News

The Phoenix Suns Gorilla stopped by Laveen School on January 10 to congratulate the classes that showed exceptional student growth on the recent district map (measurements of academic progress) assessment. The Gorilla stopped in several classrooms and handed out orange Suns t-shirts coinciding with the team’s “Orange Friday” celebration that evening.

Laveen School held a “snow day” for Grades preschool-2^nd just before winter break.

One of the school’s supporters, Lululemon, sponsored the event by arranging for 12 tons of snow, hot chocolate, and mittens. They also provided 30 employee volunteers to help. They titled the event “Let the Magic Move You!”

On October 25, 2019, Laveen broke ground on their ninth school, Estrella Foothills Global Academy. The future school is located near 55th Avenue and Carver Road.

Development of the school was made possible through a number of partnerships. The land was acquired through a donation by developer Taylor Morrison and proceeds from another district-owned land sale; the Arizona School Facilities Board is funding $14.6 million in construction costs; and, in addition to the site’s three play fields, there will be a joint-use playground/city park of which the City of Phoenix and Taylor Morrison are funding the construction, amenities, and improvements.

Estrella Foothills will offer global studies as its signature program. Plans include becoming an International Baccalaureate World School and offering Mandarin Chinese as a foreign language component. Global designs will be incorporated into the building’s architecture. Estrella Foothills Global Academy will open to Grades K–6, adding a grade level each year until it serves Grades K-8.

The school was designed by EMC2 Architects and is being constructed by S.D. Crane Builders.

Contractor S.D. Crane sponsored the celebratory event.

View photos from the groundbreaking on our flickr page.

For more information about the school, visit www.laveenschools.org/estrella-foothills-global-academy

Two Arizona Cardinals players, Joe Walker and Dennis Gardeck, and Big Red stopped by Laveen Elementary School. The players read the book Where the Wild Things Are to the students before enjoying milk and cookies with them.

Students in Grades 1-3 who had perfect attendance the last three weeks were entered into a drawing to participate in this event. This program is sponsored by Salt River Project and Albertsons-Safeway.

View more photos on our flickr page.

Laveen School’s MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement) team placed in the  AZMESA Day state competition. Held at the University of Arizona, this annual statewide competition challenges teams to solve problems through engineering and design.

Laveen’s team took 3rd Place in the Tape and Paper Canoe challenge and 4th Place in the Cargo Bottle Rocket challenge.

Additionally, 6th grade student Haden Morales was named Student of the Year.

Ms. Tiffany Lorona is the team’s sponsor.

Laveen School 6th grade student, Haden Morales, has been named Student of the Year by AZMESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement),  a school based outreach program designed to increase access to Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) pathways and encourage college readiness.

Morales was a member of Laveen School’s MESA team which competed at AZMESA Day at the University of Arizona. This annual statewide competition challenges teams to solve problems through engineering and design.

In addition to Morales’s award, the Laveen team  took 3rd and 4th Place in two categories, the Tape and Paper Canoe and Cargo Bottle Rocket.

Mr. Wasie’s  4th grade classroom won the “Phoenix Suns Grow to Go Challenge.” They showed the most growth schoolwide on the Galileo assessments from BM1 to BM3.

Everyone in the class received two tickets to a Suns game on March 27 and the ten students that showed the most growth received a basketball and had the opportunity to meet players and get signatures after the game.

Students at Laveen School planted a salsa garden earlier this month with the help of “Be Kind.”

Be Kind is a non-profit organization that strives to build a generation of respectful, responsible, healthy, and caring citizens.

Be Kind volunteers led students through a lesson on the importance of maintaining healthy habits as well as learning to appreciate nature and gardening. Then they took the students to the garden area where they helped them plant tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, onions, and basil.

This activity also encouraged the students to work together to prepare the garden.