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What’s happening in your Kyrene District schools

Kyrene de las Brisas
We would like to congratulate the following winners of the Brisas Poetry Contest:

First Grade: Nathan Birecki (1st), Alisa Rodriguez (2nd), Nicole Lutinskas (3rd)

Second Grade: Hailee Hoffman (1st), Devon McKinley (2nd), Mackenzie Crawford (3rd)

Third Grade: Jean Juang (1st), Anni Faucon (2nd), Angelica Castillo (3rd)

Fourth Grade:  Hanna Snyder (1st), Bret Refner (2nd), Alex Aguayo (3rd)

Fifth Grade: Leah Miller (1st), Mariah Manuelito (2nd), Christine Wilkins (3rd)

All of the 1st place poems now go on to compete in the Kyrene School District Poetry Contest at the end of February.  All of the poems will be included in a poetry anthology put together by the school district.  Some of the 260 entries were broadcast over Brisas' news station KGKO in the last 3 weeks.  Way to go Brisas Geckos! 

Kyrene del Cielo
The Cielo Student Council had a very successful fundraiser selling Valentine Grams to students and teachers.  Great fun was had by all that received these wonderful messages.  Teachers at Cielo are looking forward to sharing the accomplishments of their students during parent conferences, on Wednesday and Thursday, February 19th and 20th this week. 

Our PTO is sponsoring a Spring Food Drive to help the needy in our community.  They will be working in conjunction with United Food Bank.  Food will be collected the week of February 24th.  Fifth graders will be responsible for picking up and sorting the donated supplies. 

We had a very successful Staff Development Day with Trish Padgett from Create!Press.  The Third grade teachers are implementing the strategies that were demonstrated to assist our developing writers with their written communication.

Kyrene de las Manitas
JAZZED FOR EDUCATION!"  All are welcome to the PTO-sponsored Manitas Silent Auction & Dinner Dance to be held Saturday, March 8 from 5:30-10:30 at The Grace Inn, on I-10 and Elliot.  Proceeds will benefit the Kyrene de las Manitas Literacy Center.  Please contact Mary Loomis at 480-893-8364, with any questions or for ticket information.

Kyrene de la Mariposa
Students in Pam Moseley's math 4th and 5th grade math classes visited the Phoenix Art Musuem to study an exhibit on 'math in art'.  Third graders enjoyed sharing their musical performance entitled "Way Out West" where they sang traditional western folks songs, performed traditional dances and learned about Arizona's history.  5th graders in John Nestuk and Elaine Stohler's classes enjoyed a visit to the ASU Agricultural Center as part of their science, social studies and health program.  We invite parents and kindergarten students for the 2003-04 school year to our Kindergarten Round Up on Tuesday February 25, 9:00 am in our library.  Please call the school office at 480-783-3200 for more information. 

Kyrene de la Mirada
Diane Duffy's 5th grade Gifted Resource math students are studying global statistics related to health, education and quality of life.  Given a group of 100 people, with ratios in tact, students discover fascinating facts such as one person in 100 owns a computer or that 6 people out of a hundred own 59% of the world's wealth.  They illustrated a chosen statistic on graph paper, wrote an explanation of its impact on other people or the world's resources, and made recommendations to improve the world.  These will be aired on morning announcements through the month. 

Amy Parrott and Shannon Fossett's mulitage 1/2 classes presented an assembly on Feb. 13th (right in time for Valentine's Day) for the Lifeskill on Friendship.  The students sang the song "You've Got a Friend in Me" from the movie Toy Story and read a poem.  Students in the school have been adding poems and stories to a Friendship bulletin board by the library.

Kindergarten orientation for incoming students will be held on March 24th at 6:30 p.m. or 8:00 p.m. in the library.  Parents are invited to attend either session for information on the kindergarten program at Mirada. 

Kyrene de los Niños
Niños 3rd-5th grade students will be attending a kickoff assembly on Thursday, February 20th, for Pursuing Victory with Honor. Motivational speaker, Coach John Avianantos, will facilitate this assembly. Two grants are funding this assembly as well as a parent meeting and lunch intramural opportunities for students in these grade levels. Students will learn how the six pillars of Character Counts! support the expectations of appropriate behavior while they engage in sports, play and other recreational activities.

Parents are invited to a very special hour with Coach John Avianantos! His one hour presentation on Thursday, February 20th at 6:30 p.m. Niños Library, regarding “Pursuing Victory with Honor,” is geared specifically to all 3rd- 5th grade parents. What is “Pursuing Victory with Honor?” This program is part of Character Counts! that believes that the participation of all children in all level of sports, play and games should be fun! While having fun, children should also learn life skills that promote good character and also good sportsmanship. Parents, did you know that you can and should play an important role in helping your children learn these important life skills that promote good character and also good sportsmanship? You don’t want to miss out on this special presentation!

