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News from your Kyrene Corridor schools
Sept.
18 reports
Aprende
Middle School
The Aprende Library is involved with
the Arizona Young Readers' Award, sponsored by the Arizona Library
Association. Students have
attended a book talk are encouraged to read at least three of the ten books
nominated so they may vote for their favorite book at the end of March.
Students received bookmarks and a paper to record the books they have
read. For more information
about the Arizona Young Readers' Award, visit the website http://coe.west.asu.edu/students/kwestrick/ayr.htm.
Kyrene Middle School
Save the
date! Kyrene Middle School's
PTO is sponsoring Harvest Festival on Thursday, October 30th.
Activities will begin at 6:00 pm and will continue throughout the
evening until 9:00 pm. Plan on
coming to KMS for this exciting event and enjoy an evening of food, rides,
games and fall festivities.
Pueblo
Middle School
Pueblo
Middle School held its first Site Council meeting on Monday, September 8th.
Parent member include Elizabeth McHugh, Jack Berg, Mitzi Epstein,
MaryDee Camarena, and Merilee Edel. Meetings will be held throughout the
year on the first Monday of each month at 3:30 PM.
All members of the Pueblo school community are invited to attend.
Our
student council officers for 2003-04 have begun planning the year’s social
and service activities. President,
Lina Washington leads the group. The
executive board also includes Ashley Hanson as our Vice President, Jenna
Grover in the position of secretary, Katie Shoultz as treasurer, and Sanjay
Krishnamurthy as Pueblo’s Lieutenant Governor.
Pueblo
Middle School will hold the first all-school assembly of the year on Friday,
September 19th at 2:40 PM. Student
Council officers will be recognized along with members of the fall sports
teams, volleyball, soccer, and cross country running.
On
September 11th, students and staff members remembered the events
of 9/11/01 by wearing red, white, and blue. We dedicated the daily Pledge of
Allegiance and a moment of silence to the families who lost loved ones on
that day.
Sixth
grade science students are learning about the structure of atoms.
Mrs. Sherrill’s classes will culminate a week of learning by
representing the nucleus and rings of an atom with something delectable from
the kitchen. Projects will be
presented, and eaten, on Friday!
Brisas
Christy
Asta, Terry Carr, and Debbie Dobyns are helping their first graders with
their reading skills by using books by Eric Carle, such as The Very
Lonely Firefly. Students have been working on finding story
patterns, recalling events in order and identifying characters. These
books also lead into their science unit, which is learning about the life
cycles and body parts of insects. What a great way to get students
excited about so many subjects at once!
Cielo
Elementary School
Just like mom and dad keep track of
daily events and appointments on their Palm Pilot or daytimer, fourth and
fifth grade students at Kyrene del Cielo this year started using agendas
that contain a "week-at-a-glance" calendar and monthly calendar
reference. These new agendas
were well received by students and teachers.
By using the agendas on a daily basis, students are setting
themselves up for academic success. Research
shows that organized students are more successful in school, regardless of
their academic ability. Parents and teachers are able to monitor daily work
that has been completed, and note when an assignment has been missed.
What do students like best about the new agendas?
They say that it makes them feel more grown up and they like the way
they can keep track of everything; --even their classmates' phone numbers!
Fifth graders are also looking forward to the opportunity to see the
copy of the Declaration of Independence that will be at the Capitol in
October.
Manitas Elementary School
The Manitas Developmental Preschool
classes are learning about "bugs" this month.
The students are producing wonderful bug art projects and are
involved in several extension activities, including a search for toy bugs
outside in the sand. Shortly, live caterpillars will be arriving in the classroom
and the three and four-year old students will watch them grow and then,
through metamorphosis, change into butterflies!
Friday night is the Manitas annual
sock hop. Mrs. Fitzke's second
grade class is providing the entertainment. We are singing and dancing to Elvis Presley's "Hound
Dog".
Niños Elementary School
Student Council 2003-2004 is underway
here at Niños! Twenty fifth grade students are busy campaigning for the
offices of President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Historian.
All 4th and 5th grader students will watch video-recorded tapes of
the speeches given by those running for an office, and then vote for the one
they feel will represent our school the best.
Classroom representatives will be chosen next week, and officially
kick off our year with a Student Council sponsored Skateland party!
