Kirk Elementary
September Tiger Tales
School Information
Email: Kirk@cfisd.net
Website: https://kirk.cfisd.net/en/
Location: 12421 Tanner Road, Houston, TX, USA
Phone: 713-849-8250
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KirkElementary/
Twitter: @KirkElementary
Title: Principal’s Corner
Dear Kirk Families,
Our summer fun has quickly turned into a sweet memory as we have moved into the 2019-2020 school year. Our Tigers wasted no time diving back into their collaborative discussions and learning. It has been so great to have all of our Tigers back on campus bringing it to life with the magic of curiosity, exploration, and learning.
This school year we are continuing our tradition of giving birthday books to all of our students during the week of their birthday. This is our Tiger Thursday tradition and we are so excited to be able to continue to have students come to the library to choose a new book. It's been so exciting to see the smiles on the students' faces and a joy for us to continue to spread the love of reading. We know that readers are leaders, and at Kirk Elementary we are learning today to lead tomorrow. Here are our Birthday Book recipients so far.
I want to personally thank all of you for working with us to ensure that Kirk remains a safe learning environment for our students and staff. Here’s how you can partner with us to keep our school safe:
Always bring a valid ID with you when visiting the campus. Please continue to be patient with the front office staff who may take a minute or two to buzz you in when you ring the bell.
When visiting for lunch, please remember to say your goodbyes when the teachers announce that it is Silent Chew. Students will return to sit with their classmates and you can return your badge to the front office and exit through the front doors. This will ensure that our hallways are clear for our teachers to monitor students as they transition back to class.
Be sure that your child has his/her ID every day as he/she is walking out the door. Knowing that we can account for each child daily will help us tremendously. ID badges are needed for breakfast and lunch, access to the bus, as well as for checking in/out books in the library and visiting the nurse.
If ever you are on campus when a crisis drill is conducted, please be sure to follow the requests of our staff members.
Lastly, I want to encourage each of you to support our PTO this year. Our PTO is such an important part of our crew. It doesn’t cost anything to join the PTO, so please consider joining to receive PTO updates and find out ways that you can support them as they support your children and our staff.
Dr. Jennifer Bell
Principal
Important Dates to remember.
- September 17
Title 1 Parent Meeting and Open House - Last Names A-L - 6:30 PM
- September 24
- October 1
- October 9
- October 10
- October 11
- October 22
- October 29
- October 30 & 31
Vision, Hearing, AN and Scoliosis Mass Screening
Birthdays for the week of Sept. 2-8
Birthdays for the week of Sept. 9-15
English (ESL) and GED Classes
(Must be 19 or older)
If you are interested in learning English or obtaining your GED, the Harris County Department of Education will be offering classes very close to Kirk Elementary beginning in October. See the table for location and times. To register, you should arrive at least one hour before 6:00, as classes are on a first-come, first-serve. The main entrance to the high school will be open. A form of identification showing your age is required, to verify that you are 19 years or older, and if you are registering for GED classes, you must show your Social Security card. There are other locations around Houston
Parent’s Corner
This year we have gone digital with our title 1 meeting. To learn more about Title 1 at Kirk Elementary, please watch this short video (https://youtu.be/F0bl34aCIrM). Turn on closed captioning for Spanish.
If you would like to give feedback on the parent involvement policy (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eDzNcyk8RJfelzcBISBV5ko3pmbtl5E3_A_twCWmpQ8/edit?usp=sharing) or the home-school agreement (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yTnPaVljfld3U98OtIsz5PtVbn5wokQfKN8UpQSQtYU/edit?usp=sharing) for Kirk, please view the documents here and send in any suggested revisions to Dr. Bell.
Notice to Parents
As a parent of a student at a campus receiving Title I funds, federal law allows you to ask for information about the certification, college major, and advanced degrees of your child’s teacher(s). You also have the right to request information about the qualifications of a teacher aide or paraprofessional providing direct services to your child. If you would like to receive this information, you may contact the Cypress-Fairbanks I.S.D. Human Resources Department at 281-897-4099.
