Deretchin Digest
April 2024 Edition
A Note From Mrs. Oliver
Sincerely,
Tina Oliver
Upcoming on the Deretchin Calendar
April 1- Holiday- No School
April 3- 3rd and 4th Math CFA #3, Character Club, 3:30 in cafeteria
April 4- 1st Grade Program, 6:00
April 8- Solar Eclipse Day
April 8-May 10- Kinder EOY Literacy Assessments Window
April 9- 5th Grade Reading Language Arts STAAR
April 10- GT Expo in library, 8:30
April 11- Hispanic Achievement Ceremony, 6:00 at Jett
April 15-May 17- K-6th EOY Math Assessments/Universal Screener Window, 1st-6th EOY Literacy Assessments Window
Counselor's Corner
GT Testing Opportunity
The CISD GT Department is offering another testing session for students who are interested in testing for the Gifted and Talented program. Parent referrals for testing will be accepted from April 1-28 only. If a student took any GT test this school year, he/she is not eligible to participate in this round of testing.
Summer Testing for Kindergarten thru 6th will take place at Deretchin May 8-10, 2024. Please contact Jenna Hendon by email at jhendon@conroeisd.net to get the forms needed to register for this testing session and with any questions you may have regarding Summer GT Testing.
2024-2025 School Year
This is the time of year that we start planning for next year. Please provide us with any information that would be helpful when placing your child in class for the 2024-2025 school year. We do not take specific teacher requests, but we welcome any other input you may have. Please email your child's current grade level counselor by May 3, 2024. Be sure to include your child's first and last name, current grade level, and homeroom teacher.
Darcy Kieke (PK-1) dkieke@conroeisd.net
Jenna Hendon (2-4) jhendon@conroeisd.net
Mary Ann Correa (5-6) macorrea@conroeisd.net
Registration Information
Registration for 2024-2025 school year:
Current Students - In July, parents will receive an email for each student with a "snapcode" to access the Online Emergency Card. This will be your "registration" for the 2024-2025 school year. If you have moved within the school zone, make sure to send your campus Registrar an updated utility bill (light, gas, or water).
Prek Students Zoned to Galatas, Tough, Powell, Buckalew, Bush, Glen Loch, or Ongoing 7th graders - Your students will automatically filter in the system to their main campus. You will receive an email in July with a "snapcode" for your Online Emergency Card. There is no reason to reenroll; however, you may need to update your student's vaccine records with the Deretchin Nurse before May 17th. After May 17th, please contact your main campus school nurse.
Families moving over the Summer:
Summer Movers - If your family is moving over the summer, please contact Cory Ognisty at cognisty@conroeisd.net to receive Summer Mover forms. The email must provide the student's first and last name and where the student will be moving to. All forms must be submitted by May 17. Forms submitted after May 17 will be processed in August therefore your student will still be in our system until we return from summer break. Record requests will be available in August.
6th Grade Students - If your student is not attending or is anticipating not to attend at McCullough Jr High for the 2024-2025 school year, parents will need to fill out Summer Mover Form and return to Deretchin by May 17. Your child's records will be kept at Deretchin. Forms submitted after May 17 - student records will be sent to McCullough and will be processed in August; therefore, your student will still be in our system until we return from summer break. Record requests will be available until late August.
PreK Students Zoned to Galatas, Tough, Powell, Buckalew, or Bush, or Glen Loch - If your student is not attending or is anticipating not attend your main campus for the 2024-2025 school year, parents will need to fill out the Summer Mover Form and return to Deretchin by May 17. Your child's records will be kept at Deretchin. Forms submitted after May 17 - student records will be sent to their main campus and will be processed in August; therefore, your student will still be in our system until we return from summer break. Record requests will be available until late August.
Transportation Change Information
Reminder regarding transportation changes:
You may write a handwritten note describing how your child is going home for the day. This handwritten note should be placed inside the daily folder or backpack to be given to the homeroom teacher.
Email: (Before 2:00 pm)
Contactderetchin@conroeisd.net
Please attach a picture of your identification, full name of the student, transportation type and full name of who is sending the email.
Fax: (Before 2:00)
Please fax the front office at (832) 592-8780. The fax needs to include a picture of your identification.
Front Office: (Before 2:00 pm)
You may come into the front office and fill out a transportation change form. Please bring the physical identification for verification.
Now Hiring Crossing Guards
PPCD News
Spring is here! Students in ECSE continue to work hard and make progress! Teachers are very proud of their successes!
