On a chilly, fall evening atPeña Blanca Elementary, morethan 100 students, parents, andteachers gathered to share theirlove of reading and the nightsky.“AstronomyNight” fea-

tured telescopic viewing,hands-on activities, andreading, all part of theschool’smonthly themedlibrary night inOctober.“Our goal is to get par-

ents excited about read-ing and engage the com-munity in somethingthey have never experi-encedwhile connecting itto literature,” saidMonicaTorres, parent liaison atPeña Blanca.Dr. Larry Lebofsky, a

planetary astronomer for35 years before retiringfrom theUniversity of Ari-

zona, made a visit to Rio Ricofor Astronomy Night. Dr.Lebofsky read Mathew Gol-lub’s book “TheMoon was at aFiesta” on the basketball courtbefore bringing the studentsover to view themoon through

two high-powered tele-scopes.

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“We believe that everyone will experiencesuccessful learning every day.”

COATIMUNDIMSCROSSCOUNTRYUNDEFEATEDPAGE8

Astronomy is a bigdraw for library

nights

In the RRHS Freshman Academy, students are largely insulated from the campus world of sophomores, jun-iors, and seniors – and the loss of focus such a broader exposure represents – so freshmen are more likelyto gain their high school footing and begin making habitual behaviors most likely to lead to success.

Freshman Academy setsstudents on solid path

For a young person develop-ing in mind and body, the latemodernworld can seema chaot-ic,evendangerousplace:abewil-dering variety of paths that areopen to adolescents.Not all of those paths prove

wise.“That’s the critical age where

they see their future,” said RioRico High School PrincipalShelly Vroegh. “If a 9th gradestudent fails a class or misses outonameaningfulconnectionwithone of his or her teachers, thatstudent too often feels defeated

andgivesup trying.That’s adeadendforhimorherpersonallyandmarks a failure for the widercommunity.”

“The Freshman Academy isabsolutely critical to our suc-cess,”Ms. Vroegh said.

By Morgan Falkner

See ACADEMY/ Page 13

PHOTO/DR. LARRY LEBOFSKYPeña Blanca Elementary preschooler ValeriaTorres views themoon through a high-powered telescope during Peña Blanca’sLibrary Astronomy Night.

By Melissa Holland

See LIBRARY/ Page 13

What creates an ‘A’ district?Pa

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SUPERINTENDENT’SLETTER:

NOGALES INTERNATIONALWICK COMMUNICATIONS

Manuel C. CoppolaPublisher & Editor

268W.ViewPointDrive,Nogales,Arizona85621,520.375.5760Fax520.761.3115

Ontheweb:www.nogalesinternational.com

Toadvertiseinyourschoolnewsletterpleasecontact:MariaorCarmen

attheNogalesInternational:520.375.5760

SANTACRUZVALLEYUNIFIEDSCHOOLDISTRICTNo.35MissionStatement

“We believe that everyone will experi-ence successful learning every day.”

Boardmembers can be contacted through the district office:

281-8282or by writing to:Santa Cruz Valley Unified School

District No. 351374W. Frontage RoadRio Rico,Arizona 85648

SCVUSD No. 35Transportation

department

Forinformationorquestionscall:(520)761-2164(direct line)

Transportation@santacruz.k12.az.us

Governing Board

ROD RICHSuperintendent

By now you have heard thatyour school district, SantaCruzValleyUnified SchoolDistrictNo. 35, was awardedan “A” rating from the ArizonaDepartment of Education(ADE) for the 2011-2012school year. Thismeans thatyour district ranks in the top10 percent of Arizona’s 240districts.

We are proud of this accom-plishment.We have workedhard to arrive at this moment.That’s why in this issue of

our district newsletter we arehighlighting what we call our“tried and true” programs –those that have proven overtime to help our studentsachieve in ways othersmaynever have thought possible. Iwant to stress the word “oth-ers,” because we at SCVUSDNo. 35 never doubted. Letmetell you this story.In July of last year when the

state’s ratings were published, Ireceived a call from a reporter.Hewanted to know how it waspossible for our district to berated so highly – to achieve an“A” rating, particularly in lightof everything “we had goingagainst us.”My initial reaction was one

of shock.Whywould anyonequestion our accomplish-ments? I asked for clarification.He said, “Look at the demo-

graphics of your student popu-lation. Seventy-six percent en-ter kindergarten unable tospeak English. Seventy-sevenpercent are on free-and-re-duced lunch. According to theresearch, your students aren’texpected to succeed,much lessexcel. How do they do it?How do you do it?”The answers are found in

this issue. Our teachers,through the assistance of ournewsletter liaisons, shed lighton the questions . . . how doour students do it? How doweas a district do it? How doweexcel?

You will read about:•Our very successful ele-

mentary reading program,Reading Street, as told by theteachers atMountain ViewEl-ementary.•Two different types of ele-

mentary reading interventionprograms: one that’s availableto all students in the school,and one that is designed forthose students who need extrahelp. Both programs excel inpreparing students to read atgrade level by the time theyreach third grade. And, theyaccomplish this evenwhen stu-dents aren’t able to speak Eng-lish when they first enterschool.- As for not speaking Eng-

lish upon entering school, youwill read aboutOscar Amaya, astudent who recently receivedstatewide recognition for hismany achievements – the firstof which was his speed and ef-

ficiency inmastering the Eng-lish language.• Innovative library pro-

grams that have been refinedover the years: one which reg-ularly invites parents and fami-lymembers to “themed”nights at school, and onewhich teaches history throughtheatrical performances. Bothare examples of teachers work-ing collaboratively with par-ents and other teachers to helpour students learn.

