Scholastic eWallet

Hi parents! The book fair arrived today! Boxes and boxes of goodies we can't wait to unpack.

This year Scholastic is offering eWallet, an easier way for kids to buy books. Set up your account today so your kiddo will be ready when their class comes to the book fair. (all standard forms of payment still work as well)

The Book Fair is Coming

Hi family and friends -- once again the Scholastic Book Fair will be at DBS the last week of October.  Just in time for parent conferences!  This year they have a new feature called eWallet that should make shopping easier for all.

Learn more and set up your account on our book fair web page: www.scholastic.com/bf/dbs

Mystery Skype!

Fifth grade had a GREAT Mystery Skype today with The Bement School, a private boarding school in Deerfield, MA.  Our 5th graders knew they were talking to a 6th grade class in the US, but had no idea where they were.  Through a series of Yes/No questions, both schools tried to figure out where the other school is located.  The kids had to narrow down the location based on longitude and latitude, major land features, states, and more.  They also had to be able to answer those same kind of questions about DBS so the other class could try to find us.  

The kids were each given a role, such as questioner, answerer, researcher, greeter, photographer, etc., and within 45 minutes they were able to figure out what school they were talking to!

]I loved the excitement and cheering when they got a yes, and the focus when they got a no.  They had to go back to the research and figure out another logical question to ask.  They also had to pay attention to the other school's questions and answer them accurately.   

Afterwards we did a quick survey and the kids reported that they had fun and want to do it again!  Yay!  Maybe next time we'll find a school a little further away. :)

A message from Alan Gratz

Author Alan Gratz wrote the book that won the Dorothy Canfield Fisher book award last year. He has TWO books on this year's list! He wasn't able to attend the award ceremony, but he did send this video for Vermont students!

Watch the video now!

This year he has two books on the list: Ban This Book and Refugee. They are very different books, but both excellent in their own way.