CANNON TIMES
A Newsletter For Cannon Staff 2018-2019
Principal Points - Week of January 14, 2019
Our staff at Cannon always amazes me! Already, in the first four days of school for 2019, the learning experiences our staff has provided for students are simply incredible:
- Walking field trips to downtown Grapevine for 2nd graders to learn all about our city, government, and police as community helpers, including a personal visit with Mayor Tate!
- Presenters were at Cannon, from the Army Corps of Engineers to teach students about the impact of weathering & erosion at the Grapevine dam and from Chief Brown & Chief Sherwood to share about services our Grapevine Fire Department provides our community.
- Dual language students presented data analysis to other students in their 2nd language.
- Engaging lessons in the Learning Commons to teach K-2 students about recognizing & reading book titles by playing a library version of Go Fish (Go Read!) & to help 3-5 scholars determine what genre of books they may be interested in through the use of genre personality quizzes!
- Makerspace Robotics Badge Workshops were offered for students during recess time to sign up for & attend independently and they are already a HUGE hit!
- Hands-on learning experiences were designed for students to learn all about weathering, energy, fractions/decimals/percents, student math talks, & to improve dribbling skills.
- Incubators were set up to help students learn all about the life cycle of a chick.
- GT testing began.
- Mission Impossibots prepared for their upcoming competition.
- Classroom Donor's Choose grant was funded to provide students with new headphones with microphones.
- After school & Saturday AIMSS classes offered students extracurricular learning experiences about aviation/principles of flight.
Thank you for literally "hitting the ground running" to continue making Cannon an incredible place to learn and work. Also, thank you to so many in our school family that have reached out to express condolences to our family during a difficult time. Your thoughts & prayers have been heard and your offers for reassuring hugs have been felt. #LoveOurCannonFamily
Proud to be your principal,
Tona :)
#BeCannonProud
__________________________________
Lisa's Coaching Corner
Finding great resources to meet laser focus needs for our RTI reading student HAS NEVER BEEN EASIER! Take a look at the fabulous resource I found. This Correlation of DRA to Words Their Way is a document with a preplanned activity to complete for each DRA Word Analysis task. You do NOT need to be using Words Their Way to use these lessons with your students!
Let's look at an example for DRA2 Word Analysis: Task 14:
Lesson: Segmenting words into onsets and rimes (Auditory/Oral)
Objective: To segment a given word by separating the onset from the rime
Resource: Words Their Way word sorts you can use from the book called Letter Name: Sorts 7-14 (Word Families) Sorts 25-34 (Mixed Vowel Word Families)
By using this resource not only do you have many levels of words to work through and it can also easily be turned into a goal to progress monitor.
As you are completing your MOY, think about this resource and how we can serve our students by boosting their weakness with this deeper look at words. As always, please reach out to me to show you this resource more in-depth.
LB
__________________________________
DATES TO REMEMBER
01/14 STAAR Security Training 3:15-3:45 - REQUIRED training for all staff
01/15 Lockdown Drill - 9:00 am
01/15 PLC Week B - Kindergarten 2:15-3:45
01/16 K-2 Dual Language PLC - 8:00-3:30 - Admin. Bldg, Tejas
01/16 PLC Week B - 1st grade - 2:15-3:45
01/17 3-5 Dual Language PLC - 8:00-3:30 - Admin. Bldg, Alamo
01/17 PLC Week B - 2nd grade - 2:15-3:45
01/18 Friday Tech Talks with Julee during conference times
01/19 Cannon's FLL Team compete - GOOD LUCK MISSION IMPOSSIBOTS!
01/21 Student/Staff Holiday - Martin Luther King Day
01/22 PLC Week A - 3rd grade 2:15-3:45
01/22 School Board Appreciation items due to Tona by end of day
01/23 PLC Week A - 4th grade 2:15-3:45
01/24 PLC Week A - 5th grade 2:15-3:45
01/24 District Spelling Bee - 1:00 pm @ CTMS - Good luck Piyush!
