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Beaver Creek
Despite some raindrops early in the morning, Beaver Creek Elementary students had a great opening to a new school year. Teachers greeted students in the cafeteria. Later in the day two assembly programs were held to introduce "Beaver Creek Rocks" our new school-wide positive behavior support plan. Students learned our pledge (listed at the end) and sang it as a rap. They learned about common expectations for behavior which will be recognized by staff members handing out rocks. They also reviewed components of our Conscious Discipline program.
Enrollment is up a little at Beaver Creek this year. We have added a second grade classroom. Our Full Day Kindergarten class is comprised of only students from Beaver Creek.
We are looking forward to building our new garden on Saturday the 15th and Friday the 21st. Food will be harvested and donated to the Lord's Pantry in Downingtown. Parent volunteers are welcome, please bring a wheelbarrow and shovel.
Our combined Open House & Back-to-School Night was well attended on August 23rd. Families had an opportunity to visit classrooms, meet teachers, and learn about procedures and expectations for the year.
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Bradford Heights
Last week we had our combined Open House and Back to School Nights which went very well. With the start of school, we are now busy getting to know the students. These nights provided the opportunity for parents to meet their child's teacher and to learn first hand what the expectations are both academically and organizationally for the school year. We are all looking forward to a tremendous year with the students and parents of this great school.
We have a few new staff members this year we would like to welcome to Bradford Heights. Mrs. Kaity Midiri will be teaching first grade, Mrs. Barb DiMartini will be teaching 2nd grade, Miss Lauren Ward will be teaching fourth grade, Miss Monica Eisenhardt will be teaching fifth grade, Mrs. Jill Farina will be with us part-time for Gifted Support, and Mrs. Lauren Sweatman has joined us for the first semester in our ½ day kindergarten program. We are very excited to have these experienced teachers as part of Team BH.
I am pleased to announce that Bradford Heights made Adequate Yearly Progress or AYP for the 2012 PSSA test administration. The hard work of our students, teachers, parent volunteers and parents helped us to continue steady progress as we move to the 100% threshold due in 2014.
Tuesday Night was the Bradford Heights Home and School Night at the Phillies. Unfortunately, the Phils lost, but everyone had fun nonetheless. Next Tuesday we will have a Playground Assembly, and Thursday night will be our annual Back to School Picnic.
Brandywine Wallace
The new school year is off to a great start at Brandywine Wallace! Teachers worked hard to prepare classrooms for their new students. Many families visited the school during our Back to School Night last week. Students had the opportunity to meet their teachers and to see their classrooms. While parents received an overview of the upcoming school year, their children were entertained by a magician provided by our Home & School organization. In addition, earlier in the week our Home & School held a play date at the East Brandywine Park for all kindergarten students to help them meet their classmates and to help ease the transition to school.
Nearly 400 smiling students have now arrived and are settling into new routines at school. We began the year with a welcome assembly where students met the entire BW staff of caring educators who work as a team to promote student growth and achievement. Students were challenged to Believe that Work and Effort create Success (BWES), supporting a growth mindset
Students completed many activities this week, including alphabetizing, cursive, math fact practice, and science observations and journaling. It is fun to see excited learners in each room.
Mrs. Cain and Mrs. Sachs were chosen to participate in the Arkema Science Teacher Program this summer and are anxious to share the exciting activities with our students. The focus of their investigations was ecosystems. As part of the program, teachers received science kits filled with materials to use back at their schools, as well as an honorarium for each participant and the school.
East Ward
This summer, all teachers at East Ward read the book, "Have You Filled a Bucket Today? A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids". This book teaches children to be "bucket fillers" rather than "bucket dippers" in the way they treat people around them. On August 27th, all students gathered in the multi-purpose room. Mr. Argonish welcomed the school home, introduced the book, and read it via PowerPoint to everyone. At the conclusion of the assembly, each student received a "mini bucket" to serve as a reminder. Teachers also received a bucket to display in their classrooms. The students seem to be quite excited to share their bucket filling experiences thus far!
East Ward Courtyard
Last Spring East Ward's Home and School Association paid for a concrete courtyard to be poured outside our cafeteria. Students participated in a Stride for Pride mini-marathon to raise funds to finish our refurbished courtyard. This week, our landscaping was completed and tables and a bench were installed. This space will be used as an outdoor classroom as well as eating area for students. Pictures to follow next week!
