DVUSD - Around Our Schools March 28, 2011

Around Our Schools

March 28 – April 1, 2011

Deer Valley Elementary Schools

Camel Country Radio recently recorded the Pledge of Allegiance recited by Arrowhead teachers Josie Stewart’s Kindergarten, Julie Montgomery’s 6^th grade, and Kristi Williams’ 3^rd grade classes.

Congratulations to John Taber who represented Arrowhead in the 2011 Arizona All-State Band.  On Saturday, March 19^th, JT rehearsed all day and preformed that evening in a 160 piece concert band made up of the finest 6^th grade musicians from throughout the entire state of Arizona.

Parents are invited to a free lunch with their students on Thursday, April 7. RSVP will be required to be issued a lunch ticket. Please contact the front office.

Jennie Allen with Arizona Opera first shows Mrs. Mitchell’s 5^th grade class an emotion and then plays out a scene with Josh Berry with only singing in Italian for the class to figure out what is going on in the scene.  The students accurately described her trying to show that she liked him, but he didn’t like to hear what she had to say. Music instructor Mr. McKee continues to share his expansive taste in music with Arrowhead students.

The Arrowhead Elementary talent show will be presented on Friday, April 29, 6:30 p.m. in the gym. Mrs. Chisholm has gathered up some of the most talented acts you will see this year outside of the X Factor. 

Flynn’s  first  grade  is  holding  the  first  annual  Spring  Edition  of  Kids  For  Cows  For  Kids  called  BUNNIES  AND  BASKETS  FOR  BULEMBU.  Tickets are $1 and are available though April 19 in the cafeteria at lunchtime, front office or Room 6. The grand drawing will be on April 20 during morning announcements.  Prizes include spring  baskets  filled  goodies and toys, fuzzy toy stuffed bunnies,  or the grand  prize  of  Mr. and Mrs. Rabbit,  three  foot  tall  stuffed  bunnies,  which  are  display  in  the  office  front  window. All  the  money  will  be  going  to  orphanages  in  Bulembu, Swaziland,  a  town  where  47%  of  the  children  are  orphans.

“The Butler Did It?” an original play by the director, Mrs. Bierner, was presented on March 25 at an assembly and evening performance. The play presented in monochromatic clothing and makeup per student choice as it was set in the 1920’s before color pictures.  The students chose their characters, time and place of the play which Mrs. Bierner used as the basis before writing it.

Cast (In Order of Appearance):

Isabelle Salazar- Tabitha Hoyer

Butler Sidney- Alan Wirkus-Camacho

Detective Clueless-Tyler Limkemann

Stephanie (Detective’s Daughter)-Makayla Kisling

Her Ladyship- Mrs. Bierner

Mrs. Salazar-Laurel Wright

Mrs. White-Savannah Chaboya

Olivia Rubric- Isabelle Cook

Elizabeth- Quinn Stokes

Hannah- Sophia Raybon

Tiffany- Brooklyn Polimeni

Miss Artichoke-Madison Brown

Bunny Dumb- Jessica Chisholm

Mr. Klutz-J.T. Taber

Jaymie- Allison Rowe

Malevolent Jones- Jonni Zemen

Canyon Springs 2^nd grade classes took a field trip to the Children’s Museum of Phoenix on Tuesday, March 22. Students enjoyed educational, interactive exhibits as they worked their way through three floors of hands on activities where they were able to roll play, climb, ride and meander through exhibits. Students, teachers and parent chaperones ate picnic lunches on the grassy lawn of the historic building before returning to school.

Patrick de Haan of Positive Network Alliance, Inc. and Rotary Club presented four complete home computer systems to four Constitution students; Lonnie Dausend, 5th Grade - Tyler Eccles, 4th Grade - Chantell Lester, 5th Grade and Maria Sanchez, 3rd Grade.  Students were chosen based on their good grades and excellent character.  The students were also presented with a special coin displaying good character traits to apply to all situations in life. 

Copper Creek student Jacob Edwards may have not studied culinary arts at Le Cordon Bleu, but the little chef is on his way, having recently won a cooking competition for kids in Glendale. Jacob first started cooking when he was 8 years old. He began making pasta and hot dogs and has now graduated to more complex and healthy dishes.

