DVUSD - Message

 Deer Valley Elementary Schools

The Bellair PTA sponsored a Fabulous 50’s - Father/Daughter Dance on February 11 complete with food, games and prizes.  This evening event was well attended with girls, staff and fathers showing up in classic 50’s clothing.  Participants danced such classics as the Bunny Hop, Limbo, and even used Hula Hoops. The girls were darling dancing and participating in the activities their dads.   Scarves and glasses reminiscent of the 50’s were also available for sale.  Special thanks went to Tricia Collella, Paraprofessional, for organizing and executing the most wonderful dance Bellair has ever had!  There was a huge turnout and all who attended had wonderful things to say about the event. 

Congratulations to fourth grade teacher Darlene Sellers for earning a Target Field Trip grant. The grant will be used to offset the costs of a fourth grade field trip to the Arizona State Capitol Museum in May.  Canyon Springs thanks Darlene for her time and effort to make sure our kids experience an educational field trip this year.

Congratulations to the following students who received awards for showing excellence in music class during the second quarter: Jazmin Bandle, Emily Cushing, Destiny Sanchez, Noah Gore, Brody Wurr, Jennifer Oblinger, Brenna Minor, Kaylee Miller, Sierra Holland, Natalia Tolken, Rishik Kolli, Noe Barrera, Zephrom Koebler, Caleb Cushing, Zeana Lopez, Abigale Strech. Keep up the great work!

Mrs. Tibbs’ second grade class practiced “real world” application of money.  Each student designed a menu of delicious items and prices as well.  Later they took turns playing roles in a mock restaurant where one student was a customer and the other was a server.  Order takers had to add the items the customer was ordering, and the customer had to pay with the correct amount of money.  When the math was correct the customer was served a treat of animal crackers and juice.

Kindergarten classes at Constitution held their annual Teddy Bear Picnic on February 14. 

PTSA sponsored the annual Valentine’s Dance for students and their families on the evening of February 11.

The Constitution Physical Education Department will be turning the gymnasium into the Constitution Lanes for Family Bowling Night on February 25, 5-8 p.m.

The Desert Mountain Science Fair was Thursday, February 17 from 5-8 pm.  There were several presenters and demonstrations from the universities as well as Daisy Mountain Fire department and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. The Saguaro Astronomy Club were there with their telescopes for evening viewing of various celestial bodies. University graduate students will be judging the science projects for which medals and prizes will be awarded. Local sports grill, Connolly's, has generously volunteered their DJ for the event and dinner for Desert Mountain staff.   

Congratulations to the following Desert Sage students who were honored at the  quarterly “Character Counts” assembly for displaying “Respect”:  Gabbie Grabowska, Keirra Fedina, Riley Hoban, Jadon Hughes, Alexander Berrier, Troy Gafford, Conner Cox, Danika Montgomery,  Alli Gafford, Matthew Worrell, Desiree Ponce, Tre Green, Colton Fedina, Austin Ballinger, Jacob Milas, Monica Leone, Gunnar Brown, Dylan Williams, Ryandy Barrido, Jonathon Badzioch, Briana Rovelli, Sarrah Ramirez, Katelyn Harper, Kade Brown, and Anna Aurelius Cardena,

February is “National Heart Foundation” month at Desert Sage.  In cooperation with the physical education teachers, the school will be hosting “Jump Rope for Heart,”  held on Feburary 10^th & 11^th.  Students participating are collecting donations for the American Heart Association. 

On Friday, February 4^th, Desert Sage PTSA kicked-off the WAMMS (Walk a mile in My Shoes) shoe drive at the family roller-skating event at Great Skate.  New and gently used shoes are being collected all month and will be donated to benefit those in need all around the world.

 Mr. Marinelli, 2^nd Grade Desert Sage teacher, will be leading the “Zoo Project” presented by DVUSD and the Phoenix Zoo.  Over six weeks, 1^st – 4^th students will be investigating animals and ecosystems, with hands –on projects and activities.  Students will also benefit from state-of-the-art technology with live-feed cameras and interactive broadcasts.

Mrs. Sarah Crabtree's 8th grade language arts class took part in a gallery walk to read each other's original poems. Students spent time, identifying poetic elements as part of the lesson, while enjoying their peer's creativity. 