Student Council sponsors, Janice Wagner and Laurie Alves welcome all students back to school, and to a great new year
with the Niño's Student Council!
Janice Wagner, Ninos teacher, has
recently taken on a new endeavor - she'll be teaching a new 1-2 multiage
combo. class! This class has
been created here at Niños in an effort to alleviate the large class sizes
in both first and second grades. She looks forward to a year of great
blending of talents, growing, and learning.
Mrs. Mason's 2nd grade students are
writing and typing their autobiographies on the computer using Kid Pix
program. They are also studying about their families and their traditions
and creating models of the houses they live in.
Norte Elementary School
Kyrene
del Norte's second graders are gearing up to be world geographers!
They have been intently identifying the seven continents, four
oceans, and are now in the process of designing their own world map!
The students have learned many important terms that describe their
urban community, such as: transportation, communication, needs, and wants.
Soon they will be studying their state's weather patterns by
producing a newscast. Mrs.
Beaudoin and Mrs. Ward's second graders soar with success!
Paloma Elementary School
It’s official!
Paloma students have elected their classroom representatives, and the
first Student Council meeting of the year takes place this week.
Student Council representatives make decisions affecting the students
at Paloma. Some decisions involve how money is spent and which projects
are undertaken for the improvement of the school and community.
Other decisions have to do with school spirit and having fun.
We are proud of our Student Council members and we appreciate their
leadership at Paloma.
Waggoner Elementary School
Waggoner's
Student Council is in full swing this year, with teacher
sponsors
Erin O'Neill, Patti Calkins, and Jay Wallace.
Elections were held this past week, and the new
Student
Council officers are Alex Hudson (President), Sara Christman
(Vice-President), Paloma Romo (Treasurer), and Whitney Tate
(Secretary).
Congratulations to all the candidates on their fine campaign
speeches! This past week.
All students at Waggoner were given the chance to vote for this
year's student T-Shirt designs. Congratulations
to fourth grader Audrey
Wheeless
for creating the winning design for this year's shirts! Audrey's design
includes a very cool Waggoner Wildcat, wearing sunglasses!
Orders for T-Shirts will be taken soon.
Thank you to all the Waggoner families who have cut and sent in their
General Mills Boxtops for Education! Keep
sending them in with your students. We are well on our way to exceeding our totals from last
year! All proceeds will benefit
Waggoner students. The winning
class will receive an ice cream party, compliments of PTO.
Jan
Schafer's second grade class had a successful Stuffed Animal Day. The students brought in their favorite animal, read it a
book, wrote a story about their animal, traced a picture of it, and then
made a giant graph to see who had the smallest animal and who had the
biggest. Second Graders in Ms.
Schafer's, Nancy Lujan's, Jan Babic's, Helene Hamlin's, and Monica
Storjohann's classes also made a slide show presentation about the
playground rules. The slides are shown during the morning announcements.
Thanks
to Mr. Wallace, our technology teacher. Currently, second graders are
studying patterns, graphs and Venn diagrams in math.
In science they have begun studying about balance and motion.
Their next experiment will be to make a mobile from paper, straws,
paper clips and rubber bands. Watch
for details about our upcoming McWaggoner Night at McDonald's on October 8!
Sept. 4 reports
Aprende
Middle School
After
an enjoyable three-day Labor Day weekend, the final week for the Magazine
Sale started off on Tuesday, September 2nd.
Homerooms are in stiff competition to win prizes!
Among the top prizes offered are a bingo party, which took place
during 9th hour on Friday, September 5, and a limo lunch, on Wednesday,
September 10, during lunch hours.
This
year's first progress reports were scheduled to go home with students on
Friday, September 12. Aprende
Student Council, also on Friday from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M. in the Gym, sponsored
Aprende’s first dance of the year.
Kyrene
Middle School
Kyrene
Middle School held their annual Be a Middle Schooled for a Day on September
3. Parents were invited to attend school with their child and experience
their daily schedule. The day
was quite a success with approximately 300 parents participating.
KMS continues to reach out to their parents and community in building
strong relationships.
Pueblo
Middle School
Sixth
grade students on the “Xtreme Team” enjoyed dinner with their teachers
and families here at school on Friday, August 22 followed by a lock-in party
in the school cafeteria and gym. Teachers
and students shared games, team-building activities, stories and movies. A few students even slept for a bit!
