Kirk Elementary
Tiger Tales 03/28/2023
School Information
Email: Kirk@cfisd.net
Website: https://www.cfisd.net/Kirk
Location: 12421 Tanner Road, Houston, TX, USA
Phone: 713-849-8250
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KirkElementary/
Twitter: @KirkElementary
Principal's Corner
Kirk families,
Please remember that our school day begins promptly at 8:15 a.m. Make every effort to have your child here at school by 8:15 a.m. each day. Our teachers begin teaching right after morning announcements and when your child is late, they miss out on important instruction.
We have Spring Fest Friday, March 31st from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Please come join us!
Katie Ford
Principal
PBIS
Our students continue to show how to follow the Kirk P.B.I.S Matrices every single day. We are constantly practicing and reinforcing our students with Kirk Cash through PBIS Rewards. For the month of March, our students learned about patience. Patience fits so perfectly with our P.B.I.S Matrices. Talk to your students about how they show patience throughout our building.
BOTB
For the month of March, we are learning how to show patience. We learned that patience is the ability to wait for a long time without becoming annoyed or upset, One example might be doing a puzzle together as a family!
Notice to Parents
As a parent of a student at a campus receiving Title I funds, federal law allows you to ask for information about the certification, college major, and advanced degrees of your child’s teacher(s). You also have the right to request information about the qualifications of a teacher aide or paraprofessional providing direct services to your child. If you would like to receive this information, you may contact the Cypress-Fairbanks I.S.D. Human Resources Department at 281-897-4099.
School Messenger: Text Message Sign Up
The directions for adding text messages to your School Messenger account are in the link below. All parents need to update their School Messenger Information:
General Information
Important Dates to Remember:
April 3, 2023 Report Cards Posted on HAC
April 7,2023 Student/Staff Holiday
April 10, 2023 Teacher Work Day
Student of the Month for the Character Trait of Kindness
Michael Antunez
Prekinder
Angel Ponce
Kinder
Alexa Rios Chavez
1st Grade
Gavin Williams
2nd Grade
Kimberly Navarro-Garcia
3rd Grade
Sebastian Arambula
5th Grade
February Character Trait - Kindness
Library Corner
Tigers!
Book Fair is coming to the end on 3/31/23. It will be open during Spring Festival from 4:30 - 6::00 Students have been having fun coming in and getting some great books! I could not have done it with out the support of our PTO who volunteered their time. A Big Thank You!!!!
Your librarian,
Mrs. Gallegos
Coming up…..
3/27-3/31 Book Fair https://www.scholastic.com/bf/kirkelementaryschool2
3/28 4th grade NTB team compete at district competition at the Berry Center
4/5 India Hill Brown visits 4th grade
Primary Practices
Welcome back, Tigers! We hope you had a relaxing and safe spring break! We needed the rest after that fun-filled Field Day before we left. Now that we are rested and recharged, it is time to get back to learning. We still have another nine weeks of important instruction!
In kindergarten, we will begin our units about characters in both reading and writing. We will identify the main character in the books we read and bring our characters to life using emotions in our writing. In math, we will begin learning about geometry. Click here on ways you can incorporate geometry at home. Also, ask your child about our Hedgehog Science demo we had this week!
In first grade, students will also be focusing on the characters in their books and learning all they can about the characters so they can gain a deeper understanding of the books they are reading. Students will also learn how to give a book talk and how to get others excited about reading the books they are reading. In writing, students will begin their unit on realistic fiction and focus on spelling throughout their writing. In math, we will be wrapping up our unit in measurement, begin learning about time, and then take our April Math Checkpoint during the first week of April.
In second grade, we are continuing to practice short constructed responses, writing compound predicates using and/or, and learning about the variant vowel -ie. In math, we are revisiting place value up to 1,200. Ask your child about the FAST CASH they earn when answering questions correctly in the hallway!
On Thursday, March 30, the Main Street Theater will visit our Pre-K-1st grade students and perform the play Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! Also, remember the PTO Spring Festival is on Friday, March 31 from 4:30-7:30pm. Come have some fun with friends and family, and dunk your favorite teacher in the dunking booth! 🙂
Finally, do you have a pre-k or kindergarten student that is or will be attending Kirk next year? Save the date for our Cub Camp on Thursday, May 11, where our future tigers will listen to a read aloud from our librarian, eat a snack in the cafeteria, get on a real school bus, and take home some learning tools they can use over the summer to prepare for the 2023-2024 school year!
Adventures in Math
Second grade is wrapping up their unit on measurement, focusing on time to the nearest minute. Following this unit, students will come back to Place Value, increasing their knowledge within 1,200. Reminding students that digits have place values and what their meaning is, will help them make connections to thousands place.
Third grade students are diving into money and time. Students are expected to build upon their knowledge of identifying coins by adding the coins greater than a dollar. Time is similar where they are expected to build on knowledge of telling time to the nearest minute. Teachers are working with students to learn how to use a number lines to add coins and accurately count the hour and minute hands on a clock.
Fourth graders are learning about customary and metric measurements. They are using rulers to measure to the nearest quarter inch which they will apply when they start perimeter and area next.
Fifth graders have started their geometry unit which focuses on identifying triangles by sides and angles and classifying quadrilaterals. Practicing using words such as acute, obtuse, right, parallel, perpendicular, scalene, isosceles, and equilateral will help in this vocabulary heavy unit.
Science Scholars
Second graders are finishing their weather and astronomy unit this week. Next up, is a focus on environments and how plants and animals survive in specific ones. For example, the forest is an environment where foxes live. The forest provides lots of options to build their dens and rich sources of food and this helps them survive.
