Gleason PAWS
Excellence Begins Here
Gleason Vision
Gleason Misson
Gleason Elementary
Email: gleason@cfisd.net
Website: https://gleason.cfisd.net
Location: 9203 Willowbridge Park Boulevard, Houston, TX, USA
Phone: 281-517-6800
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Gleasontigers/
Twitter: @gleasontigers
December 4, 2020
Principal Message
As you know, December 11th is identified as the next remote learning day. Please remember this is a day where all students will work from home. We look forward to seeing your child back on campus on December 14th.
Remote Learning Days Plan:
Face to Face Learning students (who will be learning from home on these days) will:
- Receive paper packets and assignments to be completed and turned in.
- Not need devices (Chromebooks, laptops, internet) in order to complete the assignments.
- Have attendance taken by showing evidence of completing assignments. Please have your child return the packet on 12/14.
CFISD Connect students (who will remain at home) will:
- Complete posted assignments.
- Not have check-ins by their teachers or participate in live instruction.
- Have attendance taken by showing evidence of completing assignments and/or logging into Schoology. Please have your child complete assignments no later than 8:25 on 12/14.
For those families continuing to participate in CFISD Connect, it is very important that your child is live on Zoom every day in order to receive credit for attendance. They must also be visible at all times while “in class”. Students who do not attend the live instruction via Zoom by 10:00 AM will be counted absent. Excessive absences can cause students to fall behind in their learning and can impact end of year placement decisions. We want to provide your child with excellent first instruction in order to build a solid foundation that leads to opportunities. In the month of November, parents began receiving daily notification when students are counted absent.
Our typical December includes a winter party for our face to face students however, due to Covid, we are unable to have PTO host this event nor have visitors this year. Instead, our teachers have put together activities, snacks and a goody bag. For our CFISD Connect students, your child’s teacher will send a message making your aware of the activity they will be doing in order for you to purchase any items if you choose to have them participate. The party will be held from 2:30-3:30 this year. The party will include our traditional sing along and various activities. CFISD Connect students are encourage to participate via Zoom however, it is not mandatory.
We would also like to remind you that our Winter Break officially begin Monday, December 21st and classes will resume on January 4th. The staff at Gleason wishes you and your family a happy, safe and restful holiday.
Car Rider Information
Car Rider Information
For the safety of our students and staff, please read the below car rider procedures. If procedures are followed, it will also help with the speed of car riders.
Morning Drop-Off: 8:25-8:40 a.m.
- Please have students ready when vehicle pulls up to the school.
- Mask-On
- Shoes On
- Backpacks ready with all supplies inside. - Staff member will wave student out of vehicle. Student will open and close door, if assistance is needed please let staff know by rolling down the window.
- Please stay in line and exit with the flow of vehicles, even if your car is unloaded before others, to ensure the safety of our students and staff.
Afternoon Pick-Up: Begins at 4:10 p.m., please be in the car rider line no later than 4:20 p.m.
- Please fill out the link (click here) to be added to the car rider list and get a car rider number.
- Please place car rider number on the vehicle's mirror or where staff members can see it.
- A staff member types the car rider numbers into a form so the inside staff members can retrieve students and make sure that they know what color their vehicle will be located.
**Vehicles that are not on the list because they inserted into the line will have to wait at the orange balloon because the number will not be on the list to retrieve your student.**
STUDENT RETRIEVAL OF ITEMS- CFISD CONNECT STUDENTS ONLY
Grade Level News
Pre-Kindergarten
Pre-Kindergartener students are learning all about the roles and responsibilities they have as part of their classroom and the community in which they live. In literacy, we are identifying rhyming words and learning to understand print directionality including left to right and top to bottom. In writing, we are discussing and contributing our ideas to class writing activities. In math, we are learning to count ten items and subitizing which is verbally identifying, without counting, the number of objects 1-5. We appreciate your support!
Kindergarten
Our kindergarten students are working hard to grow their minds and strengthen their reading stamina as they become independent readers! In Reading Workshop, we will begin our Brave Readers unit. Students will use reading strategies to figure out tricky words. Those strategies include; pointing to each word, looking at the picture, rereading, thinking about what makes sense, looking at the end of the words, looking through the whole word, and rereading. In writing, we will continue thinking about our stories, as we plan them out across each page and add more details to our pictures. We are working towards growing our writing skills and moving into writing books for others to read! In Math, we will begin comparing numbers by saying if the number is more than, less than, or the same as a given number up to 20. We will continue to compose and decompose numbers up to 10, count to 100, and subitize numbers to 10. As the cold weather approaches, please make sure that your student has their name on all cold weather items (jacket, hat, scarf, gloves, etc.). Also, please update your student's change of clothes to pants and a long sleeved shirt (socks and underwear). Please remember that your student needs to bring a dry, healthy snack and water bottle daily. The Kindergarten team appreciates all your support and wishes that your family has a happy and safe holiday break!