By Rodney K. Rich

Superintendent of Schools

See SUP’T/ Page 13

VICTORFONTESMember

JOELKRAMERBoardpresident

MARIANEUMANMember

BRIAN VANDERVOETMember

SUSANFAUBIONBoardclerk

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HistoryTheater at PBmakes research fun

When fifth-graderMaya Robles was askedwhat it must have beenlike to be the famousguide Sacajawea she an-swered, “Very excitingbecause she journeyedthrough a lot of U.S. ter-ritories and faced many

challenges when she wasvery young.”

Dressed in colorfulNative American cloth-ing including a headdressand braids, Robles fin-ished her historical char-acter presentation duringher library time at PeñaBlanca Elementary. Thisis the first year of librari-an Renee Curren’s pro-gram, “History The-ater.”

Due to limited time inthe classrooms to teachsocial studies, Ms. Cur-ren offered to utilize li-brary resources to devel-op the “History The-ater” educational project.Her goal is to engagestudents in history.

In addition to learningabout important peoplefrom the past, the re-search projects are de-signed to initiate and in-spire research and pres-entation skills that stu-dents will use for the restof their academic lives.Fifth-graders conductthe research and presentin costume to their peers,a character of theirchoice who has con-tributed historically toour world.

“The characters thestudents have chosen toresearch continue toamaze me: fromPresident Obamato Anne Frank, He-len Keller, and

Walt Disney. The stu-dents have chosen a widevariety of influential peo-ple from the past,” saysCurren.

Most of the work isdone during their weeklylibrary time but somestudents have chosen totake their character biog-raphies home to do morein-depth research. Stu-dents are also required topresent their character incostume. Second hand,found-items, or home-made items are encour-aged. Creativity and au-

thenticity (true tothe character) arethe expectations forthe costuming.

During the pre-

sentations, classmates fillout a “judge’s sheet” thatprovides feedback to thestudents. Student ob-servers are encouraged tothink deeply about thepresentation and askmeaningful questions atthe end of the presenta-tion. Students must alsocomplete a timelineabout their person fromhistory.

Francisco Navarro, afifth-grader in Mrs. Mar-tinez’s class, chose to re-port on Alex Rodriguez,baseball player for theNew York Yankees.Navarro wore his Yan-kees jersey for his pres-entation and said it was“cool” to teach his class-

mates about the charac-ter he selected.

“He is my inspiration,”said Navarro. “He makesme want to keep going inschool, play baseball,have a good career, and abetter life.”

What’s next for PeñaBlanca’s library?

“A science fair is agreat way to encourageresearch and creativitywhile fostering our stu-dents’ interests,” Currensaid. “I love seeing thelight and pride in theireyes when they are learn-ing and my goal is to getthem excited about socialstudies and science dur-ing their library time.”

By Melissa Holland

PHOTOS/RENEE CURREN & MELISSA HOLLAND

Left:Vanessa Urias, left, and LillianValenzuela, both fifth-graders, research their historical characters for Peña Blanca’s HistoryTheater. Middle: Luisana Puig Montijo, in characteras Susan B. Anthony, gave a presentation as part of her fifth-grade history project combined with the school library’s history theater. Right: Fifth-graders from Mrs. Cerezo’s class,Jonathon Ruvalcaba, left, Aldo Gonzalez, and Jesus Duarte research their historical characters for Peña Blanca’s HistoryTheater.

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Common Core Standards on the way

To paraphrase a popular if notirreverent axiom: ShiftHappens.This is certainly true of the new-ly-adopted ArizonaCommonCore Standards (ACCS).

Understanding these shiftsandwhat they will mean for stu-dents will be critical to helpingour school district and our fami-lies transition smoothly whenthese new standards are fully im-plemented in the upcomingschool year.

Why the need for this shift?Because as stated in EducationWeek, “High school completiondoes not equal college readi-ness.”

In other words, students aregraduating from high schools allacross America without the req-uisite skills necessary to be im-mediately successful in college-level classes or the workplace.Remedial coursework or addi-

tional training is often necessarywhich costs time andmoney.The ACCS seeks to fill that gapby insuring that all students whograduate high school are pre-pared for their next college orcareer step.

The English Language Artsstandards bring six significant“shifts” to the classroom:

1. Balancing informationaland literary text, particularly attheK-5 level.

2. Knowledge through litera-cy in the content areas, particu-larly at the 6-12 level.

3. A “staircase” of complexityas students progress from gradeto grade.

4. Responding to text by ref-erencing text.

5. Enriching writing by citingsources.

6. Strengthening academicvocabulary.

On their face, these shiftsseem logical, so why are theyconsidered significant? Let’s ex-plore.

Shift 1: Elementary schoolshave historically flooded youngreaders with fiction to learn thereading process. Talking animalsteachmorality and social aware-ness while biographies, sciencebooks and periodicals are oftenleft out. ACCS requiresmore ofa 50/50 balance between fictionand non-fiction.

Shift 2 requires that non-Language Arts classrooms at thesecondary level (i.e. science, so-cial studies, economics, etc.) de-mand the deep reading of infor-mational texts (books, journals,newspapers) as ameans of learn-ing the content. In addition, thisshift challenges the notion that“reading to learn” is only aboutcomprehension. The demandfor fluent reading continues toincreasemeaning that copiousamounts of practicemust con-tinue across all content areas.

Shift 3 is arguably themostdisheartening. As a student pro-gresses from grade to grade, thetexts he or she encountersmust

become increasinglymore rig-orous in their language.Why isthis even an issue? Because in aneffort to remove barriers tolearning for students, “‘K-12texts have actually trended‘downward in difficulty’ andhave become ‘less demanding’over the past 50 years,” accord-ing toDr. Smith ofMetaMetricsin his policy brief. The unin-tended consequence of givingstudents easiermaterial to readhas been that as a nation, ourstudents have lost the ability toaccessmore challenging works.

