Week of May 5th

After a short week and a nice week-end, let's have a great week of rigorous learning.

6th grade students will continue to read their new novel, Pacific Crossing, by Gary Soto. As students read this book, they will deepen their vocabulary, journal, grow comprehension, and increase high order thinking skills by discussing the chapters of the novel in literature circles and as a class with the themes of it.

HOMEWORK:
Read and discuss the chapters of the novel

The 7th grade class will continue to read their novel, The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton. Students will receive a new set of vocabulary words, journal, grow comprehension, and increase high order thinking skills by discussing the chapters of the novel in literature circles and as a class with the themes of it. Students will have a test covering chapters (1-5) on WEDNESDAY of the novel in order to measure their comprehension skills.

The 8th grade class will begin to learn what debate is and practice debating their fellow students covering different topics. Students will gather information from Internet sources to help with their stances and use teams to debate against each other.

Let's have a great week! Believing is Achieving!

The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.

Bob Marley

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/b/bob_marley.html#jty0GlUpHy5yuzoV.99

Discovery Happenings

SPRING GENERAL ASSEMBLY - The General Assembly of parents will be held on Saturday, May 17, beginning at 9:00 a.m. in the Cafeteria. We are required to have a quorum of one-third of our parents present in order for the meeting to be considered legal and for any decisions made at the General Assembly to be binding. We have 325 parents listed as members of the school association, so we need to have at least 108 parents in attendance (although only one parent per family can vote, both parents can be counted for quorum). We need for YOU to attend! Your ideas and your votes are important for the school. The school will provide supervision and activities for children during the General Assembly (from 9:00 - 11:00 a.m.) Dr. Jay Ketterer, Discovery School’s new Head of School will be present at the Assembly.

 

DISCOVERY GOES GREEN- Thank you for all of you who have participated in green activities during April. 

 

-Congratulations to the 2nd grade classes for bringing the most material for the Recycling Drive.  They will celebrate with the Environmental Science students by having a "earthly" snack on Tuesday. 

-Also, a large thank you goes out to all the families that sponsored plants for the Greening Our Campus activity.  The students had lots of fun getting dirty, using their "green thumbs" to plant.  We planted 65 bushes and more are to come in the next few weeks.  Our campus is definitely looking greener!

DPTO FUN RUN AND CARNIVAL – The DPTO will be hosting their traditional events this Saturday, May 10. The FUN RUN begins at 7:30 a.m. followed by the traditionalpancake breakfast, and the CARNIVAL will take place from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. We hope all our school community will mark their calendars and support the DPTO by attending and having a great family time.

DISCOVERY ZONE – Our Summer camp is back! Join us and allow your children to have a fun-filled three weeks at the beginning of their summer. Spread the word among family and friends and get special discounts!

 

Week of April 28th

After a short week and a nice week-end, let's have a great week of rigorous learning.
Parents please take note of early dismissal on Thursday and NO SCHOOL on Friday!

The 6th grade students have finally finished and presented their research of their topics. We will conclude the process by critiquing the work of their fellow students writings and presentations, and discuss their grades of them with a rubric. Most students represented themselves well with a thorough background of their topics.
Students will finish the week by beginning to read their new novel, Pacific Crossing, by Gary Soto.

The 7th grade class will continue to read their novel, The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton. Students performed well on their vocabulary test on Friday, but miserably on the comprehension portion. We will re-discuss chapters one and two with the assistance of the author's purpose for writing in order to deepen student's understanding of the themes and increase the high order thinking that is needed to increase that awareness.
Students will journal, study vocabulary, read different chapters, and discuss the novel using questions in literature circles during the week.

The 8th grade class will begin to learn what debate is and practice debating their fellow students covering different topics. Students will gather information from Internet sources to help with their stances and use teams to debate against each other.

Let's have a great week! Believing is Achieving!

SPANISH WEEK – The Spanish department will be hosting a wax museum this Monday from 1:20 – 2:20 p.m., and as a culminating activity will have an assembly at 2:30 p.m. Parents are welcome to attend.

DISCOVERY IDOL – Our annual talent show will take place on Thursday, May 1 at 10:30 a.m.

 
EARLY DISMISSAL FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT – We want to remind our parents that Thursday is an early dismissal day for students (11:45 a.m.). Our teachers will be devoting the afternoon for curriculum work.

DPTO NEWS – The DPTO asks our school communitiy to mark their calendars and support the followign events by attending with family and friends:

May 10 – Fun Run and Carnival

May 17 - Garage Sale

 

Week following Semana Santa

I hope that you have all had a relaxing, refreshing, and invigorating holiday! I look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday as we begin the final push to the end of the school year.

