Calendar of Events
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Sept. 3: Student Council Elections
Sept. 7: Labor Day, no school
Sept. 8: PTA Board meeting, 6:30 p.m., Conference Room
Sept. 10: Coffee with the Principal, 8:30 a.m.
Sept. 13-19: Book Fair at Barnes & Noble. All proceeds generated from this sale will benefit the Discovery School Library. A Block Party will take place in front of Barnes & Noble on Thursday, Sept 17, from 4-8 p.m. with FREE food, games and fun! More info to come on this later!
Sept. 14-18: Grandparents' Week luncheons. Kindergarten is Monday, First Grade is Tuesday, Second Grade is Wednesday, Third and Fourth grades are Thursday, and Fifth and Sixth grades are Friday. Reservations are required for the cafeteria to prepare enough food.
Sept. 14-24: Parent/Teacher Conferences
Sept. 24: Reading in Schools Day. If you want to be a reader, contact Mrs. Svarda in the library. Students will select books that they would like to have read to them. More information will be coming home in your child's backpack.
Sept. 25: Teacher/Staff Development Day. No classes!
Sept. 28-Oct. 9: Fall Break. No classes.
Oct. 15: PTA Board meeting, 6:30 p.m., Conference Room
Oct. 22: Parents' Book Club: "Outliers: The Story of
Success," by Malcolm Gladwell, a book for parents to read as part of a
parents' reading program
Nov. 2: PTA Board meeting, 6:30 p.m., Conference Room
Nov. 16: PTA General Membership Meeting with Chili Cookoff, time TBA
Nov. 19: Coffee with the Principal, 8:30 a.m.
Nov. 25-27: Thanksgiving Break. No classes.
Dec. 8: PTA Board meeting, 6:30 p.m., Conference Room
Dec. 18: Last day before Winter Break. Abbreviated day for students.
Dec. 21-Jan. 8: Winter Break. No classes.
Jan. 11: Classes resume.
PTA Board meeting, 6:30 p.m., Conference Room
Jan. 18: Martin Luther King Jr. Day. No classes.
Feb. 2: Writing assessment
Feb. 4: PTA Board meeting, 5 p.m., Conference Room
Feb. 4: PTA General Membership meeting, 7 p.m., gymnasium
Feb. 15: President's Day. No classes.
Feb. 18: Family Math Night
March 1-12: Parent/Teacher Conferences
March 2: PTA Board meeting, 6:30 p.m., Conference Room
March 5: Teacher/Staff Development Day. No classes for students.
March 20-25: PTA Washington, D.C., trip for Discovery School families, administration and faculty. Please see the details in this newsletter.
March 22-April 2: Spring Break. Please note these dates are revised from the original Murfreesboro City Schools Alternative Calendar.
April 7: Coffee with the Principal, 8:30 a.m.
April 12: PTA Board meeting, 6:30 p.m., Conference Room
April 15-22: TCAP Testing window
May 27: Last day of school for students (abbreviated day)
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WASHINGTON, D.C., TRIP DATES ESTABLISHED
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The Discovery School Spring Break trip for families to Washington, D.C., will be Saturday, March 20 through Thursday, March 25, 2010.
The new dates were necessitated by the state's change of dates for TCAP testing. Murfreesboro City Schools amended the nontraditional calendar, which includes The Discovery School, to
reflect the dates of March 22-April 2 as the new Spring Break, in order to accommodate the state's new mandated TCAP testing dates.
Linda Fleming, trip coordinator for Thomas Tours, which is managing our trip, led an information session in the school cafeteria Aug. 20. The school needs a minimum of 50 paying participants for the trip to make. The deadline to reserve a spot, which includes an initial down payment of $125 per person, is Sept. 30. The cost of the trip, based upon hotel room occupancy, is:
Students
$645 quad occupancy
$700 triple occupancy
$800 double occupancy
Adults
$660 quad occupancy
$715 triple occupancy
$815 double occupancy
The trip is open to all Discovery School students, their parents or guardians, and siblings, as well as administration and faculty. Each student must have a parent or guardian accompany them on the trip. Also, families can room together on the trip to get the quad rate, so if two families want to team up to share a room to save costs, you can do that.
The cost of the trip includes round-trip transportation on a Grayline motorcoach, four nights hotel accommodations (one night in Charlottesville, Va., and three nights in Herndon, Va.), a tour of Monticello, afternoon tours of the Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial and World War II Memorial, a sightseeing drive along Embassy Row, a visit to the National Zoo, evening tours of the Jefferson Memorial, The Korean Memorial and the Roosevelt Memorial, a visit to the Smithsonian Institute, four breakfasts, five dinners and one lunch. Group insurance and all taxes are also included in the price.
