The Cannon Connection
Staff Information & Updates 2/17/14
From The Principal's Pen...
I love this awesome infographic that provides a simple framework for INNOVATION in the classroom! As you review this graphic, consider: are you supporting this notion of INNOVATION in your classroom through the work you are doing with your scholars?
As a STEM campus, I believe that the opportunities we are providing for kids to be immersed in INNOVATION is really inherent in the work we are doing with engineering, the design process, etc... How can we continue to improve on this work, to ensure that we are supporting these key areas of innovation in everything we do? I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this topic!
For additional reading about innovation in schools, check out this blog for a great article on the 5 Habits of Highly Innovative Schools.
LAST WEEK- A PHOTO REVIEW
100 Days Smarter!
Transition to Middle School Parent Night
Cannon Volunteers Sweeten Our Valentine's Day!
Be sure to say a HUGE thanks to your grade level parent volunteers for all of their hard work to make our grade level Valentine's Day parties such a success! The parties were so much fun, with lots of sweets & treats for all! Check out the Sweet Success of Valentine's Day parties in 4th grade!
Dates to Remember
2-17-2-21 - National Engineering Week
2/17 Professional Development Day/Student Holiday
2/18 Electrical Engineer Presentation - 3rd Grade - 8:00 Library
2/20 5th grade visits GMS
2/21 2nd, 4th & 5th grade field trip to FWMSH
2/20 District LPAC Party - 3rd-5th teachers - Admin. Tech lab
2/21 PLC Week B - 3rd;4th;1st
2/24 GMS Counselors Visit Cannon 5th Grade 2:00-2:45
2/24 School Board Meeting 7:00 pm
2/25 CEC 3:15
2/27 Class Picture Day
2/27 Thomas Elementary Visits Cannon
2/27 L2 report card Meeting w/ Dual Language/Bilingual teachers & Jodi Cox - 3:00
2/28 SOUPer Staff Lunch- PTA treats staff to lunch!
2/28 PLC Week A - Kinder;5th;2nd
3/1 Science Safari Saturday - UNT Sustainability Center
3/4 Read Across America Day!
3/4 STAAR Security training - all staff 3:00 in library
3/5 World Read Aloud Day
3/5 STEM Museum - K-5 during Specials
3/6 Open House/Choir Concert - 5:30 - 7:00
3/7 1st Grade to Legoland
3/7 PLC Week B - 3rd;4th;1st
3/10-3/14 Spring Break!
3/17 EMT meeting - 3:00
3/18 STEM Leadership meetings - 3:00
3/21 End of 3rd nine weeks
3/21 Mr. Adams presents to 2nd grade - Water Cycle
3/21 PLC Week A - Kinder; 5th; 2nd
IT'S NATIONAL ENGINEERING WEEK!
- Engineering activities will be done in all classes throughout the week
- 3rd grade will have an electrical engineer guest speaker on Tuesday
- 2nd grade will have a scientist guest speaker on Friday
- 2nd, 4th, & 5th grade scholars are headed to the Ft. Worth Museum of Science and History to participate in their Engineering Week activities and meet engineers from Lockheed, IBM, and more!
- Several 4th & 5th grade engineers will be "special exhibits" at the FWMSH museum on Friday, where they will showcase their engineering projects for museum guests.
- The FLL team will be on hand at the museum to showcase their project and demo their robot for museum guests.
- Next week, on 3/5, the STEM Museum will be visiting Cannon for the day!
NATIONAL ENGINEERING WEEK RESOURCES:
10 reasons to love engineering
Learn about careers in Engineering
Cool Engineering Videos, Content, and Games
Conversations starters for interviewing or writing to an engineer
Engineering for Girls Day - February 20th
Make engineering FUN this week for your scholars by taking them to the Engineering Lab, scheduling a robotics lesson during science, or providing them extra time for special engineering activities!
REMINDERS & UPDATES
- EXTENDED DEADLINE FOR TEACHER & PARA OF YEAR NOMINATIONS- Several staff members let me know that they forgot to get their ballots/nominations turned in by the end of the day last Friday, so the deadline has been extended to 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, 2/18. As you may recall, the results of our 2013 Employee Satisfaction Survey showed the following results to the statement: My co-workers provide recognition for my achievements: 49% Strongly Agee; 37% Agree; 14% Disagree. This item was overwhelming identified by each team as an area for improvement. Here's your chance! We have such an awesome staff at Cannon, doing amazing things for kids every day! Thanks for your help!!
