CANNON LEGACY
A Newsletter For Cannon Staff 2017-2018
Principal Points - 10/30 - 11/3
THE "WHY" BEHIND EARLY RELEASE DAYS & STUDENT-LED CONFERENCES
Did you know that LEAD 2021 has specific strategies, specific results & action steps about student-led conferences & goal-setting?
- LEAD 2021 STRATEGY 2: PERSONALIZED LEARNING PLANS: STRATEGY: We will facilitate a process that carries out the development, implementation, and realization of a personal learning plan that includes goals within the areas of academics, campus activities, and workforce/community involvement for every student to accomplish the GCISD mission and strategic objectives.
- LEAD 2021 STRATEGY 2: PERSONALIZED LEARNING PLANS: SPECIFIC RESULT: Each student will explore his/her individual strengths and opportunities for academic, social, and emotional growth through the development of a plan that builds the skills necessary for success in all phases of life. GCISD believes success occurs when students are involved in the goal setting process, engaged in reflective conversations, gather evidence of progress toward goals, and exposed to and engaged in campus, community, and workforce activities.
LEAD 2021 STRATEGY 2: PERSONALIZED LEARNING PLANS: ACTION STEPS #4. Students create growth folders to set and track personal learning goals.
LEAD 2021 STRATEGY 2: PERSONALIZED LEARNING PLANS ACTION STEP #5: Student led parent conferences will be conducted for the student to share goals and growth as well as data reflected on universal screeners with parents and teachers.
Please make sure you have scheduled your student-led/parent conferences for our Early Release day this week! These conferences provide the perfect opportunity to share important information with parents about their child's progress in school! Don't forget to communicate in all of your newsletters/blogs & social media that scholars will be dismissed at 11:45 on this date!
Proud to be your principal,
Tona :)
LUCKY US!
What a wonderful surprise to be recognized for Boss's Day at the Friday Assembly last week! BIG thanks to all of you from both of us!!
Thank you so very much for your kindness and generosity! I am so thankful to work with all of you. I love my Cannon family!
- Anne
I truly believe that I have the BEST job in the world! Having the
opportunity to work with all of our Cannon staff & scholars
is a wonderful blessing for me each day.
Thank you for everything! - Tona
Lisa's Coaching Corner
Achievement Data Days
Have you ever wondered why we have data days as a grade level? The answer is simple...COLLABORATION. Just as UCAN has been set up this year for teachers to come together with a common goal to grow as professionals, Achievement Data Days are the best place to hear and gain new knowledge and skills on how your colleagues are addressing the needs in their classrooms by sharing RESOURCES and STRATEGIES.
There are some things about a student that we cannot change, such as their life outside of school. But the one thing we do have a major influence on is the relationships developed with students that allow scholars to develop as a citizens and learners within the Cannon environment-your classroom.
The goal is that you walk away from data days with a full tool belt of a new ideas, resources, grouping suggestions and a revived energy to help our scholars. EACH and EVERY teacher at Cannon has so many successes to share that it is imperative we take advantage of learning from the experts-EACH OTHER. I am so excited to hear the amazing things you have to share!
DATES TO REMEMBER
10/30 Data Day - 2nd (am) & 4th (pm)
10/30 Staff meeting - Dr. Ryan here to meet with staff - 3:15 in library
10/31 Staff Pot Luck Lunch - Taco Bar!
10/31 Data Day - 1st (am) & 5th (pm)
10/31 PLC Week B - 5th grade - 2:15-3:45
11/01 Kindergarten Field Trip to Ft. Worth Zoo - 9:00-2:30
11/01 PLC Week B - 4th grade - 2:15-3:45
11/02 Early Release - 11:45 - Student-Led conferences
11/03 Data Day - Kinder (am) & 3rd (pm)
11/03 PLC Week B - 3rd grade - 2:15-3:45
11/05 Daylight Savings Time Ends - move your clocks back one hour
11/07 Picture Make-up Day
11/07 PLC Week A - Kindergarten - 2:15-3:45
11/08 4th grade field trip to Rockledge Park - 9:30-12:30
11/08 PLC Week A - 1st grade - 2:15-3:45
11/08 Cub Night Out @ Chick Fii-A 5:00-7:00 pm
11/09 PLC Week A - 2nd grade 2:15-3:45
11/10 Veteran's Day Assembly 7:45-8:30
11/10 PTA Family Night - Books, Burgers & Boogie 6:00-8:00 pm
11/11-11/12 Barnes & Nobles Maker Faire- Southlake location
11/13-11/17 Book Fair
11/13 Rhythm Band Program - K-5 during Specials
11/13 STEM Leadership 3:15 in media lab
11/14 PLC Week B - 5th grade 2:15-3:45
11/15 PLC Week B - 4th grade 2:15-3:45
11/16 3rd grade dictional distribution from Rotary Club - 8:30 in classrooms
11/16 PLC Week B - 3rd grade 2:15-3:45
11/16 Family Engineering Night - 5:30-7:30
11/17 Grandparent/Grandfriend Day - 8:00-10:00 am
11/17 PTA provides staff lunch - Chili Cookoff!