2019-2020 Campus Performance Objective Council (CPOC)
Kirk is in need of 2 community members and 2 business representatives to serve as members of our CPOC committee. Neither of these require you to have a current Kirk student but live in our community. This committee meets to review campus data and help set goals for student growth. We meet from 7:30am - 8:30am at Kirk four times a year. If you are interested in serving in this capacity, please contact Katherine Isea at 713-849-8250.
2019 ‑ 2020 Superintendent’s Parent Leadership Committee (SPLC) Representative
If you would like to represent Kirk Elementary for the 2019-2020 Superintendent’s Parent Leadership Committee (SPLC), please contact Katherine Isea at 713-849-8250.
Parents will have the opportunity to meet with Dr. Henry and other CFISD administrators at the SPLC meetings to discuss districtwide issues and acquire useful district and community information. The committee will meet at the ISC Board Room at 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM, or at the Berry Center at 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM on October 23rd, January 14th and March 26th.
District Volunteer Opportunities
The district’s Community Engagement department offers several training opportunities for volunteers throughout the school year. For additional information about volunteering, please visit the district’s website at https://www.cfisd.net/en/community-involvement/community-engagement/volunteer/
School Messenger: Text Message Sign Up
The directions for adding text messages to your School Messenger account are in the link below. All parents need to update their School Messenger Information:
http://www.cfisd.net/en/parents-students/contacts-communications/schoolmessenger/
Library Corner
Library Books
All students have had an opportunity to check-out library books. They will be able to keep them for a week. Then they will return them and check out new once. Here are some tips below.
Tips for Taking Care Of Library Books
- Have students keep the library books in their backpack. They can take it out when they are reading them.
- Keep food and drinks away from library books! Sticky fingers and spills can make pages dirty and cause permanent damage.
- Use a bookmark to keep your place. Don't fold the corner to mark your place!
- Encourage your child to bring books back on time. It's fun to get new books!
Tips for Reading To Your Child
- Read books, newspapers, and magazines and share snippets of information which may appeal to your child.
- Make reading a natural part of the day's activities. If your child sees you reading, they will be encouraged to read as well.
- If your child likes an author, read several books by that author.
- Sit next to your child so you can share the illustrations in a picture book. Take time to enjoy the pictures.
CFISD Mobile Library
At the mobile library CFISD students can check out three books each, select two free books to keep and choose a snack and a bookmark. So, come visit the mobile library!!!!!
The Mobile Library will be at
Chimney Hill Community Center
13720 Smokey Trail
12:30 to 2:30 p.m.
September 28th
What’s happening in Large Group?
PE with Coach Mati
Let’s get moving and play lots of fun games that will keep us healthy, strong and fit!
Art with Ms. Eller Welcome back to all of Kirk’s artists. This month all grade levels will be creating magical creatures and fall paintings. We will be learning about the Principles and Elements of art. Superintendent Holiday Contest is also starting soon. It’s going to be a magical year.
Musical Magic with Ms. Craig
Primary Practices
Reading with your child everyday can help support language development, comprehension, word fluency, and many other skills. Please set aside time to read with your child and enjoy books.
Math Magic
Math Resources: Grades 2-5
Use the link below to find information and resources for home.
“How to” Videos for solving math problems
Daily Math to practice at home
Online games and resources
Magical Math: At Home
Splotlight- Card Games
http://mathengaged.org/resources/card-games/
Closest To
Practice Concept(s): Place Value
This game is a great opportunity for early math learners to practice comparing ones-place, tens-place, hundreds-place, and as high up as you’d like! Starting with two digit numbers, deal out two cards per player. Each player takes the cards in their hand and rearranges the digits to create a number that is closest to 50. The players show each other their hands and the player who is closest to 50 wins the set of all of the players’ cards. Deal another two cards to each player and keep going until the deck is exhausted. The player with the most number of sets at the end of the game wins.
Change it up:
Do it for three digit numbers: Deal out three cards to each player on each turn and players are trying to create numbers closest to 500.
Four digit numbers: Deal out for cards to each player and the target number is 5000.
