Falcon Focus - March 31, 2023

March 31, 2023

Home of the Falcons!

"We Achieve and Celebrate Educational Excellence"

Falcon Focus

Photo courtesy of azcentral.com "The Phoenix Area's 5 Most Beautiful Schools" April 2015

Click here for the 2023-2024 School Year Calendar!

McDowell Mountain Elementary School

Hello Falcon Families!

I hope everyone had a relaxing and restful spring break. The first two weeks of the last quarter are off to a great start at MMES. We are excited to get our students ready for next year and the move to the new McDowell Mountain Elementary School on the current middle school campus. We will continue to share updates as they become available.

Please find important information from MMES below;

Our third installment of, "Pizza with the Principal," took place today in the library. All teachers chose two students to eat lunch with Mr. Wilkinson, Mrs. Smart, and her dog Boo. Everyone had a great time and even Boo got to enjoy a few nibbles of pizza.

This summer, back by popular demand, McDowell Mountain is excited to host its 5th annual action-packed week of Camp Invention from June 12-16. During the all-new Wonder program, campers will take an exciting ride through science, technology, engineering and art with mini skate parks, MimicBots, mini pop-up businesses and more! Register your child today at invent.org/mylocalcamp. Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNN3cwLLsdA

Hurry to save $15 through May 17th with code WONDER15.

There are scholarships available! Please email Jill Cooper at jcooper@fhacademics.org for more information!

Incoming Pre-K & Kindergarten parents will have another opportunity to register their student for next year on Monday, April 3rd from 6:30-7:30pm at FHMS. Dr. J will give a presentation on our consolidation efforts thus far and then we will go on a tour of the building. Preschool and Kindergarten teachers will be on site for a meet and greet as well. If you cannot make it to Monday's event, we will have another opportunity on Tuesday, April 11th at the same time and place.

Mathnasium of Fountain Hills will once again be hosting another, "Math Night," next Thursday, April 6th from 5:30-7:30pm at MMES. This event is free to all and a great opportunity for families to have fun and learn activities they can do at home with their students. Batchelor's Pad food truck will also be here for anyone looking to purchase dinner or a snack during the event.

AASA testing begins next week for 3rd grade students only at MMES. Please help us by ensuring your student is well rested, fed, and on time during our testing dates (4/4, 4/6, 4/11, 4/13, 4/18,4/20). Your help is greatly appreciated.

Important Dates Coming Up at MMES:

PreK/Kinder Round Up - Monday, April 3rd, 6:30-7:30pm @ FHMS
"Math Night" hosted by Mathnasium - Thursday, April 6th, 5:30-7:30pm @ MMES
District Recess (No School) - Friday, April 7th

Yours in Leadership,

Kevin Wilkinson

Principal

McDowell Mountain Elementary School

Fountain Hills Middle School

Hello and Happy Spring to our FHMS Families!

We are in our final stretch of our school year with limited holiday breaks. It is also our STATEWIDE ASSESSMENT SEASON. Please make sure your child has had enough rest the night before, ate breakfast, and has a fully charged chromebook, a charger, and a compatible headset (Wireless is not allowed) on scheduled test day. Below is our testing schedule. For more information regarding Arizona Statewide Achievement Assessment please visit

Assessment Parent Guide

Assessment Parent Guide - Spanish

Statewide Achievement Assessment - AzScience (AzSci), Grades 5 and 8:

AzSci Testing began on March 27th over three days. We had a very good attendance rate by all students who attend in-person and those who attend our Virtual Academy. We have a handful of students who need to make this test up and we have until April 14, 2023, so that is great news. It was great to see how many students attended school on time and were ready to do their best. Let’s keep this up!

Arizona Academic Standards Assessment (AASA), Grades 4 - 8, Writing, Math, & ELA: Testing on the following days will begin first thing in the morning at 8:30AM.

Writing - April 3 / Writing make-up days April 4 - 6 / Writing closes April 14
Math - April 10 and April 11 / Math make-up days April 12 - 14 / Math closes April 28
ELA - April 17 and April 18 / ELA make-up days April 19 - 21 / ELA closes April 28

CIVICS Test:

Our 8th grade students will also be taking a CIVICS test with Mr. Peterson in their history class. In 2015 Arizona passed the American Civics Act, which requires students to pass a 100-question civics test in order to graduate from high school. This test is similar to the test given during the naturalization and citizenship process, and it includes history, geography, and civics questions that address K - 12 social studies standards. Students must pass this test with a 70 percent or higher.

