Discovery Digest

Discovery Digest
Discovery Digest
May 2016
Principal’s Corner
Dates to Remember:
June
4
End of Year Picnic
2:00-6:00 p.m.
Discovery Academy
June
6 -10
BOGO Book Fair
June
6
Field Day (PreK)
June
8
Early Dismissal —
Teacher PD
June
10
Field Day (Grades K-4)
(Rain Date June 13)
June
14
Kindergarten Graduation Ceremony
June
17
Early Dismissal —
No Aftercare
Last Day of School
GOODBYE DISCOVERY FAMILIES!
I find it quite difficult to write my final column for the Discovery Digest.
Actually, my attempts to craft these heartfelt words seemed to fall flat
each time without clearly conveying how connected I feel to this
school and our Discovery community. Families, many of you took a
chance on us with nothing more than the idea of a STEM school and
a brief meeting with me at an open house. For this leap of faith, we
are eternally grateful as it was the beginning of something magical.
Each year, your support of our new ideas and approaches, our unintentional mistakes and our quest to provide the highest quality educational experience has been unwavering. I am often asked about parent involvement at Discovery and know that I can always respond
honestly and share that our families are active participants in their
child’s education. As a parent of a child in a magnet school myself, I
know the sacrifices that need to be made when attending a school
that is not the neighborhood option. I cannot thank you enough for
putting in this extra time and effort to arrange play dates across town
lines and for travelling extensive distances to come to evening events
or PTO meetings. I have been honored to lead this wonderful school
for the past five years and know that adherence to excellence and
high standards is now an embedded and integral part of the school
culture. Other than giving birth to two beautiful sons, my work at Discovery has been the most significant and memorable accomplishment
of my life. It is with the deepest love and respect that I step out of the
equation to watch what I have nurtured and supported continue to
grow and reach even higher levels of success. Mr. Stanco, our new
principal, is poised and ready to lead our families to this next level
and I will happily follow Discovery’s notable achievements in the
years to come.
Many families have inquired as to my next position. A couple of
weeks ago, I was formally appointed as the Chief of Specialized
Learning and Support Services for the city of Norwalk Public Schools.
With much love and admiration,
Lynn Toper
Discovery Digest
Sarah Worley is CREC’s
Teacher of the Year!
Page 2
Discovery Digest
Page 3
Lunchbox Literacy – Mrs. Leja, Literacy Coach
Summer Reading Book Swap
Dear Families,
We are asking families to send in gently used books that can be used for a book
swap during the last week of school. All students will have the opportunity to leave
school with at least one book, if not more. Please send in books by Friday, June
10th. The book swap will occur during the last week of school.
GOVENOR’S READING CHALLENGE
Last Year’s Totals:

48% of Discovery Academy’s students participated

Each read an average of 20.3 books

Total books read: 3,601
This summer’s Goal for all Discovery Academy Students
70%+ Participation
Your child will be coming home with a reading packet for this year’s Governor’s
Reading Challenge. It consists of a book log and recommended books. Many
public libraries will offer parents an online book log management system. If
you choose to use this format, please feel free to print out the online book log
and fill out the information on the reading packet. Teachers will be collecting
the logs during the first couple of weeks of school.
Discovery Academy has been recognized so often for our academic success! Let’s work together
to become a recognized school that promotes the love of reading!
“The Writing Beehive”
Discovery Academy’s Publishing Center
Writing Garden Celebration- June 9th
Our volunteers have been tirelessly working with students to have
their writing published. We are in the final stages and look forward to
our writing garden celebration. Students who have been published will
be bringing home an invitation to the writing celebration. Please consider joining this committee next year so that we can publish more
students’ writing!
Discovery Digest
Page 4
End of Year Picnic
The PTO will be hosting an end of year picnic at Discovery Academy
on Saturday, June 4th from 2:00-6:00 p.m. Pack a blanket, picnic basket, sunscreen, water, and an outdoor game. There will be bouncy
houses and fun and games! Volunteers needed: henna artist, face
painting, and running some games. Rain date is Saturday, June 11th.
Please RSVP via http://evite.me/B29WXn76vE.
Library Media – Mrs. Gargula
This was an exciting year for our brand new library media center. Thank you to everyone for embracing
the library media center, especially the PTO for the fundraising to purchase new books for our library.
In May, we said goodbye to the last of Piggie and Elephant series books. One of our favorite authors, Mo
Willems has ended this fabulous beginning reading series. We all enjoyed reading and rereading his beginning chapter books. Third and fourth graders worked on setting up Easybib accounts to create bibliographies for research projects. I look forward to celebrating summer reading with all students before the
end of the school year.
In our first year, we circulated over 12,000 books, which is a phenomenal
number of books to circulate for the first year. Of course with that number of
books being circulated, we have many overdue books. Friday, May 27th was
the last day to check out books. We are looking to find our lost books.
Please spend some time over the next few days looking for those lost
books and returning them by June 10th. If books cannot be found, a replacement copy of the book may be purchased or replacement funds to cover
the cost of the book may be sent in. Forms of acceptable payment includes
cash (exact change) or checks payable to “Cash”.
Have a fabulous summer reading!
Physical Education– Mr. Mancini
During the month of May, students in physical education class had an opportunity to explore some
new topics and revisit some others. Preschool students practiced the skills of throwing, catching and
kicking learned earlier in the year. Kindergarten, first and second grade students learned about the
game of hockey. They also had an instructor from The First Tee come to class to teach them about
golf. Third and fourth grades completed all of the fitness tests and
broke all of the school records! They then moved on to learn about
golf from The First Tee. Please visit my blog to learn more about
the physical education program and keep up with the latest news in
PE. The link is http://discoverype.edublogs.org/
Discovery Digest
Page 5
From the Lab of Mrs. Neseralla, STEM Coach
Garden Committee
On Earth Day, we opened the rooftop garden. We are excited to have officially launched the Discovery
Academy Garden Committee. We will meet twice per month on Mondays after school in the fall and spring
and once per month during the winter. We would love to have parents available to work with classes.
Please contact Andrea Velez at drea3261998@yahoo.com if you have time next year to work in the garden.
We have committee
positions set!
A special thanks goes out to:




