Cragin Community Update

Hello Cragin Families!

October has been a busy and exciting month for our campus! We celebrated several firsts, including our inaugural weeklong break, a campus cleanup, our first Walk 'n' Roll, and Spirit Week. A big thank you to everyone who joined us for Spooky Reading Night—it was a fantastic event! It was heartwarming to see so many smiling faces and kids of all ages having fun throughout the evening.

A special shoutout to the PTO, Family Engagement team, and the Cragin community for organizing such a festive celebration. I was thrilled to see so many Cragin staff members supporting this cherished tradition!

If you missed this event, don’t worry—more exciting activities are on the way. We can’t wait to see you there!

As we continue to celebrate the richness of our culture, we also invite you to visit our community Día de los Muertos altar in the library hallway. Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a beautiful Mexican tradition that honors and remembers loved ones who have passed. Families often create altars, or ofrendas, with pictures, candles, flowers, food, and personal mementos to welcome back the spirits of the deceased. It’s a time for reflection, gratitude, and celebration of life. We are proud to share this tradition with our Cragin community, and we encourage you to stop by to honor those who came before us.

Thank you for being part of our amazing Cragin community, and for embracing the diversity and traditions that make us stronger together!

Warmly,
Principal Rodriguez

alexander.rodriguez@tusd1.org

• Tuesday, Oct 1st
• All School Picture Day
• Thursday, Oct 3rd
• Stories that Soar Performance @9:00am-11:00am
• Friday, October 4th
• Grading Day - No School
• Monday, October 7th - Friday, October 11th
• Fall Break - No School
• Monday, October 14th
• Cafecito/ Coffee Talk with the Principal @8:45am Room 5
• Family Engagement Meeting @9:45 Room 5
• Tuesday, October 15th
• PTO Meeting @5:15pm Library
• Thursday, October 17th
• PTO Panda Express Fundraiser @10am-930pm Panda Express (2800 N Campbell Ave, Tucson, AZ 85719)
• Wednesday, October 23rd
• Professional Development - No School
• Friday, October 25th
• Spooky Reading Night @5:30pm
• Monday, October 28th
• Walk N Roll @ 8:00 am At La Madera Park
• Monday, October 28th - Friday November 1st
• Spirit Week
• Monday - Sports Day
• Tuesday - Dress like a Staff member Day
• Wednesday - Decades Day
• Thursday - Costume / Movie Character Day
• Friday - Crazy Hair Day

• Friday, November 1st
• Student Council Assembly and Speeches
• Monday, November 4th
• Cafecito/ Coffee Talk with the Principal @8:45am Room 5
• Monday, November 11st
• Veteran's Day - No School
• Tuesday, November 12th
• Picture Retake / New Student Pictures 8am - 1pm
• Tuesday, November 12th
• PTO Meeting @5:15pm Library
• Wednesday, November 13th
• Site Council Meeting @3:30pm
• Monday, November 18th - Friday, November 22nd
• PTO Scholastic Book Fair @11am- 2:45pm
• Friday, November 22nd
• Family Fall Literacy Night 5:30pm - 7:00 pm
• Thursday, November 28th- Friday November 29th
• Thanksgiving Break - No School

Picture Day at Cragin was a huge success! Kids showed up in their beautiful dresses and with their best hairdos, all set to shine for the camera. It was wonderful to see everyone looking their best and capturing these special memories!

Re-Takes are November 12 from 8AM-12PM

The *Stories That Soar* assembly was an unforgettable event, bringing student-written stories to life! The assembly was filled with action, adventure, imagination, and so much laughter. At the end, students were invited to the stage for a group photo to celebrate and honor their incredible storytelling contributions to the event.

Way to go, Cougars! Keep writing and sharing your amazing stories!

Congratulations to all Story tellers! Keep on sharing your stories!

Thank you for coming out and cleaning our beautiful Patio! We appreciate your help! Stay Tuned for another Campus clean up in the school year!

Thank you to everyone who came out to Spooky Reading Night. Everyone looked great and had a

wonderful time! Thank you PTO, Family Engagement team and Cragin community for putting on such a festive and fun event. I saw nothing but smiles and kids of all ages having fun the entire night. Thanks to all the Cragin staff for coming out to support this Cragin tradition. I was so happy to see a lot of Cragin staff!

Don’t worry if you were not able to make it to this event.

We will be having more events.

Thank you to everyone who participated in Cragin's First Walk n' Roll to School event! We had a blast walking, scootering, and even skateboarding with Mr. Rodriguez! The morning ended with an exciting helmet and scooter raffle, plus some fun stickers for everyone. We're proud to promote healthy habits and environmental care. Keep an eye out for more Walk N' Roll events coming this school year—we can't wait to see you there!

