Vol 1 issue 1 ok

7
DONALDSON STUDENTS NAME SCHOOL NEWSPAPER By Morgan Shansky Native Americans have moved into Donaldson School! 5 th graders have constructed Native Ameri- can model shelters for a social studies project. The materials they used ranged from twigs to tape to sugar cubes. Students built: long- houses, wigwams, igloos, pueblos, hogans, and te- pees. The students also typed descriptions of how they made their shelter, which tribes used that shel- ter, materials they used to build that shelter, and the name of the shelter. The homes were on display be- ginning on September 19 th . This Native American shel- ter project has been as- signed to the 5 th grade stu- dents at Donaldson Elemen- tary for approximately eight years. It originally was an extra credit project, but has since changed into an im- portant part of this social studies lesson. Students pictured from left to right:: Andrea Russo, Trinity Susanek, and Rebecca Miller November 1, 2013 Volume 1, Issue 1 The Donaldson Daily Published Every Nine Weeks Staff Writers: Andrea Russo Cerina Wichryk Francis Wichryk Kate Miller Rebecca Miller Mason Palaima Morgan Shansky Reese Bielecki Nathan Gunderson Band Newbies PTA Fundraiser Pumpkin Carving D.A.R.E. DeMario‘s Weather 3 2 2 4 6 Open House National Denim Day 3 5 Olweus Assembly Pasta for Pennies 2 5 Math 24 Challenge Author Visit 2 2 PTA Walkathon Summer Movies 4 4 Independent Study Donaldson Delivers 4 6 Book Fair Asset Science 2 3 Editor-in-Chief: Mrs. Nolan Contributing Editor: Mrs. Koraido Editor: Mrs. Schultz Donaldson Elementary Newspaper 19 9% Donaldson News 28 13% The Donaldson Daily 48 22% The Donaldson Paper 7 3% Donaldson Times 21 10% Donaldson School News 16 7% Donaldson Daily News 24 11% What's News at Donaldson? 22 10% Donaldson Delivers Your News 5 2% Donaldson Discoveries 22 10% Donaldson Elementary School students had a voice in naming their school newspaper, which will be published 4 times per year. During this democratic process, students were given the opportunity not only to vote for a newspaper title, but to also submit entries for the newspaper name. On Septem- ber 17th, the Horizons stu- dents explained and distrib- uted entry forms to each homeroom. Entries for possi- ble newspaper titles were collected on September 24th. Horizon students narrowed down the submissions to the top 11 choices. Mrs. Vestal, school computer teacher, cre- ated an online Google docu- ment to vote. The top 11 choices were: Donaldson Ele- mentary Newspaper, Donaldson News, The Donaldson Daily, The Donaldson Paper, Donaldson Times, Donaldson School News, Donaldson Daily News, What’s News at Donaldson, Donaldson Delivers Your News, Donaldson Discoveries, and Donaldson Digest. 217 students voted and The Donaldson Daily received the most votes at 48. Students that submitted The Donaldson Daily were Ava Pus- tover, Logan Wickline, Kate Miller, Macie Wingert Ashton Kochhar and Lauren Nikora. Those students received a small token of appreciation and were highlighted on the morning an- nouncements. Thanks to all who participated. See graph for more information. Staff Writers Pictured Top Row: Reese Bielecki, Kate Miller, Francis Wichryk, Nathan Gunderson Bottom Row: Rebecca Miller, Cerina Wichryk, Mason Pailama, Morgan Shansky, Andrea Russo October- it was Buctober! Francisco Liriano was the starting pitcher in the Wild Card game vs. Cincinnati Reds to put them into the first series of the postseason playoffs. In the Postseason against the St. Louis Cardinals, 3 of the Pirates‘ games were at Busch Stadium, and 2 were at PNC Park. The Pirates lost to the St. Louis Cardinals 3 times, and won twice. The scores were 9-1 Cards., 7-1 Bucs., 5-3 Bucs., 2-1 Cards., and 6-1 Cards. The pitchers who started for the Pirates during the postseason were AJ Burnett, Gerrit Cole, Mark Melancon, and Charlie Morton. How did they do it all of a sudden? Clint Hurdle, Pirate manager, must have magic to have turned this ball team around! Donaldson Elemen- tary school students and teachers supported the Pirates by wearing their Bucco gear to school on the days of the games. Congratulations Pirates! NATIVE AMERICAN PROJECTS ON DISPLAY By Cerina Wichryk IT WAS BUCTOBER By: Morgan Shansky Let‘s Go Bucs! Your 2013 Pittsburgh Pirates finally made it into the playoffs. They haven‘t been in the playoffs since 1992, which was 21 years ago. The Pirates had a great regular season with a record of 94-68. The 2013 Pirates worked very hard and got into the postsea- son playoffs. Every Bucco fan was very excited. It wasn‘t just Pirates‘ 2 nd baseman Neil Walker high-fiving the Pirate Parrot. Freelance Writers: Ambria Slutiak Tommy St. Claire Audra Cook Gianna Giacomino In this issue: Teachers Receive Grants 5 Relay for Life Event 5 TOP‘s Grants Awarded 6

