JBD FRIDAY FOCUS
FAMILY NEWSLETTER - February 23, 2018
More Safety News and Drill Information
I appreciate the calls and emails from parents with genuine questions about safety and security. Some of you have shared great ideas and suggestions that are all taken into consideration. For now, I wanted to share how we do our drills in case of a variety of emergencies. As you probably know, fire drills happen fairly often, at a minimum of one a month. When we have a fire drill at this time during our construction, we walk all the way over to the track at Great Neck Middle School. It is the longest 'duck crossing' with 835 children and about 90 staff members. It is down to a system and it goes very well.
For other drills, such as an intruder drill, or what we call an INTERNAL LOCKDOWN DRILL, teachers know to close and lock their doors, cover the door window, turn off the lights and get children out of sight. We are also looking into getting door stops for the inside so that the doors cannot be opened at all. The other drill involving possible intrusion is the EXTERNAL LOCKDOWN drill. During an EXTERNAL LOCKDOWN drill, the exterior doors are all locked and shades are pulled, however, the educational program goes as usual. Most teachers close their doors during this drill as well.
Right now, all teachers are keeping their doors in a locked position or closed and locked during instruction. Sometimes the rooms get hot and stuffy with 25 children, so I don't require the teachers to keep their door closed at all times. But, if they remain in a locked position, they are ready in case of an emergency. We can't live in a state of fear, but we are definitely in a state of heightened awareness.
In the near future, all VBCPS schools will be getting a buzzer system and it is my understanding that they are being installed at this point in some schools. I do not know when JBD will get that system-it could be when we have our new main entrance completed.
Your assistance and cooperation with always having an ID ready for picking up your children and also making sure all emergency contacts are updated for our records. If you make any changes with who can pick up your child, please let us know right away.
In the meantime, embrace the magic of elementary school and prepare the Dr. Seuss day costumes for Friday! We love seeing Thing 1 and Thing 2 in the halls and the Cat in the Hat always makes an appearance. Continue reading and practicing math facts with your children. The DOLLAR TREE has flash cards-well worth the investment! Math facts can be practiced anywhere. We need the children to have automaticity with math facts!
Enjoy your weekend and as always, continue communicating with us. Parent involvement is a crucial key to student achievement. :)
Mrs. Bianchi
Principal
JBD
GREAT JOB! Mr. Kimpan's team of actors present "Stories from the Underground Railroad"
100th Day of School!
SUPER HEROES!
DEY'S SUPER HEROES!
Kindness Challenge Breakfast with special visitors: Dr. Aaron Spence, Superintendent and Mr. Wright, Chief of Schools
Construction Update
NEXT WEEK AT DEY
- SCA Spirit Day! Summer Lovin' Day! Wear your Hawaiian shirts and grass skirts: Let's pretend it's summer!
- 5th Grade Assembly (Café) - Mr. Kimpan's team of actors present: "Stories from the Underground Railroad" 1:30 - 2:15 p.m
- PTA Spanish (Grades 2-3) 4:15 p.m. dismissal
Tuesday, Feb. 27:
- 5th Grade Field Trip to GNMS 9:30 a.m. - 11 a.m
- SCA Meeting (all) 3 - 3:45 p.m.
- PTA Tennis (K-2) 3-4 p.m. VBTCC
- PTA Spanish (Grades 4-5) Dismiss @ 4:15 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 28:
- Word Shirt Wednesday!
- Math SOL Tutoring 3 - 4:30 p.m.
- PTA Spanish (K-1) Dismisses @ 4:15
- PTA Tennis (Grades 3-5) 3-4 p.m. VBTCC
- Art Club
- Last day for PAW for Pets donations! Thank you for your support!
Thursday, March 1: Deadline for all Grade 1 Gifted Applications 4:00 p.m.
- 4th Gr. Assembly - Mr. Kimpan's team of actors present: "Stories from the Underground Railroad" 1:30 - 2:15 p.m.
- Reading SOL Tutoring 3 - 4:30 p.m.
- NEHS (Room 33) until 4 p.m.
Friday, March 2:
- Dr. Seuss Spirit Day - Wear something that represents a Dr. Seuss Book!
- Progress Reports issued for all students
GIFTED CORNER
https://giftedapplication.vbcps.com/Login
The user ID is your student’s permanent number (lunch number)
The password follows this formula: 2jbdes[capitalized initials of your child’s legal first and last name]1
The 2 represents the quarter when the password was last updated. (Tempest Linderman and Thomson are all on 3. ½ of Callis’ class is on 3)The jbdes is in lowercase. It means John B. Dey Elementary School. The last digit is the grade your child is in.
