Discovery Community School A 'Choice' Option for your Child and Your Family A Lake Washington School District Program
DCS has a culture and a language that is unique to itself. Here is a glossary of terms that may give you the context to better understand much of what you’ll hear.
| Carnival | A DCS/Sandburg event involving games, inflatables, and activities manned by parents, generally held in May. |
| Classroom Explorations | In class field trip - usually a visiting specialist. |
| Community Member | Includes staff, students, and parents of Discovery Community School. |
| Conferences | Parent-Teacher-Student |
| DCS Handbook | A binder provided to new families that contains information on the Mission, History, and Philosophy of DCS, Bylaws, Policies, Financial Information, Community Group Structure, and Classroom Workings. |
| DCS Portable | Portable building #4, contains supplies and equipment for DCS. Janet has the key. |
| E-mail Group Lists | A series of group lists used for communication from staff and between DCS families. At a minimum, you'll need to subscribe to the "DCS-Business" list and your child(ren)'s class list (see below). |
| E-Mail: Class Lists | Used by teachers to communicate announcements specific to their classrooms and by parents for classroom-related communications and questions.
"Youngers" youngers@dcscg.org "Middles" middles@dcscg.org "Olders" olders@dcscg.org |
| E-Mail: Community List | Used by families as a virtual bulletin board for all sorts of non-official but essential information-sharing. community@dcscg.org |
| E-Mail: DCS Business List | Used by staff, Committee Chairs, event coordinators, and parents for official communication around school-related activities. dcs-business@dcscg.org |
| E-Mail: Walking List | Used by families that enjoy sharing walks together at local parks. wwod@dcscg.org |
| Fall Event | One day event for DCS families, usually held on a weekend, activities vary by year. Formerly known as "Fall Camp". |
| Friday Specials | A key component of the Enrichment Program. Parent led activities involving multi-age groups. Three to five week sessions are planned throughout the school year, several activity options are available at each session. Some examples of past Friday specials include: building and racing CO2 cars, performing plays, experiencing the music and culture of The Beatles, healthy cooking, "Read to Feed", and cartooning. |
| Fun Run | A DCS/Sandburg PTSA fundraising event, usually held in October. |
| Kid Mail | A folder system of relaying daily paper notices to parents/staff. |
| Learning Celebration | A fall event where all classes share classroom projects with the Community, generally held the day before Thanksgiving. Linked with "Pie Share" for years. |
| Learning Journeys | Field trips. |
| Middlers | 3rd and 4th grade DCS students. |
| Olders | 5th and 6th grade DCS students. |
| Org Chart | Organization Chart of DCS Community including staff, elected officers, Committee Chairs, and committee members. |
| LWSD | Lake Washington School District. |
| PNO | Parents Night Out - A casual social gathering without kids, usually held at a parent's house. PNO's are not sponsored by LWSD, DCS, or the DCS Community Group. |
| PO | Parent Organizer - Online communication tool used for LWSD and DCS calendar events, announcements, and online forms. www.parentorganizer.com
PO hint - ALWAYS scroll to the bottom of the e-mail before deleting to ensure you've seen all the announcements. |
| PTSA | Parent, Teachers, Student Association - A DCS/Sandburg organization planning, discussing, implementing, and supporting school sponsored events, activities, and facilities. Volunteering for PTSA sponsored events or attending their meetings count toward DCS parent volunteer hours. |
| Root Beer Social | An annual kick-off event that takes place the week before school starts. Parents and students learn the yearly enrichment theme. Students have the opportunity to get aquainted with their teachers, peers, and classrooms. During this time, the parents also have a casual meet-and-greet and receive the beginning of year paperwork. The event wraps up on the playground with root beer floats being served. |
| Roster | A list of Community group members and their contact information. |
| Safe Arrival | (425) 821-6329 Number to call between 4:00 pm and 9:00 am if your child will be absent or late. You may also want to send an e-mail to your child's teacher. |
| Sandburg | Carl Sandburg Elementary. |
| Sandburg Campus | Consists of two main buildings and several portables. The upper building houses DCS, the administrative offices, gym, library, and Sandburg grades K-3. The lower building houses Sandburg grades 4-6, a music room, and is where the DCS Community Meetings are generally held. The portables house DCS and PTSA storage, music class, Inglemoor Cooperative Preschool, LWSD extended care program, and Quest. |
| Sandburg Office | (425) 823-8670 Office staff are Bette, Kate, and Rosie. Call if you have an urgent issue and are unable to reach Janet. Sign in here when volunteering in the classroom. |
| Spring Camp | An annual weekend event for DCS Community members and siblings usually held in May. Structured and non-structured activities including crafts, camp fire sing-a-long, open space for outdoor play, hiking, and skits. |
| Staff E-mail | LWSD e-mail format is firstinitiallastname@lwsd.org (ex. jdoe@lwsd.org). E-mails should be brief and concise (15 lines max). Teachers are happy to schedule conferences as needed to discuss more complex issues. |
| Steering | Refers both to the monthly Steering Meetings and the Steering Committee made up of elected officers, committe chairs, Principal, and Head Teacher. |
| Suggestion Box | Located next to the DCS volunteer book just inside the Youngers classroom. |
| Summer Picnic | A potluck picnic providing an opportunity for new and current families to meet and reconnect, usually held in July. |
| Volunteer Badges | To be worn while volunteering at DCS/Sandburg. Found on the corkboard to the left of Janet's office in the Youngers' classroom. For safety and security reasons, you must sign in at Sandburg's front office anytime you are volunteering or visiting DCS or Sandburg. |
| Volunteer Notebook | Located on the shelf just inside the Youngers classroom. Used to log DCS parent volunteer hours. |
| Volunteer Hours | Each DCS family is required to contribute 65 hours per year (per family—not per student). All volunteer hours should either be logged in the volunteer notebook or e-mailed to Janet on a monthly basis. |
| Wednesday Early Release | All LWSD Elementary Schools release early on Wednesdays. DCS/Sandburg Elementary dismisses at 2:00 pm on Wednesdays. |
| Winter Event | Evening event for DCS families, activities vary by year. |
| Youngers | 1st and 2nd grade DCS students. |