Dear Parents,

So begins another exciting year here at Brookside School. As with every year, we strive to continue our tradition of attentiveness to students and excellence in learning. At the same time, we look to improve and to grow. 

One of the more exciting things we have done historically, and continued with last year, was to include students in meaningful and significant decision making about their school.  Last year demonstrated this goal.  Through Student Coucil, students made all the significant decorating decisions for the new cafeteria, the newly created E-sports room, and the newly created outdoor eating area.  They also worked with all of the students at Hillside, as well as the Brookside 4^th grade, to help design the new Hillside playground.  This last project included the steering committee of students presenting to over 300 people at the AFEE auction.  

Another focus included expanding meaningful opportunites for experiential learning.  A good example of this is the 5^th grade Mars Experience.  Students are tasked to work in groups to design a feasible habitat on Mars, taking into account the environment, the distance, and current engineering limitations.  While we have done this project for several years, this year, we added an experiential component where the children went to STEM Arena to actually employ some of the technology that would be employed living on Mars.  These experiences included a VR experience, and remote control of vehicles in both 2 and 3 dimensional environments.  

Going into this year, we plan on continuing with these initiatives, while we will continue our laser focus on our academics. Brookside students continue to perform exceptionally well in all areas of academics. The work our students do in the classroom allows students to develop academic and analytical skills in a way that many upper elementary and middle school students do not get to experience. In the most objective metrics, our standardized test scores continue to be a point of pride. Our students also participate in music at a fantastic level (over 70% of the school is involved in band, chorus or both) and STEM.  Most importantly, the kids are enthusiastic about their learning and get opportunities to stretch themselves and grow.  

As you can see, I am very proud of our school. As always, if you have any questions or concerns please contact me by phone at 201-327-2020, or by email at bwinkelstein@allendalek8.com.

Bruce Winkelstein
Principal