Friday Feature - May 5
May 5, 2023
DPS extends a huge THANK YOU to our School Lunch Heroes!
We appreciate each and every one of our Child Nutrition heroes who help us keep our thousands of students fed for two meals, five days per week. Today, and every day, we recognize and value you and all your hard work for our division!
Teacher Appreciation Week is May 8-12!
Help us celebrate our teachers next week! We're running a Let's Talk Campaign for Teacher Appreciation Week! Send your fellow team members some love, or shoutout a friend for their hard work. The Communications team will be sending messages to the teachers. Just use the Let's Talk link on the homepage of our website, danvillepublicschools.org, and use the topic "Teacher Appreciation Week"
In addition, the following Local Businesses will be offering special discounts for teachers next week!
Bambino’s Pizza - 6345 Dry Fork Road Dry Fork, VA 24549
15% off the teacher’s meal. Must show teacher badge.Pie Five Pizza - 114 Sandy Ct Ste C Danville, VA 24541
$5 Personal Size Pizza. Must show school ID.
*Offer valid until 5/14/2023. Valid for (1) regular price personal pizza for $5. Additional charge for Parmesan Crunch Stuffed crust, Panzano Pan crust, gluten-free crust, cauliflower crust, and vegan cheese. Not valid with any other offers or discounts. Tax not included. One offer per transaction. Valid in-store only.Karen's Hallmark Shop - Danville Mall 325 Piedmont Dr. Ste 5K Danville, VA 24540
THANK YOU to Walmart and Board Chair Graves!
This week, our local Walmart store and School Board Chair Ty'Quan Graves delivered staff and teacher appreciation provisions, including doughnuts and sandwiches to all DPS schools. We appreciate your support of our schools!
Important Upcoming Dates
May 5 - GW Orchestra Spring Concert at 7 p.m.
May 6 - Opening Day of the Farmers Market; Make Danville Shine Home Expo at the Community Market from 8 a.m. to noon.
May 9 - Graduate of Distinction Ceremony; GW Baseball Home Game vs. Bassett at 5 p.m. at Market Garden Field; Westwood Spring Band Concert at Bonner at 7 p.m.
May 10 - George Washington High School Track Opening Day; First HOME track meet at ; Galileo Soccer Home Game vs. Altavista at Dan Daniel at 5:30 p.m.
May 11 - GW Girls Soccer Home Game vs. Mecklenburg County at GW at 5:30 p.m., Boys at 7 p.m.
May 12 - Galileo Soccer Home Game vs. Dan River at Dan Daniel at 5:30 p.m.; GW Baseball Home Game vs. Martinsville at 5 p.m. at Market Garden Field; Girls Soccer Home Game vs. Halifax County at GW at 5:30 p.m.
View the district calendar here, and remember to keep up with school-based events by regularly checking their websites and social media.
Galileo short film chosen for VHSL film festival
One of Galileo Magnet High School's short films is now an official selection for the 2023 VHSL Film Festival. "Jabberwocky," directed by Anna Timm, is one of the eight finalists from around the state in the Experimental Film category.
The short film is a visual interpretation of Lewis Carroll's classic poem of the same name. The film will be screened on June 3rd in Charlottesville.
Tickets for the general public can be purchased through GoFan using this link.
Spring Play at Bonner
Last Wednesday through Friday, Bonner Middle School theater students and staff put on the production of Camelot and Camelittle by Stacy Layne. Over those three nights, 300 people attended to watch and laugh along to this hilarious production. This was Bonner's first theatre production since the introduction of theatre classes at Bonner last year. Ms. Gilbert and her students worked hard to make the production a success! Be on the lookout for future plays or musicals at Bonner for next year!
Middle School Softball wraps up its first season
Danville Middle School Softball team completed their first season with a win against Martinsville Middle School. Shoutout to our girls for a great season!
Arbor Day at Park Avenue
City Manager Ken Larking, Public Works staff and a representative from the Virginia Department of Forestry joined kindergarteners at Park Avenue Elementary this morning to plant a tree in recognition of Arbor Day.
City Manager Larking read a proclamation that recognized the City of Danville as a Tree City USA for the 31st year by the National Arbor Foundation and on behalf of Mayor Alonzo Jones proclaimed April 28, 2023 as Arbor Day in the City of Danville.
A Japanese cherry tree was the tree of choice to be planted after being selected by Park Avenue Students.
GW NJROTC visits NC Central
On April 26th, 2023 all the classes of GW NJROTC (45 cadets) visited the campus of North Carolina Central University in Durham, NC. On the way to the campus, the cadets stopped at the historic Bennett Place homestead in Durham, the location of the Confederate Army’s largest surrender in 1865.
Senior Cadet Isaac Ross said, "I thought it was interesting Mr. Bennett was a farmer that didn’t own any slaves, and he sold corn liquor to help make a living. I also liked the live fire weapons demo. We got to see how the repeater rifle helped win the Civil War."
