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Calendar At a Glance
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This Week
Tuesday, December 16 - DES Orchestra
Tuesday, December 16 - Friday, December 19 - Staff Appreciation: Sweet Treats
Friday, December 19 - DES Spirit Day, Club Pictures, Last Day of 1st Semester
Friday, December 19 - All Pro Dad (6:45am)
Friday, December 19 - Winter Break Parties (1-2pm)
Friday, December 19 - Cultural Arts Program
Next Week
Monday, December 22 - January 5 - NO SCHOOL - Winter Break
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From Our Principal
Greetings,
We have rapidly approached the end of our first semester of school! It is amazing how fast time flies and how quickly our children grow. It is important that we take time to reflect on our accomplishments and our challenges in order to make our second semester even better than the first! I have included some of my reflections of our first semester: - PTO designed a new registration process using Pay Pal that made the process much faster and more convenient for so many.
- Our Grounds Day was a huge success with so many teachers and families contributing their time!
- DES became a STEM certified school!
- We implemented a morning tutorial for students needing an extra boost.
- We had our first "Visit the Classroom" on Family Night.
- We opened an eighth kindergarten classroom in August with teacher Laura Madden.
- We hired three custodians and one teacher since August.
- All teachers in grades K-1 are Orton-Gillingham trained (thank you PTO!).
- All teachers in grades 2-5 are training for content writing each month since September.
- All staff members are working closely with consultant, Vera Stenhouse, to improve school climate.
- Our first Academic Bowl team competed at the district level.
- An Emergency Response Team has been established - trained in CPR, AED, EpiPen, and other emergency response needs.
- DES became an official STEM partner with the Gwinnett Heritage Center.
Indeed, it has been a busy first semester. I always appreciate feedback from the community as we continually seek to improve the programs offered at Dunwoody Elementary. I wish all families a happy and relaxing winter break. Remember that the best present you can give your child is the gift of your time. Take time to read books and play games together - those memories will last forever! Jennifer P. Sanders
Principal
Dunwoody Elementary School
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From Our PTO Co-Presidents
It's come to the time of the year where we want to pause and say thank you to all of our DES families. From the many hours our volunteers put in everyday to the many dollars our families have donated to Tiger Fund for the programs and services that we offer our students throughout the year. We are thankful everyday for the abundance of generosity we find from our terrific Dunwoody Elementary School families.
Thanks to the generosity of our families, your Annual Dues payment of $35 helped pay for all 127 teachers, staff, and bus driver's holiday cash gift, totaling $11,650. We are thankful that we are able to give our teachers, administration and staff a little something extra at the holidays and your $35 annual dues has helped us do just that.
Without the tireless hours that our volunteers spend at the school each day, we would not be able to offer our children so many wonderful programs throughout the year. From Cultural Arts to Field Day, Lunch Bunch to Room Parents, many events and programs outside of the daily curriculum are run by parent volunteers. If you volunteer at the school, please take a few moments to log your volunteer hours on our PTO website. We are grateful for your time and dedication and we want to reward you with our monthly raffles, Volunteer of the Month parking spot and in the Spring at our Volunteer Brunch.
Just a quick note about the last day of school before the holiday break. We have the following events happening on Friday, December 19th:
- All Pro Dad
- Club Pictures
- Cultural Arts program
- Holiday Parties
Please remember that parking is at a minimum, so please utilize the Georgia Perimeter College Parking lot. Also, please be courteous to other parents as you come in and out of the building and do not double park and block in any other vehicles. Also remember that if you are not on the class list for your child's class party, you will not be permitted to enter the classroom on the 19th.
Amanda Rountree and Jennifer Fenmore
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Yearbooks
 Need a holiday gift idea for your child? Purchase a DES Yearbook!
Now is your LAST CHANCE to purchase a DES Yearbook for $30. Yearbooks will be $35.00 beginning December 23.
With the holidays upon us, give a gift that can be enjoyed year round, a DES Yearbook! Order a $30 Yearbook before December 22, and receive a Yearbook gift certificate indicating your purchase. You will receive a flyer in your child's TIP folder that can be completed and dropped in the PTO Mailbox, located in the school foyer. You may also order online at www.jostensyearbook.com. Gift certificates will be given to anyone who orders in December and can be wrapped up as a gift for your child. Yearbooks will be $35 from December 23-January 31.