11/20-11/24 Thanksgiving Break!
EARLY RELEASE DAY SPECIALS/LUNCH SCHEDULE
Specials Schedule
Nov. 2, 2017
8:00 8:30 1st grade
8:35-9:05 5th grade
9:10-9:40 4th grade
9:45-10:15 2nd grade
10:20-10:50 3rd grade
11:00 -11:30 Kindergarten
Lunch Schedule Sack lunches will be served today. 1st - 5th grade students will eat in their classrooms
Only send students who are buying a sack lunch! Please don’t send students to just buy snacks.
10:30 - 10:55 Kindergarten (They will eat in the cafeteria)
10:45 1st grade
10:55 2nd grade
11:05 3rd & 4th grade
11:20 5th grade
SPOTLIGHT ON LEARNING!
Last week, Mandy successfully helped coordinate our Red Ribbon Week activities, including outdoor decorations, tulip planting, and designing daily dress-up ideas, for which we had record-breaking numbers of participants this year! Also, Mandy helps provide school supplies to students/families in need; serves as our campus Diversity Council representative; leads the Kindness & Compassion Club after school; holds a board position on our school's PTA; coordinates the WatchDOG Dad's program; follows up with families regarding attendance concerns; coordinates holiday food donations; develops the schedule for Hall of Fame; participates in teacher/parent conferences as needed; helps facilitate special programs such as Veteran's Day, Gift Cards for Hurricane Harvey, etc... and SO much more!
We are super lucky to have a school counselor that is so dedicated to our school's success and who supports the needs of so many! Be sure to thank Mandy for all that she does for our Cannon community when you see her this week!!
VETERAN'S DAY PROGRAM!
In addition, we will have the honor of hosting some special American heroes as they share their experience and wisdom about service, sacrifice, and patriotism. This portion of the program will include a Medal of Honor recipient, as well as a professional singer who has performed at countless military events around the world. BIG thanks to Irene & Mike Boynton for their work to include Cannon in the lineup for a visit from these special guests!
Patrick has been working with all grade levels to prepare scholars to sing patriotic music, including the Armed Forces Medley. Mandy will have flags for each branch of the military ready for the scholars to use, as they sing their part during the assembly.
More details will be shared with all staff prior to the event, but we would love for some classes to write some cards and/or letters that can be shared with our specials guests, thanking them for their service. Please turn all of these into Tona's mailbox by Wednesday, November 8th. Please check these for appropriateness and quality of work, prior to turning them in.
Also, please take a moment to check out the incredible bios of our special guests and share information about them with your scholars, to help them understand the significance of their visit and what a privilege it is to have such honored guests at Cannon!
CONFIRMED VISITORS:
GARY LITTRELL Medal Of Honor Recipient
POSSIBLE VISITOR, NOT YET CONFIRMED:
REMINDERS & UPDATES
DID YOU MISS THIS DEADLINE? IF SO, PLEASE COMPLETE ASAP! As you know, all of T-TESS has now shifted from Eduphoria-Appraise to Strive. The last step for this transition is that staff must move their own goals over to Strive. Please follow the steps below to ensure that your goals are correctly showing up in Strive. Please complete this by Friday, October 27th.
- Log into Eduphoria and click on Strive
- Click on the evaluation Tab.
- Click on the Teacher Goal Setting and PD Template in the first section. (It is the second document listed. The first one will not do anything when clicked upon.)
- Once you click on the template, tabs will show up across the top of the page.