01/24 Cubs Night Out @ Cici's Pizza
01/25 Math Coach of the Day - K-2 during conference periods in PLC room
01/28 STEM Leadership meeting - 3:05 pm
01/28 Math Coach of the Day - 3-5 during conference periods in PLC room
01/29 PLC Week B - Kindergarten 2:15-3:45
01/30 PLC Week B - 1st grade 2:15-3:45
01/31 5th Grade Chromebook Exchange - 8:00-11:00 am
01/31 Fire Drill - 1:30 pm
01/31 PLC Week A - 2nd grade 2:15-3:45
__________________________________
CONGRATULATIONS ADDI FREINER!
REMINDERS & UPDATES
WANT TO WIN $1,000 FOR YOUR CLASSROOM? ACT FAST! We have learned that there have been VERY FEW submissions to the GCISD Teacher Grant program, sponsored by Dr. Schroeder, so they have extended the deadline to Wednesday, January 16th. If you act fast, you have an excellent chance at being awarded one of these grants! In addition to receiving $1,000, you would also get to attend a fun luncheon this spring semester with Anne & I to be awarded your grant! See information below that has been included in this newsletter for several weeks for all of the details!
NUTRITION SERVICES SECRET WORD DAY - Nutrition Services is having a secret word day for elementary students on January 17, 2019 during lunch. All students purchasing a plate lunch are encouraged to participate by sharing the secret word "FRESH" with the cashier. With the purchase of a plate lunch this Thursday students will get a "fresh" baked cookie if they share the secret word with their cashier.
PARENT TECHNOLOGY SESSIONS - Please take a moment to check out the updated information about parent technology information sessions I have included in the "Information to Share With Parents" section of this newsletter. There are some session topics of particular interest that I know you will want to encourage parents to attend:
- Social Media Impact
- Understanding Minecraft
- Internet Addiction - Gaming
- Apps Parents Need to Know
- Fortnite
EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION SURVEY - As you know, each year we ask employees to complete an employee satisfaction survey. This year, GCISD is partnering with Gallup to conduct a new employee engagement survey. This week, you will receive an email with information on how to participate in our employee engagement survey with Gallup. In previous years, the data collected in the previous tool used wasn't available until the end of the year. By engaging in this new tool at an earlier time in the semester, it will provide information for district and campus leaders during the spring semester. Thank you in advance for your participation and feedback in this survey!
JANUARY IS BOARD APPRECIATION MONTH!
JANUARY IS BOARD APPRECIATION MONTH!
GCISD School Board Trustees will be recognized at the monthly school board meeting during the board meeting on Thursday, January 24th. All schools are asked to shower the school board members with some love & special recognition by providing student-created posters, cards, letters or other objects of appreciation! Please meet as a team and discuss how your team will contribute to this effort. All grade levels are expected to participate.
Scholar work should be dropped off in my office by the end of the day on Tuesday, January 22nd. This year's theme is "Planting Seeds of Success" Please refer to the following link to read short bios on all GCISD trustees. From this link, you will be able to click on each board member name to read all about them. Thank you!
JANUARY BOOK OF THE MONTH
Doll-E 1.0 is the perfect book to kick off our Book of the Month for 2019!! Be sure to check out all of the resources Kristi has provided below, as you prepare to share this month's book with your scholars in the classroom! The BoM Video and Smore embedded below will also be shared in the parent newsletter.
Our Cubs are going to LOVE this month's BoM Design Challenge, which is to design and build their own robot or doll out of found objects and scraps. Then they will get to use Scratch and Makey Makey to build a database to make their doll or robot talk! How cool is that? If students want to design and build their doll or robot at school, we will have a variety of materials for them to select from. There will be a recess time workshop for each grade level during the week of January 14-18 and teachers will be given a sign up sheet.
Please encourage your scholars to participate in this awesome Book of the Month challenge!
TECH NEWS FROM JULEE
Maker Achievement Badges
Maker achievement badge sessions are scheduled to begin in January. You will be receiving a sign up from me soon. I have dedicated 10 recess sessions to the Level 1-Robotics badge. Each grade level can assign 10 students per session, therefore you will need to discuss scheduling and selection of your students with your grade level before signing up. Each student will only need to attend one session to earn their badge. Please email me if you have any questions after you receive the sign-up.
Digital Citizenship Week
Mark your calendars for Digital Citizenship Week January 7 - 18, 2019. All our GCISD Digital Citizenship resources may be found here and the instructional technology team will continue to update them for 2019 in the coming weeks.
Tech Talks
Tech Talks will kick back up in the new year!
WIN $1,000 FOR YOUR CLASSROOM!!
