From the desk of Cherie Swader
February 18, 2008

Dear DES Family and Friends,

Monday, February 18th which is a holiday for students will be an in-service day for teachers. The professional learning focus for the day will be the vertical alignment of our math program. We will be reviewing the Georgia Performance Standards and the county benchmarks to determine a more clearly defined focus, which will help to close the gaps and increase the rigor of our curriculum. We are excited about the workshop and the positive impact that this process will have on student learning. If you have any questions or concerns about your child's academic progress, please contact your child's teacher to schedule a conference. It is so important that we work together to provide the greatest educational opportunities for our children.

Congratulations to Houston Poston and Tessa Bradbury who will represent Dade Elementary School in the county-wide Oratorical Contest on Tuesday. The topic is: "Why Me-Why Not," and the competition at DES was very intense. The papers were well written and the students were incredibly poised in their presentations. It is truly a delight to observe the communication and leadership skills that these children are developing.

I would like to thank the Trenton Tree Board and their representatives, Eloise Gass, Christine Westbrook and Ted Dyer along with Tawn McKinley and Marcus Dowdy from the Georgia Forestry Department for including DES in the state Arbor Day Celebration. A poster contest was held and students created artwork illustrating the theme - "Trees are Terrific and Forests are, too..." Many of our students participated and received a tree from the forestry department for their contribution. The Trenton Tree Board and the Georgia Forestry Department are also planting several trees on the playground at DES. We really appreciate this donation. Congratulations to the following students whose works of art were selected as "Best in Class:"

• Kindergarten - Sarah Kelly from Ms. Paschall's class
• First grade - Lucas West from Ms. Avan's class
• Second grade - Crystal Zheng from Ms. Lewis's class
• Third grade - Walker Blevins from Ms. Bradley's class
• Fourth grade - Paige Hill from Ms. Austin's class
• Fifth grade - Abby Smith from Ms. Gray's class

  Dade Elementary School will be honoring our many volunteers with a breakfast on Friday, February 22nd. We appreciate Brenda Wheeler, our Parent Involvement Coordinator for organizing this event. If you have served this year as a volunteer at DES, we invite you to join us. We appreciate all of our volunteers and owe them a great deal of recognition and gratitude. We also invite others that would like to volunteer to work with students in reading and/or math to contact Brenda or call the front office to schedule a meeting to discuss the volunteer process.

  The students, faculty and staff at DES are collecting pennies and lose change to help our neighbors in Alabama that were affected by the recent tornados. If you would like to contribute to this cause, just come by the front office. We will be happy to take any size contribution and appreciate your support of this worthwhile project.

  READ WITH YOUR CHILD - THIS IS ONE OF THE GREATEST WAYS YOU CAN HELP HIM OR HER DEVELOP LITERACY SKILLS AND POSITIVE STUDY HABITS.

  Thanks for all you do to make DES a great place to learn.

  Cherie Swader
  Principal
  Dade Elementary School
  "Hand In Hand - We Learn Together"