• Message from Mrs. Bishop
• Calendar
• Bad Weather FAQs
• PTA Lifetime Membership Nominations
• Family Movie Night
• Buy & Submit Pictures for Yearbook
• Spirit Wear On Sale
• Book Fair
• Shepard Reading Fair
• After School Clubs
• Watch DOGS
  
• Volunteer Opportunities/Application
  
• Join PTA
• Lunch Visitor Sign Up
  
• What's for lunch?
• PISD Events

Hi, Shepard Families!

Plano ISD has contracted with Curriculum Management Solutions, Inc. (CMSi) to conduct a comprehensive audit of the educational program of our school district. This audit is intended to provide the district with specific feedback regarding strengths and weaknesses in the structures and processes associated with the design and delivery of curriculum across the system, so changes can be made to improve student learning on every campus. Parents and guardians have the opportunity to complete an online survey regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the school district shortly before the audit site visit to each campus. If you choose to participate please access the link to the survey provided which can be completed from any internet-enabled device. Thank you, in advance, for providing your valuable and anonymous input into this survey.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PlanoParent

Sincerely,

Kristin Bishop

Shepard Elementary Principal

469.752.3110

kristin.bishop@pisd.edu

Plano ISD Weather Guidelines can be found here! https://www.pisd.edu/Page/595

Q: Why would Plano ISD close schools?

A: The superintendent of schools may close schools and offices due to severe weather or emergencies (e.g., icy roads, power outages, flooding, etc.). In that case, Plano ISD announces such closings through various communication channels.

Q: How will I know if school is closed?

A:

• The Plano ISD website (www.pisd.edu): Weather-related closures and updates will be posted in real time on the Plano ISD home page.
• The Plano ISD Mobile App (www.pisd.edu/mobileapp): Download the mobile app and log in to receive specific messages related to your school. However, weather closures will be sent to all app users, even if you are not logged in to the system.
• School Messenger (e-mail and telephone messages): The district will provide updated information as needed to all parent and emergency contact telephone numbers and email addresses in the system.
• Social media – Facebook (www.facebook.com/PlanoISD) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/Plano_Schools): Weather-related closures will be posted immediately to Plano ISD’s Facebook and Twitter pages. You do not have to sign up for Facebook or Twitter to view these pages; however, followers will receive instant updates in their newsfeeds.
• Local news media: Plano ISD will make information available to local television and radio stations and will enlist their assistance in communicating with our audiences.

Q: What if the weather is sketchy? Will the school call us to tell us school is open?

A: No. If the above sources don't say school is closed, then we are open!

Q: When we were kids, we had to walk to school in 12 feet of snow, uphill, both ways! If school is closed but I want to send my child, can my kid come to school?

A: No.

A Texas PTA Life Membership Award is one of the highest honors presented to an individual for outstanding service to our children at Shepard. Please help us nominate 2 individuals/parents and 2 teachers/staff to be honorary Texas PTA Life Members. We ask that you include a brief supporting reason for each nomination. The four recipients will be presented their award at the PISD Council of PTAs Lifetime Membership Banquet in April. Click below for the survey. Nominations are due on or before this Friday, January 27th.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WTDQBJX

PLEASE NOTE: Past Life Membership award winners CANNOT be nominated again. Names of previous winners are listed on the survey.

Shepard PTA would like to invite all Shepard families to a movie night on Friday, January 27th from 6:00-7:30pm in the school cafeteria. We will be playing Monsters, Inc. and provide free popcorn. Feel free to bring your own dinner and water bottle as well as a pillow or blanket. It will be a fun night so we hope you can join us!

We need a few volunteers to help make this night a success. Please check out the opportunities below.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B48A9A922A0F85-movie

If you have any photos from school events like the Sock Hop, Art Night, dress up days, field trips etc. with your child and friends, please share them with the PTA yearbook volunteers. You can share them online at studio.balfour.com/ImageShare or download the mobile app Balfour ImageShare in the App store or Google Play. Follow the prompts and when asked for a project number it is 328739 and the upload code is not needed.

The deadline to submit your photos is March 1st. Please include the students' names and grade level.

Any Questions? Email Amanda Buccola at shepardptayearbook@gmail.com

You can start ordering your child's yearbook today! Simply go to: https://www.balfour.com/texas/plano/shepard-elementary-school

Just click “Order Now,” fill out your student’s name and grade, and place your order!

Important Yearbook Deadlines:

3/1 - Final day to submit photos (please include pictured student's grade level)

3/3 - Final day to add personalization & accessories to your yearbook order

4/30 - Yearbook Sales End!