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Transcript of Vol 1 issue 1 ok

Page 1: Vol 1 issue 1 ok

DONALDSON STUDENTS NAME SCHOOL NEWSPAPER By Morgan Shansky

Native Americans have

moved into Donaldson

School! 5th graders have

constructed Native Ameri-

can model shelters for a

social studies project. The

materials they used ranged

from twigs to tape to sugar

cubes. Students built: long-

houses, wigwams, igloos,

pueblos, hogans, and te-

pees. The students also

typed descriptions of how

they made their shelter,

which tribes used that shel-

ter, materials they used to

build that shelter, and the

name of the shelter. The

homes were on display be-

ginning on September 19th.

This Native American shel-

ter project has been as-

signed to the 5th grade stu-

dents at Donaldson Elemen-

tary for approximately eight

years. It originally was an

extra credit project, but has

since changed into an im-

portant part of this social

studies lesson.

Students pictured from left to right::

Andrea Russo, Trinity Susanek, and

Rebecca Miller

November 1, 2013 Volume 1, Issue 1

The Donaldson Daily Published Every Nine Weeks

Staff Writers:

Andrea Russo

Cerina Wichryk

Francis Wichryk

Kate Miller

Rebecca Miller

Mason Palaima

Morgan Shansky

Reese Bielecki

Nathan Gunderson

Band Newbies

PTA Fundraiser

Pumpkin Carving

D.A.R.E.

DeMario‘s Weather

3

2

2

4

6

Open House

National Denim Day

3

5

Olweus Assembly

Pasta for Pennies

2

5

Math 24 Challenge

Author Visit

2

2

PTA Walkathon

Summer Movies

4

4

Independent Study

Donaldson Delivers

4

6

Book Fair

Asset Science

2

3

Editor-in-Chief:

Mrs. Nolan

Contributing Editor:

Mrs. Koraido

Editor: Mrs. Schultz

Donaldson Elementary Newspaper 19 9%

Donaldson News 28 13%

The Donaldson Daily 48 22%

The Donaldson Paper 7 3%

Donaldson Times 21 10%

Donaldson School News 16 7%

Donaldson Daily News 24 11%

What's News at Donaldson? 22 10%

Donaldson Delivers Your News 5 2%

Donaldson Discoveries 22 10%

Donaldson Elementary School students had a voice in naming their school newspaper, which will be published 4 times per year. During this democratic process, students were given the opportunity not only to vote for a newspaper title, but to also submit entries for the newspaper name. On Septem-ber 17th, the Horizons stu-dents explained and distrib-uted entry forms to each homeroom. Entries for possi-ble newspaper titles were

collected on September 24th. Horizon students narrowed down the submissions to the top 11 choices. Mrs. Vestal, school computer teacher, cre-ated an online Google docu-ment to vote. The top 11 choices were: Donaldson Ele-mentary Newspaper, Donaldson News, The Donaldson Daily, The Donaldson Paper, Donaldson Times, Donaldson School News, Donaldson Daily News, What’s News at Donaldson, Donaldson Delivers Your News,

Donaldson Discoveries, and Donaldson Digest. 217 students voted and The Donaldson Daily received the most votes at 48. Students that submitted The Donaldson Daily were Ava Pus-tover, Logan Wickline, Kate Miller, Macie Wingert Ashton Kochhar and Lauren Nikora. Those students received a small token of appreciation and were highlighted on the morning an-nouncements. Thanks to all who participated. See graph for more information.

Staff Writers Pictured Top Row: Reese Bielecki, Kate Miller, Francis Wichryk, Nathan

Gunderson Bottom Row: Rebecca Miller, Cerina Wichryk, Mason Pailama, Morgan

Shansky, Andrea Russo

October- it was Buctober! Francisco Liriano was the

starting pitcher in the Wild Card

game vs. Cincinnati Reds to put them

into the first series of the postseason

playoffs. In the Postseason against the

St. Louis Cardinals, 3 of the Pirates‘

games were at Busch Stadium, and 2

were at PNC Park. The Pirates lost to

the St. Louis Cardinals 3 times, and

won twice. The scores were 9-1

Cards., 7-1 Bucs., 5-3 Bucs., 2-1

Cards., and 6-1 Cards. The pitchers

who started for the Pirates during the

postseason were AJ Burnett, Gerrit

Cole, Mark Melancon, and Charlie

Morton. How did they do it all of a

sudden? Clint Hurdle, Pirate manager,

must have magic to have turned this

ball team around! Donaldson Elemen-

tary school students and teachers

supported the Pirates by wearing

their Bucco gear to school on the

days of the games. Congratulations

Pirates!

NATIVE AMERICAN PROJECTS ON DISPLAY By Cerina Wichryk

IT WAS BUCTOBER

By: Morgan Shansky

Let‘s Go Bucs! Your

2013 Pittsburgh Pirates finally

made it into the playoffs. They

haven‘t been in the playoffs since

1992, which was 21 years ago.

