Thank you to all of our service members who gave their lives in service to our country. Today, we honor the men and women who sacrificed their lives for our country and our freedom. Their selfless devotion, outstanding courage, and honor should inspire us to make their sacrifices meaningful every day.
I want to send a HUGE thank you to our DMS PTO for helping us fund Teacher Appreciation Week. We were able to provide tokens of appreciation for all of our staff each day of the week.
End of the Year Awards Assembly
Hello Poet Parents,
Principal Brown here. I just want to send a quick announcement about Friday's awards assembly. Some students have been using the term eighth grade graduation, which is not the case. Friday is an awards assembly for the entire school. We will be recognizing student athletes, musicians, and students' academic achievements, as well as giving out character awards. All of the eighth graders are invited to "dress to impress" (this is optional) and will walk in the auditorium together one last time. I will be saying some final words of wisdom to them as they depart and go to high school. Once again, there is no official graduation for middle school. As I have stated before, the only graduations in LCS are the high school graduations, and we do not want to diminish that tremendous accomplishment. Parents are more than welcome to attend the awards assembly and we have reserved the balcony for you. In order to attend the assembly, you will need to bring a government issued photo ID (either a driver's license or military ID) if you're over 18 so that we can check you in. Please anticipate a line in the morning as we will have a decent number of parents checking in. We will begin checking parents after 8:00 AM and the assembly will start at 8:30AM and will end no later that 10:30AM.
GO POETS
Poets in the news!
TINY HOUSE
Our 21st Century Program teamed up with Randolph College to build a Tiny House as a STEAM project (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math). We are incredibly proud of our students and our staff (Ms. Marth and Mr. Lowdermilk!) Click on the links below to watch some news stories about our tiny house.
Summer is almost here! Take a moment to register your child for Camp Dunbar today! Any students registered after May 22 will not have guaranteed bus transportation. Registration can be found at this link (https://goo.gl/forms/pDqgA7XDFSOKrsMn2) or forms are available in the Main Lobby.
Go Poets!
Optimist Club's "Excellence in Musical Accomplishment Award" Recipient Jeffery Wooters
German
Shiloh Eberhardt and Linnea Sumpman both participated in a city-wide German essay competition. Shiloh won first place and Linnea won second place. Congrats ladies!!!!!
On Saturday, May 12, 37 German students from Dunbar, Glass, and Heritage traveled to Washington DC to visit the German, French, and Austrian Embassies. They were also able to visit the Dutch and Slovakian Embassies. They sampled foods from each country, participated in activities, and learned more about each country.
Dunbar represented well at the Regional Science Fair held at Randolph College on May 8th! Our 6th graders were up against 6th, 7th, and 8th graders from all over central Virginia and we finished the evening with three winners!
Ryan Litchford and Cooper Campbell placed 3rd in Chemistry
Jaydan Woody placed 3rd in Plant Sciences
Jack Seipp placed 3rd in Physics
Post from the PTO
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to our Dunbar Family for your support of PTO initiatives this year! Your financial support and individual participation has been terrific and has allowed us to make a positive impact on the school!
Want to get involved in PTO for 2018-19? PTO is always looking for a few new people who want to be involved! 6th grade level grade reps will be needed and other positions may be available. Interested? Contact PTO President Jessie Thompson for more info at jmthompson5@gmail.com.
BoxTops—Don’t forget about our handy BoxTops drop box in the lobby at Dunbar. Keep clipping the little rectangles found on hundreds of products you know and love -- including cereals, snacks, food storage bags, meals and sides, paper products and juices. Each BoxTop that is clipped and turned in to the school is worth 10 cents. We are collecting these all year, so keep on clipping!
You can also increase the value of those little rectangles—download the BoxTops App—free for IOS and Android. Scan items and your receipts and we get a bonus in addition to the ones you clip from the package! Questions? Contact Stacy Carter (stacydarlenecarter@gmail.com) or Nanette Boswell (ntboswell@gmail.com)
Click the link below to find out more and get the free app. Our school is called “Paul Dunbar School for Innovation” in the app.
http://www.boxtops4education.com/bonusapp
PTO Meetings: All are welcome at the Dunbar PTO meetings. There will be no more PTO meetings this school year.