3rd Grade Strings Presentation
Mr. Tom Breton invited all third graders to the multipurpose room at East Ward to see and hear the variety of stringed instruments offered to students. Students were captivated by his demonstration and entertained by some volunteer participation.
4th and 5th graders complete the GRADE Assessment
All students in 4th and 5th grade took the GRADE (Group Reading assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation). This diagnostic tool will help in identifying what reading skills students have and what they need to be taught. Teachers will be reviewing this as well as other data sources during their "2s"day morning data discussions.
Pickering Valley
Pickering Valley is off to a great start this year with 675 students. A big thanks to the Transportation Department for all their hard work in coordinating the bus schedules which are running on time. I'm working with the staff to coordinate all of the scheduled assessments that take place at this time of year and will be meeting to establish our professional goals. A special thanks to all of our teachers and staff members for their dedication on supporting our students and parents. A great example was the accomplishment of having our combined Open House and Back to School nights before school started.
Open House and Back to School night was held for Kindergarten - 2nd grades on August 22nd and our 3rd - 5th grades Open House and Back to School night was held on August 23rd. Each night followed the same format from 6:00 pm - 7:45 pm. The Open House was held from 6:00 pm - 6:30 pm as students and parents visited the classrooms and toured the building. At 6:45 pm, students were in the cafeteria with the encore teachers as parents remained in the classrooms. Parents met with their child's homeroom teacher until 7:30 pm to learn about the up-coming year while students attended an assembly titled "The Brain Show". It was as if our students were playing in a real live TV game show. Teams of students were selected from the audience to answer questions pertaining to Art, History, Geography, Science, Music, Language Arts, Math and Health. The students were entertained while using teamwork and listening skills which set a positive tone for the year.
Shamona Creek
The Back to School Nights ( August 22 and August 23 ) were a huge success at Shamona Creek. The students were able to visit their rooms, greet the teacher and get a glimpse of the room "under construction." Following the room visits the children went off to the multipurpose room to enjoy the professional musical performances. Judging from the smiles on the students' faces, the performances were a huge success! Our parents returned to the classrooms where they viewed a welcoming video from the Home and School Association and received curriculum presentations from the teachers. The feedback from staff and parents was very favorable toward the early schedule for the meetings
Springton Manor
Open House and Back-to-School Nights: Springton Manor Elementary School opened the School Year with two combined Open Houses and Back-to-School Nights for our Primary and Intermediate aged children on August 22 and 23, 2012. At 6:30 pm each evening, our families arrived for Open House to tour the building and classrooms, meet the teachers and other students in each class. At 7:00 pm, the parents brought the children to the cafeteria where they were entertained by Mr. Jeff Blum, the Magical Songwriter, while the parents returned to the classrooms for presentations from the teachers on the coming school year. Each evening came to a close as the parents returned to the cafeteria to pick-up the children at 8:00 PM.
The First Day of School: Monday, August 27th was the first day of school for the 2012 - 2013 school year. The first day of school represents so many firsts. For kindergarten students it is the first day at the "big school" and big school responsibilities and learning. For students new to the building, the first day is the first look at the new friends, new teachers, new rules, and new curriculum. For returning students the first day represents the first experience with a new teacher, with a new class grouping, and a new set of academic and behavioral expectations. It's also a day of firsts for the staff. The first look at a new class, the first look at a new bus schedule, the first look at a new lunch schedule, and a first look at all the potential a new school year holds. Springton Manor Elementary had a great day of firsts and ended the day assured that it is going to be a wonderful and successful school year.
Special Visitors: The first week of school brought several special visitors to Springton Manor Elementary. Dr. Mussoline, Superintendent of Schools, and Dr. Reed, Director of Instruction both visited Springton Manor on Monday touring the halls, visiting classrooms, and enjoying the special "firsts" of the first day of school. Dr. MacNeal, the District Curriculum Director, visited classrooms on
Thursday bringing her greetings to students and staff alike to help get the school year off to a successful start. Mrs. Lisa Snyder, Special Education Supervisor, visited Springton Manor Elementary to check in with our Special Education Staff to offer her support and expertise as we begin another school year.