Copper Creek’s 3^rd grade student, Jaiden Singh from Mrs. Coughlin’s class came up with the idea of folding 1,000 paper cranes for Mr. Fineberg who is undergoing Chemotherapy. Jaiden came up with the idea after reading the Sadako and The Thousand Paper Cranes. 

An old Japanese legend promises that if you fold 1,000 paper cranes, you will be granted a wish.  In the book, Sadako has cancer, and she plans to fold 1,000 paper cranes to wish for a long and healthy life. Students are show Mr. Fineberg their support by folding 1,000 paper cranes in his honor and displaying them all over Copper Creek wishing him a speedy recovery.

On Friday, April 1, a total of 1,234 cranes were made and hung around all of Copper Creek’s classroom doors.  

Sixth grade is continuing to implement STEM in the classroom.  In correlation with business partner, Aviation Communication & Surveillance Systems (ACSS), students have had the opportunity to learn about engineering from the leaders in safety avionics systems. This year marked the school’s 10^th annual field trip.

Diamond Canyon students Rachel Kurtenbach 5th grade, Lacy Ross 8th grade, and Alyssa Stephany 3rd grade. Received honorable mentions in the “Music K8 Cover Art Contest,” a national and international art contest which has entries in excess of 15,000. These honorable mention winners will be receiving a certificate from the Music K8 magazine publishers in May.

Greenbrier students celebrated their district listerv contest win with a school-wide pizza party donated by Peter Piper Pizza earlier this month. 

Middle School Honor Roll and Principal's List scholars at Highland Lakes were rewarded for all their hard work on Friday, March 25.  The students were invited to participate in a BINGO game. 

Highland Lakes PTA and Art Club hosted a fabulous Art Showcase on March 31. Students entered projects for photography and visual arts, vocal, instrumental, and dance selections. Kindergarten through eighth grade students participated. Winners were awarded trophies and ribbons. 

The Roping Reynoso Family performed their traditional Mexican cowboy roping talents for second grade students on Tuesday, March 29.  The Reynoso Family performed traditional Mexican cowboy roping techniques throughout the valley.

First grade students went on a field trip to Tolmochoff Farms on Tuesday, March 29.  Students learned about growing vegetables and were able to pick vegetables to bring home to their families. 

Jake Gaines, a second grade student was recognized for his “Character Counts” actions by Jeanne Getz, a representative of Horace Mann and received an i-pod.  Students earn “Character Counts” slips and each quarter, one student name is drawn from all of the slips and recognized during the morning announcements. 

A wildlife presentation will be provided for the fourth grade students Las Brisas on Monday, April 4.  This presentation is designed to involve students in the understanding of Arizona’s native wildlife.  The program is correlated to state standards and includes animal adaptations and symbiotic relationships. 

Second grade and multi-age classes will be performing their class musical on Wednesday, April 5.  There will be two performances students and parents during the school day.

Las Brisas 5^th grade students will be going on a Field Trip to BIZ Town on Thursday, May 7.  Students visiting BIZ Town have the opportunity to explore, as citizens, the role they would play in their community as workers and consumers and relate these personal roles to the free enterprise system.

Congratulations to Sabina Sweet for participating in the Arizona All State Honor Band on March 19.

The READ 180 program at Legend Springs has been a success.  Students in grades 4-6 have shown increases ranging from 40 Lexile® to 612 Lexile® with an average increase of around 230 Lexile®, since the beginning of the year.  The students find this program helpful and seem to have a lot of fun while learning.  The class is fast moving with students rotating every 20minutes through whole group instruction, small group instruction, instructional software (computer guided instruction), independent reading, and a ten minute wrap up session.

On March 28, the 1^st grade will be viewing the live puppet show, “Zoner and the Drip” presented by the city of Glendale Conservation and Sustainable Living program.  The show is for grades 1-3 and the children will learn about conserving water.

On Saturday, March 12, Ms. White accompanied the following 8 6^th grade chorus students to the AZ All-State Chorus Festival that took place at the Gilbert Center for the Performing Arts: Cameron Burnett, Elyse Pelton, Maya Perez, Nikolas Librizzi, Sarah McMahon, Jordan Grantham, Kayla Smith and Kaiti Zendejas.