Go as high as you can!
Change it up again:
Pick different target numbers rather than 50, 500, 5000, etc. Try unusual numbers, such as 92, or 348, or 6,381.
Science Scholars
Use the link below to find information and resources for home.
https://sites.google.com/a/cfisd.net/elementaryscience/home
Digital Library
Digital Experiments with Gizmo
National Geographic Resources
Science at Home
Making invisible ink is a lot of fun, you can pretend you are a secret agent as you keep all your secret codes and messages hidden from others. All you need is some basic householdobjects and the hidden power of lemon juice.
What you'll need:
Half a lemon
Water
Spoon
Bowl
Cotton bud
White paper
Lamp or other light bulb
Loving Literacy
Reading at home will make a HUGE difference in your child’s school success! Reading just 10 - 20 minutes every day can benefit your child. Here are a few suggestions of things you can do to help your child while they are reading:
Before reading, make predictions with your child. What is the story going to be about?
Talk about new words and their meanings.
Make connections to their life, other books, movies/tv. What does this remind you of (other books, something that happened to them, a place they went/a tv show)?
Talk, comment, and ask questions about the characters or setting as you read the book. How is the character feeling? How can you tell? Where is the story taking place?
Act out the story! Make different voices for each character. Use props and have fun.
Another way to engage your students in reading at home is by having them complete the Reading Bingo below
Tiger Technobytes
Students are so excited to begin using our devices in the classroom. Each student has their own logon for the chromebook. At Kirk we use a variety of programs to support student learning. Your child’s teacher will be letting your child know how to access those programs.
Family & Community Engagement
Calling all Dads!
October 27th @ 6:30 PM, Kirk Elementary will be hosting “Dinner with a Gentleman” night. This event will be an opportunity for dads and male figures to have dinner with their child(ren) and hear about the WatchDog Dad program. You will learn about the activities you can participate in with your child in their classroom as well as how you can support other students here at Kirk Elementary. We will have a giant calendar here for you to sign up for one day (or multiple days) to come in to volunteer and you can also order your WatchDog Dad T-shirt. Look for a colored flyer to come home to reserve you and your child(ren)’s spot for this FUN night!
Thank you,
WatchDog Dad Coordinator
Sandra Garza
Nurse’s Corner
A hearty welcome back to school for all of our Kirk Mighty Tigers. This year we will be a magically healthy year. Throughout this semester, we will be conducting State mandated screening for Vision, Hearing, AN and Scoliosis.
Nurse Scanterbury
Counselor Corner
Monthly Character Trait: Trust - Putting your confidence in someone you can depend on.
Below are a few things you can talk to your child about regarding trust.
Know It :
Who are some people that you trust? Think of people at home, school, church, or on your sports team that you can always depend on.
Think about yourself. Are you able to be depended upon? Do people trust you!
Ask a grown up:
Who were some people when you were growing up that you trusted? Who are the people you trust as an adult? Are some people on both lists?
What are some things that you can do to show people you are dependable?
See it:
When we get sick or have an illness we make a trip to the doctor’s office or sometimes the hospital. Each time we visit these medical offices we are putting our trust in the doctors and nurses that take care of us. We believe that we can depend on them to identify the problem and make decisions that will help us get better. Can you think of other people in our lives that we put our confidence in because we know we can depend on them?
Be it:
You can be trusted when you are asked to take on a responsibility at home, school, church, etc., and you follow through and carry out the task to the best of your ability.
Additionally, you can be trusted when you are on time, organized, and consistent. When you do these things, people will put their trust in you because they have confidence that you can be depended upon.
Ms. Campbell
Volunteers
Please consider becoming a volunteer at Kirk Elementary this school year. There are so many things you can do at Kirk! In order to volunteer, you must register with the school district at this site: Cypress-Fairbanks Volunteers. Once there, scroll down to the Volunteer Portal Account and follow the simple steps. Please Contact Ms. Garza at 713-849-8250 or sandra.garza2@cfisd.net
PTO Corner
Sign up to volunteer at bit.ly/KIRKPTO