We’re thrilled to announce Cragin's first Spirit Week from Monday, October 28th to Friday, November 1st! 👻🎉

This is a fun opportunity for staff, students, and families to participate by dressing up according to each day’s theme, which has been voted on by our Student Council candidates.

To kick off Spirit Week, Monday will be Sports Day! 🏈⚽Everyone is encouraged to wear their favorite team’s jersey or any sporty attire along with comfortable shoes. We’ll also host Walk N' Roll that morning from 8 AM to 8:30 AM at La Madera Park (check the next post for more details). Get ready to show your spirit!

Tuesday will be "Dress Like a Staff Member Day"!👩‍🏫👔👓Everyone is encouraged to dress up as any staff member, whether it's a teacher, monitor, nurse, support staff, or even the principal. Let’s celebrate our amazing team in style!

Wednesday is "Decades Day"!🕺💃🪩 Choose any decade—from the fabulous 50s to the funky 60s, groovy 70s, vibrant 80s, nostalgic 90s, early 2000s, or even the trendy 2020s. Feel free to go even further back in time! Get creative and show off your favorite decade’s style!

Thursday is "Movie Character/Costume Day"! 🦹👸🎃Everyone is encouraged to wear a costume or dress up as their favorite movie character. Whether it's a classic hero, a beloved animated character, or a fun t-shirt featuring a film, let your creativity shine!

Friday is "Crazy Hair or Crazy Hat Day!"🎩🤡💈 Let your creativity shine by sporting wild hairstyles, colorful wigs, funky hats, or any fun hairdos you can dream up! It’s the perfect way to end Spirit Week with some excitement and flair!

We’ll have a picture area set up near parent pick-up next week for photos! Join the fun and snap some great memories with your friends! 📸✨

**Student Council Candidates**

It's that exciting time of year when Cragin students can run for Student Council! This is a wonderful opportunity for students to get involved, represent their peers, and help make positive changes in our school community.

If your child is running for Student Council, here's what you can expect:

- **Candidates will present speeches**: Each candidate will share their ideas and plans with the school community.

- **Voting**: After the speeches, students will vote for their preferred candidates.

We encourage all candidates to campaign with kindness, responsibility, and respect for others.

Stay tuned for more details on the election day and how your child can participate!

Let's get ready to see our future leaders shine! 🌟

Stay Tuned in November for Student Council Assembly Winners.

STUDENT COUNCIL ELECTION KINDNESS AMBASSADORS PROJECTS This Month.

It's FALL! I hope each of you have a fun, restful Fall break. I had promised all grade levels that we would be able to do slime, or an activity of their choosing at the end of the month as an incentive. Needless to say, students were beyond excited this week when we had the opportunity to make slime! First grade, unfortunately will have to wait until we come back as their day to see me landed on picture day. In addition to slime, October is GRATITUDE month. As many of us know, teachers often serve as role models, imparting values of kindness, perseverance, and critical thinking. Their influence can last a lifetime, encouraging students to pursue their dreams and make a positive impact on the world. During this month, Cragin students are actively working on a gratitude project for our staff. Stay tuned as we continue to work on this. Lastly, Kindergarten helped me decorate our bulletin board: "Don't Ghost Your Mental Health" Feel free to check out some spooktacular ghosts and self-care tips! WHEN WE. RETURN

Hello Cragin Families!

In the spirit of culture and togetherness, we are excited to create a community

*Día de Los Muertos*

altar to honor our loved ones this month.

We invite all staff, parents, and students to participate by bringing a copy of a picture of their departed loved ones or pets. The altar will be up for the entire month of November, and everyone is welcome to visit and pay their respects.

The altar is located in the library hallway, near the main office, and will remain up until the end of the month. Feel free to add more items throughout November.

If you'd like to make a copy of your picture or would like to color a skull for the altar, please contact Ms. Karina.

We look forward to honoring our loved ones together!

Families are invited to enjoy a fun-filled evening together.

Here’s a sneak peek of what’s in store:

• Enjoy Delicious hot chocolate
• Bring a store-bought pastry to share in our dessert potluck
• Donate a can or non-perishable food item to enter a raffle
• Take a free family picture in our pumpkin patch photo booth on stage
• Participate in a book Exchange, take literacy tips home
• Create fun arts and crafts (bookmarks, etc)
• Play exciting games
• And enjoy a special performance by Cragin’s Choir Club!

Get ready for an unforgettable evening filled with joy, connection, inspiring stories, and a true sense of community! We can’t wait to celebrate the power of literacy with all of you!

