WEEK OF MAY 26-30

Dear Parents,

This is going to be a bitter sweet week. It is time to say good- bye to our lovely students but at the same time we know that they are ready to move on in their lives. They are all excited to go to FIRST GRADE… hooray!!! We will devote this week to have fun. If you have any board games that we can play at school, have your child bring them to share the fun. They can also bring toys that they are willing to share with their friends.

It was a great pleasure to have your little ones in our classroom this year. We learned so many things. Your children are proud because they finally know how to read and write.

This year is over, so now we return your children to you, the same children that you entrusted to our care last fall. We return them with a few more pounds, a few inches taller, and months wiser, more responsible, and more mature than back then.

Even though they would have grown without our help, it has been a pleasure and a privilege to see their personalities grow day by day and see how they have developed their learning.

We have laughed, played, studied, learned and enriched our lives during the year. Take care of your children, for they are so precious.

Remember that we will always have great interest in your children and their destinies, wherever they must go, whatever they do and whoever they become.

Sincerely,

Ms. Nora and Ms. Valencia

DONATIONS - Moving?  Cleaning out?  Community Service Club is collecting used toys in good condition to take with them on their monthly visits to Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos orphange.  Toys can be dropped off in Mrs. Agurcia's room (Rm. 7, Secondary Building).

 

REPORT CARDS – To facilitate things for our parents, especially those who will be traveling or moving away, the administration has decided to issue the end of the year report cards and MAP reports on Friday, June 6 instead of Friday, June 13 as stated in the calendar. Parents will come to the school to pick up these documents.

 

SCHOOL FACEBOOK PAGE – Please check out our school Facebook page for news, pictures and tips that are helpful for both teachers and students. Look for Discovery School, Tegucigalpa, Honduras or follow this link: https://www.facebook.com/DiscoverySchoolHN

Don’t forget to click “Like” for our page to receive the latest updates and posts

 

DOG SITTER NEEDED – Ms Diane is looking for someone to care for her 1 1/2 year old German shepherd mix dog from June 10-July 17. She is medium-sized.   Must be a dog lover and have no male dogs (the dog has not been spayed yet.)  A securely gated yard is a must.  She is an indoor dog.  Ms Diane will provide food treats and money for any vet emergency that may arise. Bella does well with adults and teenage children.  Please contact Diane Howard-Coventry in the 4th grade.

 

SCHOOL CHOIR TO NEW YORK CITY – Our school’s Choir participation has been published in the DCINY official page. Please check it out at  http://www.dciny.org/current-season/sunday-june-22-2014.html share this with your family and friends.

 

DISCOVERY ZONE – Our Summer camp is back! Join us and allow your children to have a fun-filled three weeks at the beginning of their summer. Spread the word among family and friends and get special discounts!

 

WEEK OF MAY 19-23

Dear Parents,

Wow, it is amazing to realize that this school year is almost over and that First Grade is around the corner for our lovely students.

In our Kindergarten class we continue to have fun learning about places around the world. This week we are going to study Italy. Natalia Garzella will be our special guest as a teacher. Her son is in First Grade and they are from Italy. She will be talking about their culture, important places, important people, important holidays and all the delicious food they eat.

Some of the stories that we will be reading are:

Is an original children's book written and illustrated by Tomie dePaola. Set in Calabria, in southern Italy, the book focuses on the exploits of Strega Nona. She is a sort of female witch doctor noted throughout her home village for her numerous successful remedies.

Is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the children's novel The Adventures of Pinocchio (1883), by the Italian writer Carlo Collodi. Carved by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a small Italian village, he was created as a wooden puppet, but dreamed of becoming a real boy.

We will devote the remaining days of school to review all the sight words we have worked with in Kindergarten. Using these words we are going to be dictating sentences for the children to write them down. This will be challenging for them but we are also sure that it will be encouraging and exciting at the same time.

We will also do a lot of word problems with addition and subtraction. The children will have to identify the key words in a problem and then decide if they have to add or subtract to find the answer to it.

DONATIONS - Moving?  Cleaning out?  Community Service Club is collecting used toys in good condition to take with them on their monthly visits to Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos orphanage.  Toys can be dropped off in Mrs. Agurcia's room (Rm. 7, Secondary Building)

 

EARLY CHILDHOOD AND ELEMENTARY LUNCHEON – The Cafeteria will be hosting a luncheon for parents and students this Friday, May 23. The ordering slips were sent home last week! Let’s support our school cafeteria by ordering lunch and having parents come and eat with their child(ren). Please send the orders in as soon as possible!

