The Latest News at Derry Village School

Derry School District Cyber-Safety Night

“Surfing with the Sharks: Learn to Surf Safe

January 31, 2012

A Cyber-Safety presentation, “Surfing with the Sharks: Learn to Surf Safely” will be held for parents and students to learn more about how to make safe choices as a family regarding the Internet. The presentation will be held on Tuesday, January 31st, from 6:30 – 8:00 pm at West Running Brook Middle School. Presenters from the Derry School District and Derry Police Department include: Lorrie Belinsky, MaryAnn Connors-Krikorian, Kristen Cretella, Trisha DiGirolamo, Kelly Herr, Kim Hogan, Chris McCallum, Detective Lieutenant Jonathan Breen, Detective Ken Richard and Captain Vern Thomas. Faculty members from the Derry School District will be available to monitor children in Grades K-8 in a variety of settings, including the gymnasium, so please have your children bring their sneakers! There will be games and activities available for various ages.

Please either call (432-1210) or email Liz Emus lemus@derry.k12.nh.us, at the Superintendent’s Office. You may also call your school office to register if you know in advance that you are attending. We hope to see you at West Running Brook Middle School on January 31st beginning at 6:30 pm, for “Surfing with the Sharks: Learn to Surf Safely.”

Long Range/Strategic Planning Survey

How should we plan for an even stronger education for students in the Derry Cooperative School District?

We invite you to participate in the Long Range / Strategic Planning Process. Click the link below to participate in our Long Range/Strategic Planning Survey.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7FMSGBY

If clicking the link above does not seem to work, you can copy and paste the link into your browser's address window, or retype it there.

Some Reminders:

• Arrival time is a busy time of the school day. With buses and cars dropping off students from 8:25am until 835am [tardy bell] it is extremely important to be safety conscious. Our priority during time is the safety of all our students. Please be aware of the following;

• Drive with great caution in the bus drop-off area. Young children can make sudden and unexpected movements, including running out onto the road.
  If you are dropping off your child please obey the "Stop" signal on the buses. Bus drivers will report cars that "run the red".

• Please drop your child off in a safe area. Some children have been walking up the middle of the busy driveway.

• When in the bus drop-off area have your child disembark the car on the curb side, not into the on-coming traffic.

• For safety, use the first parking lot on the left to drop off your child. There is a path that leads to the school that your child can take.

Healthy Resolutions

The cold winter weather doesn’t have to bring an end to outdoor fun.  Winter sports and sledding is a great way to exercise and have fun with your whole family.  To help avoid injuries, the most important thing to remember is that supervision equals safety.  Set reasonable time limits on outdoor play to prevent frostbite.  Have children come inside periodically to warm up.  The American Academy of Pediatrics also lists the following:

• Sledding

• Keep sledders away from motor vehicles.

• Children should be supervised while sledding.

• Keep young children separated from older children.

• Sledding feet first or sitting up, instead of lying down headfirst, may prevent head injuries.

• Consider having your child wear a helmet while sledding.

• Use steerable sleds, not snow disks or inner tubes.

• Sleds should be structurally sound and free of sharp edges and splinter, and the steering mechanism should be well lubricated.

• Sled slopes should be free of obstructions like trees or fences, be covered in snow not ice, not be too steep (slope of less than 30 degrees), and end with a flat runoff.

• Avoid sledding in crowded areas.

May everyone enjoy some fun and safe winter activities! Mrs. Drumm, School nurse.

A.N.S.W.E.R Model

The A.N.S.W.E.R Model is used at DVS to answer all constructed response questions whether they are short answer or extended response type questions. We believe that students using this model for responding to both math and reading questions will have a good basis for providing a complete answer. Read more

PTA News: Turn Off The TV Week

Take a break from the screens and join in the festivities during Turn off the TV Week Feb 6-10th.  PTA will be providing FREE events Tues, Thurs and Fri of that week.  Join us for Game Night/Book Swap including Bingo and Minute to Win It!  Drop off books for the swap in the media room.  Spaghetti Dinner, spectacular Magic Show and Family Dance are all on the agenda.  Watch for flyers to come home and RSVP to Spaghetti Dinner. 

Read all the details here

After school Enrichment will run 3/26-4/13 - contact dvspta@gmail.com with class ideas or to help plan courses. 

Thanks to all who volunteered with the Tile Project!

There will be NO monthly meeting in February. 

Band and Chorus Concert

We had our wonderful chorus and band holiday concert last month. The students and our music department staff were very eager to perform for the school and for the parents. We are always delighted to be entertained by the chorus and band. They all put in many hours of hard practice and nights like this give them a chance to showcase their skills and talents. Thanks goes to Mrs Sullivan, our music teacher and chorus teacher and Ms. Rockenhauser, our band teacher for their hard work and devotion to promoting a musical school.

NWEA Map Testing

NWEA's MAP testing winter session began on January 4. Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) are state-aligned computerized adaptive tests that accurately reflect the instructional level of each student and measure growth over time.

During this winter session we will see the progress made by students since the Fall. We are able to remediate or challenge students as the need may be. The MAP test identifies the skills and concepts individual students have learned.

We ask parents to continue to challenge your children with reading, writing and math tasks at home. Every little challenge helps us on the road to improved performances in all aspects of schoolwork. Some of the best pieces of advice for preparing your child for MAP have been:

1. Take your time.

2. Know the score from the previous test.

3. Get a solid good night's sleep before the test.

4. Read each question carefully and think before you answer. Be sure that you understand the question before you start to compare answer choices. Look at ALL the answer choices and choose the best and most complete answer. If you're not sure which answer is correct, eliminate choices that you know are incorrect. Then focus on the remaining choices.

5. Stay focused on the test, even if other students finish early. Don't get distracted.

Page Last Updated 1/30/2012