NEWS FROM ELEMENTARY: Welcome to the month of March. We hope you and your family enjoy our getting ready for a beautiful spring season.The following announcements will be helpful for you and your family for the week of March 6-10
TEACHER WORKDAYS COMING: Students will be out of school on Monday, March 13 and Tuesday, March 14. The staff will be working in the building. March 14 is listed as a parent conference day. If you would like to have a conference with your child’s teacher, please reach out to them. If the teacher would like to have a conference with the family, the teacher will reach out.
FEBRUARY ACCOLADES: Every month Voyager Elementary honors fine arts students and a PE student of the month. Congratulations to the following students who received Accolade Certificates this past month:
Sally Bruce Winstead: Performing Arts Student of the Month
Gus Kauffman: Performing Student of the Month
Arthur Allen: Performing Student of the Month
Victoria Mitchell: PE Student of the Month
Arlo Scott: PE Student of the Month
Nora Baltimore: Visual Arts Student of the Month
Beckett Davis: Visual Arts Student of the Month
CONGRATULATIONS TO SKYLAR SPANKIE: Please join me in congratulating Skylar Spankie for being selected as a finalist in the 2023 NC DOT Aviation Art Contest. Skylar is a second grade student at Voyager.
SECOND GRADERS ARE MAKING A CHANGE: Our second grade students have been diligently working to make a change in their community. A group of students worked to clean up the Voyager campus this week. Thank you for the help guys!!
THIRD GRADING PERIOD REPORT CARDS ISSUED: Report cards for the 3rd grading period will be sent home on Friday, March 17th. We are so proud of all the work our students have done. We have one more grading period to go!! Can you believe it?
SECOND GRADE PROJECT CELEBRATION: Our 2nd grade students will be sharing their “CHANGE MAKERS” project with families on Friday, March 10th. This event will begin at 1:00 in the gym. Parents are encouraged to park at the high school.
MARCH STAFF LUNCHEON: The PTSO is striving to make the staff smile by providing lunch. If you are able to help out by providing an item or by providing in person support, please click on the link below:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508054AACAB29A5FF2-vaes25
THIRD GRADE ISLANDS FOR SALE: Recently, the third-grade students had their Island Project Celebration. For this project, the students pretended that their team had been hired to create an island for a mystery billionaire. The students created an island model with landforms and activities. They designed a presentation board and made informational brochures. As a team, they tried to convince “billionaires” to purchase their make-believe island. The pretend buyers wrote “checks” to the island sellers. The third-grade students learned to use persuasive language and present with enthusiasm. This simulation was a lot of fun. It promoted the use of critical and evaluative thinking.
CHARITY ORGANIZATIONS: Our third-grade students at Voyager Academy Elementary are doing a "Make a Difference" Project. The students will learn about different organizations that are in Durham. We are asking for one or two representatives from a variety of charity organizations to come to Voyager Elementary April 5 at 12:30-2:00 pm to educate our third-grade students about the organization in the gym. We will have multiple tables set up for our Community Outreach Programs. The students will walk around the tables learning about the different organizations in Durham. We are asking each group to set up a table that displays information and/or items to pass out. If the organization has pamphlets, pencils, bookmarks, bags, or any other advertising items that they could pass out, that would be fantastic. If you are a part of such an organization and are willing to attend this event, please contact Tamara Spankie at tspankie@voyageracademy.net.
Be KIND Be BRAVE Be YOU!
On behalf of Voyager Elementary Exceptional Children's Pineapple class, our separate setting classroom, we are hoping to raise money to fund our dunking booth at the Spring Fling. We serve a group of students with disabilities with a variety of academic and functional needs and are always looking for new and exciting ways to learn! All profits will go right back into our classroom to support our students through engaging, hands-on activities to help keep learning fun for our students. We have the most amazing group of kids that teach us so much daily. We hope you will consider supporting our students and our classroom and sport your t-shirt to spread kindness throughout our community!
https://www.bonfire.com/voyager-elementary-ec-pineapple-fundraiser/?utm_source=copy_link&utm_medium=campaign_page&utm_campaign=voyager-elementary-ec-pineapple-fundraiser&utm_content=default
THIRD GRADE FIELD TRIP: The third-grade students attended a field trip to Morehead Planetarium and Science Center. This field trip kicked off their Solar System Unit and Project. The students experienced the wonder of the world through the Full Dome Theater. They watched Solar System Odyssey which is a futuristic adventure, exploring what could happen if humans consume all the resources of Earth. The students also learned about the states of matter, examine some tricky materials that exist between states, make instant “snow”, and cap it all off by observing some colorful combustion using the chemical properties of different elements. The students also explored the interactive exhibits.