Ms. Heide's class will be doing units on Community Helpers, Weather and Earth Day during the month of April. Fun activities will include dressing up as various community helpers, making weather-related crafts, planting a seed and watching it grow (hopefully) and reading books about how even young children can help take care of our planet.
During the month of April, Ms. Almquist's and Mrs. Palm's classes will be learning about bugs/insects. They will be reading the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar and practice re-telling the story. They will also talk about Earth Day and what we do here at school to help by recycling. Finally, they will talk about the farm and all the animals that live on a farm. Just a few reminders as we enter into these final months of school. Please remember to provide your student with a snack in their backpack and a water bottle filled with water. Please also make sure that they have a change of clothes and the necessary underwear or pull-ups daily. Thank you so much!
Pre-K News
Kindergarten News
Happy April!
We are getting so excited about wrapping up the school year! In Math we will be continue joining and separating, and begin an introduction to measurement. In Reading and Writing, we will focus on Poetry and Nursey Rhymes. In Science we will learn about plants and animals. We will celebrate Earth Day with some fun activities! 🙂 In Social Studies, we will continue our study of economics, learn about income, and culture traditions/celebrations.
We will also be sending home a calendar to kick off our Kindergarten A-Z Countdown so be on the lookout for some fun activities to help make the end of this school year amazing for our Kinder students!
First Grade News
We are so excited to begin the last nine weeks with our amazing first graders. We are proud of the accomplishments of each child and the effort put in by each student and family to support our school learning. Students will work on delving deeper into a study of characters in fiction stories. Our writers will be able to transfer this new learning to create their own realistic fictional stories and use their creativity to keep the reader engaged. Our mathematicians will review and build upon the skill of place value. Students need to be able to identify and model numbers to 120 in pictorial, written, and expanded form. Students will solidify their understanding of the difference between place value and value as well. We will also revisit addition and subtraction story problems. You may support this skill by encouraging your mathematician to create and solve his or her own story problems. Students will strengthen their reading skills by learning about government leaders, the difference between needs and wants, and they will learn how goods and services help our daily lives. Our month would not be complete without learning all about various animal life cycles including fish, frog, and chicken. Our scientists will become experts on these animals.
Please continue to encourage your child to read each night and allow time for your child to retell the events or recall the facts out loud to you. Students are assessed on their comprehension levels by the ability to speak about the text, make connections, and infer from the reading. Thank you for helping to raise a strong reader. Please also save time at home to practice math fact recall with automaticity. All your assistance at home helps to build a solid foundation in school. We thank you for your assistance.
Second Grade News
This month we will be starting book clubs at reading time. Students will discuss the books they are reading, discussing character traits and their motives, the authors' use of words, and how problems are solved. Writers will continue with their opinion writing by writing book reviews and recommending books to others. We will also write to a favorite author. Please continue to listen to your child read for at least 20 minutes a day. Readers make leaders!
In math, students will review fractions of shapes, and practice triple digit addition and subtraction strategies. We will focus on word problems similar to those students are completing for homework each week.
Our economics unit starts after our long weekend. We are excited to send home information about our economics fair on May 3. This will bring in all aspects of economics we will be teaching this month. In science students will learn about animal dependency and environmental factors this month.
Third Grade News
Math - April will find us doing more measurement to include liquid volume (capacity), weight, time and money. We will be doing our STAAR REview with several fun games and activities. This will be followed with some personal financial literacy which goes right along with the economics unit we’ve been doing in Social Studies.
In Science we are so excited to be learning about life cycles this month! Hopefully we can get some tadpoles to watch the lifecycle of the frog! In addition we’ll see what a tomato plant life cycle looks like.
In Social Studies we will be learning about some modern entrepreneurs like Bill Gates and Sam Walton. We will follow those lessons with some famous writers and artists like Tomie dePaola and Kadir Nelson.
In Language Arts: In the month of April, we are going to continue the test prep unit for both reading and writing. The purpose of test prep is to prepare our third graders for their STAAR test. This includes completing passages, playing review games, studying vocabulary, adventuring through escape rooms, and studying task cards. For grammar, we will be reviewing all grammar rules that we have learned throughout the year. This year, our students have been wonderful readers and writers. We are so proud of them and their successes!
Fourth Grade News
Math:
Our 4th graders are rocking and rolling in math! We will start April by finishing up our unit on fractions! We will then begin our cumulative review of all of our units. This will include a lot of fun, hands-on activities that the students will love! Our math STAAR will be on April 23!!
