Focus on TUSD - April/May 2008

TUSD Wrap Up
Boys & Girls Clubhouse opens on Roberts campus
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Tucson opened its sixth location on Friday, April 4, on the Roberts Elementary School campus at 1935 S. Columbus Blvd.  The 18,000-square-foot clubhouse includes a library, game room and full-size gymnasium.

Called the Jim and Vicki Click Clubhouse, it is the second collaboration with the Tucson Unified School District. The Frank and Edith Morton Clubhouse is on the campus of Doolen Middle School at 3155 E. Grant Road.

Lineweaver students work with visiting artist
Last month, Lineweaver Elementary School students worked with William Clipman, a world-renowned artist, through an Artist-in-Residency grant. Kindergarteners and first- and second-graders learned about rhythm and percussion, while third-, fourth- and fifth-graders wrote mythical personal poems.

Fourth-grade students were the focus group during the residency. They wrote a 10-stanza mythical persona poem, created plaster masks of their faces, and painted and added three-dimensional elements to the masks to fit the mythical personas.

A community showcase was held on March 25 when fourth-graders donned their masks and performed their poems. The Eckstrom-Columbus library displayed the fourth-grade masks from April 1-25.

Lineweaver is located at 461 S. Bryant.

Hohokam will receive gifts
The Assistance League of Tucson named Hohokam Middle School the beneficiary of its Operation School Bell outreach. Students will receive 150 grooming kits, school supplies and 300 Payless Shoes gift cards.

Career Day held at Lyons
A helicopter landing at Lyons Elementary School highlighted a Career Day featuring representatives from 23 career fields on Wednesday, April 23, at the school, 7555 E. Dogwood St.

Lyons students rotated through three speakers and then viewed a helicopter landing on the school's playground. Speakers discussed the training and education they needed for their careers. The helicopter's pilot presented information on his piloting experiences to the students after landing. In addition to the pilot, representatives from the other career fields presented to students.

Picture American displayed at Utterback through April 4
Utterback Magnet Middle School helped visitors picture America with its historic display supplied by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Forty pieces of artwork spanning several centuries were on view through Friday, April 4, at the library's Great Art by Students and Professionals Gallery, 3233 S. Pinal Vista. The NEH has distributed large, high-quality reproductions of images that painters, sculptors, photographers and architects have crafted.

"We are so pleased to be part of the pilot phase of picturing America," said Utterback Librarian Jerri Blackman. "This program really allowed our students access to some of the nation's most important art right here within our school."

Utterback was one of 1,500 pilot recipients in the NEH innovative program that helps teach American history and offer students a glimpse of the broader world of the humanities.

"I really like learning about history through the pictures," said seventh-grader Cantonese Mitchell. "Using the art helped me understand how people felt in the past and to see what their lives were like."

Photos in the April issue by Jes Ruvalcaba of Communications & Media Relations, unless otherwise noted.

The deadline to submit material for the May Focus is Friday, May 16. The Focus will be published Tuesday, May 27. Email submissions to Chyrl Hill Lander or Sharon Dunham in the Communications & Media Relations Department or use the online Tip Sheet.