Discover U
September 2017
"Education is not the learning of the facts, but the training of the mind to think." -Albert Einstein
Our Mission is to provide a school that works for all students: academically-socially-emotionally.
Our vision is to be the most student-centered school working to nurture, inspire, and empower our learners so that they become strong, successful individuals with 21st century skills. We define 21st century skills as being a critical thinker/problem solver, empowered, collaborative, curious, innovative, and resilient.
Exceptional Explorers
Social Emotional Learning
- Self-Awareness: What are my thoughts and feelings? What causes those thoughts and feelings? How can I express my thoughts and feelings respectfully?
- Self-Management: What different responses can I have to an event? How can I respond to an event as constructively as possible?
- Social Awareness: How can I better understand other people's thoughts and feelings?
- How can I better understand why people feel and think the way they do?
- Relationship Skills: How can I adjust my actions so that my interactions with different people turn out well? How can I communicate my expectations to other people? How can I communicate with other people to understand and manage their expectations of me?
- Responsible Decision Making: What consequences will my actions have on myself and others? How do my choices align with my values? How can I solve problems creatively?
Below you will find three ways we have helped our kids to become stronger socially and emotionally.
Square/Box Breathing
Sit or lie down in a comfortable position. Inhale through your nose for 4 seconds, hold your breath for 4 seconds, exhale out of your mouth for 4 seconds, and then hold again for 4 seconds.Continue this for at least 4 cycles.
Community Appreciation Circle
The teacher can formally appreciate efforts of individual students for their performance or contributions at the meeting. For example, “One thing I really appreciate in our class is how Frank takes time to give compliments. Yesterday, I heard him give a great compliment. He said….”
Students can also praise or appreciate classmates. On certain days during class meetings, there is time for the teacher to read these positive recognitions and do a class cheer for the student that is being recognized. The student gets to keep the note.
Try this at home by taking time to share your appreciations of one and other.
Belly Breathing
Close your eyes and breathe normally. Now focus on breathing in and making your belly fill up like a balloon. Then exhale and imagine pushing all of the air out of your belly.
Continue until you feel focused.
One way young kids can practice belly breathing is by putting a stuffed animal on their stomach and breathing in to try and lift the stuffed animal up and breathing out and watching it fall.
Around the School
School Pictures
If you would like to order pictures, but did not get a chance to order the pictures in advance you have a couple of options.
- You can visit DukePhotos.com and enter in your child's web log on code from the day they took their picture. If you no longer have this code please call us and we will give it to you.
- You can wait until prints are sent out. You will receive a copy of the picture and information about purchasing the pictures.
Breakfast and Lunch Update
Prior to September 18th you will be receiving a new lunch menu with the updated meals. You can find out more about the new company on their website http://nutritiononeslp.com/.If you have any questions or feedback please feel free to call us at (623)974-4827.
NWEA Testing
Your child learns better-and faster- when teachers and students have a clear picture of what they know and what they are ready to learn next. The NWEA assessment is an "adaptive" assessment which reacts to each child's answers and gets more challenging when they are getting answers correct and becomes easier when they are getting answers incorrect.
At Discover U kindergarten through sixth grade have started taking this assessment for reading and math. During parent teacher conferences in October your child's teacher will be able to show you the results and discuss how they are using this information to personalize instruction for your child.
Our students will take this assessment three times a school year to focus on personalizing instruction and measuring student growth.
Please click here if you'd like to read the Parent Toolkit to learn more.
Donations for Hurricane Harvey
Wednesday, Sep 6, 2017, 08:15 AM
Discover U Elementary, North 113th Avenue, Youngtown, AZ, United States
Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) Kick Off
Monday, Sep 18, 2017, 05:30 PM
Discover U Elementary, North 113th Avenue, Youngtown, AZ, United States
RSVPs are enabled for this event.
Parent Teacher Conferences
Pre-K and Kindergarten release at 11:45am
1st - 6th Grade release at 12:15pm
Wednesday, Oct 11, 2017, 07:30 AM
Discover U Elementary, North 113th Avenue, Youngtown, AZ, United States
Angela Makowski, School Leader
See what's going on at Discover U by following our hashtag #DUexplorers
Website: discoverulearning.com
Location: makowski@discoverulearning.com
Phone: 623-9744827
Facebook: facebook.com/DUlearning
Twitter: @DUdiscoverU