Cannon Connection
A newsletter for Cannon Elementary families - 2017-2018
Week of January 15, 2018
Hi Cannon Parents!
Just a reminder that school will be closed on Monday, January 15th in recognition of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. We are looking forward to seeing all of our Cubs back at school on Tuesday, January 16th!
If you have been following the weather, there is a slight chance for some inclement weather, including sleet and/or snow. In the event there is any weather that would affect road conditions for Tuesday morning, please make sure you are following the news to learn about any possible delayed school openings or closures. Stay informed about GCISD's Inclement Weather policy and how to sign up for weather alerts from GCISD by visiting this page on the GCISD website.
Stay warm!
Proud to be your principal,
Mrs. Blizzard
2nd Graders Study Community Services
Cannon Spelling Bee Fun!
New Year! New Goals!
Mark Your Calendars.....
1/15 Student Holiday - Martin Luther King Day - NO SCHOOL
1/16 Parent Preview - Play It Safe - 10:00 am & 6:00 pm @ GCISD Admin. Bldg - Boardroom
1/17 Talent Show Auditions in cafeteria -2:55 pm
1/18 Parent Technology Academy - Grapevine Middle School cafeteria - 6 p.m.
1/23 Cannon Night @ Cici's Pizza
1/25 Play It Safe Program for students @ Cannon during Specials
1/25 Parent Workshop - Stewards of Children 6:00 pm @ Glenhope Elementary
2/09 Cannon Art Show 5:00-7:30 pm
2/09 Cannon Talent Show 6:00-8:00 pm
NOTES FROM NURSE KENDRA
Dear Parents,
The health and safety of all students is important to the staff at Cannon. 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.
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.
If you cough or sneeze, use your sleeve. (The students can demonstrate this for you;)
Respect personal space. Keep a little distance between you and your friends, and you and your teachers.
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.
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.
Parent Preview This Week - Play It Safe
GCISD offers the "Play It Safe" program for all students in grades K-5. The GCISD School Health Advisory Council (SHAC is a volunteer council comprised of parents and community members that reflect the values of the district and community) has previewed and recommended these programs for all GCISD elementary schools. The curriculum and presentations are aligned with district philosophy. This program is a personal safety program and does not address human sexuality. Play It Safe is a child abuse prevention and awareness program that incorporates individual grade level, age-appropriate scripts and movies to teach children how to reduce the risk of sexual and physical abuse, and sexual assault. It teaches them to recognize potentially abusive behavior, provides the tools to respond to threatening situations, and encourages them to report abuse to a trusted adult.
The Women's Center of Tarrant County, Inc., uses trained employees to present a fact-based personal safety program for students. The presentations are classroom-based so that children are in a familiar environment, and feel comfortable to interact with the trainer. A video is shown, followed by a question and answer time.
Parents have the option to request that their student not participate in the above program(s). The form for non-participation is located on the GCISD website:
A parent preview of the program will be held on January 16th , at 10:00 am or 6:00 pm at the GCISD Administration Building - Board Room, 3051 Ira E. Woods Ave., Grapevine, Texas 76051 If you are unable to attend the parent preview, but wish to view the material, please contact The Women's Center of Tarrant County, Inc. at 817-927-4040 and ask for the Play It Safe department. They will schedule a time for you to go to their center and view the videos.
If you are interested in joining the GCISD School Health Advisory Council (SHAC), please complete the SHAC application, which is located on the GCISD website under the PE and Health tab. The GCISD SHAC serves as an advisory council, which provides recommendations, changes and/or additions to the school's health education curriculum and instruction for consideration by the GCISD Board of Trustees.
Parent Technology Academy Sessions Start This Week!
GCISD's Technology Department has planned some wonderful parent information sessions for the spring semester! Parent Technology Academy is a free monthly series by GCISD Technology developed to help educate our community about our ever-changing digital world. Check out the dates & topics below! Each session is approximately 45 minutes with 15 minutes Q&A.
January 18 - Internet Safety ( Digital Citizenship) – tools for at home Internet filtering
Grapevine Middle School cafeteria - 6 p.m. Click here to pre-register
Learn about Internet safety and the things you can do to protect your children at home. Discussions about the online safe use of technology in this ever-changing digital world our students are growing up in. Get informed about some of the tools that GCISD uses on student district devices to protect and monitor usage. Also, hear about ways to monitor your child’s overall technology usage. In addition, guest speakers from Cisco will be on hand to show you how to set up FREE home Internet filtering (OpenDNS) tools to help protect all your home devices from inappropriate and or malicious content.
FUTURE SESSION TOPICS:
February 20 - Top Apps that parents need to know about
Bear Creek Elementary cafeteria - 6 p.m.
March 20- Mobile App and Social Media awareness and branding
Grapevine High School library - 6 p.m.
April 19- Tops Apps that parents need to know about
Colleyville Middle School cafeteria - 6 p.m.