All GCISD teachers who have student with projects selected will be invited to attend a luncheon with their principal and will be awarded a $1,000 grant! Let's make sure Cannon is represented this year!!
- Have your students write or draw a one-page idea of what he/she thinks the teacher could do for the students with the $1,000 grant.
- The teacher is to select the one from his/her class that he/she thinks best expresses a good use of the grant; the selections must be submitted to the Education Foundation Office by the extended deadline of Wednesday, January 16th.
- The Education Foundation will deliver the teachers' selections to Schroeder Orthodontics for selection of the five winners.
- The winners will be announced with check presentations to the teachers at the annual GCISD Council of PTAs Founder's Day luncheon and program, Thursday, February 21, 2019. The winners will be the guests of the Education Foundation.
There are no rules as to how the one-page drawing or writing should be done so be creative! Please make sure that your students have their name, grade, teacher's name and school's name on the submission.
Through the Education Foundation, Dr. Schroeder is providing an exciting opportunity for additional support for our teachers. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Sue Franks at sue.franks@gcisd.net
Doodle 4 Google 2019
The contest is open to students in Kindergarten through 12th grade in the United States. To enter the contest students should create a drawing that represents something that inspires them. The drawing, of course, must include the word Google somewhere within it. The artwork must be submitted on this official entry form.
This year's national Doodle 4 Google winner will receive a $30,000 college scholarship and a $50,000 technology prize package for his or her school. Check out this video about the 2nd grader who was the 2018 contest winner!
If you're thinking about using some classroom time to have your students draw for the Doodle 4 Google contest, take a look at the free lesson resources that Google offers. Making drawings for the Doodle 4 Google contest might also be a good indoor recess activity on those cold days!
Two of this year's celebrity judges are Jimmy Fallon and Kermit the Frog. Here they are to introduce the Doodle 4 Google contest.
__________________________________
Worth A Read, Watch or...Listen!!
WANT TO CONNECT WITH CLASSROOMS AROUND THE WORLD FOR FREE?
Imagine if children everywhere could discover what life is like for other children around the world... Check out Empatico! Empatico is a free tool for educators to connect their classrooms with others around the world. They make it simple for virtual connections to exist in classrooms by combining everything needed in one platform: live video, file sharing, a partner classroom, and activities. Empatico is creating a global movement to spread kindness and empathy around the world!!
HOW TO EASILY MAKE A PERSONALIZED WORD TRANSLATION LIST FOR STUDENTS This is an AWESOME idea! Check out this blogpost to learn how to use a Google spreadsheet to easily create a word translations list in just a couple of steps! What an awesome tool to support ELL students in an individualized and easy way!!
__________________________________
DISTRICT ASSESSMENT & STAAR UPDATES
MID-YEAR READING ASSESSMENT INFORMATION
STAAR RESOURCES & UPDATES
INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES PLAYLIST FOR TEACHERS 2018-2019 is a terrific resource that many of our Cannon staff is currently already using, not just as STAAR resource, but as a great resource for instructional/formative assessment strategies that you may have never tried. These playlists of strategy suggestions are extensive and are categorized by:
- movement and discourse playlist
- rehearsal and practice playlist
- extending thinking playlist
- learning from mistakes playlist
- evidence of learning playlist
Tip from one of our local professionals - Lexi Rix includes this link in her weekly lesson plans with a reminder to try a new instructional strategy each week - GREAT idea!
STAAR Mini-Practice Tests
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is releasing a series of mini-practice tests, including Spanish versions, that are meant to provide students an opportunity to practice using new online features in the STAAR Online Testing Platform ahead of the spring 2019 test administrations. The mini-practice tests will include the basic calculator tool (English and Spanish versions for mathematics), the dictionary tool (English and Spanish versions for reading and writing), and American Sign Language (ASL) videos (English versions only). These mini-practice tests will be available in the STAAR Online Testing Platform beginning December 31, 2018.
__________________________________
CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION CORNER
Science Blog and Curriculum Map Information
If you teach science, please take some time to read the GCISD Science blog and watch the screencast explaining our newly designed elementary science curriculum map. Please subscribe to the blog in order to stay up to date!
__________________________________
INFORMATION TO SHARE IN PARENT NEWSLETTERS
PLAY IT SAFE - PARENT PREVIEW IS THIS WEEK!
