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DUNDEE DISPATCH
www.DundeePTO.org
Upcoming Events
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By Sara Rogers Dundee Dispatch Editor
W ho knew so
much talent
filled the
halls and
classrooms of Dundee
Elementary?
Mrs. Novak, that’s who!
Thanks to her, all her support staff (including Mrs. Andersen, Miss Manire, Ms. Cook and many others), and all the students who practiced so long and hard for putting on the show.
There were dozens of acts
Dundee’s Got
TALENT!
Mon., March 30th – Fri., April 3rd
Teacher/Staff Appreciation Week
Wednesday, April 1st
Scholastic Class Photos taken
Thursday, April 9th - NOT APRIL 2ND
6:30 – 7:30pm - FINAL PTO Meeting
Wednesday, April 15
Walking Wednesdays resume
Friday, April 17th
6:30 – 8:00pm - Open Gym, Gr. K-3
Fri., April 24th & Mon., April 27th
No School - Planning/Work Day
Thursday, May 7th
‘Buy One Get One’ Book Fair
Primary Music Program
Friday, May 15th
Field Day (K-3 morning; 4-6 afternoon)
Tuesday, May 19th
Kindergarten Graduation
Wednesday, May 20th
6th Grade Picnic
Friday, May 22nd
6th Grade Honors Program
LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!
You can find updates and changes
to events at
www.DundeePTO.org/calendars
April 2015
Youth Art Month | Sneaky Smoothies | Robotics Club Competition | Dundee NeSA Scores
ranging from dancing, stand-up
comedy, karate, musical
instruments and more that filled
the 90 minute show. And let’s
not forget the minions!
To see a few (not nearly all) of the highlights, head
to the PTO blog at DundeePTO.org for a
video and photos!
Auditions were held in January,
with all of February filled with
practices and dress rehearsals
preparing for the big show on
March 4th and 5th.
(Continued on page 2)
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Students who were not part of
the show were able to watch it
during the day on March 4,
while the performance for
parents and family was on the
afternoon of March 5.
The talent show is biennial, so
it will be another two years for
the next one.
Start planning your act now!
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PRINCIPAL’S MESSAGE
—— Kaye Goetzinger | [email protected] ——
Looking for youth activities for your child? Look no more! The Omaha Public Schools is connecting parents with community youth activities, contests, and more. For a complete list of activities happening in your community, go to www.district.ops.org > Upcoming Events > Community Opportunities. A new edition of the publication will be available online on the 1st of each month. Want to advertise in the OPS Community Opportunities? Just contact the District Communications Office at (402) 557-2070.
Omaha Public Schools does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin,
religion, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, age, genetic information, citi-
zenship status, or economic status in its programs, activities and employment and pro-
vides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The following
individual has been designated to address inquiries regarding the non-discrimination
policies: Superintendent of Schools, 3215 Cuming Street, Omaha, NE 68131 (402-557-
2001).
Las Escuelas Públicas de Omaha no discriminan basados en la raza, color, origen nacional,
religión, sexo, estado civil, orientación sexual, discapacidad , edad, información genética,
estado de ciudadanía, o estado económico, en sus programas, actividades y empleo, y
provee acceso equitativo a los “Boy Scouts” y a otros grupos juveniles designados. La
siguiente persona ha sido designada para atender estas inquietudes referentes a las
pólizas de no discriminación: El Superintendente de las Escuelas, 3215 Cuming Street,
Omaha, NE 68131 (402-557-2001).
M arch was a very busy month and as you look
through the April calendar, it will continue to be just as busy.
Many of the wonderful events happening are because of YOU – the parents who make it happen.
Countless hours are given to ensure we have an environment that is full of meaningful learning activities that create a lifetime of memories for our children. Thanks for all you do and please join us for as many activities as you can.
State Testing
As we begin our state tests, I can’t stress enough the importance of regular, punctual attendance. It is so important that we have 100% participation in these tests.
