| February 4 | Challenge Island Afterschool program begins (4:15pm)
| | February 10 - 14 | | Friendship Week and Spring Book Fair! | | February 11 | | Dallas Opera Touring Show (3rd-5th grade) | | February 12 | | Autor Visit- Susan Crummel | | February 12 | | Book Fair Family Night (6-8pm), General PTA Meeting (6:30-7pm) & Family Read-A-Long (7:15-7:30pm) | | February 14 | | Class Valentine's Day Parties | | February 17 | | No School | | February 20 | | Eat at Grub Burger to benefit Brinker | | February 27 | | Author Visit - Patrick Carmen |
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Click below for a message from our PTA President: |
| 2019-2020 REFLECTIONS, DISTRICT WINNERS Brinker PTA thanks all the young artists who participated in the National PTA Reflections program last Fall. Brinker Bears created and submitted original works of art in response to the 2019-2020 theme "Look Within". Artworks are judged at the local, district, region, council, state and national levels. We are incredibly proud to announce and congratulate the following district level award recipients: Nakul Gowda, 2nd Grade - Award of Excellence in Visual Arts Vijay Shivnani, 5th Grade - Award of Excellence in Visual Arts Akshara Kommidi, 2nd Grade - Award of Merit in Visual Arts Grant Murphy, 2nd Grade - Award of Merit in Photography Sonali Thomas, 2nd Grade - Award of Merit in Literature Derek Yoon, 4th Grade - Award of Merit in Visual Art Nishal Gowda, 2nd Grade - Honorable Mention in Visual Art Jessi Imani Lowery, 4th Grade - Honorable Mention in Visual Art Veda Kumar, 5th Grade - Honorable Mention in Photography These award recipients will be invited to the district awards ceremony in the April. ALL Reflections participants will be celebrated at a lunch with Mrs. Adame in March. Thank you for encouraging your children to express themselves through art. |
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| 2019-2020 SCIENCE & ENGINEERING FAIR WINNERS We are so proud of our many Brinker budding scientists! So many fantastic projects were submitted to our Science and Engineering Fair in January. Congratulations to our Grand Prize winners, Beatrice Gruver (1st) and Brooke Selkin (5th), and to all our entrants on thier hard work!
Nikhil Thomas- 1st place Kindergarten Beatrice Gruver- 1st place First Grade Jack McKellar- 2nd place First Grade Bryan Shan- 3rd place First Grade Grant Murphy- 1st place Second Grade Arjun Shah- 2nd Place Second Grade Gabby Satz- 3rd place Second Grade Reyansh Pidaparthy- Honorable Mention Second Grade Lauren Poore- 1st place Third Grade Ashley & Allie Moroni- 2nd place Third Grade Saai Iyer- 3rd place Third Grade Vikrant Gulati- 1st place Fourth Grade Ayaan Khanna- 2nd place Fourth Grade Aiden Shan & Jessi Lowery- 3rd place Fouth Grade Brooke Selkin- 1st place Fifth Grade Arshiya Bajaj- 2nd place Fifith Grade Vijay Shivnani- 3rd Place Fifht Grade Jean Gan & Alex Meeks- Honorable Mention Fifth Grade |
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 High Touch High Tech On January 27th our Kindergarten got a special treat! Brinker PTA is proud to sponsor a visit from High Touch High Tech of Dallas where scientists assisted our Kindergarteners in becoming paleontologists! Our students discovered real fossils and uncovered other mysteries of dinosaurs. Ask your little paleontologist about what they learned! |
|  SAGE Event Our biannual SAGE event was a great success! Students had a lot of fun experiencing how students with different abilities learn and interact with their environment through a series of interactive stations. We could not have pulled this event off with out all of our amazing volunteers. A very special thank you to our SAGE co-chairs, Christine Diaz and Simone Krasnov. |
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 January Volunteer of the Month: Hilary Lewinson Congratulations to our January Volunteer of the Month, Hilary Lewinson! Hilary, her husband Phil, and twin 1st graders Aiden and Noah are in their second year at Brinker. The Lewinsons moved to Texas just over 3 years ago from Southern California. Hilary’s career is rooted in the Eyewear industry and she currently works in Marketing at Essilor of America. Being a working mom of twin boys, Hilary doesn’t get much down time- but when she does, you’ll find her cheering in the stands at Aiden & Noah’s basketball games and taking their 8 month old Goldendoodle, Cali, to the dog park! Hilary is a rock star volunteer who is leading our 1st grade room rep volunteers as our 1st grade lead. You also see her handy work every month in our Brinker Bearfacts as our PTA Newsletter chair. Thank you Hilary for all of the time you put in to supporting our school and our PTA! |
|  January Tuesday Tunes Performers “Music is the heart of life." She speaks love; "without it, there is no possible good and with it everything is beautiful.†― Franz Liszt We started this new year with beautiful melodies from the following Tuesday Tunes performers: 5th grader Arshiya Bajaj, 4th grader Kayla Zhang, and 3rd grader Abigail Pinto. Well done, girls!!! Did you know Music is a way to connect with other people? Music education is important because it gives students a way to connect with other people. It has been proven time and again that having people of all ages play or listen to music together will help to create bonds. Tuesday Tunes encourages our young musicians to perform for their classmates and teachers in an informal setting. To participate in Tuesday Tunes, the student must have two years of formal training. All instruments are welcome including voice! Email ktsai@brinkerpta.org if you have questions.
