Archer Update #19

We are proud to share that two out of the four students named recipients of the prestigious 2024 Lilly Endowment Scholarship are Penn High School seniors! Congratulations to Bella Schaetzle and Jayden Wang! This highly competitive scholarship awards the winners with a four-year, full-tuition scholarship, and a book stipend for the Indiana college or university of their choice! Including Schaetzle and Wang, Penn has had 37 students named Lilly Scholars!
Schaetzle attended Walt Disney, Mary Frank and Discovery. Wang attended Northpoint and Discovery. Congratulations again to these students, their families, and the teachers who educated them! Click to read more.

Please remind your child to return their overdue book to the IMC today! We currently have 323 overdue books checked out and hope to bring that number way down before winter break!!

Winter Break December 23rd - January 7th - NO SCHOOL

In this edition of the Archer Update you will find the following information:

1. Spirit Week - December 18th-22nd
2. Washington D.C. Trip Registration for Current 8th Graders!
3. One Book One School - Battle of the Book Team Sign-Up!
4. A Big Thank you to the DMS One Book One School Committee!
5. In Case of Inclement Weather - School Closing E-Learning Information
6. Holiday Concert 12/19 Give Back Night here at DMS with PaddyShack!
7. DMS PTO INFO!
8. Teacher Job Fair for PHM
9. Reporting Student Absences

Friendly Reminders:

• Drop-off begins at 8:50 am and students will be marked tardy if they aren't in their seats by 9:05 am. Dismissal begins at 4:00 pm for car riders and buses depart by 4:08 pm.
• Unless approved by the building principal, no visitors or guests are allowed in the building.

Discovery Middle School is ranked #2 in the State of Indiana for top performing middle schools (this is out of about 300). Our teachers continue to be prepared to provide the most targeted, engaging lessons to help all our students reach their fullest learning potential. Our students are some of the best in Indiana and possibly the world! Thank you for sending us your finest!

Attention parents of 8th graders,

Reminder that the deadline for registering your child for the Washington, D.C. trip is fast approaching. The due date for registration is January 11, 2024. If your son/daughter is planning to go on this trip you can find the link to register here. This trip promises to be an enriching and educational experience for our students, and we wouldn't want any of them to miss out.

Please ensure that registration and deposit payment is submitted by the specified date above to secure your child's place on the trip. If you have any questions or need further assistance with the registration process, please don't hesitate to reach out to Mr. Bontrager or Mr. Hedrick.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. We look forward to an exciting and memorable trip to Washington, D.C. with your child.

1. PaddyShack Give Back Night -12/19

2. Spirit Wear Distribution

3. Ski Club Concessions Signup

4. Scrip - IMPORTANT DATES and pickup

5. PTO 5 Minute Form

6. Facebook

7. Box Tops

1. What goes great with the sweet sounds of holiday music? Sweet treats from Paddy Shack! They will be at Discovery the night of the holiday concert, Tuesday, December 19th, offering ice cream, mini donuts, root beer floats, water and candy for purchase. Cash, card or Venmo accepted.

This is a PTO giveback event so a portion of the proceeds will come back to the PTO to continue to support various programs and activities for our students, staff and teachers!

*Please note the concession stand will not be open that evening*

2. Spirit Wear orders are in! Distribution will begin early next week and if your purchase was requested as a gift, arrangements will be made for alternative pickup.

3. We are looking for volunteers to help run the concession stand for the ski club. Ski club is every Wednesday, beginning January 10th and ending February 7th. Please see the signup genius for available time slots. Thank you for your help!

Volunteer signup: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0B48A9A62CA57-46898864-skiclub

4. The last date for physical Scrip gift card orders is this Sunday, December 17. The pick ups will be Thursday, December 21st after school from the concession stand at Discovery. If you would like your student to pick up the gift cards, please fill out the Google form permission slip below. If you have any questions or need help getting started, please contact Laura Nayee at laura.nayee@icloud.com or Elizabeth Cichowicz at ema817@aol.com. Thanks!

Permission slip: https://bit.ly/ScripPermissionSlip23-24

Scrip is a national fundraising program for non-profit organizations. The PTO runs this program at DMS to help families save money toward their student’s trip(s) while at Discovery. The way it works is you buy physical or eGift cards at regular face value and earn a rebate between 2% and 20%. Of that rebate, 90% goes into your child’s DMS Trip Account and 10% goes to the PTO. It’s like earning free money! It’s a great way to save money without much hassle. Please see the form link below on how to get started.

School Trips for Free (23-24) info sheet. https://bit.ly/ScripInfo23-24

5. Please take a few minutes to fill out this quick "5 minute form". This helps us get to know you and your areas of interest/involvement in the PTO.

6. Once you have filled out the 5 minute form, please join us on our closed Facebook page at “Discovery Middle School PTO” to stay up to date with PTO and school events. You must fill out the 5 minute form in order to be approved into the group.

7. Help our school earn money by submitting Box Tops. It’s all electronic and it’s easy! Download the app, add Discovery, and start scanning your receipts. It’s a quick, easy way to earn cash for our school!

If your child will be absent for any reason, please notify our office as soon as possible! Our office staff records all absences beginning at 8:00 am and must phone any student's home who does not report to school without notice.

Another option is to go to your Skyward Family Access Account and follow these steps:

• Click on the Attendance Tile for the child who will be absent.
• Click on the Absence Requests Tab
• Click Add Absence Request on the right side of the screen
• Enter Start and End Date
• Check All Day if the absence will be the entire school day
• Attendance Reason - Choose from the drop down menu
• Comment - Add any information regarding the absence reason
• Click SAVE in the upper right hand corner

Website: https://discovery.phmschools.org/
Location: 10050 Brummitt Road, Granger, IN, USA
Phone: 574-674-6010