This April, our district is proud to celebrate Financial Literacy Month by launching a new initiative designed to help students build essential life skills: the Smart Money Challenge. This districtwide effort invites students to engage in short, meaningful activities that introduce important financial concepts such as saving, budgeting, responsible spending, and planning for the future. By connecting classroom learning with real-world decision-making, the challenge helps students develop habits that will serve them well beyond graduation.
Each school day throughout the month, students will be able to access a calendar featuring a daily, age-appropriate financial literacy activity. These activities are designed to be brief, engaging, and relevant across grade levels, making it easy for students to participate consistently. After completing each activity, students will be asked to reflect on what they learned, helping to reinforce key concepts and encourage deeper thinking. Students who regularly engage in the challenge will also have opportunities to earn prizes through drawings and incentives, adding an extra layer of motivation and excitement.
Financial literacy is a key part of preparing students for independence and long-term success. Through the Smart Money Challenge, students begin to understand the value of money, practice thoughtful decision-making, and build confidence in navigating everyday financial situations. These experiences are designed to be approachable and relevant, giving students opportunities to apply what they learn in ways that feel practical and empowering.
Families play an important role in reinforcing these skills, and the Smart Money Challenge creates natural opportunities for conversations at home. Simple discussions about saving, spending, and goal setting can help students make deeper connections and see the relevance of financial literacy in their daily lives. By working together, schools and families can support students in building strong financial habits early on.
The Smart Money Challenge reflects our district’s ongoing commitment to preparing students for success in school and beyond. By investing in financial literacy and partnering with our community, we are helping students take meaningful steps toward confident, capable futures. More information about the challenge and ways to stay connected will be shared with families throughout the month. Please reach out to your student’s teacher for more information.
What an incredible display of teamwork, creativity, and community spirit! This year’s Parada Del Sol brought together students, staff, families, and community partners across our district to showcase the rich academic and cultural life inside our schools. Every parade entry represented hours of planning, collaboration, and purposeful learning — from cross-curricular STEAM projects to performance rehearsals and community outreach — and the Teaching & Learning Department is proud to highlight how these parade submissions amplified students’ learning and strengthened school communities.
Classroom to parade: examples of instructional impact
- Design thinking in action: Students used iterative prototyping when creating float elements — sketching, building scale models, testing attachments, and refining for parade safety and aesthetics.
- STEAM integration: Engineering challenges (load-bearing structures, power for moving parts, simple circuits for lights) gave students hands-on practice solving constraints with creativity.
- Literacy and storytelling: Parade themes were developed through research, storyboarding, and written proposals — authentic audiences elevated students’ writing and presentation stakes.
- Performing arts rehearsal cycles: Marching bands and theatre groups translated daily practice into polished performances, learning long-term rehearsal planning and stage presence.
Recognition and gratitude and a huge thank-you to every school team, teacher, volunteer, custodian, district staff member, parent, and student who invested time and talent in their entries. Your work not only made the parade a joyful community event but also provided meaningful, standards-based learning experiences for our students.
Big congratulations to the 2026 Parada Del Sol SUSD winners as chosen by the judges:
- Hometown Favorite — Pima Elementary School
- Best School Entry — Laguna Elementary School’s STEAM float
- Best Marching Band — Coronado High School
- Best Youth Entry — Saguaro High School Theatre Program “Pooper Scoopers”
These awards celebrate excellence across creativity, academic integration, performance, and community engagement — well deserved
Nerves and excitement filled the auditorium at Saguaro High School on Friday, January 23, as students from across Scottsdale Unified School District gathered for the 2026 SUSD Spelling Bee. The event brought together spellers in grades 3 through 8 from 24 elementary and middle schools, highlighting the district’s strong commitment to literacy and academic excellence.
After multiple rounds of increasingly challenging words, Camden Hernandez, a seventh grader from Desert Canyon Middle School, emerged as the 2026 SUSD Spelling Bee Champion, outlasting a talented field of 23 competitors. The competition began with the word “language” and narrowed to a final three before Hernandez secured first place by correctly spelling “minestra.” As the final word was confirmed, Camden raised his arms in celebration while the audience erupted in applause, a joyful moment that reflected his hard work and perseverance.