We just started to administer the NeSA (Nebraska State Accountability) tests in grades 3 – 6. These tests are designed to assess student mastery of state content standards in the
areas of Math and Reading. Science will also be tested at the 5th grade.
I would encourage you to continue to check your child’s backpack and support their work on extra practice and homework.
Teachers in kindergarten and first grades will be administering the K/1 Assessment in Reading and Math to all students around the middle of this month, and our 2nd grade students will take the NWEA/MAP test at the beginning of May.
Please encourage your child to do their very best!
Students of Distinction
During the month of February, Dundee staff and students focused on the ‘Character Counts’ trait of Trustworthiness. Students practiced being the kind of person others could count on.
Congratulations to the following students who were selected as a student of distinction in the area of Trustworthiness: Sadie Osher, Deun Hagen, Isabella Sica, Lola
Baum, Charleigh Cox, Amelia Eastwood, Lila Burns, Kierra Bradley, Lydia Dahlke, Miles Rogers, Ryan Clark, Mattingly Barnes, Mac Johnson, Andrew DeMare, Esmir Perez Mejia, London Jackson, Piper Demman, Ben Beiermann, Anne Carpenter, Emma Gunn, Shaadira Morones, Anna Festersen.
Read to Succeed
On March 6th, Dundee students Laila Klare, Elena Conyer-Gaines, Olivia Theophilus, Elizabeth Grow, Zane Cox, Anna Festersen, Virginia Holzclaw, and Nayera Abdessalam participated in the Read to Succeed Top 10 competition sponsored by OPS’ Gifted and Talented Department.
At the competition teams won silver and bronze medals. The silver medalists, Zane, Anna, Virginia, and Nayera have now qualified for the BIG TEN Championship rounds on May 6th. Way to go, Dundee teams, and good luck in May!
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From the PTO Presidents
Dan and Susan Rock | [email protected]
2014-2015
PTO Board
PRESIDENTS Dan and Susan Rock
VICE PRESIDENTS Brian and Angela Galloway
[email protected] [email protected]
SECRETARY Christine Steffen
TREASURER Kerry Reiss
DUNDEE ELEM. PRINCIPAL Kaye Goetzinger
At February’s PTO meeting about moving
6th grade to middle school, we asked OPS how our Dundee 6th grade students compared in testing to middle school 6th grades.
There are currently 6 middle schools with 6th grade: Buffett, Davis, Morton, Norris, Marrs, and King Science.
We received and presented the results of that question at this month’s meeting.
On the 2013-2014 NESA tests that have categories in only Reading and Math:
Dundee’s 6th grade ranked 1st in Reading and 1st in Math!
Dundee’s 6th grade scored better than all 63 OPS elementary schools on both tests.
Dundee’s 6th grade scored better than all 6 middle schools that have 6th grade on both tests.
Way to go Wildcats! That is an amazing result.
It takes a village to educate our kids. The 6th grade test scores are the result and culmination of the work of the teachers from kindergarten through 6th grade. It is also due to supportive administration and parents that volunteer to make the school an inviting and nurturing home. And we must attribute the parents that work with the children at home.
In a nutshell, it is a result of the Dundee
environment.
Good job to our 6th grade teachers and administration and to every teacher and parent that helped these kids.
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DUNDEE DISPATCH
Submission deadline for the May
issue is Tuesday, April 14th.
The May issue will be distributed
on Wed., April 29th.
Please submit your adorable
photos and story ideas (yes, she
really want them) to the Dispatch
Editor:
Sara Rogers
402-850-3824
Remember to follow Dundee Elementary
on Facebook and Twitter!
Find links on www.DundeePTO.org!
By Samantha Siy Book Fair Committee Chair
G reat fun was had by all at our Scholastic Book Fair held February 19 through February 24.
We had lots of activities –classrooms visited, scavenger hunts happened, families came and books went home! Even Geronimo Stilton joined us! Overall, it was so much fun!
The library was filled with books, books and more books! Smiling faces were always present! We can only hope that your kids are still enjoying their books!
