Carrillo Community Update
March 17 - 23
Message from Ms. Bittel
I sincerely hope that you all had an amazing Spring Break. Spring Break is always a great time to get outdoors to enjoy the warm Tucson air. For me, it's also a great time to do some spring cleaning, get rid of unused items, and reorganize to focus on our final quarter of the year.
Our benchmark requests are in and they are overall very strong! I will share individual grade level results with students tomorrow, but overall Carrillo scored #1 in ELA last quarter when grades 2, 3, 4, and 5 are averaged together. This is wonderful and a goal we have been working towards for the past 3 years! Thank you families for encouraging nightly reading and at-home IXL practice. It is truly paying off! Our math scores are also quite high. We have taken back our #1 place in TUSD when grades 2, 3, 4, and 5 are averaged together. Great job! With AASA just around the corner, we want to maintain that high level of focus as we look to any gaps that still exist between what students know and what they need to know to be considered proficient or higher.
This week we have our first "Fine Arts Night" from 5:00 - 7:00 pm on Tuesday the 19th. This will be similar to our Literacy Night but will allow students to have a variety of art experiences. Since the event closes at 7:00 we are asking families to arrive between 5:00 and 6:30 pm.
This Wednesday the 20th, is also TUSD's final Professional Learning Day for staff. That means there are no classes for students on Wednesday the 20th, but we are looking forward to seeing everyone back in school on Thursday the 21st.
Happy 4th Quarter Cougar families and welcome back!
-Ms. Bittel
Carrillo K-5 ... Creating Tomorrow's Leaders, Today!
Carrillo Named a 2024 Top Magnet School of Excellence!
Carrillo is thrilled to announce our recognition as a Top Magnet School of Excellence. We are proud of this accomplishment and thank our dedicated parents, faculty and students who made this possible.
Save the Date
Upcoming Events
- Monday, March 11 - Spring Break Begins
- Monday, March 18 - 4th Quarter Begins
- Tuesday, March 19 - Fine Arts Night (5:00 - 7:00 pm)
- Wednesday, March 20 - Professional Learning Day - No Classes
- Tuesday, March 26 - AASA Clap Out for Grades
- Wednesday, March 27 - 5th State Science Testing Begins
- Wednesday, March 27 - PTO Meeting
- Friday, March 29 - Spring Holiday - No Classes
- Wednesday, April 3 - Paraprofessional Appreciate Day
- Thursday, April 4 - Librarian Appreciation Day
Kind Campus Weekly Activity
Kindness Question of the Month
What are the benefits of showing gratitude?
How do we show thanks for the kindness we receive and for the good things in our lives?
Reflecting on Kindness
This Week's Highlights
PTO and Counseling Department Special Project
The PTO and Ms. Freeman have a fun "special project" planned this week. If you are available to volunteer to help the PTO and Ms. Freeman would appreciate it. Right now they are looking for just 4 more volunteers to help them complete this project. To sign up, please visit their SignUp Genius link.
Pio Decimo Update
Pio Decimo has asked us to remind families they will not be picking up students on March 22. If you have questions, please give them a call.
School Quality Surveys
TUSD's Assessment and Evaluation Department is asking every family will take a few minutes to provide them with your thoughts by completing an electronic survey. Please fill out a separate survey for each one of your children who attends a TUSD school. We greatly appreciate your support and look forward to continuing to serve you and all our TUSD Families. Thank you!
Carrillo has a 17% response rate and the survey will remain open until we hit 25% . Thank you for helping us reach our goal of 25%.
TUSD 2024 Parent SQS Web Links by Language
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PB8DMXP (Arabic version)
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PGGLS5H (English version)
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YZTPJ5T (Kinyarwanda version)
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PH2HZTS (Spanish version)
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YZFP9FJ (Swahili version)
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PPYF26S (Vietnamese version)
Improving Reading and Math at Home
Over the break, I challenged classes to log on to IXL to do a few reading or math sessions. I want to shout out to the classes who spent the most time exercising their brains as well as their bodies over the break.
- Ms. Matsushino's class with 20 hours of practice over the break
- Ms. Peralta's class with 5 hours of practice over the break.
- Ms. Barraza's class with 4 hours of practice over the break.
- Ms. Acosta's class with 1 hour of practice over the break
All students at Carrillo have access to a wonderful resource to support their continued growth in Reading and Math. That resource is IXL. Research shows that doing just 1 extra session a day can have a tremendous impact on student learning. Our younger students also have access to RAZ-Plus to support literacy.
