Cannon Connection
A newsletter for Cannon Elementary families - 2017-2018
Week of January 8, 2018
Hi Cannon Parents!
Happy New Year!! I hope that everyone has enjoyed a wonderful holiday break with family & friends! 2018 is going to be a BIG year at Cannon as we continue construction and prepare to open our new school in August 2018! There has been a lot of progress made on construction during the holidays! The first "pour" for slab on the academic wing portion of the new school ( approx. 19,000 sq ft) was done and we will begin to see some steelwork going up on this area within the next two weeks. There will be MANY visible changes occurring this spring and we are so excited to share this experience with our students. It is such an exciting time to be a Cannon Cub!
We can't wait to welcome our Cubs back to school on TUESDAY, JANUARY 9th as we kick off the new year with some great learning experiences for our young scholars!
Proud to be your principal,
Mrs. Blizzard
FAMILY MATTERS @ CANNON!
Family is important at Cannon and we are happy to welcome back ALL of our Cannon families for a great spring semester! Enjoy the following video to see our awesome Cannon staff enjoying time with their own families & friends!!
Campus Community Service Project = HUGE Success!
A campus-wide community service project is an annual tradition at Cannon! We want ALL of our Cubs to be involved in giving back to our community. This year, our community service project was inspired by an artist who creates small "robots", called Botjoy. These are robots painted on the backs of dominoes, which are "programmed" to help someone in need. There are many types of bots, including Brave Bots, Joy Bots, Love Bots, and more! This artist, Gary Hirsch, paints these Bots and he donates them to children's hospitals, to offer comfort or courage for sick or grieving children OR he just leaves them in public locations for strangers to find. He encourages others to “steal” his idea and make their own....so that's EXACTLY what we did this year!
Our students made & presented bots to:
Kindergarten - Grapevine Fire/Police Dept - Brave Bots - for children who are afraid during crisis
1st grade - Cannon school community - Kindness Bots -for Cannon support staff (bus drivers, nutrition, custodial); Students who are enrolling/leaving
2nd grade- Grapevine Library - Book Bots for children who go apply for library cards
3rd grade- Cooks Children’s Hospital - Hug Bots - hugs for children who are facing surgery/ER
4th grade- School/Community partners- Grateful Bots - thank you for your support First United Methodist Church (Project Read; Friday Backpacks; VAST)
5th grade- GRACE - Senior community - Joy Bots - bring joy to senior citizens
Cannon Staff -designed Inspiration Bots - to exchange with each other to offer support, encouragement, or compliments!
All kindergarten-5th grade students designed a bot!
Bots were presented to a representative from our community at school assembly!
All bots are "programmed" for a specific purpose!
Mark Your Calendars.....
1/8 Staff returns to work - NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS
1/9 Students return to school
1/12 Cannon Spelling Bee - 8:30 in cafeteria
1/15 Student Holiday - Martin Luther King Day - NO SCHOOL
1/23 Cannon Night @ Cici's Pizza
Spelling Bee Is Friday!
Congratulations to the 38 4th & 5th grade students that qualified to participate in the campus-level Spelling Bee! These students all received their study materials before the holiday break and they will compete on Friday, January 12th, beginning at 8:30 am in the cafeteria. The campus winner will represent Cannon at the GCISD Spelling Bee on February 8th. Parents of participating students are welcome to attend on Friday!
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!
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
Parent Technology Academy Schedule for Spring 2018
GCISD's Technology Department has planned some wonderful parent information sessions for the spring semester! Check out the dates & topics below! More detail on each topic will be forthcoming. Each session is approximately 45 minutes with 15 minutes Q&A.
Stay tuned for more details about each topic throughout the spring semester!
January 18 - Internet Safety ( Digital Citizenship) – tools for at home Internet filtering
Grapevine Middle School cafeteria - 6 p.m.
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.
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.
PTA QUICK PICKS!
This week's "quick picks" of reminders & information from PTA:
Thank you to all our volunteers that helped with our events during the fall semester! We appreciate you!!
- Cannon Talent Show will be Friday, February 9. Students need to start planning acts. Details being sent home with students soon.
Stay connected by following Cannon PTA on social media. Click here to "like" the PTA Facebook page. Follow them on Twitter @CannonPTA.
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