Welcome to the Winter 2026 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. |
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Greetings from Marie
I am happy to share an update regarding our classroom expansion projects, which are part of our 2025 Strategic Plan. We have completed the design phase for our new 2’s classroom on the 2nd floor and our expanded 3’s classroom on the 5th floor with ABA Studio, the architects hired for these projects. We are now working with the engineers on the construction documents and soliciting bids from contractors. Construction is scheduled to begin in early June! Having two classrooms designated for 2’s will allow us to have 4 groups of 2-year-olds attending school 5 days a week next year - two morning groups and two afternoon groups. The larger 3’s classroom will also allow more 3-year-olds to attend our program in September. I am so grateful to all in our community who have supported these projects!
Warmly,
Marie
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Happy 85th Birthday to The Brick Church School! | | The Brick Church School community joined together to celebrate 85 years of building bright futures at the Central Park Boathouse, raising $325K to support our strategic plan to expand and renovate our classrooms, launch a five-day Twos program, and fund financial aid for families and professional development for our amazing teachers. Dr. Tom Robinson (class of '52 ) and Helen Pennoyer (class of '60) shared favorite memories from their time at Brick, and architect Andrew Bartle (ABA) presented the renovation plans. A huge thank you to the 85th Birthday Celebration Committee, who created a fantastic and memorable evening. | |
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Community News and Events
Parent Visiting Days for Young 4's, 3's, 2's • Parent Workshops with Lily Howard Scott and Tommaso Lana • Annual Book Fair • Admissions Open House • Annual Blood Drive • Caregiver Coffee • Spirit Week • Project Cicero
View more photos of our Winter Community Happenings!
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Autonomous Discoveries in 3 North
During Garden and Activity, the children independently and actively explore the materials and toys provided. They work on making specific choices to support their interest and curiosity. As they make choices, they are experimenting, testing and adjusting their approach to represent ideas while figuring things out on their own. When the children investigate their own play without specific instructions it allows for creative and meaningful play and joyful learning! Since the beginning of the school year there have been a variety of autonomous discoveries in the 3N classroom:
- The children have been mastering their techniques and comfort levels with using scrap paper, cardboard, recyclable materials, tape and scissors to create something new. They have learned to snip paper, manipulate paper to cut out shapes/objects and now have taken it upon themselves to draw lines for their peers to cut out and use as collage pieces. The children have created drums, rainsticks, fire trucks and binoculars.
- Other discoveries have been made by the children using the cardboard boxes that we collected in the classroom. When we first introduced the boxes, they were used for pushing, sitting in, and filling up. Then the children started to use them to make different vehicles such as trains, cars, buses and airplanes. They have also used them to build rooms, closets, castles, forts and elevators.
These are some of the many discoveries made by the 3N children!
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Families, Families, Families in Y South
With discussions of valentines and love all around them, Y South talked about the beloved members of their families. They read two books, Families, Families, Families by S. Land and M. Lang, and Love Makes a Family by Sophie Beer. These books led to rich discussions about how all families are different and special, as well as some of the things they love to do with their families.
“I like to go to the park with my family.” “I like going on walks.” “I love going ice skating with my family.” “Go out to dinner. I had dinner at a restaurant with my grandpa last night... but we got no dessert.” “I like sledding with my family.” “I would like that too. I bought a sled, so soon I am going to go sledding.” “I like building snowmen with my family.”
Each child had the chance to share who was in their family after charting “Who’s in my family” and “How many people are in your family?”
These activities and conversations inspired the class to create family portraits. The children designed frames and drew pictures of the people in their families, including beloved pets!
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Kindness in 2 South
In 2 South, there has been a lot of interest in creating and publishing their own books. The children also love revisiting stories from time to time to learn new things. One of their favorite stories to reread is The Kindness Book by Todd Parr. They look to this book for ideas on how to make our friends feel good, how to say sorry, and how to be kind to ourselves. The children of 2 South took it a step further and created their very own kindness book! First, they looked at the “Kindness Book” created by last year's students for inspiration. Each child sat down with a teacher one-on-one and told them one way they could be kind. Then the children drew their pictures to go with their comments. They had some great ideas on how to be kind, like “keeping hands to yourself”, “cheering up someone crying”, or “giving hugs”. Once the teachers had collected all their pages, they assembled them into a book and read it together. The children took great pleasure in seeing their ideas and illustrations come to life, bound together in an ‘official’ book!
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Celebrating Arlene Hammer | |
Mrs. Arlene Hammer, Brick’s beloved Storyteller, is retiring after 34 amazing years. She will be greatly missed, but her teaching remains with every child who knows to “let it come, let it go” when encountering a new story. In her tales, young people and animals won the day or at least learned a good lesson through kindness, courage, curiosity, and clever problem-solving. Wiggly listeners settled down, entranced, and nervous ones discovered they could take ownership of stories, perhaps helped by petting Coyote, the well-meaning but often sleepy Keeper of the Stories. She taught generations of children how to be respectful but responsive audience members, ready for cues to make sound effects or recite repeated lines: Let’s build a bridge! Where is Crab – we’ve come to see his head! We’re going on a bear hunt! They handled props like bright feathers, sticks, and nesting dolls with careful pride as they took part in advancing the narrative. Mrs. Hammer presented “kamishibai” picture card stories from Japan, and especially beloved was “The Mother Cat,” written in Japanese with an English translation that told a story from New York City. She helped children to make connections (“It’s like Cinderella!”) and to examine the meaning of “true story” and “tall tale” with nuance. Stories like “Little Colt,” from the point of view of the Christmas donkey, guided children in perspective-taking. She shared the folk tales, songs, and games from around the world that are the inheritance of all children.
As an Associate Teacher for many years in 4S, Room 6, and other classrooms, she led children in explorations such as dying yarn and weaving with it, sewing handmade books, cooking latkes, and making masks. She loved singing with children and for many years directed classes at Christmas Chapels and End of Year Concerts. Mrs. Hammer eagerly sought out professional development, especially embracing Reggio approaches to learning, and she partnered in presenting “puppet books” at a National Association for the Education of Young Children conference, a project in which children photographed puppets and dictated stories, scaffolding all the children to be proud storytellers.
For many years, older classes looked forward to her Story Assemblies, where the trickling sound of the rainstick (which was taller than her!) could lead us back in time to “when the world was new, and people and animals spoke the same language.” The Assemblies were filled with ritual but also playful camaraderie, as children worked together to carry a huge snake on their shoulders or dig and chop vegetables. Then everyone took the songs and chants back to their respective classrooms.
Those of us at Brick who had the privilege to work with Arlene Hammer have learned so much from her, and our teaching going forward will always take inspiration from her. We wish her joy, relaxation, and adventure as she begins the story of her retirement. Click here to leave a note of congratulations or well wishes!
| | | | Brick’s 85th Birthday Annual Appeal | | |
❤️ Thank you to all the current families, alumni families, grandparents and friends who have already supported our 85th! We are so grateful. All gifts are deeply appreciated, and no gift is too small.
Please reach out to Susan Johnson with any questions. THANK YOU!
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Connect with Us!
To update your contact information, share an update on an alum, or to let us know about someone who would be interested in receiving Brick by Brick, please email dayschool@brickchurch.org.
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