Phone Message 1.10.2021

 Good afternoon Cub Families.  I hope you all are enjoying the cool weather and having a wonderful weekend.  

We have some exciting events coming up this week.  Join us Tuesday, January 12 at Harbour Heights park for the Mobile Family Reading Center.  Mrs. Skavroneck will be at the park with some free books and giving out 25 Liveschool points to all students that check out a book.  The hours we will be at the park are 3:00 - 5:30pm.  Another exciting event is our postponed WinterFest Drive Thru, which will be at the school on Thursday, January 14 between 4:30 and 6:30pm.  Stop by anytime between these hours for free hotdog, chips and Pelican’s rainbow snowball for students, books, activity packet and lots of fun.  Families will not get out of cars, but will drive thru for these treats.  We are looking forward to seeing our Cub Families at these two events.

Also on Tuesday, January 12 is picture retake day.  Any new students or students wishing to take new pictures can go to mylifetouch.com and use the code EVT978TV9 to place an order. Remember these pictures are for the DCES Yearbook, so all students must be in school uniform.  

Next Monday, January 18 there is no school as staff and students have the day off to honor Martin Luther King Jr.  

One last reminder to help families plan ahead is a reminder that January 25 - January 29 we will be Celebrating Literacy Week at DCES.  There will be fun activities throughout the week and the week will end on January 29 with a character parade. Students will be able to dress like a character from their favorite book.  More information will be coming, but this will allow families to start helping students think of their favorite characters.

Thank you all for listening and have a great rest of your Sunday.  I am going to enjoy it watching some NFL playoffs and finally rooting for my Cleveland Browns in the playoffs!  I look forward to seeing our Ready, Responsible and Respectful Cubs tomorrow morning. 

Phone Message 1.3.2021

 Good afternoon and Happy New Year to all Cub Families.  This is Mr. Vernon with a quick message for this week.

Remember all Cubs return to school tomorrow morning, January 4 and need to be in class by 8:20am.  

I hope you all had a terrific Winter Break, I know I did.  But, now I am ready for the second half of this school year and I hope our Cubs are ready too.  Please help me in reminding all of our students that We Are Cubs.  When we return we will be sure to remember that Cubs are always Ready, Responsible and Respectful.  Cubs also work towards Nothing Less Than Our Success.  We show GRIT and always do our best.  If we remember these things there is no way we can fail.

The second half of the school year is going to be great.  Once again, Happy New Year and I look forward to seeing our Ready, Responsible, and Respectful Cubs tomorrow morning.

Phone Message 12.13.2020

 Good afternoon to all of our Cub Families.  This is Mr. Vernon and I hope you all are enjoying a good weekend.  I have a few messages for this week.  

Remember, we try very hard to make Tuesday our day that important school information comes home.  We call it Take Home Tuesday, so be sure to check your child's backpack every night, but especially on Tuesdays.  This Tuesday, you will see two items coming home from the DCES front office.  One will be a flyer for this Friday's Grinch Day.  Students may wear a green shirt or a Grinch shirt with their uniform bottoms as we celebrate Grinch Day at DCES.  We have made Grinch Day a new tradition at Deep Creek to promote kindness.  In the movie, The Grinch, the Grinch realizes that kindness and giving made him so happy that his heart grew three sizes that day.  We will be promoting kindness and giving at DCES by asking for donations to the Charlotte Homeless Coalition.  The flyer will have some suggestions of items that could help their food pantry.  If you would like your child to donate, please send them to school Friday, December 18th with this donation.

The next letter coming home Tuesday will be a reminder about uniforms and technology.  We know know some of our Cubs will be excited about new clothes and technology they may receive over Winter Break.  Please review the uniform policy and technology so we are proactive in making sure students only wear or bring to school items that are permitted.  I thank you for helping us pay attention to small details, so we can continue having a great school.

Wednesday, December 16 is a fun event.  We will be having a Winter Fest Drive Thru between the hours of 4:30pm - 6:30pm.  The event will be taking place on our bus loop.  We have the event lasting two hours to avoid the long lines, so come at anytime between those hours.  We have arranged for coach to grill some hot dogs for our students, snow cones for students, and of course Mrs. Skavroneck will be passing out free books.  We miss our school wide events and the cheer that they bring.  We are hoping this small event will put some smiles on our Cubs' faces.  Please drive thru and enjoy.