The 6th grade will finally conclude their research papers by completing the final draft and make any last minute adjustments to their outlines, bibliographies, and finishing their presentations. Students will make their presentations on Thursday and Friday of this week.

The 7th grade class will begin the week by completing a short essay detailing the events of their Semana Santa vacations. Also, students will begin to read their final novel, The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton. Students will pre-read the novels jacket to draw conclusions and make predictions of the novel based on what they see and read. Also, student's will understand why they are reading the novel by understanding the themes of the novel, the author's purpose, and the author's point of view. Student's will have daily reading assignments, diagnose vocabulary, and discuss the chapters of the novel in small literature circles. Good luck, students!!

The 8th grade class will begin the week by completing a short essay detailing the events of their Semana Santa vacations. Also, the class will begin to read short stories from their Elements of Literature textbooks and increase HOTS by completing the Making Meanings questions at the end of the story and deepening the discussions of those stories.

Let's have a fabulous, yet rigorous week of learning!!

CHRONICLES OF DISCOVERY - The Discovery School Chronicles of Discovery Gala will take place at the school's gym on Friday, April 25, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.. It's a semi-formal event, with hors d'oeuvres and live entertainment. Tickets will be sold in the Main Office by Ms. Carolina. Regular admission is L.100 and Prime, the first two rows, is L.150.

 

The Chronicles of Discovery Literary and Art Magazine will debut that night and copies will be on sale. Only high quality literature and artwork are in the magazine, after a very critical submission process. Those works which made it into the magazine will then compete that same night to win, in their respective categories, the very prestigious award titled the "Flame of Knowledge".

 

DISCOVERY GOES GREEN  - APRIL / EARTH MONTH- CELEBRATION

Month-Long Activities:

 

Recycling Drive- Teachers are encouraging their students to recycle paper, glass, aluminum, and plastic. Students should bring materials from home, as well.  The class with the greatest amount of pounds/student will win a prize at the end of the month.   Environmental Science students will collect the materials from the homeroom classrooms twice a week.

 

Green Day- Each Friday wear green to celebrate and help us remember to take “green actions.”

 

Increasing our green space- In line with Discovery’s month long effort to “go green,” on Friday, April 25, Discovery students will have an opportunity to “green” our campus by planting plants around the school. Discovery families can sponsor a plant for only L400.  This will include the plant, soil ,fertilizer, and other materials need for the planting. Students can have the joy and experience of watching their plant grow over the years that they are here at Discovery. If you wish to sponsor a plant, please send L400 cash to your child’s homeroom teacher by Thursday, April 24th

 

SPANISH WEEK – The Spanish department has the honor to announce that the students and teachers will be involved in  a series of activities during the week of April 23 to April 28 such as: making sawdust carpets, drama, characterizations, language contests (“Bombas”, proverbs and tongue twisters, quick search and acrostics), living statues, Latin American writers wax museum and tri-folds,  door decorations, guests writers Rolando Kattán and Eduardo Sandoval. All these activities will be carried out to celebrate the Spanish week and will help our students improve and demonstrate their Spanish language skills. Some of the activities will take place during class time and others will be presented to students, teachers and parents who are our special guests.

 

This is the program that will be followed:

 

1. Inauguration assembly – Wednesday, April 23 @ 8:00 a.m. in the gym (all school)

2. Recital of poems and acrostics breakfast – Friday, April 25 @ 8:00 a.m. (Kindergarten and Grade 1)

3. Wax Museum Exhibition – Monday, April 28 @ 1:20-2:30 (Follow the Schedule below)

Grade 2 A & B (1:20)           Grade 3 A& B (1:30)                4 A & B (1:40)                         Grade 6 A & B (1:50)          Grades 7 & 8( 2:00)       Grades 9  & 11 (2:10)   

Grade 10 A & B - 12 (2:20)

4. Closure – Monday, April 28 @ 2:30-3:00 p.m. in the gym (all school)

 

 

DISCOVERY IDOL - The time is here! Auditions will be held on Wednesday, April 23 in the music room. The secondary will audition during lunch at 11:45 a.m. The elementary will audition during recess at 12:45 p.m. Students should come ready to sing or dance their hearts out for the judges. The winners will be announced on Thursday, April 24 and the performance will take place on Thursday, May 1, at 10:15 a.m.

 

DPTO NEWS – The DPTO wishes to share the following dates for the activities that will take place before the end of the school year. Please mark your calendars, and support our DPTO by attending these events! More information will be provided as we get closer to the dates.

