Fall has finally arrived and cooler weather will soon be on the horizon! At Deretchin, there is definitely excitement in the air and this is evident in every classroom! Our students and teachers are diving into their curriculum with great enthusiasm every single day!

We are almost finished with our first grading period, almost 8 weeks into our school year, and I could not be more proud and appreciative of our staff, students, and parents during this challenging time. Everyone is doing an incredible job working together to make the beginning of our school year a big success. We all know that Deretchin is a special school, but it has never been more evident than so far this school year.

We are very excited that our district is moving to Level 3 on the COVID 19 CISD Alert Levels. Thank you for the role you have played to help make this possible. We want to ensure our families that we will continue to follow our safety guidelines that we have in place as we move forward.

Sincerely,

Tina Oliver

October 5- Math Common Formative Assessment, 3rd-6th

October 6- Science Common Formative Assessment, 4th-5th

October 7 - Walk to School Day

October 8 - Student Holiday

October 11- Holiday

October 12 - 22 - PTO Fundraiser

October 14 - 4th Grade Fine Arts day at the Pavilion

October 15 - Fall Pictures for Students

October 19- Late night conferences, 4:00-6:00

October 21 - 2nd, 3rd & 6th Science CFA

October 22 - Kindergarten 50th Day of School

October 25-29 - Red Ribbon Week

October 25 - Pre-K Pumpkin Carving

October 26 - Late Night Conferences

October 27-28 1st Grade Pumpkin Fun

October 28 - Kindergarten Pumpkin Day

October 29 - Storybook Parade PK-2 8:30

October 29 - 4th Grade Halloween Investigation

It will be on October 15th. Forms will be coming home on the 5th. Here is a link you can prepay with if you would like to. https://vando.imagequix.com/g1000877807#login

When your student is absent:

Please remember to report your child's absences.

How to report your child's absences:

State the students, first and last name, grade, teacher, reason for the absences, and dates.

Email Cory Ognisty, cognisty@conroeisd.net

Call the Front Office -832.592.8700

Send in a handwritten note or a note from the physician.

Moving during the school year:

If you are moving or moved within the Deretchin school Zone, please updated your new address by emailing Cory Ognisty, cognisty@conroeisd.net, with a bill(water, light, or gas).

Or you can fill out "Need to update Student information" form with the Front office and attach a bill ( water, light or gas).

If you want to withdraw your student or are moving or moved out of the Deretchin school zone, please contact Cory Ognisty, cognisty@conroeisd.net, to fill out the necessary forms.

October will be a busy month in PPCD! We are looking forward to fall activities like leaf hunting and pumpkin carving. We are excited to celebrate Red Ribbon Week and participate in the Storybook Parade. Mrs. Palm’s class will be reading Llama Llama books and Ms. Heide’s class will be reading books about fall.

Happy Fall, Pre-K family! October is here! We are sailing along in Pre-K and have lots of learning and activities planned. Picture day has been rescheduled for October 15th. We will be carving pumpkins on the 25th, and will be participating in Storybook Parade on the 29th. For Storybook Parade, students will pick a character from a book and dress up as that character for the parade. It’s a fantastic time! More information will be sent home in student folders.

Teachers will hold fall conferences in October, as well. Be on the lookout for opportunities to reserve a time with your teacher to discuss student progress. We look forward to visiting with you and filling you in on all the wonderful things your student is doing!

Happy October! We will kick off the month by being great storybook readers and move into having reading super powers. We will also be studying different themes for the month of October. In science, we will study magnets and location/movement of objects. In math, we will learn to identify a nickel and continue with numeration and comparing numbers. At this point in math, your child should be practicing counting to 25. In writing, we will be focusing on building sentences and using our sight words and knowledge of letter sounds to create sentences and phrases. In social studies, we will be learning about geography, rules/laws and authority figures/community helpers. At home, please have your child practice their pencil grasp, writing their name with one capital letter, packing their own backpack, and opening and closing their own water container. Reading at home with your child every day is a great way to promote early literacy, vocabulary, and comprehension.

DUAL LANGUAGE KINDERGARTEN:

It is Hispanic Heritage Month. It goes from September 15-October 15.

