Principal’s Report
February - 2008

During the month, we continued work on the Pennsylvania Standards for Reading and Math.    Each teacher is giving tests from STAR and Success Maker and analyzing data from these tests and tying them into the state standards.

The week of January 21st students in grades 3 through 6 took Mid-year Benchmark tests in both Math and Reading.

Our PTA Reflections Council winners were announced and their entries will now move on to the District and hopefully the state level.

Our PTA sponsored All-Star Sports Night was held on January 31st, 2008.  Parents played numerous games and were treated to many delicious treats in the cafeteria to end the evening.

 The month of January we started another six weeks of clubs.  Some of the clubs that we currently have running are: Jeopardy (grades 3-6), 4/5 Fiction, Quilting, Dramatics, Lacrosse and 4th Grade Radio Drama.  During the month of February we started another six weeks of clubs for students to participate in.

Students in Mrs. Fitzpatrick’s 3rd grade class touched upon their study of Pennsylvania and will use the laptops to discover more information about their home state.  They will also be making a brochure on Pennsylvania.  In addition to the brochure they will be doing a Web Search to find out information on landforms.

T.A.T.U. (Teens Against Tobacco Use) from the high school visited the school.  Small groups of teens went to each classroom and shared skits or other presentations with the children.  Of course, their message was clear: tobacco is not good for you and one should never begin to use tobacco.  All of our teachers were glad to have this message coming from young people.  Much time our children “hear” messages from young people better than from us.  Our thanks to Ellen Orben for coordinating this yearly event.

The Smile-O-Gram News Reporters again published an excellent newspaper for the month of January.  The really do an adult-like job on the paper.  I am pleased with the content and the writing ability of the children involved.

We held our first wampum extravaganza on Thursday, January 31, 2008.  Students in grades K- 6 who qualified had lunch and/or dessert with Mrs. Cole.  We had 71 students eligible for lunch and 116 for dessert.  Lunch and dessert were provided by our PTA.  We had 222 students qualify for free play which we will have on a nice day in the near future.

We ended the month with our annual visit to CDD to talk about the transition between their program and kindergarten.  We will be getting some very delightful children next school year.  We always find this visit informative and useful.  It is always nice to get to know the parents and the students who are come to D.V.E.S.  

Library Circulation -  12,819      Fire Drill January 8, 2008 – 88 seconds.