- CHANGES IN SCHOOL SUPPLIES FOR 2014-2015 -Beginning next year, GCISD will be "standardizing" the school supply lists for elementary schools across the district. The supply packs that will be available to be ordered by parents, as well as those provided by the district for our families that attend the Back to School Fair, will contain the items listed. Please note that these lists contain only very basic supplies and are non-negotiable, as they have already been finalized at the district level for all schools. However, each school also has an opportunity to determine if additional supplies will be needed (customized for each campus) and to decide how this will be communicated to parents. Please note that any supplemental items grade levels ask parents to purchase must be optional for parents to buy (only the basic list is the "required" list), and must be kept to a minimal cost. The combined cost of the Basic list, plus any supplemental supplies, must not exceed $40.
Please meet as a team this week to review the list for your grade level. Brainstorm any additional supplies that you anticipate would be a need for your grade level. It is critical to distinguish between "needs" and "wants", as you discuss these lists. There will likely be items on the "Basic" list that you might not have previously requested or considered a need for. Perhaps, with some creativity, your team will determine a use for these items!! Click here to view the grade level lists
- MARCH 5th - WORLD READ ALOUD DAY REMINDERS - This year we are going to be linking up with our STEM partner schools, Town Center & Stipes through a Google Hangout read aloud session for World Read Aloud Day!! This will be an awesome opportunity for your scholars to "meet" new friends at our partner schools. Our librarians from each campus will get everything organized....all you need to do is complete this Google Form to let Tina know you want to participate. Thanks for planning such a fun event Tina!
- CHECK OUT GCISD'S BLOG!- Did you know that GCISD's Communication Department has added a blog to the district website? Be sure to check it out and communicate this information to your parents. You will find Cannon already featured on this blog! Please keep us informed of all of the exciting events that are happening in your class/grade level, so that Cannon staff & scholars can continue to be highlighted through this new blog! Click here to read the blog!
TWEETS FROM THE WEEK
Great job tweeting about the great things going on at Cannon! Keep up the good work!
Check out some of the staff tweets from last week!
Irene Boynton @BoyntonsBuzz Feb 13
Kinders learn coding using Daisy the Dinosaur app #cancubs #gcisdtech #STEM pic.twitter.com/iPfssp0j1n
Irene Boynton @ireneb2011 Feb 8
@MrsMandyJackson @CathaMaples check this out... http://happynumbe.rs/jD
Deena Crawford @MrsCrawfordSSS 18h
LOVED this Independence Debate with #Loyalists & #Patriots! These kids got HEATED but were respectful! @cancubs pic.twitter.com/1bbCUUIlco
Mrs Greuling @mrsgreuling Feb 12
Exploring News-O-Matic to identify persuasive language in procedural text. Thanks @eliakings pic.twitter.com/7Q4lUOqXcS
Anne Pyron @pyron_anne Feb 11
Seamlessly working in a lesson on prefixes and suffixes during science-meaningful way to integrate. Glad I was there@cancubs@Jvorachard
Julee Vorachard @Jvorachard Feb 15
@pyron_anne Thanks, Anne! Love teaching with you. Can't wait to see where our scholars take their circuit designs! @cancubs @STEM4th
February 10th - Newsletter! https://www.smore.com/jfvg-cannon-elementary-4th-grade … http://fb.me/32JnH2sNx
Irene Boynton @BoyntonsBuzz Feb 11
Celebrating 100 days of kinder...building towers with 100 cups #cancubs pic.twitter.com/iZzJg0pcMl
Julee Vorachard @Jvorachard Feb 8
Great visual! RT “@BeccaSweeney: Via @DavidKirtlan pic.twitter.com/NXVEsRUGwJ”
Mrs Greuling @mrsgreuling Feb 12
Exploring News-O-Matic to identify persuasive language in procedural text. Thanks @eliakings pic.twitter.com/7Q4lUOqXcS
Mrs Greuling @mrsgreuling Feb 13
A wonderful parent conference made my day! @Jvorachard @STEM4th @Tonataylor
Tina Berumen @tinaberumen Feb 11
Love when our @CannonFifth Cubs come in to curl up with a good book! #loveyourlibrary pic.twitter.com/Cksc2UdvKF
Melanie Place @melanie_place Feb 14
