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From the PTO Co-Presidents
Greetings!
This is the final edition of the Tiger Talk e-newsletter until later in the summer. I would like to thank all the parents for their time and financial support as we work to enhance our children's school.
I hope you and your children enjoyed all of the academic and social activities the PTO organized throughout the year including Fall Science Days, Tour de Dunwoody, Field Days, Honor's Days, the Variety Show and the Yearbook to name a few. This school year, we welcomed a new principal, kicked off a new Honor's Day program, made improvements to the grounds, purchased new music equipment, supplemented teacher training seminars and supported many other academic enhancements. We finish the year in a strong financial position, ready for a solid start in August. All of these accomplishments could not have been done without the following group of dedicated PTO volunteers:
- Amy LeVasseur, co-president
- Whitney Samuelson, VP of Ways and Means
- Meredith Kitey, VP of Communications
- Stephanie Holmes, VP of Programs
- Teacher, Klare McKee, VP of Academic Affairs
- Judi Carlson, Treasurer
- April Toms, Financial Secretary
- Jeanne Sacks, Secretary
- Yvette Megathlin, Parliamentarian
As I finish out my last few days as the PTO Co-President, I want to thank Mrs. Sanders, principal; Mrs. McIntyre, interim principal; and the entire administrative staff for their collaborative support and all of the board members for their hard work and countless volunteer hours. It's truly been a pleasure working with them to make our children's school great!
Have a fun and safe summer. We'll see you in August!
Cordially,
Shari Wassell
shariwassell@gmail.com |
Tell your Friends Coming to DES to subscribe to Tiger Talk
Do you have any friends with children coming to Dunwoody Elementary for the first time next year? If so, please forward this email to them and encourage them to sign up for the Tiger Talk eNews now so that they are well informed all summer long with important information from our fabulous school!
Here's the link to subscribe: |
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School Supply Lists
Parents, please know that school supply lists are already up on our school website for next year so you can get a jump on your school shopping.
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Summer Registration Hours
Summer Registration Hours for students NEW to DeKalb County Schools:
June 4 - June 27, 2013 and July 9 - July 30, 2013
Tuesdays and Thursdays 9am-1pm
August
9-11am every day until school starts |
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Don't forget to log your Reading!
Dunwoody Elementary School joins with schools around the world in the biggest summer challenge ever!
This summer, more than 960 students at Dunwoody Elementary will try to set a new world record for reading. They are participating in the Scholastic Summer Challenge, a global literacy program designed to prevent summer reading loss by encouraging kids to read for the world record. During the summer-long challenge, DES students will compete for top reading honors with schools around the world by logging as many reading minutes as possible from May 6 through September 6, 2013. The top 20 schools - those logging the most minutes - will be listed in the 2014 edition of the Scholastic Book of World Records. Last year, more than 4,000 schools participated in the challenge, logging a total of 95,859,491 reading minutes. Top honors went to Brooksville Elementary School in Brooksville, Florida, where students logged more than three million reading minutes during the summer break. "The Scholastic Summer Challenge is a great way to encourage our students to read as much as possible during the summer months, while giving them a fun incentive to compete against other schools across the country," said Lauren Long, EIP Reading Teacher, DES. "Our goal is to expose more kids to the joy of reading and, of course, we also want to try to make it into the Scholastic Book of World Records' top 20." To learn more about the program, visit www.scholastic.com/summer. |
Simple Ways to Help Dunwoody Elementary This Summer
Save your Box Tops
These labels are on products that are already in your home and they add up quickly for our school. During the 2012-2013 school year, DES received over $2,000 from Box Tops because of our DES families' efforts. Way to go DES students and parents! Keep clipping!
Go Shopping
Target, Office Depot and Publix have programs that donate back a percentage of your purchase to Dunwoody. See the details here.
  