Science:
The month of April begins with us continuing to learn about food chains and food webs. We will then learn about inherited traits and learned behaviors. This is the last piece of our unit before we start discussing and learning about ecosystems. It will be a fun month of science learning where students can make a lot of connections to the learning!
Social Studies:
In social studies, we will begin talking about the Reconstruction Era and how it relates to Texas. We will then begin talking about the six flags that have flown over Texas and we will create a pop-up book about these flags. We will end the month discussing the Indian Wars and Cowboy culture.
Reading:
In the month of April we will continue our cumulative review of the concepts we’ve covered this year. We will review each genre and how to glean information from that genre. We will also review the vocabulary that pertains to each genre.
Please have your children continue reading various types of genres as we work through this new unit.
At the end of April we will begin our biography unit which is always a favorite of our 4th graders!
Writing:
In Writing we will review the grammar concepts we’ve covered, how to write a well constructed response, and how to recognize and improve a sentence, paragraph or multiple paragraph piece.
There will be fun incentives and lots of peer interaction to motivate us through this journey!! We’re so excited!
FIFTH GRADE NEWS
Math
We have our Math STAAR on April 23rd. We will be doing different review activities, including Jeopardy, lockboxes, and a glow day, to help students prepare for their STAAR test Students will also continue to work on their STAAR review homework each week, where they are earning incentives such as extra recess, popsicles, and movie day!
Language Arts
Language Arts will have the Reading STAAR April 9th.We are so proud of all their hard work! After the STAAR Prep Unit, we will begin the Historical Fiction and Research Units.They will be combining the skills they have learned from previous fiction and nonfiction units.
Science and Social Studies
We have officially started our Science STAAR Review! From now until STAAR we will be focusing on one unit of study per week in class. In addition students will have a weekly homework packet that will be given on Monday and due Friday (Thursday if there is no school on Friday). Students will be taking the Science STAAR on April 16.
SIXTH GRADE NEWS
We are now gearing up for the STAAR assessments which will take place on April 16th (ELA) and April 23 (Math).. Please help your child to get a good night sleep and to eat a healthy breakfast on those mornings. We also have a field trip to Minute Maid Park that is scheduled for May 10th.. We went on this excursion last year and it was so much fun that we decided to do it again this year. Be on the lookout for details to come home regarding this.
In language arts, we have been working very hard to review everything that we learned all year long in preparation for the STAAR test. The students are doing STAAR-like passages with the new question types, task card rotations, and a variety of other practice activities. We think that the students are ready to demonstrate all of their knowledge on the upcoming STAAR.
In Science, we are currently working on the Solar System, but will be moving into cells and their functions soon. We will then be learning about domains and kingdoms. In Social Studies we are learning about Sub-Saharan Africa. Our next unit is over Australia, the Pacific Realm, and Antarctica. We are excited to learn about the Land Down Under!
In math, we are learning about triangle properties and data. After this, we will move into personal financial literacy. We will also begin our STAAR prep unit. During this time, we will revisit the topics we have covered in math class throughout the year and give the students a short refresher. We will also discuss some test-taking strategies with the students.
Art News
Our Art classes have been focusing on creating Pop Art and Op Art! Pop art stands for Popular Art and it uses bright bold colors. Op Art means Optical Art which uses lines, shapes, and colors to trick your mind into seeing something different.
It has been great to see students take on projects that are able to give them a challenge and watching them succeed!
Music News
We have so many great things happening in the Music Department in this new semester!
In elementary music, kindergarteners are having fun with adding new songs and games to reinforce steady beat and note reading skills. Kindergarten is also working hard on learning songs for their Kindergarten Graduation in May. 1st graders are excited to perform their musical “Nuts!”, which will be performed on April 4, 2024, at 6:00pm. 3rd and 4th grade students continue to work on reading note names and how to count rhythms on numbered beats. They are also working on sight singing and learning to recognize notes on the piano. 4th graders are also learning about musical instruments of the band and orchestra in order to prepare them for choosing a fine art elective for 5th grade and possibly selecting an instrument on April 27th. If you are interested in Band or Orchestra class in 5th grade, please be on the lookout for all information sent out about the instrument selection day on April 27th.
Happy April!! Next, we have a Solo and Ensemble contest on April 6th! All 6th Grade Band students are required to learn a solo and ensembles are optional. All 5th and 6th grade students who do not participate in the Solo & Ensemble Contest will perform during class. Both groups have also started working on the Spring Concert Music.