Shift 4 and Shift 5 both re-quire students to referencetext(s) in their oral andwrittenresponses to questions. Opin-ions are fine… as long as theyare supported by facts and con-textual evidence.

Shift 6: In SCVUSDNo. 35we have known for a long timethat academic vocabulary is adifferent level for our students inthe English Language Learners(ELL) program than simple

English vocabulary. ACCS con-firms that belief that in order forstudents to be successful inschool, they have to knowwordssuch as integer, microscopic, andpopulace in addition to theirsimpler counterparts of “num-ber,” “small,” and “people.”

Where does this leaveSCVUSDNo. 35? Our teach-ers have beenworking diligentlyall year at restructuring our cur-riculum calendars to insure thatthey are alignedwith the newexpectations. In addition, teach-ers will continue to spend time“unwrapping” these standardswhichmeans taking a carefullook at what precisely each stan-dard is expecting of the students.Only in this way will the teach-ers fully appreciate the new,more rigorous demands and beable to shift their students into ahigher gear.(Author’s note: In our next issue,

we will explore the significant shiftsthat ACCS brings to mathematics.)

By Stephen Schadler

Director of Curriculum andInstruction

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Reading focus in earlygrades gets results

“The single most cru-cial academic skill, read-ing, is the foundation tolifelong learning,” writesLynn Fielding, NancyKerr and Paul Rosier intheir book, “AnnualGrowth, Catch-UpGrowth.” This view isshared at San CayetanoElementary and is the rea-son the reading interven-tion program was createdfour years ago.

“We take very seriouslythe district’s goal of havingall students read on gradelevel by third grade. Wefocus on that goal begin-ning on the first day ofkindergarten,” said Princi-pal Berenice Rodriguez.

The intervention pro-gram has evolved from aseparate “pull-out” pro-gram for specifically iden-tified students to a school-wide program available toall students. San Cayetanohas six reading interven-tionists who work in each

classroom four days aweek.

“We design the pro-gram at each grade level incollaboration with theclassroom teachers, so thedetails of the programlook different from gradelevel to grade level. Theclassroom teacher is thekey and we (the readinginterventionists) are thereto team with them andsupport them,” explainedJudy Seaman, SanCayetano’s literacy coach.

The first grade team ofteachers explained thereading intervention pro-gram from their perspec-tive.

“Group sizes rangefrom 3 to 20. The more

intensive the need thesmaller the group,” saidMs. Ruelas. “We get to fo-cus on each student’s per-sonal strengths and weak-nesses,” said Mrs. Mar-tinez. “It’s working,” con-cluded Ms. Montenegro.

They know it’s workingbecause of the biweeklytests given to monitor stu-dents’ progress. The read-ing intervention programhas a secondary perk.

“It is almost like a train-ing ground for futureteachers for the district. Inthe four years of the pro-gram, three former inter-ventionists will becomecertified teachers. One willbe student teaching nextyear and two others are

taking classes to be ateacher,” Seaman ex-plained. “The advantagesare that these are peoplewho want to learn theskills and the craft to be ateacher. This is beneficialto them and our students.”

“It’s different to readfrom a book or hear froma professor compared toexperiencing it. There arethose things that no text-book will tell you. We arelearning as we go,” saidSarah Boswell, reading in-terventionist. “I definitelyfeel more prepared to be aclassroom teacher fromthe experience of thesefour years.”

By Debbie Condes

Above: ReadingInterventionist SarahBoswell works with asmall group of students.

Right: Kindergartenteacher Mindy Scanlangives small groupinstruction duringReading Interventiontime.

Eating morefood but not

more caloriesCalories are more than “things” that fill you up.

Calories come from three nutrients in our foods: car-bohydrates, protein and fat. The amount of each infoods varies, and the type and quantity in each fooddetermines the healthfulness of the foods we eat.

For example, there are carbohydrates in whole-grain rich foods, which contain fiber and B vitamins.Then there are carbohydrates in foods that are madeup of more sugar and refined white flour, such asdesserts and many bread products.

When comparing whole-grain-rich carbohydratefood with the one made with sugar and refined whiteflour, you may see they contain the same number ofcalories per serving. However, the whole-grain-richcarbohydrate typically contains more nutrition. Thisis due to the added fiber, vitamins and minerals com-pared to the white flour product.

Even when the calories are equal, the nutrition isnot.

Another example includes the side foods we in-clude with our meals. A ½ cup of a fried vegetable,for example, French fries, can have more calories andunhealthy fats compared to a 1 ½ cup side of steamedvegetables and fresh fruit.

When you eat healthier calories with less added fatand sugar, you actually get to eat more food, but notnecessarily more calories. This means you “fill up”your belly without added body fat.

