POSITIVE in Action
GRANTS AND OTHER ACTIVITIES FUNDED IN 2022-2023
Start of the Year Teacher's Luncheon
A great kick-off for the 2022-2023 school year welcoming teachers with a delicious luncheon. Thank you parents for your continued support!
And thank you Marisa Chiaruttini and Martha DePaola for another amazing spread and delicious meal!
Beautiful Fall Flowers
Wendy Eppich refreshed the flowers in front of our Middle School with beautiful fall flowers and pumpkins!
IMG_7885.movYear End Ice-cream Truck
POSITIVE arranged for an Ice-cream truck!
POSITIVE celebrated the end of an extraordinary school year with an ice-cream truck for DSMS students! Here is video and some photos. It was pure joy!!
Zoomsical Drive in Movie
POSITIVE helped support the Drama department’s MS musical, Zoomsical, this year by helping to offset the cost of renting the equipment for the AWESOME drive-in theatre experience.
s, co-hosts the Ask Lisa podcast, and appears as a regular contributor to CBS News.”
Interactive Tech, Math Department
The Middle School Math Department Received 9 Interactive HP Elite Laptops to Fortify Excellence in Remote Learning from POSITIVE Grant. To best support remote learning in Mathematics, these interactive laptops enable teachers to write/draw on the screen and enable real time explanations of complex topics. Karen Raymond, shared that these interactive laptops are connected to a smartboard which allows them to be sharable in Zoom. This helps facilitate more detailed explanations and richer discussions with students.
Cyber Civics, Social Studies
Department
POSITIVE Awarded Cyber Civics Grant to Bolster Curriculum to include Digital Citizenship.Cyber Civics is a subscription based classroom curriculum that meets a growing need to prepare students to be ethical, safe, and productive digital citizens.This ground-breaking program has solved the riddle of teaching kids how to become ethical and knowledgeable media consumers and producers. Cyber Civics promotes social and behavioral skills throughout the curriculum. Students are not only learning digital skills, but real-life skills as well.
Zoom Discussion with
Dr. Lisa Damour
Dr. Lisa Damour
Zoom with Dr. Lisa Damour . POSITIVE organized an interactive zoom discussion with renowned author, speaker and psychologist Dr. Lisa Damour to speak to MS/HS parents on the evening of October 20, 2021. Dr. Damour is the author of two New York Times best-selling books, Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood and Under Pressure: Confronting the Epidemic of Stress and Anxiety in Girls. She writes the monthly Adolescence column for the New York Times, co-hosts the Ask Lisa podcast, and appears as a regular contributor to CBS News.”
DS School Garden
"Le Jardin de DS"
POSITIVE provided maintenance funds for the DS Garden.The DSMS garden is a 5-year initiative supported by teachers and students that promotes outdoor activity, produce for the lunchroom and food for pantry donations, as well as a terrific resource for science classes.
Deana’s Educational Theater, Guidance
POSITIVE funded two shows by the very popular Deana’s Educational Theatre arranged by the guidance department. These plays were highly popular in previous years. This year both the plays were virtual. One of the plays- BUS STOP, teaches students how to deal with bullying/ cyberbullying, particularly focusing on the cyberbullying piece. This play also shows how a cyberbullying incident that occurs outside of school can affect students’ well-being in school. It touches on issues dealing with social media and digital citizenship and allows for conversation interwoven into the program, rather than just at the conclusion of the skits.
Teacher Appreciation Lunch
On November 30th, during a teachers' professional development day, POSITIVE provided lunch to all our Middle School teachers and administrators to thank them for their dedication to their students and their work as educators during this incredibly difficult year. A special thanks to the Marissa Chiaruttini and the POSITIVE hospitality team on providing a beautiful spread.
Black Lives Matter School Books
70 Black Lives Matter at School books were purchased for all staff members. These books along with beautiful cookies were distributed by "Secret Santa" Mr. Kellett before the Holiday break! As we continue the journey of cultural responsiveness at DS, this highly recommended book will be used to create reading and discussion groups.
Culturally Proficient Posters
In an effort to help increase the inclusiveness at our middle school, POSITIVE funded the purchase of antiracism, inclusive and community building prints and posters. These artistic prints have been placed around the building. We hope and believe that these posters will increase affirming messages to all students and staff that DSMS is a safe and welcoming environment.