6930 S. Seville Blvd. West, Gilbert, AZ 85298

480-224-3400 (Office) 480-224-3403 (Attendance)

“On the fast track to success...beep, beep!!”

APRIL 2016

THE ROADRUNNER EXPRESS

RIGGS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL—AN “A” SCHOOL

Dear Riggs’ Families,

One of the most important things we can do as parents and teachers is to prepare our children with skills and strategies that ensure their future success. Many different elements can affect success, but it appears that individuals who are able to do whatever it takes and offer no excuses are typically the people that are most successful. Additionally, a student’s effort plays a major role in their success. It is crucial that they are ac-countable and take responsibility for their learning. The Riggs’ staff strives to ensure that our students un-derstand the value and importance of their education and we are committed to making every student success-ful!!

We are so pleased to announce that Riggs Elementary has been selected to receive a site visit from the Ari-zona Education Foundation in response to a comprehensive application that was submitted for the A+ School of Excellence Award. The process to obtain this award is meeting eligibility criteria, completing the extensive application and if selected after application review, receive a Site Panel visit. We are excited that our two day visit will take place on Tuesday, April 5th and Wednesday, April 6th. During the site visit panel judges will tour the school and visit classrooms. They will also interview staff members, parents and panel selected stu-dents. The panel is looking for high levels of student achievement, innovation in classroom instruction and programs, implementation of school wide goals and high levels of satisfaction or consensus. If Riggs Elemen-tary is selected after the site visit we will receive the A+ School of Excellence Award and be able to retain an A+ label for 3 ½ years. We are confident that Riggs has everything it takes to be an A+ Rated School of Ex-cellence!

We are looking forward to a successful and productive fourth quar-ter! This month our PTO has some fun activities planned and we hope that you can join in on the excite-ment! I would also like to take this time to thank you for your continued support of Riggs Elementary School!!

Individually we are special, togeth-er we are spectacular!!!

Sincerely,

Janis K. Weyenberg

Principal

MAYMAYMAYMAY

2-6 Staff Appreciation Week

2-13 Pasta for Pennies Collection

3 Cross Guard Appreciation Day

4 Health Assistant Appreciation Day

4 Battle of the Books Regionals

4 Site Council Meeting

4 Kindergarten Orientation

6 Muffins for Moms

9-11 DIBELS Testing

11 Orchestra Concert @ CCHS

12 Band Concert

16-20 Student Council Spirit Week

16 PTO Meeting

20 Fire Truck “Hose

Down” & PE

Foam Party

24 Last Day of School

APRILAPRILAPRILAPRIL

4 School Librarian’s

Day

5-6 A+ School Visit

8 PTO Spring Carnival

13 4th Grade AIMS Science Testing

14 Fast Track Lunch Bunch

15 Kona Ice Sales

18 PTO Meeting

20 Battle of the Books Semi-Finals

22-29 Scholastic Book Fair

22 Daddy-Daughter Dance

27 1st Grade Pampering Night &

Late Night Book Fair

27 Battle of the Books Finals

29 Riggs Relay for Life

Learning Environment Forms

Learning Environment Forms will be available in

the office beginning MONDAY, MAY 2nd. MONDAY, MAY 2nd. MONDAY, MAY 2nd. MONDAY, MAY 2nd.

Please keep in mind that this is NOTNOTNOTNOT a teacher

request form, but rather an opportunity to share in-

formation about your child that we should consider

when placing him/her for the 2016/17 school year.

Please remember that every effort is made to

place your student with the appropriate classroom en-

vironment using both parent and current teacher obser-

vations. We hope that everyone understands that bal-

ancing class lists is quite complicated, with atten-

tion given to gender, ability levels, behavior con-

cerns and ethnic representation. If you choose to

complete a Learning Environment Form we request that

the entire form be completed in order for it to be

considered.

We believe that ALLALLALLALL of our teachers are TERRIFICTERRIFICTERRIFICTERRIFIC

and we will do our best to match student needs with

specific environments. Thank you!!

