DRES FAMILY MESSAGE

Hello DRES Family,

Happy Fall! We have our last week of school before we begin our track out. The students have 5 more days of learning to close out Quarter 1.

Thank you to all of the families and friends that donated to our Totally Rad Fundraiser! We brought in over $30,000, which will go right back into our classrooms and fun family events.

Be sure to mark your calendars for our annual Trunk or Treat event on the evening of Friday, October 25 from 6-8pm.

We hope you have a safe and enjoyable track out!

Sincerely,

Principal Sanchez

We hope you can join us at DRES or virtually for our monthly PTA meeting at 6:30pm. If you are coming in person, we will meet in the gym. If you aren't able to make it in person, we would still love to have you join virtually via Google Meet at the link below. The link will also be shared on Class Dojo right before the meeting to make it easy to find!

DRES PTA Meeting Virtual Link

Monday, September 23 · 6:30 – 7:30pm

Google Meet link: https://meet.google.com/cqm-gafj-piw

Parent/Teacher conferences should occur at least twice per year, 1st and 3rd quarter. Teachers are either currently holding parent/teacher conferences or scheduling them for right when we track back in. Please take this opportunity to meet with your child's teacher either face to face or virtually to come up with ways to partner together for the success of your child. Let's make 100% participation in Parent/Teacher conferences!!

September is Attendance Awareness Month and to close out the month we will be having an Attendance Awareness Spirit Week.

Monday- Hat Day- Hats off to good attendance!

Tuesday- Crazy Sock Day- Sock it to absenteeism!

Wednesday- Wacky Tacky Day- Don't let wacky days keep you away!

Thursday- Pajama Day- Don't sleep on school!

Friday- DRES Spirit Day- Wear your yellow DRES shirts or any DRES gear.- Team up for attendance!

The first step to academic success is to be at school to learn! Thank you for helping your children get to school each day. As a parent, I know some days are tough to make it all happen, but we've got to get them in school to teach them.

9/27/24- Last Day of Quarter 1

9/28/24-10/20/24- Track Out- No School

10/21/24- First Day of Quarter 2

10/25/24- Trunk Or Treat 6-8pm

10/28/24- Quarter 1 Report Cards Go Home

11/5/24- No School- Go Vote!

11/11/24- No School- Veterans' Day

11/18/24- Quarter 2 Interims Go Home This Week

11/21/24- Chorus Concert- Broadway Beat at DRES- 7pm

11/27-11/29/24- No School- Thanksgiving Break

12/18/24- Chorus Concert- At Durant Road Middle School- 6:30pm

12/20/24- Last Day of Quarter 2

12/21/24-1/26/25- Winter Break/Track Out

1/27/25- First Day of Quarter 3

2/3/25- Quarter 2 Report Cards Go Home

2/24/25- Quarter 3 Interims Go Home This Week

3/28/25- Last Day of Quarter 3

3/29-4/21/25- No School- Spring Break/Track Out

4/22/25- First Day of Quarter 4

4/28/25- Quarter 3 Report Cards Go Home

5/19/25- Quarter 4 Interims Go Home This Week

5/26/25- No School- Memorial Day

5/30/25- DRES Family Night At Mudcats- Chorus Singing National Anthem

6/19/25- No School- Juneteenth

6/26/25- Last Day of Quarter 4

6/27 & 6/28/25- EOG Retests

Parents and other relatives are allowed to come eat lunch with students. Please keep a few important things in mind.

1. If a family member is coming to eat lunch with your child that is not a parent, please call the school to let us know that you are giving permission for that person to eat lunch with your child(ren).
2. Students must inform the staff member in charge of their classroom that they are going to eat lunch with their family member.
3. No other student is allowed to join for lunch, other than yours.
4. Family members are not allowed to bring lunch for other children, only yours. You never know of others allergies, dietary restrictions, etc.
5. There are multiple tall tables in the hallway to have lunch with your child. If you do not feel comfortable having lunch out there, please ask the staff members watching your child's class which table is available for you to sit at with your child. We have classes coming in and out frequently.

Thank you for following these rules and expectations to ensure the safety of our students.

If you missed the PTA meeting last Monday, here is the Title 1 Presentation that Ms. Sanchez shared.

DRES is a Universal Free Breakfast School meaning any DRES student can get breakfast each morning at school for FREE. Breakfast is served from 8:00am-8:30am. Students pick up their breakfasts and take it back to the classroom to eat.

Lunch Costs:

Full Price- $3.50 per day

Reduced Price- $0.40 per day

Snacks are available for purchase.

Students in 1st-5th grade have a 25 minute lunch period. Kindergarteners have a 30 minute lunch period.

Want to try to qualify for Free or Reduced Lunch? Sign up at the link below or stop by the school to fill out a paper copy that we can submit for you.

https://www.myschoolapps.com/

We have a 5 day specials rotation at DRES. Your child's teacher has probably already shared the weekly specials rotation with you. Specials are a 45 minutes time daily which your child gets to learn about fun activities of Music, Art, Physical Education, STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics), Media, and Counseling. All students have Music, Art, PE, and STEM weekly. They will rotate between having Media and Counseling as their 5th special. During counseling, the grade level counselor teaches students about Social Emotional skills, how to recognize bullying and how to stop it, how to have good character traits, etc.

