Carrillo Community Update

Happy Sunday Carrillo Families!

I hope you all had an amazing weekend. Hopefully, the cooler weather is finally here to stay. This week we have a few events that we hope you will be able to attend.

On Wednesday, TUSD will be hosting its annual Magnet Fair at the Children's Museum from 5:00 - 7:00 pm. If you have an incoming kindergartener or an outgoing 5th grader, the TUSD Enrollment Ambassadors will be on-site to help you enter the magnet lottery for Carrillo and TUSD middle schools. This is also a great opportunity to check out schools if you aren't sure where you want to send your students next year.

The PTO meeting is scheduled for 6:00 pm this same night, on ZOOM. Ms. Bittel will be sharing our letter grade, as well as how the state calculated it and PTO will be planning their December events as well as getting feedback on Fall Fest. Please see the PTO section of the newsletter for the ZOOM link.

Thursday, the Student Council is having its first Peter Piper Pizza fundraiser. We hope to see you there. 15% of funds raised from dining in or carrying our come back to the Student Council to directly support our Carrillo Cougars. The flier and details are just below in the "New Updates" section.

Finally, I want to remind our families that there will be no school next Monday due to the Veterans Day holiday. We know that Carrillo has many families that have served in our armed forces and we want to thank you for your service to our country. Students in grades K-2 will be performing their Veterans Day show, so if you are a veteran, we invite you to join us next Wednesday the 13th at 1:00 pm.

One final note. We've been seeing a lot more gum on campus in the past two weeks. Thank you for helping us keep Carrillo gum-free by reminding your students to keep the gum at home.

Let's make it another amazing week!

Sincerely,

Ms. Bittel

THIS WEEK

Wednesday, November 6

• Magnet Fair (5:00 - 7:00 at the Children's Museum)
• PTO Meeting (on ZOOM)

Thursday, November 7

• Peter Piper Pizza Night

Friday, November 8th

• No Extended Day

COMING SOON
Monday, November 11

• Veteran's Day (No Classes)

Tuesday, November 12

• Kindness Week Begins

Wednesday, November 13th

• Veteran's Day performance (grades K-2)

Thursday, November 14

• Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day

Tuesday, November 19

• Family Game Night

Wednesday, November 20

• Walk-A-Thon

The 4th grade, as part of their magnet unit on cultures, has created a community ofrenda in the Carrillo Gallery again this year. They invite the community to come to remember a loved one and leave a photo or a memory at the ofrenda this week.

Student Council's first Peter Piper Pizza Night will be Thursday, November 7th from 5:00 - 8:00 at the Peter Piper Pizza at 3717 S. 12th Avenue. 15% of the revenue raised will come back to the Student Council to support field trips and other student needs on campus.

As always, the class with the greatest percentage of families that participate will be rewarded with a pizza party! Can't stay? Use the attached flier to order online and give credit to Carrillo! Just be sure to swing by the Carrillo table fat the entrance to get credit for your classroom.

Daily attendance is important to student success. Research shows that students with 95% or better attendance are the most successful in school. Thank you for helping your student be at school on time each day!

Congratulations to the classes that had over 95% attendance for the month of October!

• 3rd place - 95% - Ms. Vasquez's class
• 2nd place - 96% - Ms. Peralta's class
• 1st place - 98% - Ms. Maldonado's class

I'd also like to recognize the top 3 classes with the most students in perfect attendance in October.

• 2nd place (3-way tie) 33% perfect attendance
• Ms. Peralta's class
• Ms. Morales's class
• Ms. John's Class
• 1st place - 36% perfect attendance
• Ms. Barraza's class

Tardies and absences add up. Thank you for helping us meet our school goal of 95% and helping your students learn all they can by being present and engaged.

We encourage our students to log on to IXL at home to help them fill in gaps and stay sharp in ELA and Math. Here are the top three classes overall this year. Logging in and mastering 2 skills per subject during the week can make a tremendous impact on student learning! Thank you for encouraging your student to work on their personal growth at home each week!

#3 - Ms. Maldonado's with 11 hours and 12 minutes of at-home practice.

#2 - Ms. Barraza's class with 13 hours and 56 minutes of at-home practice.

#1 - Ms. Peralta's class with 15 hours and 32 minutes of at-home practice.

Great job Cougars! This dedication is what makes you A+!

Our younger students can use iReady at home. For all student at-home applications, please have your students log into their Clever Accounts to access either IXL or iReady. While iReady doesn't report at-home vs at-school usage, I've seen great growth for students working on 1-2 iReady lessons each week!

Now that it is cooling off, it is time for our annual Walk-A-Thon! Your students will be coming home with a Walk-A-Thon pledge sheet and all the funds raised during the walk-a-thon will come back to the Carrillo SWAT Team and Student Council. This year's Walk-A-Thon will occur on Wednesday, November 20th so students have lots of time to collect pledges.

Their goal is to raise $2,000 which we can do if every student is able to help raise $5. Last school year the funds raised provided agendas to grades 4 and 5, homework folders to grades K-3, sports equipment for recess and classroom use, hot cocoa in the winter, and other classroom projects.