Hot Weather Is On The Way!Hot Weather Is On The Way!Hot Weather Is On The Way!Hot Weather Is On The Way! With temperatures beginning to rise, we would like to remind you to please be sure to send your child to school with a water bottle each and every day. Sunscreen is also very important for skin protection. So limit the sun, but not the fun. Be “SUNWISE”!!

Running Club Race Results

from final race at Tumbleweed Park on

February 25th

Listed below are the students

that placed:

Kindergarten: 1st—Avery Wagner & Anson Medina, 2nd—Sam Acker-

man, 3rd—Lucian Johnson

4th—Kathleen Murphy & Eli Acton

1st Grade: 2nd—Lila Ellsworth & Jackson LaRoche, 3rd—Maddox

Bonilla

2nd Grade: 1st—Isabella Lewis & Mason Blech, 2nd—Ally Stone &

Collin Kvamme, 3rd Charlies Sharp, 4th—Alex Neal & Jack Harri-

son

3rd Grade: 3rd—Maggie Nicoll, 4th—Alyssa Gruber, 5th—Bree

Thompson

4th Grade: 1st—Kyah Zurek & Carson Agostini, 2nd—Natalia Medi-

na , 3rd—Maddie Philips, 4th—Reese Yarger & Christian Petillo,

5th—Eliza Hadley & Maverick Lewis

5th Grade: 1st—Stella Burt, 2nd—Avery Burks & Tagg Neal, 3rd—

Katie Tsoukatos & Caden Zurek, 4th—Tylon Thompson

6th Grade: 1st—Rylan Ibach, 2nd—Andrew Orr, 4th—Sydnee Elliott

& Aiden Medina

Students celebrated the end of an extremely successful season

with an Awards Breakfast on Friday, February 26th.

WAY TO GO ROADRUNNERS!!!!!

TAX CREDIT UPDATE

A huge thank you from the students and staff of Riggs Elemen-tary to everyone who so generously donated tax credit money.

Because of your charitable contributions, our students were able to, or will soon participate in educational field trips such as visit-ing the Phoenix Zoo, Shamrock Farms, local museums, enjoy live presentations on site, experience Outdoor Science Education, visit Kartchner Caverns, and attend drama presentations. The contributions received were close to $87,000 this year! These donations provided our students the opportunity to experience new things and participate in before and after school clubs.

THANK YOU for your commitment to

our school and students!!!!!

THANK YOUS!!THANK YOUS!!THANK YOUS!!THANK YOUS!!

We would like to send an enormous thank We would like to send an enormous thank We would like to send an enormous thank We would like to send an enormous thank

you out to the following volunteers for their you out to the following volunteers for their you out to the following volunteers for their you out to the following volunteers for their

assistance on Picture Day. We are so assistance on Picture Day. We are so assistance on Picture Day. We are so assistance on Picture Day. We are so

thankful for your help! thankful for your help! thankful for your help! thankful for your help!

LAURIE ACKERMAN, EVA COOKE, ANGELA GLOYD,

DINAH PAUL AND MARISSA SAYLER

Your assistance is greatly appreciated!!Your assistance is greatly appreciated!!Your assistance is greatly appreciated!!Your assistance is greatly appreciated!!

Many thanks to all of the volunteers and table guests that joined us for our Fine Dining “Italian Bistro”. Fine Dining “Italian Bistro”. Fine Dining “Italian Bistro”. Fine Dining “Italian Bistro”. Special thanks to our wonderful Café and Central Kitchen for providing the experience and to our parent volunteers that assisted in set up...Laurie Ackerman and Nicole Finucan! Kudos also to our Riggs Orchestra under the direction of Ms. Paula Jones, for adding to the enjoyable ambience. It was a delightful and successful event and we hope that eve-ryone who attended enjoyed themselves!!

Counselor’s Corner Riggs’ student Divorce GroupDivorce GroupDivorce GroupDivorce Group will begin the week of April 11th. During this group time students are allowed to share their thoughts and feelings, learn strategies for the transitions of divorce, and

provide support for one another in a small group setting.