To access IXL or RAZ Plus students just log into their Clever accounts and select the icons. Clever can be accessed from the Carrillo web page by selecting the "Applications" tab in the upper right-hand corner of the page. Please contact your student's teacher if they have any trouble.
Tax Credit Contributions
Spread the Word
If you have donated to the fund or have paid for Extended Day, thank you for your support.
If you have not yet donated and you are able to contribute, every dollar helps us to fund programs that open doors for all students. To contribute, visit TUSD's Tax Credit page. From the drop-down, select Carrillo K-5 Magnet. Selecting the "undesignated Tax Credit" option allows the Carrillo Site Council to place the funds in the area of greatest need,
Thank you for your help and for spreading the word! Please feel free to print out the attached flier and share it with neighbors or anyone who might be interested in supporting public education. We are trying to raise an additional $20,000 to support after-school tutoring next school year.
General Information
Books and Bundts!
Nothing Bundt Cakes has a special way to make reading even sweeter! Elementary students who read for 400 or more minutes a month and complete the reading tracker can turn in their reading tracker for a free bundtlet every month between February 1, 2024 and May 1, 2024 . That's 2 more months of free bundt cakes for doing their reading homework every night! To participate, simply open the attachment below on your computer, print them out, and take them to Nothing Bundt Cakes when complete.
FREE Kid's Clinic
The University of Arizona College of Medicine is sponsoring a FREE Kid's Clinic the first and third Saturday of every month. If your student is in need of vaccinations or sports physicals. Please visit their Facebook Page for more information.
Information form TUSD's Family Resource Center
Family Resource Center services are available to TUSD students and their families, free of charge. Please call the center to register for classes. Childcare is available to TUSD students and siblings for most classes. Please inform staff of the need for childcare when you register. Include the number of children, ages, and any special needs. Interpreter services are available. Please inform staff of the need for an interpreter when you register. Please register at least two weeks in advance if interpreter services are needed.
Other services include:
- Clothing bank
- Food pantry
- Help with TUSD forms
- Information and referrals
We hope to see you soon!
Visit the Family Resource Center's Webpage.
Social Media
Parents, we are asking for your help with social media. As a reminder, most social media user agreements state that users must be 13 or older to have an account. Please take a moment to discuss the reasons for the age limits with your students.
Most social media sites do not allow attacks or abuse based on race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, disability or disease. Please encourage students to be socially conscious and report any accounts that violate those policies directly to the social media platform before blocking the account.
Parent-Teacher Meetings
The teaching staff is quite busy preparing for daily instruction in the morning. Thank you for emailing to schedule a meeting time with them rather than just dropping in. Teacher email addresses can be found on our staff webpage. Thank you for your help!
Cafeteria Offerings
The Food Services website also has a page dedicated to this month's breakfast and lunch offerings. You can even even get a mobile app for your phone online.
Carrillo Online Spirit Store
Looking for Carrillo spirit gear? Adrian from Big Frog has set up this year's online store. You can purchase this year's "Success Across the Eduverse" shirt as well as classic Carrillo spirit gear.
Transportation and Parent Pick Up and Drop Off Reminders
TUSD Buses
For more information, visit Transportation's website to see if your student qualifies for FREE transportation and to begin routing.
Morning Drop Off Reminders
Just a friendly reminder that the earliest students can be dropped off is 7:35 a.m. at 17th Street. The office does not open until 8:00 and while Ms. Bittel is usually on campus well before 8:00, she is often in meetings or other parts of the building and unable to hear the doorbell. From 7:35 - 8:00 the only safe drop off is 17th Street. Thank you for helping us to keep all our cougars safe in the morning.
After School Reminders
The primary pick-up is 17th Street. Due to the size of our office, students will be unable to wait in the office. Parents, if you are parking up front, we invite you to wait in the Carrillo Art Gallery to meet your students.
Affter school Pick-Up Updates and Request
We know that the 17th Street area can get a bit congested at pickup. To help alleviate the situation, the City of Tucson has installed new signs to direct traffic and changed the direction of Samaniego Street.
The City of Tucson is requesting that families picking up on 17th Street exit the neighborhood using the following route.
- Travel west on 17th Street
- Turn south on 11th Avenue
- Turn west to access the frontage road or turn east to return to Main Avenue and 22nd Street.
Our neighbors kindly ask that you leave the driveways and corners open when you park so they can enter and exit their homes safely. If you do wait in your car along Samaniego, thank you for waiting at the bottom of the hill on the east side of the street so the roadway is clear for all vehicles and families crossing the street.