Third grade is learning about food chains. Students are expected to see how the Sun gives energy to the producers and each organism gives energy to the next. One way students can apply this knowledge is by looking at what would happen if an organism was removed from the chain, who would be affected by it.
Fourth grade students are digging deeper into the concept of the water cycle. Students have learned about the water cycle for many years but in fourth grade there is an emphasis on where weathering, erosion, and deposition come into play.
Fifth graders are building upon their knowledge of energy by applying it to electrical circuits. Students are using hands-on experiences to build open, closed, series, and parallel circuits.
Loving Literacy
Time is flying by! It’s hard to believe it’s almost March! Our tigers are working hard each and every day. Our third graders are wrapping up their argumentative unit where they have been studying argumentative texts and writing opinion essays and ECRs. They will be starting unit 6 where they will be making connections across genres. The fourth and fifth graders have been hard at work on their opinion essays and ECRs. In Unit 6, they will be studying biographical and informational texts as well as crafting informational and opinion essays and ECRs.
Also, remember the CFISD Fun Run is on Saturday, April 1. Please support our school and district by registering. You can do so by going to https://www.cfisd.net/funrun. Even if you are not a runner, you can walk! If you are not a walker, you can still come to participate in the fun activities! If you are unable to attend, you can register for a $10 sleep-in pass. When registering, please remember to choose KIRK as your campus affiliation. Thank you!
Nurse's Corner
March is National Nutrition Month, here are some quick and easy healthy snack ideas for your kids from the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion:
Try these healthy snack ideas.
Combine fruits and veggies with dairy or proteins:
Make “ants on a log” (celery with peanut butter and raisins)
Add fruit (fresh, frozen, dried, or canned) to fat-free or low-fat yogurt — look for canned, dried, and frozen fruit with no added sugars
Blend fruit and yogurt with a small amount of 100% fruit juice to make a tasty smoothie — try soy yogurt with added calcium, vitamin A, and vitamin D for a non-dairy option
Dip vegetable “matchsticks” (thin sticks made from fresh carrots, zucchini, or bell peppers) in hummus (a dip made from chickpeas)
Top apple slices with nut butter — or try them on their own
Keep fresh fruit in a place that’s easy to reach in the refrigerator or on the kitchen table — this will make it easier for kids to grab a healthy choice
Combine whole grains with dairy or proteins:
Top whole-grain crackers with low-fat cheese
Top whole-wheat bread or rice cakes with nut butter
Melt low-fat cheese in a whole-wheat tortilla to make quesadillas — try adding black beans for an extra boost of nutrition
Mix air-popped popcorn with dried fruit and unsalted nuts for homemade trail mix — and serve with a glass of fat-free (skim) or low-fat (1%) milk
Make a mini pizza — top half of a whole-wheat English muffin with spaghetti sauce, chopped vegetables, and low-fat shredded cheese and heat it up in the microwave or oven
Counselor Corner
Did you know that children with anxiety or worry do not always voice their problems? They don’t always let on that they are worrying, and their issues can sometimes be overlooked due to this fact. However, worry and anxiety, in both children and adults, can greatly affect schoolwork/work, home life, social relationships, and physical health. Consider having a discussion with your student about worry and have them respond to prompts. For example: My “worry” thoughts keep me awake at night or make it hard to focus during the day (Never/Sometimes/Always). I worry about things I cannot control. It’s hard for me to change my thoughts when I start worrying. Help your child make a list of things they can do when they begin to feel stressed or overwhelmed. Stretching, slow breathing, exercising, playing outside, or whatever their favorite activities are can help!
As part of being KIRK independent and responsible, it’s important to teach our students the difference between big problems and small problems. Big problems are things that require the help of an adult; small problems are things that your child can solve on their own! Help your student to recognize the difference by having them ask themselves the following questions: Big problem- “Is someone hurt? Is someone in danger? Is this an emergency?” If the answer is yes, they need to ask for help from the nearest adult! Small problem- “Can I solve this problem on my own? Can I continue with the rest of my day? Will this still be a problem in an hour?” If the answer is yes, they can use various strategies to solve the issue independently! If you haven’t already, check out Kelso’s Choices for options on conflict resolution and options for problem solving. https://kelsoschoice.com/free-resources/for-parents/
What’s Happening in Large Group?
Musical Magic
Hello Kirk Tigers!
The 5th Graders are working very hard to prepare for their Choir Festival Performance at the Berry Center on April 18th at 6:00 pm. I hope you can come to support our 5th Graders. All other students are working on triplets and getting ready for the Orchestral Families.
Mrs. Craig
PE
Hello Kirk Tigers! I hope everyone enjoyed their spring break!
I want to thank all of you that helped us with our Field Day event which was a real success. We saw a lot of students and their families enjoy and have fun over those two days.
In the next couple of weeks, 3rd-5th grade students will continue with our Fitnessgram testing, while K-2nd will continue practicing their jump rope and hula hoop skills.
We will also try to start a new unit on Speedstacks.
Coach Mati
Art
Hello Kirk artists! To prepare for career week, we are exploring different art related careers in class through a variety of fun center activities. We will explore photography, floral design, graphic design, architecture, fashion design, and more!
Mrs. Kranson
From Our PTO
Our wonderful librarian, Ms. Gallegos, is looking for some help on Thursdays in February and March. If you are interested in volunteering please review the Sign Up Genius link below. Thank you!
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F48AAA923A5FDC34-library1
Interested in ordering the 2022-2023 Kirk Elementary yearbook? Click on the link below and use Yearbook ID code 14775723!