• Groups will run during the school day for 30 minutes per week.

• Groups will last 6 weeks.

We will be offering two groups, one for grades K-1-2 and the other for grades 3-4-5-6. If you would like your child to participate in one of these groups, please let me know by either emailing me Houvener.lanci@cusd80.com or feel free to call me at 480-224-3406. Permission slips will be sent home to both parents and they must be returned to Mrs. Houvener by April 8.

Character Counts!!!

Trustworthiness is... * Being honest * Telling the truth * Keeping promises * Being loyal so people can trust you.

Trustworthy people don't lie, cheat or steal. They have integrity and the moral courage to do the right thing and to stand up for their beliefs even when it is difficult to do so. It IS having the cour-age to say “NO” when friends ask you to something that is wrong. If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people. How Can Parents Help?

* Lead by example * Encourage Honesty even when it may cause your child to get

in trouble. * Praise efforts to be honest. * Do what you say you will do especially when a child is in-

volved.

Heath Office Happenings�.

Here’s a quick District health

protocol reminder:

Students become ill for many reasons, including exposure to other ill children

in the classroom. To help you make decisions about whether or not to send your child to school, here’s a list of indicators to help you. Your child should not be in school and will be sent home if the following condition(s) are present:

1. Fever of 100 degrees or higher. Child should be fever free

for 24 hours (without medication) before returning to

school. 2. Persistent cough. 3. Sore throat with fever and/or

white spots on the throat. 4. Rash with fever illness, such as

chicken pox, measles, etc. 5. Nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.

Child should be free from symptoms for 24 hours before re-

turning to school. 6. Red, itchy and draining eyes—if con-

junctivitis or “pink eye” is diagnosed, child must be on medica-

tion for 24 hours before returning to school. 7. Prolonged

headache and stomachache. 8. Swelling or pain at a level

that may interfere with learning. 9. Earache 10. Tooth-

ache 11. Head lice—child must remain home until treated

with medicated lice shampoo and all the nits are removed. Please notify health office of lice occurrence.

Immunization reminder:

Upcoming 6th graders that are 11 years old must have the required immunizations, Tdap and Menactra, before the 16/17 school year starts. Students will not be allowed to start the school year unless an updated shot record is in the Health Office at

the start of the 16/17 school year.

Students entering Kindergarten are required to be up to date on all immunizations prior to the first day of school on July 20, 2016. Please be aware that kindergarten stu-dents will not be allowed to start on the first day unless their immunizations are current and an updated copy of their im-munization record is on file in the Heath Office. Please sched-ule those appointments now as summer will be over before you know it. Thank you for your assistance!! If you have any questions, please contact Loretta Novak in the Health Office at 480-224-3402.

Media Center Miscellany….

Media and technology are at the very center of all our lives today -- es-pecially our children’s. Kids today spend over 50 hours of screen time every week. The media content they consume and create has a profound impact on their social, emotional, cognitive, and physical develop-ment. Learning how to use media and technology wisely is an essential skill for life and learning in the 21st century. But parents, teachers, and policymakers struggle to keep up with the rapidly changing digital world in which our children live and learn. Now more than ever, they need a trusted guide to help them navigate a world where change is the only constant.

Common Sense Media helps families make smart media choices. We offer the largest, most trusted library of inde-pendent age-based and educational ratings and reviews for mov-ies, games, apps, TV shows, websites, books, and music. Our Parent Concerns and Parent Blog help families understand and navigate the problems and possibilities of raising children in the digital age. Please contact Kim Reininga if you have any questions at ein-inga.kim@cusd80.com or 480-224-3401.

