Calendar

Oct 01–31 “GoldenBug Gives” Fundraiser, more information below
Oct 07 BCSO Family Picnic & Walkathon, 10:30-12:00, Roberts Regional Park
Oct 07–15 Tea School Days Fundraiser, more information below
Oct 09 Indigenous People’s Day, No school
Oct 09 Yard resurfacing project begins, more information below
Oct 10 Board of Trustees Meeting, 7:30pm on Zoom; all are welcome!
Oct 24 Parent Involvement Meeting, more details to come, 7pm
Oct 30 Halloween Parade at 9:15am, more info below
Oct 30 No Lunch/No Extended Care — 12:00 Pick Up — Staff Meeting

BCSO Family Picnic & Walkathon, Saturday, October 7th, 10:30am to 12:00pm, Roberts Regional Park, Sycamore Picnic Area. Our fall community gathering is a fun, welcoming event—you won’t want to miss it! Come meet your children’s classmates, connect with other parents, and chat with teachers. Bring a snack or lunch, or even something to share. It’s the relaunch of our Walkathon event as well, so get some walking in and raise funds for BCSO, too! We look forward to seeing you there. If you or your children have a BCSO T-shirt or sweatshirt, be sure to wear it to show your Broadway pride. 🙂 Don’t own any yet? Check out the swag inventory in the school lobby—it’s going fast!

Exciting update coming to our school yard! Long awaited yard resurfacing is scheduled for the week of October 9th. The children will play in the side yard. We will work with the company as best we can to help with parking challenges. Once completed, the yard will be amazing for your little ones, with enhanced play and safety features. This glorious improvement hopefully will make any drop off/pick up parking challenges well worth it!

Support our School! Fun ways brewing to support BCSO in October:

• Tea School Days Fundraiser, Use code SDF23BROADWAY at checkout at TeaCollection.com between Saturday, Oct 7 and Sunday, Oct 15 to receive 15% off your purchase and Tea will donate another 15% to BCSO! Visit TeaCollection.com/ School Days to learn more. See attached flyer for details and exclusions.
• “GoldenBug Gives” School Fundraiser—Each in-store or online purchase made with our special code—BCS2023— during the entire month of October earns our school 10% of the pre-tax total. Share the code widely with family and friends; the more we share, the more Golden Bug gives! www.goldenbugkids.com or visit them at 5520 College Avenue, Oakland CA 94618. See attached flyer for details and exclusions.

Enrollment Update: Classroom Openings—Spread the Word! Share the news with friends, family, neighbors, parent groups, etc., that BCSO has openings available for three-, four-, and five-year-olds to attend two, three, or five days per week, and for 2- to 3-year-olds in our PACT program on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. We would love to have new families join us and we know that you current families are, without a doubt, the best way to get the word out! You might share how Broadway has been a good fit for your family, or how you felt supported by our Director or teachers.

Whether you keep it simple, or pour your heart out 🙂 please let other parents know about your Broadway experience. Connect in person, or by email or social media. Another great way to boost Broadway awareness is by leaving new reviews on Yelp and Google, and on Berkeley Parents Network. Prospective families should call school at 510-763-9337 or email office@broadwaychildrensschool.org. Thank you!

Many hands make light work: You and your family are the key to what makes BCSO so very special—your engagement is welcome, valued and needed! Please take a look at these opportunities to be involved:

Parent Involvement Committee is in full swing. Be sure to check in with Anny Carson (parent of Ezra in the Rainbow Room) to choose how you will take part.

Board of Trustees: We have openings on our Board of Trustees. We invite you to attend a Board Meeting — these take place on Zoom — and see what goes on. We also have a need for someone to help with grant writing. There are so many ways to participate! Please reach out to Diana to talk about board service.

Halloween at School The children are invited to arrive at school in costume on Monday, October 30th and participate in our Halloween Parade. At about 9:15, they’ll head to the yard, where you parents will be waiting, cameras at the ready! The children carry musical instruments and parade around our paved path for as long as they find it enjoyable (about 10 minutes), before resuming their school day.

The children may wear their costumes to school, but please, no weapons and no masks (health-related face masks are okay, of course!). If a weapon is part of your child’s costume, leave it at home. If a mask is part of your child’s costume, they may bring the mask to show, but not wear. It will go in their cubby after they show it. Some children are very frightened by costume masks and believe they are real.

Most children prefer to change out of their costumes after the parade, so have your child wear regular clothes under their costume or bring some they can change into. If your child does not want to wear a costume, that is fine, too! Please respect their feelings. Your child has many years of Halloween ahead!

On the topic of costumes, it’s a good time to acknowledge all the development and learning that dress up play supports. Here’s the link to a great article about that from the Fred Rogers Institute (aka Mr Rogers). https://www.fredrogersinstitute.org/files/ resources/49/heddanewsletteroct21.pdf. The pdf is also attached. Please note: **No Lunch/No Extended Care on October 30th. 12:00 pick-up. Staff Meeting.**

Gentle Reminders

• Emergency Food Bag. Each child needs a gallon zip-loc bag of peanut-free, nut-free food/snacks for their use in the event of an emergency. Please label the bag with your child’s name.
• Change of clothes. Each child needs a change of clothes at school (spare shirt, pants, 1-2 pairs of underwear, a pair of socks) in a zip-loc bag labeled with your child’s name. An extra jacket or sweatshirt that can be left in your child’s cubby is helpful, too.
• Family Boards. We’re still hoping for more Family Boards in our classrooms! These are so helpful for offering children comfort if they miss you during the school day. The children take great pride in sharing their families with classmates and teachers, too. Send yours in on an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of construction paper and we’ll laminate it for you.

News From the Classrooms: Preschool classrooms are notoriously busy and exciting places—there is so much for the children to observe, discover, and explore!

In the Rainbow Room, we are using mindful breathing as a calming technique. Ask your children to tell you about Star Breathing and Rainbow Breathing! We will expand our sensory table offerings this month, adding autumn leaves and blue kinetic sand. The children will continue learning one another’s names and becoming more familiar with our schedule and routines.

The Sunshine Room children are enjoying the songs Slippery Fish and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Who Do You See? in a personalized songbook version featuring the children’s own photos throughout. These are so much fun—you could make one for home, too, with your family members in it, or with favorite toys or stuffies. Kinetic sand is a hit in the Sunshine Room right now, too.

Our PACT Program children have been loving Little Red Caboose at music time, stories about trucks, trains, and planes at story time, and breaking in the new push bikes in the yard! They are working on learning that their grown ups come back. (Shout out to the PACT Parents: your Yellow Submarine at Circle Time sounds awesome!! 🙂

Some classic BCSO songs the children will likely hear this month are “Autumn Leaves Are Falling Down,” “The More We Get Together,” and “Halloween Ram Sam Sam.”

Book Corner: Some fall titles to look for at your local library or favorite bookstore are In the Woods: An Adventure for Your Senses by Mariona Tolosa Sistere; Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert; Our Favorite Apples by Grace Lin; and Squirrels (Backyard Animals series) by Leo Statts. Please feel free to share some of your child’s favorite books anytime on Konstella—everyone enjoys learning of a new book or having our favorites confirmed!

Best wishes,
Jennifer McManus
Assistant Director