Seventh
and eighth grade parents attended “Curriculum Night” on Wednesday,
August 26. They followed their students daily schedules and listened to
teachers presentations regarding learning that will take place in each class
this year.
Cielo
Elementary School
Cielo has added a new schoolwide focus
for student citizenship called “Integrity”. This joins the other
Firebird Pride virtues of Safety, Respect, Kindness, Cooperation, and
Responsibility. Every classroom
will be focusing on a different positive character trait throughout the
school year. Kay Umberson, one
of our music teachers, wrote a song about “Integrity” to remind student
to “Do the Right Thing”. Additionally,
on 9/11, Cielo had a flag raising at the school with participation from the
Chandler police and fire departments. The
community will be included and flags will line the streets in honor of 9/11
and our troops overseas.
Manitas
Elementary
Manitas
Third Graders had a fund raiser at Cold Stone Creamery in the Casa Paloma
Plaza on Ray Rd. The third grade teachers scooped ice cream to raise money
for field trips.
Mariposa
Elementary
Students and families are in
full-swing for our Fall Fundraiser! We
use the funds from this drive to provide enhanced computer instruction to
all our students and to provide enhanced lunch time duty supervision and
intramural programs. In
addition, out PTO supports many activities and field trips throughout the
year! During the week of
September 8 our 'Artist in Residence Program' began for grades 4 and 5.
Writer Laraine Herring will be working with all students in these grades in
a variety of writing modes. Our
PTO sponsored this program along with a grant from the Arizona Commission on
the Arts.
Niños
Elementary
Kindergarten
is off to a great start thanks to the efforts of our teachers, Mrs. Burger,
Mrs. Laidley, and Mrs. Johnson. Each classroom is filled with exciting and
educational activities for the students. During the last three weeks,
Kindergarteners have been busy learning the routines of their classrooms,
creating books, and sorting. The books that are being created by the
Kindergarteners help them learn sight words, one-to-one correspondence as
well as directionality. The books also teach them to use clues to solve
unknown words. Our Kindergarteners are also being exposed to a variety of
different kinds of books, poems and songs. In math, the students are
sorting, creating patterns and practicing their counting. They have sorted
their class friends in many ways, by boys and girls, by types of shoes, and
by clothing. They are definitely learning that there is more than one way to
sort things.
Our first school wide assembly was
scheduled for Thursday, September 11. Mrs. Dina Breaux, Music teacher,
planned a patriotic assembly that included a moment of silence and
remembrance of September 11, 2001 as well as Fletcher Plant, World War II
Veteran, who will speak to our students, and conclude with our students
singing patriotic songs.
Paloma
Elementary
Paloma families were invited to attend
our Annual Ice Cream Social, on Friday, September 12, from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
We gathered in the multipurpose room for some old fashioned family
fun, including ice cream sundaes, of course.
Cost was $1 per person or $5 per family.
Waggoner
Elementary
Waggoner
students have had a great three weeks back at school!
We welcomed our returning principal, Mr. Ken Helling, along with our
new Assistant Principal, Mrs. Tonya Yalung.
The students then got a chance to show their Waggoner team spirit at
the kick-off Spirit Assembly on August 13.
Teachers were introduced, the school spirit song was played, a good
time was had by all! We look
forward to a great year of learning together!
First graders in Kelly Herrmann's, Molly Danforth's, Jennie
Dorsett's, Jenny Kara's, and Shelly Howard's classes celebrated the
completion of their Alphabet Review Unit with Potluck parties in all their
classes last week. Each student brought a treat to share with the class, which
had to start with the first letter of the student's first name.
Not only was there a lot of eating, but there was a lot of learning
going on, as well! Waggoner
welcomes back almost 30 ASU fourth -block education students.
They will be taking their reading classes at Waggoner, observing and
assisting in many classrooms, and tutoring many Waggoner students after
school, beginning in October. Thank
you to all who are participating in the PTO's Fall Fundraiser- the Gift Wrap
Sale. Our goal this year is to
raise over $20,000 to help support all the great learning programs here at
Waggoner. All orders are due in
by the end of this week. Contact the office for more information.
We look forward to working with our great community again this year!
Go Wildcats!