The book fair could not happen without the help of many, many volunteers—too many to name! Thank you to each of our volunteers and to all of our parents who bought books for their kids!
Please extend our thanks to aunts, uncles, and grandparents and everyone else who purchased books for kids!
COMMI TTE E NE WS | B OOK FA IR
Spring Book Fair Results
Overall, the book fair made $2,620.66
in cash profit for the PTO
(25% of our sales.)
Furthermore, the ALL FOR BOOKS program collected $661.00 in donations. As a result, Scholastic will donate 661 books to local charities as a result!
Awesome job, Dundee!
SAVE THE DATE: May 7
BOGO Book Fair – Buy ONE Get ONE FREE
This will coincide with the primary program. It’s a great way to stock up for summer reading!
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COMMI TTE E NE WS | E NR ICHME NT CLUB
Robotics Club Competition
s tudents who participated in the Robotics Enrichment clubs, led by David Holtzclaw, spent three enrichment club sessions developing, creating and building a
robot able to do a number of tasks. That’s a LOT of work!
This work culminated in February, when eight students represented Dundee at Lewis and Clark at a competition with 42 teams from more than 20 schools across the city.
The competition consists of an obstacle course with different challenges the robot must tackle. The robots, which are remote controlled by Play Station 3 controllers, earn points by successfully completing objectives, such as knocking down a safety cone with a tennis ball balanced on it, or carrying a tennis ball from one specific spot to another.
To make sure it’s not too easy, each tournament also has a surprise element that - hopefully - your robot can accomplish.
Let’s all be proud of these youngsters, and thank David Holtzclaw for the time he spent volunteering.
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Nurse Notes By Mrs. S. Doering RN BSN MA Dundee School Nurse [email protected]
Seasonal Allergies
Seasonal allergic rhinitis (hay fever) affects many children, especially this time of year.
Signs of allergies include sneezing, stuffiness, runny nose and itchiness in the nose, the roof of the mouth, throat, eyes or ears.
The most common causes of these symptoms are pollen and mold spores in the air, which start a chain reaction in the immune system.
Pollen are tiny cells needed to fertilize plants. They are spread by the wind and weather conditions can affect the amount of pollen in the air at any time.
The entire pollen season generally lasts from February or March through October.
Seasonal allergic rhinitis is often caused by tree pollen in the early spring. During the late spring and early summer, grasses may cause symptoms. Weeds are the cause of late summer and fall hay fever.
Molds are tiny fungi which are spread by spores in the air. They are found almost anywhere, including soil, plants and rotting wood.
Outdoor mold spores begin to increase in spring and peak in July in warmer states and October in colder states.
Individuals react differently from exposure, and symptoms are affected by recent contact with other allergens, the
amount of pollen exposure and their sensitivity to pollen and mold.
Symptoms are often less prominent on rainy, cloudy or windless days because movement of pollen is limited.
How can you limit your child’s exposure to pollen or mold?
Keep windows closed at night, and if possible use air conditioning which cleans, cools and dries the air.
Try to stay indoors when pollen or mold levels are reported high.
Have your child stay indoors when you are mowing or raking leaves.
Avoid hanging sheets or clothing outside.
Protect your child from exposure to smoke, especially in the car.
Speak to your physician regarding medications, both over the counter and prescription.
If your child has unrelieved or severe symptoms, speak to your physician about a referral to an allergist.
Information from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology and American Academy of Pediatric websites. Obtained from https://www.completechildrenshealth.com/new/articles/seasonal-allergies
CPR & AED Training
Thank you to Dundee staff who became CPR/AED trained this school year.
Liz Vokal Bob Naujokaitis
Erin Bunton Maureen Larson
Ashleigh Kimberling Raquel Caldwell Alissa Anderson
Elisabeth Zulkosky Deb Counter
Sara Tingelhoff Shannon Roeder Kaye Goetzinger
It is a team effort to be prepared for emergencies at school. Their dedication is very much appreciated.
This month’s PTO meeting
has been moved to the
following week.
THURSDAY
APRIL 9th
6:30PM.