A Special Thank You: The staff and administration of Springton Manor Elementary School would like to thank the parents and the greater school community for the honor and privilege of working with the students within our attendance area. We are aware that parents have many educational choices for their children and appreciate that you have chosen to send your children to Springton Manor Elementary. You have our pledge and promise that we will do our very best to provide your children with the best educational opportunities possible in the year ahead.
West Bradford
Great Start! West Bradford got off to a great start with over 40 new students and 2 additional classrooms! The first day Charger Chat assembly highlighted the Adventures in Learning ahead of us!
The new lunch schedule (2 grade levels piloting recess before lunch) and new parent pick-up routine is getting smoother every day. Teachers were ready to roll and got some time for training and practice in GradeBook as well as a short welcome back time together to take a brief look at WB PSSA data, get an overview of our summer read, Mindset, and review important procedures and expectations.
K Meet and Greet. Our Kindergarten families came for a before school peek at their classrooms
Grand Prize Winner. West Bradford's art teacher, Mary Fran Giunta, was a grand prize technology winner in a grant contest sponsored by Troxell Communications in partnership with We Are Teachers. She was the grand prize winner of a complete Classroom Technology Solution including a NEC 55 inch LCD Display, an e-Beam Inscribe Wireless Tablet, Lumens DC190 Document Camera, Chief Mount, Crestron Controls, Balt Cart, installation and Professional Development Consulting and much more! We are excited to bring new technology to West Bradford to support the ARTification program...and beyond! iPads. We are gearing up to pilot the use of 54 iPads at West Bradford. Teachers submitted applications and 4 per classroom (all of K and 1, some 2nd and 3rd, Learning support, IST, gifted and library) will be hopefully rolling them out soon within their classrooms. I put together a "users" idea guide with links and ideas of how to use them in a variety of settings and subjects, use with students, app exploration and group collaboration. Looking forward to getting apps on them very soon!
Lionville Middle School
We had a great opening to the 2012-2013 school year. We have a few more students this year than in years past, but our dedicated and hardworking staff as well as the high caliber quality of our students helped create a seamless opening week. In addition to the 1600+ students that regularly attend LMS, this week we hosted seven more visiting students as well as their vice principal. These ambassadors from China were assigned 8th grade LMS buddies for the week. The Chinese students went to classes with their buddies. Over the course of the week, our guests also toured the school, enjoyed food from the LMS cafeteria, sampled American fare such as pizza, Chick-fil-a, Philly pretzels, and vanilla lattes from Starbucks. Even though their visit was brief, the students from both countries developed strong bonds. They exchanged email addresses and plan to keep in contact with each other.
LMS has always struggled with traffic congestion in the mornings. There is only one driveway in and out of the property, and parents' dropping off their children for school has consistently been an issue. Borrowing from the idea of drop off lanes at most airports, LMS created a Student Drop-off Lane in our rear parking lot. While it has only been in use for a brief five days, the congestion has quite noticeably lessened.
8th grader, Maddie Crowley, was recently named Muscular Dystrophy Association PA Goodwill Ambassador. She and her sister, Emma, both struggle with Pompe's disease, a genetic, metabolic, muscular disorder. Maddie and her mother also appeared on WPHL 17's In Focus to raise awareness for this potentially debilitating affliction. Click on the link to watch the episode.
Below is an excerpt from a letter Spanish Teacher, Mrs. Tucker, received from Denise Masal, Vice President of Development for Community Volunteers in Medicine, thanking her and her students for the bilingual coloring books they created for needy Spanish speaking families.
On behalf of our CVIM staff and the hundreds of patients we serve each year, please accept
our sincere appreciation for your donation of bilingual coloring books for our young patients.
Your gift makes a profound impact on the children throughout Chester County who visit our
clinic. This fun, educational gift will brighten their days, and so we are exceedingly grateful
for your generous donation.
It is only through the support of donors such as you and the dedication of over 250 clinical and
support volunteers that we are able to care for over 2,600 patients annually, including almost 400
youth. A conservative estimate of the value of the services we provide our neighbors is close to
$3.5 million per year. Your thoughtful gift will make a difference in our expense budget and will
surely help entertain, educate, and enliven the youngest visitors we have here at CVIM:
The face of poverty can be found in every township in the County, especially in these
challenging financial times. The poor struggle every day to provide for themselves and their
families. Many families do not have the resources to obtain educational tools for their
children. Your gift will give the youth in these families the opportunity to learn and grow.