Happy Fall! First Graders are growing by leaps and bounds. We have a busy month of hands-on activities and learning planned for the month of October. Students will continue to build on their reading foundation by delving into our Word Detective unit and applying new word decoding skills. Thank you for listening to your child read nightly and taking time to ask thought provoking questions in order to promote comprehension. Our scientists will begin exploring light, heat, and sound energy. Movement with magnets will be an exciting unit to investigate as well. Our writers will celebrate their learning with the first Author’s Celebration of the year. Students will share their completed writing projects with their friends in class. Mathematicians will extend their learning on place value, continue to strengthen their fact fluency skills, learn to write their own story problems, and even begin a new unit on geometry. Pumpkin fun and exploration will close out our memorable month of learning. Please have your child start thinking about his or her Storybook Parade costume. We can’t wait to see what characters will be walking in our parade. Your child will need to bring a book that accompanies his or her costume. Thank you for all you do to support our Amazing First Grade Dragons.

Second graders have been working so hard on their reading skills over the last 6 weeks! We celebrated with a Flashlight Friday Readathon! We have also been celebrating their narrative writing in class. The second-grade teachers are amazed at their progress in writing and can't wait to share their writing collections with you.

We are excited to start learning about our local, state, and national government. In science, we are continuing our study on matter. We had fun learning about matter in a root beer float, as well as melting a Hershey kiss!

Please continue to read for 20 minutes daily.

In math, we are in the middle of our addition and subtraction unit. The students are working with bigger numbers this year and learning how to regroup in both addition and subtraction. They have learned how to check their work with the opposite operation. We are also working on counting money, so if they ask you for some coins it’s for learning, not shopping! The more they can practice counting coins and bills, the better! In the middle of the month we will be starting on multiplication and division. WooHoo! They get very excited about multiplication! Please continue to practice those addition and subtraction facts so they are better prepared for multiplication.

In science, we will have been learning all about matter! (Properties of matter, states of matter, changing matter) Our new unit will be mixtures followed by forms of energy.

In social studies, we have been learning all about Communities. The students had fun creating their own communities and seeing each other’s work. We will be learning about how human environments interact and natural resources, followed by map skills and landforms. So fun!

In reader's workshop, students will explore the structure and elements of traditional literature to understand characters, plot elements, and the theme of the story. We will also begin our Drama unit and the students will explore the literary elements that relate.

In writer's workshop, students will write fairytale adaptations using the

elements of the writing process. Grammar will focus on verbs and then a combination of capitalizing proper nouns, proper/common nouns, and singular/plural nouns.

Hello Fourth Grade Families,

What a wonderful few weeks it has been building relationships with your students! It has been a joy seeing their unique and fabulous personalities emerge as we build and strengthen our community of learners. 🙂

Our first unit in Reading was Interpreting Characters: The Heart of the story, and our read aloud was, The Tiger Rising, by Kate DiCamillo. Students entered the world of the main character, Rob Horton, as he struggled to understand and learn to deal with life’s strengths and challenges. We culminated the unit with Rob’s unique talent of whittling. Students were allowed to “whittle” using a bar of soap and art tools. Their creations were fantastic!

Our next unit is Drama. We'll focus on how the cast of characters, scenes, and stage directions are used to tell a story. We'll also focus on the similarities between fiction novels and dramas.

As we begin our second unit in writing, students are continuing to write realistic fiction stories. However, this unit will focus more on adding more depth to characters. Students will notice how that depth, as well as the setting, plays an important role in the plot of a story.

We appreciate your continued support of the nightly reading requirement. This can be reading independently or with a family member.

In addition to daily grammar practice, students are practicing cursive writing. Students are allowed to use either manuscript or cursive on their assignments in the classroom.

We are rocking and rolling in math, science, and social studies as well! We are currently finishing up our addition and subtraction unit where we learned how to add and subtract decimal numbers, interpret an input/output table, write equations, and draw strip diagrams to represent those equations, and solve multi-step word problems. Our next unit will be multiplication and division. In this unit we will learn and practice various strategies to represent and solve 4 digit by 1 digit multiplication problems and divide numbers with up to a 4 digit dividend and 1 digit divisor.

As always, please make sure your child is practicing their multiplication and division facts nightly. Knowing their facts will make this unit go so much smoother for them.

In science, we are really enjoying being scientists and all the hands-on labs and activities! We are currently learning about the various forms of energy and diving into electricity by conducting many investigations! We will spend the rest of the nine weeks learning about electricity and going into detail about circuits, conductors, and insulators.

In social studies, we just finished learning about the 4 regions of Texas and will now begin to learn about the first Texans and their ways of life. We will also learn about the early European Explorers that landed in Texas, where they traveled, and the impact they made on our state.

MATH:

In math, we have been learning how to divide with 2-digit divisors! Students will also be learning how to divide decimals and what to do if there is a remainder. As we move along, we will learn about how to add and subtract fractions. Students have been doing an amazing job in Guided Math, learning at the teacher table, staying engaged in independent work, and working respectfully with classmates during partner/group work. We are so proud of all our students!