It was announced Aug. 27 by the Department of the Army that The Discovery School has been selected to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on March 24. We are also looking for any Washington, D.C., contacts that might be able to provide our students special educational opportunities while we are in the nation's capitol. If anyone can help, please contact Donna Abernathy.
Subject to availability, the trip may also include tours of the U.S. Capitol, Library of Congress, Supreme Court Building, Washington National Cathedral, the White House, Ford's Theatre and The Petersen House, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the National Archives, the Washington Monument.
Informational sheets on the trip are available in the school office. To reserve a spot on the trip, or if you have any questions, you may call Ms. Fleming or Donna Oliver at Thomas Tours at 615-292-0470 or PTA President Donna Abernathy at dlfcomm@bellsouth.net.
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HELP DISCOVERY SCHOOL WIN $50,000
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The Big Clip Contest
Box Tops is currently running a contest called "The Big Clip." The school winning the grand prize will win $50,000, and two first-place winning schools will win $25,000 each! All you need to do is register to support Discovery School at The Big Clip. Then, go online daily to enter our school in the contest from now until Oct. 31.
Please note that the Web site includes two entries for The Discovery School. It lists The Discovery School at Reeves Rogers, which is the entry you must choose for the school to receive credit. However, it also lists the old school, Bellwood. Please do not select that site, as it will not credit us.
In addition to the contest, The
Discovery School continues to collect Box Tops for Education. The school earns 10 cents for each box top collected, and the
school can earn up to $20,000 over the course of the year.
This year's Box Tops coordinator is Jennifer Kropog, and she can be reached at jckropog@comcast.net if you have any questions.
You can maximize our earnings by registering at Box Tops 4 Education. It's
easy, free, and you'll learn about new ways to help our school earn the extra
cash it needs.
Exclusive online benefits include:
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Tracking our school's Box Tops earnings.
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Printing money-saving coupons for your favorite
Box Tops brands.
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Entering to win Bonus Box Tops for our school.
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Making meal time easier with family-pleasing
recipes.
Plus, you can sign up for regular e-mail updates on our
school's progress!
Don't forget to keep an eye out for fliers on upcoming Box
Tops collection contests. The Spring 2009 contest alone raised approximately
$500!
Thanks for choosing to make a difference for our school with
Box Tops.
Last call for donations and orders
Keep forgetting to order a Kroger card? Been meaning to send in that room account donation? Procrastinated on paying your PTA dues? Mark this Friday, Sept. 4, on your calendar as the last call for these back-to-school projects.
If you've misplaced your forms, simply enclose your check or cash in an envelope marked with your child's name, teacher's name and a note of what you wish to order. Give the envelope to your teacher who will forward it to the PTA mailbox for processing. Kroger cards are $5 each, PTA dues are $5 per family and the suggested room account donation is $35 per child.
Kroger Card s must be used at least once every 90 days or the
contribution to Discovery gets wiped out. Also, you can refill the cards at the
checkout with your exact total after you make your purchase. You do not have to
reload the cards prior to checking out.
Please remember to do this to keep the
contributions coming in to the school.
So, every time you shop at Kroger, remember to:
1) Go through the checkout line and total your order.
2) Have the cashier put your total onto your Kroger card (cash, debit, check,
credit)
3) Pay for your groceries with your perfectly loaded Kroger card!
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SMART CARD SUCCESS!
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 This year's Smart Card sales were a smashing success! The Discovery School sold $18,570 worth of Smart Cards this year for the school, making us the top-selling school in all of Middle Tennessee!
Mrs. Copeland's kindergarten class was the top-selling class for the entire school, earning those students a special party.
Congratulations to Smart Card Chair Stacie Berard and her team for making this year's fundraising effort such a smashing success!
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VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
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 We need lots of volunteers to fill our committees. The PTA needs help right now with the following committees:
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We need a Volunteer Coordinator assistant chair to take over the chair next year.
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We need a co-chair for Communications team.
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We need someone to research and write grants and awards for the school.
- We need some help for Vanessa Smythia on the legislation and advocacy team.
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We need a co-chair for Molly Nemeth on the Reflections contest team upcoming in November.
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We need Career Day helpers.
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We need Smart Card team members for next year.
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The treasurer needs someone to research and review large purchases for the PTA.
If you can help with any of these committees, please e-mail Volunteer Coordinator Angela Blankenship.
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| GREEN TEAM NEWS
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Please remember to recycle your aluminum cans and newspapers
at Discovery School!
The bin for the newspapers is at the back of the
school at the end of the driveway, and the bin for aluminum can recycling is in the front parking lot.
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MEMBERS AT LARGE
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Comments? Questions? Concerns?
Feel free to contact your PTA Member-at-Large representatives -- we're
here to help!
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