First Grade
Happy December, parents! Can you believe we've made it this far! In reading this month, we are finishing, strengthening, and practicing using all of our reading strategies. We have been working on small moments in writing. In math we are learning how to skip count by 2s, 5s, and 10s. We're also learning about money (coins specifically!) and moving onto graphs. At this point, we have learned 3 different types of word problems (addition, subtraction, and compare!) In science, we are learning about matter!
Ways to help your firstie grow! Continue to practice reading every day, practicing identifying and spelling sight words, skip counting using coins, making a list of things to write about in writing, and continuing to make observations about the world around us using our five senses!
Second Grade
We are continuing to read our fiction stories and think deeply about what we are reading. We are learning to respond and discuss our understanding of fiction texts using our comprehension skills. We are also learning how to identify the problem/conflict and resolution in our stories. In writing, we are composing fiction stories. We are learning how to brainstorm and generate ideas for writing. We also are creating our own fiction characters and writing a fiction story with details.
In Math, we are measuring with customary units (inches, feet, and yards) and metric units (centimeters, meters). We will also be telling time to the minute. In Science, we will investigate the effects of increasing and decreasing light, heat, and sound energy.
Third Grade
Our awesome 3rd grade readers and writers enjoyed their last week of studying Poetry as readers and writers. Students read and analyzed a variety of poems by looking at structure, craft and author's purpose. Writers created sensory webs and worked with a variety of different types of craft (repetition, rhyme, imagery, stanzas, etc) to develop their poetry nuggets into published poems on our Poet-Tree. Our awesome readers and writers are looking forward to our next unit of study in reading informational text and crafting informational paragraphs. As readers, we will immerse ourselves in a variety of informational sources (articles, books, hybrid texts). We will look at text features and think about how and why an author chooses to organize their writing in a specific way. In writing students will use a study stack of informational paragraphs to read and analyze the components of informational paragraphs (central idea, supporting details, concluding sentence). Students will create idea lists and begin planning their first informational paragraph.
Super Scientists are wrapping up their work with forces and energy. Students are excited about starting our study of weather. We will observe and record weather changes using different tools (wind vane, rain gauge, and thermometer). Students will be able to see how rain affects temperature and how wind directions can help you tell which day may be cooler than other days.
Mathematicians are representing relationships using number pairs in a table or pictorial model. Students will be able to determine if the relationship will be additive or multiplicative. Students will also determine if a number is even because it is divisible by 2 or odd because it is not divisible by 2. We will continue our work with building our fact fluency (x1, x0).
Fourth Grade
In reading we have wrapped up our Drama unit. Our students have had so much fun acting out the different parts in their plays. We are moving onto our Informational unit. Students will learn distinguishing characteristics of Informational text. They will also learn reading strategies that will allow for deeper thinking within the text. It would be a great idea to have your child review the different text and graphic features they’ve learned from third grade such as captions, headings, photographs, illustrations, graphs, etc. within any magazines, newspapers, or articles they can find.
In writing we are working hard on gathering ideas for our essays. Students are creating an essay about a person of their choice and are using what they know to add supporting details about their topic. Our goal is to have a finished piece before the winter break! Please be sure to be checking in with your child about their essay by asking them about their topic and the supporting details they’ve come up with so far.
This December we are going to explore division and the many ways to solve division problems just like multiplication. We will divide up to 4 digits by 1 digit with and without remainders in the context of a word problem. At this point students should be fluent with their multiplication facts. We highly encouraged practicing for 15-20 minutes a night with flash cards. If your child is fluent in their multiplication facts feel free to move on to division facts.
We ended our Life Science Unit before the Thanksgiving break and we have started our Energy unit. We will start with the different forms of energy and really dig into electrical circuits which we are all excited about.
Fifth Grade
Fifth Graders are continuing to work hard in December!
Our reading and writing Tigers are completing our Fiction Unit and beginning to analyze informational texts and conduct research. We look forward to making discoveries by reading and sharing them in our writing.
In Math, our Tigers are working on the concept of Dividing Decimals by using models and algorithms. We will also be working on Multiplying Fractions by using concrete models and pictorial representations.
In Science, we are finishing our Geology Unit by learning about Renewable/Nonrenewable resources. Our Geology Unit Test will be Monday, December 14th, and we will begin our Weather and Astronomy Unit.
A Note from the Nurse....Mrs. Compton
Staff and Students are doing a great job of keeping Gleason a safe and healthy learning environment. A few things to remember as we move into the winter months:
Parents must screen students daily (prior to entering a school bus or school) for the following signs and symptoms of COVID-19:
1. Are you experiencing any of the following in a way that is not normal to you? • Feeling feverish or a measured temperature greater than or equal to 100.00 F • Loss of taste or smell • Cough • Difficulty breathing • Shortness of breath • Fatigue • Headache • Chills • Sore throat • Congestion or runny nose • Shaking or exaggerated shivering • Significant muscle pain or ache • Diarrhea • Nausea or vomiting
2. Have you had known close contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 within the last 14 days?
• Students must stay home if they answer “yes” to any of the above. • Students who show symptoms of COVID-19 at school will be evaluated by the nurse. The nurse will determine whether that child can remain at school. • Before a student may return to school, established criteria must be met
Please be aware that if your child needs medication, including over-the-counter medication, cough drops, or ointment during the school day, a parent/guardian must bring it to the clinic and complete a “Request to Administer Medication” form. Medication cannot be transported in a student's backpack.