Submitted by Sodexo

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In its 5TH year, club gets kids out walking

“Exercise turns on yourbrain, makes your body fit,makes you feel good andhelps burn up extra ener-

gy.” This is themessageMr. CharlesDenson re-peats to his students everymorning at the FeelGoodMileageClub that he cre-ated at SanCayetano Ele-mentary.The FeelGoodMileage

Clubmeets every day be-fore school. Students andparents participate bywalking laps. Each per-son’s laps are logged andtallied to determine thetotal number ofmileswalked. So far fromAu-gust toDecember of this

2012-2013 school year,participants have logged1,540miles!“It is intrinsicallymoti-

vational even thoughthere’s an external re-ward,”Mr.Denson ex-plained. For each quartermile walked, participantsearn a stamp.When theyearn 20 stamps they re-ceive a chain and charm.TheMileageClub pro-

gram has grown each yearsince it was started fiveyears ago.“We have a record

number of parents thisyear. About eight comeconsistently.We’ve had atotal of about 25.Whenthe weather is warmwecan have 80 students par-ticipate a day.When it’scold, student participationdrops to about 20-25 aday.”Mr.Denson shared to-

tal miles walked from pre-vious years to demonstratethe program’s growth. In2010-2011, a total of1,155miles were logged.This was exceeded in

2011-2012with 2,690 to-tal miles logged.Themiles are tracked

for the whole school, thenbroken down by grade lev-el, classroom and individ-ual student.Mileage re-sults by class are posted inthe school’s multi-purposeroom for students to tracktheir progress.“It gives students a real-

life application of readingcharts,” saidMr.Denson.“If you talk to a teacher,they say they can see thatmileage club students are

more focused and seemmore able to learn.”ThemessageMr.Den-

sonwants to instill in hisstudents is that nutritionaland physical activity habitsestablished early in lifestay with you.“Premium interest is in

test scores but you needhealth to enjoy yourmind.Things need to go hand-in-hand,” saidMr.Den-son. “What good is it ifyou grow up to be a rocketscientist but you have aheart attack at 30?”

By Debbie Condes

PHOTOS/CHARLES DENSON

San Cayetano students check their class progress in the walking club.In the Feel Good Mileage Club, for each quarter mile walked, participants earn a stamp.When they earn 20 stamps they receive a chain and charm.

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Setting the bar high through music

Whatmakes our stu-dents so successful?Hereat CalabasasMiddleSchool (CMS) we havesome great programshelping to ensure that ourstudents succeed both aca-demically andwithin theirextracurricular classes.One of the programs

CMS is proud to have isthe band program.Ms.

KristaMueller is CMS’sband teacher andwhatshe’s doing is proof thathard work and persever-ance work. This isMueller’s third year atCMS.“I have seen amazing

improvement in our bandssince this year's eighthgraders came in as sixthgraders, and that first con-cert included all the bandsplaying together,” saidMrs. JudithHyden, aneighth grade teacher. “Inaddition, the Jazz Band isplaying at its best ever. Iam so proud ofMs.Mueller and all thebands.”“My daughter is an

eighth grader this year,andwhen she came intomiddle school (at sixthgrade), she wanted to quit

band,” said LourdesBarreda, parent of bandstudent Alexandria Bel-tran. “I asked her to atleast try it out for a semes-ter. She now plays threeinstruments and enjoysband.“My daughter has been

in Jazz Band since lastyear, she auditioned andwas chosen for the Sym-phonic Band, and theHonors Jazz Band lastyear, and this year she wasone of the few students toattend ‘Festival in Febru-ary’,” Barreda said.“It is amazing how

much she has progressedand how not only with tal-ent, but technique anddedication. She has ac-complished somuchwiththe help of her band direc-tor KristaMueller.”

Ms.Mueller first taughtband at PuebloMagnetHigh School inTucsonbefore joiningCMS. Shewas asked what shethought aboutmovinghere andwhat her hopesare for the program.“When I started teach-

ing band here at Cal-abasas, I knew that I wastaking over an excellentmiddle school band pro-gram. I had heard greatthings about the band pro-gram from everyone that Italked to,” saidMs.Mueller. “I hope that theband students learnmuchmore from being in bandthan to just play their in-struments.“I wantmy students to

learn how to be responsi-ble and respectful,” shecontinued. “I place a lot ofimportance on being ontime and learning how tobe responsible for your

own actions. I also havevery high expectations forthe band students. Thesehigh expectations aren’tonly for the band room,but are also for their over-all academic success andcharacter. The higher thebar is set, the harder thestudents will work to reachit.”The band has received

many “superior” and “ex-cellent” ratings at festivalsthey attend. In addition,each year about 15 stu-dents have been selectedto participate in theSouthern ArizonaHonorsBand Festival and three tosix students have been se-lected to participate in theArizona All-StateMiddleSchool Band.

By Tonya Latvala

Director Krista Mueller leads the Calabasas Middle Schoolband in a recent concert.

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Learning English a critical achievement

How do you knowwhen a school curriculumis working? Is it that thestudents pass tests, or thatthey move up in classrank?

At Calabasas MiddleSchool (CMS) students inthe English LanguageLearner (ELL) programare doing both! They ex-perience great successwith learning the Englishlanguage and content. Os-car Amaya is an exampleof such success.

Amaya, a former CMSstudent now attending RioRico High School, re-ceived state recognitionfor his accomplishment.

He was recognized as an“ELL Student SuccessStory” at the Office ofEnglish Language Acqui-sition Services Conferencein Tucson.

Amaya started school inthe United States at thebeginning of his seventh-grade year. His initial testscores showed his Englishlanguage ability was classi-fied as “pre-emergent.”While in the ELL pro-gram, he participated eachday and was very motivat-ed to learn. By April of hiseighth grade year -- a yearand half later -- his testscores showed he was“proficient.”

Now in high school, hecontinues to develop hisEnglish language skills

and is academically suc-cessful as he maintains a3.5 (out of 4.0) grade-point average. Amaya hasbeen selected “Student ofthe Month” at Rio RicoHigh School twice. He isalso in many extracurricu-lar clubs like the Law En-forcement Club and thecross country team, wherehe is one of the top fiverunners.

“Oscar's communica-tion skills have improveddrastically since coming toCMS three year ago,” saidMegan Padilla, his formerEnglish teacher at CMS.“When he started schoolhe was relatively shy be-cause he didn't know thelanguage. However, nowthat he has learned Eng-

lish he communicates wellwith his teachers andcoaches. I was honored tohave the opportunity topresent Oscar with hisaward at the conference.”