“I was feeling nervous and stressed out,” Hernandez shared. “I thought I might make the top five or ten, but I didn’t think I studied all of the words.” Despite his doubts, Camden prepared extensively by reviewing word lists, writing and spelling words aloud, and working through thousands of practice words. He credits his love of reading—his favorite book is Jurassic Park—and strong language skills for his success.
Camden’s victory earns him a spot at the Maricopa Region II Spelling Bee, where he will compete alongside five other SUSD students:
- Camden Hernandez, Desert Canyon MS, 7th Grade – 1st Place
- Sullivan Mixon, Navajo ES, 5th Grade
- Oliver LeCocq, Mohave MS, 7th Grade
- Jak Boudi, Ingleside MS, 7th Grade
- Diya Rozenfeld, Kiva ES, 5th Grade
- Aydon Morales, Redfield ES, 5th Grade
The District Spelling Bee reflects SUSD’s dedication to literacy, student growth, and celebrating academic achievement across all grade levels.
Celebrating Bilingual Brilliance at the SUSD Spanish Spelling Bee
The Scottsdale Unified School District Spanish Spelling Bee wrapped up January 21, with a thrilling finish as students from across the district showcased their Spanish language skills in a spirited final round. The event celebrates bilingualism, biliteracy, and excellence in world language learning.
After multiple rounds of competition, the Bee came down to an intense head-to-head between two seventh graders that stretched through 11 rounds and was decided by a single word. Adrian Cortes Ramos, a seventh grader from Tonalea Middle School, spelled the final word correctly to claim the title of 2026 SUSD Spanish Spelling Bee Champion, confirmed by host Dr. David Priniski.
“Oh my god. Oh my god. I won. It’s impossible,” Cortes Ramos said moments after the win.
Cortes Ramos credited his teacher, Mr. Chango, for encouraging him to compete, a nudge that ultimately led to a championship trophy and districtwide recognition.
The Spanish Spelling Bee is supported by SUSD’s World Language department, translation team, and bilingual community specialists, with middle school Spanish teachers hosting classroom bees throughout the year. Open to all eligible students, the event continues to grow, reflecting SUSD’s commitment to world language education and student achievement.
Literacy is traditionally defined as the ability to read and write, but in today’s world, it extends far beyond those foundational skills. True literacy includes exposure to experiences that build understanding, confidence, and readiness for real-world challenges. One increasingly important area is financial literacy. Teaching students about spending, saving, investing, and borrowing equips them with essential knowledge that will serve them throughout their lives.
With this in mind, fourth-grade students engaged in a unit of study aligned to Economics and History standards. They explored topics such as resources, choice, opportunity cost, and the basic economic problem. Students also examined risk-taking, pricing, and marketing strategies before developing plans to produce products using recycled materials. Working in teams, students created prototypes and presented them during a classroom market, where peers used play money to “purchase” their favorite ideas. The top-earning concepts were then selected for large-scale production by the entire class.
To extend this learning beyond the classroom, the City of Scottsdale, Scottsdale Public Library, and SUSD collaborated to host a Young Entrepreneurs Market. On December 6, 2025, students from Laguna Elementary brought their finished products to Scottsdale Civic Plaza to sell to community members. Students earned real revenue from their creations, gaining invaluable experience in an authentic, hands-on environment.
Following the event, students reflected on their earnings and brainstormed how to reinvest their funds to generate future revenue in preparation for a second market opportunity in the spring. Concepts such as marketing, pricing, and even price elasticity of demand became part of their learning, remarkably, all at the fourth-grade level.
The students of Laguna Elementary, supported by their teachers Sarah Clor and Brooke Barnes, have deepened their understanding of financial literacy through this innovative unit of study. Watch for details about the spring market and join us in supporting these young entrepreneurs as they continue to develop their skills and confidence.