Las Brisas PTSA hosted Family Art Night on Thursday, February 10.  The theme for the Reflections Cultural Art Program was “Together We Can”.  Congratulations to all of the winners and good luck to the students that will continue on to the State competition.  The winners and the categories the students competed in are:

Primary Literature: Caitlin Chang, Jake Khamo and Caleb Gamble

Primary Visual Arts: Jacob Latham, Megan Dewyer and Presley Simon

Primary Photography:  Rohan Patel, Kaitlyn Soine, Alyssa Bacon and Bria Riggan

Primary Musical Composition: Riley Stewart

Primary Film/Video Production: Bria Riggan

Primary Dance: Daniel Rodi

Intermediate Literature:  Maddie Worley, Cassidy Moore and Amelia Shehi

Intermediate Visual Arts: Megan Montoya, Eva Kanenbley and Cole Pelton

Intermediate Photography:  Nicholas Cichon, Tyler MacComb and Domonic Rodolico

Intermediate Musical Composition:  Olivia Hsu, Blair Sohren

Junior Literature: Ryland Holeman, Morgan Eddleman and Ashley Williams

Junior Visual Arts: Megan McCall, Allie Rich and Elizabeth Ardelt

Junior Photography: Nicolas Peterson, Elizabeth Lowe and Shannon McBreen

Junior Film/Video Production:  Jacqueline Gonzalez

Junior Dance: Ryan Ardelt, Lily Sheahan and Amanda Scartozzi

Las Brisas 4^th Grade students visited the Pioneer Village Museum on February for Statehood Day on Arizona’s 99^th birthday.  Students enjoyed Pioneer’s scavenger hunt seeking clues about the turn of the century structures and activities.  They learned about gun safety and watched a gun show put on by the Sons of the Pioneers.  The students were able to compare rustic buildings such as cabin-style family homes, miner’s cabin, rancher’s home and old schoolhouse.  Students were intrigued by the appliances and furnishings of the era.  Mrs. Lynn Myers received a grant from the Target Corporation and some of the expense for the field trip was paid for by the grant.

1^st grade, Multi-Age, and 3^rd grade classes are taking a field trip to the Wildlife World Zoo/Aquiarium.  Students will study animal adaptations and what animals do in order to help them survive and be successful in their habitats. 

Students are learning about persuasive techniques and how these techniques are used in real life.  They design a poster, using these techniques and write 2 persuasive paragraphs as they consider the consumer about a car they want to “sell”.  On the day of the car-lot, all the posters are laid out as if it is a car lot and each student has $500,000 to spend, using checks and a check register to log their purchases and keep track of how much money they have left. 

The results of the Grand Canyon State Games Essay Contest are in and the Sage reading kids had a banner year!  Out of the approximately 70 kids who wrote essays we had 11 students win medals or honorable mentions for 2011.

Students and essay titles: 3^rd Grade: Mila MacLeod- Demonstrating Good Character; Jack Greger- The Power of Education; Michael Ernst- Why Education Matters; Sarah Leever- Communication Technologies. 4^th Grade: Angela Kan- Who Killed My Grandfather; Hanna Loughlin- A Better Tomorrow; Vara Tummala- The Endless Ripple. 5^th Grade: Kinner Patel- Athletes as Role Models;

Bailey Williams- Care for Character. 6^th Grade: Jiaqi Wen- Ripples in the Water; Sarah McMahon- Do Athletes have more Responsibility than their Athletic Performance?

Do you or a neighbor, friend or relative, have a child entering kindergarten for the 2011-2012 school year?  Principal Carol Butler and our kindergarten teachers would like to meet with you to answer your questions and give you information about our school's kindergarten program on Thursday, March 3 at 8:00 a.m. in the media center.  Pastries will be provided!  We hope to meet all parents of incoming kindergarteners.  Tours of our school can be given at any time before 8:45 a.m. or after 3:30 p.m.  Call Jody at 623-376-4504.

Mike Venezia, author of the Getting to Know biography series, will be visiting New River Elementary on Thursday, March 3. He will be discussing writing techniques he has used in some of the 120 books he has written for the series. Parents are welcome to come to the library and enjoy the presentation, too.  

The Getting to Know series is recommended by the Core Knowledge curriculum as a quality supplement to what students are learning in school. The books focus on composers, artists, inventors, and scientists who all made history in some way. Students will have the opportunity to buy one of his books and have it autographed. If you would like to order one of the Getting to Know books, order forms will be sent home with students prior to the author visit.

New River is hosting its annual Book Fair from Tuesday, March 22-Tuesday, March 29. It will be open late on Thursday, March 24 during Parent/Teacher conferences, and refreshments will be on hand. Monday, March 28 is Grandparents’ Time – shop with their grandchild on their lunch recess, then stay and have lunch in the cafeteria. All the proceeds from the book fair go towards the library, funding new books, supplies, and special events.