DHS East
Successful School Opening:
Downingtown East Welcomed 1670 students this week. It was a very successful opening to the school year.
AP Scholars:
We have many accomplishments to recognize. This year Downingtown East had 99 AP Scholars, the highest ever in school history. The following is a breakdown and explanation of the different levels.
- AP Scholar (36 students)- This honor is given to students who received scores of 3 or higher on three or more AP exams.
- AP Scholar with Honor (25 students)- This honor is given to students who earned an average of at least 3.25 on all AP exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams.
- AP Scholar with Distinction (38 students)- This honor is given to students who earn an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams.
- National AP Scholar(9 students)-This honor is given to students who average a score of at least 4 on all AP exams taken, and scores of 4 or higher on eight or more AP Exams.
Congratulations to the Publications Department!
The publications department has much to boast about this year...
The Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) is an organization affiliated with the Columbia School of Journalism, one of the most prestigious journalism schools in the country. The CSPA was Columbia's third initiative in journalism, following the founding of its School of Journalism in 1912 by bequest of the noted newspaper publisher, Joseph Pulitzer, and the awarding of the first Pulitzer Prizes by Columbia in 1917. The CSPA began in 1925 with the purpose of recognizing student publications across the country for excellence in publication. The East yearbook and staff have proven themselves as one of the best in the country. The 2012 yearbook, "Be You" won the most prestigious award in the world of yearbook, a gold medal, in the Scholastic Yearbook Critique. The Prowl had been entered in the competition every year for the past nine years, and had not reached the gold medal until now. The book is judged by some of the top yearbook advisors in the country. The book ranked a total of 836 points out of a total 1,000 points. This is the first time that any school in the district has been awarded this honor.
School Newspaper News!
Please check out our online student newspaper at www.deastrecord.com.
Go Cougars!
All are invited to come out and watch our Number 1 ranked Cougar football team on Friday night at 7:00 as they take on Monsignor Bonner.
STEM Academy
This week the STEM Academy had a very successful opening of school. Our 600+ students returned enthused and ready to learn. We met in the auditorium for a quick welcome back to school
I had the pleasure of attending the East/West Girls Tennis Match this week. The STEM Academy had a strong presence as 12 girls competed for East and West. The following evening I was invited and attended the Girls Tennis Team dinner located at Downingtown East. It was a great opportunity to meet the young ladies that attend the Academy.
Our Juniors embarked on their journey for the IB diploma this week. As I walked through classrooms students were enthusiastic about the program and hard at work preparing for the next two years.
Three of our physics teachers, Matt Hopson, Mike Sheehan, and Christine Dinger, have decided to pull their physics classes together two different co-taught courses. These teachers are to be commended for their innovation and risk taking as they take 40+ students and differentiate to their learning needs. This technique has spilled over into a few of our biology sections as teachers are pulling classes together in large groups for different activities.
Susan Boardman, our new Partnership/Internship Leader has been hard at work this first week. She has already
- Secured 4 speakers regarding a teacher's request for a German speaking professional who works with a German company to talk about the opportunities of speaking a second language
- Organized a visit to the Goddard Space Flight Center for Administration & teachers
- In the process of investigating CRM-Customer Relationship Management system database to handle all business contacts. System is "free" through the Sales force Foundation for schools; includes 10 free licenses. This system satisfy the need for a robust system to support future rollout of internships and partnerships to entire district
- Secured a commitment from Propulsion Media Labs to interview STEM students for Media & Communications Pathway (can take 8/semester)
- Invited 3 new members to join Advisory Board, representing an architectural firm, the Senior Director of PA Bio, and VP of Operations from the Chester County Chamber of B&I
- Updated her LinkedIn account to display her new position in the district
Grading Change for the Pathway Courses:
Attached you will find a letter that I will be sending home to all parents in reference to the change in grading system we will be using for the STEM Pathway courses. The administration has decided to make this change from exemplary, pass, fail to the traditional A-F grading system. As explained in the letter attached, after personally making phone calls and speaking with admissions officers it was apparent by their words that a traditional grading system will help strengthen our student's college profile. I feel it is incredible important and our duty as a school district to make sure effort is made to give our students the competitive edge when competing for seats at any college or university
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