            Ø  April 27 - Movie at the Cinema! (Rio 2)     

            Ø  May 10 - Carnival and Fun Run

            Ø  May 17 - Garage Sale

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Week of April 7th

Let's have a great week leading in our well- deserved Spring Break/Semana Santa vacations.

The 6th grade has finished conducting  all the research that is needed for their research papers. At this point, I feel that the 6th graders wasted a lot of their time by reading a lot of information in encyclopedias, books, and websites instead of writing and documenting their research in the form of notes. If they do not have the necessary information that will show an effective 6th grade writing, they will have to gather more research while at home and write the overall paper in the form of their first rough draft at the same time.
This week, we will use the research guidelines packet, the outline, all notes, and a packet of sentence starters, transitions, and other words to use to write their research papers paragraph by paragraph. Midweek, students and I will use stage (3) of the Writing Process to edit the first draft and by the end of the week, with a lot of hard work and determination, complete the second rough draft. Good luck, 6th grade students!!

The 7th grade class had a tremendous week of writing and listening to poetry. Most students completed excellent, creative pieces and read them with a lot of style and feeling. All poems were written with a different theme in mind and embodied a deep since of creativity and style based on the many elements studied while conducting the unit. I am happy with their enthusiasm and motivation.
Students will finish the unit by writing and reciting their poems and with a test covering the all the terms and information learned within the unit.

The 8th grade class have completed many assignments covering punctuation the last several weeks. They have used the Elements of Language textbook to deepen their learning of the usage of commas, quotation marks, exclamation marks, question marks, and capitalization when using them. Students will conclude this week by learning how to use hyphens, parenthesis, dashes, and brackets effectively in sentences. Good luck, 8th grade students!

Let's have a fabulous week of learning! Believing is Achieving!!

Week of March- April

The 6th and 7th grade classes had a nice short week of learning in class, and the rest of the week on location at their respected field trips to Lago de Yohoa and Copan Ruinas. I am sure the trips were spectacular and the students had a great experience.

The 6th grade students will organize their notes and begin to write about their topics for their research papers. After one week in the library and at home gathering information, students will begin to place the information into paragraphs according to their outlines. Over a period covering this week and half of the next, students will use the Writing Process to write two rough drafts and follow guidelines to complete the final draft along with a poster or power point presentation of their findings. At the end of next week, students will present their essays and presentations to the class.

The 7th grade class will write a short essay of their field trip to Lago de Yohoa. After presenting their essays before their classmates, students will resume the unit covering poetry by writing different poems every day with a different theme and type of poem. At the end of next week, students will have a test covering the terms of poetry and close the unit.

The 8th grade class will continue to cover various forms of punctuation in the guise of quotation marks, commas, exclamation and question marks. Students will use the textbooks and the exercises within it to deepen their learning and mastery of the forms in homework assignments.

Let's have fabulous week of learning! Achieving is Believing!

COMMUNITY SERVICE CLUB- This Tuesday, April 1st, there will be a Community Service Club meeting to plan April's visit to NPH.  The meeting will be held in Mrs. Agurcia's classroom (Rm. 7) at lunch.  All secondary students are welcome.

 

MARKETING DISCOVERY SCHOOL:  The Marketing Committee has been very active in developing ways to market the school. We have brochures and colorful signs that will let the public know more about us. If you have a business or organization that would like to display either a sign or brochures, please contact Karla Soto, Marketing Coordinator, at dsmarketing@discoveryschool.edu.hn  and we will provide those to you.

 

CHOIR MEETING – There will be a Choir meeting on Monday, March 31 at 3:15 p.m. in the school library. Important information will be discussed in this meeting. At least one parent for each student who is going to New York City must attend!

 

Week of March 24th

Good Day!! I hope that all parents, teachers, and students benefited from the long week-end, and we begin the sprint to Semana Santa where, at the finish line, a longer vacation awaits!!

This week and part of the next, the 6th grade students will use the skills to find research for their topics in order to write their research papers. Even though students have learned about writing the research paper in-depth with the help of the textbook, students will use a document that will help them to focus their writing and place all the information in a proper context using the appropriate structure.

The 7th grade students will continue their scholastic journey of learning with a stop in the wonderful realm of poetry. In conjunction with the Chronicles of Discovery and the "Emerging Young Artists" category, students will start the unit early in order to discover any hidden talents. Students have learned the elements of poetry and read several poems by masters ,such as Edgar Allan Poe and Robert Frost. Now, they will begin to write their own masterpieces. Good luck, students!

 

The 8th grade students will focus their learning in the realm of punctuation and use the textbook to learn about italics and underlining, quotations marks, commas, hyphens, dashes, parenthesis, and dashes. Student will have homework assignments daily completing different exercises from the textbook and understand the information with Q & A before moving on to the next area of learning.