Last week Feb 3rd, we had 5 kids from STUDENT Government attend the Student Summit at @ Barry Goldwater HS. The following students were:

Mrs. Stephenson, Chaperone

Quinnie Phan
Hanna Segatto 
Alithea Penera 
Matt Hernandez
Russel Penera

Emma Fineberg 

Norterra Canyon will be hosting a Mulitcultural Diversity Night on March 2nd from 5:30 – 7 p.m. 

Sierra Verde is hosting an Art Walk on Thursday, February 24 from 6:00-8:00 p.m.  This event will showcase Viper student artwork. Chorus and band members will perform live musical numbers to add to the festivities. The evening will be a great opportunity to celebrate creative expression and learning through multiple artistic avenues.

Sierra Verde girl's basketball had nine phenomenal girls. They played hard, worked as a team, and had fun. The girl's had a wonderful season! The team would like to recognize Coach Gary Haselhorst for all of his time, passion, and dedication to the team.

Sierra Verde's Coach Sara Cullen and Coach Steve Connolly are looking forward to an exciting baseball/softball season.   The first home softball game is Tuesday, February 22 vs. Sunset Ridge.  The first home baseball game is Thursday, February 24 vs. West Wing.

Sierra Verde would like to congratulate the following students for their fine efforts during baseball and softball try-outs. These fine athletes will represent Sierra Verde well.

SV Boys Baseball – 2011

Todd Carlson, Rudy Mueller, Devin Ray, Paul DiLeonardo, Mitch Sullivan, Dolan Tillman, Jake Reynolds, AC Fernandez, Kevin Donaldson, Tyler Behrendt, Sebu Dzobo, Colton McMains, Kamrin Knight

SV Girls Softball – 2011

Allison Klein, Sophia Miller, Brie Carter, Cassidy Hammel, Gaby Villate, Cameron Burk, Alysa Vaughan, Tristen Fergus, Megan Symons, Hailey Yanez, Jennifer Johnson, Madison Caparros

Sierra Verde will host its 2^nd annual Stem Spotlight Night on March 10 from 5-6:30 p.m. Special guests include the Arizona Rattler's Football League. Students in grades K-8 will display STEM projects. There will be hands-on inquiry activities for the students & informational booths advertising STEM focused clubs. Professionals that have STEM related careers will have booths set up with student friendly activities.

Sunset Ridge is rated #1 in the state of Arizona for its participation on Artsonia! They are rated #7 in the nation!  View their gallery at www.artsonia.com/schools/ridge1. This artwork is by Brianna Shrake , 4th grade, Mrs. Nemeth's class. 

Deer Valley High Schools

Student Summit Deer Valley hosted with close to 300 students from the district. Students attended the interactive "Leadership - Common People Doing Uncommon Things" Student Summit at Barry Goldwater High School last week, hosted by the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council. The Summit was designed to give students information through hands-on activities that build leadership and teamwork.

The Barry Goldwater High School men's soccer team defeated Perry high school in the 5AII semi-final match by a score of 3-2.  This puts our team in the finals on Saturday.  This is the first time in BGHS history that any sports team has been in the state finals.  To celebrate this incredible accomplishment, we will have a special pep assembly to commemorate this.  We will forward the details and schedule to you ASAP.  Please congratulate all of our soccer players.  They've represented BGHS well pursuing victory with honor.

Barry Goldwater High School four wrestlers make the individual state championships. Troy Vandall, Aurelio Ortega, Andrew Torres, and Austin Crawford all made the trip with Coach Moniz, Coach Dainty, Coach Alehandro, and Coach Garza up to Prescott Thursday and Friday to compete. To make the state meet as a freshman was a huge accomplishment for Mr. Vandall.  Andrew Torres and Aurelio Ortega both made it to Saturday's matches, the final day. Aurelio ended up taking a 5th place finish in the state tournament overall. Austin Crawford was 3-0 going into Saturdays final match for the state championship and ended up with a runner up state finish.  

Barry Goldwater High School boys and girls basketball teams finish their season this Tuesday against Deer Valley. The boys are at DV where they will play in a loud, tough DV gym. The girls are playing against DV here on Tuesday night for our much anticipated PINK BASKETBALL BASH! The girls are still state-playoff bound and each game is important. Please come out to support Breast Cancer (admission is a donation) with the silent auction and booths in the mini-gym and to support our girls basketball team.