May 22- Internet Safety ( Digital Citizenship) – tools for at home Internet filtering
Colleyville Heritage High School library - 6 p.m.
Cleaning Out For The New Year? We Have Some Needs - Can You Help?
- Cleaning out Closets? Nurse Kendra is in desperate need for girl's pants. She will take any sizes and what works best is pants with elastic waistbands!
- Time to get rid of old electronics? One man's trash is a curious STEM cub's treasure! Do you have any old, broken electronics gathering dust? Our Cannon Cubs would LOVE to take them off your hands! Our Makerspace features a reverse engineering station where STEM scholars take electronics apart and discover the systems that make our everyday objects function the way they do. From keyboards to dancing Elmo, our kids want to learn from it!
PARENT WORKSHOPS
- A Conversation about Eating Disorders with Rachel Nash. Join us for an informative evening about recognizing and responding to eating disorders. Rachel Nash is the North Texas Chapter Leader of Project HEAL (Help to Eat, Accept, and Live). Project HEAL is a non-profit organization that delivers prevention, treatment assistance, financing, and recovery support for people suffering from eating disorders. More information about Project HEAL can be found at www.TheProjectHeal.org. Tuesday, January 23, 2018, 6:30-8:00 pm @ the GCISD Administration Building at 3051 Ira E. Woods; Grapevine TX 76051 Click here to view the flyer for this workshop.
- Alliance For Children is providing a training for all GCISD parents on January 25th @ 6:00 pm at Glenhope Elementary School. This session is about how to prevent, recognize and react responsibly to child sexual abuse. Due to the sensitive nature of the content, we ask that you do not bring children. Click here to view the flyer for this workshop.
PTA QUICK PICKS!
This week's "quick picks" of reminders & information from PTA:
- Talent Show Auditions on Wednesday, January 17 in the Cannon Cafeteria. Talent Show is Friday, February 9. Questions? E-mail talentshow@cannonpta.com.
- We need volunteers to help in Cannon Library. Can you help? Sign up here - https://goo.gl/bgauhV
- Mrs. Mattox needs volunteers to help during the Cannon Art Show on February 9. Sign up here - https://goo.gl/Uz8ihP Additional art show details coming home soon!
Stay connected by following Cannon PTA on social media. Click here to "like" the PTA Facebook page. Follow them on Twitter @CannonPTA.
January Book Of The Month
How To Bicycle To The Moon To Plant Sunflowers is the perfect book to kick off our Book of the Month for 2018!! Be sure to check out all of the resources our awesome librarian, Mrs. Wagner, has provided below to learn more about this month's book & design challenge!
Our Cubs are going to LOVE this month's BoM Design Challenge, which is to design and build a catapult that will launch an object of their choice to simulate a meteorite into a model of the moon. Be sure to read over the details of this challenge, so that you can offer some guidance and answer any questions your children may have. The winners of this challenge will have the opportunity to demonstrate their catapults for other Cannon students at the Friday assembly on February 2nd!
January Book of Month Video
January Book of the Month & Design Challenge Information
Cannon Elementary - A Recognized Common Sense Media School!
Common Sense, the national nonprofit organization dedicated to helping kids and families thrive in a world of digital media and technology, has recognized Cannon Elementary: A GCISD STEM School as a Common Sense School.
Cannon Elementary has been using Common Sense Education's innovative and research-based digital citizenship resources to create a culture of digital learning and citizenship. This recognition acknowledges our school's commitment to taking a whole-community approach to preparing our students to use the immense power of digital media to explore, create, connect, and learn, while limiting the perils that exist in the online realm, such as plagiarism, loss of privacy, and cyberbullying.
We are honored to receive this recognition! By preparing our students to use technology safely and responsibly, we are providing them with unlimited opportunities to maximize and personalize their learning.
Amazon Smile
Shopping on Amazon? Purchase on Amazon Smile and they'll give 0.5% to Cannon PTA. Bookmark this link and support us every time you shop! http://smile.amazon.com/ch/75-2454480
School Calendar for 2018-2019
On Monday, November 13, GCISD Trustees approved the Student and Staff Instructional Calendars for the 2018-2019 school year.
A few highlights from the 2018-2019 student instructional calendar:
- Students will begin classes on Monday, August 20.
- Students will have a four-day weekend in October for Columbus Day weekend; staff will have a three-day weekend.
- Students and staff will have a four-day weekend in April (dependent on the need to makeup one or both inclement weather days).
- Students are finished on May 30 with graduation following that afternoon and evening.
To view the 2018-2019 student instructional calendar, click here.
To view the 2018-2019 staff instructional calendar, click here.
To view the 2018-2019 iUniversity Prep instructional calendar, click here.
To learn more about how the district develops the instructional calendars, please watch the video below:
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!
STEM IN GCISD BLOG
This blog will have the most updated information about upcoming events specific to Cannon, GMS STEM, and the future STEM program at GHS.
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