Open House 2015

Welcome back to the 2015-2016 school year! Sometimes it's difficult to accept an end to summer break and the beginning of a new school year, but having Open House always gets me excited about being back at Davis. It was great to see how much our students have grown, see some of our former students with their younger siblings, and meet students who are new to Davis. Students were excited to see old friends and meet new ones, discover who their new teachers are, and visit with their previous teachers. Seeing all these smiling faces brings joy to my heart and makes me excited about the new school year. 

Enjoy seeing our Davis smiles. 

-Ms. Hellings

Book Fair!

The library was abuzz today with excitement about the first day of the Book Fair! It was so fun to see the students' faces light up with delight as they walked in to see all the wonderful books that are for sale this week. There are chapter books, Lego books, non-fiction selections, easy picture books, as well as bookmarks, posters, and pens to choose from.
This is PTA's Take Your Family to School Week and the Book Fair will be open from 5-6 on Tuesday before the Talent Show, on Wednesday before the Dinner at Davis (originally scheduled for Monday), and before the PTA meeting on Thursday. Before you head to Davis, download the Scholastic Book Fair app so you can read book summaries, check AR levels, and create a book wish list for titles found at our school fair. The app also links to the Book Fair website where you can purchase books online and have them sent directly to the school without a shipping charge! Plus you can shop online until February 28! Here's a direct link to the online book fair.

I am very grateful to those who have volunteered to help. Together we are making a great experience for our children!

I look forward to seeing you at the Davis Book Fair!

Making a wish list!

We accept cash, check, and credit card.

Run, Davis, Run!

Many Davis Magnet students woke early on Saturday, January 10, and donned their hats and running shoes and headed downtown to participate in the MS Blues Marathon Kids' Fun Run. It was a chilly morning; even the fountains at Thalia Mara Hall were covered in ice! We had 178 students register for the run, and because of this, Blue Cross Blue Shield recognized Davis with $1500 for our participation! We are already getting excited thinking about what PE/ playground equipment we might use this for!

Davis is so lucky to have such a great IB Coordinator and half-marathon runner, Beth West, organize this for our students. Students even trained with her during their recess, learning the importance of stretching, jogging, and running with a pack. She represents a balanced IB learner and has modeled to the students the importance of balancing the intellectual, physical, and emotional aspects of our lives to achieve well-being.

Enjoy the pictures!

Kindergarteners in the Library

The kindergarteners are transitioning into center time in the library. For the last few weeks the students have been working on computers, reading with partners, and organizing author's last names in alphabetical order. They've also read big books (as in oversized), drew pictures of characters from Chrysanthemum who show empathy, and shared reading in a circle. The students seem very excited to be taking part in these activities. I love having the youngest of our school in our library! They have such energy and enthusiasm for learning!

Here are some pictures of our ABC order activity and partner reading.

Teacher Idiom Day

On Friday, October 31, while the students came to school dressed as cute as a button in clothes that represented a career they would like to pursue (doctors of all types, engineers, soldiers, teachers... to name just a few), the teachers had fun dressing as an idiom. Most of our older students knew what this word meant, but it was a new word for many of our younger learners. Students (and teachers) loved trying to guess which idioms were represented. Some were as easy as pie to guess and some were a pain in the neck. See if you can guess our idioms!

I hope you had as much fun guessing them as we did! Feel free to add a comment if you see an idiom you recognize!
(Sorry to those that were dressed that I didn't get to photograph... one teacher was being driven up a wall, someone had their heart on their sleeve, and someone with their hands tied!)