If I were a student in first grade, my password might look like this: 2jbdesKR1
Once applications are submitted, the first grade students will take the CoGat on the morning of March 19th.
If your child is sick, three attempts will be made to make up the testing. You will hear back from the testing department in the e-mail address you used on the application, by the beginning of June.
Follow the activities of the cluster classes on Twitter: @MrsReidelbach
JBD Destination Imagination
Good luck to all the JBD DI Teams competing this weekend at Princess Anne Middle School.
Best of luck students - you have worked so hard!
CLINIC CORNER
5th Graders!!! Are you ready for Middle School???
Parents, there are 74 school days left to get this done before the 2017-18 school year ends. You can also get it done over the summer and bring an updated immunization record to the middle school.
- Tdap immunization is required to enter 6th grade. Call your Primary Care provider and schedule an appointment to get this done.
- Proof of the immunization can be dropped off by your child to the clinic anytime up until the last day of school.
- Your child will not get a class schedule mailed to them in the summer without proof that they had this immunization. They will not be able to start school without this immunization.
Don’t Delay, Plan ahead and schedule the appointment. Bring proof to the school nurse before the last day of school and I will put the immunization information into your child’s health record for middle school. A good time to get this done is during school breaks.
Michele Self, R.N
JBD Scholarship Applications available online
John B. Dey PTA is proud to offer four $500 scholarships to former students/teachers. Applications are available online at Scholarship Central at www.vbschools.com/scholarship
Completed applications are due to the Main Office by March 16, 2018 at 2:30 p.m.
Shorebreak Spirit Night Coming Soon!
YEARBOOKS - ONLINE ORDERS
Just a reminder that yearbooks are online orders again ONLY this year!
Yearbooks can be ordered at:
YBPay.lifetouch.com with Yearbook ID Code: 2077918
Please do not send cash or checks. Deadline to order yearbook online is March 30.
Thank you!
PTA CORNER
1. Our second fundraiser of the year, Boosterathon Fun Run, is coming up and going to be a fantastic week-long program leading up to our Glow Stick Fun Run that will take place on March 8th during school hours! All families will be getting information sent home on how the program works and how you can get involved. This will be our opportunity to raise funds for primarily for technology for the classroom and the teachers resource library.
Our computers are outdated and there is not an immediate plan for the replacement. Let's work together to have efficient, operational and updated hardware for our children's use and advancement! The kids are going to love this "Castle Quest" theme and character-building program!
Watch here for more information:
2. After-School Tennis and Spanish start Next Week
After-school Spanish: All classes will be extended 15 minutes and dismiss at 4:15 p.m. Please pick up your child at 4:15. This will be effective the entirety of the after-school class schedule.
After-school tennis: All classes will maintain a 4pm dismissal and pick up time BUT the tennis clinics will be extended by one week. So the final tennis classes will occur on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday, April 16th, 17th & 18th.
3. BINGO NIGHT IS COMING!!! March 23rd at JBD. 6:30 p.m. the numbers start to be called, doors open at 6 p.m. It's one of the biggest nights of the year! Pizza, drinks, snacks will be available for purchase. The whole family is welcome! More details to follow.
4. Use Kroger cards and Farm Fresh Key Tags every time you shop! Cut out those BOX TOPS and send them in!
5. Be a part of the John B. Dey Legacy! Engraved bricks will be available for purchase in the spring. The new John B. Dey school entrance will be paved with these engraved bricks in 2 sizes. All this information will be coming after Spring Break. All alumni are welcome to leave their mark in JBD history! Don't miss this opportunity!
8. The next PTA Board meeting will be March 13 at 9:30 a.m. in the JBD Conference Room. All are welcome. The Board is encouraged to attend.
P.E. REMINDER
Parents,
Please remember your child needs to wear tennis shoes to participate in P.E. every day.
Thank you!
Spring Picture Day
Friday, March 16
Class and individual pictures will be taken in the Gym. There is no make-up day for Spring Pictures. Flyers will be coming soon from Lifetouch.
JBD Family Newsletter
Email: ecbianch@vbschools.com
Website: www.deyes.vbschools.com
Location: John B Dey Elementary School, North Great Neck Road, Virginia Beach, VA, USA
Phone: 757-648-2440
Twitter: @JbdElem