The Pirates had a great regular

season with a record of 94-68.

The 2013 Pirates worked very

hard and got into the postsea-

son playoffs. Every Bucco fan

was very excited. It wasn‘t just

Pirates‘ 2nd

baseman

Neil Walker

high-fiving

the Pirate

Parrot.

Freelance Writers:

Ambria Slutiak

Tommy St. Claire

Audra Cook

Gianna Giacomino

In this issue:

Teachers Receive Grants 5

Relay for Life Event 5

TOP‘s Grants Awarded 6

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24 game is being used in

classrooms throughout the

world to help make students

become better thinkers and

problem solvers. Wilson and

McKee’s 4th grade students

have also met to play the

game. In the spring, 4th grade

students will meet again for

another round of play. Each

building will chose their best

three players and an alternate

to represent their school at

the district level tournament

scheduled for Spring 2014.

On Wednesdays in October,

an average of thirty-two 4th

grade students gathered in

the Donaldson LGI room to

play the Math 24 game. Math

24 is a game that tests how

fast you can add, subtract,

multiply, and divide four

numbers to get twenty-four.

The Math 24 game was cre-

ated in 1988 by Robert Sun.

‘’Knowing the answer is al-

ways 24 alleviates a classic

brand of math anxiety—

getting the right answer—

and instead puts the empha-

sis on the process and pat-

terns, what I like to call “the

method behind the math,”

says Sun. According to the

24 Game website, the Math

STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN FUNDRAISER By: Mason Palaima and Cerina Wickryk

4TH GRADERS

PREPARE FOR MATH

24 TOURANAMENT By Nathan Gunderson

OLWEUS ANTI-BULLYING PROGRAM KICKS OFF WITH THE

of American Eagle‘s AEO TV.

She is also a frequent ‗‘best

comedian‘‘ winner from the

Pittsburgh Post Gazette and a

top 10 finalist at the New York

Underground Comedy Festival.

Josh is best known as the front

-man of acclaimed rock band

Meeting of Important People,

received WYEP’s Top Local

Artist Award in 2009 and is a

published songwriter. His

songs can be heard in televi-

sion shows such as Keeping Up

with the Kardashians, MTV’s- the

Real World, Jersey Shore, and

t h e G h o s t W h i s p e r e r .

Donaldson Elementary has

been using the Olweus Bully-

ing Prevention Program for

the past 4 years.

T h e s t u d e n t s o f

Donaldson School partici-

pated in the Reach Out to

Family and Friends Fund-

raiser. This fundraiser was

sponsored by Donaldson

and all students K-5 could

participate. The students

completed packets with

names and addresses of

family and friends who

could purchase or renew

magazine subscriptions.

Donaldson‘s profit was

based on total magazine

sales. The proceeds from

the fundraiser may be used

for school events, such as

assemblies and field trips.

Students received the

Family and Friends Fundraiser on

September 9th. The representa-

tive was fondly nick-named

―Monkey Man‖ because prizes

awarded in past years have been

duck, frog, and monkey key

chains. This year was the ―Year of

the Monkey‖ and the monkeys

came in many forms including:

ghost monkeys, hula monkeys,

spider-man monkeys, and 17 oth-

ers! Magic Monkey

SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIRBy Morgan Shansky

Every year, Mrs. Schultz,

the Donaldson Elementary School

librarian, sponsors the Scholastic

Book Fair. The book fair this year

was open from Monday, Septem-

ber 16th—Thursday, September

19th. Each class had their own

time to shop from Monday-

Wednesday. The book fair was

also open at Open House which

was held on Thursday the 19th

from 6:30-8:00 pm. Parent Volun-

teers were on hand to help out at

the fair. Students were welcome

to buy books at the fair, including

Survivor 2, Happy Birthday Ham-

ster, Chupacabra, and much

more.The book fair also sold

bookmarks, erasers, pens, pencils,

and posters.

Proceeds from the sale benefit

you, meaning that the money

helps pay for author visits and

birthday books. The Scholastic Book Fair is

always a huge success every

year in raising money for our

library and school.

QUOTE OF THE DAY “I hear and I forget. I see

and I remember. I do and I

understand.” Confucius– Chinese Philosopher

and Reformer (551 B.C.—479 B.C.)

Gab Bonesso and

Josh Verbanets

Pictured from left to right, Ella

Chandler, Ava Pustover, Rachel Mamula, and Caroline Bachowski.

Josh Verbanets and Gab

Bonesso are two Pittsburgh

-based writers, performers,

educators, and public per-

sonalities that entertained

and informed Donaldson

School students on Septem-

ber 23rd in a PTA spon-

sored assembly.

AUTHOR VISITS SCHOOLS By Mason Palaima

The three elementary school

librarians: Mrs. Schultz, Mrs.

Howell, and Mrs. Medwick ar-

ranged for author Lindsay Bar-

rett George to visit Donaldson,

McKee, and Wilson schools.

