The Dickinson Community |
Messenger
 
 
August 25, 2014  
IN THIS ISSUE:
Principal Post
School Supplies
Class Lists Will Be Online August 27
Kindergarten Orientation
Teacher Meet and Greet
First Day Packets: Volunteers Needed
Back to School Event
Are You a New Family to Emily Dickinson Elementary?
Auction Help Needed
Library News
Back to School Shopping at Amazon
Community Fliers, Events, and Information
Principal Post
Greetings families of Dickinson & Explorer!  I hope you have all had a wonderfully rich and relaxing summer; I was able to take some short getaways with my family and absolutely enjoyed the beautiful weather we were gifted with in the PNW. I also was busy planning for the upcoming year, which will bring some great new changes and additions to benefit students. The first item of note is the addition of a new full-time administrator to our school:  Jef Lingelbach will be our Associate Principal, coming to us from Idaho. Jef has already brought great ideas and energy to our school, and with Leslie Elmer serving as our Administrative Intern... we have a strong, well-rounded team leading our staff and students this year.

 

It is important for all parents to note a change in our teacher assignment announcement process this year. Due to privacy concerns, we will no longer be posting class lists for public view. We will be releasing your child's teacher information at 4:00pm on August 27, the day prior to Meet & Greet. Parents will be able to view their child's teacher assignment online, through "Parent Access" on the LWSD website.  Instructions for logging into Parent Access are contained in this Messenger edition; please review them and practice logging in to this resource prior to 8/27. Parent Access is also your tool to monitor your student's school information and grades throughout the year. Parents that are not able to view teacher assignments online will be provided with that information in person at Meet & Greet and in the office after that day. 

 

There is much more information to come regarding the new school year... I hope that you are as excited as I am to see all that we have planned!

 

Your partner in education,

Karen Barker

Principal

 

School Supplies

School supply lists for the 2014-15 school year have been posted here.  Happy back to school shopping!


Class Lists Will Be Online August 27
Wednesday, August 27, after 4pm
To find out who your child's teacher is, go online to Parent Access at http://www.lwsd.org/Parents/Parent-Access and log-on. If you do not have an account, please register.

Registration Instructions

  1. As a parent or guardian, you may activate your account by accurately entering your first and last name along with the email address that the school already has on file on the Parent Access registration page. If you do not have an email address on file with the school, please go to the school office and supply an email address. They will need to confirm your identity for your security and protection.
  2. When you are finished entering your name and email address, click on the submit button. If you are successful, the information in red will give you further directions on the registration process.
  3. Within the next 12 hours you will need to access your email at the address you entered in the registration process.
  4. You should receive an email from the LWSD parent questions account. Open the email and follow the detailed information to complete the registration process.
  5. While you are connected to the internet click on and open the link in the email message.
  6. Popup blockers must be turned off to use Parent Access.

If you have any problems registering for Parent Access, send an email to: ParentQuestions@lwsd.org.

 

Kindergarten Orientation

Wednesday, August 27, 6-7pm

Please come to the Dickinson Library on Wednesday at 6pm for Kindergarten Orientation. There will be a presentation and you will have the opportunity to meet the Kindergarten teachers and see their classrooms. The PTSA will be offering school tours to help everyone get familiar with our school campus. 

Teacher Meet and Greet
Thursday, August 28, 11am-12pm
Please join us at school on Thursday to Meet and Greet your child's new teacher! The teachers have been working hard to get their classrooms ready and can't wait to meet their students. This is also a great time to drop off school supplies.  Parent sign up for October conferences will be available in the hallway during Meet & Greet.  It will be available again at both Curriculum Nights in September, and with individual teachers after that.

First Day Packets: Volunteers Needed

Thursday, August 28, 12pm, Dickinson Commons

Volunteers are needed to help compile first day packets after the Meet and Greet on August 28. We will meet at 12:00pm in the Commons Area.  If we get a lot of volunteers, it should only take an hour or two of your time.  It's a nice opportunity for the kids and parents to reconnect with friends, and to help get the important first day packets all ready to go! Please RSVP to Pamela at pstarnes@dickinsonptsa.org.

 

Back to School Event
Thursday, September 4, 6-8pm
Menchies Yogurt and Live Wire will be joining us. Don't miss it!
Our new school year has begun! Please join us for our back to school event to welcome returning and new families on Thursday September 4 from 6-8pm.  We will have free Menchies frozen yogurt for the first 300 kids. We will also have two balloon twisters from Live Wire making simple balloon creatures for you to take home. These are also limited to roughly 300 kids. Please see the attached flier for more information. If you have any questions, please email Rachel Cady, VP membership PTSA, rcady@dickinsonptsa.org or Sarah Watson, VP membership PTSA, swatson@dickinsonptsa.org.

Are you a new family to Emily Dickinson Elementary?
The Emily Dickinson PTSA supports the buddy program which was designed for new families to have an opportunity to meet each other and to meet other more established families at various events throughout the year. Look for the buddy program flier in your first day packets and here is a link in case you missed it. Please make sure you plan to join us for the Back to School event on September 4. New families should plan to arrive at 5:45pm in the Dickinson Commons for a brief get to know you session before the event begins from 6-8pm. If you have any questions, please feel free to email the chair of the Buddy Program at trusak@dickinsonptsa.org.

