Vol 1 issue 1 ok
-
Upload
donaldson-pta -
Category
Documents
-
view
221 -
download
2
description
Transcript of 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
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
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
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
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’.
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!