In orchestra we are hard at work on solos and ensembles. All 6th graders are required to learn a solo for class, and will have the option to perform that solo for a judge at the Solo Contest on Saturday, April 6, 2024 at Mitchell Intermediate.
Intermediate General Music has had a great time working on their recorder, ukulele, piano and vocal skills and diving deeper into rhythms. They are beginning to combine some of these skills to play as ensembles in class.
Happy Spring! Both the 3rd/4th Grade and Intermediate choirs are working on music for their spring concert and festivals. Please be on the lookout for information about festival field trips for choir.
Melody Childs-Music/Choir
Michelle Gastler-Music/Band
Andrew Wilson-Music/Band
Alex Marte-Music/Orchestra
PE News
April 2024
It is so hard to believe that April is already here and we only have 2 months left until Summer! March was a very busy month for us as we have worked on basketball, FitnessGram, and Field Day! In April will be continuing our basketball unit, finishing up our FitnessGram testing, and our 5th and 6th graders will start preparing for the Kickball Tournament. Please remember that safe, comfortable tennis shoes are very important for your child to wear on the day that they attend P.E. class. Flip flops, sandals, Crocs, boots, shoes with high heels, and slippers are not safe shoes on P.E. days. Please make sure students come prepared with appropriate footwear so they can participate and have a great time! Keeping your student safe is our top priority!
Library News
Greetings,
The 4th quarter is here! First off, thank you so much for all your support with our Spring Scholastic Book Fair. I know your children have brought home some great books to read. I especially want to thank all of you who helped out with volunteering at the book fair. I couldn’t have done it without you. Speaking of volunteers, I’m still looking for awesome volunteers to help with library tasks for these last couple months of the school year. If you’re interested in volunteering, please sign up on the Sign-up Genius: http://tiny.conroeisd.net/iP889. The last library check out day is Friday May 3rd and the due date for all library books is Friday, May 10th. Please look out for a Sign-up Genius in May to help with end of the year library tasks.
If you have any questions feel free to email me at CMattern@conroeisd.net or call me at 832-592-8700.
Happy Reading,
Cristofer Mattern
Library Media Specialist
RHYTHM-N-BLUE SHOW CHOIR
A summer tradition for 19 years!
Believe it or not, summer will be here before we know it! Now is the time to get your student ready to attend Camp Singalier, CISD's very own summer music camp, close by at The Woodlands College Park High School. This camp has been approved by Conroe ISD, so you know it is the very best in a fun and educational camp for your child! Please view pictures of the showchoir and Camp Singalier at our website: http://cavalierchoir.com/
Sponsored by the acclaimed Rhythm-n-Blue of the College Park Choir Department, Camp Singalier is designed for grades K – 8. Using a variety of exciting activities, your child will learn to sing, dance, and perform songs. As parents, you are invited to see the results of the week's accomplishments with a spectacular performance of entertainment featuring all the camp participants in the College Park High School Auditorium, complete with professional stage lighting and sound!
Rhythm-n-Blue members will lead and assist in all the awesome activities of Camp Singalier. The Rhythm-n-Blue show choir is a very select group of 11th and 12th grade students who are outstanding performers in singing and dancing. Rhythm-n-Blue performs at many civic and school events, and their repertoire spans the best of Broadway and popular hits as showcased in their concerts featured exclusively at College Park to their award-winning performances at state choral competitions such as the Madrigal Festival in Dallas and San Antonio.
Please support this Conroe ISD camp, which is our ONLY fundraiser to purchase costumes and music for Rhythm-n-Blue. By attending our camp, you help us fund this valuable program as we continue to promote music and the arts, not only in Conroe ISD schools, but also in our outreach to the community.
Thanks again for attending our camp. Look forward to FUN!!!!!
Erin Bodhaine
Director, Choir Department
College Park High School ebodhaine@conroeisd.net
936-709-3125
Information
Email: toliver@conroeisd.net
Website: https://deretchin.conroeisd.net/
Location: 11000 Merit Oaks Drive, The Woodlands, TX, USA
Phone: 832-592-8700
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeretchinCISD/
Twitter: @Deretchindragons
The Conroe Independent School District (District) as an equal opportunity educational provider and employer does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, or disability in educational programs or activities that it operates or in employment matters. The District is required by Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, as amended, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as Board policy not to discriminate in such a manner.
For information about Title IX rights or Section 504/ADA rights, contact the Title IX Coordinator or the Section 504/ADA coordinator at 3205 W. Davis, Conroe, TX 77304; (936) 709-7752.