Dealey Dragon Update
August 15, 2019
Dear Excellent Dealey Families,
We are looking forward to Monday, when all of our returning Dragons are back on campus, and we are welcoming nearly 100 new Dragons to campus.
As you prepare your child for a successful school year, I want to share 3 big ideas that are evident PreK-8th grade at Dealey, and I encourage you to find ways to extend these ideas at home. (Adapted from Apple Montessori)
Help your child develop independence.
The Montessori classroom is set up to let the students explore and exercise all of their abilities. With child-sized furniture and learning materials kept at their level, Montessori children always get to experience that great feeling that comes from being able to do things for themselves.
It can sometimes be painfully difficult to watch our children spend what seems like an eternity awkwardly trying to do a simple task. But by stepping back and letting them do things themselves, you’re giving them the excitement and confidence that comes from small accomplishments like walking into school independently.
Model grace and courtesy for your child.
Montessori teachers model respect with the classroom greeting. Every morning, each student is greeted with a handshake and some welcoming words. It’s a way to initiate children into one of the rituals of adulthood and it also sets a positive tone and expectation for the rest of the day.
It’s easy to slip into the mindset that our children are just too young to understand or take part in courteous routines. But if you start to develop these routines at home as we do at school, you will see that children are eager and capable of participating in these routines.
Empower your child to learn through mistakes
Maria Montessori had so many original and wonderful insights into early childhood education. One of the most under appreciated, and subsequently misunderstood, is the idea of mistakes – of having the space, confidence and ability to make them – and the power of determination that comes from within. When you overcome your mistakes to accomplish a task, you build the fortitude to accomplish just about anything. You can help your child understand the value in mistakes by how you react to your child’s mistakes and how you model a growth mindset at home. (adapted from this blog)
I look forward to an amazing year partnering with you to support our children.
Please contact me if you have any questions or feedback.
Sincerely,
Ms. Wing
214-537-7629
Middle School Students Going Global!
New Staff- You are all Dragons Now!
Dragons Volunteer in the Community!
Open House
5:15-5:30 Please stop by to meet Ms. Knoll, our new Assistant Principal
5:30-7:00 Elementary Meet the Teacher in their classrooms (PreK/K will meet in Cafeteria)
5:30-7:00 Middle School informational video in auditorium, meet the teacher in classrooms.
I look forward to seeing you!
Enrollment, Proof of Residency and Address Verification
Enrollment
For Kinder- 8th grade, you can enroll your student online at https://dallasisd.powerschool.com/public. To create a new Parent portal account, unlock an existing account, or associate new students with an existing account, please contact jmedrano@dallasisd.org to assist with account access and to obtain your student’s Access ID code.Proof of Residency
All families must provide Proof of Residency updated each year. Proof of Residency can be a mortgage statement, lease, or utility bill. You may email this to jmedrano@dallasisd.org or send in a hard copy to the front office.
Address Verification
We will provide another document at Open House (and with a link in next week's blog). This document was adopted recently to further ensure that we are in compliance with the district's policies regarding out of district students.
CIP
Carpool
I want to highlight a few things:
- Please avoid going SOUTH on Edgemere. There are signs posted "No Left Turn" into our carpool from Edgemere and "No Left Turn" leaving our carpool onto Edgemere.
- Please don't load or unload until you pull all the way up in the carpool lane. If your child needs assistance, please park in a designated parking area (see map on link)
- Please pay attention to the adults that are directing traffic and the children and families that are unloading and loading.
- Please be patient and gracious.
- Please arrive EARLY. All students should be in the building by 8:15 when our first bell rings. All students arriving after 8:25 will be counted tardy. Our school hours haven't changed, but we will be more rigid in our enforcement of these times- our instructional time is important and announcements will begin at 8:27.
Shout Outs!
Ms. Winners for all of her work with the Master Schedule and the new and more complicated scheduling of Middle School students.
Ms. Simmons, Ms. Thomas, Ms. Johnson, and Ms. Ortiz for their work in deploying our 1:1 technology.
Ms. Bourenane for her help with the class placement postcards over the summer
All the Mentor teachers that showed up to help our new teachers last Wednesday
Ms. Austin for her specialized support of our new Montessori teachers
All CILT members for their thoughtful participation in our first meeting, and to leads that brought together their teams to get started.
PTA Hospitality for yummy breakfast on Friday
Ms. Cernoch for the Dragon Wishes revamp- it is fantastic!
Ms. Leach for supporting us in our goal of more complete and effective communication.
Ms. Macktinger for her support of our Auditorium Project.
The Taylors for homing our chickens for the summer
Dad's club for the power wash of the hard top and our sweet new basketball goals
PTA for funding new Montessori materials, IXL and teacher allocations so that we have what we need.