DVUSD News - Around Our Schools, September 13-17, 2010
From:
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Subject:
DVUSD News - Around Our Schools, September 13-17, 2010
Date:
September 17th 2010
Around Our Schools
September 13-17, 2010
Deer Valley Elementary Schools
Arrowhead
Arrowhead Elementary selected new student council members for 2010-11. Students are: Carter Marks, President; Kazandra Gonzalez, Vice President; Joshua Ruiz, Treasurer; Jessica Chisholm, Secretary; Madison Brown, Assistant Secretary; and Julianna Paylor, Assistant Treasurer.
Bellair
Bellair Student Council has started a recycling drive. Every Friday afternoon Student Council members pick up the recycle containers from every classroom and empty them into the large Blue Recycle bins.
On Friday, September 17, Bellair students attended a Big Mouth Assembly in the multi-purpose room. This assembly emphasized the elements of Character Counts, helping students recognize what the Six Traits look like in daily practice. This Character Counts Assembly was funded by a grant from Arizona Public Service.
A Volunteer Training Session will be held on the Bellair campus on Wednesday, September 22 from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. in the media center. Parents who want to volunteer in classrooms or attend class field trips area required to take this training.
Mrs. Debbie Ryan’s third grade students have been using technology effectively to teach grammar and language skills. Students wrote sentences and were then videotaped saying their sentences. As the class watched the videos they decided what type of sentence they had just heard.
Desert Mountain
Twenty-nine Desert Mountain students are currently enrolled in the Deer Valley Unicycle Club. Student cyclers are split into two groups this year: novice riders and experienced riders. The club is looking forward to their first parade appearance of the year on Saturday, November 6 in the Anthem Veteran's Day Parade.
The Youth Chorus of 4th - 6th grade students has hit a record high with 59 students enrolled. The Youth Chorus will be making their debut at Desert Mountain’s Boo Bash on Friday, October 22.
All students in grades 1-3 and 6 are currently in the middle of a sing-off competition to see which class will sing the Star Spangled Banner at Desert Mountain’s next assembly. Each class is working on their words, pitches, posture, and stage presence to try to put on the best show they can. The actual sing off will be taking place from September 28 - October 1 as part of the students’ regular music class time.
The PTO is inviting everyone at Desert Mountain to wear their NFL gear to school on Friday, September 17 to show their pride for their favorite NFL team in celebration of Back to Football Friday. Desert Mountain will be competing to win a $10,000 NFL Play 60 health and wellness grant and an in-school visit from an NFL player. The PTO will be taking pictures and submitting them. Classrooms can win a prize for having the most team spirit.
Thursday, September 9 officially kicked off duck season at Desert Mountain. This is part of the Great American Opportunities fundraiser. Students can receive rubber ducks and a lanyard to wear them on. The more a student sells, the more ducks he or she will receive. Staff (duck hunters) will be “feeding the ducks” (i.e. prizes) when they see students wearing their ducks. Everyone who sells just one item will be attending the special BMX show in November.
Desert Sky Middle
Congratulations to Mr. Jeff Chang, 7th grade science teacher, science chair-person and athletic coach, for being selected by his peers as the Desert Sky Middle School 2010 Teacher of the Year.
Gavilan Peak
The Gavilan Peak junior honor band performed for the first time this year at the Memorial ACE assembly on Friday, September 10. This year's band is composed of students who play flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, horn, baritone, keyboard, and percussion.
The band has already received compliments on their performance of America's most patriotic composition, "The Star Spangled Banner" at the ACE assembly. They performed this piece in honor of those who gave their lives and in honor of those who currently serve our country as law enforcement agents and firefighters.
The band will be performing several compositions at the first quarter concert on Thursday, October 14.
Mirage
Ms. Penny Mezger's and Ms. Valleri Wilson's classes are bringing vocabulary words to life by sharing a vocabulary “word of the day” on the morning announcements every Tuesday and Thursday.
Mirage teachers and students are sharing examples of great teaching and learning with the iTeachAZ Deer Valley interns. The ASU graduate students spend part of their day with instructors from Arizona State University and then venture out into the Mirage classrooms to watch the strategies and skills they have learned about in action. 
