Ryan Elementary

Hi Ryan Royal Families,
Can you believe that the first quarter is almost over? We only have 2 weeks left and we have a lot of fun and learning to happen. Thank you again for coming to our parent/teacher conferences and always keeping our communication open.

While visiting classrooms I love seeing everything that our students are doing, making connections, expanding their knowledge, practicing skills, and building a foundation for learning. They have been working so hard and doing their best each day, I know they are ready for break.

Thank you for your continued support and I hope you have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Justin Durham

Please take a look at our beginning of the year events! More coming to the schedule soon.

• Sep 11 - Patriot Day Celebration 7:45am-8:45am
• Sep 20 - PTO Fun Friday and Spirit Store

• Sep 21-Oct 7 Fall Break - No School

• Oct 8 - First Day of Quarter 2

• Nov 1 - Fall Festival 5pm

• Nov 8 - Veterans Day Family Picnic

• Nov 11 - Veterans Day - No School

• Nov 14 - PTO Meeting 6pm-7pm

• Nov 26 - Annual 6th grade vs Staff Kickball game

• Nov 27-29 - No School

• Dec - 19 Last day of quarter and Jingle Jog at 9am

• Dec 20 - Jan 6 - Winter Break - No School

"The PTO would like to thank all of the parents again for your donations to the Cash Drive. We raised over $12,000 and are excited for all the ways we can put that back into the school.

Our first Fun Friday is 09/20/2024, and we will be serving the children a sweet treat to celebrate their last day of school before Fall Break. Your child was sent home with a Fun Friday payment form, which is $25. It will cover all 5 fun Fridays for the year. If you did not receive the form, you can visit https://ryan-elementary-pto.square.site/ and click "Fun Friday Payment" to make a payment. We will also be running our Spirit Store during Fun Friday this year. Items will be anywhere from $1-$3, so if your child would like to purchase something, please send cash with them to school.

We will also be in need of volunteers to help us run a successful Fun Friday. If you would like to sign up, please visit https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050949A5A72CABF94-funfriday3 to sign up for a time slot.

Fall Festival is right around the corner. We will be sending out more information about ticket sales after Fall Break. Please also be on the lookout from your Room Helper, on the class Fall Festival Basket, and how you may be able to help.

Thank you all again for your continued support, we would not be able to do this without you."

Ryan Elementary PTO

Bingo Night was a big success and we had a lot of fun. I hope everyone that attended had a great time between bingo and the book fair. Thank you to our amazing PTO for putting together this great event and a shout out to Mrs. Becker, Mrs. Cunningham, and Mrs. Witte for calling numbers for us. We can't wait for our next PTO event! I hope

It is that time of year again to get our cheer team started! If you have a student that is interested in joining our Ryan cheer team please see the flyer below as registration opens, Tuesday, September 10 at 10am.

Calling all students in K-6! Are you interested in chess or would love to learn from ACP's finest? Then this is the club for you. Please check out the attached flyer and sign up below. The club will be on Wednesdays, from 3-4pm and will run from 9/18-12/11 excluding break and holidays.

Chess Sign up

Art Masterpiece will be starting soon! If you are volunteering, please be on the lookout for an email about upcoming dates from our coordinator as we get that started in October.

We are off to a great start in Kindergarten! In August we learned how to make and interact with new friends, read and write 13 letters of the alphabet, identify and write numbers to 10, and all about many community helpers. We met some special service dogs from PAWSS, had a dentist visit to teach us about keeping our teeth healthy, and performed our own community service at Citrus Vista Park. Next month we will continue to learn new letters, sight words, numbers, and all about how to be a good citizen of our school and the community.

First grade is off and running this year! We love spending time together, seeing old friends and making new friends. We have been learning all about our communities and ways of being a good citizen. We enjoyed meeting our new furry friends from PAWSS and looking forward to being with them on campus this year! The first grade teachers are so proud of how hard our students have been working to get in the routine of school, learning our procedures and following classroom rules. We are looking forward to an amazing year with these kiddos!

In 2nd grade, we’ve been busy reconnecting with friends and getting to know each other! We had an exciting visit from our PAWSS dogs, who showed off their impressive skills. In science, we explored the water cycle and created fun bracelets to represent each stage, as well as learned about the three states of matter. We’ve also been enjoying the classic story Charlotte’s Web during our read-aloud time. It’s been a great start to the year!

Our third graders were excited to design and create their own solar ovens. We used the solar oven to cook s'mores! We have been learning about alternative energy sources, such as solar energy. This was such a fun STEM project for our students!