Every year a different author

visits because the librarians

want to give students the op-

portunity to meet a famous

author in person. On October

25th, Ms. George talked about

writing and illustrating her

books. Students, with their

parent‘s permission, purchased

autographed copies of her

books including: That Pup,

Maggie‘s Ball, Around the

Pond: Who‘s Been Here?,

Alfred Digs, The Secret, My

Bunny and Me, and others.

Everyone enjoyed her visit.

Happy reading!

Lindsay Barrett George+, Inside Mouse,

Mrs. Schultz, and Outside Mouse

As part of the Olweus Bullying

Prevention Program, together

Josh and Gab presented a

unique and unforgettable musi-

cal bullying awareness pro-

gram. The Josh and Gab Show

spotlighted their own unique

humor- through singing popu-

lar music and talking about

their own experiences. Stu-

dents also got a chance to

volunteer to be a part of the

show. Josh and Gab have been

featured on WQED television

and in national press, and re-

cently kicked off 2013 with an

official partnership with the

Pittsburgh Children’s Museum.

Gab is best known as the host

5TH GRADE STUDENTS CARVE MATH OUT OF PUMPKINS By Cerina Wichryk

Pictured top clockwise: Mrs. Mor-ton, Alex Morton, and Anjali Vish-

wakarma, Olivia Crisanti, MacKenzie

Cruise, Mrs. Sunseri, Ethan Cooper

On October 23, 5th grade

students celebrated Pumpkin

Day. Students brought in

their own pumpkins. Parent

volunteers cut open the

pumpkins and 5th grade stu-

dents scooped out seeds for

a variety of math lessons

such as estimating and deter-

mining the mode, mean, me-

dian, and range of their

seeds. They also wrote po-

ems about pumpkins. 5th

grade teachers have been

using this pumpkin project to

reinforce these math con-

cepts for at least 5 years

which allows students to

learn in a hands-on way.

OLWEUS BULLYING PREVENTION PROGRAM KICKED OFF BY THE JOSH AND GAB SHOW By Reese Bielecki

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habitat with pine seedlings,

moss, pill bugs, and millipedes.

The Lifecycle of Butterflies

unit introduces second grade

students to life cycles through

the Painted Lady Butterfly for

eight weeks. They also study

the Changes unit where they

learn about solids, liquids and

gases. In the Rocks & Miner-

als module, third grade stu-

dents explore the differences

and similarities between rocks

and minerals by investigating

samples of these earth materi-

als. They also discover what

plants need to live and grow

in the Plants module. The

Chemical Testing unit intro-

duces third-graders to the

science of chemistry by ex-

ploring the chemical proper-

ties of sugar, alum, talc, baking

soda and cornstarch. In the

Physics of Sound module, 4th

grade students learn to tell

the difference between sounds

made by dropped objects,

how sounds can be made

louder or softer and higher or

lower, how sounds travel

through materials and how

Donaldson Elementary School

students are studying science

through the ASSET stem edu-

cation program. Asset is an

acronym for: ―Achieving stu-

dent success through excel-

lence in teaching‖. This year

Kindergarten will study Trees.

First grade will study Weather

and Living Organisms. Second

grade will study Changes and

Butterflies. Third grade will

study Rocks and Minerals, Plants,

and Chemical Testing. Fourth

grade will study Physics of

Sound, Magnetism and Electricity,

and Land and Water. Fifth grade

will study Variables, Mixtures

and Solutions, and Motion and

Design. The Trees unit will

help kindergarten students un-

derstand trees and their place

at school and in the commu-

nity, and will also help them

understand all plants. The Air

and Weather module provides

opportunities for first grade

students to explore the natural

world by using simple tools to

observe and monitor chance. In

the Organisms unit, first grad-

ers make and keep a woodland

sounds get from a source to a

receiver. Students use stream

tables in the Land and Water

module to study how water

affects land and visa versa. In the

Magnetism and Electricity

module they will explore prop-

erties of permanent magnets,

learn the essential parts of an

electrical circuit, construct elec-

tromagnets and a telegraph. In

fifth grade, students will fling,

float, fly and flip objects in the

Variables module. In Mixtures

and Solutions, students will

learn about chemistry, and in the

Motion and Design unit, stu-

dents combine the physics of

forces and motion with techno-

logical design.

OPEN HOUSE A SUCCESS By Rebecca Miller

grade, Mrs. Hensler and Mrs.

Bosenberg‘s classes made pro-

jects that told about how they

got their name and what it

meant, Mrs. Claus‘s class

wrote about what they wanted

to learn in the coming year,

and Mrs. Stone‘s class made

hermit crabs. In the third

grade, Mrs. Augustin‘s class

made owls, Mr. Demario‘s

class made a bulletin board

about weather, Mrs. Sekelik‘s

class made self portraits, and

Mrs. Barr‘s class made news-

papers about themselves.

Fourth graders in Mrs.

