A Warm Welcome

It's great to be back at Dryden! We are excited to kick off the school year and make it the best one yet! I am so proud of the way our students and staff are going above and beyond to help our new students, families and staff feel welcome!

Our fifth grade students gave tours of the school to our new students and families before the first day. They did a fantastic job answering questions and showing them all the special places in our building. 

This amazing Dryden Dolphin folded 80 origami dolphins - one for every new student at Dryden! What a caring heart!

We thank our PTA and staff for giving our students a warm welcome at the Meet & Greet and Ice Cream Social before the first day as well. The buzz of excitement in meeting teachers and seeing classrooms for the first time was exhilarating!

Another fun back-to-school tradition at Dryden is when our staff "chalks the walk" to write and draw welcoming messages to our students on the first day of school. Unfortunately, it rained shortly after we did this. Fortunately, a few of the messages remained for students to see on the first day!

So many supplies!! It was great seeing students cooperate and help each other organize their many school supplies for the year. We can't wait to use them all!

It was so precious to see classroom teachers taking class photos of their students on the first day of school. What special memories they are capturing! We are so fortunate to have such caring teachers who help make their classes feel like a family. 

A fantastic first lunch by our first graders! With help from our  staff, the first graders did a great job getting their lunches, eating, cleaning up then going to recess on their first day of school!

Welcome back! The books missed you, and so did I! I look forward to a "wonder-full" year of learning and playing together! It's going to be the best school year yet!

Field Day Fun!!

What better way to celebrate the end of an amazing school year than with an all-school Field Day celebration! Thanks to PE Teacher Mr. Gries, the PTA and over 140 parent volunteers, our students were able to enjoy an afternoon of fun in the sun playing many novel and classic games. We hope the Field Day activities spark some excitement and interest in our students in some good old-fashioned outdoor fun during their vacation this summer, too! 

Students enjoyed trying to hit the target and make a bucket of water drench their teachers in the Big Splash game. 

Sponge Toss is always a favorite way to cool off on a hot, sunny afternoon! 

Pizza delivery relay - how clever!

This team relay required planning, communication and problem-solving!

It was so nice to take a break in the shade and recharge!

Tug-o-war!

More wonderful teamwork as students tried to keep a rubber chicken from falling to the ground in this fun relay!

Frisbee toss!

Kinders counting how many clothespins they were able to get into a jar. 

Running relay in shoe boxes - what a funny sight to see!

More terrific teamwork!

Working together to get the ball to the finish line!

Kickball never goes out of style!

Potato sack race!

Look at that air as she leaps towards the finish line!

Gaga ball court indoors - one of our students' favorites!

Javelin - getting ready for the Olympics!?!

Speed, concentration and balance as they race to the finish line with tennis balls on the tennis racquet! 

Music to My Ears!

The joyful noise of the learning and excitement of our students is music to my ears!

I loved that so many fourth grade students were so interested in trying out different band instruments. I wonder what they will end up choosing to play as fifth-grade students. 

The fifth-grade musical performance was AMAZING! I am so proud of our fifth-grade students for the singing, dancing, acting, and instrument-playing they were all a part of. This is a special time to celebrate how far they have come and all that they have accomplished while at Dryden. We are going to miss them, but we wish them all the best. While we say "once a Dolphin always a Dolphin", these students are certainly ready to soar as South Middle School Cardinals!

The sounds of birds chirping and ducks quacking in the courtyard is music to my ears, too! It was a special celebration in the courtyard with our Environmental Committee as we recognized their accomplishments from this past school year - Waste-Free Lunch Day, advocacy for reusable lunch trays, recycling crayons and collection of bottle caps. Way to go!!

The excitement of students trying to figure out their Mystery Skype pals across the country was music to my ears. It's wonderful seeing how they are connecting with others and learning about the places others come from through this fun activity. 

The wonder and excitement of these students as they examine bugs and do other science experiments with High-Touch/High-Tech was also music to my ears. It's so great that our students are able to have such engaging hands-on learning explorations with scientists from this organization!

Current & Former Dolphins

 Enjoying ice cream treats outside is a sign that summer will soon be here! We thank the PTA for coordinating this special dine-out fundraiser. Several Dryden teachers enjoyed seeing the surprised smiles of our students when they saw us as celebrity scoopers at the ice cream shop!

 

The South Middle School Jazz Band Ensemble and their director, Mr. Davis, entertained us with captivating tunes and impressive improvisations! It was nice for our current Dolphins to get this taste of what they might get to do in middle school as band students. 

It was also very special to be able to welcome back and celebrate the former Dolphins who were part of this wonderful ensemble!

Speaking of special former Dolphins, we are super proud of these former Dolphins who are graduating high school seniors! We enjoyed welcoming them back to Dryden for our inaugural Senior Walk. Our teachers and students were so excited to congratulate and cheer them as they walked the halls of Dryden and then met in the courtyard for a reception. We wish them all the best in their future endeavors!

Everyday is an Adventure!

What I love about being a principal is that every day is an adventure. Every day brings new experiences - new things to try and new things to learn. Last week, Abby and I got to have our first TV debut! Abby was the guest reporter on a local news station and I was so honored to be one of the people she interviewed. You can view the broadcast by clicking here. I'm so proud of Abby for pursuing her interest in journalism and trying this new experience. She did GREAT!

This awesome group of fifth-grade students had been helping me to update our Dolphin Do's to incorporate the middle school Cardinal Way.  It's been fun talking with them about leadership and what it means to be a leader, too. We played a "caterpillar" game with hula hoops in the courtyard and used this as an opportunity to talk about leading from the front, middle and back.  

Of course, it was fun to take a break and just play with the hula hoops, too!

Our student Environmental Commission invited me to their meeting this week. They have been researching and are interested in reducing or eliminating our school's use of styrofoam trays during lunch. I was so impressed with their presentation! They have been researching the costs of re-usable and biodegradable trays. I'm excited about the next steps we can take together to reduce waste during the lunch hour!

These students caught my attention during recess. They were so proud of their creative constructions! 

Our LMC Teaching Assistant, Mrs. Kenney, is about to embark on a new adventure in her life - retirement! Mrs. Kenney has been a dedicated and outstanding teaching assistant. We are going to miss her, but we are happy that she will get to enjoy being a new grandmother and many other things in her retirement. We wish her all the best!