We are also asking families to arrive no earlier than 2:35 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday and no earlier than 1:35 on Wednesdays. Parents of intermediate students, if you plan to arrive at 2:50 or 1:50, that will give the primary students time to load up and reduce your wait time.
Thank you also for being patient, driving slowly, and watching the road carefully. The streets behind Carrillo are narrow and we want to avoid any further accidents. Thank you for helping us keep our Cougars and our community safe.
Follow these signs.
Thank you for exiting via S. 11th Ave.
Attendance and Absence Reporting
Attendance Reporting Made Easy
- Log into ParentVue from App or Computer
- Click the "Attendance" tab on the left column on the computer or on the App as soon as you log in the blue "report absence" with a small bell icon is there.
- On the top right corner of the page it will have a blue link that says "Report Absence" click on this
- Use the calendar to select dates and the drop-down for the reason for the absence.
- You may also add notes or upload a doctor's note and hit "save".
Of course, you may still give Ms. Diane Quiroz a ring at (520) 225-1200 if you prefer. Thank you for reporting all absences!
Attendance Matters
Missing a day of school here and there may not seem like much, but it adds up.
When a student misses 2 days a month they will miss...
- 20 days a year (the equivalent of a month of instruction)
- 30 hours of math instruction
- 60 hours of reading and writing instruction
- Over a 1 year of instruction by graduation
When a student misses 4 days a month they will miss...
- 40 days a year (the equivalent of two months of instruction)
- 60 hours of math instruction
- 120 hours of reading and writing instruction
- Over a 2 years of instruction by graduation
PTO News and Volunteering Opportunities
PTO Meeting This Month
Good evening families,
PTO has been hard at work to create wish lists for teachers with the money that we fundraised from Read--Thon earlier this school year. Also, since we have achieved our non-profit status we have been looking into building relationships with commonly used stores and businesses (Frys, Safeway/Albertsons, Costco and more) to enroll in their community rewards programs to further benefit our Cougars and their teachers with donations of gift cards, products and services as allowable. And in case you didn't hear: PTO has moved! Our new parent volunteer workroom will be located in the library, Room 202B. So if you are looking for opportunities to volunteer or want to check in and see what's new in PTO, stop by and see our new room. Thank you as always for your continued support of our school community.
-PTO
Please email PTO if you have any questions.
Volunteers / Visitors
We encourage all parents to register as volunteers on the TUSD website as the process takes a few weeks to complete. Parents cannot volunteer on field trips without completing this in advance.
We ask non-parental volunteers (grandparents, aunts, uncles, community members, etc.) to contact the office before registering as a volunteer so we can explain the process and help identify volunteer opportunities.
Art Volunteers Needed
Box Tops for Education
As of March 2nd, the Carrillo community has raised $55.20 for the school while grocery shopping.
The Top Classes are...
- #1 - Grade 1 with 131 box tops
- #2 - Grade 4 with 74 box tops
- #3 - Kindergarten with 49 box tops
- #4 - Grade 3 with 36 box tops
- #5 - Grade 5 with 14 box tops
- #6 - Grade 2 with 2 box tops
*Italics indicate an increase this week.
Community Events
Tucson Community Tennis Program
When: Saturday mornings
Where: Pueblo High School
Time: 8:00 - 9:30 am
Don't have a racquet? No worries, TCTP has loaner racquets students can use at the clinic.
For more information about TCTP, please visit their website.
Discovery Nights at the Children's Museum
Join us for Free Discovery Nights
from 5-7 pm every Thursday
at Children’s Museum Tucson!
Enjoy free admission, bilingual programming, and extended hours every Thursday! Reserve your tickets on the Discovery Nights webpage.
Art After Dark
Every Second Saturday, come learn about Tucson's vibrant arts community!
- Guest artists each month
- Hands-on activities
- Free museum admission 5:30 - 7:30 pm
- First 400 people receive a free return-visit pass.
Stay in Touch!
Stay current on our events by visiting our Facebook Page as well as the school website. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns please reach out. It is our mission to provide all students with a first-rate education in a kind and respectful environment.
Email the Principal:
Visit Our Website:
Location: 440 South Main Avenue, Tucson, AZ, USA
Phone: (520) 225-1200
Like Us On Facebook:
Mission Statement
Carrillo K-5 Communication and Creative Arts Magnet School engages children's minds, bodies, and senses using multiple modes of learning, thought, and self-expression.
Vision Statement
At Carrillo K-5 Communication and Creative Arts Magnet School, students become 21st Century leaders in a diverse world, through the development of a strong academic core, communication skills and creative arts abilities.