Shaffer‘s class, Mrs. Buser‘s

class, and Mrs. Ordich‘s class

made collages about them-

selves, and Mrs. King‘s class made animal connect

the dots. Mrs Koraido had a

table where students could

sign up to do an Independent

Study Project. Open House

was well attended by parents,

grandparents, aunts, uncles,

and siblings.

On September 19th from 6:30

to 8:00, Donaldson Elementary

School held an Open House

where parents could come and

meet their child‘s teacher. Par-

ents looked around their child‘s

classroom, and explored the

rest of the school. All the

classes made projects for par-

ents to see. Kindergarten

classes drew pictures of them-

selves on the first day of

school. First grade students

made palm trees. In second

Volume 1, Issue 1

58 fourth grade students

joined the Donaldson Elemen-

tary Band this year. Lessons

started on the 16th of Septem-

ber, and are being taught by Mr.

Hoffman, who has been teaching

band for 28 years. Their first full

band rehearsal was held in Oc-

tober. This year‘s band consists of

four baritones, four saxophones,

eight percussionists, eight clari-

nets, four trombones, one

french horn, twelve flutes, and a WHOPPING fourteen trumpets.

For lessons, Mr.Hoffman sepa-

rates the students into groups

according to instrument. For

instance, the Percussion group

ists include Brett Kot, Amelia

Wheatley, Anthony Snyder,

and Julianna Schuler. The

trumpeters are Nicholas

Mimna, Nakayla Roberts, Ma-

son Day, Jake Blunkosky,

Grace Drinkhall, Riane Gon-

tas, Ronald Matthews, and

Alyssa Croco. Saxophonists

are Braden Medved and-

Samantha Berthold, and the

only mellophonist is Joseph

Pustover. The fourth graders

will get the spotlight twice this

year. Their first concert will

be the Christmas Band and

Chorus Concert, which will

be held on the 16th of Decem-

ber. The second concert is

is separated into two groups:

four in each group, since

there are a total of eight

people.

The flutist this year are

Sierra Mangan, Nicole

Nikora, Marianthi Halkias,

Julia Prologo, Morgan Pichi,

Rachel Mamula, Caroline

Bachowski, Kaylie Stein,

Emma Stone, Ella Chandler,

Ava Pustover, Lauren Tou-

louse, and Jacob Rose.

Those playing the clarinet are

Christopher Morrison, Mi-

chael Darbous, Olivia Norris,

Emilee Brown, Erica

Prologo, Colin Rakolta, and

Faith Miller. The percussion-

the Spring Band and Chorus Con-

cert. Its date is yet to be deter-

mined. Be sure to mark your calendars

for the upcoming concert to hear

some rocking tunes!

RIDDLE OF THE DAY What has three feet and no legs?

JOKE OF THE DAY Why didn’t Superman know he

could fly?

A yardstick

He didn‘t know he had CAPE abilities. Sergeant Bates teaches

D.A.R.E. to 5th grade students

Lindsay Barrett George+, Inside Mouse,

Mrs. Schultz, and Outside Mouse

Students pictured from left to right:

at their band lesson: Sydney Watters,

Nathan Gunderson, Rohan Penu-

metcha, and Mikie Crowe

BAND NEWBIES By Andrea Russo

STUDENTS STUDY SCIENCE By Kate Miller

STUDENTS ATTEND D.A.R.E. By Mason Palaima

Every year at Donaldson Elemen-

tary, Sergeant Bates teaches

D.A.R.E. (Drug Awareness Resis-

tance Education) to students in

grades 1-5. Sergeant Bates visits

because he wants to teach stu-

dents how to stay away from

drugs, why not to use drugs, to

help someone who is getting bul-

lied instead of being a bystander,

and good decision making skills.

He also teaches students about

risks and consequences, telling and

tattling, how to become good de-

cision makers and how to be re-

sponsible and confident. Thank-

you Sergeant Bates. ;).

The geologist, Mr. Jeff Smith,

(below) presents a program

about geodes to 3rd graders

Page 4: Vol 1 issue 1 ok

When you walk into the school, you will

see a graph that shows the number of

students signed up for Independent

Study Projects. Beginning on September

19th at Open House, Mrs. Koraido be-

gan giving out permission slips for any

student interested in completing an Inde-

pendent Study Project. Students could

choose their own appropriate topic for

their project, and are asked to research

their topic and create some type of dis-

play such as: a written report, a book

with words and pictures, a video, a

PowerPoint presentation, a demonstra-

tion, a concept web, a storyboard, a

brochure, a diagram, an oral presenta-

tion or a scrapbook. When the stu-

dents finish their project they will return

them to school by December 6th. The

students will present their projects to

their class and then, give them to Mrs.

Koraido. The students in Mrs. Kora-

dio‘s Horizon‘s class will then summa-

rize the students‘ presentations. The

summaries will be read aloud on the

announcements each morning. After

that, the projects will be on display in

the lobby between December 6th and

16th , and at the Band and Chorus Con-

cert on December 16th for everyone to

see, read, and learn about their topics.