Help Dunbar shine a little brighter!
We are looking to install LED lights around the main entrance to really help our building stand out in a good way and to show some school spirit! We have an older building and our school colors aren’t as visible as we would like them to be. Adding these lights are the quickest and most cost efficient way to give Ol’ Dunbar a facelift!
Above are a few “sample” pictures of what the building would look like. We want to install 5-6 lights (the pictures only show one light in different locations).
If you would like to help us please donate to our DUNBAR PTO using the link below. We need to raise $3,500 to install the lights.
Help our Poet Pride shine bright into the night!
GO POETS!
Upcoming Awards Ceremonies:
End of the Year Awards and Spring Sports Awards: Our annual end-of-the-year awards ceremony will be held on the last day of school (June 1st) at 8:30 AM in our auditorium. We will NOT have an 8th grade graduation (as the only true graduations are the high school graduations and we do not want to diminish that incredible achievement); however, it is tradition at Dunbar for the 8th graders to dress up/dress to impress for the Awards Ceremony and walk down the aisles of the auditorium one final time. (Dressing up is OPTIONAL, and NOT required). Golden Poet Awards will be given out at this time as well.
National Junior Honor Society Induction: This ceremony is held in the Fall. More information will be given in August.
Updates from Art Class...
Dunbar Middle School Art Students partnered with 21st CCLC after school English and Art Enrichment students to paint a piano for Hill City Keys this year. The Piano is on display downtown on the Bluff-walk (located just off where Twelfth and Commerce St. meet). Students this year not only just painted the piano, they also painted the side panels of the structure that houses the piano. The theme this year was Contrast using Day and Night shown with flowers. Specifically Sunflowers and Moon-flowers (a special type of flower that only blooms at night!)
DMS Art Students helped develop this theme and draw out the design. 21st CCLC Dunbar Overtime English Students researched the flowers, scientific information, interesting facts (not shown, but painted on sides of the piano) plus wrote Haikus and painted them on the piano bench. 21st CCLC Dunbar Overtime Art Enrichment Students painted the main areas of the piano, while the DMS Art students added details and blending during the school day.
As a finishing touch, two small containers of seed packets (provided by 21st CCLC Dunbar Overtime) are out with the piano, inviting people to take a magical Moon-flower or Sunflower seed or two, to add to their own gardens at home.
- Jeremiah Boothe
- Aiyanna Brown
- Demarion Brown
- Kristian Clark
- Murcy Dancy
- Jada Flannagan
- Devin Hunter
- Rachelle Jefferson
- Nataejah Lewis
- Kristen Reaves
- Drew Rogers
- Jasmine Rosser
- Shatavia Rosser
- Jakala Shelton
- Jakai Smith
- Michelle Thomas
- Tyla Thomas
- Deven Ballard
- Lucian Crouse
- Amelia Harvey
- Bradley Spitzer
- Christian Van Alstine
- Jackson Whelan
- Tyquan Dean
- Michael Osei
- Arriana Perez
- Tamiya Watts
- Connor White
Plus several more I am sure! Such a wonderful group effort between so many excited students, from in school art classes to the after school 21st CCLC program, under the guidance of DMS Art Teacher Rachel Shaw
DMS Art and 21st CCLC Art Enrichment Students submitted a design for a Corn Hole Board decorating contest at Beaver Dam Farms. Our design was one of the three winners selected! They are currently painting their design on the Corn Hole Boards that will be on display this fall at the Beaver Dam Farms Sunflower Festival. The design is the same theme as their piano. One board is Sunflowers by Day and the other board is Moon Flowers by Night.
8th Grade Art Students are busy finishing up their final, ceiling tile paintings for the school year! This project has been underway at Dunbar Middle since Art Teacher, Rachel Shaw, began teaching here in 2006. This project is reserved only for 8th grade art students, as a way of leaving their "legacy" behind at DMS. Almost all of these students have taken art with Ms. Shaw all three of their middle school years here. They have been anticipating their tile since starting their 6th grade year!