Music Teacher- Ms. Toelly

Art Teacher- Ms. Terwillinger (Students call her Ms. T.)

PE Teacher- Mr. Wolgemuth (Students call him Coach W.)

STEM Teacher- Mr. Tant

Media Teacher- Mr. McKey

School Counselors- K, 2, 4 Grade- Ms. Hartley 1, 3, 5- Ms. Evans

Students are expected to maintain appropriate SOAR behavior in all specials classes. Art, Music, and PE are all graded and students receive report card grades at the end of quarter 2 and the end of quarter 4 on content and work habits.

At DRES, we follow the WCPSS Bully Prevention expectations. We have no room for bullying at DRES. We teach our students to be safe, own their learning, act responsibly, and be respectful at all times. If your child experiences bullying please reach out to a school representative so we are aware and can take immediate action. Start by informing the teacher of the situation. The teacher will then analyze the situation and determine if they are able to address the situation. If not, they will seek assistance from the counselors or school administration to put an end to the bullying situation.

Just remember- Bullying is unwanted aggressive behavior that perceives an imbalance of power and is repeated.

One of the main forms of bullying that we see actually happens in the care of the parents outside of school that causes major disruptions to the learning environment. This is cyberbullying. We spent many, many hours and days last school year dealing with cyberbullying that happened outside of school, yet had a negative impact on the school environment. If you provide your child with a cell phone or access to a device, please be responsible to monitor what they are doing on their device. They actually could be causing the bullying, participating in the bullying, or be the target of bullying, none of which are healthy for them. Many apps used for this are: Snapchat, Instagram, Kik, and TikTok. Elementary school aged children are not yet old enough to have these accounts, yet many of them do. The age limit is in place to give time for young children's brains to develop so they can make more appropriate decisions.

Here is an article that may be useful to help with Cyberbullying.

https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberbullying/what-is-it

Help us to help your children to be in a bully free and respectful environment at school!

• You are doing awesome!! Thank you for having your tags and leaving them up throughout your entire time in the carpool lane in the afternoons!!
• If your child needs assistance getting into or out of the car, please put your flashers on and a staff member will come to help.
• Please do not park and walk your child across because you do not want to wait in the carpool line. This actually slows the line down for others doing the right thing.
• If you need to buckle your child in their seats, please make sure your 4-way blinkers are on and slowly pull down to the orange cab/carpool waiting zone to take care of buckling.
• Have your child practice buckling themselves on the weekends and evenings.
• Review your child's carpool number with them by having them recognize the number when shown to them, being able to say their carpool number, and recognizing the number when you say it.
• Remember that if you are having someone else pick up your child through carpool, give them the actual tag, or they will need to go into the school to sign them out. We will not put your child in a car if the carpool tag is not visible. This is for their safety as we would never want to give your child to someone that isn't supposed to have them!

• AM- Please walk your child around to the front entrance in the mornings.
• AM and PM- Parents are not allowed to be walking around the back of the school to the modulars without checking into the front office first.
• PM- Walker parents are not allowed on campus until 2:55pm and should go straight to the pick up locations.
• K-3 students will get dismissed from the end of the Kindergarten hallway, but must first be signed out by parent.
• 4-5 students will get dismissed from the pavilion area and must be signed out first.
• If 4th or 5th graders have permission to walk home alone, they must first check out with the staff member at the pavillion.

• Your child needs to be in school for us to teach them.
• Missing more than 10 days of school is excessive and tends to lead to students being behind academically.
• Send a note to the teacher within 2 days of an absence, in order for it to be considered for excused. The note can be written, in email, or through Dojo.
• Excused attendance reasons: Injury/Illness (sick, medical, dental appointments), Religious observation, Death in Immediate Family member, Educational Opportunities that are specifically designed for educational reasons and approved in advance (Not family vacations), Military Deployment Activities

Ideas to help at home with the morning routine.

1. Go to bed on time.
2. Lay clothes at night.
3. Develop a back up plan for getting to school in case of an emergency or no bus.
4. Set an alarm and teach your child a morning routine to help get them prepared for school. Making a visual or written checklist to hang on the mirror in the bathroom is helpful for building independent reminders.

Please view the 24-25 DRES Parent Student Handbook here:

https://www.wcpss.net/Page/22935

Be sure to read this and refer to it throughout the school year. It is located on our school website in the Parents section.

Check out the new Cell Phone expectations which were added in this school year.

You are invited to fill out an application to see if you qualify for free or reduced price meals for your child. This needs to be redone every year. Please apply using this link: https://www.myschoolapps.com/

If you would prefer a paper copy, these are available at the school.

Be sure you are connected to your child(ren)'s teacher on ClassDojo so you can stay informed on classwide and individual communications. We need to be able to have direct communication with a parent or guardian for every student in case of an emergency, and because ongoing communication between school and home will provide the best support for your child's success.

Do you have a School Messenger account so you don't miss important texts and emails from Wake County Public Schools and Durant Road Elementary?

Read more at this link: https://www.wcpss.net/schoolmessenger