Kirk Elementary
Tiger Tales 1/24/2023
School Information
Email: Kirk@cfisd.net
Website: https://www.cfisd.net/Kirk
Location: 12421 Tanner Road, Houston, TX, USA
Phone: 713-849-8250
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KirkElementary/
Twitter: @KirkElementary
Principal's Corner
Kirk families,
I want to take a moment to remind everyone how important regular school attendance is. Our teachers begin teaching right at 8:15 a.m. each morning and do not end instruction until 3:40 p.m. Please do your best to have your child at school on time each day that they are healthy and able to be here. When your child is absent, a doctor’s note or a written note from a parent/guardian is needed to excuse the absences. Please make every effort to have your children here each and every day.
Katie Ford
Principal
PBIS
Our character trait for the month is accountability. The Kirk P.B.I.S Matrices help teach our students to show accountability through the building. Ask your Kirk Tiger how they show accountability in the different parts of our building. Below you can view a video the students have seen about our character trait.
BOTB
For the month of January, we are learning how to be accountable. We learned that being accountable means taking responsibility for your words, actions, and results. We identified ways we are held accountable in school. We encourage you as a family to identify expectations that your student is held accountable for at home and in the community.
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.
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:
General Information
February Calendar
Student of the Month for the Character Trait of Gratitude
Citlali Peralta
Nataly Diaz
Larissa Mendoza
December Character Trait - Gratitude
Library Corner
Hi Mighty Tigers!
These past couple of weeks Kinder and Pre-K learned about Martin Luther King Jr. day. While 2nd grade and 1st grade learned about Lunar New year. Some even had the opportunity to create an origami rabbit or learn how to draw a rabbit.
Then 3rd, 4th, and 5th have been learning about Drew Brockington. He is is an Author and Illustrator. They are especially excited because he will be visiting our 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders on February 6th!
Your Librarian,
Mrs. Gallegos
Primary Practices
January is flying by! Our students are in the midst of finishing up their Middle of the Year DPM. Pre-K will begin their new theme of “On the Move”. First and Second graders are hard at work learning about traditional literature. Pre-K will begin their new theme of “On the Move”, and Kindergarten is learning all about non-fiction/informational text. Please continue to read with your child 20 minutes everyday, and students in K-5 have access to Amplify to practice their reading skills.
Adventures in Math
Students in second and third grade are discovering different strategies to solve addition and subtraction problems. Students are being challenged to think about numbers in their place value and using that to break numbers apart to create “friendlier” numbers to add and subtract with. Check out THIS document to see what those strategies are.
Fourth graders are wrapping up their unit on Fractions. The next two weeks will be focused on comparing fractions with like and unlike numerators and denominators. To help at home, check out THESE ideas using playing cards and dice!
Students in fifth grade are beginning their unit on perimeter, area and volume. Perimeter and area are concepts the students have learned in previous grade levels. Volume is new to our fifth graders. Students are expected to use concrete objects and pictorial models to develop the formulas for the volume of a rectangular prism and cube. Using vocabulary such as base, length, and height are key to comprehending word problems within this unit.
Science Scholars
Second graders are learning about natural resources with a focus on how to conserve them. Students will spend time researching and creating a conservation project to show their understanding. While you are at home, talk to your child about different ways to conserve such as turning the water off while brushing your teeth.
Third graders are exploring the solar system in science. They are learning about how the Earth’s rotation causes day and night, The Earth’s orbit around the sun causes the seasons to change, and the order of the planets. THIS video is great to review the planet order.
Fourth graders started their unit about geology. Students are expected to examine properties of soil, identify Earth’s renewable resources and how to conserve them, as well as identify and observe changes to the Earth’s surface through weathering, erosion and deposition. As you are outside, take notice of rocks and ask your students to describe them. Observe the color, shape, and texture of the rocks as well as predictions about what changes could have happened to cause it to look that way.
Fifth graders are deep into their matter unit which focuses on relative density, mixtures and solutions, conductors and insulators and solubility. Students are discovering these things through lots of hands-on labs in class, creating density columns, and testing various materials to find their properties. CLICK HERE to see how to make your own density column at home!
Loving Literacy
Welcome back and Happy New Year! We hope you had a restful winter break. This month we will be showing our learning during the Middle of the Year January DPM (District Progress Monitoring) so make sure you are getting enough sleep and eating a healthy breakfast. Please see your child’s teacher if you have any questions regarding grade level assessments. Also, students in third - fifth grades will be learning about the extended constructed response which is a new question type on the STAAR test this year. The ECR (extended constructed response) is a prompt based argumentative or opinion essay that is based on an article or story. The students will need to use the article/story to develop a central idea statement or claim. They will also need to provide evidence from the article/story to back up their central idea or claim. Over the next several months, the students will practice writing several ECR’s. Let’s have a super second semester!
Tiger Technobytes
Nurse's Corner
Since we are experiencing big changes in the weather from warm humid days to dry cold air, we have seen an increase in weather related skin problems. Please remind your child to bring water to school every day. Drinking plenty of water is great for our skin and can help with dry skin and chapped lips which are a frequent student complaint.
Counselor Corner
When your child makes a good choice, no matter how small, make a BIG deal out of it! Cheer for them, encourage them, and reinforce this behavior. When your child makes a mistake, guide them towards a better choice. Try not to dwell on it and move forward together. Work with your child to find better solutions on their own the older they get. Steer them in the right direction by using key questions they can discover the answers to by using their critical thinking skills.
What’s Happening in Large Group?
Musical Magic
Hello Kirk Mighty Tigers!
All students will be focusing on Composition, which means that we will all become little composers by creating our own music. We will have a great time!
Mrs. Craig
PE
Hey 3rd - 5th Graders!
We are reviving the Tigers on the Run Club from a few years past! This year, it will only be for 3rd-5th graders and there will be two different clubs—boys and girls. It will take place from January 30-March 27 up until the Superintendent Fun Run on April 1.
The boys club will take place every Tuesday morning from 7:15-8:00am. The girls club will take place every Thursday afternoon from 4:15-5:00pm. Permission slips were sent home last week and the due date was Friday, January 20.
We will be getting ready for the Superintendent Fun Run that takes place on Saturday, April 1 at the Berry Center. All grade levels students, families, and staff members are invited to participate in the Fun Run. Registration opens January 23, 2023. You can register online at www.cfisd.net and search “Superintendent Fun Run.”
Thank you! 🙂
Coach Mati
Art
Hello Kirk artists! Several of our very own talented artists have been awarded Rodeo Art ribbons after our district art exhibit. Camila Barahona, Alan Alvarez, and Zuleyka Tejeda Hernandez will be taking home white ribbons, and Jennifer Dinh will be taking home a red ribbon. The competition was tough this year with many talented pieces to select from all of our kirk tigers, so a big congratulations to our ribbon entries! I look forward to seeing our entries for our next upcoming contests of the Spring Art Show, TEAM contest, and our future campus art exhibit.
Mrs. Kranson
We are looking for volunteers to bring soups, chili and similar warm dishes for the Souper Bowl Staff Appreciation Luncheon on Friday, February 10th. See the Sign Up Genius link for more details. Thank you for helping us show our amazing teachers and staff how much we truly appreciate all they do!
Our wonderful librarian, Ms. Gallegos, is looking for some help on Thursdays in February and March. If you are interested in volunteering please review the Sign Up Genius link below. Thank you!
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F48AAA923A5FDC34-library1
Interested in ordering the 2022-2023 Kirk Elementary yearbook? Click on the link below and use Yearbook ID code 14775723!