Procurement for the 2014 Dickinson/Explorer Auction
Saturday, November 15, 2014

The auction procurement team has been working hard this summer gathering procurement items for the upcoming auction to be held on November 15, at Glendale Country Club. We are asking that each family procure an item for the auction. Is there some activity that you participate in and really enjoy that others might enjoy too? Do you have a special vacation spot or unusual hobby or know a celebrity? Play or concert tickets? Hosted dinners? Wine or wine tasting? Special tours? We need your help! This is our PTSA's major fundraiser. We need every family to help us reach our goal to keep quality programs funded for our kids. Please contact Kathie Roth-Johnson at kjohnson@dickinsonptsa.org with questions or items you have procured.

Library News
I am very happy to report a successful 2013-14 school year in the library. At the beginning of the year, the science and technology sections of our library were among the oldest books in our collection, yet changes in these fields have been the most dramatic in recent years. With the generous support of the PTSA Pass-the-Hat Fund, we were able to add more than 100 new books in these sections, and they immediately became a big hit with students. With the support of PTSA and the entire Dickinson/Explorer community, our successful book fair enabled us to add more new books to our library, including the I Survived historical fiction series, origami books, Newbery Award winners, and the highly-entertaining non-fiction You Wouldn't Want to Be a... series. Moreover, we were able to replace some of our falling-apart classics; new copies of Beverly Cleary's The Mouse and the Motorcycle were in high demand the minute they hit the shelves.

Overall, enthusiasm for reading the books in our library reached an all-time high, as evidenced by the increase in circulation from 18,614 in the 2012-13 school year to 21,677 in this 2013-14 school year-that's a 16% increase in circulation! In addition to reading many new books, students learned information and technology literacy skills, practiced keyboarding, worked on research projects, learned to play chess, and participated in the Global Reading Challenge, where the Dickinson/Explorer Yellow Sombreros competed in the county-wide final at the Bellevue Public Library.

I am looking forward to the 2014-15 school year, and plan to build upon our success. My next goal in updating our book collection will be to bring our very old biography collection up-to-date; students in many grades hunted for biographies to complete assignments, but often had difficulty finding something they were excited about. I also hope to add eBooks and eReaders to our collection. I hope for support from the PTSA in achieving these goals in the coming year!

-John Marino/Teacher-Librarian, Dickinson/Explorer Library

Back to School Shopping at Amazon

Simply click the Amazon School Rewards link before shopping and 4-10% of your purchase automatically goes to our school! The link is always conveniently located on the right margin of the messenger, or on our PTSA website at dickinsonptsa.org. For easy access, you can right click and copy our  Amazon rewards link and save it to your desktop. Thank you for your support!


Community Fliers, Events, and Information

Remember to check the Community Bulletin Board for sports registrations, community events, lectures, parenting classes, camps and other important information. 

 

For Your Calendars  

August

27 Class Lists Available through Parent Access--after 4 p.m.

27 Kindergarten Orientation, 6pm

28 Dickinson Meet & Greet, 11am-12pm

28 First Day Packet Stuffing, 12pm

28 Explorer Orientation, 5-7pm

September

2 First Day of School 

4 Back to School Event, 6-8pm, Dickinson Commons

11 Grades 3-5 & Explorer Curriculum Night, 6:30-8:00pm (Explorer 5:30)

16 Watch Dogs Kickoff Event, 6pm

18 K-2 Curriculum Night 6:30-8pm

25 Picture Day

 

School District Calendars  |  Dickinson PTSA Calendar

Submissions for Messenger
Guidelines and Instructions. Email submissions: must be received by Wednesday at 5 pm. Please email submissions to: messenger@dickinsonptsa.org

Please remember to add messenger@dickinsonptsa.org to the safe senders list of your email provider. For help, go to www.safesenderslist.com

  
Nondiscrimination Notification

The Lake Washington School District does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, gender, marital status, creed, religion, honorably discharged veteran, military status, sexual orientation including gender expression or identity, the presence of any sensory, mental or physical disability, or the use of a trained guide dog or service animal by a person with a disability, in its programs and activities and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policies: Director of Human Resources 16250 NE 74th Street Redmond Washington, 98052 (425) 936-1266
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SCHOOL PHONE NUMBERS
Office: 425-936-2530
Safe Arrival: 425-936-2531

MESSENGER NEWSLETTER

 

THE VIRTUES PROJECT

 

Learn more at the:
  

 

SUPPORT OUR SCHOOL WHILE YOU SHOP!   
   
Simply click the amazon school rewards box before shopping and 4-10% of your purchase goes to our school, automatically!
  
  

Everything Party 
 offers a large selection of party supplies and seasonal decorations. Every time you make a purchase at their Redmond store, mention Emily Dickinson before checkout and 10% of the proceeds will be donated to our school.

 

Register your Safeway card with eScrip. Every time you use your Safeway card for savings, a percentage of your purchase will be donated to Dickinson/Explorer.

 

Register your Target REDcard

to the fundraising
program and select Emily Dickinson! Target will donate a % of your purchases to our school every time you charge purchases on your Target card.