This is the 4th year that Mrs. Koraido

has sponsored these projects. ―This is

On Friday, October the

18th, Donaldson‘s fourth

Walk-A-Thon was held.

Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd,

4th, and 5th grade students

and teachers walked at the

Donaldson Campus. The

students that walked raised

money for the PTA. The

PTA will use that money

for programs like field trips

and assemblies. To raise

the money, students asked

family, friends, neighbors,

and community members

to sponsor them at the

Walk-A-Thon. From 9:30 to 10:15 a.m.,

the AM kindergarteners

and 1st graders walked, the

2nd graders walked from

10:30 to 11:15 a.m., the 3rd

graders and PM kinder-

garteners walked from

12:45 to 1:30 p.m., and the

4th and 5th graders walked

from 1:45 –2:30. All were

given a healthy snack. The

PTA gave out 3 different

types of awards. The top award was given to

the student who raised the

most money in the entire

school. Nitya and Dhruv

Tandon won in that cate-

gory. Awards were also

given to one student from

every grade that collected

PTA SPONSORS WALK-A-THON By Andrea Russo

the most money. Those stu-

dents were Nathan Athanas

A.M. Kindergarten, Emerson

Mirich- P.M. Kindergarten,

Bryce Boros-1st grade,

Julianne Brindle-2nd grade,

Aidan Porter-3rd grade,

Connor Giura-4th grade and

Adam Crawford and Ethan

Cooper-5th grade. The last

award was for the class that

collected the most dona-

tions. Mrs. Cartisser‘s AM

Kindergarten class received

that honor in the form of a

h e a l t h y s n a c k . T h e

Donaldson Walk-A-Thon

was a great success collecting

$5,000 overall. Thanks to the

PTA and everyone who

walked and donated.

150 PROJECTS EXPECTED FOR INDEPENDENT STUDY By Cerina Wichryk

Owen Cassucio (left) and Sammy Rip-

ple (right) check out the Independent Study Bar Graph on their way to class on October 3rd. The graph displays

names of participating students.

Epic 6 3%

Monsters U 36 17%

Despicable Me 2 111 51%

Turbo 4%

Smurfs 2 26 12%

Planes 10 5%

Haven't seen any

19 9%

STUDENTS CHOOSE FAVORITE SUMMER MOVIE By Francis Wichryk

Donaldson students had the

opportunity to vote on their

favorite summer movie in the

computer lab with the help of

Mrs. Vestal. Mrs. Vestal created

a Google document in which stu-

dents were asked to choose

their favorite movie. The six

choices were Epic, Monsters Uni-

versity, Despicable Me 2, Turbo,

Smurfs 2, and Planes. According

to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette,

where movies are rated on a

s c a l e o f (bomb) to

(classic). Monsters Uni-

versity, Epic and Turbo got three

stars, Despicable Me 2 got three

and a half stars, and Planes and

Smurfs 2 got two and a half

stars. Out of 217 students sur-

veyed, Despicable Me 2 re-

ceived the top honor, which

was my favorite too! See

graph for more details.

the most we‘ve ever had. I am so

proud of Donaldson students,‖

says Mrs. Koraido.

SERGEANT BATES PRESENTS HALLOWEEN

SAFETY PROGRAM By Andrea Russo

Every year in October, a

spooky assembly is held by

Sergeant Bates, where he talks

about Halloween safety. This

year he came back with an

updated slideshow, and talked

about enjoying Halloween, but

being extremely careful while

wa lk ing th rough your

neighborhood, and staying

with an adult. Sergeant Bates

has been showing Power Point

presentations on Halloween

safety for many years. In the

past, Donaldson students have

received color-changing glow

sticks and lighted whistles to

use on Halloween night while

trick-or-treating. This year

students received orange re-

flective slap bracelets. Thanks

to Sergeant Bates for giving

his time, D.A.R.E. (ing) to

keep Donaldson students safe

on this candy-filled Halloween

night!

DONALDSON DELIEVERS ByTommy St.Claire

This year Donaldson students are donating canned items for a food drive, sponsored by Mrs. Hensler called Donaldson Deliv-ers. All donated goods go to the West Allegheny Food Pantry. Mrs. Hensler is expecting 80-100 bags of food. The donation schedule is as follows: October- 5th grade, November- 4th grade, December– 3rd grade, January-2nd grade, February-1st grade, and kindergarten will donate in March.

Finally, the staff will do-nate in April and May. Mrs. Hensler said, “I enjoy par-ticipating in Donaldson Delivers because it is a nice way to help the commu-nity and get the kids inter-ested in helping. The pro-gram was very successful last year and the people that work at the facility appreciated that our deliv-eries were spaced out through the school year.”

LABELS FOR EDUCATION CONTEST SPOSORED BY PTA By Andrea Russo

SERGEANT BATES VISITS 3RD GRADE CLASSROOMS By Rebecca Miller

In September, Sergeant

Bates visited the classes

of Mrs. Augustin and Mr.