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SPRING BOOK FAIR
BRINKER’S JUNGLE BOOK FAIR IS ALMOST HERE! Did you know the book fair isn’t just a great opportunity to build your child’s home library but also a small way to give back to your PTA? 25% of every purchase goes back to the school, and is used for your child’s field trips, technology support, and so much more! How can you participate? 1. SET UP AN EWALLET- This is the easiest and safest way to allow your child to shop the fair at school without having to carry coins, cash or checks around. Make an account for your child at our school’s unique address: https://www.scholastic.com/bf/brinkerelementaryschool Put money in the account, and when purchasing at school, our system ensures they don’t overspend the amount you set. Anything they don’t spend automatically goes back on your credit card after the fair. This is also a great way for extended family members who don’t live nearby but who want to contribute, to participate in our fundraiser! If you do choose to send a check, they must include 8.25% tax and be made out to BRINKER PTA. 2. SHOP ONLINE (any time, using the link above) OR AT SCHOOL – stop by during the day or shop with your kids after school. If you make purchases online it ships directly to you and you will have more choices. 2/11, Tuesday: 2:45 – 3:30 pm 2/12, Wednesday: 8:00 am – 3:30 pm 2/13, Thursday: 8:00 am – 3:30 pm 2/14, Friday: 8:00 – 10:00 am 3. JOIN US FOR FAMILY NIGHT ON WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12 FROM 6-8 PM – Do you need Valentine’s day gifts for teachers, family or friends? Come shop with us and the kids can say hello to Dog Man, who will be visiting our fair! This year we will also be hosting a special bilingual family re-a-long. At 7:15 on famiy night, join our favorite librarian Ms. Pearson as she reads one of our Book Fair Books to you and your family. Ms. Pearson will also be joined by our PTA Chair Querube Tamez who will read the book in spanish! 4. VOLUNTEER – Students love seeing their parents at school, so come help with class previews, sale days or Family Night! Volunteer here: https://brinkerpta.membershiptoolkit.com/volunteer/59179 |
AUTHOR VISIT SUSAN CRUMMEL Author Susan Stevens Crummel will be joining our K-3rd graders on February 12th. Ms. Crummel is a former teacher for 30 years and the co-author of several children’s picture books including NY Times Best Seller Help Me, Mr. Mutt! and The Great Fuzz Frenzy. Students can bring in any of Ms. Crummel's books for her to sign that day. If you would like to purchase one of her books, we will be selling one of her most popular titles, The Donkey Egg (hardback) for $19.48 (including tax). Load your students ewallet or send in cash/check by Tuesday 2/11 to get your copy for signing, and help support the Brinker PTA! Other titles can also be found at your local book store, Amazon or can be purchased at a discount directly though the publisher. For more information visit https://www.susanscrummel.com/. |
| VALENTINE'S DAY PARTIES Valentine's Day Parties will be held on Friday, February 14th. Kindergarten - 2nd Grade parties will be hosted from 1:30 - 2:15pm. These classes will need 5 parent volunteers per class, as well as donations. Donation and Volunteer sign ups can be found HERE. Volunteers will be taken on a first to respond basis*. Please note that unlike the Winter Party, visitors will NOT be allowed at the parties. We appreciate your understanding. 3rd Grade - 5th Grade parties will be held from 1:45 - 2:30pm and will be hosted by the teachers. Parent volunteers will NOT be needed for 3rd-5th grades. Donation requests will be communicated by your homeroom teachers. If you have any questions about the parties or volunteering please contact your homeroom representative or Jennifer Thompson, PTA Grade Level Coordinator, at jthompson@brinkerpta.org. *All volunteers must be cleared though PISD prior to volunteering |
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| COMMUNITY HAPPENINGS For the Future of Plano Forum- West Plano Election candidate forum event focused on state wide topics and public education. find more information HERE February 6th, 6pm-7:30pm PISD Sockwell Center 6301 Chapel Hill Rd, Plano 75093
Multicultural Outreach- Citizenship Workshop February 8th, 2pm PISD Sockwell Center 6301 Chapel Hill Rd, Plano 75093 Plano Girls Lacrosse Free clinics every Saturday in February to learn Lacrosse. Equipment provided, grades K-8 and all skill levels welcome. For more information visit www.planopremiergirlslacrosse.com. February 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th, 12:30pm-2pm Andrews Institute (Back field) 7211 Preston Road, Plano 75024
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DINE OUT FOR BRINKER 
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| Have you downloaded the new BOX TOP app? The Box Tops program is going digital! The download is available on the App Store and Google Play. Just link your account to Brinker Elementary and start scanning your receipts! Brinker will receive $.10 for every eligible purchase. For more information on the Digital BOX TOP program, click HERE. If you still have traditional box tops at home, you can turn those in by February 25th! Just have your kids drop them in the Box Tops canister as they enter the school.
Questions? Email Melissa Nanson at mnanson@brinkerpta.org |
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| It's never too late to join the PTA! our membership form is always open and we encourage all of our parents and community members to join. Not a member yet? Click the join button for more information or to join today!
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CORPORATE SPONSORS Thank you so much to all of our 2019-2020 Corporate Sponsors. The contribution from these sponsors allows us to offer amazing enrichment programs, experiences, field trips and events. You can learn more about these local businesses by visiting their website, which you can link to directly from the sponsor section of our home page HERE. Please show your thanks to these sponsors in appreciation for their support of our Brinker Bears! 
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Silver Sponsors |
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