As always,
childcare is available.
Get a text reminder about this
and other happenings by
signing up at
www.DundeePTO.org
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Support the businesses that support Dundee!
The following businesses have contributed to this year’s Dundee Direct campaign.
Consider supporting these businesses and thanking them for their support of Dundee.
A.B.’s 66 Dundee Place
The Ahlvers Group
Real Estate
Central Body Co, Inc.
Dario's Brasserie
The Dentists at Dundee
Don & Millie’s
Dundee Bank
Dundee Dell
Dundee Gallery
Denim Saloon
Devin J. Fox, MD, FACP
Evey Designs
Gerda’s German
Restaurant & Bakery
Hansen Upholstering
Hy-Vee (51st and Center)
Kinetic Medic Solutions,
LLC
Kohll’s Pharmacy and
Homecare
Mama’s Pizza
Nan C.
Neff Towing Service
Omaha Work Staffing
The Rensch Group
Real Estate
Sara Rogers Photography
T & M Service
Three Happiness Express
Tom Manley Floors, Inc.
Transduction
Technologies
Walmart Neighborhood
Market (Saddle Creek)
By Gina Tolstedt Art Teacher, Dundee Elementary
D undee students made their contribution to the Youth Art Month
celebration with artwork on display in Omaha and Lincoln.
Visit our Dundee art hallway any day to see our Kindergarten through Sixth grade students’ extraordinary art achievements.
Currently Dundee student art is on display in the school board meeting room at the TAC building.
Special congratulations go to Emma Gunn. Her artwork, a hand composition, is exhibited on a billboard at Saddlecreek and California. Thank you to Mama’s Pizza and Dundee Bank who sponsored the billboard.
Emma’s original artwork is on display at the Teacher Administration Center at 3215
STAFF NE WS | A RT
Youth Art Month
Cuming Street in the Fourth Floor Gallery from April 13th through May 8th. A special reception will be held on Tuesday, April 14th from 4:00 to 5:15 P.M. in the Fourth Floor Gallery.
Congratulations to Grace Rock and Rayya Haider who had art works on display in the Nebraska Youth Art Month Exhibition. Grace and Rayya had ribbon drawings in the special show.
Student artists across the state had their work on display at the Capitol Rotunda in Lincoln, Nebraska, during March.
A special program was held on Saturday, March 21st at 2:00 P.M. to honor the student artists and families. Rayya’s drawing was chosen as the only work to represent grade band 3-5 in the YAM ceremonies printed program.
March is truly Youth Art Month this year.
On March 16th, OPS adopted the Nebraska Fine Arts Standards that were developed by the state last year. It was an honor to serve on the art standards writing committee with art teachers from across the state.
At the end of the month I will be presenting at the National Art Education Convention. The presentation spotlights fifth grade art works and poetry. The student works are an expression of integrated learning experiences with the Dancing Classroom project, Ballet Nebraska, and the Joslyn art museum.
A personal note: It has been an honor to teach Dundee children for the past twelve years. I will treasure the many beautiful memories shared with the students and staff as I look forward to my retirement at the end of the school year.
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A Time When it’s OK to be Sneaky By Amanda Long PTO Wellness Committee
A re you looking for ways to get your children to eat and
enjoy healthy food? If you have a picky eater, the job is doubly difficult.
One great idea is to make Smoothies for your kids.
In our house, smoothies are a good breakfast option, or a snack my kids and their friends enjoy.
The nice thing about smoothies is that you can sneak in some healthy ingredients that even the pickiest of eaters cannot detect. With the internet, you can easily search for smoothies and find some that fit your family.
I serve the following breakfast smoothie to my kids weekly!
My 7 year old will not eat leafy greens on their own, but she inhales smoothies!
A batch can be made in 10
COMMI TTE E NE WS | W E LLNE SS
minutes or less. I always have a bag of frozen berries in the freezer for the occasion, and try to keep bananas and greens readily available.
If you want to speed up your morning, you can prep bags of berries and greens ahead of time and freeze them.
