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A is for Allen Brook

Allen Brook School is in Williston, Vermont.   We have preschool 

through second grade.   The outside of our school building is blue, 

red and yellow.

In our school, we have three school rules.   Our school rules are 

“Be Safe, Be Kind, and Be Responsible”.   If you do these things, 

you earn a buzzy.

At our school, we learn to read and write.   We also do Fundations, 

which teaches us to spell.   We also have math, recess and lunch.

Interview with Mr. Terko, our school principal.

1.     How old is Allen Brook School?

It is 17 years old.

2.     How many kids are at our school?

There are currently 356 children at our school.

3.     How many classrooms do we have at Allen 

Brook?

There are 20 classrooms at our school.

4.     How many teachers work at the Allen Brook 

School?

We have 35 teachers here.

B is for Buzzies

We have buzzies at our school.   They are soft.   They are small and big.  

They can be yellow, black or green.   We give them out when kids are 

safe, kind and responsible.

When you get a black or yellow buzzy, you were safe, kind or 

responsible. If somebody is in your way, you can say “excuse me.   That 

is not safe.”   You don’t want to disrupt the class.   That is not 

responsible.

When you get a green buzzy, it is bigger than the yellow or black buzzy.  

You get a green buzzy for special things, like being safe on the 

playground or in the hallways.

If our class buzzy jar is full, we have a class celebration.   We pick our 

celebration from many ideas.  

When the office bee-hive is full, we have a whole school celebration.  

We do this over and over again.

C is for Computer Lab

The computer lab has lots of things like 

computers, head-phones, tables, chairs, a 

big screen and keyboards.   It also has 

mice, but not real ones.   Last but not least, 

the computer lab has iPads!

In the computer lab, we blog, we watch the 

screen read a book to us while we hold the 

same book in our own hands.   We also do 

Lexia and play math games, which are 

really fun.

We interviewed Ms. Linda Scott, who works in 

our computer lab.

What is your favorite part about your job?

My favorite part is working with the students 

and the teachers.   It makes my day.

How long have you worked here?

I have worked at Allen Brook for one and a half 

years.   I worked at the Williston Central School 

for eight years, so it has been nine   and a half 

years altogether.

Have you used all of the computers?

No, I have not used every one in the school 

but I have touched quite a few of them!

What is your favorite app or web-site?

I like art apps and photo-shop.

D is for Displays

There are different kinds of art in the hallways.  

There are paintings   made of paper and 

sculptures made of wood.   Displays are for 

people to look at and enjoy the beautiful 

artwork.

In the art room the art on display is drying 

and waiting to be finished or waiting to be 

taken home.   It is also there to decorate the 

art room. 

Outside our library we have a bulletin board.  

The displays on it have to do with books and 

reading.  

Bulletin boards are displays too.   They hold art 

and that’s what displays do – hold art.

E is for Eating Well

We have rules in our cafeteria.   You can sit with a partner if you want 

to.   You can sit by yourself.   Some kids have hot lunch and some kids 

have cold lunch.   Cold lunch is from your home and we put it in our 

lunch-boxes.   We eat our food at the tables in our cafeteria.

Some food is bad but some food is good for you.   I eat good food.

F is Fountain

The fountain is a machine that you drink out of.   It has a number 

counter on the top of it that says how many water bottles we have 

saved.   My guess is about between 18,000 and 21,000 for the first 

year.   What is your guess?

Mr. Terko said, “We have the new water fountain so more kids and 

adults will drink water.   It is an easy way to fill a reusable water bottle 

and it saves us from throwing away so many plastic bottles.”

You put your bottle against the back of the fountain and the water 

goes into the bottle.   The janitor can adjust the temperature to make 

it colder or warmer.   The water is filtered so it is always clean.

We will probably get another water fountain that fills bottles at the 

other end of the building next year.    I think we will save even more 

plastic bottles from going to the dump next year.  

G is for Garden

People go outside to the garden club to see 

Andrew.   We only go one time a week.  

At the harvest party Andrew makes Stone Soup.  

There are carrots, green beans, onions, potatoes, 

rice, beans and celery in the soup.   You eat it with 

a spoon.  

In the winter some of the plant beds are empty.  

The garden looks like brown sticks with snow on 

them.   The building called a pergola has snow  

on it.  

When spring comes the snow melts.   That 

means it's time to plant the seeds.

H is for Houses

A house is a group of people.   At Allen 

Brook School we have houses for groups of 

students and teachers.   Harmony, Horizon 

and Synergy all have first and second 

graders.    These houses have four 

classrooms and a teacher in each 

classroom.   Each house has a teacher 

assistant and two student helpers.  

Harmony got its name from a list of words that 

showed community and togetherness.   The 

teachers voted for Harmony.   The teachers’ 

names in Harmony are Ms. McCormack, Ms. 

Crowley, Ms. Benoit and Ms. Thyng.  

Something special about Harmony is that they 

meet on Monday afternoons in the kiva and 

sing.

Horizon got its name six years ago.   The students 

drew pictures and the people voted for their 

favorite.   They chose Horizon because you can look 

out the window and see the horizon.   The teachers’ 

names in Horizon are Mr. Bolger, Ms. Powers, Ms. 

Rodliff and Ms. Schwartz.   Something special about 

Horizon is that they meet every Friday in the kiva 

and sing, say the Pledge of Allegiance and Mr. 

Bolger plays the guitar.

Synergy got its name when they started new teams.  

