CANNON TIMES
A Newsletter For Cannon Staff 2018-2019
Principal Points - Week of September 10, 2018
Hello Cannon Staff!
I wanted to take this opportunity to update you on a couple of topics. Please take a moment to read over the two following updates.
- GCISD LEAD 2.0 - Recently Dr. Ryan sent out communication to all staff about LEAD 2.0. In April, a committee of more than 100 students, parents, staff and community members met to review the work accomplished in LEAD 2021 and initiated the process to advance the strategic plan into the next phase known as LEAD 2.0. Last week, there were Parent and Staff Focus Meetings held on campuses to gather input about a variety of topics related to progress made during LEAD 2021 and ideas for LEAD 2.0. Unfortunately, the staff meeting for Cannon staff was held at Dove and didn't begin until 4:30 pm, which made it very difficult for staff to attend. Dr. Ryan has specifically asked for all of our staff to voice their input face-to-face or through the online survey. Your voice is very important to this process!! If you were not able to attend the face-to-face session, please watch the “GCISD Defining Moments” video and then complete this online survey this week. Thank you in advance for your willingness to help Dr. Ryan and GCISD in this process!
- CONSTRUCTION UPDATE - It's hard to believe, but we are only a few short weeks away from moving into our new school!! I wanted to make sure that all staff is updated on information as I learn more details, as there will be a LOT of important information shared during the next weeks. I will be attending quite a few logistical meetings during the next few weeks and I will include a Construction Update in each staff newsletter over the next several weeks, beginning with this issue, so PLEASE take a few minutes to review the information shared in this section each week. It is critical that all staff is aware of plans, as we move forward during this VERY exciting time for our school community!!
Thanks to all staff for your great work to provide informative Curriculum Night presentations for our families last week! The weather impacted attendance a bit, but thanks to Julee V., all grade level presentations are now available on your websites, so please make sure parents are aware that they can find this information there!
Have a GREAT week!!
Proud to be your principal,
Tona :)
#BeCannonProud
To: JOE PARTHEMORE
From: YOUR BIGGEST FANS
Be sure to send your positive thoughts and best wishes to Joe this week!! We are SO proud to have him representing Cannon, GCISD, and Region XI! # BeCannonProud #WhenOurTeachersShineOurWholeSchoolShines
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Lisa's Coaching Corner
Home-School Relationship
Relationship building with students is key to having a successful year as a teacher. This past Thursday many brave parents battled the parking issues along with the rain to attend curriculum night to get to know you. Yes, they were there to learn all about the classroom but connecting with you is their number one priority.
Make it a priority to create an EPIC moment for each student to have a special email, phone call or an old fashioned teacher note just to let the parent know how special their child is, a great quality they bring to the class or share a "proud" moment with them. Unfortunately, often parents only hear from teachers when there are problems. But investing some time and effort at the beginning of the year with your parents will provide numerous benefits for everyone.
"A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests." How will you cultivate this partnership?
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DATES TO REMEMBER
9/10 Goal-setting conferences- Day #2
9/10 Fire Drill 2:00 pm
9/10 U.CAN 3:00-3:45 library - LTRS Training - see info in this newsletter!
9/11 PLC Week A -3rd Grade 2:15-3:45
9/11 Title I Parent Information Meeting 5:30-6:00 library
9/12 PLC Week A - 4th Grade 2:15-3:45
9/13 PLC Week A - 5th Grade 2:15 - 3:45
9/14 Operation Lifesaver Assembly- 3rd - 5th 9:15-9:45; K-2 2:00-2:30 pm- see info below
9/14 Texas State Teacher of the Year Announcement - GOOD LUCK JOE!!
9/17 Cannon Accommodations Training - grade levels meet during conference periods - see information in this newsletter!