Last, I want to again remind all families of the updated calendar for Winter Break this year.  Winter Break will begin on December 24 and all students will return on January 4.  Thank you all for listening and enjoy the rest of your Sunday.  I look forward to seeing our Ready, Responsible, and Respectful Cubs tomorrow morning.

Phone Message 12/6/2020

 Good afternoon.  This is Mr. Vernon with some messages for the upcoming weeks.

We have 13 school days left until Winter Break.  Unless your child is not feeling well or showing any symptoms, please be sure to have our Cubs at school all day, every day.  We definitely want to use every minute to help them learn.  We will still of course have some fun along the way and I want to share those days with you.  

As an entire school we are competing in a Liveschool challenge to earn some fun activities before Winter Break.  As a school we have to work together to get 75,000 LiveSchool points before Friday, December 18th.  Our students get LiveSchool points by remembering We Are Cubs.  Cubs are always Ready, Responsible, and Respectful.  Every time a student is caught doing one of the three Rs they earn a point.  We have great students at DCES and I know they will reach this 75,000 point goal.  If they do, I want to let you know what we are doing so students can participate if you would like.  Friday, December 18 with be Grinch day students can wear a green or Grinch shirt to school that day.  We will make this our day of giving as we will also be collecting food for the Charlotte County Food bank.  Monday, December 20 will be Holiday/Winter sock day and students can wear their favorite winter socks with their uniforms.  Tuesday, December 21will be Holiday/Winter hat and headwear day and students can wear their favorite winter headgear with their uniforms.  Finally, Wednesday, December 22 will be pajama day and our December DEAL Day.  Students can wear their pajamas to school and we will have our December DEAL day activities.  Remember these days start on Wednesday, December 18.  I am including them in today's message so you have time to prepare if you would like your Cub to participate.

This Tuesday, December 8th is our next SAC Meeting.  The meeting will again be held virtually using Google Meets at 5:30pm.  I have attached a link to the meeting on the email that comes with this phone message.  This message and link will also be posted on our DCES Facebook page and the DCES website.  This month's topic will be about upcoming State Testing for our students and school wide testing that takes place.  We will also do a school report and answer any questions.  The link is meet.google.com/ivo-ntwh-der

Please join us virtually on Google Meets Tuesday, December 8 at 5:30pm.

We are missing the fun events that we normally do at DCES each year.  However, we are very appreciative of the turn out that Mrs. Skavroneck has had for her mobile book check out events.  Mrs. Skavroneck is busy planning another fun event so save the date of Wednesday, December 16.  The plan is to have a drive thru winter event during the hours of 4:30 - 6:30pm.  So save some time on Wednesday, December 16 for this fun event.

Finally, the link to the December Newsletter is also attached to this email. https://sites.google.com/yourcharlotteschools.net/dces/december

Thank you all for listening.  I look forward to seeing my Ready, Responsible, and Respectful Cubs tomorrow morning.  Have a great evening.

Monday Morning Memo 11.30.20

 

December:

We hope you had a restful fall break!  This was a much needed time to decompress and focus on all that we are thankful for.  Now, it's time to breath deep and get ready to dive into the rush of December.  We hope that we have some fun things planned that will keep your spirits up and let you and your students have some fun.  Be sure to take a look at the email from Sarah Baldwin about the LiveSchool Challenge that begins Monday and lasts throughout the month.  

One of the best things to do to keep our kiddos on track during this busy time of year is to keep their routine the same and their academics progressing as much as possible.  When routines and structure change we often see students struggle behaviorally.  Think about some creative ways to keep instruction and routine on track while still getting in some holiday fun.  Some examples we have seen in the past allow students to still complete their normal academic assignments, but just change the way that  students respond or change the tools that students use to answer their questions.  Ideas include using some fun manipulatives (holiday erasers, small jingle bells, marshmallows, etc) as counters for math, letting students respond to their comprehension questions in reading on colored paper or with special writing utensils, letting students graffiti their answers on a piece of large butcher paper, doing their work underneath their desk, heading out to the courtyard or a sidewalk area with chalk to answer math problems, having the snow fall or a fireplace crackling on the tv in the background, and so much more.  Don't hesitate to share some creative ideas with your peer to help keep our academic pacing on target, get our kiddos into the holiday spirit, and keep the rooms structured to keep behavior in a positive place.

