff. Health officials say that regularly washing hands with soap and water is the BEST way to prevent the spread of MRSA. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has compiled a list of common questions and answers about MRSA in schools. Additional information about MRSA and what Mohonasen is doing to prevent its spread can be found here.

Bradt School's garden provides a nurturing environment for butterflies and students alike — Second-grade students in Ms. Cicchinelli's, Ms. Palmer's and Ms. Horton's classes planted Bradt's Butterfly Garden last spring. The intent of the garden is to provide a feeding ground for the butterfly releases during the second-grade science unit on life cycles. Parents and students took care of the garden during the summer and, as you can see, the results are beautiful! Thanks to all who participated.

Mrs. McIver's annual letter to families  — This letter from Bradt Principal Diane McIver is jam-packed with important information, expectations and ideas for families. If you haven't already looked it over, please do! Download now.

Bradt's leveled reading lists — Bradt School has compiled a list of leveled books to help match books to readers at their own level. View the leveled reading lists.

Morning Program ... a pep rally for the mind! — Bradt students learn about and practice appropriate large group behavior at Morning Program. Classroom presentations, recognition of VIPs, songs, poems and creative movement round out this gathering of over 300 students, parents, and faculty, at each grade level K-2. Parents are welcome to attend these monthly grade-level assemblies. View the 2007-08 Morning Program schedule.

Arrival and dismissal procedures at Bradt — In order to minimize confusion and crowded hallways during arrival and dismissal, only faculty and staff will be allowed beyond the main lobby between 8:10-8:45 a.m. and 2:30-3:00 p.m.  This procedure will make it safer and easier for students to navigate the hallways to their wings and classrooms, and provide for tighter building security during these two critical times of the day. Thank you for your continued support and cooperation.

Traffic pattern at Bradt — View the traffic pattern at Bradt.

Mohonasen census: New children in district — The Mohonasen Central School District is taking a census of all school district residents who have children under age 5 in order to plan for future student enrollment in our schools. Please take the time to fill out and send in the district census as soon as possible to Bradt Primary School, 2719 Hamburg Street, Attention: Alma DiCocco. Thank you for your assistance.

Bradt's Growing Place — Find out more about Bradt's Growing Place, a Children's Institute program. Feel free to contact school psychologist, Marta Hewitt, with any questions at mhewitt@mohonasen.org.

Literature is everywhere at Bradt…even on the walls — As part of Bradt’s immersion in all aspects of literacy, teachers have been working together to help illustrate the pages of children’s literature favorites on the hallway walls, in the form of murals. The first mural is a scene from The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. Teacher Sharon Berschwinger created a writing unit using the painting. After reading the book, students looked at the mural and talked about the story. They are currently working on their own rainbow fish stories, and learning how to edit and illustrate their thoughts at the same time. The finished stories will be hung on the wall next to the mural. Mrs. Martin’s first graders were also inspired by The Rainbow Fish mural, and decided to create their own rainbow fish. Click here to view the photo gallery. 

Kindergarten Tool Kits™ — Mohonasen’s Connect for Success Beginnings Committee was established to strengthen the home/school connection, and to help ensure that our students enter school ready to learn. The committee noted the high number of kindergarteners who entered in September 2004, lacking basic literacy and numeracy readiness skills. That identified need, inspired the creation of Kindergarten Tool Kits™ for new kindergarten students entering Bradt Primary School. A rich variety of activities have been developed to help new kindergarteners enter school with a solid foundation for learning. Close to 200 personalized Kindergarten Tool Kits™, including suggested activities for using the materials in the bag, are distributed to parents at Kindergarten Registration.  Principal Diane McIver says, "We eagerly anticipate seeing a marked difference in the readiness of students entering kindergarten!"  Please contact the Bradt office to make arrangements to pick up your incoming kindergartener’s bag, if you were unable to attend the registration meeting.

Welcome to kindergarten! — This information is designed to help parents and their children get off to a good start in Kindergarten. Click here for details.

Are you a parent in the Mohonasen Central School District with a child under the age of 5? —  If so, you are eligible to receive our Seeds of Learning preschool newsletter - delivered directly to your home at no charge. Get helpful information on the topics that are important to you and your little one: ideas for fun, educational activities, children’s book recommendations, kindergarten registration information and much more! If you do not currently receive Seeds of Learning and you are interested in being on our mailing list, please contact the Bradt School Office at 356-8401. View the Fall 2006 Seeds of Learning.

2007-08 district calendar is available online — The full version of the 2007-08 district calendar is now available online! Please note that the PDF document might take a little while to download.

Teach your preschooler the ABCs — Studies show that knowledge of the alphabet is the single best predictor of reading success in the early grades. Read more here. 

Great books your kids will love — Don't forget, books make great gifts! Check out this list of great books for kids in grades K-5. Many of these titles can be found in our school libraries. Read more here.

Tips on what parents can do at home to support literacy — Although most of your child’s formal reading skills will be learned during school hours, the work that you do at home to help support these skills is as important. Find out how young children learn to read and get some useful tips on how you can make reading a family affair and to instill a lifelong love of reading in your child. More here.

Looking for a particular TEACHER Web page? All of our Bradt teacher pages are now one click off the Bradt home page. You can click on the "teacher pages" logo on the top left of the school home page or go there now.