District

Dialogue

Bi-weekly news from the Laveen Elementary School District May 13, 2016

. . . . .

Laveen’s District Dialogue, public relations recognized

The Laveen District was honored with six awards by

the Arizona School Public Relations Association recogniz-

ing specific school public relations programs.

Laveen won the following awards: Overall Excellence

in Public Relations for the Promotional Video Series and

“Creating Bright Futures” Brand Development; Excel-

lence with a Specific Program for the Special Needs Re-

source Fair; and Excellence in Publications and Electron-

ic Media for the District Dialogue E-Newsletter, Website

Design, and Video Production.

Kids eat free all summer

Several Laveen schools will be offering free breakfast

and lunch over the summer as part of the Summer Food

Service Program.

Children 18 years and younger may receive breakfast

and lunch, free of charge, at any of the designated sites.

There are no income requirements and children do not

need to be enrolled in Laveen schools to participate.

Breakfast will be served from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.

Lunch will be served from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Adult meals are available for $2.00 for breakfast and

$2.50 for lunch. All meals meet the federal nutrition

guidelines and are provided on a drop-in basis.

Location Dates Schedule

Desert Meadows May 23 to August 3 Monday – Friday

M.C. Cash May 23 to July 28 Monday – Thursday

Trailside Point May 23 to July 28 Monday – Thursday

Rogers Ranch May 23 to July 28 Monday – Thursday

Cheatham takes 2nd in Academic Pentathlon

Cheatham’s Academic Pentathlon team took 2nd

Place at the recent state competition. Several students

also received individual awards in their divisions.

Academic Pentathlon is a scholastic competition con-

sisting of five events surrounding this year’s theme, In-

dia. All competitions were done online.

Vista engineering team takes 1st at MESA Day Several teams from Laveen schools competed in this year’s MESA

(Math, Engineering, Science, Achievement) Day state competition held on

the campus of ASU.

In addition to Vista taking 2nd Place Overall in the middle school divi-

sion, their Solar Car Challenge team took the 1st Place Gold Medal. Vista

picked up several other recognitions also.

Trailside Point had a team place second in the Prosthetic Arm event.

Thirty-nine middle schools across the state participated this year.

PAGE 2 May 13, 2016

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May is Better Speech and Hearing Month Speech/language disorder is one of the most common

childhood disorders, affecting approximately 6% of children.

Deficits in the development of speech and language can lead

to academic difficulties. In fact, language deficits in young

children are considered to be one of the most accurate pre-

dictors of long term problems with academic achievement.

Children with speech language deficits may have difficul-

ties in any one or more of the following:

articulation (accurate production of speech sounds, difficul-

ty with producing intelligible speech)

understanding spoken language (difficulty understanding

directions, needing visual cues to understand)

grammar/syntax (using appropriate parts of speech such as

verb tenses, difficulty producing organized sentences, de-

creased sentence length)

semantics (vocabulary development, such as: word mean-

ings, analogies, synonym/antonyms, figurative language)

pragmatics (social use of language, making inferences, non-

verbal communication, topic maintenance, eye contact)

fluency (fluency deficits are what is commonly known to be

“stuttering”)

Voice (differences in pitch, quality, or volume of voice)

Early identification is important. If you have a student

who you suspect may have a speech or language disorder,

contact your school’s speech language pathologist.

Drenth, Yonan are April’s Employees of the Month

Employees of the month for April are Andrew Drenth, M.C. Cash 7th grade teacher, and Raheeq

Yonan, Vista del Sur instructional associate.

Drenth is an extremely dedicated classroom teacher and team member. He has initiative, drive,

and compassion. His classroom serves as a model for excellent instruction as he utilizes solid instruc-

tional practices that encourage his students to think critically and make real-world connections. He

is able to relate to students in a way that makes them feel they are part of a larger community.

Drenth also leads the “Cash Crew,” teaching middle school boys leadership skills and relationship

building.

Yonan is adored by her students. As an instructional coach, she works with teachers to identify

learning gaps then creates activities to assist students in mastering the standards. Not only does she

provide individualized attention, but a sense of success in her students. She gives her time, atten-

tion, and compassion to staff and students alike. She is the first to volunteer to help with additional

tasks and shares in the joy students feel when they cross a hurdle.

Drenth

Yonan

District holds rock climbing tournament The Laveen District held its first Rock Climbing

Tournament.

Students from each school competed in a number

of obstacles across the Rogers Ranch rock wall.

The three students that performed the best each

received a trophy.

They are: Marcos

Bryant, Rogers

Ranch; Felipe Espi-

noza, Trailside

Point; and Devin

Crawford, Laveen.

Vista girls prepare food packages

Vista del Sur’s two Girls on the Run teams

helped out at the Feed my Starving Children organi-

zation which prepares

meals for malnourished

children all over the

world.

The students packed

67 boxes comprised of

14,472 meals. Their efforts will feed 39 children for

an entire year.