Congratulations to the Chandler Sports

League Riggs Basketball Team. They had a

wonderful season and played several games

against other CUSD schools during the sea-

son. Fifth & Sixth grade team members are:

Tyler Bailey Corvin Hecht

Nathan Hutchings Nick Jackman

Carson Ledbetter Nick Luongo

Jeffrey Metzger Kierney Murphy

Nick Okolita Drew Paulo

Preschool is super excited!! We will be getting our caterpillars next week to watch them grow into beautiful but-terflies. Preschool will be learning all about bugs and different types of animals. We will have lots of fun information and pro-jects going home. Also, we will begin preparing for Kindergar-ten. We will visit some of the Kindergarten classes, buddy up to learn what we are supposed to do. Also, we will be visiting the Library to learn how to check out books and the Cafeteria to learn how we get our food and where we eat. We will try and see if we can visit the P.E. and Music teachers if they are available to talk about what to expect in Kindergarten.

Kindergarten—Springhassprung

inKindergarten!InApril,wewillbekicking

offourlifecycleunit.Wewillstudybugand

plantlifecycles,andcelebrateEarthDay.In

reading,wewillcontinuesoundingout

words;focusingonlongvowels,blends,and

digraphs.Inmath,wewillexploremeasurementthrough

nonstandardandstandardunits.Wewillcontinuetowork

onwritingcompletethoughtswiththeproperspacing,capi-

tals,andpunctuation.Thankyouforyourcontinuedsup-

port,weenjoywatchingyourchildblossom!

First Grade—April showers bring fun new

things to learn about in 1st grade! In science, we will be studying the life cycle of a butterfly, natu-ral resources, and properties of the Earth. Our

reading stories will correlate with our science, and we will be predicting, learning cause and effect, and categorizing. For math we will work with base ten blocks. The students will be using the base ten blocks for hands on experience with double digit addition (both with and without regrouping). In writing, the students will continue building their vocabulary and mas-tering their writing skills.

Second Grade—This month sec-

ond graders will continue to become skill-

ful mathematicians learning about mon-

ey, estimation, and measurement. We will

celebrate Earth Day with our final field trip

to the Phoenix Zoo where we will see and

learn about various animals and habi-

tats. Second graders will use technology to research life

cycles of various plants, animals, and insects. Some of our

books will include; The Goat in the Rug, The Mysterious Tad-

pole, and The Dog That Dug for Dinosaurs. While reading

each story we will learn more about weaving, dinosaurs,

and friendship.

Third Grade—has a ton of fun-filled learn-

ing ac�vi�es going on during the 4th

quarter! Our

Chores for Charity ac�vity takes place next Thursday.

Students have earned money doing chores in order

to purchase food items from Fry’s. The food will then

be donated to the food bank. On April 20th

, we will be

going to Kartchner Caverns! The trip wraps up our

rock and mineral unit for the quarter. Thank you to

all our parents that donated items for our AzMerit tes�ng this past week!

Fifth Grade—Thank you for all of your support during testing week. Donations of snacks, sup-

port at home and well wishes here at school were appreciated. We are excited for the upcoming

month. We will be studying the solar system and visiting the AZ Science Center planetarium this

month to get a close up view of the planets. We are excited to see the planet models that the students

create. We will also begin working on our How-To projects in preparation for our How-To Fair in

May.

Fourth Grade—Fourth graders will be fine tuning their skills in each subject in preparation for the AzMerit and AIMS Science tests. Students have been practicing their test taking strategies in reading as we reinforce finding evidence within the text, justifying answers, using text features for comprehension. In math, students are encouraged to use multiple problem solving strat-egies, checking their work for accuracy and explaining their think-ing. We will be calling all cadets for our annual Science Boot Camp! Students will have the opportunity to review science concepts as they work cooperatively with their teams to compete educational challenges that they are faced with. Thank you for all of your contin-ued support and encouragement from home during our testing.

Sixth Grade—Once AZ Merit Testing is over, students will design and construct a

bridge out of toothpicks. This activity is a wonderful integration of math, science, art, drafting, problem solving and engineering. Students will measure, design, construct, and calculate the weight of their bridges. The 6th grade students and teachers are excited to continue our tradition of holding the Riggs’ Annual Greek Olympics in April. This culminat-ing activity on Greece is held in the same manner that the Ancient Greeks participated over 2,000 years ago. This month the students will also be building a mouse-trap car at school and racing them. In math, the students will continue their study of data analysis. The students will be working on po-etry in their writing class.