Hello Marsh Creek,

I hope that everyone is having a great weekend and that you all enjoyed a restful Spring Break. This week marks the start of the 4th Marking Period, and we are looking forward to several fun opportunities for our students to enjoy during the final chapter of their Marsh Creek experience. In addition to our Spring Fling scheduled for May, this month our HSA is hosting the annual Dodgeball Tournament for our students. Please see below for more details related to this event. This week will also be the last week that students and families can get their Marsh Creek Spirit Wear for the year. More information on how to purchase spirit gear to celebrate their time as a Narwhal can be found below. On the Friday before the break, schools across the district celebrated Unity Day, and it was awesome to see our students show their spirit and Downingtown pride by wearing their blue and gold and celebrating our shared values of unity, respect, inclusion, kindness and empathy! We look forward to seeing the students return tomorrow!

-Matt

Monday - 4/1

• CTC Parent Series - Sibling Relationships - 6:30 - 8:00 pm - Marsh Creek Library

Wednesday - 4/3

• First day of the 4th Marking Period

Notable Upcoming Dates

• Thursday - 4/11 - HSA Dodgeball Tournament - 6:00 to 7:30 - Marsh Creek
• Friday - 4/12 - ELD Family Night - East Ward Elementary School

Don't miss out on our last Marsh Creek 6th Grade Spirit Wear sale of this school year! Commemorate your time at Marsh Creek with new gear. This is also a great opportunity for upcoming 5th graders to be ready to show their Narwhal Pride next year!

HSA Narwhal Dodgeball Tournament

Thursday, April 11th 6:00 pm- 7:30 pm

MC6 Gym

The annual Marsh Creek Narwhal Dodgeball Tournament is around the corner! For those students that are interested in participating this year, please complete the form below. The form can be found in the cafeteria during lunches beginning on Wednesday, and returned to the main office.

-Each team must have 8 players and one adult coach.

-The cost is $8.00 per team. -Each team should choose a color to wear that evening. (Shirts do not need to match but players should generally wear the same colors.)

-Please make sure each team member has checked with their parents and agree to attend the tournament.

-The tournament will be played in bracket style. A copy of the rules are attached.

Return to the Office or during lunch periods on Friday, 4/4, Monday, 4/8, or Tuesday, 4/9.

Parents, if you are interested in helping, please click on the link below. Parents are not permitted to attend unless they are signed up for volunteering.

Spotlight artwork that students have been working on this school year!

In honor of Read Across America in March, we held a gift basket drawing in the Library. Students that read 100 pages, earned one entry for the gift basket. For each slip that they turn in, they received one entry in the drawing. Great job by all of our students that participated!

Thank you for supporting and encouraging our students as they build their skills and confidence related to math! Just prior to Spring Break, we completed the Marsh Madness Event for our students. Overall, our students completed an additional 6,098 hours of practice skills in the IXL program, and completed over 43,000 skills assignments! I cannot say how proud I am of all of our students for their effort this month! A special Congratulations to our students on A team, for winning the Bracket Challenge by completing the most skills over the past weeks!

The Downingtown Area School District has a diverse population that continues to grow and expand. We have families from many countries across the world. Combined, these families speak over 40 languages. This diversity enhances our DASD community.

To help these families feel welcome and connected, the DASD’s English Language Development (ELD) team hosts an annual ELD Family Night. The event will take place on Friday, April 12th from 6:00-7:30pm at East Ward Elementary School.

The ELD Team will be raffling off prize baskets. We are asking for theme items and gift cards. Any donation is appreciated. If you are interested in donating to this event, please use the link below to access the Amazon Wish List created by our families.

A collection bin will also be located in the front office. Thank you!!

The Friends of the Downingtown Library have scheduled a community book sale and would greatly appreciate donations from our families and staff. A box will be placed in the main office for anyone that would like to make a book donation.

The Downingtown Library thanks you for considering this request to provide affordable reading materials to our community families while ultimately benefiting the library as well.

HELP SUPPORT OUR COMMUNITY'S YOUNG HEART HEROES!