 

END OF THE YEAR REPORT CARDS AND MAP REPORTS – We would like all our parents to know that the end of the year Report Cards and final MAP reports will be distributed on Friday, June 13_ as stated in our school calendar.

 

DISCOVERY ZONE – Our Summer camp is back! Join us and allow your children to have a fun-filled three weeks at the beginning of their summer. Spread the word among family and friends and get special discounts!

 

WEEK OF MAY 12-16

Dear Parents,

We hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day.

This is what we will be working on this week:

This week we will continue our unit about Children Around the World. This week our mainly focus will be EGYPT. We will learn about their writing and the children will be doing “secret codes” using hieroglyphics. We will be looking at various videos about this beautiful country and learn about their culture. If you happen to have any item that will help us learn about this country, we would appreciate if you let us borrow it from you.

The stories that we will be reading have something to do with EGYPT. Some of the stories that we will be looking at are:

There is so much in store on this incredible journey enormous statues and temples, the legendary Sphinx, tombs and mummies, and of course the Great Pyramids. With seven exciting destinations, a god or goddess on each page, and informative notes at the end, you will be an Egypt expert in no time!

Browsers and young students alike will enjoy these lively questions and answers book with their unique mix of realistic illustration and engaging cartoons. The enticing questions will amaze, amuse and inspire, while the highly visual format encourages kids to keep reading.

In this exciting new book about ancient Egypt, Ms. Frizzle dives into the arena of social studies with the same zest she has always shown for science. After joining a tour group, the Friz is soon the one in charge. She and the group parachute into the past, where they help build a pyramid and witness the making of a mummy. With Ms. Frizzle as a guide, readers will be eager to discover the enchanting history of Egypt.

In Math we are going to work on Word Problems. The children will determine if they need to add or subtract in a problem given. We will emphasize the fact that they need to answer in a complete sentence.

In Phonemic Awareness we will work with words that begin with TH and just T. For example: Turtle, Tiger, Tomato, Table, THirteen, THumb, THink, THree,

Here is our schedule for MAP Testing. Parents please help us assure that everyone does their best by making sure your child gets plenty of sleep and has a big breakfast on these days.

KA

Math- Monday, May 12th 8:30-9:45

Math- Thursday, May 15th 11:40-12:55

Reading- Monday, May 19th 10:05-11:20

Reading- Friday, May 23^rd 11:40-12:55

KB

Math- Monday, May 12th 10:05-11:20

Math- Friday, May 16th 11:40-12:55

Reading- Monday, May 19th 11:40-12:55

Reading- Friday, May 23^rd 10:05-11:20

SPRING GENERAL ASSEMBLY - The General Assembly of parents will be held on Saturday, May 17, beginning at 9:00 a.m. in the Cafeteria. We are required to have a quorum of one-third of our parents present in order for the meeting to be considered legal and for any decisions made at the General Assembly to be binding. We have 325 parents listed as members of the school association, so we need to have at least 108 parents in attendance (although only one parent per family can vote, both parents can be counted for quorum). We need for YOU to attend! Your ideas and your votes are important for the school. The school will provide supervision and activities for children during the General Assembly (from 9:00 - 11:00 a.m.) Dr. Jay Ketterer, Discovery School’s new Head of School, will be present at the Assembly.

 

DPTO– The DPTO will be hosting their traditional GARAGE SALE and CAR WASH this Saturday, May 17. We hope all our school community will mark their calendars and support the DPTO by attending!

 

DISCOVERY ZONE – Our Summer camp is back! Join us and allow your children to have a fun-filled three weeks at the beginning of their summer. Spread the word among family and friends and get special discounts!

           

 Wow, we are getting closer to the end of the year!! We would like to give a BIG THANK YOU to Mrs. Erica Herrera, Mrs. Amanda Miller and Mrs. Nicole Posivak for coordinating our End of the Year Party. 

It’s a Kinder Party to celebrate the End of the Year

AND Stevie Posivak’s Birthday!

Monday, May 26

at Nora Herrera’s House

in Lomas del Guijarro Sur.

Bus departs school at 9:00 a.m. and returns to school at 12:30 p.m.

