Welcome to the Fall 2025 issue of Brick by Brick, The Brick Church School’s newsletter for parents and grandparents of alumni, adult graduates, friends of the school, and our current families. It is our pleasure to share a window into the current life of the school, with highlights from our classrooms and special school events, as well as updates about alums, and ways to stay involved in our vibrant community.

Happy 85th Birthday to The Brick Church School!

The Brick Church School opened its doors to its very first class of students on October 7, 1940, and since that time has provided an outstanding early childhood education to generations of children and families. As we celebrate this milestone anniversary, we reflect on 85 years of joyful learning, vibrant community and shared commitment to the education of young children.

Our school is flourishing, sustained by our dedicated community of parents, alumni, grandparents and friends. Throughout the year, we will celebrate our storied history and what makes Brick such an exceptional early childhood school and community.

We invite you to help us commemorate 85 incredible years of building bright futures at The Brick Church School by sharing any memories and photos you would like to contribute to our archive here. We look forward to sharing them in future communications and celebrations of our beloved school!

It is a remarkable part of the school year as the 2 West community evolves! The children are beginning to sense they are part of something special. Each day, they see their classmates and teachers, and enjoy lots of fun activities. The children are building a sense of community by working and playing together throughout the school day. They are sharing space at the easel, on the rug, or during snack. Activities like singing together, collaborative play in small groups, and creating a welcoming, safe environment where children feel free to explore are important for fostering a sense of community.

The children have been eagerly gathering on the rug to sing familiar songs. It is a shared experience. In this cozy setting, the children in 2 West are learning to share a common space as well as building an understanding of personal space, respecting others, and cooperating. They are learning each other’s names when they sing the “hello” song. These joyful moments only strengthen their belonging and connection!

The 5 North children have been busy experimenting with colors and color mixing by using different color combinations to see what would happen. They had a wonderful time exploring colors on the light pad, which glows from underneath! They investigated mixing colors using see-through paddles, shapes, and containers. First, they experimented with red and yellow translucent materials to see what new colors they could make. The next day, they explored with blue and yellow. By layering, stacking, and overlapping materials, the children discovered exciting color changes. This activity encourages creativity, strengthens fine motor skills, and supports cooperative play. We hope that by providing different opportunities for the children to act as scientists through hands-on experiences, they learn about colors and how, when they come together, they create new ones.

4 South learned about symmetry! The teacher cut folded paper, and children guessed which letter would be revealed when the paper was unfolded. Some letters like A are symmetrical from side to side, some like E are symmetrical from top to bottom, and some like O and X have double symmetry and can be cut out of paper that is folded in fourths. Next, they created symmetrical patterns by building on a previous experience. They had glued colored squares on a long strip of paper to make a repeating pattern. This time, starting from the “bellybutton,” a dot marking the middle of the paper strip, they worked out from the center, gluing squares of matching colors. They created symmetrical jack-o’-lanterns by cutting out and gluing folded black paper pieces onto orange paper pumpkins. Cutting on the fold made a symmetrical piece, especially popular for mouths, and cutting elsewhere produced two identical shapes that made spooky, funny, or friendly eyes. The children were thrilled by unexpected discoveries when they unfolded their paper, finding interesting uses for the snips they hadn't initially planned to use. Everyone got good practice with cutting and gluing as well!

We are pleased to share this documentation of recent project work. We hope you enjoy!

Over the past 85 years, The Brick Church School has provided an exceptional early childhood education to thousands of children. In this year of celebration, as we implement our 2025 Strategic Plan, we have set an ambitious fundraising goal of $850,000. Our success in meeting this goal will allow us to expand our 2’s program, improve classrooms and outdoor spaces, increase resources for salaries and benefits, financial aid, and more.

Your support makes all the difference. We rely on the generosity of our parents, grandparents, alumni, alumni parents, faculty, and friends and hope every member of our community will show their commitment to Brick and its Mission with a birthday gift today. All gifts are deeply appreciated, and no gift is too small. We are grateful to our incredible community for making our 85th Birthday Annual Appeal a success.

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Thank you for helping us build bright futures for generations to come.

Please reach out to Susan Johnson with any questions. THANK YOU!