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Dahlgren Tiger Beat, March 2010
Principal's Corner
Thanks so much for your patience and understanding for
the missed school days due to snow and poor road conditions in February. While our missed days
have been limited compared to local schools, we still want students in school every day. We appreciate
those who made sure that streets, sidewalks and our parking lot were clear. This was a great combined
community effort. We have received great feedback from parents on the “One Call” system. It is,
however, only as good as the phone numbers we have to call. If you did not receive the “One Calls”
during the snow days, please contact the school office to update your contact information. Shortly, we
will know what is required to make up the time missed and will insure that you are informed.
March is a busy month. We start off the month with guest readers for Read Across America on March
1st and 2nd. Students in the Middle School will participate in the Dahlgren Job Shadow Day on March
3rd. This was rescheduled due to inclement weather.
The PTO is sponsoring the School Book Fair during the week of March 15-19. We know that the more
students read the better readers they become. Come and browse the books with your child. Students
in Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten will enjoy working with an artist in residence from
Wolf trap the week of March 22-26th. This is a combined program with the Child Development Center.
Also during the week of March 22-26th, students in grades 3-8 will participate in the Terra Nova standardized
assessment. Please plan ahead to have your child in school in the mornings, the heaviest
time of the testing.
All of the extra activities could not have happened without parent and community volunteers. Thanks to
you all for your continued support. We are very proud of the students of Dahlgren School!
Continuous School Improvement Plan
One of Dahlgren School’s Continuous School Improvement Plan academic goals is to provide
students with experiences in critical thinking skills. This month’s focus looks at the practical application
of critical thinking concerning consumer purchases.
Did you know that today’s American children spend $4.2 billion a year of their own
money to purchase items for personal use? Did you know that Saturday morning TV is the
focus of a $100 million advertising budget by consumer industries? These statistics are courtesy
of the Center for Media Literacy.
Students have the money, but do they have the critical
thinking skills necessary to spend that money wisely or to get the best value ? What really
constitutes “the best value”? Extending the idea of critical thinking further, do older students
understand where their goods were made and under what conditions? Do they understand
the ramifications of product disposal?
For students who are given their own money to spend, knowing how to apply the
critical thinking skills of comparing and contrasting will help them become better consumers.
Compare and Contrast at Home
This year’s Continuous School Improvement Plan (CSIP) focuses on helping students develop critical thinking skills. One way to support this effort is by working with your child at home on simple tasks that allow him or her to compare and contrast items. Each month some ideas will appear in the Tiger Beat to help you help your child.
Everyone loves the story of The Gingerbread Man but did you know that there are many different versions of that story? Choose two from the many Gingerbread Man books that are the most different, such as The Gingerbread Man retold by Jim Aylesworth and The Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campbell Ernst. These two stories have very different endings. Read both books to your child. Talk to your child about how the stories are the same and how they are different.
For further compare and contrast activities for older children, check out the following website: http://www.thevirtualvine.com/gbmactivities.html
Counselor's Corner
Guidance activities
in the classes this month will focus
on understanding and managing
feelings, particularly feelings of stress
and anger. Students will be encouraged
to use their verbal skills to show
people how they feel and to express
themselves in positive ways. They
will also learn strategies that work to
deal with frustration, stress and anger.
The TerraNova Tests of Achievement
will be administered to all students
in grades three through eighth
the week of March 22-26.
It is very important that all children be
here during that week. Tests will be
given every day in the morning. If a
child is absent due to illness, makeups
will be given the following week.Terra Nova is a norm referenced test
in which your child’s scores are compared
to those of children in a national
norm group. Results should be
received about six weeks after testing.
Parents of children 3 to 5, mark your calendars for the annual
screening day on Friday, March 19. This is a free service in conjunction
with personnel from the Bethesda
Naval Hospital who provide
screenings for children from birth to
three. Screenings include vision,
hearing, speech, cognitive, fine motor
and adaptive development. If any
problems are noted, further assessment
can be done with parent permission
and services provided. Call the school for more information.
