The Weekly Splash

Dear Dolphin Families,

Mornings can definitely be hectic, but when we move together with one purpose, we set every student up for success. A quick reminder: school begins promptly at 7:40 AM, and students must be inside the building by 7:40 AM to be counted on time. Believe it or not, learning starts the second that bell rings, and arriving late often leaves students feeling stressed as they miss crucial morning routines with their class.

Beat the Traffic — Doors Open at 7:15 AM Planning to arrive just a few minutes earlier makes a huge difference in avoiding heavy carpool traffic and keeping our mornings running smoothly.

Quick Tips for Smooth Mornings

• Set alarms with a few extra minutes built in.

• Lay out clothes and shoes the night before.

• Put backpacks right by the door so they are easy to grab and go in the morning.

Pedal Responsibly: Bike Safety Reminders We love seeing our students ride their bikes to school! To keep traffic flowing smoothly and protect our riders, please review these expectations with your child:

• Mornings: Slow down when approaching campus, stop at the crosswalk, and walk your bike across the street.

• Afternoons: Walk your bike around the front of the building to the crosswalk near the carpool line before crossing.

Thank you for working in harmony with us to keep our school routines in sync and our morning drop-off safe for everyone!

Sincerely,

April D. Kenely

Principal

To help students continue building friendships and enjoying time with their peers, parents may have lunch with their child once per week.

A few important reminders:

• Please bring lunch only for your own child.
• Parent visitors must sit with their child in the designated parent lunch area.
• If someone other than a parent/guardian will be joining your child for lunch, such as a grandparent, please email or call the front office ahead of time. We must have parent/guardian permission before allowing another visitor to have lunch with your child.

Thank you for helping us make lunchtime enjoyable, safe, and a great opportunity for our Dolphins to connect with both family and friends!

Donald Parents-

We are so excited to host our Fall edition of Coffee with the Crew! This will be a chance to get to know the administrators at Donald, your campus counselors and the Student Assistance Counselor, as well as how to partner with the school to promote your child's success.

Please fill out the form below to RSVP for our Fall session of Coffee with the Counselors. We will be meeting in Rm 325 at Donald on October 19 from 8:00-9:30am. Filling out the RSVP will help us to plan for attendance and to gather some coffee and breakfast treats, but feel free to bring your own if you have a preference or dietary concerns.

Also, please be sure to bring your ID for security purposes. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to either Mrs. Mennsfield at Mennsfielde@lisd.net or Ms. Ramsey at Ramseyn@lisd.net. Thank you!

Topics to be covered:

• Get to know our campus leadership team and who to reach out to for specific concerns.

• Counseling services at Donald and through LISD:

• Guidance lessons

• Individual and small groups by specific need/topic

• Love and Logic, CHOICES presentations, The Family Center

• Partnering with the school for student success

• How to help your child with worries and stress

We are excited to celebrate Mrs. Dure, who received a Lewisville Education Foundation Grant, sponsored by CoServ! This generous grant will allow her to purchase new high-tech microscopes for our students, giving our Dolphins even more opportunities to explore, investigate, and experience science in meaningful, hands-on ways. Way to go, Mrs. Dure!

Third graders in Mrs. Reily’s class put on their engineering hats during Designing Dolphins with our GT teacher, Mrs. Rountree! Students worked through the engineering design process as “sound engineers,” designing and testing a box that could reduce the sound of an alarm. They made predictions, tested their designs, collected data, and used what they learned to improve their solutions. What a great example of our Dolphins thinking, collaborating, creating, and problem-solving like real engineers!

The State of Texas has selected Donald STEM Academy, along with many other LISD campuses, for a stand-alone field test. Please see the information below regarding this test administration.

Stand Alone Field Test Details

• Testing Date: Tuesday, February 2

• No makeup testing will be offered.

• Grades: 3rd and 5th grade

• Test: RLA stand-alone field test

• Testing Format: Online testing only (a paper option is not available)

• Testing Data: Schools will not receive any student testing data following the administration of the field test.

A stand-alone field test is necessary for the development of items for use on future administrations of SST. Although the Texas Education Agency (TEA) has made a concerted effort to minimize the amount of instructional time used for state testing purposes generally and particularly for stand-alone field testing, a stand-alone field test is periodically needed, especially for the development of new assessment instruments under state or federal law.

As required by Texas Education Code Section 39.035, administering the February 2027 STAAR Stand-Alone Field Test is mandatory for those campuses that are selected to administer any grade/subject or course. Field-test data from a sample of students who are representative of the state are critical to the state’s ability to build high-quality assessments. All students at a selected campus who are enrolled in an assigned grade or course and who are scheduled to take the corresponding State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR®) assessment in spring 2027 should participate in the stand-alone field test.