A special shout to Mr. Peterson, our 7th/8th grade History teacher, and to the Daughters of the American Revolution for providing the opportunity for his students to participate in an essay contest on the topic “You are the Second Continental Congress”. Pictured are our winners (Mya Hinton, James Fessenden, Colleen Streufert, London Becker, Faith Hudson, Cason Pitz, and Ellie Vickers) along with Mr. Peterson, The Daughters of the American Revolution, and Principal Dr. Weeldreyer.

Congratulations to our 5th Grade published authors. Ms. Rios and each of her 5th Grade ELA classes created books on the ways we can show KINDNESS every day. These books are filled with awesome stories and illustrations about KINDNESS. Great job Ms. Rios and 5th Graders, you are excellent examples of what makes FHMS so KIND!!!

Our students get the opportunity to purchase raffle tickets with their PBIS points. As you can see our students enjoy their raffle prizes.

We have a pool of awesome subs who help make FHMS a great place to be. Most recently a group of students out of our 6th/7th grade History class created these great cards requesting Mr. DeGroote to be their teacher. Super sweet and kind!

In collaboration with Shawn Uphoff with FH Coalition she has created a Poster Contest that is open to all students in grades 4-8. Contest deadline is April 21st at 3:15 pm.

Important Announcements:

Friday, April 7, 2023. District Recess/No School.
April 12, 19, & 26 is One Hour Early Release Day at 2:10PM.
We encourage you to send your child to school on time so that they don’t miss out on valuable learning opportunities.
Please check your child’s lunch account balances. You are welcome to come to the school and pay the balances and add money to their account.

Yours in education,

Dr. Kimberly Weeldreyer

Principal

Fountain Hills Middle School

Fountain Hills High School

Happy spring, Falcons! I hope everyone had a wonderful Spring Break and is ready for the “home stretch” of the school year. The weather is warming up and spring and summer fever is in the air! Please ensure that your students get rest and stay healthy so they may focus on their classes, jobs, extra-curricular activities, and sports as we enter 4th quarter.

We have State testing next week at the high school. Please see below and remember to check the website and look for the numerous electronic alerts that Mrs. Kane is sending out regarding the testing schedule. If you have questions, please contact her at jkane@fhacademics.org.

Spring Sports are underway! Please come out and support all of our Spring Teams and enjoy this beautiful weather. You may access the full schedule of all sporting events here.

Class of 2023: please make sure you are all lined up for Graduation so there are no surprises come May, especially regarding your required 24 hours of community service.

Thank you all for supporting our students, staff, and school. I am proud to be your Principal and look forward to an exciting 4th Quarter!

Chris Hartmann

Principal

Fountain Hills High School

Reminder: State Testing is Next Week!

The state tests are next week. As we mentioned earlier all students in 9th-11th grade will be testing. Juniors will be taking the ACT and the AZSci. Sophomores will be taking the PreACT, while the freshman will be taking the ACT Aspire. Below you will find our modified schedule.

With our schedule you will notice that Tuesday we will have asynchronous learning as we did last year. Teachers will have a specific assignment online or hard copy for students to complete for the day. It will be counted as their attendance. Teachers will be available for you to reach out to for extra help via email. EVIT students will be excused from their EVIT classes on Tuesday due to the length of our testing day. In addition, they have been made aware that students may possibly be late on Thursday due to the timing of the test they are taking.

Technology:

All students MUST use a school issued device to take the assessments. Please make sure to bring the chromebook on campus this week so any updates can be completed and make sure it connects to our network.
Charge your chromebooks!
Headphones: you may bring your own; they may NOT be bluetooth, they MUST plug into your device.
No Smartwatches can be worn; those and cellphones will be turned off and placed in the student’s bag for the duration of testing.

TESTING ROOMS:

Both our virtual academy and our in-person students need to come in to take the classes. Testing rooms have been assigned and will be posted throughout the hallways for the start of school on Thursday. All Fountain Hills Virtual Academy students should report to the office to review their testing room assignment. Testing begins at 7:30, so be in your seats by 7:25 at the latest.

JUNIORS:

In English the students have received a testing booking to review with tips in it. They were also given a handout to have set up their ACT accounts for score reporting. This must be completed by Tuesday, April 4th.