Synergy means everyone working together is stronger 

and comes up with better ideas than working alone.  

The teachers’ names in Synergy are Ms. Ashford, Mr. 

Lake, Ms. McLaughlin and Ms. Stein.   Something special 

about Synergy is that every month they have spirit days 

and they have Friday workshops.

There are six kindergarten classes.   The 

kindergarten teachers’ names are Ms. Canfield, Ms. 

Davison, Ms. Dyer, Ms. Read, Ms. Rogers and Ms. 

Spagnuolo.   Something special about kindergarten 

is that they study monarch butterflies at the 

beginning of every year and maple sugaring every 

spring.

There are four preschool classes.   The 

teachers’ names are Ms. Patricia and Ms. 

Jodi.   Something special about preschool is 

that they go on lots of field trips and they 

have a closing ceremony at the end of the 

year with music and photographs.

I is for Inside and Outside Recess

We have outdoor and indoor recess.   When we 

go outside, we play on the play structure. We 

swing on the swings.   We also play on the 

play-ground.   We like to play tag. In the 

winter, we go sledding.  

When we have indoor recess, we play in the 

kiva.   We can also visit other classrooms.   We 

play indoors when it snows or rains outside. 

We also play indoors when it is so, so cold.   I 

like playing with cars inside.

J is for Janitor

Our janitor loves working at the Allen Brook 

School.   He worked at IBM for 29 years before he 

worked at our school.   He said, “It is like a breath 

of fresh air to work here.”

He started working here 11 years ago in 2002.   He 

works 8 hours a day and 5 days a week.   He works 

40 hours each week.

He cleans the rooms, bathrooms and hallways.   He 

cleans the rugs, lights and windows.   He has to 

keep the furnace working.   Outside he has to 

shovel the snow and mow the grass.   Wayne is 

very helpful for our school.  

K is for Kiva

At our school, some teams have a kiva.   I will tell you 

what a kiva is.   A kiva is a large space.   It is like steps 

but it is slanted and longer.   The word “kiva” means 

underground chamber.   It was used by the Pueblo 

Indians.   Our kiva is not underground.   Our kiva can 

hold 4 classes.  

We use the kiva to meet and see each other and do 

things together.   We meet on Mondays and we sing 

songs.   On Fridays we share in the kiva.

I went around our team and interviewed kids about our 

kiva.   I asked them   “What is your favorite thing to do in 

the kiva?”

11 people said “sing, 1 person said “share” and 1 person 

said “play”.

L is for Library

There are different kinds of books in the library.  

There are music books, animal books, cooking 

books, shark books and lots of others.   It is good to 

use your inside voice in the library.

We choose books with computers or ask the 

teacher.   The bookshelves have labels and then you 

can find your books.   When people look at a book 

that they don’t want they put them on the red cart 

to be put back on the correct shelves by the 

librarians.

Our librarian is Ms. Wentz and the library 

assistant is Ms. Blaine.   They read us books, 

help us find books and check out our books.

People go to the library to get new books on 

many subjects.   Libraries are good places to 

find information on computers.   There are 

16,300 books and 400 videos in the Allen 

Brook School Library.  

M is for Music

We have Music class on Mondays.   We love 

to sing and we love to play with the 

instruments in music.

In Music you sing songs, you read books 

that are about music and you play games 

with music.   You have to sing as good as 

you can and with a good singing voice.

We are going to tell you about some of the 

instruments we have: drums, violin, a flute 

and a harmonica.

N is for the Nurse’s Office

Do you know how our nurse helps people? Well, I do.   She helps 

people by keeping us healthy at school so we can learn.   The nurse’s 

goal is to keep us healthy.   She gives us medicine or sends us to the 

doctor.   She also gives us bandages for scrapes and cuts. Our nurse is 

Sylvia Love.   I interviewed her.

1.     What is your equipment?

I use a thermometer, a stethoscope, tweezers, flashlights, and an 

emergency bag.

2.     What are the different kinds of sicknesses that you deal 

with?

Stomach aches, sore throats and headaches.

3.     How do you help people?

My goal is to keep us healthy.   I give medicine or send kids to the 

doctor’s office.   I also give bandages for scrapes and cuts.

O is for Office

There are seven people who work in the office.  

They are Ms. Simmons, Ms. Pavlik, Ms. Tatlock, 

Mr. Terko, Ms. Poirot, Ms. Leightrupp and Ms. 

Huntington.  

There are many things that they do in the 

office:   answer the phone, buzz people in the 

front door, make the “School Bell” (the 

newsletter to parents), work on attendance, 

help with the busses, sort the mail, help 

people with the copier, and help kids with any 

questions.

Ms. Pavlik has worked in the office for almost 

twenty years.   She worked for seventeen years 

at Allen Brook and three years at Williston 

Central.

Mr. Terko bought 4,000 black buzzies, 4,000 

yellow buzzies and 500 green buzzies.   The 

total is 8,500 buzzies that go into buzzy jars 

and then get dumped into the beehive.

Sometimes it’s really busy in the office and 

sometimes it’s really quiet.   They really like it 

when kids come in and ask them questions.  

The office is a very helpful place

P is for PE

In PE, we need sneakers and the sneakers need to be tied.  

We play line tag in PE and we play bowling.   Sometimes we do 

a 10 minute jog.

I have Ms. Porter and Ms. Bannerman for PE.   We have PE 

twice a week; on Wednesdays and on Fridays.

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