Legend Spring is encouraging its parents to sign up for a free webinar on April 21 at 10 a.m. or 7 p.m. about current teen drug use and trends in schools. Shelly Mowrey from DrugFreeAz.org will be presenting information to parents. Call toll free conference line: 

1-877-643-6951 (enter 39203077) or log onto www.parentsconnect.glance.net.

Project Zoo Lab students explored the Phoenix Zoo from their own classrooms, using state-of-the-art technology, live-feed cameras and the students learned firsthand about some amazing zoo animals.  During the six-weeks, students were able to interact with Phoenix Zoo staff and investigate animal behaviors.  They even made a Great Horned Owl exhibit of their own.  Students met zoo keepers and learned about night houses, enrichment activities for the animals and what goes into creating animal exhibits at their annual Family Zoo Day in early March.

Deer Valley School Board President Ann Ordway brought her baby goats to visit with Mirage kindergartners and preschoolers.  She shared fun facts about goats and each child was able to check out the goats up close.

Fourth graders at Mirage studied about what makes a hot air balloon fly then they made their own balloon creations in teams. The students then took their Hot Air Balloons out to the field and watched them sail across the sky.  The chilly weather and clear blue sky made for a perfect setting for this annual event.

The Drama Club, and after school program for Mirage students, has been working on several small plays. Over the past couple of weeks the students performed these plays for the different grade levels.  Each play was chosen for a specific group of students.  Students were entertained by the different stories told through the acting and narrations.  The Drama Club will now begin working on their spring production.

Mirage PTSA has sponsored two special morning time activities, “Muffins with Mom” and “Donuts with Dad,”  helping bring parents to school to spend time with their children. More opportunities for these types of gatherings are planned for future dates.

Open enrollment will begin on April 2, from 8-11 a.m., at the Deer Valley district office for preschoolers, ages 3, 4, and 5.  You are welcome to come in and see us or contact Teacher Debbie at 602-467-5325.

New River held its annual Science Expo during Parent-Teacher Conferences on March 24.  Students in grade 4-6 each submitted a project following the scientific method.  Students in grades kindergarten through third had the option of submitting a project and taking part in class projects. 

Music Teacher, Kristina Kilen, has graciously offered to have her hair cut and donated to Lock of Love.  Each class will be collecting money to help enhance Core Knowledge at the school.  The class that collects the most money by April 29 will get to sit on the stage and watch as their teacher helps cut Miss Kilen’s hair. 

New River PTSA is hosting “OUT & ABOUT” a New River Style Block Party on Friday, April 29 for 4-7 p.m.   There will be games; a staff verses student’s ball game, food, live music, petting zoo and much more.  Everyone is invited to join in the fun.

Paseo Hills Elementary has a total of six band and chorus groups worthy of praise. Among Paseo Hills students, it is viewed as ‘cool’ to be in band or chorus.

Those talented students in band have, generally, been in band together since the 4^th grade. Under Mrs. Gray-Terrel’s guidance, the next upcoming band concerts are: May 10, 6:30 p.m. for 5^th grade and May 12, 6:30 p.m. for grades 6-8.

Paseo Hills’ chorus students in grades 4-8 will all have a chance to perform for their family members, friends, and the school on May 11.

Paseo Hills will be hosting a spring musical, The Wizard of Oz, April 28 and 29 in the Multi Purpose Room. The Drama Club team has been working and practicing almost every day since February.

Sierra Verde is calling all incoming kindergarten students to attend the “Stem Academy Kindergarten Kickoff Event,” Thursday, April 7, 4:30 - 6 p.m. in the Kindergarten Pod.

Sierra Verde's 8th grade social studies teacher, Mr. Bill Dugan has been awarded the Teacher of the Year Award from Teacher's Insurance Plan for 2009-2010 school year. Five finalists were selected from which a state winner was chosen. He will receive a plaque and a check for $1,000.00! The school also received a plaque and a check for $500.

Sierra Verde held its annual field day activities on Thursday and Friday.  Students had the opportunity to participate in many team building challenges. A sense of unity was created as each homeroom class established a class name and color.  Coach Steve Connelly and Coach Michelle Thomas organized the day with attention to every detail.  Eighth grade student leaders were at each station helping and instructing younger students. The tug-of-war was the highlight of the day; even the teachers participated and showed their strength. 

