Principal Denise Schwartz welcomes you aboard the H.R.R. Downes: Honesty, Respect, Responsibility
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Welcome to Downes Elementary SchoolHappy February! Iʼve been wondering if weʼre ever going to see snow this winter. Weʼve had nothing as of today but maybe by the time this newsletter gets in your hands, this will have changed. Anyway, let it snow! Our teachers have been extremely busy with middle of the year assessments and reviewing data to determine who is not making adequate yearly progress at this point of the year. If your child received an interim, please be sure to contact the teacher and discuss strategies so that we can support you and your child. If your childʼs progress has shown that their promotion is in danger, please be sure that you have scheduled a conference on Feb. 17th as this is the final conference day for the year. If you did not attend a November conference, I encourage you to schedule one at this time. If youʼd like to review your childʼs progress, regardless of where they are academically, you may also schedule an appointment with your childʼs teacher. If your childʼs promotion is in danger because of attendance issues, please contact your childʼs teacher, also, so that this can be discussed. According to the state guidelines, all students must receive an NP or better in reading/language arts and at least one other core subject in order to be promoted to the next grade. Additionally, students must attend school for 90% of the time in order to be promoted. This includes excused and unexcused absences. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your childʼs teacher or the school office. Thanks for your cooperation. We have a winner for our Geography Bee- Leia Clendaniel, a fourth grader, from Mrs. Chopkoʼs room. We had our school competition earlier this month and we had ten finalists on the stage for the series of questions, and Leia came out on top! Congratulations, Leia! Now we will see if she will move on to the next phase of this competition. Thank you to all of the children and their families for all you did to prepare for this competition. National Writing Day is February 8th and everyone @ Downes will be writing during the day to this prompt: Why is writing important? Please ask your child to share their ideas on this topic- when do they write, why do they write, what would it be like without writing, and what have they written that they are most proud of? We want all of our children to become life-long writers and here is where it begins. Presidentʼs Day is February 20th and the school will be closed in observance of the national holiday. February is also Black History Month and every day in February, during the morning announcements, one of our fifth graders will be sharing some important facts about a famous black American. Ask your child who they learned about today and see if you can name some, too. Hope to see you at the next chat and chew on February 1st @ 8:30 in the cafeteria and the PTA meeting on the 7th, Girls On The RunDownes will once again be a site for the Girls On The Run Program. The program is for girls in grades 3rd - 5th. Girls on the Run program combines training for a 3.1 mile running event with self-esteem enhancing, uplifting workouts. The goals of the program are to encourage positive emotional, social, mental, spiritual and physical development. We are looking for girls in grades 3-5 to participate in the program. The practices will run on Mondays and Fridays from 3:00-4:15p.m. here at Downes for approximately 10 weeks. St. Jude Math-a-thonThe Saint Jude Children's Research Hospital Math-a-thon will take place during Spring Break this year. Over the past several years Downes has raised over $22,000 for the children of Saint Jude! Stay ConnectedHere are some of the tools available for you to stay connected with what's happening in Christina. Facebook: Stay up-to-date on announcements, upcoming meetings, and more. The District's Facebook page, ChristinaK12, has more than 4,200 fans and is growing every day. Receive news updates, share ideas and comments, and read what others are saying. Twitter: Follow @ChristinaK12 for CSD news, announcements, upcoming events, meeting reminders, and much more. Text Alerts: CSD has created a Twitter account for notifying the community via text messaging about School Closing, Delays, Early Dismissals, and other urgent information. The new account @CSDalerts is a way for parents, students, staff, and the community to sign up for CSD Urgent Twitter alerts via text messaging without having a Twitter account! To sign up, simply text Follow CSDalerts to 40404. (Please note: Standard text messaging rates apply.) Take a Virtual Tour of Downes Elementary |
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John R. Downes Elementary School • 220 Casho Mill Road • Newark, DE 19711 • Tel. (302) 454-2133 | ||