Mission Statement

During the STAR program, students learn about the importance of setting goals.  During STAR Leadership, students identify goals and develop a mission statement for their life.  One of our students granted permission for his to be shared.  

My Personal Mission Statement
By: Kasino Rudy Rauls

I want to share my personal mission statement.  My mission is to be more of a person of character.  To be more respectful, responsible, and caring to others.  Most of all, to be a better person.

At school to be successful I'll have to behave and do my work and also use the 6 pillars of character.

At home for me to be more successful I'll just do what I'm ask to do, and do it right the first time.  Also, I can behave and be a leader for my brother and sister.

In life, I can always need changing, there's nothing in my life that doesn't need improvement.  It does mean for sports, school, home, and even at church.

I will be more responsible everywhere by helping out my mom.

I will do better in school by getting better grades, A's, B's and C's.

I will do better in school by behaving and doing my personal best. 

Ropes Course Video and Pictures from Mr. K

Ropes Course Pictures from Mr. Harding

Our students had a GREAT time at the Ropes Course! 

STAR Leadership

The teachers and students cannot believe how fast our time together is passing by, it's already week THREE!!  We are gearing up for our field trip to the ropes course next week, and the students are really excited about the challenge.  In STAR LEADERSHIP we are focusing on goal setting, habits, trust, and personal discovery.  During these classes, your children are discovering that the choices and paths they choose today help shape the people they will become in the future. 

One activity our students have been practicing is Event, Response, Outcome.  As a group, students list different events that take place at school, at home, etc...  Events are things you do not have control over, for example: teacher assigns homework.  Then for each event, the group brainstorms possible responses to the event.  For each response the students project the outcome.  The discussion during this activity has been very meaningful.  Students understand that they cannot control and event, but they are in control of their response, and it is the response to an event that determines the outcome. 

Up next in STAR LEADERSHIP, students will be developing a personal mission statement.  Your children have been asked to make a list of short term goals and long term goals.  We hope you talk to your students about their goal for the future, where they see themselves in 5 or 10 years.  We are looking forward to hearing back from students about where they see themselves in the future.

Learning about Groceries

Our 3^rd week of math finds students having completed their search for a home and having purchased a car.  The search for these items have brought a new realization that the BMW or Ferrari, which they would all like to have is a little more expensive than first thought, and might not fit the family needs that our students are having to accommodate. 

Students are currently taking an online trip to the grocery store and are purchasing food to fit their family needs.  It’s been fun to see what each person likes to eat.  It’s also been an eye-opening experience to see how much food each of our students believes a family of four eats in a week.  They are sure that one bag of fiery hot cheetos will last a week. 

Parents, when you go grocery shopping this week, you might consider having your STAR student help you with planning and purchasing items to see if they can stay within a budget.  Challenge your student to review the grocery store ad before your trip to the store to help with meal planning.  Some families have tips and tricks to reduce cost from clipping coupons to buying in bulk.  Share your cost cutting tips with your child and let the comparison shopping begin! 

Next up on the shopping list for budget planning is clothes!  I'm sure this topic will bring interesting dinner conversation as well! 

Into the Wilderness

In STAR we are reading the book Downriver. As we read this book as a class, it is amazing to look around the SILENT classroom with students following along in their individual books. The book is narrated by a 15 year old girl, Jessie, who was sent to Wilderness Therapy by her father. Jessie’s mother passed away when she was a five and she and her father had always had a close relationship. Once Jessie’s father began a serious relationship, Jessie began to rebel. Her father tried to reach out to her to help her, but Jessie refused the help. Her father’s last resort was to send her away to Wilderness Therapy. In Wilderness Therapy the group is pushed to their physical limits in climbing, whitewater river rafting, and other outdoor adventures. While being pushed to their physical limits the group members need to learn to rely on one another’s help.

Jessie’s group decided to continue their rebellious behaviors practiced at home. As their group leader is getting a permit to whitewater river raft, Jessie and her group steal the leader’s car and rafts. With their new stolen goods they drive to the Grand Canyon and begin an experience of a lifetime. Their adventures begin as they river raft down the Colorado River without a map. The  group grows together and learns from one another as they overcome difficult rapids and injuries. The group seems to get  along, but will conflict soon arise????