Kyrene del Norte
The Fourth Grades at Kyrene del Norte have begun their study of archaeology and Ancient Arizona.  Students are learning what archaeologists do and then using those skills to investigate people that lived in Arizona hundreds of years ago.  Students will be creating HoHoKam canals, doing shell etchings, bartering, and doing an archaeological dig.  This unit will be culminating with the creation of a Kachina doll.

Kyrene del SureñoKyrene del Sureño
PTO is hosting a Sock Hop on Friday, February 28 from 6 - 8 p.m.  We will have Sno-Cones, Popcorn, Pizza, Soda, and Cotton Candy.  A DJ will play 50's music.  The admission is $2.00 per person with a maximum $5 per family.  Families may take $1 off the price of admission with the donation of a pair of new socks.  Students and family will be able to purchase the new Sureño t-shirt and pre-sales for the yearbooks will begin that night.

C. I. Waggoner
Waggoner Kindergarteners started off the Valentine's Day celebrations by hosting the monthly Spirit Assembly.  This month's LifeSkill is Friendship.  Thanks to all the kindergarten students and teachers for their hard work in making this a success!  The rest of the day was spent with classrooms having individual Friendship parties.  Ms. Schafer's first graders are continuing their study of liquids and solids by doing sifting activities, sorting activities, and mixing activities, as they learn about properties of matter.  Students voted on their favorite Arizona Young Reader books this week.  Winners will be announced soon!  The fifth graders will be hosting a music performance this Thursday, February 20th, at 7:00pm in the Waggoner multi-purpose room.  The theme is tropical!  Everyone is invited to attend!

Kyrene Aprende Middle School
On February 4th, Aprende Middle School welcomed our new School Resource Officer, Sue Schilling.  Before coming to Aprende, Officer Sue worked in the Public Information Office of the Chandler Police Department, coordinating events and working with the media.  She has also worked on patrol, in recruit training, and is an officer in the Honor Guard.   She also has the honor of being Chandler's first female motorcycle officer, and really enjoys motorcycles.  She has wanted to be a police officer ever since childhood.  She enjoys working with kids, having worked in the Explorer Program and as a sports coach with the Catholic Youth Organization.  Officer Sue is looking forward to working with the students here at Aprende. On Thursday, February 13th, Aprende welcomed our exchange students from Navajoa, Mexico, as part of the Hands Across the Border Program.  The Mexican students were included in an assembly held Friday, February 14th.  Later, they attended the Sweetheart Dance, sponsored by the Student Council.

Kyrene Middle School
Seventh Grade Drama Students, attending Kyrene Middle School, present original scenes on Wednesday evening, February 19.  These sixty students have worked hard preparing, working, creating, writing, and rehearsing for this performance project.  "Mind Your Business," a collection of five scenes about careers and jobs, begins at 6:30 p.m. "The Wacky World of Sports," starts at 7:30 p.m. and explores the lives of coaches, athletes, and fans from several angles.  The audience will be sure to relate to scenes from the locker room to the living room!  Admission is free.  Call 480-783-1067 for more information.

Kyrene del Pueblo Middle School
The eighth grade students at Pueblo Middle School attended Career Day presentations given by members of our community on Wednesday, February 11th.  Pueblo parent Jackie Peterson and staff members Sandra Brome and Sharon Bond organized the event.  Our exciting presenters included the following:

Dr. Michael Templeton – dentistry; Geri Nyman - WWII female pilot; Sylvia Anderson and the Special Response Team - Sheriff’s department; Steve Abel - search and rescue; Jason Guth – chemist; Nicole DeLeon - East Valley Institute of Technology; Jim Sharpe - KTAR talk-show host; Darv Norman - X-ray technician; and Tiffany Mraz - Channel 12 TV producer.

Others included: Tom Bollard – nurse; Tyler Thompson - World Cup downhill mountain bike racer;

Bill Garriott - funeral director; Tim Campbell - urban planner; Ed Martin and Crystal Martin - Viper car sales; Ron Emory - Chandler police canine unit; and Ignacio Orozco - SRP human resources director.

Meanwhile, Pueblo sixth grade teams visited the Phoenix Art Museum during the week of February 10th and viewed the exhibit "El Greco to Picasso."  Art teacher Linda Rocks, made arrangements and taught lessons related to the 56 master art works our students enjoyed on their field trips.

D.W. Higgins charter school
Former NASA astronaut and retired Air Force Col. Ronald J. Grabe visited our school to talk with students about his experiences aboard shuttle missions of the Atlantis, Discovery and Endeavour. Mr. Grabe has logged more than 627 hours in space. Higgins students were treated to an awesome slide presentation of Mr. Grabe's views of the Earth and a spacewalk. Mr. Grabe is a Chandler resident, and his son, Ryan, is a kindergartner at Higgins.  

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