Bristol Township School District

Brookwood Elementary School

2200 Haines Rd

  Levittown, Pa 19055
267-599-2400

2022-2023

Transition from Pre-K to K

Packets for K registration are distributed to pre-k programs usually in the early spring.  VITA, a program that is currently working with families throughout the district, receives registration packets so that they can help ESL families complete their packets.  Days are scheduled for K registration in the buildings.  Parents are encouraged to come in at an appointed time so that the secretary can process their applications and the families can then meet with the school nurses to complete their paperwork.

Child care programs plan a time to visit an elementary school in the district so that their students will have the opportunity to be in a K class.  The children will listen to a story read by a K teacher, visit the gym, the library and the cafeteria for a snack.

The child care programs will talk to the students about coming to K and what to expect.  If they have an after school program, they will bring students who are in the public schools in to talk about what happens during the day in regular school.  

The pre-k teachers will read books such as The Night before Kindergarten to their classes.

Towards the end of the summer an orientation day is planned where parents and their children are invited to visit the schools.  While they are in the buildings, a tour is conducted of the building.  Parents get to meet the K teachers, the counselors, if available, and the principals.  The students get a chance to play on the playground.  A screening is completed on naming letters, colors, shapes, etc.

There is also an evening planned where parents and students are invited to come to the school and take a short bus ride.  The parents get the opportunity to take their child’s picture getting on and off the bus.  Bus rules are explained and the children get to take a short bus ride around the bus loop so that they have an idea of what riding on a school bus will be like.  Parents have found this to be very helpful in alleviating any stress regarding riding the school buses.

Students are assigned randomly to the K classes.  On the first few days of the school year teachers will greet the students in the gymnasium and have all the students in their class collected before they head off to their rooms.  Parents are able to walk their students to the gym for the first couple days to help ease anxiety.

Transition from Grades 1 to 5

Near the end of the school year, students in one grade level such as first grade, will “move up” to second grade, second to third, third to fourth and fourth to fifth.  They will be assigned randomly to a classroom.  The grade level teachers will discuss expectations at that level, things to look forward to and plans for the following year.

New Student Transition

When new students enter our buildings, they are given a tour of the building.  We show them the cafeteria, the gymnasium, the art and music rooms and where their classroom is located.  They are given a New Student Packet which contains information about upcoming events like the Family Engagement Night, a letter inviting them to the Title I Annual Meeting or the Title I county-wide Family Engagement Workshop, depending on the time of the year and other building events.  The parents also receive a copy of the Student Handbook.  Students are then given the universal screenings such as Dibels.  Students are placed in the classrooms based on their age.  The ESL teacher may be contacted if the student indicates he/she speaks another language in the home.

Transition from Elementary School to Middle School

In the late spring several different events happen within the district.  The first event is a visitation day from department chairs from the middle schools visiting the elementary fifth grades.  The second event is a field day held for all 5th graders.  It is a time of athletic contests, for one thing, but it is really a time for all the fifth graders to come together to meet each other and celebrate their rite of passage of moving up to middle school.  It is a fun day of competition.

An orientation day is held in the late summer so that students and their parents can visit the schools, follow a possible schedule so that they get used to moving in the hallways and between classes.  The principals are available, as well as many staff members.  Counselors from the middle schools visit all of the elementary schools, talk about scheduling and how all of that works.  The students are then assigned classes based on their individual results from PSSAs and the LinkIt Tests.  The availability of different programs is explained to the students such as Tiger Techs and they are given an opportunity to sign up for these programs.  We are implementing a day at the beginning of the school year that brings in the new 6th grade students, a day without the other grades being present.  The teachers have planned programming that gives the 6th graders an orientation to middle school expectations, introduces them to the building and gives them an opportunity to move around the building as they follow an abbreviated schedule.

Parents are invited in to visit on Back to School Nights, as well, where they have an opportunity to meet the teachers.  Expectations are explained to all.  The students and families then follow their schedules to visit each classroom.  Separate evenings are held for different grades so that families are able to visit classrooms for more than one student. They are also invited in again for Deployment Night where the one to one devices are deployed to the students.  Rules are explained for proper usage of the devices.  Consequences are also explained for violations of the district policies.

Parents from both middle schools are invited to join separate private online groups like a google classroom where parents can be in touch with teachers and the principal for announcements, concerns and issues that come up throughout the school year. 

A similar pattern is followed for transitioning from 8th grade to the high school.  Counselors and department chair people will visit both middle schools, discuss opportunities for scheduling classes.  An evening event is also planned for interested parents.  Students then have an opportunity to schedule a visit with the school.