Jon Hand - Director
Usha Thakran - Secretary
Andrea Velez - Scheduling
Lesli Cannon - Student Garden
Club
Our Newest Discovery
Academy Members
This month, the first graders welcomed
baby chicks that they watched hatch from
eggs. There is a pocket of air inside the
shell that the hatching chick uses so they
can breath as they peck their way and unzip their shell. It was astonishing to see
how fast they grew. A chicken is full grown
in 6 weeks! This project incorporated so
many opportunities to learn about:







Life Cycles
Time
Temperature
Nutrition
Responsibility
Technology
Light and heat
Parent volunteers to
assist students and
teachers







PreK - Katie Hogan
K - Usha Thakran
1st - Marlene Bailey
2nd - Andrea Velez
3rd - Leslie Cannon
4th - Renay Emmanuele
5th - Jon Hand
Discovery Digest
Page 6
From the Lab of Mrs. Neseralla, STEM Coach
Volvo Ocean Race CECA Award
I am proud to share that I won the CECA Award,
(Connecticut Educators Computer Association). The project
involves a STEM unit where students track and report on an
around the world international sailing race. The Volvo Race
happens every three years and I plan on bring it to Discovery Academy in 2017. If there are any fellow sailors out
there, I would love to have you onboard.
Summer Math and Science
As all adults know, learning never stops. Throughout the summer there are daily opportunities for kids to grow intellectually and solve real problems. All
CREC Discovery Academy students have access to a wonderful Summer
Scavenger Hunt that allows students to select fun activities that match their interest. http://www.crec.org/parents/summermath.php. I would love to celebrate
and feature every student that takes on this fun summer challenge. Students
who love research can access webquests that offer exciting self-directed projects. I have made webquests students can access over the summer and the
Internet
has
many
more
webquests
to
choose
from.
http://discoverystem.edublogs.org/webquests/
NEEDED Two Liter Bottles and Old Electronics
In anticipation of next year’s STEM projects, we will need many 2-liter clear bottles for terrariums (rinse out
please) and old electronic devices for Take-Apart Lab. Unique recycling material is also appreciated.
Please collect over the summer and bring your donations to me in the fall.
We are coming upon the last weeks of school. It has been an amazing first year for
me. After teaching in a classroom for 16 years, I wondered how the adjustment
would be to not having my own classroom. I am happy to say hundreds of Discovery
Academy students know my name and they all feel like my students. I want to thank
all the parents, staff and students who have made me feel so welcome. I hope everyone has a wonderful summer.
Fondly,
Mrs. Neseralla
cneseralla@crec.org
Discovery Digest
Page 7
P.T.O Update (Parent Teacher Organization) - Claudia Cruz-Reis, PTO
President
May PTO Meeting:
Thanks to all the families who joined us for our final meeting of the school year. We went through some
logistics regarding the bylaws, and some vague language that will need to be addressed by the board in
the next school year. These updates allowed the PTO to extend the term of an elected officer beyond the
two years if the position remains vacant. Other updates that need to be addressed will be the procedures
for absentee ballots and limitations as to how many people can be elected to a particular position.
We held elections and the new PTO board for the 2016-2017 school year will be as follows:

Kristin Labar-Slocki & Andrea Velez (Co-Presidents)

Carolyn Farrlley (Vice-President)

Sam Balasubramaniyam & Dana McCorkle (Co-Secretaries)

