Third Annual Spaghetti Dinner

We held our annual spaghetti dinner on June 6th and served approximately 80 people.  Our National Junior Honor Society served our guests a dinner of salad, bread, beverage, spaghetti and dessert.  After dinner, our Peace Through Language group provided a babysitting service to young children and our HS Teen Institute Students led activities for the younger students while parents were given a presentation on Internet Safety.  Soon to be DMS Parent and Secret Service Agent Tom West provided some relevant and informative guidance on how to keep children safe on the Internet.  Mr. West said the most important thing parents can do is COMMUNICATE with your children.  Parents should ask their children what they are doing on the Internet, who they are talking with, what sites they visit, etc.  He said while we can place technological safeties on our computers there is always a way around the roadblocks.  The best "firewall" is the parent.  Parents should communicate, monitor and report.  He asked parents to teach children how to use technology wisely and safely and not to give out personal information about themselves and not to friend people they do not know when using social network sites.  He also suggested having computer access in an observable location so you can more easily monitor what your children are doing.  Mr. West talked about cyberbullying and sexting indicating it is becoming a very widespread problem.  Parents and students should always report incidences of cyberbullying and sexting.  The following website is an excellent resource for learning more about Internet Safety and we encourage everyone to take a few minutes to check it out.

Thank you to all the teachers who donated pasta and sauce, to a parent who donated the salad and dressing, to the PTA members who made all the desserts, to all the teachers and students who helped prepare, cook, serve and clean up.  It truly was a building effort and a worthwhile event!

Fourth Graders Participate in Videoconference!

Fourth grade students from around the state participated in a videoconference on the Erie Canal to learn about the history of the Erie Canal and its impact on NY State.  Ms. Alexander's 4th grade class was one of the classes who participated in this experience.   

The conference was held in 3 sessions. The first session's goal was to introduce the classes. Ms. Alexander's class created new lyrics to the Erie Canal song and performed it for the other participants (See video- "Alexander Erie Canal Song"). The second conference was titled "Mystery through History" in which students had to solve a mystery related to the canal using knowledge of this era's history. The culminating activity was a class project. Ms. A's class met on a Sunday afternoon at the Camillus Erie Canal Park and filmed information on the history of the park and Sim's Store to answer their essential question "How does the Camillus Erie Canal Park help preserve the history of the canal?" Watch the video, titled "Erie Canal Documentary".  On May 30th, the classes "came together" through our video conferencing equipment to share their final lessons.  Our students did a great job and enjoyed the experience of learning with other students.  Ms. Alexander said:

"We decided to take on this project because we enjoy learning about history and using technology whenever possible.  So....What better way to learn about the Erie Canal than to research, write the script, and film on location for a State-wide Video Conference about the Erie Canal!!"

 

47 Students Inducted into National Junior Honor Society

On May 22nd we inducted 47 new students into the Naional Junior Honory Society.  Students are selected into the society through an application process.  They must demonstrate the qualities of the Honor Society which include Scholarship, Service, Leadership, Citizenship and Character.  Our candidates are the leaders of our school who demonstrated these qualities on a regular basis and are proud to be members of the Society.  Speeches were given by current Honor Society officers:  Maddy Locastro, Jamie McLennan, Shannon White and Emily Buschbacher, as well as other members Kayley Wagner, Mackenzie Proud, Sydney Wentworth, Matthew Bailey and Courtney Sayre.  The 7th and 8th grade Select Choir sang our National Anthem and performed a musical selection for our enjoyment called I Dream A World. Congratulations to all of these students for their hard work, effort and dedication to being leaders in our school and community. Emily Alexander, Robert Beyel, Madeline Bird, Victoria Boos Margaret Brennan, Kevin Brown, Michale Brown, Anna Canny, Madison Conklin, Daniel Cusick, Kayla Drager, Allison Field, Tyler Gerbsch, Taylor Gould, Kira Hawes, Eve Hughes, Nathan Keller, Elizabeth Kelsey-Gossard, Braxton Knapp, William Kisil, Evelyn Leubner, Sydney Lewis, Kern Linder, Brianna Linn, Andrew Marsh, Isabella Matro, Lisa Morocco, Cecil Nelson, Colette Rigas, Shane Rohe, Sarah Rohe, Haley Ruggles, Drake Satter, Ashley Seymour, Michael Spicer, Matthew Strempel, Frankie Szczech, Michaela Tangredri, Ethan Tanguay, Hannah Tarolli, Abigail VanCamp, Grace Vensel, Abigail Vetsch, Caleb Wetherell, Elizabeth White, Tristan Wiley.

6th Grade Parent Information Night

Mr. Wing shares information with parents and students about entering 7th grade

DMS Open House

Thank you to everyone who attended our Open House for students in grades 4-6!  Students spent the last few days preparing to make this a fun and informative event.  We hope you enjoyed seeing some of the cool things your children are working on here at DMS!  Thanks also to the PTA for sponsoring another huge book fair!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

There is no better way to end PARP week with a tribute to Dr. Seuss!

Visting Author at DMS to Celebrate PARP week!

We were pleased to spend some time with Vivian Vande Velde on March 2nd!  She held three assemblies with our students in grades 4-6 to talk about her journey as an author of children's books.  Vivian shared that she became a writer because she loved stories of all kinds.  Her favorite was fantasy.  She was born in 1951 and lived most of her life in Rochester, NY.  Her first book was A Hidden Magic.  It took her 2 years to write this book and she had to submit her book to 33 publishers before getting published.  She never gave up.  She followed her dream and has become quite accomplished.  We have many of her books here in our library.  Check one out today!  Have you read one of her books? Post a comment below! Thank you Mrs. Vande Velde for visiting our school and sharing your story!