9/18 PLC Week B -Kindergarten 2:15-3:45
9/18 WatchDOGS Kickoff & Family Involvement Fair - 6:00 pm - cafeteria
9/19 PLC Week B - 1st grade 2:15-3:45
9/20 PLC Week B - 2nd grade 2:15-3:45
9/21 Flu Shot Clinic @ Cannon 7:00-9:00 am
9/21 Summer Reading Achievement Parties - Kristi will notify participants/teachers w/ details
9/21 Achievement Meetings - 1st & 5th grades
9/24 Staff Pancake Breakfast - teacher's lounge 7:00-7:40 am
9/24 Achievement Meetings - 2nd & 4th grades
9/25 PLC Week A - 3rd Grade 2:15-3:45
9/25 Cub's Night Out @ California Pizza Kitchen
9/26 Vision & Hearing Screenings @ Cannon
9/26 PLC Week A - 4th Grade 2:15-3:45
9/27 Picture Day @ Cannon
9/27 PLC Week A - 5th Grade 2:15-3:45
9/27 Cubs Night Out @ Cici's Pizza
9/28 Achievement Meetings - Kinder & 3rd grade
9/28 Food Truck Friday - Chez Flo Truck will be @ Cannon from 10:30-1:30
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CONSTRUCTION UPDATES
- SCHOOL NAME Did you know that we are going to be making a slight change in our school name at our new school? In 1959, when Cannon was constructed, our school was actually named W.F. Cannon Elementary. Over the years, somehow the name was shortened to simply Cannon Elementary. Then in 2012, it was expanded to include A GCISD STEM School as part of the name. To honor the past and the present, our future school will be named: W.F. Cannon Elementary: A GCISD STEM School
- PARENT COMMUNICATION There will be information shared with all Cannon families in this week's newsletter about the plans to move over the 4-day weekend in October 5th-8th, and that students will report to the new school on Tuesday, October 9th. Additional verbiage will be included that there will be changes to the traffic patterns & bus lanes, etc... and that this information will be communicated at a later date, after plans are finalized.
- MOVING PLANS FOR STAFF Friday, October 5th is a student holiday and Professional Learning Day in GCISD. Make plans to be involved in moving activities during this day. GCISD staff across the district have made plans to help move us throughout the weekend and on the student holiday (Columbus Day) in order to ensure that we are ready to receive students on Tuesday, October 9th. We hope that our Cannon staff will be available and willing to participate in moving activities as much as possible throughout that weekend & holiday. The decision has been made to NOT include Cannon parents & families in these moving activities, so please do not solicit help from our Cannon parents.
- DEMOLITION SCHEDULE The demolition process is scheduled to begin the week of October 14th. During the one week after our move-out, district facilities staff will be on site removing furniture, hardware, and other items that can be salvaged and recycled for use within the district. This process will be a "phased demolition", meaning that it will not be done in one single process, It will be demolished in sections, to allow construction staff to begin working quickly on areas that will transition to parking, etc..
- STAFF PARKING Once the demolition process begins, our staff will be asked to park off-site. All staff will park in the lot located off of Ball Street, near the First United Methodist Church & GV Botanical Gardens. We understand that this presents a considerable hardship for staff, so plans have been made to provide assistance as much as possible. GCSID Transportation services will provide a shuttle for Cannon staff daily each morning and each afternoon. Morning shuttle times are scheduled for 6:50 am, 7:00 am, 7:10 am, and 7:22 am, to ensure that all staff is on site by contract time at 7:30 am. After school, the shuttle will run beginning at 3:25 pm, and will continue each ten minutes until 4:30 pm. We will be evaluating patterns of use during the initial weeks and some adjustments may be made accordingly. We will also have a district-issued Suburban on site at all times, so that several staff members, who are district-approved drivers, can run staff to and from their cars, in the event of emergency. The Grapevine Police Department has been notified about this change and they have agreed to regularly patrol this area, both during times staff is arriving/leaving, but also during the day, while staff vehicles are parked off-site.
- PARENT & VISITOR PARKING Details are still being developed about parking options for parents & visitors and these will be communicated soon.
- ARRIVAL/DISMISSAL & BUS LANES will change and will likely present a significant challenge for our families, as we adjust. Until the demolition is complete and the finish-out is done on all remaining construction (parking lots; landscaping; entrance walkways; amphitheater, etc...) there will be temporary plans for how students arrive/dismiss from school. A map will be provided to all staff and families soon that shows how Pebblebrook Drive (west side of school) will become the new drop-off/pick-up area, with an entrance into the school from the west side (not the main entrance). Buses will have a temporary bus lane on the east side of the building, approaching from Drexel Drive. The buses will unload and pick up students at the entrance of the new school that is by the stage area in the cafeteria. More information coming soon!
- NEXT STEPS During the week of 9/24, there will be significant activity involving 18-wheeler trucks, as they begin to bring furnishings to the new school. Each day, there will be large trucks arriving at 7:00, 9:00, and 11:00 am to deliver furniture & equipment. All furniture will be staged in the cafeteria/gym area of the school until assembled and then it will be delivered to the correct section of the school. Also during this week, there will be moving trucks on hand throughout the day, as they bring all of our boxes from storage and deliver them to the appropriate section of the school.
