DMS News Update

Happy New Year!

As we start up with January it is wise to evaluate how the year is progressing.  Now is a good time to take a look at areas of weakness to make improvements and areas of strength to support us through the rest of the year. I encourage all parents to spend some time with your child reflecting on his/her year and what they hope to accomplish before the end of the year.  

Our school improvement committee has been working on a few items we would like to change this year.  Specifically we are looking at our attendance monitoring procedures, ways to support students who are struggling with homework completion and the structure and expectations of sports study hall.  We would like to discuss these topics at our next Site Based Team meeting which will be held on Monday the 25th of January from 3:30-4:15.  We would like to have some parents attend this meeting to be a part of these decisions and provide your perspective and insights.  If you are interested in attending, please contact the office.  Information about any changes we make will be coming in a letter with report cards at the second ten weeks.

SKI CLUB will NOT ski on January 5th (the initial first ski date).  Weather permitting, we will ski for the first time on January 12th. I will try to send out an SNN to keep you posted on ski club.

Have a great start to the new year!

Happening in Science

Earlier in December, we extracted DNA from strawberries.  Students put their sample into small capsules and kept them for a necklace! Fun!

Happening in FACS

8th Grade: Had a cultural food project where they created a restaurant about the culture that they researched. The students voted on the top 5 restaurants out of all of the classes in 8th grade. The top 5 groups went to a final round in the conference room and presented in front of a panel of judges. Mark Young, Robin Brown and Donna Rice were the judges for this years competition. 

The 8th graders are now in the kitchen learning about knife skills. They started it off with a chopped quinoa salad.

7th Grade: The 7th grade students just finished sewing their draw string backpacks. 

NJHS Annual Food Drive

Once again this year we sent four full barrels and multiple boxes of food items to the Salvation Army.  This drive is sponsored by our National Junior Honor Society as a yearly event around the Holiday Season.  Thank you for your generous contributions!

Peace Through Language Club Singing Christmas Carols

Thank you to the PTL Club for visiting the office this afternoon to fill our space with song!  Christmas Carols in French!  They visited KCH as well!

Pillowcase Challenge

5th graders in Mrs. Zoccolillo and Mrs. Manke's class hard at work, collaborating, creating and making pillow cases!  The class made 40 pillowcases that will be donated to the local children's hospital and charities. Annella Bolster wrote an article for their upcoming classroom newsletter:

1 Million Pillowcase Challenge

By Anella Bolster

The 1 million pillowcase challenge began when 1 nurse (Michelle Kim) at the University of California Davis Medical Center learned how to make pillow cases.  She thought that it would be very comforting to the children to know that there are people out there who care, who have sympathy for them or have maybe been through the same thing.  She made enough that all the kids in the hospital going through surgery get one.  The hospitals started the 1 million pillowcase challenge in 2010.  Now over 560,000 pillowcases have been donated to children that need comforting in a time of stress and fears.

FACS Fun!

Family and Consumer Science Club mad gingerbread houses after school one day last week!

Choral Concert Success

Congratulations to our 7th and 8th grade students who performed their Winter Concert on Monday the 14th of December. Students sang magnificently and have much for which to be proud. There is pure beauty in the voices of our children raised in song. Our students sang Carol of the Bells with the HS Women's Chorus and sang Parcem Noel with the HS Chorus and Concert Band.  Bravo Mrs. Peenatra and the 7/8 Chorus! 

DMS Choral Concert

Congratulations to our 4th, 5th and 6th grade Chorus and Select Chorus students who enchanted the audience with a fabulous concert on Wednesday, a December 9th. They did an amazing job with fun and festive songs. The holiday spirit was definitely flowing in the auditorium! They even had a visit from Santa!