Fourth Graders Giving to Others

Mrs. Healy's 4th grade class chose the Eva M Donahue Inc. as their service giving project for Christmas. Eva Donahue started this organization to help others that are facing difficult times in the local community. Mrs. Healy's class raised $250.00!  Mrs. Donahue passed away from cancer in July 2012.

Mrs. Hart's fourth graders collected donations for a Sarah House, a hospitality home in Syracuse.

Shop and Donate!

Fifth grade students in Katrina Ercole’s class donated funds, made shopping lists, and then walked en masse to Nojaims to shop for less fortunate community members. The students then delivered the food items to the Durgee Food pantry here in town.

 

 

 

Kazoo Fest 2013!

The melodious sounds of plastic kazoos could be heard in the hallways of DMS as sixth graders flaunted their kazoo-playing skills to the enjoyment of their fellow students. For a dollar donation, sixth graders were given a kazoo and lessons. Camp Good Days and Special Times, an organization dedicated to offering respite and fun for families touched by cancer, was the recipient of the monies raised during this musical extravaganza.

 

 

Project Linus

 

Instead of holding a classroom gift exchange, students in Jill Zoccolillo’s class participated in a blanket making day in the classroom to benefit Project Linus, an organization dedicated to provide seriously ill or traumatized children with homemade blankets. Several sewing machines could be heard whirring on December 18th as the blankets began to take shape. With the help of many parent and grandparent volunteers, they spent a morning sewing blankets. The class raised money to purchase fabric and also accepted fabric donations. In just about three hours the class was able to make 15 blankets to donate. Blankets are collected locally by Project Linus volunteers and are then distributed to children in hospitals, shelters, social service agencies or anywhere that a child might be in need of a big hug!  

 

 

 

Donating for Others

Mrs. Carey's 5th grade class generously donated money so that they could adopt 2 families this year and make their Holiday a happy one buy purchasing and wrapping gifts!

Exploratory Language Classes

7th grade Exploratory Language classes taught two 1st grade and one Kindergarten class a song in French.  The students performed the song together at the KCH Sing a Long on Friday December 22nd. 

 

 

Chorus Concert

Congratulations to our 7th and 8th grade chorus students who performed in our final concert of the season. They did an awesome job with the inclusion of instrumental accompaniment. For the final two numbers the DMS Choir joined the Senior High School Choirs making amazing music! Thank you for an outstanding performance!

Junior HIgh All County

Congratulations to all our band members who participated in the challenging Junior High All County auditions this past weekend!  Selected from Driver Middle School to participate in the 2014 All County band are the following students: 

Flute - Maddie Lanning

Bassoon - Justin Costa

Bass Clarinet - Alyssa Cook

Trumpet - Jane Stewart

French Horn - Sam Hayduke

Trombone - Justin Schoeneck

Selected to participate in the 2014 All County orchestra are Riley Burns and San Madden.

Congratulations to all our students who participated!  Way to go!

DMS Drama Club Performs

 

Under the direction of Mrs. Ryann Riefler, 7th and 8th grade students perform Mirror Image A Real Enchanted Musical. Assisted by: Anna Perry, Adina Martin, Kristen Goodwin and Mackenzie Sadler, Mrs. Riefler led the students through learning lines, staging, music, costumes and the art of performing. All of our students "left it all on the stage" for both performances. Watching the progression from the first day of practice to the dress rehearsal was amazing. The students have much for which to be proud! The all worked so well together and continue to talk about the amazing experience they had being a part of the cast or crew. Speaking of crew, they did an awesome job also: Cameron Finnie, Ethan Mosure, Rebecca Nutting, Matt Spicer, Sam Townsend, Cecilia Sheridan, John Riccardi, Megan Rynkiewicz, Sra Gotham, Erin Hass, Brenna Heath, Ryan McCormick, Hannah Ryan and Mikayla Streiff. Also, special thanks to the pit band: Riley Burns, Sean King and Cecil Nelson. You were outstanding!

Choral Concert

Congratulations to our DMS choirs for an awesome performance Wednesday, December 11th! Mrs. Patterson directed the 4th grade choir as they sang four songs including Happy Winter! The 5/6 select and 5/6 choirs performed under the direction of Mrs. Peenstra with musical accompaniment on several songs by Alaura Cushman, Alyssa Goodwin, Jack Santangelo, Laura Canny, Chloe Strand, Bronte Stahl, and Thomas Mills. Their finale,  On With the Snow, was a great way to end the concert! Way to go Choirs! Happy Holidays! 

DSM Annual Spelling Bee

Congratulations to all our students who participated in our annual spelling bee this year.  We participate in the WCNY/Scripps National Spelling Bee every year and send two students to represent DMS in the Regional Rounds.  This year we had over 400 students take the initial written spelling test.  From there 23 students qualified to participate in the Schoolwide Oral Spelldown which was held on December 4th.  Those students were: Margaret Moses, Justin Schoeneck, Sebastian LaVine, Hayden Sadler, Caroline Buff, Haley Duke, Miriam Rigas, Emily Falge, Gina McGivern, Nate VonHausen, Daniel Wrona, Rylan Randall, Jeffrey Shi, Amy Francesconi, Natalie Caldwell, Jackson Masters, Hannah Durand, Phillip Radionov, Noah Brown, Mason Barney, Joseph Perleoni, Colin Arnett, and Anna Perry.

Congratulations to our two finalist who will go on to represent us in the Regional Round in January.  Dan Wrona and Emily Falge became our finalists in round 7!  We have three alternates to fill in for Dan or Emily if they cannot continue:  Dylan Randall, Colin Arnett and Anna Perry.  There was a back and forth battle between Dan and Emily of an additional 5 rounds of words before we got to our DMS School Champion, Dan Wrona!  Dan spelled correctly the final two words: armistice and carcinogen to become our champion. Dan was a semi finalist last year.  Way to go Dan and Emily!  Good luck in the next round.

Bandanas for Guide Dogs

The 7th graders participated in a service learning project that they chose to do. They made dog bandanas for the guiding eye dogs. We made about 70 bandanas and presented them to Guiding Eyes in Syracuse. 

DMS Bands Perform

The Elementary Band under the direction of Mr. Carmen Costa and the 7/8 Band under the direction of Mrs. Audrey Turner performed their winter concert to a full house on Wednesday, December 4th. The Elementary Band was very excited about the Hallelujah Chorus. The 7/8 Band did an awesome performance of Harlequin Dance and African Marching Song.  The concert was outstanding. Congratulations to all our performers and directors! Way to go! A well deserved standing   O! 

Guest Speaker

Andrew Lunetta,  a graduate of LeMoyne, talked about his journey to help those suffering from addictions and homelessness. He started a program called Pedal to Possibilities which is a group bike ride in the city of Syracuse for homeless people. It acts as a way to build a community and break down barriers with the homeless. He opened up a home called The Possibilities Home, which is a place for homeless to try to change their lives. 

Service Learning Posters

Students created posters to encourage and support service learning!

 

Service Learning

National Junior Honor Society students gave a presentation to DMS students on service learning.  They shared what it means to them, why they do it and how they want to make a change in the world and help change someone's life... Including their own! Their hope is their message will encourage their classmates to do the same. 

End of the Marking Period Recognition

We recognized a number of students for their achievements throughout the first marking period. Congratulations to all our students and their achievements.  Keep up the good work!!!