When asked about the NCCU Campus visit,Cadet Commanding Officer Terry Daniel said, "The best part for me was the good food and all you can eat lunch. I had 3 plates. The tour was of course great too! All the old historic buildings mixed with new modern buildings and on going construction was impressive."
Park Avenue holds Chalk Walk
For the month of April, Park Avenue's PBIS goal was to have a school-wide attendance rate of 92%. They had a rate of 93.85% which is 2.02% growth from April 2022!
In celebration, their students enjoyed a Chalk Walk!
Bonner student and teacher to star in Spongebob the Musical
On Saturday, April 28, Bonner 8th Grader, Kloe Marshall, and Bonner Theatre teacher, Ms. Gilbert, auditioned for Spongebob the Musical at Patrick & Henry Community College in Martinsville. Both Kloe and Ms. Gilbert received callbacks (where actors read and sing for a certain character). Kloe had a callback for an Electric Skate, and Ms. Gilbert had a callback for Patrick and an Electric Skate. The two auditioned for their callbacks on May 2.
The cast list was posted May 4, and Kloe and Ms. Gilbert will both be an Electric Skate (a rock and roll band, with a song written by Areosmith) and members of the ensemble!
Forty people auditioned, 25 had callbacks, and 25 made the cut! Kloe is also the youngest.
Show dates are July 20-23 and 27-29 and Patrick & Henry Community College.
Divine 9 Reading Mentor Program at Schoolfield
This week, Schoolfield Elementary is honored to have launched a reading mentoring program. The Divine 9 Reading Mentors is a distinguished collective group of local sorority and fraternity members who will serve as read-aloud mentors to some of our second and third-grade students. The Divine 9 also includes local elected officials and retired DPS district leaders who have chosen Schoolfield as their site to serve as volunteers. Our reading mentors began on Monday, May 1. We appreciate them volunteering to give the gift of reading to our wonderful Jaguars. Working together, we will build a solid foundation to foster students’ intrinsic interest in reading and learning. Our overarching goal is to generate enthusiasm for books and a love of reading to last a lifetime!
GWHS Drill Team Goes to Annapolis
On April 29, 2023, the GW NJROTC Drill Team visited the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Cadets toured the scenic and historic campus known as “The Yard."
Executive Officer Ashley Motley said, "We really enjoyed getting a behind the scenes look at midshipmen life. Hearing about all the history was also informative. I think the fact we studied about the Academy in class made it even more meaningful. The tour guide was extremely impressed with our knowledge of the Academy and the history. I feel like we really represented. On behalf of the team, the 7 seniors would like to thank both of our Master Chiefs!"
The GW NJROTC would also like to thank our bookkeeper Ms. Robinson, the DPS Finance Office - Ms. Wright-Lawson and her staff that went above and beyond to make the trip a success.
Attendance Bike Winner at Park Avenue
Congratulations to Declan Jones for winning Park Avenue's attendance bike drawing this month!
Celebrating Jamaican Culture at Schoolfield
Our international teacher Jags, Mrs.Costley-Harrison, and Ms. DePass (2nd grade) hosted a presentation this week for Schoolfield teachers and staff. The presentation taught everyone about Jamaican culture and cuisine. Teachers and staff also enjoyed a tasty Jamaican meal. Thank you to Mrs. Costley-Harrison and Ms. DePass!!
Star Wars art at Park Avenue
Mrs. Ferrell’s first graders made baby Yoda art for May the 4th which is also “A” for art day! We are counting down the ABC’s to the end of the year.
SOL Preparation at Schoolfield
The Student Jags are working HARD preparing for their SOL tests during their intervention time. Pictured are students working on SOL 4.9 (elapsed time) using the strategy of a timeline to solve their problems. Students are required to show their work and justify their answers. Go Jaguars!
STEAM pumpkin planting at Park Avenue
For the next step of their STEAM Pumpkin Project, Park Avenue afterschool enrichment students planted pumpkin vines outside each teacher's classroom so that the students can continue to watch them grow!
Celebrations at Westwood
Students in Math 180 Celebrated excellent Growth Assessment Scores, and The Coronation of King Charles III today at Westwood Middle School.
Celebrating outstanding character at Park Avenue
Members of the Danville Police Department celebrated Park Avenue students that have had “Outstanding Character” all school year. They enjoyed popcorn, an encouraging message, and a movie.
Ruby B. Archie Passport to Reading Challenge
We announced a brand new reading challenge today and we're calling on EVERYONE to participate! We've challenged the Danville community to read one million books by the end of this year through the Ruby B. Archie Passport to Reading Challenge.
Participating is easy: just read a book and log it! Danville Public Schools students are able to access our logging software Beanstack through their Single Sign On portals. The community can log their books at readdanvilleva.beanstack.org.
Student Instructions for using Beanstack
Community Instructions for using Beanstack
After registering, be sure to join the Rubie B. Archie Passport to Reading Challenge and start entering those books. Ready, set, read!