Fourth grade has been learning all about Mesoamerican civilizations, including the Mayans, Incas, and the Aztecs. We have been working hard as archaeologists to study the artifacts left behind by these ancient civilizations. Fourth grade has also been learning all about natural disasters in our science unit. We have been creating projects of all shapes and sizes along the way to showcase our learning in new ways. Students are enjoying the new rotation schedule of going to a preferred activity and delving deeper into music, technology, library sciences, and team building in physical education. We loved helping our community at United Way Food Bank bag more than 2,400 bags for local families.

August has been an amazing month of learning, community building, and hard work. Our 5th graders took a field trip to Skateland to dive deeper into force and motion. Students were able to identify, evaluate, and create force with rollerblading. This was a great opportunity for the students to build their community. The first full month of 5th grade was a success!

6th grade students have been analyzing fossils and artifacts to make inferences about people from the past. They are learning about how history is understood and the importance of primary and secondary sources as resources for acquiring new knowledge.

The gifted classes had their first collaborative activity of the school year. The students from the various classes learned together about consumerism. The students discussed the effects of advertising on consumers, the life cycle of a cotton t-shirt, and designing sustainable packaging for products.

We have been staying very active and having a good time in PE class so far this year. The kids have been doing great behavior wise and have been giving great effort with a positive attitude. We are wrapping up our Olympic themed unit and hope to move outside second quarter as the weather cools off. Please help your kids to remember to wear appropriate clothing and tennis shoes on designated PE days. Thanks!

This week in our "Music in the Olympics" class, 3rd and 4th graders studied national anthems from around the world and created anthems for Ryan Elementary! They did a great job coming up with encouraging and inspiring lyrics to show our school pride.

In technology, we are completing units on Digital Citizenship, Cyber Safety, and Cyberbullying. Students should have knowledge about how to be safe online including private versus personal information that can or cannot be shared with people online. Grades 4th-6th grade have researched and are creating an informational guide to Cyberbullying.

Please review our parent pick up and drop off procedures this year and check out the attached map.

Morning

1. Students being dropped off by car can only get dropped off in the main loop and then will walk to the playground through the front gates.
2. Students walking or riding their bikes to school will enter through the front playground gate and then over to the bike rack at the main playground.
3. We will have a duty person at the front gates and a person on the small field next to the bike rack to help with this change.

Afternoon

1. All students, K-6, being picked up by car will come line up in front of the library for pick up. Parents will use the main parking lot loop for car pick up. Please enter the school area off of Mustang Dr. over to Bright Angel Way. All cars should be turning left into the school parking lot.
2. Please make sure to have your car sign in the window so we know who you are picking up and can have them ready.
3. Walkers and bikers will be dismissed at the bell to get their bike/scooter and use one of our crosswalks if needed.

Lastly, please do not use the north staff parking lot for pickup and drop off. This has become a safety issue in the past and we are asking that all parents please use the pick up and drop off line in the main loop in front of the school.

One of the areas of feedback we received last year was that parents and families do not know who to contact when different situations or concerns arise. I want to make sure everyone knows who to reach out to when situations arise so please read below of who to contact when you have questions or concerns. If your concern or situation is not listed please always feel free to contact me (the principal) or the front office and we will make sure you get what you need.

• Discipline or Behavior Concerns - Please contact the Dean, Rebecca Coplan @ 480-224-3210 and coplan.rebecca@cusd80.com or the Principal, Justin Durham @ 480-224-3208 and durham.justin@cusd80.com
• Social and Emotional Needs or Concerns - Please contact your child's teacher and our Counselor, Trudi McClure at 480-224-3206 and mcclure.trudi@cusd80.com
• Attendance - Please contact our Attendance Tech, Erika Cranson @ 480-224-3203 and cranson.erika@cusd80.com
• Health Concerns or Medications - Please contact our Health Assistant, Tammy Tisdale @ 480-224-3202 and tisdale.tammy@cusd80.com
• Academic Concerns - Please contact your child's teacher first and then if needed the Principal, Justin Durham @ 480-224-3208 and durham.justin@cusd80.com
• Concerns with Teacher or Staff - Please contact your child's teacher first and then if needed the Principal, Justin Durham @ 480-224-3208 and durham.justin@cusd80.com
• 504 plans - Please contact our Counselor, Trudi McClure at 480-224-3206 and mcclure.trudi@cusd80.com or our Dean, Rebecca Coplan @ 480-224-3210 and coplan.rebecca@cusd80.com.
• SPED and IEP's - Please contact your child's Special Education Case Manager or our Dean, Rebecca Coplan @ 480-224-3210 and coplan.rebecca@cusd80.com.
• General Concerns or Questions - Please contact our front office @ 480-224-3200

Email: durham.justin@cusd80.com
Website: https://www.cusd80.com/Domain/3534
Location: 4600 Bright Angel Way, Chandler, AZ, USA
Phone: 480-224-3200
Facebook: facebook.com/RyanElementary
Twitter: @RyanRoyalsCUSD