Desert Willow Families,
What a fantastic week we have had. We welcomed our future kindergarten families on Wednesday, celebrated our Kiwanis Terrific Kids on Friday, and then danced the night away on Saturday. The PTO Fiesta Committee and volunteers offered an amazing evening! The food was delicious including the adorable helado cafe. Families were able to capture the moment at the several selfie stations with beautiful backdrops and many props. The DJ kept everyone moving and the mariachi band gave an incredible performance of music, dance, and lessons! It was definitely a night to remember.
Today is World Read Aloud Day, so I hope you have a chance to open a book, cuddle to your little (or not-so-little) ones, and read a good book!
Roadrunner Ready,
Brandie Dunlap
Teacher of the Year Nominations
**We are now accepting nominations for Teacher of the Year. If you and/or your child would like to nominating a teacher for Desert Willow's Teacher of the Year, then please use this link or the QR code on the flyer to make your nomination.**
Carefree Cares Award
Congratulations to Ms. Karen for being our Carefree Cares Award recipient.
Talent Show Tryouts!
AZ Tax Credit Opportunity
Please join us in our efforts to provide continuing opportunities for our students! Arizona’s tax law (ARS 43-1089.01) allows everyone the opportunity to make a tax credit contribution to local schools — even those without children. Receive every dollar back in the form of a tax credit up to $400 for families and $200 for individuals.
From and after June 30, 2019 through June 30, 2024, some items are Tax Credit eligible:
- STEAM Learning
- Sports and Clubs
- Capital items (example: technology)
- Programs in Need that allow our Site Council to determine where we most need to spend the money
- Playground equipment, shade structures for playground
STUDENT ARRIVAL AND DISMISSAL PROCEDURES AT DESERT WILLOW
- The safest way to pick up your child is the school bus or carline pick up.
- It is very important NOT to cut in the lines, as your child(ren) will not be ready for pick up. Your specific number tells us to get your child(ren) ready for pick up.
- Use marked crosswalks (Please do not wave students across the street)
- Please stay in your car during dismissal.
- Please do not park in the neighborhood and tell your child to walk to your car without supervision.
- If your child is a “walker,” they should be walking directly to their house. We cannot reasonably supervise our neighborhood streets to ensure your child makes it home safely.
- For the safety and security of all our students, we will not call students out of class between 3:00-3:30 pm.
- All dismissal transportation changes need to be communicated to our office prior to 2:30 pm.
For our families utilizing drive up drop off an/or pick up, here are some helpful tips.
- Line up single file.
- Do not enter the front driveway until 8:40 AM or 3:25 PM.
- Drive slowly and cautiously.
- Our preschool students dismiss earlier than other classrooms and they are allowed to pull into the parking before 3:25pm. This allows our youngest students and our students requiring extra assistance time to safely get into their vehicles and exit campus.
- At arrival -Thank you for dropping off only in the bus lane, not the parking lot. We greatly appreciate you helping us not have students cross the drop-off lane!
- At dismissal - Show your car tag number to our staff member. Please have them visible in your car. Sometimes Maestra Bright is not able to see as high as your vehicle dashboard. Pull up to a colored dot. Stay in order.
- Wait for your child. We will unload and load 10 cars at a time.
- Please do not get out of the vehicle. One of our staff or Roadrunner Patrol will come and assist your child to the car.
- We will only allow students to climb into cars on the passenger side of the vehicle.
- If your child needs assistance buckling their car seat please pull forward and park in the parking lot so that you can assist your child and we can keep the car line moving. Staff and students do not buckle students.
- Please do not pass other drivers unless directed to do so.
- If your child is not ready at dismissal, we will ask you to park and we will bring them out when ready.
Please remember that to assist with the safety of our walkers and the efficiency of our car pick up option, the walkers will be dismissed a few minutes later, we are opening the gate by 3:35pm. As we all become more familiar with the procedures, the quicker every dismissal option will become. Thank you for your understanding and help with this.
A few reminders from the local Phoenix Police Department to follow:
- School zone speed limit of 15mph
- Use marked crosswalks (please do not wave students across the street)
- PCC 36-134 (stopping, standing, and parking regulations)
- ARS 28-815 (blocking bike lanes)
Safety Spotlight
STUDENT DROP OFF: 8:40am
At DWES student safety is always our top priority. As a reminder, if your child is dropped off prior to 8:40am, there is NO supervision. I understand how difficult schedules can be and I would like to offer you a possible solution. We have a fantastic before and after school care program, Roadrunner Club. Here is the link to the CCUSD Education and Community Services (ECS). This link will give you more information, hours, and pricing.