If your student's flier gets lost in the "Backpack Express" we've attached another for you in the update. Thank you in advance for your support!

On November 14, New York Life is partnering with Sesame Workshop to host an event for parents, educators, and grief professionals to help our youngest children navigate the impact of loss. Please click on the link below to register for virtual or in-person attendance.

Virtual attendance: please register here

In-person attendance: please register here

Families with children: please register here; there will be milk and cookies!

Click to read more

We all make mistakes, but in our perfectionistic society, there’s pressure to always be right. That can make for people who don’t know how to admit they’re wrong, or how to apologize when they are. Researchers have confirmed the importance of helping children learn to apologize with sincerity. A school culture that encourages apologizing reduces physical aggression and fosters forgiveness, which benefits everyone. Learning to apologize sincerely is a powerful kindness skill. It includes clearly stating “I’m sorry,” keeping the focus on the apology itself, and avoiding a dynamic in which the apologizer needs to be comforted.

Help students learn to apologize genuinely using the following steps, or by creating your own outline. First, guide students in role-playing around apologizing and saying “I’m sorry” to other students. Use I’m Sorry Notes as a tool to apologize to friends, classmates, teachers, relatives, etc. when situations arise, and have students share examples of how it felt to apologize.

How to Say I’m Sorry:

1. I’m sorry for ... (I’m sorry for saying that nobody wants to be your friend).
2. This is wrong because ... (This is wrong because it hurt your feelings).
3. In the future, I will ... (In the future, I will think before using unkind words).
4. Will you forgive me?

It's November and the next PTO Meeting is this Wednesday, November 6th. Please use this link to join the meeting. We will be talking about the letter grade and discussing Posadas support as well as Santa Comes to Carrillo Night.

PTO Board

• President - Aaron Valencia
• VP - Roy Massani
• Secretary - Margaret Zuniga
• Treasurer - Angelina Celix

The minutes from our October meeting are attached below. Please email PTO if you have any questions.

Thank you to everyone who supported our "Box Tops for Education" fundraiser this year! As of Sunday, November 3rd Carrillo has raised an astounding $154.20! Be sure to keep checking out the Bonus offers and monthly challenges for ways to earn extra box tops.

This month there are 2 big opportunities for bonus box tops. You can earn 50 bonus tops ($5.00) if f you connect your Walmart account and your Box Tops account. Second, the November Challenge awards 20 bonus box tops ($2.00) if you purchase and scan 10 products this month. See the app for other bonus offers.

LEADERBOARD

1st Place - Kindergarten (298 box tops)

2nd Place - 4th Grade (98 box tops)

3rd Place - 2nd Grade (95 box tops)

4th Place - 1st Grade (75 box tops)

5th Place - 5th Grade (32 box tops)

6th Place - 3rd Grade (3 box tops)

Thank you to Adrian at Big Frog! This year, when you purchase Cougar spirit gear, $5 will come back to the school to support students. The store has this year's "Growing Together" shirts for students and parents, as well as our classic shirts and some designs from previous years. Check out the store online.

The TUSD Mexican American Student Services Department is holding FREE Saturday academic tutoring by qualified teachers to help students with reading, writing, and math.

Limited space available for students in grades 3rd to 8th

When: September through May

Starts: September 7th.

Register by calling 520.232.8566 or by email.

Tucson Community Tennis is starting their FREE fall tennis clinics for students.

Who – ​Children grades 1st through 12th​

How Much - $5 donation for the semester

What – ​Tennis clinic with certified coaches​

Where -​ Pueblo High School Tennis courts​

When -​ Saturdays​ September 14 to December 14, 2024

Time - 12 and Under - 8 – 9:30 and 18 and Under – 8 - 10

Contact – ​If interested email: ​Stacy Renner or call 520-591-8904​

Casa de los Ninos is one of our community partnerships. They offer a variety of community education and outreach classes. Please check out the flyer below to see the dates and topics in September. Email Carol Bolger with questions.

Thank you for your patience as we get students dismissed as quickly as possible. We need your help with a few things.

17th STREET PICK UP

1. Please park by Tucson Water, or wait in your car.
2. For those waiting in their cars, a school staff member will come by and radio for your student to come to you.
3. Thank you for keeping your music low and arriving after 2:30 pm. Our neighbors appreciate it.
4. Families with only intermediate students (grades 3-5) your students are generally the last to dismiss, if you can arrive at 2:50 that will allow us to help the kinder and first graders off campus and speed up pickup.

FOR PARENTS WAITING INSIDE

1. If you arrive before 2:30 pm we need you to sign in at the main office and wait in the art gallery on the main floor until 2:45.

Parents volunteers are welcome on campus. Speak with our office manager (Kenia Alvarado-Martinez) or our Magnet Coordinator (Rebecca Stroup) to learn how you can volunteer! We also encourage families to attend PTO meetings to learn about other ways to support our Carrillo Cougars. We encourage all parents to register as volunteers on the TUSD website as the process takes a few weeks. We ask non-parental volunteers to contact the office before registering as a volunteer so we can explain the process and coordinate volunteer opportunities.