Aug. 28 reports
Cielo
The
second graders at Kyrene del Cielo kicked off the 2003-2004 school year by
creating their own baseball teams. Each
classroom chose a name, created their own baseball card and pennant and most
importantly discussed different ways of working together as a team to create
unity. In addition to creating
team spirit, the students have also integrated their new Character Education
program called Do the Right Thing into their classrooms.
As the year progresses, the students will have mini-lessons based on
doing the right thing and exciting assemblies.
Cielo Student Council will be assisting parents and staff in
spearheading the Character Education program with special events to
highlight how students model "Doing the Right Thing".
Niños
Elementary
All
students in K-2nd grade had a vision and hearing screening on Monday -
Wednesday of last week. New students to our school in grades 3rd -5th grade
were also screened. Deana Contreras, Health Office assistant, coordinated
this screening with help and support from staff member, Roxanne Richardson
and parents, Heather Topper, Chris Burkholder, Rosemary Jones, Cynthia
Jenkins, Karen Hollander, Nancy McGill, and Jennifer Urich.
Niños
Site Base Council is looking for a parent representative to serve on our
school's Site Base Council. Interested parents are asked to contact the
school office for more details.
The
annual PTA fall fundraiser will officially begin on Tuesday, September 2nd.
Students will bring home brochures and order forms. All fall fundraising
envelopes must be returned to school by no later than Tuesday, September
16th. All proceeds from this fundraiser will be spent on projects that
benefit all of our students.
Norte
Elementary
We
finally get to come to school! We
still shed some tears and have some anxieties about some things, but are
finding out that being at school is really fun and exciting! Clifford has
helped through these beginning days of learning about:
Our 5 Senses, colors and color words, writing and how to hold a
pencil; we've learned that when we use too much glue on our projects, we
drown ALL of the horses in our room, and we're learning # chants and shape
chants, and about the letter and sound of Cc. We have also made a beautiful
mural of our paper dolls (that represent each one of us) out in the hall way
so the whole school can admire it!
Paloma
Elementary
The
first Paloma PTA meeting for the 2003-2004 school year is tomorrow evening,
September 4, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Paloma
parents are invited to join in us in the library to meet the new PTA Board
and become part of the exciting plans for this school year.
One of our new activities this year is the formation of the first
Paloma Dads’ Club. We hope
you will take advantage of this opportunity to become an active part of our
school community.
Sureño
Elementary
Kyrene
del Sureño School will be holding a fundraiser on Monday, September 8 at
the Cold Stone Creamery from 5:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Sureño's own teachers and staff will be behind the counter at the
Cold Stone Creamery at the corner of 56th Street and Ray Road in the AJ's
Shopping Plaza. Sureño will
earn 25% of the profits for the evening, so stop by and treat yourself to
ice cream and help out Sureño at the same time.
MIDDLE SCHOOLS
Aprende
On
Thursday, August 21, Aprende Middle School's annual Magazine Drive got under
way. Every year, subscriptions sold by students at Aprende raise
funds for the school. Students
had a pep assembly Thursday afternoon in the gym to start off the
fundraiser, which will end with the final magazine subscription turn-in on
Friday, September 5.
On
Friday, September 12, Aprende Student Council will sponsor its "Welcome
Back Dance" from 6:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. in the Gym.
Aprende's PTSO (Parent/Teacher/Student
Organization) will be selling collared shirts soon as a fundraiser.
The PTSO has a large volunteer group; always ready to assist with the
many events at Aprende. More
information about the shirt sale will follow.
Kyrene
On
Wednesday, August 20th KMS kicked off the Caring Majority Program
in major league style. The KMS Caring Majority is a program designed to
prevent bullying. Number 11 for
our AZ Diamondbacks, Matt Kata, made a special visit to KMS to encourage
students to participate in our Caring Majority Program.
While at KMS, Matt spoke to students about the importance of being
strong in who you are and standing up for yourself and others.
Matt even signed a Caring Majority contract and became an honorary
member of KMS Caring Majority. Since this special kick off we have had over
600 students sign Caring Majority Contracts pledging to make KMS a caring
and respectful place to learn and grow.
KMS
thanks Matt Kata for giving of his time, sharing his personal challenges and
being a positive influence to our students. He is making major league
difference on and off the baseball field.
Go KMS Caring Majority Scorpions and Matt Kata of our Arizona
Diamondbacks!
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