Any Questions? Email Amanda Buccola at shepardptayearbook@gmail.com

If you haven't purchased your Shepard t-shirt yet this year, now is a great time because they are on sale! You can purchase one on the PTA website, just click here. Shirts and shorts are now on sale for only $10 and yard signs are still available for $20. We have some shirts from years past on clearance as well as Patriot Dads t-shirts for purchase.

Get ready! This year's Book Fair is going to be epic! We've turned up the volume with more fun, more choices, and more excitement—so kids will arrive curious and leave bolder, prouder, and stronger than ever before. Here's what you need to know about our upcoming Fair:

• Every dollar you spend will benefit our school directly

• You can sign up for Book Fair eWallet—a convenient digital payment account, so your child can shop the Fair cash-free. Grandparents, friends, and others can contribute to the eWallet to help build your home library. Go to scholasticbookfairs.com/ewallet to create an account and learn more.

SAVE THE DATE! Bring the whole family and shop our Book Fair:

Saturday, Feb 25 1:00-4:00 PM

Monday-Thursday, Feb 27- March 2 7:20-7:40 AM, 11:00-1:00 PM, 2:45-4:00 PM (Parents/Guardians are welcome before and/or after school)

The last time to shop the Fair will be March 2 during Open House from 5:30-7:00 PM

We need your help! Share the joy and excitement by volunteering.http://scholasticbookfairs.com/ewallet Volunteer opportunities include: set-up/ decorations, helping students make wishlists, cashier and clean up. Link for sign-ups coming soon.

Questions? Contact:

Emily Butler emilyp143@gmail.com

Jordan Humphries jordan.humphries93@gmail.co

Dear Shepard Parents/Guardians:

We are excited to announce that Shepard’s 4th Annual Reading Fair will be held during the week of March 14- March 17.

While participation is optional, the Reading Fair provides students with an opportunity to have fun making an interesting and creative project about a book they love. They will make a storyboard display highlighting the important elements of their favorite fictional book and decorate their board to illustrate the theme of the story.

General Information:

1. The purpose of the Fair is to promote reading to all students.

2. The participation of students in the Fair is meant to be a positive experience. Participation is optional.

3. Project Dates:

1. All projects are due to the library on Tuesday, March 14. NO EARLY PROJECTS PLEASE!

2. Projects will be displayed the week of March 14-17.

3. All projects should be taken home on Friday, March 17.

4. Tentative Categories are as follows: (there may not be enough partner projects to make a category)

1. 1st-2nd Grade Individual Projects

2. 1st-2nd Grade Partner Projects

3. 3rd-5th Grade Individual Projects

4. 3rd-5th Grade Partner Projects

5. Awards will be given as follows:

1. Best in Show (one for 1st/2nd and one for 3rd-5th)

2. 1st Place (each category)

3. 2nd Place (each category)

4. 3rd Place (each category)

Entry Information:

1. All entries should follow the guidelines outlined in the scoring rubric.

2. Students are allowed to receive advice and guidance from adults but must construct their own project.

3. Students may choose a fictional book from their home or a fictional library book. NO INFORMATIONAL BOOKS

4. While props are allowed, please do not include anything valuable, living, or dangerous as well as any food items.

5. To be considered for judging, PLEASE DO NOT include any identifying information about the student on the board (name, teacher).

For more information and ideas check out the Reading Fair website at https://sites.google.com/pisd.edu/shepardreadingfair

Please feel free to contact Mrs. Diamond-Muns at brittney.diamond@pisd.edu if you have any questions about the Reading Fair Project.

We are offering two different after school clubs here at Shepard.

If your child would like to learn or better themselves on chess strategy consider registering them for the next session of chess classes through Premier Scholar League Chess. Classes are held after school on Thursdays, 2:45-4pm, and tuition costs $225 for 13 classes. More information is on the flyer below. To register go online at pslchess.com

If you are interested in registering your child for the WIZE Academy Robotics After School Club please go to the following link: https://tinyurl.com/ShepardPatriots The cost is $98/mo and classes are every Friday after school starting January 20th through May. There is more information on the flyer below. Any questions can be emailed to info-sp@wizeacademy.com

If you are a father, grandfather, step-father, uncle, or other father figure and you weren't able to make it to the Pizza Launch Night, you can still sign up to do Watch DOGS (Dads Of Great Students). Available days are now on Shepard's Voly site at Plano.Voly.org. Don't forget a background check must be complete in order to sign up.