The Goldwater Bulldogs Boys Soccer team finished its season in the Div II finals, losing to Ironwood, 2-0. The team finished its best season ever, with a 11-6 regular season/playoff record, and a 16-8 record, including tournament games.

Eight Boulder Creek students attended the regional competition for FBLA - Future Business Leaders of America. This was our school's first competition experience with FBLA and our students had two FIRST place finishes: Kyle Wight in Business Procedures and Brian Singer in Client Service. Congratulations to all of Boulder Creek's student competitors.

Boulder Creek High School had 10 students make the North Central Region Honor Band. Congratulations to: Arielle Romano - Flute, 11th Chair, Danielle Lackey - Oboe, 4th Chair, Caterina Lake - 1st Clarinet, 7th Chair, Jacob Buhl - 3rd Clarinet, 3rd Chair, Michael Gregoire - Alto Saxophone, 3rd Chair, Jeff Englis - Alto Saxophone, 4th Chair, Bill Fitzgibbons - 1st Trumpet, 1st Chair (Top Chair Overall!), Holly Haas - 1st Trombone, 3rd Chair, Adam Soper - Tuba, 1st Chair (Top Chair Overall), Randy Thomas, Tuba, 4th Chair.

Boulder Creek High School had 5 students regional Honor Choir: Athena Stowers - 23rd chair, Alto, Jordan Woods - 5th chair, Tenor, Jacob Bentz - 10th chair, Tenor, Devin Leming - 4th Alternate, Tenor, Steven Langenhorst - 13th chair, Bass.

On February 4-5, 2011 Boulder Creek High School Academic Decathlon participated in our Regional Competition against 25 other teams. The team earned 20 individual medals and 4 trophies, and were only a few points away from ranking in the top three teams.

Please congratulate:

Brendon McNicholas: medals in Art, Economics, Math, Social science, Speech, Music, Language and Literature and Geology. He received the trophy for the top scoring student in the entire competition and had a standing ovation.

Rick Kearney: medals in Economics, Art, Speech, Language and Lit., essay. He received a trophy for Most Outstanding Essay, and Top Scoring student in the Scholastic division.

Jessica Schildt: Gold medal in essay with a perfect score

Cameron Howard: Gold medal in math

Alicia Rodriguez: Bronze medal in Interview and Silver medal in Social Science

Zack Grace and Autumn Coleman from the MRHS DECA chapter sponsored by Renee Woodruff have been selected to be State DECA officers. 

Mountain Ridge High School has 12 exhibits and 18 students that will be attending National History Day State. Here is a listing of students and exhibits.  The supporting teachers are: Gina Bedene, Tim Rosinbum and Caitlin Swofford.

Individual Museum Exhibits: Soren Mickelson - "ADA; Handi-capable", Paige Weedman - "Hoover Dam: A history Beyond the Concrete"

Group Museum Exhbits: Sierra Hansen and Catherine Peach - "Flappers in the Roaring 20's",

Sandra Ascencio and Deserie Silliman - "Miranda v. Arizona"

Individual Documentaries: Audra McEwowen - "Bisbee Deportation: An Early Labor Movement", Matthew Rivas - "Hoover Dam"

Group Documentaries: Scott Ashmore and Stephan Dong - "Nanking Massacre: Tragedy Lost in Time", Nicole Behrec and Samantha Harke- "Mixed Race Adoption"

Individual Websites: Zach Grace - Iran Coup de' tat, Michael Collins - "Firebombing in Dresden" – Rosinbaum, Ashley Goernitz - "Hollywood Blacklisting of McCarthyism", Chirstina Tweatt - "The Election of 1877: The Most Epic Election in History"

Group Websites:

Lucas Tan and Jason Woo - "Sierra Leone, Blood Diamonds"

2010 Mountain Ridge Alumnus Nick Knaus wins $5,000 grand prize. Comedian Ellen DeGeneres surprised the ASU community Tuesday when a crew from her talk show rolled onto the Tempe campus to film a segment and hand out cash prizes. Hundreds of students crowded in front of ASU Gammage, carrying or wearing all sorts of items to win a challenge that DeGeneres announced. The items had to be three things that represented “A” “S” “U”.  At the end of the night, the winning group took home $5,000 and three other groups won $1,000 each.

Performance junior Michael Bryce and earth and space exploration freshman Nicholas Knaus won the grand prize of $5,000.

Sandra Day O'Connor is proud to announce that one of our students, Austin Trinh, has been awarded. The President's Volunteer Service Award.  He will be recognized at the next Student of the Month Breakfast on March 3. 2011.