Discovery Elementary

September Newsletter For the full Newsletter please click here (trust me it looks much prettier): September Newsletter I have had a blast getting to know the students this first week of school. There are so many great things going on in our school and it all starts with them. When students ask what a principal does I tell them that I have two jobs. 1. To make sure that all the students are safe and 2. to make sure that everyone is learning. In order to do those things I have to be among the students. Right now we are working a lot with students to make sure that they know what proactive behavior looks like. We are working to help them know the expectations (beginning with the end in mind) and live up to them. I am slowly learning names of students, I know it will take a while, but I am glad to get to know the students here at Discovery Elementary and to help them to live up to their potential because I have seen that it is great. Important Dates: Every Wednesday is early out day...

8/7/14 Discovery Community, Summer is almost over, which means that there will be a lot of change.  I know that a lot of you are wondering about me as the new Principal of Discovery.  I hope to join the PTA facebook group soon and allow you to see some pictures of me and my family, but for now I can just give you some basic information on the website.  I am from Northern California, but have lived in Utah for most of the last 19 years.  I have been married for almost 13 years and have 4 children.  They range in ages from 4-11.  I have been a principal for the last 3 years, an assistant principal for two years before that, and taught for seven years. For the last five years I have lived in Vernal, Utah.  My wife and I decided to move closer to family and are now living in Logan.  My wife has two sisters in Box Elder County.  I speak Spanish and Papiamento in addition to English.  Although I taught high school I absolutely love worki...

Discovery Newsletter May, 2014        I can’t believe it is May and the school year is winding down.  We have loved having grandparents and other special guests attend our school for lunch!  It has been fun to see all of you! Our Kindergarten grandparent lunch will be on May 22, 2014 at 10:45.      Clay Chournos has accepted the position as the principal of Discovery Elementary starting July 1, 2014. Clay earned a BS in Biological Science in 2000 from Utah State University. He earned a M>ED, and his administrative endorsement from Southern Utah University in 2009. Clay began his teaching career at Harris Intermediate School in 2000 switching to Bear River High School in 2001.  Clay served as an assistant principal at both Harris Intermediate and Bear River Middle School for three years. Clay is currently serving as the assistant principal at Harris Intermediate School.  He is excited to come to Discov...

     We had a busy and productive March.   We started the SAGE (Student Assessment of Growth and Excellence) testing, which is the new end of year testing, this month with grades 3-5.   This first section of testing was on writing.   The students were given two writing prompts, one opinion and one informational. We will continue the testing for math, language arts and science beginning on April 28- May 20 th .   Please make every effort to see that your child is to school during this testing window. Here are a few tips to help you prepare your child to do their best. 1.        Explain that the tests will show how much he has learned. Encourage him to try his best, but don’t put so much emphasis on them that he feels stressed. 2.     Limit activities the night before tests. Be sure your child gets to bed on time and sets an alarm for the next morning. 3.     On test day, have your ...

Discovery Newsletter March 5, 2014 I can’t believe it is March already!   The school year seems to be flying by!   The students are really growing academically and it is wonderful to see their progress.             We have coats, sweatshirts, lunchboxes, hats and gloves in our lost and found, so please stop by and see if any of these articles belong to your family. The items in the lost and found will be given to good will on March 31!             Our Beat the Teach contest just finished, thanks to students and teachers who participated in the challenge!   Keep reading!             Our Ken Garff Road to Success assembly is coming up on March 11.   We have lots of students who are working hard to meet their reading goal of al least four nights every week!   Keep up the great work...

Discovery Newsletter   February 2014 Happy February to all of you!   We had a busy January and are looking forward to great things in February!   We are would like to thank all of our volunteers who come and help each day at Discovery!   We appreciate your time that you so willingly give to help out! Your time is greatly appreciated! With the snowy wet weather, please make sure your child is dressed to go outside.   The students get the opportunity to go outside three times each day, so it is important that they have a coat and warm shoes!   Leader In Me               We are continuing to learn and incorporate the 7 Habits of Happy Kids into our lives.   Feb. 3, 2014 some of our students went and visited with members of the Senate about being a “Leadership School.”   The students talked with different Senators about their favorite habit, what it means to be a “Le...

Happy New Year! Welcome back from Christmas break, I hope you all had a great holiday. I am happy to be back at Discovery!   I missed everyone, and appreciate all the help and support that was given to Mrs. Williams.   Thanks to everyone who supported our service project. We were able to help several families and also donate to the Box Elder Family Support Center.   We appreciate your continued support at Discovery!     2014-2015 School District Calendar The school district would like your feedback for next year's calendar. There are several options including a two week Christmas Break and a possible one week Spring Break. Please use the link below to express your preference. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HL86DZB The Leader in Me: We are all working on learning the 7 Habits and incorporating them into our lives.   Each week we focus on a different habit, so that we can better understand each habit and how to implement the habi...