Diana Robitaille (Treasurer)
We look forward to having our new board lead the PTO in working with our new principal Mr. Stanco in the
upcoming school year. Mr. Stanco was gracious enough to join us for a lovely potluck dinner and got to
meet and speak to several of the parents in attendance that evening.
Upcoming Events
As the end of the year is fast approaching, here are a few dates to keep in mind. More information and
updates will be available on our Facebook page.
End of the Year Picnic (June 4th 2:00 - 6:00 p.m. Rain date June 11th)
Pack a picnic lunch and come join us for an afternoon of fun and games. We will be hosting the event at
the school, with a bouncy house, fun and games. There may even be a food truck or two in case you’d like
a special treat. Feel free to bring your favorite game so we can set up some friendly competitions. We
hope you’ll come celebrate another successful year at Discovery.
Thank you for all of your help with our events this year. We are looking for volunteers to help out with the
end of the year picnic, so if you have a special skill such as face painting, can run some relay races, or
would like to help out in general please let us know via email.
BOGO Book Fair: (Week of June 6th)
Stock up on those summer reading books by participating in our Buy One Get One book fair. Although
scholastic dollars will not be earned on this one, it’s an opportunity to pick up a few new books to keep the
kids reading over the summer.
Other Information
Please continue to collect any Box Tops/Labels for Education; they can be submitted to the school in your
children’s backpacks at the beginning of next school year. In addition please be sure to utilize our Scrip
program while out shopping, and join our rewards programs at Target and other local merchants. These
programs are important in helping generate enough funding for more assemblies for our students. For additional information regarding the Scrip program, contact Mrs. Dunn at jdunn@crec.org.
Please feel free to contact any of the PTO board members at:
Discoveryacademypto@gmail.com or on Facebook at https://wwwfacebook.com/CREC.DA
President:
Claudia Cruz-Reis
Vice President:
TBD
Treasurer:
Diana Robitaille
Co-Secretaries:
Paul Young & Dana McCorkle
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Discovery Digest
Art– Ms. Targett-Eaglin
Welcome to the last art newsletter of this year! I would like to take a
moment to say a HUGE THANK YOU to all of the families that supported our Arts program for the 2015-2016 school year. Leah and I
were both overjoyed with the attendance for Art and Music Night, and
I have so much gratitude for the kind compliments and feedback received through Artsonia!
I look forward to showcasing more artwork next year! This past
month we have been reintroducing and adding onto important concepts taught at the beginning of the school year. In PreK, we explored lines, shapes, and primary colors. Kindergarten students
learned to create self-portraits with more detail. First- and secondgraders studied concentric circles in the work of Kandinsky. Finally,
our third and fourth-graders worked very hard to showcase their talent and creativity with some beautiful works that were displayed during our art show! Overall we had an awesome year at Discovery!!!!
PBIS– Mrs. Paole & Mrs. Miller
As the school year is coming to a close, the PBIS Team at Discovery would like to say “Thank you!” to all of the families who consistently reinforce the BEES at home with their children and encourage them to make good choices everyday. As a school whose
PBIS system is still in its early years, we have seen a great deal of
growth in our students as they exemplify the BEES rules on a daily
basis. The school pledge we recite every morning is a reminder
that each day is a new day to Be Safe, Expect the Best, Encourage Others and Show Respect everywhere in our school. We are
proud of our students and all the growth they have made this year.
The staff would also like to extend an extra special “Thank You!” to
Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Paole for their efforts in bringing PBIS to our
school. For the past 3 years these ladies have carried out every aspect of PBIS for teachers, staff and
students. Without their leadership and dedication, our school’s PBIS system would not be what it is today! Wishing everyone a fun and relaxing summer vacation; remember to practice the pledge and model those BEES rules everywhere you go. Happy Summer!
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Discovery Digest
Nurse’s Update– Mrs. Wishneski
Student Medications
If your child has medications at school, please make arrangements to pick them up no
later than 12:00 p.m. on Friday, June 17th. Medications must be picked up by an adult.
For the 2016-17 school year, students will need an updated healthcare provider’s order
and medication that is effective from August 2016-June 2017. You can access this form
here.
Warm Weather Health Tips
Spring and summer offer great opportunities to get outdoors and keep active. The following tips will help to ensure you and your family are best able
to enjoy these opportunities:

Keep hydrated – heat and physical activity mean our bodies need more
water. Carry water bottles with you.

Protect from the sun – hats, sunglasses and sunscreen.

Tick prevention – wear light colored clothing, tall socks, long pants when hiking or spending time in
grassy or wooded areas. Do family tick-checks on return home.

Helmets – make it a rule that all family members wear helmets when enjoying biking, scooters and other
moving recreation activities.
Meghan Wishneski, School Nurse
mwishneski@crec.org
Student Attendance and Changing Pick–Up
Regular attendance is essential for an effective school experience. It is, therefore, the responsibility of the student and parent/guardian, to maintain regular attendance. In the event your
child is to be absent, you must call the school at 860-296-2090 before 9:00 a.m. and follow
the prompts to leave a message in the attendance mail box.
Guaranteeing the safety of our students during dismissal is of the utmost importance to us.
Should there be a change in dismissal for a student, please send a note or email discoveryoffice@crec.org informing the school of the change and corresponding/applicable
dates for such change. While a note or email is the best way to ensure proper, timely notification to our staff of a change, we certainly understand that a situation may
develop where this is not possible. In these rare cases, please call the main office at (860) 296-2090 by 1:00 p.m. on full school days and by 10:00 a.m. on
early dismissal days to report the transportation change for that day. All telephone requests must be followed up with an email or fax (860) 296-2087. In
cases other than a true emergency, calls received after 1:00 p.m. cannot be
accommodated.