If your child has had any changes in his/her health please email sarah.compton@cfisd.net, or call the clinic 281-517-6808 to inform the nurse.
From the Library....Mrs. Jones
Exciting news! The district has just given us the approval to have a Name That Book Contest. The district competition will be held on March 30, 2021. It has not been decided whether the contest will be in person or online. There are still many unknowns and we will update participants as we get more information and dates.
Name That Book is more than a contest for grades 3 to 5. It is a list of 100 of the best books, recommended by teachers, librarians and students. It includes new titles as well as old classics. Titles change each year based on a formula. Novels stay on the list for 3 years and picture books are replaced every year. These books are available in the library for our On-campus students and can be checkout on Sora by the Connect students.
Contact Mrs. Jones at deborah.jones@cfisd.net for more information.
PBIS NEWS
Students have been doing an amazing job at showing their "ROAR"ing behavior! With just two more weeks until Winter Break, please continue to help us encourage students to continue to be respectful, on-task, accountable, and responsible each day. With the campus wide use of Class Dojo, Class Dojo points are being used this year in place of the Tiger Bucks we have used in the past. Something our students looked forward to every year during this time and would save their Tiger Bucks for was the Holiday ROAR Store. Unfortunately, due to Covid 19, PBIS will not be hosting the Holiday ROAR Store this year, but students can use their Class Dojo points for classroom incentives.
December Core Value-Generosity
From the Counselor....Mrs. Salazar
This month we are focusing on the word generosity. We want our students to understand the importance of being generous and making someone's day by giving something away. Many students showed their generosity by donating to our Food and Toy Drive in November. We appreciate your families supporting other Gleason families and our community. Here are some other ideas to instill generosity.
- Donate toys that are gently used and clean to an organization.
- Do a chore, like raking the leaves, for a neighbor.
- Doing something you really don't want to do but it's special/helpful/important to the other person.
- Go through the closet and donate gently used and clean clothing. Coats and winter gear are especially needed right now.
- Make holiday cards for residents at a nursing home, mail person, waste management professionals or a neighbor.
- Use some of child's allowance to donate money to a charity.
- Donate can goods to a local pantry. We donated our can goods to the Cy-Fair ISD Food Pantry to help CFISD students and families.
In November, I visited every classroom and we talked about caring for one another. The word C.A.R.E. represented We are Compassionate and Aware and We will Report and Encourage. We want our students to be empathetic for others and to build deeper relationships. This will help all students feel like they belong and feel physically and emotionally safe. However, when we build deeper relationships, we may be aware when a friend, sibling, or someone else is having a difficult day. We want students to feel comfortable talking to a trusted adult if they feel something is not right with themselves or someone else. We all have good and bad days, and we need the people around us to encourage us through those difficult days. With the older students, we talked about how friends may tell them something that they may not tell a grown-up. It's important that if they are doing risky or dangerous things or their behavior has changed or they're making hurting comments to tell a trusting adult. I do encourage you to continue the conversation. We appreciate you being a part of our team by helping instill these values.
Breakfast and Lunch Application
In order to continuing receiving additional funds for our campus we must continue to show a need. We are asking for ALL CFISD Connect and face 2 face students' parents to fill out this application. Please click here to complete a lunch application.
We also wanted to make sure all our families are aware of the breakfast and lunch programs. CFISD does have breakfast and lunch available for all students (on campus or CFISD connect).
Families that are on-campus or CFISD Connect
- We encourage families that are eating CFISD breakfast and lunch to sign up through school cafe at https://www.schoolcafe.com/CYPRESS-FAIRBANKS%20ISD where you can:
- Make Payments
- Set Purchase Restrictions
- Submit Meal Applications to see if your family qualifies for free or reduced meal prices
- View Purchases
- Set up Auto Pay
- Get Low Balance Alerts
- View Letters
- View Menus
For more information on CFISD breakfast and lunch Information visit our district website at CFISD.net. Click the tab for parents & students and there are many resources under nutritional services.
CFISD Connect Families
- Curbside Connect Meals: https://www.cfisd.net/en/parents-students/food-service/curbside-meals
- CFISD Connect students still have access to school breakfasts and lunches. Please click the above link to find out locations and procedures.
Please reach out to us if you have any questions or need additional resources.
Upcoming Events
December 11- Remote Learning
December 18- Winter Parties (2:30-3:30)
December 20- Spirit Night Hickory Hollow ALL DAY
December 21-January 1- Winter Break
January 4- Classes resume
January 15- Remote learning
January 18-Student/Staff Holiday
January 29- last day of MP 2