We appreciate your cooperation in keeping our students safe and supervised.
Roadrunner Happenings
Learning For Life - Loving to Learn
MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR upcoming EVENTS
Classroom Picture Day February 9th
Where In the World is Ricky Roadrunner?
JOIN AND SUPPORT THE DWES PTO
By joining the PTO you will have a say in future PTO elections and vote on important items to enhance your student’s educational journey at DWES. Register to join on the PTO Website: https://desertwillowpto.org/
DWES BOOK Fair
Volunteers needed for the Book Fair, please click here.
Art Event Coming Soon!
Sons and Special Someone
Yearbook Information
PTO OPPORTUNITIES THAT SUPPORT DWES
Fry's Community Rewards Program- If you shop at Fry's Food Grocery Store, please link up your Fry's V.I.P. card to Desert Willow or enter organization number WM786. Fry's Community Rewards Program will automatically donate to DWES on your behalf from your purchases! Here is a link to Fry's Community Rewards Program to link your card.
Amazon Smile - Shop on Amazon? Support DWES every time you shop at no cost to you! Select Desert Willow PTO as the charitable organization and every eligible purchase you make on Amazon Smile will result in a donation to our school. Here is a link to shop!
Tuft & Needle - Need a new mattress? Buy one the easy way - online and with FREE shipping! Tuft & Needle has partnered with our school and will donate 25% back to DWES on every purchase. Order through Tuft & Needle Gives Back or on the Tuft & Needle website and enter Desert Willow Elementary School, it's as easy as that!
Click here to see ALL of the unique and easy ways you can immediately help raise funds for DWES while you shop!
PTO SPONSORS
Thank you Christofferson and Legge families
FOLLOW DWES on Social Media
We love to share all of the great things happening at our school site. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates.
counselor's corner
Parent Academy
Parent Academy Spring Presentations: Please join us virtually for a series of speakers to inform our parent community about special topics related to today’s youth. To register and see our spring line-up, please visit our website: https://www.ccusd93.org/Page/13691
News around the district
Exceptional Student Service Parent Engagement Council
Exceptional Student Services is proud and excited to announce the official launch of the ESS Parent Engagement Council (EPEC)! Over the past several months, we have been working with Raising Special Kids to develop this wonderful council.
The purpose of the EPEC is for parents/guardians to partner in professional collaborative dialogue with school administrators, related service providers, Special Education Teachers, and district staff to improve student outcomes by advocating for positive individualized learning opportunities and experiences for students with exceptional needs.
Our first Listening Session is scheduled for Monday, January 30th from 5:30pm - 7:00pm in the Governing Board Room. There will also be a virtual Listening Session on Tuesday, January 31st from 5:30pm - 7:00pm for those that are not able to attend in person. All parents/guardians are welcome to attend. This Listening Session forum will be an opportunity for you to share your student’s current and most recent educational experiences around four key areas to inform the future work of the EPEC. These areas are:
- Graduation Ceremony Governing Board Policy
- The IEP Process and Parent Participation
- Inclusion and School Community
- Family and Educator Partnership (Relationships)
At the conclusion of the Listening Sessions on January 30th and 31st, we will share the next steps of the EPEC in preparation for the February 13th meeting. Once again, we are very excited to bring the EPEC to CCUSD and look forward to seeing you there!
If you are interested in attending the Virtual Listening Session, please fill out this form to register: EPEC Virtual Listening Session Registration
ECS
Preschool's Monthly Newsletter
HELPFUL LINKS
CCUSD GOVERNING BOARD
CCUSD School Board Members:
- Janet Busbee, President
- Scott Brown, Vice-President
- Jeff Fortney
- Jackie Ulmer
- Brianna Walker
Credits:
Created with images by dragonstock - "Woman holding earth front of blackboard" • Africa Studio - "Word tax on wooden blocks with stacked coins. Financial concept." • Pixel-Shot - "Bottles of water on white background, closeup" • Pixel-Shot - "Many different pencils on color background" • No-longer-here - "calendar icons calendar icons" • geralt - "people google polaroid" • rawpixel.com - "Business people discussion" • Rawpixel.com - "Diverse Hands Holding Word Vote Concept"