Attention Parents: If you would like to preview the Play It Safe Program, you will have the opportunity on Tuesday, January 15th. This preview will be held at the GCISD Administration offices. Please read this letter in English or in Spanish for times and specific location.
Cannon students will view the program at Cannon during their Specials times on Friday, February 8th. The program on 2/8/19 is only for students and not parents. If you would like to see the program you must attend one of the parent preview times on January 15th. A non-permission letter can be found here. Please complete the form ONLY if you DO NOT want your student to view the program on February 8th. The form must be turned in to your child's teacher by February 6th.
RACHEL'S CHALLENGE SHIRT CONTEST
Students, you could be the artist behind our new Rachel's Challenge shirt for 2019 and everyone could be wearing your artwork. See the details in the flyer. Spanish Flyer
Parent Technology Academy
GCISD Parent Technology Academy is BACK! Sessions are scheduled monthly with more to come! Come and learn along with others about the ever-changing world of technology in which your children are living!
Spring Parent Technology Academy Sessions
GCISD Technology is excited to announce our Spring Session line up with several new sessions. Stay tuned as more will be added to our list as we keep receiving the request from the community.
January 23rd - Social media impact and building your student profile in Linkedin ( co-presented with Microsoft ) -SIGN UP HERE
Hear real-life examples of students that have lost scholarships or college acceptance due to social media disasters. Then hear from Microsoft as they outline ways to build a Linkin Profile to attached recruiters and more!
February 12th - Hour of Code - Parent Edition -SIGN UP HERE
Come dive in and experience what students across GCISD do each day with hands-on activities around coding
February 26th - Understanding Minecraft ( Presented by Microsoft) -SIGN UP HERE
Come and learn about the power of Minecraft in education, get tips directly for Microsoft on parental settings for use at home.
March 21st - Internet Addiction " Gaming"--SIGN UP HERE
More than 5 million kids may be addicted to video games. 31% of males and 12 % of females report that have felt addicted to gaming. Come to hear from Dr Kay Trotter, PhD, LPC-s, RPT-S from local Kaleidoscope Behavioral Health as she discusses the signs and symptoms of this growing addiction. Learn some tips and be a part of the discussion around online gaming and internet addiction.
April 16th - Apps Parents Need to Know -SIGN UP HERE
Take part in this interactive discussion around the growing world of apps that students are using. Go being the scenes to hear the truth behind the apps and what dangers there are to those who use them
Virtual Session Coming Soon - Fortnite ( a Parents Guide ) - SIGN UP HERE
Many have asked some come and experience Fortnite for parents. Hear about details of the game and dive into parental settings for the various gaming systems students use to play online.
All sessions can be found on the Parent Technology Academy Webpage
__________________________________
TWITTER REMINDERS FOR @canSTEM
BIG thanks to all of our staff members that have already been actively tweeting about the great learning going on in your classrooms!
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, and our hashtag, #BeCannonProud 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 every day!
- Be on time for the required STAAR Security training on Monday @ 3:15 in Learning Commons.
- Encourage your students to participate in the Dr. Schroeder & Grapevine-Colleyville Education Foundation grant program and win $1,000 for your classroom! The deadline has been extended until Wednesday!!
- Mark your calendars for this week's lockdown drill.
- Watch for an email this week about the GCISD Employee Engagement Survey & don't forget to participate!
- Review all of the January Book of the Month information and encourage your students to participate. Watch for Recess Workshop sign-up from Kristi soon for those students who want to complete the design challenge at school!
- Check out the Doodle Google contest for kids information in this newsletter!
- Plan to attend Julee's Friday Tech Talk on 1/18 during conference times.
- Don't forget about the Dual Language PLC meetings this week!
- Wish our FLL coaches (Julee & Chelsea) & team members GOOD LUCK at competition on Saturday, 1/19/19!!
- Communicate to parents about the student holiday on Monday, 1/21/19.
- Check out the MoY Reading Assessment information in this newsletter.
- Meet with teams & discuss plans for School Board Appreciation Month.
- See the Information To Share With Parents section of this newsletter for communication about campus events & other district news that needs to be included in your own newsletters, blogs, etc...
- 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!
- 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! Don't forget to use @canSTEM and our hashtag #BeCannonProud this year in all of your tweets!