There will be a LOT of activity during the next several weeks, as construction crews frantically work to finish out the interior of the school and prepare for our October move-in date. Please stay tuned!! Ask any questions you have - we want to make this as smooth as possible and your questions will help us ensure that we have considered every detail! Submit your questions here!!
We are SO incredibly fortunate to be part of such an exciting time in history for both Cannon and GCISD! #BeCannonProud
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REMINDERS & UPDATES
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10th - FIRST U.CAN MEETING We will be utilizing our first U.CAN meeting date for staff to meet for some required trainings/updates. Lexi Rix & Valerie Balbaugh will be leading the required LTRS training to all K-2 teachers & all 3-5 teachers who teach Humanities. Our 3-5 staff who only teach math/science will participate in a brief update about science curriculum/materials/labs in the new building. Please meet in the library at 3:00 for these trainings. Thanks!
SPECIAL SERVICES: CAMPUS TRAINING ON 9/17 In line with the Superintendent’s Goals for 2018-19, the district has some focused efforts to support the implementation of 504 and Special Ed accommodations for students. The Special Services Case Managers will be meeting with EVERY teacher (including Specials teachers), special ed paras, at Cannon on 9/17, during conference times, as a team. These meetings will be held in the conference room. ALL staff members need to bring their accommodations folders/documentations (504 & Special Ed. students) with them and to be prepared to ask specific questions about accommodations or documentation of providing accommodations. If you have any questions about this process or your accommodations information, please ask Anne!
UPDATE GCISD POLICY ON ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION Gema Padgett, Executive Director of HR has asked that all staff review the attached NEW administrative regulation related to electronic communication with students. It has recently been amended to include SeeSaw as an acceptable form of electronic communication as well.
GCISD EXPECTATIONS FOR SUBSTITUTE PLANNING A district wide checklist has been created for teachers to use as they create sub folders. With this general expectation, the hope is that GCISD subs would receive the same type of information from all of our campuses. The GCISD Substitute checklist can be found here and is an excellent tool to use as you prepare in advance for a sub. Also provided by the district is a Substitute Lesson Plan for teachers to use to teach appropriate behavior and discuss expectations when having a sub.
CIRCLE UP! Be sure to take a few moments to check out the resources provided by Mandy to make daily Circle Up time as impactful as possible in your classroom! Click here for Circle Up management tips & topic ideas for every day of the week!
FLEX TRAINING MUST BE COMPLETED BY OCTOBER 5th Click here to access the new GCISD FLEX for 2018-2019. Teachers must complete the Flex requirements off contract time by October 5, 2018. All other staff may use contract time to complete the modules. Use the pull-down Search By Job menu on the top right of the page to select your job/role, to ensure you are completing the correct FLEX courses.
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SEPTEMBER BOOK OF THE MONTH INFORMATION
Mrs. Wagner put one copy of Keith Haring: The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing in one teacher's box for each grade level. Please pass it around to every teacher on the grade level so they can read it to their class. All classes should have had the chance to read the story to their students by now. If not, please do so this week!
This is our first book of the month but it is also how we are celebrating Dot Day this year. Dot Day is officially September 15 but we'll celebrate and draw (pun intended) attention to it all month long. Dot Day began with the book The Dot by Peter Reynolds.
Show your class this reading of the story The Dot . This video is less than 4 minutes long. The story is about a little girl who finds the courage to express herself with the help of a caring teacher. Dot Day is an international celebration of making positive marks on the world. Please spend a few minutes connecting our September book to Dot Day in whatever ways work best for you and your class.
- Deborah is teaching Keith Haring's style of art in her room this month where the kids will work on a special project.
- We will have Dot Day themed activities in the Makerspace. I will pass out Makerspace passes to 2nd -5th grade teachers. Kinder and 1st grade students have not been "trained" on Makerspace procedures so we will have to work out other ways for them to visit the space. Remember 2-5 teachers that you can send 2 kids at a time with the pass to independently use the Makerspace.
- Mandy will make Dot Day: Making Your Mark connections during her guidance lessons this month.
A Book of the Month/Dot Day video was on KCAN, but if you would like to show it to your kids again, here it is: Dot Day @ Cannon 2018
TECH TALK FROM JULEE!