We are thrilled and excited about all the amazing experiences we've had so far! Our first Family Engagement Team meeting, which was held after Cafecito on October 14th, was a huge success, and so many great ideas are starting to come together! A huge thank you to all the parents who have been actively participating in the meetings and events—we truly couldn’t do it without you!

We invite all Cragin parents to join our upcoming meetings as we brainstorm new ideas and incentives to make our school an even happier, more exciting, and safer place for everyone. Your involvement truly makes a difference!

If you have any questions or need resources, feel free to reach out to Ms. Karina in Room 5.

Stay tuned for more upcoming events! Our Family Fall Festival will be held on November 22nd—please see the flyer below for more details.

This month, we launched the morning dance parties to boost excitement, foster community and help reduce bullying in the playground. We thank everyone who as joined us as we develop a solid dance party plan. We also remind students to please have breakfast before joining the dance party. Dance parties are Mondays and Fridays from 8:15am-8:30am in front of the playground but we hope to move it to the basketball court soon! Parents are more than welcome to dance with us as well!

Parent volunteers are welcome on Campus! If you are interested in volunteering, please contact our office manager (Ms. Lupita Rivera-Madrid) or our Community Liaison (Ms. Karina Acuña) to learn how you can volunteer throughout the year. We also highly encourage families to attend PTO Meetings and Cafecitos / Coffee Talks to learn ways how you can support our school. Please register as volunteers on the TUSD website (https://jobs.tusd1.org/volunteer) as the process takes a few weeks. For all non-parental volunteers, please contact the front office before registering as a volunteer so we can explain the process and coordinate.

Reminders

Please sign-in at the front office anytime you are on campus.

This month, we had the opportunity to meet with the tutoring volunteers from Northminster Presbyterian Church. During our meetings, we discussed how we can collaborate with Northminster this school year and beyond. The volunteers’ primary focus is providing support in reading and math, with specific areas determined by the classroom needs identified by our teachers.

In our most recent meeting, the volunteers met with teachers to finalize tutoring schedules and ensure a smooth start. We are incredibly grateful for this partnership with Northminster Presbyterian Church and look forward to the positive impact it will have on our students.

• President - Liz Niemeyer
• VP - Pat Schwichtenberg
• Secretary - Liz Niemeyer (Interim)
• Treasurer - Jonathan Niemeyer

We kicked off volunteer sign-ups for Spooky Night on October 25th during Movie Night, and we’re excited to have many parents already showing interest! There are still volunteer opportunities available, including helping with setup and decorations, leading activities in the cafeteria, and assisting with cleanup, along with other areas where support is needed for future events.

We went over these opportunities in more detail at our PTO meeting on October 15th, as well as in the days leading up to Spooky Night. A huge thank you to all the parents who helped make Spooky Reading Night such a success! We truly appreciate your support and hope to count on you for our upcoming events.

We had an exciting event on October 17th, and we greatly appreciated your support in making it a success!

For those who ordered in person, thank you for mentioning that your order should count towards the Cragin Fundraiser.

For those who ordered online, thank you for using the code **"377406"** at checkout to ensure we received credit for your purchase.

Thanks again for your help and support—we couldn’t have done it without you!

Thank you to everyone who came out to Spooky

Reading Night. Everyone looked great and had a

wonderful time! Thank you PTO, Family Engagement

team and Cragin community for putting on such a

festive and fun event. I saw nothing but smiles and kids

of all ages having fun the entire night. Thanks to all the

Cragin staff for coming out to support this Cragin

tradition. I was so happy to see a lot of Cragin staff!

Don’t worry if you were not able to make it to this event.

We will be having more events.

All students are eligible!

Please come between 7:30am - 8:15am, Monday - Friday starting on September 9th -December 13th!

Students need to come through the front door from 7:30am-8:00am. Please use Parent Drop-Off after 8:00am

If your child has allergies, needs to take medication at school, or has any other health concerns, please contact our Health Assistant as soon as possible. This will help us ensure your child's health and safety while at school.

Thank you for keeping us informed!

Riley Volpe BSN, RN

riley.volpe@tusd1.org

Jackie Freed Health Assistant

jacqueline.freed@tusd1.org

Health Office

520-232-6717

The regular school attendance of a child of school age is required by state law. Regular school attendance is essential for success in school; therefore, absences shall be excused only for necessary and important reasons. Such reasons include illness, bereavement, other family emergencies, and observance of major religious holidays of the family's faith.