Parents, we are asking for your help with social media. As a reminder, most social media user agreements state that users must be 13 or older to have an account. Please take a moment to discuss the reasons for the age limits with your students.

Most social media sites do not allow attacks or abuse based on race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, disability or disease. Please encourage students to be socially conscious and report any accounts that violate those policies directly to the social media platform before blocking the account.

Attendance at school is directly correlated to student achievement, so it is extremely important they are in school every single day to be successful. Research shows that missing more than 8 days of school can cause significant gaps in a student’s education. Please try to schedule appointments or family outings around the school schedule and during school holidays. To help track attendance goals, we've created a "Path to Success" attendance tracker you can use at home to help us make our 95% goal. You can download it by opening the attachment on your computer.

A student is considered "chronically absent" if they miss more than 10% of the school year. Students who miss more than 5 days a quarter are considered at risk for chronic absenteeism. If your student reaches this number, we will be reaching out to see how we can support you in getting your students to school on time.

State law requires parents to call in to report student absences. Parents, you can now immediately report an absence from school using ParentVue. This reduces the calls in our attendance office and allows you to directly enter the reason students are absent. To self-report simply follow the steps below.

1. Log into ParentVue from App or Computer
2. Click the "Attendance" tab on the left column on the computer or on the App as soon as you log in the blue "report absence" with a small bell icon is there.
3. On the top right corner of the page it will have a blue link that says "Report Absence" click on this
4. Use the calendar to select dates and the drop-down for the reason for the absence.
5. You may also add notes or upload a doctor's note and hit "save".

Of course, you may still give Ms. Diane Quiroz a ring at (520) 225-1200 if you prefer. Thank you for reporting all absences!

**Students who attend Carrillo as Magnet students may be asked to return to their home school if they accumulate excessive absences and/or tardies.**

Did you know that all TUSD elementary magnet students are eligible for transportation if they live more than 1.5 miles from the school?

For more information, visit Transportation's website to see if your student qualifies for FREE transportation and to begin routing. We strongly encourage families to consider this option for this school year. It's a great way to help your student develop independence and responsibility. You can also call them at 520-225-6262.

Due to some budget changes, the earliest students can be dropped off is 7:35 am at 17th Street. The office does not open until 8:00 and while Ms. Bittel is usually on campus well before 8:00, she is often in meetings or other parts of the building and unable to hear the doorbell. From 7:35 - 8:00 the only safe drop off is 17th Street. Thank you for helping us to keep all our cougars safe in the morning.

Parent Pickup will continue to be at 17th street. Thank you for remaining in your car. We’ll be using radios and a loudspeaker to call for students this year in hopes of speeding up the process. Please note that the city has redefined some fire lanes that must be kept open along Samaniego with bright red paint. Thank you for not parking or stopping in those spaces. Thank you also for keeping the neighborhood driveways and mailboxes open as a courtesy to our neighbors. Thank you for your help!

We know that the 17th Street area can get a bit congested at pickup. To help alleviate the situation, the City of Tucson has installed new signs to direct traffic and changed the direction of Samaniego Street. The City of Tucson is requesting that families picking up on 17th Street exit the neighborhood using the following route.

• Travel west on 17th Street
• Turn south on 11th Avenue
• Turn west to access the frontage road or turn east to return to Main Avenue and 22nd Street.

Our neighbors kindly ask that you leave the driveways and corners open when you park so they can enter and exit their homes safely. If you do wait in your car along Samaniego, thank you for waiting at the bottom of the hill on the east side of the street so the roadway is clear for all vehicles and families crossing the street.

We are also asking families to arrive no earlier than 2:35 on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday and no earlier than 1:35 on Wednesdays. Parents of intermediate students, if you plan to arrive at 2:50 or 1:50, that will give the primary students time to load up and reduce your wait time.

Thank you also for being patient, driving slowly, and watching the road carefully. The streets behind Carrillo are narrow and we want to avoid any accidents. Our neighbors kindly request that everyone drive like they live in the neighborhood, and many of our cougars do. Thank you for helping us keep our Cougars and our community safe.

If your child is walking/riding home, thank you for ensuring the office has a note giving permission at the beginning of every school year. Thank you for making any pickup arrangements with your student prior to your student coming to school.

Stay current on our events by visiting our Facebook Page as well as the school website. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns please reach out. It is our mission to provide all students with a first-rate education in a kind and respectful environment.

Email the Principal:
Visit Our Website:
Location: 440 South Main Avenue, Tucson, AZ, USA
Phone: (520) 225-1200
Like Us On Facebook:

Mission Statement

Carrillo K-5 Communication and Creative Arts Magnet School engages children's minds, bodies, and senses using multiple modes of learning, thought, and self-expression.

Vision Statement

At Carrillo K-5 Communication and Creative Arts Magnet School, students become 21st Century leaders in a diverse world, through the development of a strong academic core, communication skills and creative arts abilities.