3rd graders designed a class chain to decorate for our VDay party. @cancubs @Tonataylor pic.twitter.com/GEEvCmCuM4
Melva Ambalavanar @MAmbalavanar Feb 12
Using the app Bubble-Speech, at our public meeting, students voiced our community should build a new swimming pool. pic.twitter.com/MLNlef9PrN
Sarah ganus @SarahGanus Feb 12
Distance learning with a school in Michigan. pic.twitter.com/d7snvdtwqd
Judy Hockenbrough @JHockenbrough Feb 13
Testing the strength of our mortar like materials engineers! #cancubs @tonataylor pic.twitter.com/DXWcY92Sop
Trisha Goins @heartinlife Feb 12
Good luck @EricaStep1 starting students blogging! They will love it! And you learned how to use @chirp_io! #cancubs #gcisdtech
Judy Hockenbrough @JHockenbrough Feb 12
Skyping with 2nd graders in New York! #technologyisfun #cancubs @tonataylor pic.twitter.com/5E4ODzQuPn
Denisa Marshall @denisamarshall Feb 10
Writing is fun. @cancubs @Tonataylor pic.twitter.com/NZCrmr8wV9
Judy Hockenbrough @JHockenbrough Feb 11
Amelia Earhart was in our room today! Filming our historical figures for our 2nd IBook. #cancubs @tontaylor pic.twitter.com/z83Rzhpw4J
Gail Marin @gail_marin Feb 11
We love improving our designs! #cannoncubs @Tonataylor @aricci1 pic.twitter.com/M1SicL5WCr
Michelle Hall @Michelleh340 Feb 11
Working on Improve part of the Engineering Design Process. @cancubs http://pic-collage.com/_oHSe9eyy pic.twitter.com/aPFl52ED4Q
Trisha Goins @heartinlife Feb 12
#lego #wedo group always building and discovering! Great conversations by scholars!#cancubs #gcisd pic.twitter.com/DYPwqU4mzl
Gail Marin @gail_marin Feb 11
Making and mixing mortar! #weloveengineering @Tonataylor @aricci1 pic.twitter.com/tFpCt8kHiZ
Megan Pettit @MeganPettit22 Feb 11
1st grade had a fun time celebrating the 100th day of school today! @cancubs @Tonataylor pic.twitter.com/TwtLoWSJsM
Diane Norwood @MsDianeNorwood Feb 14
My 1st graders thanked me today for our newest app - Schoolkit Math! (And it's a collection of great math tools, not even a game!) #cancubs
Kamala Anderson @Kaminash Feb 13
First Grade designed and created their own Valentine box. @Tonataylor @cancubs @CannonPTA pic.twitter.com/OI6oTrbcLx
Kamala Anderson @Kaminash Feb 13
Aubri carried out her plan! @Tonataylor @cancubs pic.twitter.com/xP2JNSmVU9
Mandy Jackson @MrsMandyJackson Feb 13
Investigating force and motion! #learningthroughplay #science @CathaMaples @cancubs @Tonataylor pic.twitter.com/dlQanEuL83
Trisha Goins @heartinlife Feb 13
Congratulations Erin Lambert for being the first teacher to answer this mornings math #STEM challenge question correctly! #cancubs @STEM4th
Riqui Villarreal @CannonCoachV Feb 13
PE valentine. for the win. #cancubs #pe pic.twitter.com/IYvk91AApq
Anne Pyron @pyron_anne Feb 11STEM integration, professional development, and case study research from Purdue.@cancubs@Tonataylor http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1036&context=jpeer …
Denise Skinner @DeniseSki Protected Tweets Feb 12
What makes a story travel? Humor, Emotion or a Targeted message.... #Spaeth
Patrick R. Lollis @canmaestro Feb 13
Maker Electronic Instruments @tonataylor @cancubs #tmea pic.twitter.com/FhEOuYoYYv
Patrick R. Lollis @canmaestro Feb 12
Old speaker + alligator clipped wires + 9V battery + small noisy objects = instrument and STEM lesson. @cancubs @tonataylor #tmea
Patrick R. Lollis @canmaestro Feb 13
@musiktech very excited to explore creating and playing digital instruments next. http://www.public.asu.edu/~julianp/time/timeHandout/ …
Patrick R. Lollis @canmaestro Feb 13
@musiktech The first thing I did was use the engineering design process to teach composition and improv pic.twitter.com/Rhorb704ID
Patrick R. Lollis @canmaestro Feb 13
My name's on the board! Thanks @tmea ! @cancubs @tonataylor pic.twitter.com/JDS4NkuxyJ
TO DO LIST
- Set a timer and turn in attendance by 9:45-10:15 daily.
- Bring your iPad/Laptop, scissors, and a pen to our Professional Learning Day!
- Complete nominations for Cannon's Teacher & Paraprofessionals of the Year!
- Highlight Engineering in your classroom throughout the week!
- Complete the Google Form to participate in World Read Aloud Day next week!
- Meet as a team to review your grade level school supply list. Brainstorm any additional needs!
- Tweet throughout the week to share the great work going on @ Cannon!