On Wednesday, March 30 AzFamily News Channel 3 will hold a ribbon cutting celebration in honor of Sierra Verde's new WeatherBug station. Meterologist April Warnecke will be reporting the weather live on campus from 9:00-10:00 am.  Community members are welcome to join in the celebration!

During the week of March 28-April 1, Sierra Verde National Junior Honor Society and Student Government will be hosting a fundraiser to aid the disaster relief in Japan.  Students will be collecting “loose change” to donate towards this important cause.  There will be a “Change 4 Change” bin in the front office to collect all donations.

Village Meadows applied for the 3TV WeatherBug through the Junior Forcaster Weather contest.  The school hopes to integrate technology into science standards and build students’ curiosity and understanding of weather conditions that affect their lives. While staff members videotaped the weather forecast, a group of 6^th grade science students, gave up their lunch recesses for three weeks, took what they learned from a unit covering weather and water, brainstormed ideas and wrote the skit entirely on their own. You can see the video on the attached link: http://www.azfamily.com/younews/.

The students and staff at Village Meadows are raising money for the earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan.  During their “Get Fit for the Aims” Dance on Friday, April 1 they will be collecting donations.

MacKenzie Dubois from Mrs. Alexander's class at Village Meadows attended an all state band festival last weekend.  She had the opportunity to perform with students from around the state who were nominated by their band directors to represent individual schools. 

Deer Valley Middle Schools

Congratulations to Sara Hileman for placing 8^th place in the Arizona State Spelling Bee Championship on March 26.  Sara was the winner of the Regional State Spelling Bee.

Deer Valley High Schools

Barry Goldwater High School students placed in the top five in their respective events at the state DECA Competition:

Marissa Mandigo - Second Place Retail Merchandising

Mattel Patel - Principles of Business Administration

Application submitted and selected by Oleg Schvets

Vincent Velez - Leadership Academy

Estefany Silva - Chapter Management Academy

The above students earned the right to compete at DECA’s International Career Development Conference being held in Orlando, Florida, April 29 – May 3

Boulder Creek HS is running for the United Blood Drive Video, please vote for the number two video which is created by the National Honor Society at http://www.unitedbloodservices.org/ubs-az/HS/hschoolreg.aspx.

Governing Board member Ann Ordway visited Crossroads on Thursday, March 31. She watched some classes and commented that the students looked engaged and that the teachers are hard working.  She also mentioned that she and Cindy plan on visiting other alternative campuses in other districts some time soon.

Mountain Ridge HS social studies teacher Chris O’Brien has been selected as one of 30 American educators to participate in the 2011 Summer Fellowship in Korean Studies to be held in Korea in July of 2011. The Summer Fellowship program will provide a unique and unparalleled learning experience with extensive travel within Korea. The costs of round-trip international airfare, accommodations, meals, and program fees will be provided courtesy of the generous financial support of the Korea Foundation.

Mountain Ridge celebrates many DECA student winners at 2011 Arizona DECA Career Development Conference.  DECA is sponsored by Ms. Renee Woodruff. 

Autumn Coleman – 2^nd place overall in state – Retail Merchandising

Vanessa Behm and Caleb Vanderploeg – 2^nd place overall in state – Advertising Campaign

John Kuttner – 2^nd place overall in state – Restaurant and Food Services Management

Harny Rios & Daniel Villate – 3^rd place overall in state – International Business Plan

Denise Pedroza – 4^th place overall in state – International Business Plan

Zach Grace & Austin Moore – 4^th place overall in state- Sports & Entertainment Marketing Operations

Melissa Graffam and Christina Parker – 6^th place overall in state – Buying & Merchandising Team 
Decision Making

The above students earned the right to compete at DECA’s International Career Development Conference being held in Orlando, Florida, April 29 – May 3. 

In addition, the following students placed in their respective events:

Nicole Sale – Bronze medal in test and 7^th place overall in Principles of Business Administration

Zaia Zomayah – Top 5 for role play in Sports and Entertainment Management Individual

Sarah Wang, an MRHS freshman in Mr. Carl Wilfong’s Drawing 1-2 class, won region and state in the Court Artist competition that is held in conjunction with the Mock Trial Competition.