Project Adventure

 

Each morning and afternoon our students take part in a class called Project Adventure.  Project Adventure is an approach to teaching that combines classroom learning with challenge and adventure.  This model focuses on trust, respect, fun, and constructive risk taking. 

Together with their peers, Kyrene students are presented with a physical challenge that requires them to work together to create a plan, set a goal, problem solve, and use peer-to-peer interaction to successfully complete their challenge. 

Our students are discovering that through cooperation and teamwork a challenge that alone might seem un-reachable can be obtained by working together.  Successfully completing a task together gives each group an exciting feeling of accomplishment and success.  Please take some time to ask your child about Project Adventure. You will be amazed to hear how their classmates have become members of a team and work together to accomplish a goal.

Downriver

STAR students are enjoying reading our Summer book, Downriver.  It is a story about 8 teenagers who are attending a program called Discovery Unlimited for various personal and behavior reasons.  The books Discovery Unlimited program is designed to challenge each of the participants to overcome their struggles through group interaction and support of each other.  As the story unfolds, our STAR students are making connections and predictions as to what will happen in future chapters. 

Parents, we have a few additional Downriver books that could be loaned out.  If you would like to read along with your child.  Please email ahamm@kyrene.org

Stretch

It's week two, and the Kyrene STAR program is running full speed ahead!  If you were a fly in our classroom you’d hear very interesting conversation from students about ways to work together, suggestion on working through anger, what type of home students want to live in, and the latest events in our book, Downriver.  The conversations are reflections of our program belief that every student will learn to be a positive member and participant in their community at school and home.

During our first week, many of the students were shy and reserved in their demeanor.  Already in Monday of our second week we are starting to see that the students are feeling more comfortable and letting their true selves out.  This is fantastic for two reasons: 1) It means that they are opening up to the idea that this is a environment of trust and learning.  When we feel afraid and uncomfortable we tend to hide our true nature. 2) It means that we can now get down to the nitty gritty of what brought us all to this program.  Many of our students have had unsuccessful areas in their school year and they are participating in STAR to learn a new way of thinking, a different way to be seen, and an alternative way to learn.

As our program rolls on we expect to see frustration, avoidance, and surrender.  These are the difficult spaces we must work through as a group to find the success.  The students are learning how to experience emotion without letting it rule their lives.  In class students have learned and practiced a variety of emotion management techniques.  They are confronting their own weaknesses, problem solving through them, and becoming resilient and resourceful teens.  Through this method we call 'stretch' our staff are teaching students that they will be able to effectively problem solve, and use strategy to persevere when faced with any obstacle.  They are on their way, and our staff is so proud of the progress we have already seen! 

Wonder Wall

The 5th grade STAR class started this week with an activity called Wonder Wall.  Students were given 3 sticky notes (all different colors) and asked to write the answer to 3 questions:

1. Why are you in STAR?

2. What do you want to learn?

3. What area do you want to improve?

The students grouped the responses that were similar on the white board, and then Mr. B and Ms. Dennis led the class in a discussion.  The students shared areas for personal improvement in school, with behavior, and with academic subjects.  It was a great discussion! 

We photographed some of the responses that you can view here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2056845391346.122352.1550963063&l=0026bb0f86

A STAR Review

It has been a busy first week at STAR but I'm happy to say it seems as if the dust has settled and our STAR students are finding old friends and making new ones.  Our mornings start out with something called Project Adventure. Here, the students are given the opportunity to work together as a team to complete a challenge.  At first the challenge seems easy, but the students are discovering that it takes team-work, communication, and cooperation to successfully complete the task before them. 

Our older students have completed reading the first three chapters of Down River and are making connections and comparisons with the characters in the book to thier own lives.  Our younger students are making progress with their book Gregor the Overlander and they too are analyzing characters and real-life situations. 

I'm pleased to report that ALL of our students are gainfully employed and are realizing the difference between gross annual income and take-home pay is HUGE!  The students are starting to really get into Math for the Real World!  Budgets are next on the agenda so make sure you ask your students about thier job, their annual income as well as their "make believe" families. 

We have had a wonderful start to the program, and a great three days.  Our staff really are enjoying getting to know your children and watching them disocover new and exciting things about themselves and their peers. 

