DCS Ravens' Report

February 15th-Winter Festival 11-2 at DCS.

February 21st-Community Lunch 12:00pm.

February 24th-28th-No School February Break.

March 7th-PTO meeting 8:15am.

March 10th and 11th-No school, Teacher Workshop days.

March 11th-Voting Day

March 15th-Town Meeting at DCS 9am. (Bake sale as well).

Hello DCS families, I hope you enjoyed the snow day yesterday and that the ice wasn't too slick at your house. This week has been filled with excitement about Valentine's Day and the 100th Day of school, which were celebrated today. It has been so fun to watch the students share their thoughtful treats!

Earlier this week, we had our trip to the Dublin School Nordic Center. Students were lead through some fun games on skis lead by Brad Bates Head of the school and some other people from the school. It was amazing to see the students improve their skiing skills in a short time. We are so thankful for the connection with Dublin School.

Wednesday, I was able to walk with the Kindergarten, First, and Second grade students to the Post Office to mail their Valentine's. We were lucky enough to get a tour of the inner workings of the Post Office. For some students the most exciting part of the trip was watching a resident open their mailbox and see the mail that was inside.

FYI, thanks so much for recycling the aluminum tabs. Jo-Ann Hopkins weighed the 5 gallon bucket and we sent 13 pounds of tabs to Shriners to be used to support patients there. Keep the tabs coming!

Kindergarteners have been watching the Big Bear Bald Eagle live cam eagerly awaiting the hatching of 3 eaglets! We check several times a day to see if there's been any progress. It's fun to make a real life connection with our knowledge of life cycles. Speaking of life cycles, we also learned about the life cycle of the penguin as a non-fiction addition to reading Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester. Ask your child to retell this hilarious story!

Our kindness plate continues to spread love around town! We receive email updates every time the plate is presented to a new person. This project is working just as we hoped it would, bringing smiles to all who participate!

Kindergarteners enjoyed our post office field trip. It was fun to see the behind the scenes of how our mail gets sorted and delivered. Of course, prompting the big trucks to honk their horns along our walk down the hill was also a highlight!

Did you know that an English word can not end with the letter "v?" That is why words like "love" and "have" must have a silent "e" at the end. Also, have you ever heard of a "scribal o?" Before the printing press was invented and scribes wrote manuscripts by hand, there was often confusion between "u" and the down strokes of n, m, and v because they look so similar. Because of this, scribes changed the "u" to "o." So in words like love and from, first graders will be able to tell you, "That's a scribal O!" These students love being able to have a reason why something is spelled unexpectedly, and they especially LOVE sharing it with their families. Both first and second graders enjoyed learning about contractions this week and making a Valentine hallway display to go along with it. Also, our class read another 40 hours! We filled our hallway bulletin board with 120 snowflakes where each snowflake represents 20 minutes of reading. We just finished our favorite read-a-loud of the year so far, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl. We laughed, cried, and rolled our eyes a bit while reading this classic. We're going to celebrate with a chocolate fondue party while wearing pajamas (earned from 40 hours of reading) while also celebrating 100th Day and Valentine's Day!

Finally, K-2 had a wonderful time getting a tour of our local post office! We now have a better understanding of what happens to our mail once we drop it in those big, blue mailboxes. It is amazing how quickly mail gets sorted and sent out for delivery. Fun fact, did you know Dublin had 80,000 packages come through its post office last year? Once again, we are very grateful for our amazing Community Helpers here in Dublin!

The terrific third graders have been busy practicing their poems using loud, clear voices for our Poetry Recitial on Friday, February 21st at 11:15 pm. Thank you to the parents for helping your children learn their poems!

We started our series of dances for our Group Activity with the Chicken Dance and the Macarena. Last week, we had Pam Bator visit on Wednesday to do a special persuasive writing project based on the book The Best Part of Me. The children each chose the best part of them. We took photos, and they brainstormed ideas with a graphic organizer to support their thoughts. Their final copies are displayed proudly in the hallway. With Mystery Writing, the children continue working on opinion writing.

For our study of Dublin, we visited the DGS to interview its owner, Michele. Also, the children painted beautiful pictures of Mt. Monadnock and Dublin Lake for the covers of their Dublin study books.

Our walk to the Dublin Library with 4th/5th Graders was so fun! Thank you to Karen Madigan for hosting us.

4th/5th English Language Arts -

The fourth and fifth graders are working hard to memorize and recite their poems for our Poetry Recital next Friday. Thank you to the parents for working with them at home.

The children continue to work on comprehension of their literature with different story element techniques. Please ask your child which they would rather be, an octopus or a parrot. These are the choices they have in the opinion writing that they are working on with Mystery Science. For word work, they are practicing the different ways to write the long o and long u sounds. We hope to see you at the Poetry Recitial on Friday, February 21st, at 11:15 pm.

It has been a very busy time for 4th and 5th grade!

In math, the 4th grade has been adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators and regrouping. They also have made real life connections by reading rulers to the 1/2, 1/4 and 1/8 of an inch. Then they used this data to make line plot charts and used those charts to solve or create story problems. The 5th grade had been adding and subtracting mixed numbers with unlike denominators and reducing their answers to the simplest form. This process has many steps and they work very hard to make sure that their work is accurate and written in a way that others can understand their process.

In Science, we have used the Scientific Method to determine the best way to avoid having cut fruit turn brown. These written summaries will be displayed in the hallway and then added to their science binder. We also will be taking a virtual field trip to the NH Turtle Rescue. This activity is organized by The Harris Center and will help us learn more about the turtles in our care as well as those in the wilds of New Hampshire.

In Social Studies, both grades are making a book about their grade appropriate topics. The 4th grade is studying New Hampshire symbols and the 5th grade is doing a book study of "George vs George: The American Revolution as Seen by Both Sides" by Rosalyn Schanzer.

We have added creativity to our days, as we prepare to celebrate Valentine's Day by decorating mail bags and we look forward to100th day of school activities.

3rd grade math has been using the principle of rounding to find numbers to the closest 10 and 100 with a number line and without. They also have been adding and subtracting numbers within a thousand.

A message from Pam Murphy, RN DCS School Nurse

Recently, there have been numerous student requests for cough drops. As cough drops are considered medication, I am asking for your help in following the ConVal policy on medication administration at the elementary level. To do this, any medication, including cough drops, must be delivered to the school by a parent/guardian or their designated responsible adult in the original container. A written permission form is also required which is available at DCS.

Please reach out to me at pmurphy@conval.edu if you have any questions.

If you are interested in ordering some DCS swag for your student(s), please use this link. We will be providing new students with a DCS T-in the near future. https://dublinravens.deco-apparel.com/

Email: npease@conval.edu
Website: dcs.conval.edu
Location: 1177 Main Street, Dublin, NH, USA
Phone: 603-563-8332