CANNON LEGACY
A Newsletter For Cannon Staff 2017-2018
Principal Points - 12/11 -12/15
Have you heard YOUR scholars talking about JOYbots they are creating in art class? They have been telling ME all about it and they are SO excited about the group that their grade level has been designing bots for, in order to spread some JOY in our community!
Check out some of the adorable designs below they have created so far!! They should be finished this week and we are working on getting them packaged and ready for delivery to the designated community group they are designed for! BIG thanks to Deborah Mattox for her help to provide a time for our Cubs to create their bot!
Please use this campus community service project to spark some great conversation in your classrooms during Circle Up time about the JOY we receive personally when we perform a kind act for others. I have seen several classrooms using the December Kindness Challenge calendar with their students and some have even created their own ways to encourage random acts of kindness in their classrooms! GREAT job!
The holiday season is the perfect time to celebrate and practice kindness intentionally in our classrooms and school! As the Greek philosopher Aristotle supposedly said, “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.”
Proud to be your principal,
Tona :)
Let's get into the holiday spirit by celebrating the 12 DAYS BEFORE WINTER BREAK! Be sure to check the calendar below and links embedded to see the holiday fun that is planned for each day!
Lisa's Coaching Corner
Design Challenge Inspiration
Please make sure you plan some fun & creative design challenges that will engage your students as the winter holiday approaches. This time of year offers us lots of opportunity to do fun STEM-based challenges in our classrooms that only students at a STEM campus would get to do!
Here are a few blogs/websites I follow that might help inspire you!
One blog I follow is called Vivify STEM Education which is written by two Texas A&M class of 2009 Aerospace Engineers named Claire and Natasha. They actually have a business in which they sell their products, however reading their blog definitely can prompt some great ideas.
Take a look at this YouTube channel called Teach Engineering. It has many videos that will hopefully inspire ideas!
My favorite one is "Little Bins for Little Hands" is filled with fun ideas for the holidays. This site LOVES all things science!
I appreciate you and all the great things you plan in PLC! Thanks for making @canSTEM such a unique place for our scholars!!!
DATES TO REMEMBER
12/11 Cannon Holiday Concert - 7:00 pm - GHS
12/12 PLC Week A - Kindergarten 2:15-3:45
12/13 6-week Progress Report Day
12/13 PLC Week A - 1st grade 2:15-3:45
12/14 PLC Week A - 2nd grade 2:15-3:45
12/15 Candy Houses with Kindergarten Dads - 8:00-10:00 am- cafeteria
12/16 FLL Tournament - HMS - Good Luck Mission Impossibots!
12/18 Staff Holiday Party 3:15-4:15 - library
12/19 Spelling Bee Pre-test - 4th & 5th grades - 8:00 in cafeteria
12/21 Campus-wide Holiday Singalong 8:30-9:30; Holiday parties; 10:15-11:15; Early Release 11:45 am
12/22-1/7 Holiday Break for students & staff
1/08 - Staff returns to work - Teacher Work Day
1/09 - Students return to school
SPOTLIGHT ON LEARNING!
HUGE thanks to our team coaches, Joe Parthemore, Chelsea White, & Julee Vorachard for their tireless dedication, hard work, and love for this work and their teams this year! They have dedicated many hours after school and on Saturday mornings coaching & helping the teams to prepare. Cannon's 5th grade team, Mission Impossibots & the 4th grade team, Mission Impossibots 2.0, are ready to present their creative project ideas & compete with great technical skill and gracious professionalism on Saturday! Our staff & students will have the opportunity to get a sneak peek at their work at our Friday Assembly, before they head out to compete!!
Also, BIG thanks to Julie Brenegan, who has dedicated many hours to plan and coordinate the district's FLL event! Her amazing organizational skills will ensure that everything runs like clockwork! Events of this magnitude require a LOT of hard work behind the scenes, in order for them to be so successful!
Since the FLL competition is being held at HMS this year, we would love for any staff that has a few minutes on Saturday to stop by and check out this event. You will be amazed at the talent & skill of students who participate in robotics!
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.
REMINDERS & UPDATES
GRADES POSTING REMINDER .The posting window will close at 10:00 p.m. on Monday, 12/11. Progress Reports will post to Skyward Family Access on 12/13 at 3:00 p.m. Please be sure all grades are entered for this 6 weeks within grading period 10/23-12/8.
FINAL DATES FOR FUNDRAISER PRIZES The 77 students participating in the Limo & Pizza lunch will occur on 12/20. The Principal of the Day students will spend their day in this role on Friday, 12/15. PTA will contact teachers who earned the catered lunch directly to schedule this. Thanks to all for your help to promote & support this fundraiser for our PTA.
UPDATES FROM THE LEARNING COMMONS
Just a few reminders from our librarian, Kristi Wagner:
GCISD Reads- I will submit the district google form for students (and teachers) who have completed the reading challenge. Just send me their completed recording sheet and make sure their first and last name as well as your name is on it. I will mark that the form has been submitted on their complete recording sheet and send it back with a new recording sheet. If you have already submitted the google form for any students, please let me know as I am keeping a master list of all finishers. Thanks so much for supporting this program!
Library Calendar for Second Semester- I have decided to leave the library calendar completely open for you to sign up on days and times that work best for you. I still would like to stick with the 45 minute time for a lesson and check out and 30 minute time for check out only. I will plan and teach one lesson per month for each grade level and I'll send an email at the beginning of the month to let you know the topic so you can decide if it's something you want for your class. As always, please let me know if there are specific lessons or topics you need/want me to teach to your grade level. I've checked with district technology people and I have the calendar settings correct to allow you to do this. If it doesn't work for you, just email me and I'll schedule your time. Here's how you do it:
- Make sure you have the Cannon Library Calendar added to your calendar choices
- Temporarily uncheck your other calendars so you can see the Can Library Calendar more clearly
- Click on a time spot you want. That brings up a scheduling window.
- Make sure you have the Can Library Calendar selected in the drop down menu
- Title the appointment with your last name and then either Lesson and Check Out or just Check out
- adjust the time to select either 45 minutes or 30 minutes
As always, we will all have to be flexible when special situations arise the necessitate changes to the calendar. It is really important that our library space be flexible both how we use it and when we use it.
ENCOURAGE YOUR SCHOLARS TO TAKE THE DECEMBER KINDNESS CHALLENGE!
CELEBRATING ALL STUDENTS
Worth A Read...or a Listen!!
50 EDUCATORS TO FOLLOW ON PINTEREST...is a blogpost to check out! These great educators have some incredible boards created for endless resources and ideas!
GREAT BLOGPOST ON 14 AWESOME THINGS...teachers can say to create better learning in their classrooms! A perfect choice of words at the perfect time can create powerfully positive lessons and a lasting impression that one day changes a student’s life!
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!
ABOUT THIS BACKGROUND IMAGE
TO-DO LIST
- Set a timer and complete daily attendance ON TIME!
- Don't forget to show daily KCAN announcements every Monday-Thursday!! #KidsDeserveIt
- Check out this week's staff activities on the 2017 Staff Holiday Calendar-be ready for some fun & treats!!
- Finalize & post grades by 10:00 pm on 12/11.
- Make plans to attend the Cannon Choirs Holiday Concert at GHS on Monday @ 7:00!
- Encourage your scholars to participate in the December Kindness Challenges!
- Explore the links in Lisa's Coaching Corner for some Holiday Design Challenge Inspiration!
- Review Kristi's reminders in this newsletter for the 2nd semester.
- Stop by HMS on Saturday to enjoy the regional FLL competition & support our teams!
- 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, blog and other social media.