Demario. He spoke about

what a police officer does

and he talked about the

important jobs of a police

officer. Also, he showed

the class how to put on

handcuffs. This is the first

year he has come to do

this, but Mrs. Augustin

says, ―I would love for

him to come back next

year.‖ The students in the

classes of Mrs. Augustin

and Mr. Demario com-

pared and contrasted

From October 7th through October

21st, it was a ghostly race sponsored

by the Donaldson PTA to see who

could collect the most Box Tops and

Campbell‘s Soup labels through the

Labels for Education Program. Every

classroom was striving for first place

as the students throughout the school

collected these labels from 16 differ-

ent products, including Bic, Camp-

bell‘s, Danimals, Emerald, Glad, Pace,

Pepperidge Farm, Pop Secret, Post,

Prego, Spaghetti O‘s, Swanson, V8, V8

Splash, V8 V-Fusion, and Wolfgang

Puck. School wide, 2,594 Box Tops

were collected in all. The classroom

with the most Box Tops and labels

was Mrs. Rukas‘ class, collecting

928 labels in all, and were given a

special treat. Co chair persons

Vicki Danzik and Michelle Holly-

field receive a check from the

Labels for Education program

based off the total number of Box

Tops. Box Tops vary in value

depending on what is noted on

either the Box Top or label. For

instance, if a label has a value of

one, it equals one cent. As al-

ways, it is Donaldson students

who benefit from this fundraiser! Thank you PTA and everyone

who participated!

Sergeant Bates and

Officer Buckle from

Officer Buckle and

Gloria, which the class

read earlier this year

from their reading

book. Mrs. Augustin

thinks this helps the

students better under-

stand the characters

and she really enjoyed

having Sergeant Bates

come to talk to their

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CAN YOU FIND TEACHER NAMES IN THIS WORD SEARCH? By Nathan Gunderson

E E L A G N I T H G I N R J J I K C O D R A G W F H C I

K M V E N F H N S U A N D J U X R U J H U Z D Y E H Z W

J L R S K Y J C O Y C Q D E M A R I O S H C I D R O N F

Z E W G I R A H Y N E E E A Q U O Z Q H S E R E U A B I

R R U O Q K W S E S A M A R H A M N A G N A M I S A M Y

Q E D X J X M U K Y K R Q Q Q H G U F D C M T T W C B E

N V S P D T I B C O J G I D O B O U W E R S O Z K H Q K

G R Q S I W A C A K T Y F I F K W R B P F N W I R T S S

X B N X I R T S M C C A M P B E L L K J E Z S R X I A T

R N C Y X T E R Z M N F U R I W Y G T X R S Y I B M K O

Z S Z E V I R S J E B R E F S J A E J R I L P N M S U P

J I A H D I P A N H K F O O L R N P A C K H O K T G R S

X N M A C B U Z C U F M R K P O N B K I H C L A U S N C

Y S O I H D R M N A S U D R O O Y Q G P I B T Z A U C B

F P R R K P R E H I Q G E Z Z F N D S N U R U M B P C Y

G U D T E B R S L H O K K A R M Z A A D E E Y S J G I K

T Y S T Y H B E N S R I S H A U E M I B B J L C E T E X

L A F T K X B V V E N C E H L S F X M L R O B I A R F K

N U T G O J I C I A H E S H S F Y A J X G W K N C R U E

H G Q P O U L D P U D R H E O K L U W H D I U A D K T G

U U S I F K T A L Y E E K H J X I M H A N U R X X A E M

M S G C Q T C T T K D E T R A C Y P I G V O A U K B H R

B T M H E T Z I C S L B O E S E N B E R G E I U C O F G

E I A I L Z F I H I E U F L A B H H A T C L D L N R G W

R N R P S G W Q K C J V A B U W B R O O K M A N C G V N

T W C U S C O T T D E V U F M E R H A U T T V O H K H W

L Z H N W O L R A H S D K C M O T N A R A T L Q Z U N J

J H C N K V U K O V C A N G Q R U O D I A R O K Z J W S

Augustin Campbell

Barr Cartisser

Bauer Claus

Boesenberg Curigliano

Bouwers DeChicko

Brookman DeMario

Buser Dierker

Floyd Hoffman

Gardocki Humbert

Groba King

Haas Koraido

Hari Lambert

Hensler Mackey

Heron Mangan

Mahramas Pichi

March Prevade

McKissick Rink

McKoy Rukas

Merhaut Schultz

Nightingale Scott

Ordich Sekelik

Shaffer Taranto

Sharlow Tracy

Smith Tracy

Spotskey Turici

Stone Vestal

Stout Vukovcan

Sunseri Wickersham

Wojtaszek

$1385. ―It really helps with Breast Cancer Re-

search,‖ says Mrs. Bauer.

Thanks to all of the staff and

faculty who helped the

Cause. GO DENIM!

their classroom was given.