WELCOME STAR STUDENTS!

WELCOME STAR STUDENTS!!!

Our STAR Team is ready for this years program to get underway.  We have an exciting Summer program planned with lots of fun activites, engaging academics, and real-life challenges to discuss.  If you want to contact the program staff you can call the STAR office at 480-783-2505.  You can also email Amanda at ahamm@kyrene.org

A few program reminders and updates:

1. Each classroom has built in snack breaks and brain breaks.  Please send a snack with your child each day.

2. If your child will be absent from the program, please call 783-2505 or email at ahamm@kyrene.org 

3. Permission slips can be turned in to any of our STAR staff.  Once the photo permission slips are returned, our students pictures will be posted to the blog. 

4. UPDATE: PARENT PICK UP will be at the front of Centennial Middle School

5. UPDATE: BUS times were changed the first day of the program.  Copies of the updated pick up times were sent home with your students, if you need a copy of the new scheudule, let us know!

6. Each day, students will come home with a gold, half-sheet of paper with comments and feedback from teachers.  We want to keep our communication lines open so we can best support all of our students.  If you have questions or concerns, please call, email, or write a note back on your childs half-sheet. 

STAR Set Up

Mr. B and Mr. K are moving into CMS!

Mrs. Cupp went shopping!  Look at all of those goodies!!

 

Ms. Sosa is sorting student incentives, fun rewards students will earn.

Ms. Dennis is sorting Project Adventure curriculum and props. 

Mr. B is working on the presentation for parent night, while Ms. Kinnison and Mrs. Cupp are putting the finishing touches on the STAR Math and Language curriculum.

Meet the STAR Staff!

If you joined us for parent night, you know that our STAR teachers are deticated to this program, every single teacher has worked with the program for many years.  This year, our STAR staff interviewed one another and wrote a bio about their coworker.  We hope you enjoy learning a little bit about who will be working with your student's this summer. 

Susie Sosa is an 8^th grade Science teacher at Pueblo Middle School.  She has been teaching in Kyrene for 7 years and this is her 6^th year with the STAR program.  She learned about STAR after working with students at a camp in Prescott called Minitown.  It was there she realized her  passion for teaching can help make a difference in the lives of children.  For fun she loves hiking, traveling and spending time with her daughter.  She is looking forward to discovering lots of great things about this year’s STAR students.

Jessey Johnson is an Arizona native, born right here in the Valley of the Sun. He completed his undergraduate work at Arizona State University where he earned a Bachelor’s in Education and quickly went to work for Kyrene.  He has been working in the district for the past eleven years, spending time as a Middle School Math teacher, a district level administrator, and now a Student Advisor at Kyrene Middle School. In his personal life he enjoys spending time with his two kids that keep him busy all the time: Andrew 3 and Cecilia 6. When he's not with his kids he enjoys mountain biking, reading, or writing screen plays. This summer will he be returning to the STAR program and he cannot be happier! He enjoys guiding kids through Project Adventure activities, working on real life math activities, and helping the kids build strong understanding of how their decisions affect their future.

This is Caleb Ballatore's  5^th year teaching the STAR program.  Mr. “B” as he is called by his students, enjoys teaching STAR because he likes  seeing the students grow as a group and become successful during the team building activities.  Mr. Ballatore has taught 4^th grade for 6 years at Kyrene De la Mariposa.  He recently got married in October; his wife teaches 8^th grade Science in the Scottsdale School District.   Mr. B and his wife enjoy attending the Cardinals and Suns games.  They are big fans.  Go AZ Cardinals and Suns!!

Nancy Zimmerman is a 7^th grade science teacher at Pueblo middle school.  Nancy has fun each day that she goes to school because she gets to interact with the kids and see how they change over the course of a year.  Although there can be many challenges in the classroom she enjoys the community and camaraderie she is able to build with her students.  Nancy enjoys working with this age group because she is able to hold a conversation with the students and uses her humor to help them become more comfortable so that she can help them to learn and grow through the year.  Nancy has worked the STAR program for the past two years and she likes getting to know the participants.  She appreciates that she gets to do different activities in STAR than during the year and connect with students.