If you have spinach or salad greens in your fridge that
are starting to go bad, freezing them for smoothies
is a great way to reduce waste
and save money.
I found this recipe on the website “100 Days of Real Food.”
If you are looking for ways to improve what your family eats, I highly recommend this site. She gives practical ideas on using more whole foods in meals, tips on how to keep to a budget and still get high quality ingredients, and ways to introduce food to your children so they will begin to expand their palates.
Before...
...and after! But does it taste as good as it looks? There is only one way to find out! Try it yourself, and let us know!
Sneaky Smoothie (from PTO Wellness Committee, via 100 Days of Real Food) Combine all ingredients into blender and blend.
1.5 cups plain yogurt
1 cup berries, fresh or frozen
2 bananas (or 1-2 TBSPS of honey, if you don’t like bananas)
2 TBSPS of Milk (I almost always have to use more than this to get my blender to work)
½ - ¾ cup fresh spinach leaves (or any other greens you have around the house!)
Optional: If using fresh berries instead of frozen, add some ice cubes.
Optional: 1 tablespoon of ground flax for added protein, omega-3’s and fiber.
Clip this 3x5 recipe card!
Getting kids to choose and enjoy foods that are good for them can be a challenge. Make the challenge fun and create a sneaky smoothie that your family will enjoy!
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Counselor’s Corner
— by Mary Ann Colasacco —
As I am typing this frantically to meet deadline, I am also rather smugly eyeing the list of our Career Day presenters and the completed assignments of almost 500 students to their chosen presenters. It is such a great hour – filled with a lot of excitement and energy as our students learn about real careers from real people who are actually out there doing the work.
This event will have already taken place on Tuesday, March 24th, but I so want to thank all of the parents and other community people who participated.
In the past, the presenters have raved about our students’ behavior and their intelligent (and often humorous) questions. I am expecting another great solid report like this because our students are so wonderful and welcoming…
During this time of year, my lessons focus on careers and occupations. It is a bit of a balance as I try to impress upon them how important it is to do well in school and to learn as much as possible while also trying to let them know that an excellent report card isn’t the only measure of success.
Things like having great social skills, an amazing empathic personality,
or special talents in music / art / etc. will also help them to be successful
as they move on in life.
During my lessons, we will be doing activities that will help them to learn more about themselves – about the careers that interest them and about how they can transfer their love of a special hobby or subject into a career that they will truly enjoy. One of my favorite sayings is: “Find out what you love to do – and you will never work a day in your life.”
Start some great dinnertime conversations by asking them what they want to do in their lives (if you’re like me, you’re going to have to guard against giving them advice – remember, it’s all about them).
Then, supplement the conversation with your thoughts about your own life and your own careers; let them know what you did right and what you did wrong. It is very cool for them to understand that they’re not just in school to go on to the next grade; they are here for a purpose, and that is to build the best, happiest life for themselves as they grow older.
Lots of musings today… Sorry, no funnies but here’s an oldie but a goodie: I was visiting with a kindergarten student who was moving out East. I said, “Well, you know, you’re going to be fine because they have schools out in New York also.” Her incredulous response: “They do? Boy, I didn’t see that one coming.”
THOUGHT ON THE BLACKBOARD: ‘Strong is the tree that bends with the wind – then bounces back again.” Good one for our spring weather, eh? Take care…
Remember, you can always find ways to help and
volunteer on the website!
Just click ‘Volunteer Opportunities’ under the heading ‘Get Involved’ at
DundeePTO.org.
Or, just scan the code to the right to be taken directly to
the webpage!
As this school year winds down, think back to all the events you’ve attended. Have you ever thought, “You know what they should do…?”
Put that FANTASTIC idea into motion by getting involved with next year’s PTO Committees!
Just contact us via the website, or e-mail this year’s presidents, Dan and Susan Rock, at [email protected]. They will happily include you into the fold of next year’s plans and put you in touch with all the right people.
Don’t wait — you’ll want all the time you can get to put your plan into action! We can’t wait to see what you come up with!