Starting this schoolyear, all students in theELL program at CMS areplaced in classrooms withEnglish-speaking stu-dents. Each student has anIndividual LanguageLearning Plan (ILLP).Teachers collaborate toensure that students re-ceive the proper supportfor their English languagedevelopment, while theylearn the grade-level cur-riculum.

In recent years, the av-erage reclassification ratefor a student in the CMS

ELL program has beenwell above the state aver-age. Reclassification oc-curs when a studentachieves a benchmarkmastery level of the Eng-

lish language. The averagereclassification rate for thepast three years at CMS is56 percent, whereas thestate average is in the 26-36 percent range.

ByTonya Latvala andMegan Padilla

Student Oscar Amaya received state recognition for gainsin learning English. He’s shown with teacher MeganPadilla at recent Office of English Language AcquisitionServices Conference inTucson.

Coatimundi Cross Country undefeated inArizona

It is no secret that RioRico High School's CrossCountry team has hadgreat success, with theboys' team winning theirfourth state championshipin 12 years in November.What may be unknown,though, are the accom-plishments of the Coat-imundi Middle SchoolCross Country team thatfeeds into RRHS.

Coached by ToniSchadler and Alli LaCroix,the girls’ team ran an un-

defeated season in 2012.The boys were undefeatedin Arizona, falling to sec-ond place only once at theTwilight Invitational inPhoenix to a New Mexicoteam.

The Coatimundi CrossCountry team may havehad a great record, butthey also showed goodcharacter along the way.“They were a really niceteam to coach. Theythanked all the officials,and they really enjoyedeach others' company. Itwas a pleasure to see themoutside of an academic set-ting,” LaCroix said.

Perhaps the star runnerwas Alexandra Schadler,who took first place inevery race except the Twi-light Invitational. But shewasn't the only reason forthe team's success.“Everyone came together,and everyone pulled their

weight, which allowed usto win,” said ToniSchadler, Alexandra’smother and team coach.

Schadler and LaCroixcited teamwork as an im-portant part in their team'ssuccess. In what seems likea lonely sport, Coatimun-di's runners fueled eachothers' energy. Theirfriendliness and dedicationhelped many of them toplace high enough to helptheir team win meets. Sat-urday practices didn'thurt, either.

Schadler also creditedher team's success withhigh expectations, hardwork, and the groundworkthat had been laid in sixthand seventh grades. “Youdon't cancel practice be-cause there is a rain drop.”

By Patrick Echlin

PHOTOS/JOHN HAYS

Alexandra Schadler is one of the top team members.Middle school students Patrick Hays, left, and Edgar Alcaraz enjoy competing.

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District’s great musicians start young

TheRio Rico schoolbands have been consid-ered among the best foryears. Let’s look at recentyears.In April 2012, the Rio

RicoHigh School JazzBandwas named “Judges'MostOutstanding En-semble,” at theHighlandJazz Festival inGilbert. Toearn this title, RRHS Jazzhad to beat 47 of the best

school jazz groups in Ari-zona.Earning this tremen-

dous honor would nothave been possible with-out a band of extremelytalented people. The2011-2012RRHS JazzBand had plenty of experi-enced talent, and perhapsevenmore promise, as al-most half of the bandwasmade up of freshmen.DanielaGonzalez, who

plays alto saxophone, andCesarManjarrez on tenorsaxophonewere no doubta big part of becoming the“MostOutstanding En-semble.” Both of thesestudents used their talentslast year to earn competi-tive spots as freshmenmu-sicmajors at theUniversi-ty of Arizona.Gonzalez andManjar-

rez are not the first stu-

dents fromRioRicoHighSchool to pursuemusic asa career in college. BenIniguez (class of 2011,bass) andChristopherOzorio (class of 2009, per-cussion) are alsomusicmajors atUA. Alex Brown(class of 2012, saxophone)is attending the ArmySchool ofMusic at FortStory in Virginia Beach,VA.Even if students choose

to study a field other thanmusic, they are still wellprepared for amusicaladult life. Recent gradu-ates LuisDe la Rosa,NicholasQuiroz, andRaul Bravo have all con-tinued to play in universitygroups.Evidence of the Rio Ri-

co Bands' commitment tofosteringmusical growthcontinues to show this

year. RRHS senior SaulMillan has been acceptedinto the 2013 Arizona All-State Jazz Band. Severalother high school andmiddle school students areattending various honorbands this year.The grades 5-12 inte-

gration of the SCVUSDbands is perhaps themostimportant part of produc-ing high qualitymusicians.The four directors, Jere-myWright (PB,MV, andSC), KristaMueller(CMS), Patrick Echlin(CTMS), andRachelGasper (RRHS) can befound at almost everyband concert, giving theirtime to help each other setup, share teaching ideas,and ensure vertical align-ment of the curriculum.From the first noise in

fifth grade, students and

directors work tirelessly todevelop the youngmusi-cians' skills. By the end ofsixth grade, students havealready played all 12majorscales (scales are the foun-dation of themajority ofmodernmusic), attended aconcert band festival inTucson, andmarched in atleast one parade.Seventh and eighth

grades are wheremusi-cianship starts to reallytake off. Students have theopportunity to join JazzBand at Calabasas andCoatimundimiddleschools and start learningextended scales andmoredifficult music.These scales, festivals,

and other developments ofmusical abilities continueeach year as the bands rackupmore awards. TheCoatimundiMiddle

School, CalabasasMiddleSchool, andRio RicoHigh School bands haveconsistently earned “Ex-cellent,” “Superior,” and“Superior withDistinc-tion” awards atmarchingband, concert band, andjazz band festivals.If you are interested in

hearing the award winningRio Rico Bands, come to aconcert. Concerts are freeand open to the public andstart at 6:30 p.m. Concertschedule:

Coatimundi MiddleSchool, February 21 andMay 16

Rio Rico High School,February 22 and May 10

Calabasas MiddleSchool, March 1 andMay 17

(For more information con-tact Patrick Echlin at pech-lin@santacruz.k12.az.us)

By Patrick Echlin

The RRHS Marching Band in the stands at the football stadium.Members of the Rio Rico HighSchool 2012 Regional HonorBand gather. At the far backare Richard Rubin andGenaro Meras. Middle row,from left, are Ramiro Bravo,Saul Millan, Horacio Valencia,Cesar Manjarrez, DanielaGonzalez, Missy Diaz, AndreaVan Duinen, Michelle Diazand Jennifer Davidson. Front,from left, are Gabriel Paco,Steven Mabante andStephanie Brennan.Right: Drum MajorsTylerBauer, left, and Michelle Diazshow their many trophiesfrom the Canyon Del OroMarching Invitational.

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“Non-reading childrenare the greatest problemin American education,”writesGlennDorman inhis book, “HowToTeachYour BabyToRead.”Teachers atMountainViewElementary havetaken steps to addressthese concerns.

To help students whoare behind in their readingskills, an intervention pro-gram has been put in placeatMountainView that hasan ongoing record ofproven success. This in-tervention is essential be-cause it gives some stu-dents the extra help theyneed to be able to read on-level before they reachGrade 4. This ability isproven to be necessary forsuccessful reading in the

years beyond fourth grade.Mountain View’s read-

ing intervention program,referred to as STAR (Spir-itedTeamAcceleratingReading), has been in ac-tion for five years. Thefive-member teamworksfour days a week under thedirection of readingteacherMrs.Mimi Rente-ria. They work with clus-ters of K-5 below-levelreaders. Each of the ninegroups receives small-group instruction for 25minutes. During the ses-sions, children are taughtusing a part of the “Read-ing Streets” curriculumdesigned to help readerswhile supporting theirregular classroom teacher.

Evidence shows that theprogram is working. Thisis found in themid-yearbenchmark scores from

the district test thatmeas-ures a child’s reading flu-ency and comprehension,called theDIBELS test.Mid-year scores show sol-id growthwhen comparedto test results from the be-ginning of the year.

“Themost significantgrowth took place ingrades K-3,” saidMrs.Renteria. “At the start ofthe school year, 29 percentof those students scored asIntensive. Thatmeansthey fell far below grade-level in reading. But nowatmid-year, our results areshowing that 16 percent ofthose Intensive studentsimproved their scores dra-matically. They have nowall advanced to eitherStrategic (below grade-level) or Benchmark (atgrade-level).”

An enthusiasticMrs.

Renteria found additionalevidence the program isworking. “The number ofK-3 students who are nowreading at grade-level hasshot up 11 percent sincethe beginning of the year,and gains have beenmadein the students’ DIBLESscores across the grades.The students’ hard work ispaying off!” she beamed.

STAR teachers alsoprovide after-school tutor-ing duringMountainView’s federally-funded21st Century LearningProgram, and regularlywork alongside classroomteachers instructing smallgroups during the campus’one-hour reading block.

Serious about educa-tion,Mrs.MaribelMcIl-rath took the “If YouCanReadThis Thank aTeacher” bumper sticker

to heart. Upon exiting aSTARParent Class whereshe learned strategies forreading with her childrenat home, she said,“Thanks somuch for allyou do for the children.”

She and others in theschool community aregrateful thatDorman’s“nonreader” problem isfalling far-below atMoun-tain View.

By Mark Dittmar

Mountain View Kindergartener Jasmin Anguianoimproves her reading skills with interventionist Mrs. MimiRenteria.

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A tributeto MaryLucker

My first memory ofMary Luckerwas her bright smile as she walked theaisles ofMountain ViewElementarySchool where she taught computertechnology. She was friendly, warmand certainly patient with staff mem-bers who lacked computer skills. Shewas always willing to lend a helpinghand.Over the years, as I got to know

Mary I admired her dedication toteaching. Evenwhen her health start-ed to fail, she seldommissed work.This demonstratedMary’s commit-ment to her profession. She was veryaware of the importance of teachingcomputer skills to the next generationof students, and she excelled at this.She had a positive impact on the

staff and students, inspiring staff mem-bers to go back to school to furthertheir education.Mary’s warm smilewill bemissed but not forgotten. Restin peace.

(Note: Mary Lucker passed away inJanuary 2013. She taught computertechnology at Mountain View, SanCayetano and Peña Blanca Elementaryschools.)

By Mayra M. Rodriguez

Second grade teacher

Mary Lucker

Reading skills grow eachyear through programIn an educational environ-

ment known for replacingwhat works with whatmightwork better,Mountain ViewElementary teachers havefound a program that doeswork better and they have da-ta to back their claims.When over 70 percent of a

school’s incoming kinder-garteners test a year (ormore) behind in skills neces-sary for reading, it becomesessential to implement a pro-gram that enables students tocatch up quickly and preparethem to read on level by theend of third grade.The reasons are twofold.

One is to prevent third gradestudents from beingmarkedformandatory retention (astate policy to take effect dur-ing the 2013-2014 schoolyear). Themore importantreason is the sobering discov-ery of educational re-searchers: students who donot read on grade level by theend of third grade are unlike-ly to read on level after that.In 2009Mountain View

faced that challenge by im-plementing “ReadingStreet,” a language arts cur-riculum alignedwith ArizonaState Standards to educate itsK-5 population.