Aidan’s Heart Foundation wants to provide FREE CPR certification classes for current Marsh Creek Narwhals! Please donate today to help make this possible!

Nearly all of our 1,100 Narwhals participated in basic CPR+AED skills training this past January with Aidan’s Heart Foundation. Recently, 30 members of the Marsh Creek Aidan's Heart Club received their official American Heart CPR certification cards. Now, the organization, in partnership with Good Fellowship Training Institute, wants to offer FREE certification classes to current Narwhals who want to take their skills to the next level. Please make a donation toward the foundation’s CPR Training programs to help provide three CPR classes this spring.

Please note, your donation helps support general AHF youth CPR training programs. It does not guarantee your child a spot in one of the upcoming certification classes at Marsh Creek. Interested students will be selected by random lottery. Information about how to register for the lottery will be coming out shortly.

Last year, we were able to certify all of the students who expressed interest, due to the generosity of the Marsh Creek school community! Please support Aidan’s Heart today!

This program provides supplemental nourishment for our students. Participating students receive a bag of non-perishable food items every Wednesday, which will be distributed in a discreet and caring manner by our staff. Click on the flyer below to complete the confidential form so that we can help in any way that we can.

Greetings from the Marsh Creek Counseling Department! We will use this area to keep you in the loop with updates from our department as well as helpful resources throughout the year. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns. We are here to help!

Narwhals, let’s become amazing test takers in the third marking period. Over the next few weeks, we will share tips to help you ace your tests! You got this!

Check out these community resources!

A great local resource! Communities That Care offers groups, blogs and podcasts to support parents and guardians in the Downingtown area.

Click here for more information.

Please encourage your child to check out the Marsh Creek Counseling Department Schoology course. It’s filled with lots of great resources including stress management strategies, study skills, directions for how to check your grades and more!

As always, reach out if you need anything!

The most frequent damage to a Chromebook is a cracked screen. Follow these tips to avoid damage.

• Always carry a Chromebook closed. Never hold a Chromebook by its screen and always use two hands to carry the device.
• If carrying the device from classroom to classroom, hold the Chromebook close to your chest much like a hug.
• Be sure to set a Chromebook on a flat surface during use and avoid slanted, uneven surfaces which could lead to the device sliding off and dropping to the floor.

For more tips about protecting your device, and information related to getting a protective case for your device, click the following link to our technology page. Thank you for your assistance!

https://www.dasd.org/departments/technology/11-technology-initiative/chromebook-care

Below is a link to the Activities page on our Marsh Creek website, which has been updated with all information that students and parents will need to engage in our extracurricular programs. It contains information related to the options available this year, as well as information related to Activity Fees, and the Activity Shuttle Bus. Students can work with our teachers to pick up information and to express interest in the activities offered this year.

Join MC6 Cultural Connections Club!

The CCC will allow students to get together once a month for group discussions, activities, leadership opportunities, and games. It will be a fun way to make new friends while celebrating diversity and strengthening our connection to the school community.

There is still time to join MC Cultural Connections Club! Sign Up Here -

MC6 Cultural Connections Club Interest Form

“We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.” ~ Maya Angelou

Thank you to our HSA for all that they have done this year to support our students and staff! We are so lucky to have a wonderful team of parents willing to help Marsh Creek. If you are interested in participating in our HSA this year, please consider joining us for future meetings. If you would like to contact our HSA to find other ways to support our students and school, please feel free to contact them at marshcreekhsa@gmail.com.

Order your child’s 2023-2024 Marsh Creek 6th Grade Center Yearbook online at www.balfour.com. Click on Shop My School and enter our school name. Then click on the icon for Yearbook Products and Ads. You will need to enter your child’s name and grade. Then select your child’s Advisory teacher. Yearbooks cost $30 and will be delivered to students at school during the last week in May. Order now before they are all sold out!

Any Questions? Please contact:

Mrs. Allen at lallen@dasd.org or Mrs. Leister at rleister@dasd.org.