Register Your Georgia Natural Gas Account
If you are GNG customer, register your account here. Every month, they will donate $5 for each customer registered for DES.
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DES is a Certified Wildlife Habitat!
Dunwoody Elementary School received certification this year as a Certified Wildlife Habitat. The school received a certificate that said, "Your habitat is certified in National Wildlife Federation's worldwide network of mini-refuges. Because of your conscientious planning, landscaping and sustainable gardening, wildlife may find quality habitat - food, water, cover and places to raise their young. Thank you for your dedication to our nation's wildlife!" The school also received the sign in the picture below.
 (Left to right) DES third graders displaying sign: Tanvi Singhal, Zariah Wade, Matt Kotzbauer, Mia Arrigali, Katie Donovan
Kneeling: Max Erfani and Jackson Nguyen
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Georgia STEM Day
TAG Education Collaborative (TAG-Ed), the Technology Association of Georgia's charitable organization dedicated to preparing the next-generation workforce, celebrated the first Georgia STEM Day on May 3, 2013. Over 260,000 students and educators from across the state participated in innovative STEM-based learning activities.
STEM Day participants ranged from individual classrooms to entire school districts. At Dunwoody Elementary School, Jenn Mattison, a fourth grade gifted teacher, planned a STEM project called "The Chicken Mummy" to compliment studies of ancient Egypt. Students worked to understand the Egyptian mummification process by salting, adding scents, and drying out Cornish game hens. As part of Georgia STEM Day, Mattison's class reprocessed the chickens and compared their weights. At the end of the unit in May, the students will bury their mummies. The goal is for next year's fourth grade students to dig up the mummified hens as part of an archaeological excavation.
 "I wanted to participate in the 2013 Georgia STEM Day because I believe that STEM is an opportunity for my students to take more responsibility of their own learning and increase rigor in my classroom. Students are able to predict, observe, and test their theories. STEM activities prepare students to become globally competitive," Mattison said.
Educators are partnering with local companies to provide speakers and field trip opportunities that coordinate with their STEM curriculum in order to help students make the vital connection between the classroom and STEM careers. For example, the Museum of Aviation's National STEM Academy is celebrating by presenting two special programs for 2nd through 5th graders at Eagle Springs Elementary in Houston County. Some of the activities include creating paper straw rockets, peashooter meteoroids, and testing propellers.
Participants of STEM Day have the opportunity to be recognized for the Technology Association of Georgia's STEM Education Awards, held on September 27 in Savannah, Ga.
The STEM Education Awards were created to recognize and honor schools, extracurricular programs, public-private partnerships, science agencies and post-secondary education outreach programs for outstanding efforts and achievement in supporting and promoting science, technology, engineering, and math education in Georgia.
To learn more about Georgia STEM Day, please visit http://bit.ly/GASTEMDay. To follow the conversation on Twitter, track #GASTEMDay.
  
  
  
About TAG Education Collaborative
TAG Education Collaborative is dedicated to developing science, technology, engineering and math initiatives in Georgia. Through partnerships with statewide STEM programs, TAG-Ed fosters student interest in STEM in order to increase appreciation for the opportunities available through technology careers. TAG-Ed hosts an internship program for high school students, two web-based team challenges for students interested in Health IT and web design, and the Vine Event, an annual fundraiser benefiting STEM education. For additional information, visit http://www.tagedonline.org/ or contact Michael Robertson at (404) 920 - 2038 or mrobertson@tagonline.org. |
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Camp Information
Tiger Talk receives many requests for camp announcements in our community this time of year, so we have created a page on the DES PTO Website dedicated entirely to all the great camp options available for our children this summer. This page will be updated regularly throughout the spring, so check back often!
DES PTO Website/News & Events/Camps |
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Tiger Talk Newsletters Archived
Ever need to find an old newsletter to get an announcement? Tired of searching through your thousands of emails for it? All newsletters are archived on www.dunwoodypto.com. Look for "Tiger Talk" under the "news" menu, or click HERE. |
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How to Send an Announcement Using Tiger Talk
Tiger Talk is the weekly e-newsletter of the Dunwoody Elementary School PTO. Every Sunday, we publish information that is pertinent to the students and parents of DES. The submission deadline for each issue is 10 p.m. on Tuesday. All announcements must be brief and sent in writing as an email to Dunwoody.TigerTalk@gmail.com. Announcements will run for two weeks prior to the event or as applicable. If you have any questions about Tiger Talk, please contact the editors at Dunwoody.TigerTalk@gmail.com. |
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LIKE us on Facebook and Twitter!
Our school's Facebook page and Twitter account will be used to promote upcoming school events and communications. We will also allow comments from our DES community but through daily monitoring we will remove anything that is not appropriate. We're excited about this new opportunity to share all the good things happening at our school.
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