The Kids on the Block puppet
show event was postponed from
February 17 to March 29. This program, for
grades three through five, focuses
on treating people with differences
with respect.
Second Annual Northern Neck Disabilitites Awareness Fair. A
free joint military/civilian weekend
providing information and resources
to parents and caregivers of people
with special needs will be held at King George Elementary School on April 23 and 24.
Black History Month
Everyone knows that February
is traditionally Black History
Month, but Dahlgren School unofficially
kicked off Black History Month
in January. After completing several
activities about Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., the Reading Buddies requested
books on African-Americans
for Friday afternoon reading. Mrs. G. filled two plastic crates full
of beautiful books – most of them
brand new, thanks to the $28,000
book allocation that we received from
DoDEA last summer! She also displayed lots of books for older students as well.
One teacher checked out A Voice of
Her Own: the Story
of Phillis Wheatley,
Slave Poet by
Kathryn Lasky. Although
the book is
only 40 pages long,
it’s an excellent
way to teach older
students about a
slave who “became
famous on both
sides of the Atlantic
as the first Black
poet in America.”
Then, a middle school student
snatched up Jackie and Me: a Baseball
Card Adventure by
Dan Gutman. In this
book, a boy goes back to
1947 to meet Jackie
Robinson, turning into an
African-American boy
and changing “his view
of history and his definition
of courage.”
At lunchtime one day, a
student was searching
for a good biography to
share during Literary
Lunch and found a winner – When
Marian Sang by Pam Muñoz Ryan.
We also discovered a wonderful book
at our book fair in October. It’s called
Our Children Can Soar: a Celebration
of Rosa, Barack, and the Pioneers of
Change by Michelle Cook.
We liked it so much that
we used every dollar of the“One for Books” program
and every penny in free
credits in order to purchase
as many copies as
possible. The opening
lines are “Our ancestors
fought… so George could
invent. George invented…
so Jesse could sprint.
Jesse sprinted… so Hattie
could star.” (This line about Hattie
McDaniel fits right
in with the upcoming
Academy
Awards.) The
book follows a
timeline through President
Obama.
Ms. G has some fun
finger puppets of
famous African-Americans with
magnets inside. Students love to pull
them off the markerboard and play with the puppets as they read about
famous people like Harriet Tubman,
Sojourner Truth, Thurgood Marshall,
George Washington
Carver,
and Barack
Obama.
The Olympics
provided a
good opportunity
to talk
about Jesse
Owens and to
showcase a
new book titled Jesse Owens: Fastest
Man Alive by Carole Boston
Weatherford.
A
favorite
game during
Black
History
Month is an
internet
scavenger
hunt. Students
get to
read about
George Washington Carver, Frederick
Douglass, Mae Jemison, Thurgood
Marshall, Jesse Owens, Rosa Parks,
Jackie Robinson, Sojourner Truth,
Harriet Tubman, and Booker T.
Washington. Then they match the
person with some famous facts.
There are prizes for everyone when
they finish the hunt.
It’s mpossible to showcase every
famous African-American, so students
find free bookmarks in the library all
month long with a long list of names
for suggested reading and research.
Mile Club News
Mile Club resumes it’s trek on
Tuesday, March 2, 2010! We’ve been on
a short hiatus due to the weather and basketball
season, but we are ready to start walking again!
If you are 9 and older, meet in the school gym and join us
for some fun!
Garden Club
Tired of the snow? Ready to get
outside, dig around in the dirt, and make something grow?
Then it’s time for you to get together
with us! Inspired by Mrs. Obama and her White House garden,
we are doing the first veggie
garden at Dahlgren School this year!
We have started an experimental
batch of seeds
and will be updating the Earth Day
Garden to support a celebration coming
in May!!
This year’s packages of fresh veggie seeds are on
their way, the fountain for the courtyard is almost
here, and we’ll be putting it all in place as soon as we
get the ground tilled and the space level!
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