ASYNCHRONOUS LEARNING:

Students will complete their learning at home (Tuesday ONLY). The teachers will be available online from 12:20 - 2:20. Any student at school for testing will have a bus to take them home. Any student who is not at school for testing that day should be working on PLP and other assignments that have been given to you at home. Those who would prefer their students to be on campus for their learning will be permitted to be on campus from 7:30-2:20 with buses provided. They will need to check into the front office when they arrive.

BUSES:

Transportation will be provided on Tuesday, April 4 to and from school. The buses will leave the school at 12:20 after lunch for those who need it.

If you have any questions about testing, please reach out to Assistant Principal Jessica Kane at jkane@fhacademics.org.

SCHEDULE:

Tuesday, April 4th - ACT (11th) & PreACT (10th)

7:30-11:45 Testing Window (Only those testing are on campus)

11:45-12:15 Lunch

12:20-2:20 Asynchronous

Wednesday, April 5th - ACT Aspire - Math & Reading (9th Grade)& ACT Make-Up

7:30-10:30 Testing Window (Only those testing are on campus)

7:30-11:45 ACT Make-Up

10:30-11:30 Lunch

11:30-12:24 4th Period

12:29-1:22 5th Period

1:27-2:20 6th Period

Thursday, April 6th - AZSci (11th) & ACT Aspire - English, Writing, & Science (9th)

7:30-10:30 Testing Window (Only those testing are on campus)

10:30-11:30 Lunch

11:30-12:24 1st Period

12:29-1:22 2nd Period

1:27-2:20 3rd Period

Testing Make-Up Days

Wednesday, April 6th ACT

Monday, April 10th AZSci (if necessary)

Tuesday, April 11th AZSci (if necessary)

Wednesday, April 12th ACT Aspire

Thursday, April 13th ACT Aspire (if necessary)

Friday, April 14th ACT Aspire (if necessary)

Tuesday, April 18th PreACT

Wednesday, April 19th PreACT (if necessary)

Dark Sky Art Contest Winners

Congratulations to Sophomore Cynthia Espinoza (1st place, center), Sophomore Jordan Prieskorn (2nd place, not pictured), and Freshman Birdie Flowers (3rd place, left) for being honored at the Fountain Hills Dark Sky Festival art contest on Saturday, March 25th! Art Teacher Marisa Colon (right) was there to support her students and celebrate their wins with them.

VFW Teacher of the Year

Freshman English Teacher Kim Flowers was recently honored for being named High School Teacher of the Year for the state of Arizona by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). Flowers reinstated the Veterans Heritage Project (VHP) at FHHS this year, a program where students interview veterans to document and preserve their service stories. Flowers said, “I am honored to receive this award. I hope it serves to increase awareness of the VHP and encourage more veterans and students to participate. Students have the opportunity to become published authors and also become eligible for scholarships through the organization.” If you are interested in joining the VHP, email kflowers@fhacademics.org.

New Band Teacher for 23-24

Mr. Jan Gardner comes to us from Arcadia HS in the Scottsdale Unified School District. He is originally from Northwest Indiana near Chicago and received his degree at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He has been teaching for 31 years and has had the privilege of teaching thousands of students in Indiana and Illinois with the last 19 in Arizona. Throughout those years, Mr. Gardner’s Bands and Orchestras at the Middle School and High School levels have earned Superior ratings at State Sponsored Concert and Jazz festivals. In Arizona, his Marching Bands have won a total of 10 State Marching Band Championship titles. In addition, his color guards have won 2 Championship titles with Winter Guard Arizona. His bands and orchestras have enjoyed the opportunity to travel in and out of state including performances in Palm Springs, CA; Disney World Orlando, Florida; and Disneyland Anaheim, California. In 2019, Mr. Gardner was chosen to be the Arizona representative of the “50 Directors Who Make a Difference” award as presented by “School Band and Orchestra Magazine”. Mr. Gardner is looking forward to this new opportunity and is excited to share his experience and expertise with the students and the community of Fountain Hills.

Volunteers Needed

This Saturday, April 1st, is Opening Day for Fountain Hills Little League. They are looking for volunteers who are 15 years and older to help monitor the bounce houses for this event! The volunteers will be needed for 5 hours from 4-9 pm and will be given community service hours for this event.