ELA:

For writing, we have been working on how to brainstorm and structure personal narratives. The next step will be to revise and edit a final copy for publishing. It has been so fun to see how creative students have been with their writing. In reading, the students learned about the elements of fiction plot and recently completed some amazing comic strips! We are now moving on to the Drama unit and students are really excited about getting to act them out in class. We will be covering how Drama compares to Fiction and the different elements such as stage direction and making inferences from a script. The students have been working so hard and we’re so proud of the progress they’ve made!

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES:

In science, we recently finished up the Properties of Matter and are moving into the 5 Types of Energy and Light. So far the kids are doing amazing with these concepts! We are very proud of them. There will be a science CFA (Common Formative Assessment) on October 6th that will cover all of the above. In social studies, we have been discussing the different characteristics of the 3 Colonial Regions: New England, Middle and Southern Colonies. The kids have been so interested in this time period! There will be a social studies CFA on September 28th. As a reminder, if you have any questions about what we are doing in class please check your student’s social studies or science notebook and planner! They should be writing all of this down each day. They have been a JOY to have in class and are so excited for the rest of the school year!

Sixth grade is poised to welcome in the Fall season with lots of exciting happenings. We are thrilled that we will be showing off our class spirit by wearing our sixth grade shirts together on Mondays very soon. In ELA, we have completed our first district assessment. The students worked so hard and did an excellent job! Our young mathematicians are learning all about integers, and in social studies,the focus is on economics. Be sure to ask your student to tell you about the experiments that they have done to examine physical and chemical changes. Looking ahead at some special events, we will be having the first quarter reading celebration on October 7th and on October 29th, we will have fall rotations following the Storybook Parade. Please check the yellow Tuesday folders for more information regarding these activities and for any items that we may request to make them a success!

Welcome to cooler weather! With the Fall comes crisp vibrant colors. This month we will be focusing on warm colors, color mixing and textures.

The art department has some exciting news to share! The Sadler Administration building is hosting the district art show! The show contains over 380 pieces of art from Conroe students grades K-12. Please visit the following link to see all the talent our students have to offer. The presentation is also on the CISD Fine Arts Website.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vRXGVWncAGv2zp_rb4q0z3bT1rV-5ziolvwD8W0khcpoMT6G6MNyg3SXA45yJ9ML5r6oOLU_WgOH64x/pub?start=true&loop=false&delayms=3000

The excitement continues in our music classes as we approach Autumn time!

In grades PreK-4, we are learning Fall themed songs and games that use our steady beat and note reading skills. This month, 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade will focus on four melody sounds- so, la, mi and do. They will also work with the rhythms quarter note, eighth note, rest, half notes and sixteenth notes. First graders will focus on quarter note, eighth note and rest. Pre-K and kindergarteners will focus on identifying different voices and high and low sounds.

Our Intermediate ensembles are preparing to perform for Walk to School Day coming up very soon!

Thank you,

Melody Childs-Music/Choir

Ali Celia-Music/Band

Cameron Price-Music/Band

Alex Marte-Music/Orchestra

We are so pumped to have you back at Deretchin! We have so many fun and fit activities planned for our Dragons! Please remember that safe, comfortable athletic style shoes are very important for your child to wear when they attend P.E. class. Flip flops, open-toed shoes, Crocs, boots, shoes with high heels, and slippers are not safe shoes. Please make sure that students come prepared with appropriate footwear so they can participate and have a great time! Keeping your student safe is our top priority!

Our Dragons have been learning new fitness warm-ups and playing exciting cooperative games. These activities reinforce some of our Physical Education rules/expectations and help our students get physically fit. The five food groups and Go-Slow-Whoa foods have also been introduced in an effort to encourage students to try new foods and make healthy choices.

Walk To School Day

Thursday, October 7

The focus of the day is to encourage our students to "get out of the cars and onto the pathways" not just for the event day but for the rest of the school year. This event encourages more physical activity, more family involvement and a better, safer, cleaner environment for all of us.

Get up earlier, dress appropriately and give yourself time so that you can walk or bike to school. It will be a great day!

******THIS EVENT OCCURS IN THE MORNING ONLY! TEACHERS MUST RECEIVE A NOTE IF AFTERNOON TRANSPORTATION ON THIS DAY WILL BE DIFFERENT FROM THE STUDENT’S NORMAL AFTERNOON TRANSPORTATION. IF A NOTE IS NOT SENT, THE STUDENT WILL GO HOME BY THEIR AFTERNOON DISMISSAL TAG.*******

I have started some brand new programs 1st and 2nd grades. I am also bringing back the Texas Bluebonnet Program for 3rd-6th grade. Check out all the information below.

