DCS Ravens' Report

April 5th, 2024

Important Dates

April 8th-Solar Eclipse-more information below. Feel free to come to DCS at 3pm to view with your student (s).

April 11th-Falconry Presentation with Henry Walters 1pm (see below)

April 18th-New Hampshire Dance Institute (NHDI) evening performance 6pm, please park at Yankee, the bus will start running at 5:30pm.

April 22nd-26th-April Vacation

Message from Nicole Pease, Principal

Happy Friday DCS families, I never expected an early release and two snow days in April. I hope you all were safe and warm this week! Wed. we celebrated our amazing support staff; Vicki Brown, Diane Raum Green, and Emily Platt (pictured above) with a surprise breakfast! DCS would not be how amazing it is without these wonderful people!

Today, we had hoped to have a presentation about the upcoming eclipse, but Mother Nature had other ideas. Each classroom will share what events result in an eclipse as well as information about how to be safe. The District has provided solar viewing glasses for all students and staff on the day of the eclipse. If for some reason you choose to keep your child home please know it will be an excused absence per House Bill 1471. Or you could come to DCS and meet your child around 3 to watch the eclipse at school. We are excited for this educational opportunity and safety remains our top priority. Please remind your student about the importance of useing the safety glasses when observing the eclipse.

Next week brings PE back to DCS, the Falconry presentation with Henry Walters, and the start of NHDI on Friday. There is always lots going on in our wonderful school! Have a great weekend, Nicole

Kindergarten and First Grade

Happy spring?! Some snowy weather has interrupted us a bit, however, we continue on wherever we left off! Kindergarteners have finished a deep dive into each letter of the alphabet at this point in the year (letter ID, sound and handwriting) and are now starting to explore digraphs (two letters that make one sound) beginning with the final -ck as in duck. They're becoming more and more confident with their reading and writing skills.

Kindergarteners have completed Unit 5 in Math which focused upon numbers 1-10, breaking apart numbers into 2 parts as well as adding and subtracting! We are moving into numbers 1-20.

First graders are wrapping up a geometry unit. They've learned about the names and attributes of 2 and 3 dimensional shapes as well as the concept of fractions- shapes divided into equal parts. They used this knowledge as a diving off point for learning to tell time on an analogue clock to the hour and half hour. Ask your student to show you what they know!

3rd Graders

The terrific third graders have been busy! Our exciting news is everyone finished knitting their hat! The project was an exercise of stamina, a growth mindset, and fun. The children wear them proudly at recess. Mother Nature helped us out with the late snow. Thank you to Vicki Brown and Kate Jadodzinsk for assisting us on this project.

For Social/Emotional Learning, we began our “Forgiveness” unit this week. The first topic was anger leading to forgiveness of yourself and others. The children discussed and wrote about a time they were angry and how they reacted, and then they reflected on what they could have done to handle themselves more productively. For Math time, we started our unit on fractions. This week, we worked on partitioning shapes into equal parts and labeling the parts as a fraction unit. For Science, we had a grand time with Henry Walters hiking around the back of the school, listening and observing the birds that remained here in Dublin for the winter, and catching several migratory birds returning for spring. Thank you to Henry for taking the time to spend with us.

The last exciting bit of news in 3rd Grade is we hatched 3 chicks at this writing! We are hoping for more to hatch throughout the day today. Although disappointing the children were not able to witness the hatching, it will be fun to see them come Monday morning!

Library Week

I enjoyed learning with students in the DCS library this week! Grades 3, 4 & 5 learned about how to tell the difference between real and fake news online and reviewed how to be responsible digital citizens. Grade 2 reviewed the definition of fiction and non-fiction, how to spot the differences and similarities and practiced that skill with library books and periodicals. Kindergarten and grade 1 were introduced to unplugged coding and unplugged keyboarding skills. Thank you for supporting library by reading with your student at home!

April 11th visit from Monadnock Falconry with Henry Walters

Monadnock Falconry offers the chance for nature enthusiasts of all ages to imagine life as a bird of prey! We are devoted to environmental education through first-hand experience of these amazing creatures rarely encountered up close in the wild. The hour-long program gives the opportunity to meet a Harris' Hawk and see it on the wing, while answering all your questions about their life histories and relation to their human handlers. The program is open to all, including those with disabilities.

Summer Learning Registration

Good Afternoon,

It is time to register your child for Summer Learning. Please use the following link to sign your elementary child(dren) up. An early registration will ensure that we have the staff and resources to host a robust summer learning program. A separate email will be sent later in the month to register middle and high school students for Summer Academy.

Explore and Expand (all schools) and Title 1 (for AES, PES, Pierce and GES) will begin on July 9th and run through August 1st. The daily schedule for each program is 9 - 12 Tuesday through Thursday. MS Summer Academy (for all rising 5th graders) begins on July 8th and runs through August 1st. MS Summer Academy is four days a week from 8am - 12:15pm. A more detailed description of summer learning opportunities can be found in the registration form.

Similar to last year, all summer programming is free.

Please reach out with any questions!

Best,

Amy Janoch and Kathie Morrocco