Gift:

If you have not done the survey to indicate your jacket size please do so by Tuesday at 3:00 pm.  You can access this survey by clicking here.  We are hoping to be able to give you a special gift this year, so we need ALL staff from all departments to complete this survey.  If you have a friend that does not often check email please give them a nudge so they hop on and complete the survey!

Welcome:

We would like to welcome two staff members to the DCE family!  Karen Johnson will be joining us as our new custodian.  She comes to us from Peace River Elementary.  We can't wait to have her!  Also, Mathilda Meade has been serving as the long term substitute for Dani in kindergarten.  She has interviewed and been selected as our new paraprofessional III.  She will be working in Kelly Smith's classroom.  She is working on completing her master's degree in special education, so this position is a perfect fit!

We are finishing up interviews this week for a paraprofessional I (2nd grade) and a paraprofessional III (one-on-one).  Hopefully we will be fully staffed soon.  Your patience and flexibility the last few months has been so appreciated.

This Week:

Hoping you have an amazing start to the month of December!

-Keli and James

Phone Message 11.29.2020

 Good afternoon Cub Families.  This is Mr. Vernon with a few announcements for this upcoming week.  I was able to enjoy some time during the break to have fun with my family.  I hope you all were able to as well.  I also hope that all of your families and our Cubs were able to stay healthy.  We will continue with our school protocols to keep DCES as safe as possible for our staff and students.  Please be sure to keep your child home if they show any symptoms.  I thank you for your patience and assistance as we try to keep DCES safe.

I looked at the weather this week and saw that some cooler temperatures were on the forecast this week.  Please add your child's names to the tags of jackets and hoodies they may wear this week.  Our Florida students are not used to keeping track of these items and they often end up in lost and found.  Also remember that all warm clothes worn must follow DCES uniform policy.  They must be blue, yellow, black, pink or white with no writing or logos.  Jackets not meeting dress code may be worn outside of the school buildings.

Keeping our Cubs reading is very important.  Mrs. Skavroneck is again hosting a remote Family Reading Experience this Wednesday, December 2.  Join us at Harbour Heights Park from 3:00 - 5:30pm to check out a book and get a free keeper book.

I hope all of you enjoy the rest of your Sunday. I look forward to seeing our Ready, Responsible, and Respectful Cubs tomorrow morning.

Monday Morning Memo 11.23.20

This year has been an incredibly challenging one, yet there have been so many wonderful things that have also taken place that we are so thankful for.  It is so easy to fall into the trap of focusing on the challenges of our days instead of celebrating the positive aspects.  This is something that I am working on myself.  The reality is that we have faced a pandemic, new testing platforms, challenging behaviors, new initiatives, and a lack of toilet paper to name just a few. But, we have also returned to school in person when others around the country have not, we have immersed our CD students into general education specials and lunch classes successfully, we laughed at Staff Bingo together, held amazingly successful drive through and off campus parent events, started catching our students up academically, managed to build relationships with students even though we are wearing masks, celebrated the birth of babies and some marriages, and jumped in and helped each other out when they needed it.

James and I are so thankful to work at such a special school.  You all are the reason it is so special.  The culture here is just different.  It feels like family.  This is what makes the tough days possible to get through.  We can't thank you enough for showing up each day ready to tackle the obstacles that come our way with a positive attitude, a willingness to jump in and help when needed,  laughter at the end of the day when we debrief about the craziness, and a relentless passion to still give our Cubs a quality education despite the pandemic.  To show you just a bit of our love we have planned two activities for this week.  

On Tuesday, there will be a turkey feather hunt around campus.  Be on the lookout for clipart turkey feathers that contain a reason we are thankful for you on them.  Collect one of these feathers and turn it in to the office.  When you turn the feather in it will be added to our turkeys on the chalkboard and you will be rewarded with a gift card!  There are only 16 feathers hidden, so look carefully!

On Wednesday, we have ordered individual personal size pies for you.  Please stop by the staff lounge to select your pie and grab some whipped cream to take to go.  We hope this yummy treat gets you through your day!

Textbook Adoption:

We will be meeting on Tuesday during your planning periods to discuss the beginning steps of textbook adoption.  Please plan to meet where your team has placed your sample materials.  You will need to bring your blue BEST standards booklet with you and program planners will need to bring a copy of the paper rubrics.  

Weekly Schedule:

Have a great week!

-Keli and James