 

Let's have a great (short for some) week of learning!! Achieving is Believing!!

One of the most courageous things you can do is identify yourself, know who you are, what you believe in and where you want to go.” — Sheila Murray Bethel

 

 

 

 

HEAD OF SCHOOL CANDIDATE – Dr. Jay Ketterer and his wife will be visiting the school on Monday, March 24 and Tuesday, March 25. The agenda for his visits include the following activities. Please take note:

 

*Monday, March 24  Teachers’ Q&A                    3:15 to 4:30 p.m. (Library)

*Tuesday, March 25  Parents’ Q&A                      8:00 to 10:00 a.m. (Library)

*Tuesday, March 25  Lunch with Teachers        12:00 to 1:00 p.m. (Cafeteria)

*Tuesday, March 25  Student Assembly              2:00 to 3:00 p.m. (Gym)

 

CAYOS COCHINOS COMMUNITY SERVICE: As part of TES, Trabajo Educativo Social, the 11th graders will be going to Cayos Cochinos the 5th – 9th of April to assist the community of Cayo Mayor. The Alfonso Lacayo Public School is in need of school materials, so the Junior class has decided to conduct a voluntary school supply drive. They would appreciate any and all donations but wish to ask the following classes that each student contribute with the following:

 

1st & 2nd grade – 2 sharpeners

3rd & 4th grade – 1 pack of 12 colored pencils

5th grade – 2 scissors

6th – 8th grade – 2 normal sized composition notebooks

9th grade – black, red, and blue pens (one of each)

10th grade – 1 pack of 12 pencils and 2 erasers

12th grade – 4 UHU sticks

 

CHOIR MEETING – There will be a Choir meeting on Monday, March 31 at 3:15 p.m. in the school library. Important information will be discussed in this meeting. At least one parent for each student who is going to New York City must attend!

 

CONCERT - The Discovery School Music Department is inviting you to a Piano and Singing Recital . Tickets available with Ms. Norma and Ms. Pamela.

Week of March 17th

I hope that all students had a pleasant week-end! Let's have a great, short week of rigorous learning!!

 

Last week, the 6th grade students learned about the research process. During that week, students learned what the research process is, how to brainstorm and select a topic, write for an audience, find and document sources, use the MLA format, create and use an outline, etc. This week and part of the next, students will use the skills to find research for their topics in order to write their research papers.

 

The 7th grade students will continue their scholastic journey of learning with a stop in the wonderful realm of poetry. In conjunction with the Chronicles of Discovery and the "Emerging Young Artists" category, students will start the unit early in order to discover any hidden talents. Students have learned the elements of poetry and read several poems by masters ,such as Edgar Allan Poe and Robert Frost. Now, they will begin to write their own masterpieces. Good luck, students!

 

The 8th grade class have used their focus and resolve to read their self- selected books that were from the reading list of Walter Dean Myers, the author and main character of their last novel, Bad Boy: A Memoir. Students will continue to read their novel in unison while writing about a subject who is an inspiration to them. Students used the week wisely to complete their essays and will present them to the class on Monday.

Let’s have a great ,short week of learning! Believing is Achieving!!

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt; Former First Lady of the United States

CAYOS COCHINOS COMMUNITY SERVICE: As part of TES, Trabajo Educativo Social, the 11th graders will be going to Cayos Cochinos the 5th – 9th of April to assist the community of Cayo Mayor. The Alfonso Lacayo Public School is in need of school materials, so the Junior class has decided to conduct a voluntary school supply drive. They would appreciate any and all donations but wish to ask the following classes that each student contribute the following:

1st & 2nd grade – 2 sharpeners

3rd & 4th grade – 1 pack of 12 colored pencils

5th grade – 2 scissors

6th – 8th grade – 2 normal sized composition notebooks

9th grade – black, red, and blue pens (one of each)

10th grade – 1 pack of 12 pencils and 2 erasers

12th grade – 4 UHU sticks

 

BAKE SALE – On Wednesday, March 19, the Juniors will be having a bake sale during snack and lunch. The Juniors will also have a box where all students are welcomed to place their donations for Cayos Cochinos

CHOIR MEETING – There will be a Choir meeting on Monday, March 31 at 3:15 p.m. in the school library. Important information will be discussed in this meeting about the upcoming New York trip and performance. At least one parent for each Choir member must attend.

CONCERT - The Discovery School Music Department is inviting you to a Piano and Singing Recital . Tickets are available with Ms. Norma and Ms. Pamela.