Located at the end of Avenida Coatimundi and nestled away into the Patagonia Mountains, the Spanish Colonial style architecture of Coatimundi Middle School creates a welcoming impression of culture and community. Our school is located in the town of Rio Rico, Arizona, approximately 15 miles north of the Mexican border town of Nogales and is part of the Santa Cruz Valley Unified School District. Our school population is primarily of Hispanic heritage with a cultural capital centered on family and community.

The adage “it takes a village to raise a child” in the context of education can be translated to, “It takes a professional learning community to effectively educate our students.” Here at Coatimundi Middle School we are always striving to be an effective professional learning community. We were rewarded for our efforts by the Arizona Educational Foundation with an A+ Status in 2011. The Arizona Educational Foundation created the A+ Schools of Excellence Program as a comprehensive school assessment tool to identify, celebrate, and recognize overall educational excellence in schools throughout Arizona.

Our mission and vision statements are our school’s guiding forces. You might notice that present in both the mission and vision statement is the word “everyone.” All stakeholders must be involved in the learning process in order to be successful; we must act in rhythm to achieve a true professional learning community.

Dear Families,

Happy March! Below you will find some ways that you as parent/guardian can help your child be successful when studying for a test.

• Make sure that your child does all their homework and all school assignments, as this will help make sure your child is prepared for the test.
• Encourage your child to do well, but don't pressure him/her. You may stress him/her out. It is important for your child to stay relaxed for the test.
• Keep a positive attitude about tests.
• Provide a quiet, well lit area with little distractions to help your child study efficiently.
• Make sure that your child gets enough sleep on the night before the test.
• Ensure that your child eats a healthy breakfast and avoid heavy foods that may make him/her groggy and avoid high sugar foods that may make him/her hyper.
• Make sure that your child gets up early enough so that he/she will be on time to school.
• Talking about the test with your child can relieve stress about test taking. If your child is struggling on their tests, talk to them about it and meet with their teacher to find out the best way to help your child.
• Praise/reward your child when they do well on a test or for their hard work preparing for a test.
• Encourage them to do better if they don't do well.
• Review the test with your child after they have taken it, and go over any mistakes they have made and make sure that they understand what they did wrong and how they can improve for the next test.

With Kind Regards,

Rebekah Cabrera

Rebekah Cabrera, Principal