Peoria Unified Sch�l District FEB 2016 | MONTHLY NEWSLETTER & MENUS PEORI Calendar Highlights: Feb 5 | Progress Period Ends Feb 11-12 | Early Release, Elem. only for Parent/Teacher Conferences Feb 11 | Governing Board mee�ng, 5 p.m. Feb 15 | President’s Day All schools and district offices are closed Feb 16 | Full Day Staff Development | All schools are closed, district offices are open Feb 25 | Governing Board mee�ng, 5 p.m. Feb 29 | Purple Day March 2 | Read Across America, Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! March 3 | District Patrio�c Speech Contest
Peoria Unified, one of Arizona’s largest unified school districts, prides itself on a 95 percent high school graduation rate, excelling schools, award-winning teachers, high AIMS test scores, specialized signature programs and championship sports programs. WWW.PEORIAUD.K12.AZ.US
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Oasis Student Spells Way to the Top The district’s annual Spelling Bee was held Jan. 22 and the top spellers from elementary schools across the district competed in front of peers and family members at the District Administration Center. The winner of the Spelling Bee is Ephraim Joel “EJ” Esmas, in �ifth-grade at Oasis Elementary, who won against Jessica Evans from Frontier Elementary in the 18 th round with the winning word “etymology.” This is not the only impressive achievement for EJ this year — he earned the highest possible scores on the English Language Arts and Mathematics portions of the AzMERIT tests. The Spelling Bee champ and runners-up will advance to compete in the Regional Spelling Bee on Feb. 19.
The seven runners-up are: Brandon Booze from Alta Loma; Grant Parmeter from Apache; Colten Hannappel from Copperwood; Jessica Evans from Frontier; Michael
Davey from Parkridge; Alexander Huguez from Peoria Traditional; and Kyle Helmich from Zuni Hills.
As a parent, you are your child’s �irst teacher and the most important champion as he or she progresses through school. Parent involvement is critical to your Beverly Pingerelli child’s acaGoverning Board demic success. Students with actively engaged parents are likely to miss fewer days of school, have better social skills, earn
higher grades, graduate from high school and pursue higher education or career training. Academic success is even greater when parents and teachers work together. Peoria Uni�ied invites parents to communicate with their child’s teacher throughout the school year, and twice a year offers opportunities for a one-on-one parent-teacher conference. A conference is a great opportunity to �ind out your child’s strengths and areas
for improvement, and to set goals for the rest of the school year. What should you talk about? Ask if your child is on track to succeed in this grade and prepared for the next. Conferences are meant to be a two-way conversation. By sharing your child’s skills, interests, needs and dreams, you will help the teacher to support your child and achieve your common goal — your child’s success in school and beyond.
Spelling Bee runners-up, back row: Michael Davey , Kyle Helmich , Alexander Huguez, Brandon Booze, Colten Hannappel. Middle row: Jessica Evans, Grant Parmenter. Front row: champion, EJ Esmas.
Student Academic Success Tied to Parent Involvement
EVERY STUDENT, EVERY DAY, PREPARED TO SHAPE TOMORROW