“Reading Street has inter-esting fiction and non-fictionstories for below-level, on-level, and above-level read-ers,” saidMrs. Carol Braun,the school’s Title 1Coordi-nator. “There is an ESL(English as SecondLan-guage) section and a re-teachsection. It teaches fluency;comprehension; phonics; andthe six traits of writing,spelling and grammar.Manyof the stories have social stud-ies and science themes. It’s allinclusive and our teachers areseeing its benefits.”“Since we started using

‘Reading Street’ three yearsago I’ve noticed a big im-provement in the children’sreading skills,” said veterankindergarten teacherMs.Marie Cassidy, “One of thestrengths of this program isits emphasis on phonics,something boys and girls re-ally need in kindergarten.”The skills taught in kinder-

garten are then built upon ineach successive grade. “It’s astructured program thatworks well with first gradersbecause of its emphasis onphonics, comprehension, andfluency,” saidMr. Len John-son, first-grade teacher.Mrs. Laree Plascencia, sec-

ond-grade teacher, agreed.

“In second grade our datashows an increase in studentperformance on the pro-gram’s tests, and the state-ap-provedDIBLES test,” shesaid crediting the program’sdifferentiated instruction, in-tervention, and fluency com-ponents. DIBLES is a testthatmeasures a child’s read-ing fluency and comprehen-sion.Third-grade teacherMrs.

Michele Titcomb thought

consistency was the pro-gram’s strength as “ReadingStreet” is used by every read-ing teacher in grades K-5.To help students who

might otherwise fall throughthe cracks, the school alsoruns its STAR (SpiritedTeamAccelerated Reading) readingintervention program fourdays a week and has added aone-hour reading block to itsdaily schedule.

By Mark Dittmar

Mountain View second grader Airyle McIlrath sharpens herreading skills using “Reading Street.”

Thanks to theNOGALES

INTERNATIONALand advertisers for

their support.This newsletter is

published atno costto taxpayers.

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International partnership enriches livesAs the 15th anniversary

of the Rio Rico HighSchool German-AmericanPartnership Programnears, memories stir forprogram founder andguiding force ReneRamirez. He’s seen bondsform as teenagers fromtwo corners of the worldshare experiences andworld views – what makesthem different, yet whatalso forms the basis oftheir shared humanity.

“When you see simplethings like German par-ents and students wavingAmerican flags at you andyour students as you hopoff the train with all ofyour heavy luggage … youappreciate the golden op-portunities the Germanexchange offers,” said Mr.Ramirez, who teachesGerman at RRHS. And atthe other end of the visitcomes the sad parting.

“The students and theirhost parents have to saygoodbye, and some in-stinctively know it mightbe the last time they seeeach other for years orever again. So it's no smallwonder there are so manytears and hugs and ex-changes of gifts, flowersand laughs before every-one returns to their home-land.”

The program “is one ofour priceless things atRRHS,” said school Prin-

cipal Shelly Vroegh. “It’sincredible to be able togive kids that kind of expe-rience.”

The powerful emotionsattached to this annual rit-ual – alternating betweenGerman students comingto Rio Rico and then, thefollowing year, Mr.Ramirez’s studentstrekking to Germany –originated not here butrather in New Mexico. “Itook an interest in GAPPback when I taught Ger-man at Oñate HighSchool in Las Cruces, in1990,” Mr. Ramirez re-called. “Because of thestrong student, adminis-tration, and parental sup-port … on both sides ofthe ocean, I thought Iwould start it here at RioRico High School in1998.”

Thus arguably theschool district’s showcaseexample of institutional-ized cross-cultural bor-rowing began here. It con-tinues to thrive.

“I truly love our RRHSGAPP, for it offers the stu-dents, school staff, andcommunity a golden op-portunity to get to knownot only German stu-dents, but German col-leagues, parents, and Ger-man community membersfrom our partner schools,”Mr. Ramirez said.

“So many people fromRio Rico have made

friends with so many Ger-man students, parents andcolleagues over the span of14 years time. There isnothing more rewardingthan seeing students inter-act with their Germanhost students, parents,teachers and all involvedin the exchange as they usethe German language tocommunicate in and out-side of school and withtheir German families intheir homes. The sameholds true for the Ger-mans. In fact, the Ger-mans get a taste of twocultures and languageswhen they come to RioRico, especially since weare so close to the border.”

The way the programworks, travelling Germanand American students arehosted by counterpart stu-dents and their families fortwo weeks. During thattime, visiting students at-tend classes with theirhosts and are treated to avariety of get-togethers.Featured are off-campussight-seeing at places suchas Kartchner Caverns andthe Arizona-SonoraDesert Museum, and Uni-versity of Arizona sportingevents. They also visit nat-ural wonders like theGrand Canyon and Yel-lowstone National Park –even Rocky Point in Mex-ico.

RRHS students, too,have profited from the

tourism opportunities af-forded by Europe. “Wehave taken special trips toBerlin, Salzburg, Austria,and this past summer weeven spent three days inParis,” he said.

Mr. Ramirez was quickto extend thanks to otherslocally for making the pro-gram so successful. “Mystudents and I are verygrateful for all that teach-ers and staff have done tomake the exchange richer.Without our teacher, staff,and administrative sup-

port, the exchange would-n't be as successful as it hasbeen over the years.

“Please also hold inmind that our kindnessand generosity is recipro-cated in Germany. We,too, have been invited toschool concerts by theprincipal and school bandleaders in Germany, onesthat are very memorableand ones in which we, too,were recognized as specialguests.”

For all of the excite-ment that accompanies

our students’ trips to Ger-many, Mr. Ramirez point-ed out perhaps the great-est virtue lies beyond themoment itself.

