CANNON CONNECTION
A newsletter for Cannon Elementary families - 2018-2019
WEEK OF JANUARY 28, 2019
Hello Cannon Families!
I'm pretty certain that by now, ALL of you have heard the news from your children that OUR PLAYGROUND IS OPEN!! This was definitely BIG news around Cannon last week, as our Cubs excitedly tried out all of our awesome new playground equipment! We were so excited for them, as we know how challenging it has been for our students & staff to have modified versions of recess for the past 1.5 years!
I wanted to make all of our parents aware of another modification that will be made next week, as a result of construction. It is time for the installation of the site water loop to begin. This will close down one entire lane of College Street until the project is complete. The contractor has provided the City of Grapevine and GCISD with a traffic control plan. The City has approved this and the general contractor will be informing homeowners of the work and schedule this week. As a result, we are asking for all of our Cannon parents to adjust your morning drop-off schedules, in order to ensure that your children still arrive to school on time.
Also, I would like to encourage any of our parents who have not yet joined PTA to consider joining now, during the spring membership drive! If you have already joined, don't forget that your spouse, parents, other family and even community members are invited to join our Cannon PTA! Our PTA provides tremendous support to our school community and helps raise money throughout the school year to fund special programs and purchase items for our school that benefit all of our students and staff! See the information below about how you can help your child's class wina a pizza party by joining PTA!
Finally, another way that our PTA supports our school is by serving as an advocate for all children. They do not support specific political parties or candidates but they DO support and advocate for policies that support children. Texas legislators are currently in-session in Austin with a lot of attention on issues in education. Our PTA will be hosting an Advocacy Breakfast at Cannon on Friday, 2/1 at 8:00 am to share more about their efforts in advocacy and they would LOVE for you to join them to learn more! See more information about this effort, as well as other upcoming PTA sponsored events in the PTA section of this newsletter!
Proud to be your principal,
Mrs. Blizzard
#BeCannonProud
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Help Your Child's Class Win A Pizza Party - Join PTA!
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Mark Your Calendars.....
UPCOMING EVENTS
1/28 Talent Show Forms are due! - See Information in PTA section of this newsletter!
1/28 Dad's Club Social - See Information in PTA section of this newsletter!
2/01 PTA Advocacy Breakfast -- See Information in PTA section of this newsletter!
2/08 PTA Mom's Night Out -- See Information in PTA section of this newsletter!
2/14 Class Valentine's Day Parties - 2:00 pm
2/18 Student Holiday - Teacher Professional Learning Day
2/18-2/22 Engineering Week
2/25 Texas PTA Rally Day
2/26 Class Picture Day
2/28 1st Grade Musical - 6:00 pm
3/01 Cannon Talent Show & Art Show
3/07 Family Engineering Night 5:30-7:00 pm
3/11-3/15 Spring Break
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SEEN @ CANNON LAST WEEK!
Cactus Design Challenge In 1st Grade!
Cannon Student Ties For 2nd Pace In Area Spelling Bee!
Stream Tables in 4th Grade
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CAMPUS & DISTRICT UPDATES
REMINDERS FROM NURSE KENDRA
HAGA CLIC AQUÍ PARA LEER ESTA INFORMACIÓN EN ESPAÑOL
The health and safety of all students is important to the staff at Cannon Elementary. In an effort to keep our students healthy and in the classroom, I wanted to share a few lifestyle hygiene habits. We can’t keep everyone from getting sick, but we sure can try!
1.) Wash your hands!! Before you eat, after you eat, when you use the restroom, after PE, after you sneeze, anytime you can. When in doubt, wash your hands.
2.) If you cough or sneeze, use your sleeve. (The students can demonstrate this for you;)
3.) Respect personal space. Keep a little distance between you and your friends, and you and your teachers.
4.) Only visit the nurse for things that cannot be taken care of in the classroom. At any time during the day there may be a sick student in the clinic, so the healthiest place to be is in the classroom. Teachers have band aids for little cuts and scrapes.
5.) Wear weather appropriate clothing. If there is snow on the ground, students should wear closed-toed shoes, pants and a jacket.
While we practice these healthy habits at school, we also ask that you do your part in assessing your student’s health at home. If your student has a fever of more than 100.0 degrees, or is experiencing vomit/diarrhea, district policy requires them to stay home. Only when your student has been symptom free without the use of any medication for more than 24 hours may they return to campus.
In the event that your student is staying home from school, please call the front office and let us know. Also, bring to the front office a doctor’s note or parent note. As always, we are here to answer any healthy hygiene habits questions!
GCISD Love Your Device Contest
The Love Your Device contest is back this year with expanded topics to include digital citizenship! Check out our website for detailed information about rules and how to submit entries. Students may work individually, as a small group or as a class. This year's contest is for grades K-8.
The basic information for students:
1. Design a project, a video, a poster, or a slide show covering any aspect of device care or digital citizenship.
2. Submit your entries by February 7. Winners announced February 14.
3. Prizes include t-shirts, tech toys, popcorn parties and more.
Your campus will receive posters soon to help advertise the contest.
GOT OLD ELECTRONICS?
One man's trash is a curious STEM Cub's treasure!
Do you have any small old, broken electronics gathering dust? We are collecting these for our Breaker Space and our 4th grade scholars also have a project coming up and could use your old electronics to explore!
Suggestions for small items to donate: (No items with GLASS screens please! )
- Electronic toys - we LOVE these!
- Keyboards
- Remotes
- Small appliances (hair dryers; coffee makers; toasters; styling tools, etc...
- Clocks
- Phones
- Smoke detectors; Flashlights; Tools
- We would love to learn from anything you might have!
Please drop these items off in the front office or send them to school with your students to be taken to the office. THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!