Please be aware that our district allows up to 10 parents excuse absences which are divided into 5 parent notes and 5 pre-planned absences.

• Parent Notes: Up to 5 parent-note absences allowed per school year for any reason.

• Students may have up to 5 pre-planned absences for family trips or outside activities.

• Submit request at least 1 week before the first absence date.

• Complete and attach the Pre-Planned Absence Form in Family Access.

Parents and guardians should submit all absence and pre-planned requests through Skyward Qmlativ Family Access (Skyward Qmlativ Family Access)o:

• Submit absence requests directly to your child's attendance record.

• Upload supporting documentation (parent notes, medical notes and pre-planned form)

• Track the status of pending and processed requests.
• Update existing requests with additional documentation at any time.

Questions?? Contact mirandae@lisd.net

Is there a teacher, staff member, principal, or assistant principal who has made a difference for your child or family? Take a moment to Recognize SomeONE and let them know their hard work is seen and appreciated!

As my mama would say, “Give people their flowers while they can still smell them.” 💙 A few kind words can mean more than you know—and it only takes a minute to make someone’s day!

The name that is entered in Voly must match the full legal name that is on your government id (driver’s license and/or passport.) If the information entered is incorrect, you will not be able to volunteer until it is corrected. This is a policy to help insure the safety and security of our students.

If you are wanting to attend your child's field trips, help with events, or volunteer on campus you MUST have a VOLY background check complete. It is a very easy process and nice to get out of the way early before it's too late!

Lewisville ISD's VOLY site is open and ready to accept volunteers for the 2025-2026 school year. All volunteers on LISD campuses must have an approved background check on file. LISD uses LewisvilleISD.voly.org to post volunteer opportunities and to process background checks. Please go to the site and either create an account or update your account from a previous year. VOLY also has an app! You can find it in the app store for either Apple or Android products. Be sure to select that you want to work with Lewisville ISD. We look forward to having you on campus as a volunteer soon!

This year's theme, "Water Works", invites students to explore the many ways we depend on and use water, as well as the systems that collect, treat, deliver, and clean it. Water is woven into every aspect of our lives, supporting our homes, communities, economy, and environment in ways we often take for granted. Ensuring water continues to work for communities requires people, technology, infrastructure, and careful stewardship. Students can explore water infrastructure, including pipes, treatment plants, and reservoirs, as well as the careers and people behind these essential systems. By exploring the many ways water works for us and the many ways we work with water, this theme encourages students to creatively consider the connections between water, people, infrastructure, and the communities they support.

The contest is open to 1st - 8th grade students who live in or attend school in TRA Board Counties (Anderson, Chambers, Dallas, Ellis, Freestone, Henderson, Houston, Kaufman, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Navarro, Polk, San Jacinto, Tarrant, Trinity, Walker) and 1st - 8th grade students living or attending school in TRA customer cities outside of those counties (Flower Mound, Argyle, Northlake, Roanoke, Justin, and Venus).

Winners will be chosen from each grade level and will receive prizes and recognition! Entries will close on September 30, 2026.

I have attached the full information packet, or you can view it on our website at https://trinityra.org/art. The packet includes the contest rules, resources to learn more about the theme, and the entry form.

In partnership with the Lewisville Public Library, there will be several upcoming, family-friendly events available to students and their families. There will be special programming for Hispanic Heritage Month on:

• September 1 at 6p

• October 6 at 6p

• November 3 at 6p

🌟 Featured Highlight: Leche y Galletas

Leche y Galletas is a special bilingual family storytime celebrating culture, community, and literacy! Families can enjoy stories, songs, and tasty treats together.

Mighty Readers is a student-led nonprofit club that has been serving our local community for over two years, dedicated to helping elementary students build reading confidence and foster a genuine love for books.

Program Overview:

• When: Every Saturday from 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM

• Where: Flower Mound Public Library

• Activities: Guided reading, interactive story discussions, vocabulary building, educational games, crafts, and fun movement activities designed to keep kids engaged and away from screens.

All students will have 30 minutes for lunch and 30 minutes for recess each day. Additionally, they have have 50 minutes per day to participate in Specials: Art, Music, PE, or Computer Science (library is part of the 5th grade Specials rotation). Your teacher will be sharing the specials rotation schedule with you soon. Please ensure your student wears tennis shoes on PE days for their safety. They will NOT be able to participate in PE if they do not wear tennis shoes!

If you need to schedule a doctor's appointment during the school day, we recommend doing so during lunch, recess, or specials to minimize disruptions to their classroom academic time.

Website: https://donald.lisd.net/
Location: 2400 Forest Vista Dr. Flower Mound, TX 75028

Phone: 469) 713-5198

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donaldelementary

Twitter: @Donald_ES

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/donald_elementary/