New this year - NO EXTRA YEARBOOKS WILL BE PURCHASED OR SOLD IN MAY!! Don't let your child be without a DES Yearbook... get one today!!
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Winter Holiday Celebrations
The Winter Holiday Celebrations for DES will be held on Friday, December 19th, from 1 - 2pm. Due to limited parking and space constraints, three volunteers (in addition to the teacher) are allowed at each celebration. Room Parents will help secure volunteers for each classroom and provide a list of those expected to attend to the front office.
 For those unable to assist, parents can certainly help by sending in approved items needed for the celebration. Since we have many students with severe food allergies, teachers and Room Parents will consult the parents of those children to approve all food expected to be consumed at the party.
Our students at DES always enjoy our Winter Holiday Celebrations. It's a great way to celebrate their hard work and accomplishments for 1st semester --- and a terrific opportunity to kick-start their Winter break.
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Partners in Education Presents
2014-2015 Teachers of the Year
Partners in Education Council Presents 2014-2015 Teachers of the Year  Featuring Keynote Speaker Ann Cramer (pictured in photo).
The Dunwoody Chamber of Commerce's Partners in Education Council honors the 2014-2015 Teachers of the Year for eight schools in the Dunwoody sector at The Capital Grille on Monday, January 5 from 8-9:30am.
Sponsorship opportunities are available for this breakfast, on a first come, first serve basis. Contact Lesley Masisak, Programs and Communications Director to learn how to become a sponsor of this great event.
Lesley Masisak
Programs and Communications Director
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Georgia Parent Survey
All parents are encouraged to participate in the Georgia Parent Survey. The data collected will be used to calculate the School Climate Star Rating for each school's State rating. However, there is no mandatory participation rate for parents. Parents can complete the survey using personal computers, smartphones or iPads. For parents that do not have access to the Internet, school administrators offer the opportunity to take the survey in the school Media Center. Survey responses are anonymous and will be submitted directly to the Georgia Department of Education for analysis. Data results from the Georgia Parent Survey will not be available to the public and will not be posted online. The link for the Georgia Parent Survey is: http://apps.gadoe.org/schoolclimate/parents.nsf/Survey.xsp
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Box Tops
 Thanks so much to those of you who have already turned in the plastic baggie that recently went home in TIP folders full of Box Tops! Please keep up the good work as the next deadline will be February. 13, 2015! For every 50 Box Tops turned in, students' names will be entered into a raffle for a chance to win a complimentary week of camp this summer at Dunwoody United Methodist Church! The class turning in the most will get to wear their pajamas to school one day! This is a simple way to earn cash for DES! Thank you! Megan Cann (megancann00@hotmail.com)
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Girls on the Run
The spring session of Girls on the Run will start soon! Registration
 begins January 14th at 9:00am.
Girls on the Run is a transformational physical activity based positive youth development program for 3rd - 5th grade girls.
We teach life skills through dynamic interactive lessons and running games. The program culminates with the girls being physically and emotionally prepared tocomplete a celebratory 5K running event. The goal of the program is tounleash confidence through accomplishment while establishing a lifetimeappreciation of health and fitness.We will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3-4:30pm beginning February 9th. To register go to: girlsontherunatlanta.org.Girls must be able to commit fully to the GOTR program. Please do notregister if there will be a conflict with another activity. If you haveany questions, please contact Ms. Young.
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Congratulations Volunteers!
Congratulations to Erin Chen! She won the November Volunteer of the Month Raffle and received one week of summer camp at Dunwoody United Methodist! In order to be eligible for the raffle next month, volunteer at school (or do school volunteer work at home) for at least 2 hours and log those hours by the end of December.
Congratulations to Kim Rivera! She logged the most hours for the month of November and gets to use the reserved/specially marked parking space for the entire month of December! If you are the one to log the most hours in the month of December, the parking space will be yours for the month of January!
It's east to log your hours in order to be considered for next month's Volunteers of the Month prizes!! Simply go to the Dunwoody Elementary PTO website and follow the " Log Volunteer Hours" link.
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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 10pm 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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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.
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