For Parents

1. Elementary-age children need 9 - 11 hours of sleep every day.  Please make sure they are in bed early enough to wake up and be ready for school.

• We strongly urge you to keep the school-issued device and all televisions, telephones, tables outside of your children's bedrooms at night.

2. Children need at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity every day.  

3. Eat together as a family without the television on, and without cell phones.  Enjoy time together as a family.

4. Children should read or be read to every day.

5. Limit and supervise the use of technology/digital devices.

Students are encouraged to read or be read to, every day, so that they can make significant academic progress.  

Reading to a child is just as valuable as having a student read to themselves.  Reading to a child is a great way to enjoy time together, increases vocabulary, and makes reading an enjoyable activity.  

When reading to a child, you can simply read without asking your child to try and read words or read every-other-page.  When reading to a child you can read books that are above their reading level, which increases knowledge of vocabulary, and learning about whatever the book is about.

Talking about the book as you are reading will help your child learn how to ask themselves questions when they are reading by themselves. 

Parents sometimes feel pressure to have their child read some of the words or every-other-page when reading to their children.  Take the pressure off of yourself and simply enjoy reading to your child.  During the school day teachers will provide direct instruction in reading.

If English is not your first language, read to your child in your home or preferred language.  Students learn background knowledge and vocabulary.  Learning in any language greatly assists a student's academic achievement. 

Birthday Treats

Birthdays are a special time for children.  Birthdays are recognized in the classroom, and in some classes you can see the student with a birthday wearing a birthday crown for the day, for example.  In some classrooms teachers plan a time for students to write birthday cards for their classmates. Here at Park Brook we have moved away from birthday treats in the classrooms; we kindly ask that you not bring birthday treats to the school.

The reasoning has nothing to do with our Focus on Fitness initiative.  In a classroom with students going to different groups and so on, at the last minute trying to adjust the schedule for a last minute celebration can be challenging, and it can happen many times in a year.

Our goal is to have a welcoming school, a school where kids enjoy being, where students want to be involved, and we will continue to  have ways to celebrate the students in the classroom and through other activities.