“Best of all, they(RRHS students) are nolonger afraid to travel toforeign countries andjump the foreign-languagehurdles that used to besuch insurmountable ob-stacles to meeting newpeople, making newfriends, and understandingone another.”

By Morgan Falkner

At the Roemer Courthouse in Frankfurt am Main, Germany in the summer of 2012 are,from the top, left to right, Carolina Ley, Lourdes Suarez, Regina Soto, Jocelyn Muñoz,Selene Tofani, Liz Morales, Daniella Frownfelter, Manny Carillo, Ashlee Meder, NicoleVega,Tyler Bauer, and DavidWeatherbie. In the middle row are Marley Henson, left, andLena Laguna. On the bottom row are, left to right, Angelica Moreno, Maria Quintero,AlexaTarriba, MannyValdez, Jose Ramos, Kristen Ibarra, and Emilio Atondo.

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“Lots of research shows that freshman acade-mies work.”TheRRHSFreshmanAcademy serves the role

of orienting district teenagers toward a road that, atits end, culminates in graduation caps being tossedskyward into a coolMay evening and, beyond that,a life that is meaningful in career and capacity; thatis, a life well-lived.Buttressing the philosophical case behind high

school freshman academies like RRHS’s is nationaldata indicating unambiguously that ninth-graderswho are able to serve that first year of high schoolin the insulated and nurtured environment stand abetter chance of navigating the dangers of themod-ern world.Their odds of graduation improve; the possibility

of dropping out declines.Perhaps the key to this kind of success rests on a

support system that’s worthy of the name: teachersworking with one another andwith FreshmanCo-ordinator AngelaMongiello, counselor LillianBernal (the only one of RRHS’s counselors dedicat-ed exclusively to a specific group of students), andparents.Theway the academyworks, students take the

same core classes (math, English, biology, andworld history) in one of two self-enclosed, adjacentareas on one side of campus. Their core teachers, inturn, teach only freshmen.This, according to academy philosophy, creates

an intimate, shared environment that holds the po-tential for adults (including, again, the program co-ordinator and counselor) to share lesson plans aswell as information on at-risk students.And because these students are largely insulated

from the campus world of sophomores, juniors, andseniors – and the loss of focus such a broader expo-sure represents – freshmen aremore likely to gaintheir high school footing and beginmaking habitu-al that set of behaviorsmost likely to lead to success.Even before arriving to the academy in late July

or early August, the program reaches out to the in-coming pupils to ease them into their year of transi-tion. For example, prospective freshmen are afford-ed the opportunity to attend a summermath acade-my to prepare them for the challenges of their pre-algebra class.Even before that, there are periodic information

meetings in themonths during their eighth-gradeyear. In addition, there are weeklymeetings amongacademy teachers, and even dialogue between themand their counterparts at Calabasas andCoatimun-dimiddle schools. No rock is left unturned.But just to be sure, beginning this year RRHS

freshmen are being partnered with upperclassmenpeer rolemodels. “Students actually feel a part ofsomething,”Ms. Vroegh said. That something, sheadded, “is a community.”

ACADEMYContinuedfromPage1

Children of all ages en-joyed the delightful taleabout why themoon issometimes visible duringthe day. After the colorfulstory, they were thrilled tosee themoon in a waythey’ve never seen before.“It was the first time

many of the kids had everlooked through a telescope.They weremesmerized bywhat they saw andwere abletomake a connection to the

book,” saidTorres.To culminate the

evening, students weretreated to two activities:making amoon pie and anastrological calendar.“Library nights are really

fun,” said Sabrina Soto,third-grader at Peña Blanca.“During AstronomyNight,we read a story about themoon and thenwe got tosee all the parts of themoonup close through the tele-scope.”Monthly library night has

become a tradition at PeñaBlanca. Its popularity hasincreased immensely this

year.September’s “Cats” and

November’s “Thanksgiv-ing” events brought outabout 60 people andTorreshopes the event will contin-ue to grow.Dinosaurs andflashmobs are two themesTorres is planning for therest of the year.

“It’s fun to see the kidsget so excited for the activi-ties that are connected tothe story. It really bringsreading to life,” said CeciliaReyes, five-year parent vol-unteer and current parentbooster president. “It takesweeks of planning to organ-ize the event but everyonehelps, especially the librarystaff. It’s a great opportuni-ty to bring the communitytogether and encourage theimportance of reading.”Formore information

about Peña Blanca’s librarynights, contactMonicaTor-res at 375-8506 ormtor-res@santacruz.k12.az.us.

• Teacher and studentcollaborations acrosscontinents and culturesthrough internationaltravel.• A program designed

to break through barriersthat oftentimes prevent

talented youth fromgrabbing all that is avail-able to them in their highschool career: FreshmanAcademy.• Achievements of our

students that continue tobring statewide recogni-tion to our schools and toyour community: RioRico Bands andCrossCountry athletic teams.

•TheMileageClub –an elementary schoolprogram thatmay havestarted as ameans to har-ness the unbridled ener-gy of five to 9-year-oldswhile they waited idly forthe start of the schoolday, but has now blos-somed into an amazingfitness program for stu-dents, family and friends.

Finally, we invite youto visit our newwebsite:www.santacruz.k12.az.usWe have a new look.Wehave easier access for youto reach us, and for us toreach you. Wewill con-tinue to tell our story ofhow, with your support,we accomplish what wedo.

SUP’TContinuedfromPage2

LIBRARYContinuedfromPage1

PHOTO/MONICA TORRESPeña Blanca studentsand parents enjoy listen-ing to Dr. Larry Lebofsky,former University ofArizona astronomer, read“The Moon was at aFiesta,” part of PeñaBlanca’s LibraryAstronomy Night.

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