The Roadrunner Report
May 15th, 2023
It's the Last Week of School!!!
The Latest Ideas from Dr. Harris
Greetings Roadrunner,
The last week is upon us! Can you believe it? Our students have grown so much and we could not be more proud! For example, we recently got our End of Year DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) results for grades K-3 and our students knocked it out of the park! We greatly increased the number of students in the "above core" category, and significantly reduced the number of students in the "intensive" category. This is evidence that our youngest Roadrunners are acquiring the foundational skills necessary to be lifelong successful learners.
We are eagerly awaiting our AASA (Arizona Academic Standards Assessment) result for grades 3-6, but are very optimistic that our students will perform very well. We should get those results over the summer, and will have them in the hands of our families at the start of next year.
Meanwhile, we are finishing this year strong, and learning is taking place through the last day! For example, our 6th graders are working on many projects that are both engaging and are heavy academic hitters. They are building popsicle stick Ferris wheels and calculating the velocity of eggs in egg drop challenges, and calculating statistics when taking part in paper airplane flight competitions, to name a few.
As we do move into summer, there is a lot you can do to combat the dreaded summer slide. Encourage your students to read often. When students do read, ask them questions about what they read, and ask them to show you where in the text they found their answer. For our younger students, ask them to identify letters in billboards as you drive around. You can also have your students estimate the grocery bill while your shopping, or things like blocks, crayons, toy cars, puzzles, and crafts can be used to teach skills such as counting, recognizing patterns, comparing, and ordering.
Next year, our Meet the Teacher Night will be on July 26th, from 4:45-5:45 and we will begin again. Between now and then, though, if you continue to practice, your student will have so much fun learning, they won't even notice that they haven't missed a beat! This would be yet another example of our amazing partnership in education.
Thank you for an amazing year! Hope to see you at this week's assemblies and before and after school!
Bobbi Cerro, Proud Principal of Mirage Elementary School
As you know, Dr. Harris has been meeting with our teachers monthly to help us bolster our students' resiliency and working memory. From time to time we have shared some of those strategies here on the Roadrunner Report. At our last Professional Development, Dr. Harris shared a lot of brain research about the connection between emotions and learning. Check out some of that information below:
We Have a Few Yearbooks Left!
We have a very small amount of yearbooks left! They can be purchased before school in the front office. Mrs. Moore will meet you up there to complete the purchase, you can send your student in with money, or you can email our Yearbook Advisor at kelly.moore@dvusd. The price is $25.00 in cash. There are only approximately six left, so they will go very quickly, and will be sold on a first come, first serve basis!
Last Day for Backpacks is Thursday, May 18th!
Please be sure that your student does not bring a backpack to school on Friday. Thursday will be the last day for backpacks.
Summer School Offerings
DVUSD Summer camp offers students in grades K-8 (age 5-14) the opportunity to experience the adventures of summer and create special memories exploring the fun of summertime through educational, athletic, creative, and social activities in a safe, positive environment. Sports, arts & crafts, STEM, and themed activities are a sampling of what makes this camp fun! This opportunity is not held on Mirage Campus. Mirage will be hosting JumpStart, which is something different, and is based on academic need. If your student qualified for JumpStart, you would have already received an invitation. This 'Sun'sational Summer Camp is fee based and open to all K-8 students. There are still openings at select campuses. Click on the image for additional details!
Friday is the Last Day of School and a Half Day!
School gets out at 11:20 AM! Our 6th Grade clap out will take place at 11:10. If you have a sixth grader, we invite you and the entire family to line up just outside the gate and cheer on our sixth graders as they depart and head out for the summer and 7th grade! Bring posters, flowers, balloons, and the cheering section! The entire school will line the hallways to clap them out as they dismiss prior to the rest of the campus! Come and join us in wishing them well! They will definitely be missed!!