The Royal Scroll - May

ELL News

Family Heritage Night was held on May 1st. We had over 300 people in attendance and our school community was very generous with providing food from their culture as well as the Mendez Family providing authentic Puerto Rican music and dancing for all to experience. In addition, families were able to make origami animals, make an African weaving project and our talented high school volunteers also were able to do some beautiful mehndi designs for our families. A good time was had by all!

~ELL Team

Color Day

Spring Rewards Day

Sports News

Bywood's Running Club, ran by Mr. O'Neill, has started their practices!

They always end with a cheer!

Student of the Month Assembly!

DHMS Relay Carnival

On Thursday April 11th two Garrettford students, David Phillips and Cade Wilson, had the opportunity to participate in the PMEA District 12 Grade 5/6 string fest. The fest included 30 schools and over 100 students. David and Cade arrived at Garnet Valley Middle School at 8:30 a.m. and rehearsed until 6 p.m. At 7 o'clock they performed in a concert under the direction of Dr. Angela Ammerman. Dr. Ammerman is a professor at George Mason University and is a highly sought after clinician. The students were so lucky to work with her and Mrs. Lesniak learned a few new things to to bring back to our orchestra program. Congratulations David and Cade!

Students in 3rd through 5th grades recently performed in Garrettford's Spring Concert. The orchestra, chorus, and band has been working and practicing all year to get their songs ready and they did not disappoint. Mrs. Lesniak was incredibly proud of the beginning orchestra, advanced orchestra, and the combined 4th and 5th grade band. The 3rd graders loved performing First Finger Rock by Brian Balmages, a rock piece that uses all the open strings and only one finger patterns. Advanced Orchestra loved Hiawatha by Soon Hee Newbold. It required them to play in a new scale D Dorian. The Band loved all their works. The hair stood up on Mrs. Lesniak's arm at the end of Affirmation. The audience sang along to Lean on Me and all the band students loved playing Rob Grice's six note song Defender of Time. Additionally, several solos were given to students who have gone above and beyond in their ensembles. Ms. Zhou is very proud of everyone's hard work and the wonderful choral performance they produced.! It was a great night of music.

Students in third through fifth grades had a tough couple weeks taking the PSSA tests. They came to school on time, worked hard and did their best. Students earned tickets through the testing period and had a chance to win a prize of their choice at the end of the weeks. The students were really excited to choose the prizes!

In 1973, a third grade class at Highland Park was researching Pennsylvania. After learning that Pennsylvania did not have a state insect, they started working together to petition for the firefly to be our state insect. They wrote letters, got petitions signed in the community, contacted legislators, and wrote a song. On April 10, 1974, the students were invited to Harrisburg to witness the firefly officially becoming our state insect! We are so proud that students at Highland Park had such a big impact on our state.

On April 9, 2024, Highland Park celebrated the 50th anniversary of this amazing achievement. We had the Upper Darby High School Marching Royals perform, current third graders read poems, our first graders perform 5 Little Fireflys, the HP Singers perform "Fireflies" by Owl City, and many guest speakers, including UD Mayor Ed Brown, UDSD Superintendent Dr. McGarry, and the Secretary of the PA Department of Education Dr. Mumin. Representative Curry brought a state proclamation for Highland Park. We were lucky to have 3 of the former students from that very special third grade class come and speak to our school about their experience helping make the state insect the firefly!

Thanks to Mrs. DeVito's incredible vision, and many donations, every student and staff member at Highland Park received a beautiful purple and gold firefly t-shirt to wear to our assembly!

The Highland Park Theater Arts Club presents: Finding Nemo, kids!

The students performed 3 shows, one for the school and two evening performances. They worked all year long to present Finding Nemo, kids and we are all so proud of their hard work. Special shout-out to fifth grader Chelsea... who stepped in as Marlin two weeks before the show when another student became unable to continue with Theater Arts.