Over the past 12 years, art student's tiles have filled the halls of the West Building, continued down hallway to main office, are scattered along the mail hallway of the central building and main office. They are slowly, continuing to fill the halls towards the Mozee building and on towards other areas of the school. Even a handful of tiles have been painted by students of DMS past who have, sadly, since passed away. The tile painting project has been a unique way for each art student to leave a little piece of themselves here at Dunbar as they move on to high school
Virginia History Day was held Saturday, April 21, 2018 at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture. LCS had 16 entries from our secondary schools who competed with other secondary students across the state. Three Poets places 2nd and 3rd in the state contest!
Junior Group Documentary – Alaysia Oakes and Grace Serlis of Dunbar Middle School placed 3rd.
Junior Group Performance – Kailyn Snyder and Landon Roberts of Dunbar Middle School placed 2nd. They also qualify for the National Competition June 10 - 14.
Congratulations to all LCS Virginia History Day Participants. Thank you to the students, parents, teachers, and administrators for your participation and support.
We look forward to the National Competition in June!
"The 2018 Dunbar Boys Soccer team finished an incredible season last night with a record of 11 wins, including two 3-2 wins over Linkhorne, 2 draws, including one against perennial powerhouse Jefferson Forest Middle, and 2 losses against a very talented LCA squad. The players worked hard every day to get better and develop as a team, and I am beyond proud of everything they have accomplished. This has been one of the most successful seasons in Dunbar history and I am honored to present to you the 2018 Lynchburg City Champions!"
Sports Next Year
ALL students who participate in athletic try-outs and/or teams for the 2018-19 school year MUST have a signed, active physical on file (signed by the student, parent, and doctor) dated AFTER May 1, 2018; and, all sections need to be completed.
Our 21st Century & RUBIES step team, the Ladies of Diamonds, was invited to perform at the Linkhorne Elementary School SOL Assembly in April. They did an amazing job representing the Poets!
Yearbooks are coming...
Yearbooks arrive soon! Books that were preordered will be delivered to homeroom classes. Limited copies will be available for purchase. Please contact Mrs. Slaughter for more info: clarkslaughterbd@lcsedu.net
8th graders turned in their Chromebooks on 5/22. Please make sure your child has returned their Chromebook to school clean, in their bag, charged, and with a charger on. If your child has damaged their Chromebook, we sent letters home with a list of damages and the amount owed and attempted phone calls last week. If damages are not covered through insurance, they must be paid OR a payment plan must be in place. Replacement chargers can be purchased through the library for around $45 or online for around $25 through this website: bit.ly/CBcharger. We hope this was a helpful tool for your child this school year!
Mrs. Grant started collecting textbooks last week. If your child has a textbook or library book at home, please have them bring them to school this week and turn it in to the proper teacher. This does not mean we are done teaching, we just won't be using the books once they are collected. We have told our teachers that we will be teaching until the final bell.
Teacher Glow- Mr. Potts
Mr. Potts teaches 7th grade English here at Dunbar has been selected by his peers as the Teacher of the Year for Dunbar Middle School! It is not uncommon to find Mr. Potts with a room full of students during his lunch break and planning period to provide extra help or just a safe space and a listening ear. He has over a decade of teaching experience and he truly earned this honor! CONGRATULATIONS MR. Potts!!!
Staff Glow- Mrs. Bell
Mrs. Bell is the DMS Support Person of the Year! We want to publicly offer congratulations to our front office secretary Mrs. Bell for always doing a million and one things for our families and staff all day everyday! We all see how hard she works!
- Memorial Day-No School 5/29/2017
- Last Day of School - 6/1 (1/2 day)
- 6/1 End of the Year Awards (Academic and Sports) Parents welcome--8:30 AM. Check-in at the main office.
- Always check the DMS website calendar for a complete list of DMS events.
DID THEY DO A GOOD JOB? Encourage our teachers- If you think our team has done a good job this year, let us know...We know our teachers and staff members work very hard and need a pat on the back every now and then. If you would like to recognize a staff member for going above and beyond, you can click here to submit a positive referral using our Google Form, or email me with your nominations at browndr@lcsedu.net. (Our teachers appreciate this more than you know!)
Credits:
Created with images by tharun15 - "Teacher Appreciation Week text on a gold apple surrounded by alphabets" • mnirat - "Graduate" • luzitanija - "waving colorful flag of germany." • enterlinedesign - "History Letterpress" • steevy84 - "Soccer sunset / Football in the sunset "