Kristi Kinnison has been teaching language arts in the Kyrene School District for 16 years. Her favorite part of teaching is the personal connections that she makes with her students. Ms. Kinnison has been teaching with the S.T.A.R. Program for 8 years and loves having fun with the kids and watching them learn new things. She has taken 2 summers off to get her landscape certification through Desert Botanical Garden and travel to Montana. Ms. Kinnison loves working with 5^th-8^th graders because they are not yet set in their ways and she can watch them come into their own person. In her fun time, Ms. Kinnison can be found riding her bike, swimming, reading, hiking, making jewelry, hanging out with friends, and learning new things. We are excited to have her back in the STAR program this summer.

Stephanie Cupp has been teaching in the Kyrene School District for 7 years. When asked what she enjoys most about teaching, Mrs. Cupp replies, “Working with kids because each day is different.” Mrs. Cupp feels S.T.A.R. is a continuation of the A.C.E. program, it is a fun, summer program. This is Mrs. Cupp’s 5^th year in the S.T.A.R. program. Last summer Mrs. Cupp took the summer off and headed to Pasadena for her wedding. We’re excited to have her back with us in the S.T.A.R. program. Mrs. Cupp is looking forward to having fun with the students, taking pleasure in their unique personalities, and seeing each day as a new experience. When she’s not in the classroom sharing her wonderful skills, you might find her hiking South Mountain, biking or funning along the canal, playing with Cooper (her dog) at the dog park, reading , traveling, or spending quality time with friends. In addition to her amazing math skills and radiant personality, Mrs. Cupp is quite creative with scrapbooking and card making.

Khalid Jenkins is excited to be working with STAR again this summer.   He is originally from New York and has been living in Arizona for the past 6 years.   This is his 6^th summer working in the STAR program and he enjoys the ability to assist children with making positive decisions that affect their lives.  He has been doing social work in Kyrene for 6 years which gives him a unique opportunity to make a positive connection with both students and parents all year long.  When he has free time, he enjoys hiking, reading, and playing with his 2 year old son.  Golfing is considered one of his 2^nd passions and you will find him at Fiddlesticks & Tokasticks whenever he gets the chance.  Mr. K is looking forward to meeting you this summer and getting to know your students!

Olivia Parry is a Behavior Interventionist in the Kyrene School District.  She has been teaching in Kyrene for 9 years.  This summer is Olivia's third year with the program, and she loves coming back each summer to work with the STAR students.  Her favorite part of the program is watching the students grow and learn strategies to deal with life in a positive way.  During the school year, she works with multiple schools and helps teachers.  She really loves being back in the classroom teaching and working with students each summer. 

Jennifer Dennis has been teaching for 7 years in Kyrene.  She taught for 6 years at Lomas Elementary and is now currently the prevention specialist at Centennial Middle School.  She has worked with the STAR program for 8 years.  She loves working with kids to help them identify problem solving skills and learn to support other students.  She said she works with the STAR program because she enjoys watching the children grow and be successful in their personal goals. For fun, Ms. Dennis loves horseback riding, hiking with her dog, spending time with friends, traveling and watching ASU football!!  Go Devils!

Robert Harding has been teaching for 16 years.  He  enjoys teaching by bringing real-life experiences into the classroom to help students make a connection to their learning.  Teaching is his passion and because of this passion he co-founded the STAR program in 1999.  What he likes most about working with 5-8^th graders is his ability to impact their learning by helping them believe in themselves and in their abilities.  He enjoys spending time with his family traveling and experiencing the great outdoors.  He looks forward to working with the students in STAR this summer and watching them discover new things.

Amanda Hamm is the Prevention Manager for the Kyrene School District and loves working with the many different prevention programs that Kyrene has to offer.  Amanda is a former middle and high school teacher, and has been working in Prevention Services in Kyrene since 2004.  The STAR Summer Program is one of her favorite programs!  She enjoys working with students one-on-one, and participating in the Project Adventure activities.  The field trip to the high ropes course is her favorite part of STAR.  "It is so fun to see students challenge themselves!  I love seeing the students encourage one another, you can see such a feeling of accomplishment when the students have completed the day at ropes.  They are so proud of each other and themselves."