On May 10th, we held the annual Hillcrest Carnival. It is an event held and run by the 5th grade students. The students make homemade, repurposed carnival games in small groups. It is a long day for the hosts, but as you can see from the pictures, it was well worth it! The students in grades K-4 LOVED playing the games!!!

The Princes and Princesses of the Kindergarten Center came together to party at the Annual Royal Rock!

Students and Staff participated in a Pep Rally to encourage our 3rd, 4th & 5th graders as they got ready to take the PSSA! There was an obstacle course, music, and getting to pie a staff member.

4th grade students at Primos embraced the warm weather by taking their social studies lesson outside. They loved getting to work with a partner and practice their map skills.

In science, first graders explored the different qualities of light and dark!

In this issue we are featuring a fifth grader, Anthony!

Anthony moved here from Venezuela with his family in the Fall of 2022. They moved here for his dad's job. His dad is a barber.

1. What was the weather like in Venezuela?

• The weather was very hot most of the time. We didn't have the seasons but sometimes it would get windy. It never snowed but it would rain sometimes. I saw snow for the first time in the United States.

• Yes, I went to school. A lot of our classes were outside. We didn't have as much technology.

3. What was your favorite food to eat in Venezuela?

• My favorite food to eat was arepa maracucha which is a deep fried arepa stuffed with pork, avocado, garlic, and cheese.

4. What did you do for fun in Venezuela?

• We would play outside when it rained because it was cooler. We played soccer.

5. What do you miss most about Venezuela?

• I miss my family. I miss my grandma, my grandpa, and my uncles.

Gym

Students have begun to prepare for Color Day by practicing some of the events in class. Some 4th and 5th grade students were selected to participate in the district wide Elementary PE Expo at Drexel Hill Middle School. These students participated in fun events, made new connections with students and teachers around the district, and had a great time.

Library

This year we were able to purchase several new books for the library. Some of the most popular books, Dog Man, The Babysitter's Club, Crafts for Kids, FGTeeV, Miles Morales, and an updated collection of NFL Football Books. Thank you for supporting the Book Fair every year. This is the primary funding for our library.

Please take a few minutes to check your homes for missing library books. We have a number of overdue books. I will be sending notices out for missing books at the end of the month.

As a reminder, the Delaware County Library System is free to all members of our community. Why not take advantage of one of the few things that are still free. Children accompanied by a parent can check out books, use their computers, join a club and so much more. Check it out! https://www.delcolibraries.org

Art

In art class we are working on wonderful art projects together. In First Grade we are working on fish paintings. In Second Grade we are working on city scenes. In Third Grade we are finishing our colonial portrait silhouettes. In Fourth Grade we are working on optical art pictures. In Fifth Grade we are working on carnival illustrations. These carnival illustrations will be used to decorations for the Fifth Grade Dance.

Music, Band, and Orchestra

The beginning of May has been filled with so many spectacular performances. On May 3rd, first grade put together a mini showcase for kindergarten to third grade, and they had such a blast with it. Not only did they sing some songs from music, but also did a choreographed song with rhythm sticks. On May 8th, many students in orchestra, band, and chorus came together to put on another fantastic spring concert, which included songs from movies like Barbie and The Muppet Movie. For the remainder of the year, students will finish out with some instrumental work, and explore other musical programs we have not used yet, such as Soundtrap. We are looking forward to an amazing rest of the school year.

On Thursday, May 9, the African-Culture Club held its first annual "Afro-Fest." The event was designed to inform students and school staffers about the many aspects of their culture. Activities included informational displays about each country, and famous people from the continent; dancing; face painting; and sampling of famous African dishes, including jollof rice, meat pies, and rice with cassava leaves.

During the 2023-2024 Winter Track season, the UDHS Royals traveled to Boston, Massachusetts, for the New Balance Indoor National Championships.

Gabe Tsayo, Daniel Chukwu, Abdoulaye Sangare, Gabe Olaniyi, and Mike Olaniyi participated in the Shuttle Hurdle Relay. The Royals entered the race ranked 22nd and finished in 15th place.