Fifth grade parents and family members were invited to a morning “muffin open house” on Friday, September 10. Students were able to show off their classrooms, projects and assignments while munching on muffins and enjoying the company of their friends and family. Teachers hope to continue these open house events at least once a month. Mirage is entering two teams into the First Lego League. FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL®) introduces students in grades 4-8 to the fun and excitement of science and technology while building self-confidence, knowledge, and valuable employment and life skills. Alongside adult mentors, FLL teams solve problems using engineering concepts, presentation techniques, and robots.
New River
Trustworthiness is the Character Trait for September. Students will discuss and learn about this trait during the month and take part in activities to demonstrate it during the half day, Friday, September 24.
The New River choir has begun their rehearsals. The student choir meets three days a week before school to practice. The first performance of the year will be
Friday, September 17 during the New River Elementary book fair at Barnes and Noble, Happy Valley Road location.
New River Elementary commemorated the events of September 11 with a flag ceremony to start the school day. Principal Tricia Graham started the ceremony with a brief explanation of the events of the day and then led the Pledge of Allegiance followed by the Kids at Hope Pledge.
As a part of September’s Good Deed Day the students held a canned food drive. All of the food collected was contributed to The Foothills Food Bank which will be used to help those in need in the area.
Sierra Verde
Sierra Verde school will be offering a community crossing guard and continuous chest compression training in an effort to keep children safe on Wednesday, September 22 from 9:30 -11:30 a.m. in the media center. This program is made possible through the help of the City of Glendale.
Sunrise
Sunrise Elementary celebrated Grandparents Day on Friday, September 10 by serving close to 200 grandparents and guests who joined their grandchildren for pizza in the cafeteria.Village Meadows
Ten Village Meadows teachers were awarded gift bags from Melissa Wright andWal-Mart on Wednesday, September 8. Each bag contained a water bottle, pencils, dry erase markers, trail mix, and a $100 gift card. The gift cards will be used to purchase school supplies and healthy snacks for the students.
This gift was a part of Wal-Mart’s “Teacher Rewards” program. Teacher recipients were: Jennifer Thornton, Lee Root, Stuart Grossman, Christi Rudisel, Jean Naas, Angie Knope, Sharon Sharpe, Kimberly Alexander, William Ivie, and Hannah Walters.
Deer Valley High Schools
Barry Goldwater
Goldwater's Interact Club will be participating in the "Rebuilding Together", Valley of the Sun 7th annual Rock and Roll Paint-a-thon on Saturday, October 23. Teams of volunteers through out the State of Arizona will paint the homes of 100 elderly and disabled homeowners, making it the largest one day event of its kind in the country.
The BGHS Interact's goal is to form seven teams of 15-25 people to paint a home in the Deer Valley community. All the paint, supplies, t-shirts, and insurance are provided. The organization also matches the group with a qualified homeowner in the community. The painting project is a half day project.
To sign up or for additional information call Brenda Moore at 623-445-3004 or brenda.moore@dvusd.org.
Boulder Creek
Boulder Creek High School received state-wide recognition for their CTE students' work in Web Development. Students Blake Stratton, Ryan Batchelder, and Mason Yorkis scored in the top five in Arizona on the CTE Skill Standards Assessments.
Boulder Creek celebrated Constitution Day all week, Monday, September 13 to Friday, September 17. Activities included daily videos related to the Declaration of Independence produced by AP Government and media production students will be shown during morning announcements.
WEDNESDAY - FRIDAY:
The Road to the Constitution student posters were displayed throughout the academic buildings (with the help from government classes). The posters illustrated a short road map/timeline of events that lead up to the writing of the U.S. Constitution.
FRIDAY
- Students are encouraged to wear red, white, and blue colors.
- Participating students will receive candy through their social studies classes and freshman health classes.
- Social Studies classes will have the option of having students do a Constitution Scavenger hunt on this day.
Deer Valley
Deer Valley High School English teacher Beth Eyres was selected to participate in the annual reading and scoring of the College Board’s Advanced Placement Examinations in English Literature.
Sandra Day O’Connor
Sandra Day O’Connor High School language arts teachers Holly Batsell and Caron Moore were selected to participate in the annual reading and scoring of the College Board’s Advanced Placement Examinations in English Language and English Literature.
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