GCISD Community Showcase at TECC
Have you ever wondered what goes on inside of a GCISD classroom? Have you ever been curious about how LEAD 2021 looks in action? Join GCISD for a Community Showcase at the Technology Education and Career Center (TECC) at Grapevine High School on January 31 from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m for a tour led by students and staff. This opportunity is limited to the first 20 participants. Click here to sign up for this Community Showcase.
"The Talk" Presentation
Parents are invited to a conversation with Dr. Jeff Livingston MD, a local OB/GYN, about how to talk with their children about sex.
"The Talk", can feel intimidating and we hope that this presentation will empower parents with knowledge about what to share and when to share it.
Join us on Tuesday, January 29 at 6:00 p.m. in the GCISD Board Room at 3051 Ira E. Woods Avenue in Grapevine.
The presentation will be recorded and available for viewing through the GCISD website on the Social Emotional Support page.
Rachel's Challenge Shirt Contest
Students, you could be the artist behind our new Rachel's Challenge shirt for 2019 and everyone could be wearing your artwork. See the details in the flyer.
NEW Sessions Announced For GCISD Parent Technology Academy
Spring Parent Technology Academy Sessions
GCISD Technology is excited to announce our Spring Session line up with several new sessions. Stay tuned as more will be added to our list as we keep receiving the request from the community.
February 12th - Hour of Code - Parent Edition -SIGN UP HERE
Come dive in and experience what students across GCISD do each day with hands-on activities around coding
February 26th - Understanding Minecraft ( Presented by Microsoft) -SIGN UP HERE
Come and learn about the power of Minecraft in education, get tips directly for Microsoft on parental settings for use at home.
March 21st - Internet Addiction " Gaming"--SIGN UP HERE
More than 5 million kids may be addicted to video games. 31% of males and 12 % of females report that have felt addicted to gaming. Come to hear from Dr Kay Trotter, PhD, LPC-s, RPT-S from local Kaleidoscope Behavioral Health as she discusses the signs and symptoms of this growing addiction. Learn some tips and be a part of the discussion around online gaming and internet addiction.
April 16th - Apps Parents Need to Know -SIGN UP HERE
Take part in this interactive discussion around the growing world of apps that students are using. Go being the scenes to hear the truth behind the apps and what dangers there are to those who use them
Virtual Session Coming Soon - Fortnite ( a Parents Guide ) - SIGN UP HERE
Many have asked some come and experience Fortnite for parents. Hear about details of the game and dive into parental settings for the various gaming systems students use to play online.
All sessions can be found on the Parent Technology Academy Webpage
Doodle 4 Google 2019
The contest is open to students in Kindergarten through 12th grade in the United States. To enter the contest students should create a drawing that represents something that inspires them. The drawing, of course, must include the word Google somewhere within it. The artwork must be submitted on this official entry form. Entries can be submitted by teachers or parents!
This year's national Doodle 4 Google winner will receive a $30,000 college scholarship and a $50,000 technology prize package for his or her school. Check out this video about the 2nd grader who was the 2018 contest winner!
Two of this year's celebrity judges are Jimmy Fallon and Kermit the Frog. Here they are to introduce the Doodle 4 Google contest.
GCISD Legislative Priorities
Public education is a partnership between school district and the state of Texas. With rising academic standards set by the Texas Legislature, each district should have appropriate state resources to educate all students. Committed to setting high expectations for all students, GCISD has identified these legislative priorities for the Texas Legislature’s consideration
The GCISD Board of Trustees approved these legislative priorities during its meeting on December 17, 2018. A PDF version of the legislative priorities is also available.
Amazon Smile
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NEWS FROM CANNON PTA
PTA QUICK PICKS!
Check out these "quick picks" of reminders & information from PTA:
TALENT SHOW
Cannon’s Got Talent will premier to Friday, March 1. Entry forms are due on Monday, January 28, and forms received after that date will be as space allows. Forms available on cannonpta.com. Additional information will be e-mailed to parents on Tuesday, January 29.
PTA ADVOCACY
PTA serves as an advocate for children. While we do not support specific political parties or candidates; we DO support and advocate for policies that support children. Texas legislators are currently in-session in Austin with attention on education. We would LOVE to have more Cannon parents involved with advocating for our kids. Please join us for a breakfast on Friday, February 1 at 8:00 am to talk about Cannon PTA’s efforts in advocacy and how you can get involved. We also invite you to join us in Austin on Monday, February 25, if interested please e-mail me at president@cannonpta.com.
DADS' CLUB SOCIAL - Monday, January 28 at 6:30 pm at Wise Guy's Pizzeria in Grapevine
MOM’S NIGHT OUT - Friday, February 8 starting at 7:00 pm at Palio’s Pizza in Grapevine.
Check out events at cannonpta.com/calendar
Stay connected by following Cannon PTA on social media. Click here to "like" the PTA Facebook page. Follow them on Twitter @CannonPTA.
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QUICK LINKS FOR PARENTS
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I want to make you aware of where you can see information and resources, specifically about the Cannon construction project. Also, check out the awesome exterior renderings of our new school below!!
Please reach out to me to let me know of any questions you may have about this project. This is a VERY exciting time for our Cannon school community and I want to make sure all of our Cannon families stay informed!
Click here to see project updates on all GCISD Bond programs
Click here to sign up for construction updates by email about the Cannon project!
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Cannon Elementary: A GCISD STEM School
Email: tona.blizzard@gcisd.net
Website: http://www.gcisd-k12.org/Domain/1428
Location: 1300 W College St, Grapevine, TX, United States
Phone: 817-251-5680
Facebook: facebook.com/CannonSTEM
Twitter: @canSTEM