FIELD TRIP UPDATES: This past week our kindergarten students were able to visit the Museum of Life and Science and our 1st graders were able to visit the Carolina Theater. It is so wonderful when our students can take learning on the road. Thank you to all the parents who helped us with these educational events.
CARLINE REMINDER: Voyager families, please remember school begins each day at 7:45 am. This means students are expected to be in their classrooms at 7:45 not arriving on campus at 7:45 am. The past week, we have had the majority of families arriving on campus at 7:40 am. It is impossible for us to begin the day on time if families do not arrive on campus until 7:40 am. Please, please, please help us by striving to always arrive on campus at 7:30 so that your student can begin learning by 7:45 am.
MARCH MADNESS IS HERE: March Madness is here! There are so many great activities that we can do in March - hiking, biking, spring sports. And there are so many basketball games to watch. Combine your love of sports and healthy movement by clicking the link to download a March Fitness Calendar. Try the basketball task cards with your kiddos!
March Fitness Calendar:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ymVIlBR9EnKqf4sClCdjToYZe9jMz4d2/view?usp=sharing
KINDNESS MAILBOX: Our second grade students are seeking to be CHANGE MAKERS IN OUR WORLD. They have created a Kindness mailbox where students can write notes of encouragement to other elementary students and then the 2nd grade students are delivering the notes. What a great way to make a difference!
REMOTE DAYS COMING: Voyager students will be learning from home on March 27-28. Please mark your calendars now. Teachers will send home review work for students to complete independently.
CLIMATE SURVEY: Voyager cares about its students. On Feb. 27th all 3rd-12th grade students completed a climate survey to help us learn what students love about their school and what we could do to make Voyager even stronger. A parent survey will be sent to each of you in the near future.
NASHVILLE SONGWRITERS COMING MARCH 10: Click on the below link to learn more about this exciting event created to support Voyager Academy.
YEARBOOK: If you would like to order a yearbook please click on the link and follow the steps. You can order a yearbook for $22.00 until Feb 1st. After Feb 1st the price will go up to $27.00. The deadline for ordering yearbooks is March 1st.
https://strawbridge.fotomerchanthv.com/search/YB26681
STEM DAY IS COMING TO VOYAGER: The week of March 20th, students will be participating in STEM activities all week long. Science is important to us. It would be wonderful if each class could raise $25 for the culminating event on Friday for STEM DAY STATIONS (This would be about $1 per student). This money will help provide materials for staff to utilize throughout the week. Please send in cash to Ms Oakely in the front office labeled STEM if you would like to help fund this project. This is totally optional but if you are able to help, we would appreciate it. We have some great plans prepared for this amazing Science Extravaganza Week!
CHICK-FIL-A READING CHALLENGE: We are so honored to partner with Chick-Fil-A on Roxboro St. They will be giving a FREE gift card to students every month who read 15 books. The March challenge has begun. As your child reads or you read to your child, please record the books on the reading log and return it to your child’s teacher once you have 15 books listed. Your child can earn one free gift card per month.
MONDAY’S SCHEDULE: Each and every Monday, Voyager will dismiss students at 12:45 pm. Since our staff attend meetings every Monday, it is imperative that students are picked up on time.
UPDATE FROM SCHOOL NURSE: Our CDC COVID-19 Community Level is: LOW
People may choose to wear a mask for any reason at any time.
People with a positive test for COVID-19 MUST wear a mask for 10 days.
People with symptoms or exposure to someone with COVID-19 should wear a mask and get tested.
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BIRTHDAY ROCK: The Voyager Birthday Rock is such a popular thing! We hope you and the students enjoy seeing the various birthday designs. The Birthday Rock is available on a sign up basis. The sign up was sent out late summer. If you would like to see if there is any availability left, please click on the link below.