In the event of a necessary absence known in advance, the parent is expected to inform the school; if the absence is caused by emergency, such as illness, the parent is expected to telephone the school office. When a student returns to school following any absence, a note of explanation from the parent is required.

When Absent from School

State law mandates that the school record reasons for all student absences. Therefore, when a student is absent, it will be necessary for the parent to call the school on or before the day of the absence in order to advise the school as to the reason for the absence. When it is impossible to call on the day of the absence, the school should be notified on the morning the student returns, in time for the student to obtain an admission slip prior to the student's first class. All absences not verified by parental or administrative authorization will remain unexcused.

If a parent does not have access to a phone, either at home or at work, a note will be accepted for verification purposes.

Regular participation in classroom activities fosters critical thinking, communication skills, and responsibility, all of which are essential skills for future employment. Good attendance in school is also part of the self-discipline that we try to instill in our students to enable them to act as responsible members of the community.

Definitions:

• Attendance: The presence of each student in scheduled instruction.
• Excessive Absence: 10% or more of the required attendance days (180 days).
• Tardy: Not in the classroom by the time the bell rings.
• Register of Attendance: Any written or electronic record maintained for the purpose of recording the attendance, absence, tardiness, or early departure of a student.
• Scheduled Instruction: Every period that a student is scheduled to attend actual instruction or their designated learning environment of study.
• Truancy: An unexcused absence of a child who is between six and sixteen years of age for at least one class period during the day from compulsory school.
• Truant Child: A child who is between six and sixteen years of age and who is not in attendance at a public or private school during the hours that school is in session, unless excused.
• Habitually Truant: Is a child who is truant for at least five school days within a school year.
• Excused Absence: Absences that the parents/guardians have documented/authorized with time and reason.
• Unexcused Absence: Absence without approval of parents/guardians is considered truancy and unexcused.

For guidance on setting up and using the ParentVUE app, please check the link below.

Parents, you can now easily report your child’s absence using ParentVue. This streamlines communication with our attendance office and allows you to directly input the reason for the absence. To self-report, just follow these steps:

1. Log into ParentVue on the app or your computer.
2. Click on the "Attendance" tab in the left column (or tap the blue "Report Absence" button with the bell icon in the app).
3. In the top right corner of the page, click the blue link labeled "Report Absence."
4. Select the dates using the calendar and choose the reason for the absence from the drop-down menu.
5. You can also add notes or upload a doctor's note, then click "Save."

If you prefer, you can still call Ms. Lori Munday at (520) 232-6702. Thank you for keeping us informed about all absences!

If you use the parent drop-off bay before school, please remember that the gate opens at 8:00am and learning time begins at 8:30a.m. The gate will close promptly at 8:35 a.m. If you arrive after 8:35 a.m., please walk your student to the front office for a late slip. In case you find yourself inside the building after 8:35 a.m., please use the front office exit to leave the campus. Breakfast is served from 8:00 to 8:30 a.m., so be sure to bring your students on time to ensure they don’t miss their morning meal and are ready for a successful day ahead!

Pick up time is at 2:45pm. If you use are parent pick-up bay after school, please remember to stay in your vehicle and we will bring your student to you. If you would like to get out and greet your child, please park in the parking lot, we have plenty of parking. Also, a good tip to avoid long waits in the pick-up bay is to arrive a few minutes after the rush. Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we get our cougars connected with you.

School Hours

8:00am - 2:45pm

Main Office Hours

8:00am - 4:00pm

Cafeteria Hours

(Breakfast)

8:00am - 8:30am

(Lunch)

11:00am - 12:50pm

Warning Bell

8:30am

Late Bell

8:35am

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday

2:45pm

Wednesday

1:45pm

Kindergarden 11:00am - 11:35am

1st Grade 11:15am - 11:50am

2nd Grade 11:30 - 12:05am

3rd Grade 11:45am - 12:20pm

4th Grade 12:00pm - 12:35pm

5th Grade 12:15pm - 12:50pm

Parent - Teacher Conference

11:45am

September 18th-20th, 2024

February 13th-14th, 2025

Kindergarden 10:00am - 10:10am

1st Grade 10:10am - 10:20am

2nd Grade 10:20am - 10:30am

3rd Grade 10:30am - 10:40am

4th Grade 10:40am - 10:50am

5th Grade 10:50am - 11:00am

2945 N. Tucson Blvd.

Tucson, AZ 85716

Office Hours: 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Monday – Friday

520-232-6700 – Attendance

520-232-6700 – Office

520-232-6701 – Fax

The mission of Cragin Elementary School, in partnership with parents and the Cragin community, is to assure each student receives an engaging, rigorous and comprehensive education.