A Watch DOGS t-shirt is required to be worn on your volunteer day. There will be a few extra shirts in the front office for you to borrow for the day (Sizes L-XXL) or you can purchase your own t-shirt at https://store.dadsofgreatstudents.com/shop.

Information about what to expect during the day you are on campus will be provided by our school counselor, Erin Christenson, once you've signed up. For more information you can also head over to the Shepard PTA's Watch DOG page here.

If you are interested in volunteering for anything at school this year (library volunteer, special events, field trip chaperone, etc), please go ahead and complete the PISD volunteer application and background check now. Register at Plano.Voly.org.

You can email our VP of Volunteers, Lauren Roberson at Roberson.lauren@gmail.com to let her know you are/might want to volunteer this year and what you are interested in doing.

Current & Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities:

Watch D.O.G.S. - Men can sign up on Voly.

Library, Ongoing - contact Katy Brannen at katy.r.brannen@gmail.com

Did your family enjoy the Sock Hop, Art Night, and Story Night? Did you child have fun on their PTA sponsored field trip? Consider joining the PTA that sponsors those events. Thank you to all that have joined our PTA so far and we hope if you haven't joined yet that you might consider doing so now. Just CLICK HERE to join our PTA. Parents and guardians of Shepard Patriots aren't the only ones who are able to join the PTA. Aunts, uncles, grandparents, and friends can also join and in doing so financially support all the wonderful programs the PTA puts on for the school. PTA financially sponsors events like the Sock Hop, field trips, field day, 5th grade party, and more! You can volunteer as little or as much as you want as a member. *Note* your membership must be renewed each year.

P.S. You can even get amazing discounts at places like Great Wolf Lodge, Hotels.com, Budget, and more. Check out all the PTA Membership perks/discounts at https://www.txpta.org/member-perks

Many parents like to come to school and have lunch with their child. Luckily our school has a "Patriot Patio" in the hall outside our cafeteria where students and family members can enjoy lunch together. We have 4 tables per grade level available. We require parents to sign up prior to visiting their child for lunch so that we do not run out of space. All visitors to Shepard must bring a driver's license on their first visit of the school year and be issued a visitor badge. On subsequent visits, we can print badges with the same level of security without the need to scan your driver's license again, but please have it on hand in case there are any questions.

Click below to sign up:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0549aeab2da4fb6-shepard3/18424666#/

*Note menus will possibly need to be updated periodically to account for supply shortages. You can see any menu updates and manage your child's account at School Cafe. Download the current January lunch calendar below.

Did you know… 1.) Shepard has its own website and it’s always being updated! 2.) You can find out all about your teachers and their favorite things on the Shepard website under “Teacher Pages”. 3.) On the same website you can see the calendar for the whole school year specific for Shepard with special events added as they are known. You can even sync the calendar with iCalendar or other calendars that you might use. Depending on how you set alerts in your calendar, you can be notified of our next PTA or school event! Never miss a school event again!

Teacher Pages -> https://www.pisd.edu/site/Default.aspx?PageType=1...

Shepard Calendar -> https://www.pisd.edu/Page/130#calendar68/20221214/month

(Click on the link icon to find out more about syncing the school calendar with your calendar app)

We are still accepting school supply donations. There is a marked bin in the front foyer for your child to put them in when they come to school. We appreciate your help in creating a supply closet for teachers to grab necessary supplies for our students throughout the year when items run low. You can find the list of items below.

These are On-Going Fundraisers:

• Love Your Shepard PTA?: Make it official by joining today!
• Add AmazonSmile to your mobile Amazon App or shop at Smile.Amazon.com and choose Shepard as your charity of choice!
• Drop Donations in the World Wear Blue Bin. For a list of accepted donations click here.
  
• Support Shepard Elementary through Box Tops and the Coca-Cola Give program.
• Connect your Tom Thumb loyalty card to Shepard Elementary.
• Spirit wear, yard signs, and PTA Membership can be purchased all in one place, at the same time: at the Shepard PTA website.

Boys and girls K-5th, grab some friends and join us for our FREE Lacrosse Clinics.

Every feeder school for Plano Senior High comes together in two great organizations for one REALLY cool sport. One of the fastest growing sports in the country!

Boys and girls, Grab some friends and join us for our FREE Lacrosse Clinics.

We will be at PSHS with the Plano Lacrosse Association and Plano Girls Lacrosse, so spread the news to your friends, family, neighbors, classmates...EVERYONE.

Wear your gym shoes to the clinic, and we will supply the rest. Meet the players and coaches and see what Lacrosse is all about.