We’ll be having fun with water games outside! Please pack a towel, bathing suit, sunscreen, hat, and change-of-clothes.

Parents are welcome!

Please return this form to Ms. Nora or Ms. Valencia by Friday, May 16.

My child, ____________________________________, has my permission to ride the bus and attend the Kinder End-of-Year Party at Nora Herrera’s house on Monday, May 26, 2014.

I, ____________________________________________, will also be joining the party.

____________________________      ___________________

Signature                                                    Date

WEEK OF MAY 5-9

Time seems to be flying by in Kindergarten. We continue to be very busy in class. The children are all very excited to know that First Grade is around the corner. This is what we will be working on this week:

This week we will begin our unit about Children Around the World. This week our mainly focus will be FRANCE. We are going to learn how to say some colors, numbers, days of the week and months of the year in French. How exciting!!!! We will also be looking at various videos about this beautiful country and learn about their culture. If you happen to have any item that will help us learn about this country, we would appreciate if you let us borrow it from you.

The stories that we will be reading have something to do with France. Some of the stories that we will be looking at are:

This story had been written and first published in France.

Babar and Celeste set off in a balloon, beginning an exciting series of adventures. Escaping from savage cannibals, only to be trapped by a circus owner, Babar knows nothing of his home country’s escalating war against the rhinos. But with some help from the Old Lady, Babar returns in time to save the day.

Fancy Nancy is back! And when her family decides to get a dog, she's certain she can be fancier than ever. After all, a papillon -- a small, delicate, fluffy dog -- is the ultimate accessory. But her family wants a large, plain dog. How unglamorous!

Madeline is one of the best-loved characters in children's literature. Set in picturesque Paris, this tale of a brave little girl's trip to the hospital was a Caldecott Honor Book in 1940 and has as much appeal today as it did then. The combination of a spirited heroine, timelessly appealing art, cheerful humor, and rhythmic text makes Madeline a perennial favorite with children of all ages.

In Math we are going to be doing a lot of activities to review Place Value. We will be using ten frames made out of craft sticks to represent the numbers.

In Phonemic Awareness we will be introducing some digraphs. The digraphs that we will be studying this week are SH and CH.

In language, a digraph is two letters or characters that make a single sound when pronounced, also known as a phoneme. The sound made by the digraph is usually noticeably different than the pronunciations of the individual letters would be. SHark, SHeep, SHell, SHip, SHoe.   CHicken, CHeese, CHair, CHin. 

IMPORTANT SCHOOL ANNOUNCEMENTS

SPRING GENERAL ASSEMBLY - The General Assembly of parents that will be held on Saturday, May 17, beginning at 9:00 a.m. in the Cafeteria. We are required to have a quorum of one-third of our parents present in order for the meeting to be considered legal and for any decisions made at the General Assembly to be binding. We have 325 parents listed as members of the school association, so we need to have at least 108 parents in attendance (although only one parent per family can vote, both parents can be counted for quorum). We need for YOU to attend! Your ideas and your votes are important for the school. The school will provide supervision and activities for children during the General Assembly (from 9:00 - 11:00 a.m.) Dr. Jay Ketterer, Discovery School’s new Head of School will be present at the Assembly.

DISCOVERY GOES GREEN- Thank you for all of you who have participated in green activities during April. 

-Congratulations to the 2nd grade classes for bringing the most material for the Recycling Drive.  They will celebrate with the environmental science students by having an "earthly" snack on Tuesday. 

-Also, a large thank you goes out to all the families that sponsored plants for the Greening Our Campus activity.  The students had lots of fun getting dirty, using their "green thumbs" to plant their bushes.  We planted 65 bushes and more are to come in the next few weeks.  Our campus is definitely looking greener!

DPTO FUN RUN AND CARNIVAL – The DPTO will be hosting their traditional events this Saturday, May 10. The FUN RUN begins at 7:30 a.m. followed by the traditional breakfast, and the CARNIVAL will take place from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. We hope all our school community will mark their calendars and support the DPTO by attending and having a great family time! 

DISCOVERY ZONE – Our Summer camp is back! Join us and allow your children to have a fun-filled three weeks at the beginning of their summer. Spread the word among family and friends and get special discounts!

CHRONICLES OF DISCOVERY GALA – SURVEY - If you attended the Gala, please complete the following survey to help the school grow and improve:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7TKDQ32