Donaldson participated with

600 other schools, and has

been recognized as one of

the top donating schools in

the western part of the

state. The classroom with

the highest total won a pasta

party delivered from Olive

Garden. This honor went to

Mrs. King‘s class with a total

of $283.33. Also included

this year was ―Music for the

Mission‖, where students

paid to vote for their favor-

ite song, that was played

over the PA system during

lunch. Last year, Donaldson

contributed a total of

$1,756.22 to this needy

cause. This year during the

first week, $975.97 was

raised. Mrs. Shaffer‘s class

was in the lead with $118.83,

but Mrs. King‘s class had the

heaviest bucket which

earned extra recess for their

classes. At the conclusion of

the fundraiser, Donaldson

collected a total of $2,412.14

to donate to aid

in cancer re-

search. Every

penny counted.

T h a n k y o u

Donaldson stu-

dents and Staff.

Pictured left to right: Mrs. Claus,

Mr. Lambert, and Mrs. Hari

SCHOOL NURSES

SPONSOR DENIM DAY

By Andrea Russo

DONALDSON SCHOOL STUDENTS FILL

BUCKETS WITH SPARE CHANGE FOR

CANCER RESEARCH By Rebecca Miller

On Friday, October 4th, did

your teacher wear jeans to

school? Well, if so, chances

are he or she participated in

Lee National Denim Day,

which raised money to sup-

port Breast Cancer Re-

search. The faculty and staff

of the West Allegheny

School District were asked

to contribute five dollars to

be able to wear jeans to

school. This fundraiser was

sponsored at Donaldson by

Mrs. Bauer, school nurse.

According to Mrs. Bauer,

this year, Donaldson raised

$235! The district total was

Mrs. Campbell and a group of Donaldson Elementary School staff are participat-ing in a relay team fund-raiser to raise money for cancer research. The fund-raiser is being held for the first time this year. The relay will continue for an entire year, concluding with the largest of events to be held in May 2014 at the West Allegheny High

Donaldson Elementary School

participated in the Leukemia

and Lymphoma Society‘s Pasta

for Pennies fundraiser pre-

sented by Olive Garden and

sponsored by Mrs. Tracy and

Dr. Dierker. This fundraiser

raises money to help people

who have blood cancer like

Leukemia and Lymphoma. The

fundraiser ran from Septem-

ber 30th through October 11th,

and it is the sixth year in

which Donaldson School par-

ticipated. Students and staff

brought in spare change and

put it in the bucket that

STAFF PARTICIPATE IN FUND RAISER FOR CANCER RESEARCH

By Audra Cook

School baseball field. called Re-lay for Life. The teachers participating in the Relay for Life will run, jog, or walk around the field. This will continue for a twenty four hour period of time. While this event is occurring only one of the participants can be on the field at once. Our staff is doing something very impor-tant. The 5th grade Student Council will be supporting this effort by selling chance tickets for a dollar each. The money

collected from the chance ticket sales will be added to the grand total raised. The lucky winner of the chance ticket sale drawing on Octo-ber 25th, had the honor of cutting Mrs. Campbell’s hair braid off, which will in turn be donated to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths Program for the creation of wigs for those that are suffering from cancer. The event will be called ‘Cut for a Cause’.

Page 6: Vol 1 issue 1 ok

3 CHEERS FOR 3 TEACHERS

By Gianna Giacomino

Three teachers at Donaldson

School were awarded TOP

(Technology Opportunity Pro-

posal) grants, offered by the West

Allegheny School District. In or-

der to be eligible to receive this

grant, these teachers had to com-

plete a process by writing an essay

about using technology in the

classroom. The teachers also had

to receive a Digital Driver‘s Li-

cense (DDL) by attending training

in the summer. Basically having a

DDL means they know how to

work the device and can show

others how to use it too. Mrs.

King and Ms. Nightingale have re-

ceived Microsoft Surface RTs. A

Microsoft Surface RT is a tablet

focused on its operating system.

Mrs. Bouwers received Ipads for

her students. All three teachers

are passionate about learning and

technology. Their plan is to bring

these two together by introducing

a new way to learn on these de-

vices. Because of this grant, each

and every student would be able

to have their own minicomputer.

Mrs. King said, ―Kids can get an-

swers right at their finger tips.‖

These devices are fun and func-

tional! Kids at Donaldson are lucky

to have these resources- but it

wasn‘t easy. Ipads have many

different apps and websites that

you can explore. The tablet has

different functions from the Ipad

such as: Microsoft Office, Power-

Point, Excel, Sky Drive and a spot

for a flash drive. Congratulations

Teachers!

DONALDSON SCHOOL CELEBRATES HALLOWEEN

By Ambria Slutiak

Pictured from left to right: Ms. Nightingale, Mrs. Bouwers,

and Mrs. King

On October 31st, Donaldson School cele-

brated Halloween with parties and a parade.

The students brought in special treats like

cookies, candy, and even healthy snacks. The

parade began at 2:00 p.m. and parents were

invited to come to see the costumes and

watch the parade. After the parade was over,

all students went back to their classrooms to

have their class party. Some of the costumes

included Princesses, Ninjas, animals and even

superheroes. In conclusion, everybody had a

ghostly great time!

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