Tech Talks - We will be kicking off Tech Talks this year with some very special guests from SMU on September 14th! They will be visiting with every grade level to dig into the "why" behind makerspaces in education. This will also give us a great opportunity to jumpstart our visioning conversations for our new makerspace. You won't want to miss this one! On September 28th we will welcome Kerissa Bearce to our Tech Talk. She will be sharing her quarterly InTech update with us. This is another one you won't want to miss!
ACTION NEEDED: Important Update from GCISD Technology
K-4 Students iPads
We have a new program on the k-4 students iPads that is called CatchOn. This program will allow us to track overall app usage as well as what sites or online applications students use the most. This tool will help us evaluate total app usage as well as information on programs we purchase to determine continued usage.
For it to start working on the student's device, there is a one time step that should not take very long to accomplish.
If we could please have the students:
- Click on the CatchOn App - Its a square that has for red, orange, blue and gree color circles inside it.
- Sign in with their district email and password
- Hit enter, and that is it
The app will then open up to Google, and the app will just run in the background as needed. This process will not have to occur again; this is only a one-time event. Please let me know if there are any questions or concerns.
Technology Help Desk Reminders Please remember to enter Help Desk Tickets when in need of technical assistance. By putting in tickets, it immediately gets to the appropriate staff member and also allows for other team members to possible see the ticket and assist quickly. By emailing or calling your campus technician, you are limiting the technology departments ability to resolve your issues quickly. You can find the help desk at https://help.gcisd.net , in ClassLink as an icon, or as an icon on your desktop.
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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!
Math Training Available Through Region 11
GCISD's new Instructional Solutions and Support contract with Region 11 makes training we have often had to pay for available free of charge! The math department is willing to provide funding for subs for any teachers who attend. PLEASE NOTIFY JENNIFER HYLEMON IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN ATTENDING TO RECEIVE A SUB CODE. Here are the trainings that are available in September for elementary mathematics with links to register through Region 11:
- Implementing Effective Mathematics Teaching Practices: Emphasis on Problem Solving for Grades 3-5
This course is a blended learning opportunity in which participants will: complete two short introductory modules in Canvas, meet for one face-to-face session where they will experience explicit opportunities to practice specific strategies for success in the classroom, and complete a final module that includes implementing strategies in their classroom and completing online discussions and reflections. The learner will engage in collaborative critical thinking and problem-solving in order to design a task that builds on students' prior knowledge, targets possible student misconceptions, and incorporates questioning techniques that provoke thought and discussion. This session is designed to highlight pedagogies that align the T-TESS Rubric in the areas of Knowledge of Students 1.3, Activities 1.4, and Communication 2.
6 Hour CPE Session at ESC 11 Wednesday, September 19, 2018 Register here
Last day to complete online portion: Wednesday, October 17, 2018
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Worth A Read, Watch or...Listen!!
DID YOU KNOW YOU COULD DO THIS WITH NEARPOD? This post on GCISD's Lead With Technology blog provides some great tips on features available in Nearpod that you may not be aware of! Be sure to follow the GCISD Technology blog for great ideas about ways tech is being used throughout the district!
HOW DO YOU GAIN AN EXTRA 45 HOURS OF INSTRUCTIONAL TIME PER YEAR? Are you thinking this is NOT possible to achieve? Think again! This article has some simple ideas about how to improve transitions during the day that can result in capturing back some serious instructional time!! AWESOME read!
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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!
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TO-DO LIST
- Set a timer and complete daily attendance ON TIME every day!
- Prepare for Day #2 goal-setting conferences!
- Review information about Dr. Ryan's LEAD 2.0 message, watch the Defining Moments video & provide staff input - Dr. Ryan is encouraging all staff to participate!
- Send or share a good luck email, tweet, call, hug, high five, fist bump or WHATEVER with Joe this week to let him know how proud we are to have him represent Cannon!
- Attend staff U.CAN meeting after school on Monday, 9/10 @ 3:00 pm
- Review all information in the Construction Update section. Submit questions & suggestions - we need your good thinking! :)
- Make note of the information in Julee's Tech section about the district expectation for Catch-on. Please follow the steps outlined by Julee to complete this requirement.
- Share September Book of the Month & Dot Day @ Cannon video with your students!
- Check newsletter for your grade level's Operation Lifesaver assembly time on Friday.
- Plan to stop by the Back 2 School Family Picnic @ Dove Park on Friday night for a short time if possible! Your students & parents will LOVE seeing you at this event!
- 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!
- Update teacher website & get blog and other social media started. Not sure where to start? Ask Julee for help with this!