1st Grade Parents:

I am so excited to share with you a new reading program that I started for 1st grade. It is called DEXTER, which is the name of our mascot. This program is optional, but definitely recommended to help students grow as readers. For more details about this program go to the website:

http://tiny.conroeisd.net/C4yJ2.

2nd Grade Parents:

I am so excited to share with you a new reading program that I started for 2nd grade. It is called Dragonopoly. This program is optional, but definitely recommended for students to learn about a wide variety of different types of books. For more details about this program go to the website: http://tiny.conroeisd.net/m6oa9.

3rd-6th Grade Parents:

I am so excited to share with you that I am bringing back the Texas Bluebonnet Reading program for 3rd-6th grade. This program is optional, but definitely recommended for students to learn about a wide variety of different types of books. For more details about this program go to the website:

http://tiny.conroeisd.net/qeAaz.

Parents, if you have any questions feel free to contact me at CMattern@conroeisd.net.

Happy Reading!

Mr. Cristofer W. Mattern

Library Media Specialist

The clinic is currently conducting Vision and Hearing Screenings for all students in the following grades:

Pre-K

Kinder

1st

3rd

5th

If your student does not meet the minimum standard for vision or hearing set by the Texas Department of Health, he/she will receive a referral for physician follow-up. The referral letter will come home in your student's backpack. The referral letter has a portion on the bottom that should be completed by the student's physician and then returned to the clinic. If you have any questions or concerns regarding vision and hearing screening, please contact the clinic.

Referral Requests for Gifted and Talented Testing

Referral requests are now open for Conroe Independent School District Gifted and Talented program. Although the testing will not take place until late January, referral requests are accepted at this time. Referral requests can be made by the parents and/or campus staff. It is recommended that parents of 2nd grade students wait until CogAT scores have arrived before nominating their child because CogAT scores are part of the GT assessment. If you are interested in referring your child, you may want to discuss this with your child’s teacher at conferences. Referrals will be accepted through December 17, 2021. You may request a referral form from the front office or Jenna Hendon, Counselor. You can also find the referral form and other GT information on the CISD GT Homepage at Gifted & Talented - Conroe ISD. You will scroll down to the middle of the page and click on Referral Forms. Only the first form listed needs to be filled out at this time. If you have any questions about this process, please contact Jenna Hendon by email at jhendon@conroeisd.net or by phone at 832-592-8828.

Next week our 5th and 6th grade Student Council will "plant" our Kindness Rocks! Our garden, located at the front entrance, will be made up of ALL the rocks painted during our counselor lessons last year. We also have a good number of rocks painted by our new students during their "New Dragon Family Open House" the week before school started. Any new students will also have an opportunity to create a rock to plant.

​Our garden's theme is, "Take one, Share one, Bring one back!"

PTO NEWS

Be sure to support our October Spirit Event and visit the local Republic Grille located at 30340 FM 2978, Magnolia, on October 11. Dine in or take out!! Mention Deretchin and they will give a percentage back to our school!

Deretchin’s Annual Direct Investment Fundraiser October 12 – October 22 Let’s ROCK-it Dragons

Please watch for information coming out about Deretchin’s Direct Investment Fundraiser this month. Each year Deretchin PTO hosts an 8-day fundraiser where we ask the parents to financially support the school by donating funds that are directly invested into this year’s needs. The money is typically used for things like teacher/staff development and appreciation, student access to websites and subscriptions, small group instruction, playground & PE equipment, and computer & technical equipment, and much more. This will be our 6th year hosting our own fundraiser and saving the school thousands of dollars by not using booster-thon companies that take a large percentage of the donations. Thank you for your contributions this year!

You can still join the PTO or buy Deretchin t-shirts on our website Deretchinpto.org.

Upcoming Dates

October 7 – Walk to School Day

October 8 and 11 – School Holiday

October 12-22 Deretchin’s Direct Investment Fundraiser

October 22 – PTO Meeting 12pm

October 29 – Storybook Parade

Follow us @ Deretchindragonspto.org and keep up to date on our website, Deretchinpto.org.

The Conroe Independent School District (District) as an equal opportunity educational provider and employer does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, or disability in educational programs or activities that it operates or in employment matters. The District is required by Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, as amended, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as Board policy not to discriminate in such a manner.

For information about Title IX rights or Section 504/ADA rights, contact the Title IX Coordinator or the Section 504/ADA coordinator at 3205 W. Davis, Conroe, TX 77304; (936) 709-7752.