- Click on the tab that says "Submit to Appraiser" at the top.
- The goals will then be view-able by the appraiser.
UNITED WAY EMPLOYEE GIVING CAMPAIGN BEGINS - GCISD's 2017 United Way Employee Giving Campaign is about to begin and will be active from October 30-November 10. The district has moved to an online pledge system this year, so all employees will receive an email on Monday from e-way with a personalized login ID and password to access the secure GCISD pledge website. No cash will be accepted, however employees can still write checks.
REMINDERS FROM THE LEARNING COMMONS!
Please read the following reminders from Kristi:
- BOOK FAIR PREVIEWS -It's almost time for our first book fair of the year! I have reserved Nov. 9 and 10 for you to bring your classes to preview the fair. The library calendar is set up to offer 20 minute slots on those two days. Please go to the link provided here, locate the correct week, click on the slot you want, change the title to your last name, and click save. Library Appointment Calendar The book fair officially starts on Monday, November 13 and will run through Friday, November 17.
- NOVEMBER/DECEMBER BoM- Our next Book of the Month has provided inspiration for a FUN connection on one of our most special events of the year - Grandparent/Grandfriends Day on November 17th. Please check out the links below and share this information with your scholars. Just as in the book, the invitation that will be sent out for Grandparent's Day will invite them to bring a special recipe to share with your class and ask them to talk about why this recipe is special to them or their family! We are working on ideas on how to collect all of these recipes and combine them for a recipe book for our school community. Stay tuned!
Teacher Information - Read-A-Thon
NOVEMBER TECH TALKS
November 3rd - Hour of Code Visioning - Come with your ideas for Hour of Code! I want to support your classroom with experts, mentors, or resources.
November 10th - Dash & Dot - They will surprise you! I wish that I had known more about these versatile bots when I was in the classroom. I can't wait to see them in the hands of your scholars!
November 17th - Nepris - If you haven't tapped into this resource, you might just be missing out. Come explore the possibilities.
WRITING CONFERENCES
Worth A Read...Listen!!
FROM ANSWER-GETTERS TO PROBLEM-SOLVERS... If you teach math, PLEASE take few minutes to read this outstanding abstract from a recent ASCD publication about 3-Act Math Tasks. This is a GREAT resource for developing problem solvers in your classroom and this article is an awesome read.
MYSTERY DOUG...many of our staff members are now using Mystery Doug videos, are YOU? These quick weekly videos are the perfect way to inspire inquiry and wonder in your classrooms. Your scholars can even submit THEIR questions to Doug! Check out the introductory video below about Mystery Doug and click here to subscribe for free!
TWITTER REMINDERS FOR @canSTEM
Please help us reach our campus goal for all staff to participate in a 5-minute a day communication plan, as stated in George Couros's quote shown here. It's truly a simple way to SHARE & LEARN from the best minds in GCISD! I am going to be highlighting our school twitter account HEAVILY with parents & our school community, to help create our own "outward culture of celebration"!!
As a reminder, please include our school's handle, @canSTEM, in all of your tweets, so that they can be automatically retweeted on our school account. At the end of the day, simply go to @canSTEM and scroll through our school's tweets for 5 minutes and see what your colleagues are sharing! If you want to learn more from them about an idea they shared....you will only have to walk across the building to get more information firsthand!
Please click here to see our staff list of social media accounts. Please add/update any information so that we can make sure we follow each other!
TO-DO LIST
- Set a timer and complete daily attendance ON TIME!
- Don't forget to show daily KCAN announcements every Monday-Thursday!! #KidsDeserveIt
- Be ready for staff meeting with Dr. Ryan in library at 3:15 on Monday.
- Prepare for your grade level Data Day. Schedules for subs will be provided when subs check in.
- Enjoy the staff Pot Luck Luncheon on Tuesday - Taco Bar!!
- Work as a TEAM to prepare for student-led conferences on Thursday!
- Have your scholars write Thank You cards/letters for veterans! Due by 11/8.
- Make plans to attend Friday's Tech Talk on Hour of Code.
- Don't forget to set your clocks back one hour on Sunday!
- Review the information in this newsletter about the 5-minute a day communication plan. Tweet & blog about all of the great things you are doing in your classroom/grade!
- Update teacher website & get blog and other social media started. Not sure where to start? Ask Julee for help with this!