Hodge Family Newsletter

We had another great week learning at Hodge! This week we celebrated Red Ribbon Week which reminds us all to live happy and healthy lives by staying drug free. Today the Kinder through 3rd grade students enjoyed the Fire Clowns' Super Mario presentation about how to keep our homes safe and what to do if there is danger. We finished the week with our annual Storybook Character Parade. It was so much fun to see everyone's favorite storybook characters. And we also loved all the homemade and upcycled costumes that the students created and wore.

The Denton ISD Family Engagement Survey is ongoing. We want to make sure all primary guardians of Hodge students have the opportunity to provide us with feedback. It is important to us that you complete this survey and give us feedback on your thoughts and feelings about how our school is meeting the needs of your children as well as how we are supporting your families. We have made a couple of adjustments this year, increasing our FB presence, improving and increasing the frequency of our parent newsletters, all in an effort to make sure we are communicating effectively with our families. We want families to know about all the wonderful things their children are doing on our campus all day. When you are more aware of the great things that kids are doing and accomplishing, it helps everyone see that we have a bright future ahead! Focusing on the positives and celebrating our students' successes has been another important goal of ours this year, which can be seen in our Positive Office Referral Certificates and phone calls, the Hodge Hawk 5s, and our Awards Assemblies on the half days. Please look in your inbox for an email from Gallup. If you are unable to find it, look in your SPAM and Junk folders, or reach out to Gallup directly by emailing educationhelp@gallupmail.com or calling 1-888-332-9454. Or, as always, please feel free to reach out to our office at 940-369-2800.

Also, this week we hosted two Title I Information Sessions for our community. We want to make sure everyone has access to this important information about how Hodge Elementary chooses to use their funds to support student learning. You can review the Title I Presentation and provide feedback, input, or ask questions using the links provided. We want to here from you!

Today the "Pay the Day" Fundraiser monies and forms were due. If you forgot or ae collecting the last donations, no worries! We will continue to collect those forms and funds through next week. Don't forget to turn them in because they are lots of cool prizes for the students! This money will be used to support various activities across our school. Thankyou for supporting this fundraiser!

Finally, if you are interested in signing your children up for engagement activities on the next Early Release Day on November 17th, you can find the information and links to the sign up forms below in the newsletter.

We hope you all have a wonderful week with your families!

Andrea Hare

Principal

Hodge ES - Denton ISD

Our Hodge Hawk 5 Winners of the Week! Students, teachers, and staff give Hawk 5's to students who are demonstrating our Campus Character Traits. These students' names were drawn today! Congratulations to all the students who received a Hodge Hawk 5 this week!

This past week we hosted two Title I Information Sessions for parents, one in the morning by zoom and one in the afternoon in person. We would like this information to reach a greater portion of our community and are providing it here for your review. Please be sure to respond to the survey with any questions or comments. We want your feedback. The presentation and the survey are in both English and Spanish.

Title I Information Session Presentation

Feedback Form

DISD schools will use the district lessons for the following mandated lessons: 1) Emotional Wellness, 2) Bullying and Cyberbullying Prevention, and 3) Healthy Choices - Substance Abuse Prevention. Developmentally appropriate lessons will be delivered throughout the next few months in Kinder-5th grade. The mandated material can be previewed with this link. Please contact the school counselor, Armandina Austin, at 940-369-2891 or aaustin@dentonisd.org if you have questions or concerns. Thank you.

November

11.9 6:00 3rd Grade Performance honoring Veterans Day

11.16 6:00 PM PTA Family Movie Night

11.17 Half Day of School, Dismissal at 12 Noon

11.20 - 11.24 Thanksgiving Week, No School

December

12.14 5:30 Winter Wonderland Family Event

12.20 Half Day of School, Dismissal at 12 Noon

12.21 Half Day of School, Dismissal at 12 Noon

12.22 1.5 Winter Break, No School

You are invited to the UIL Regional Robotics Competition being held at Guyer High School on October 28. This is a large, high-energy event that will give students and families the opportunity to see what is possible when young innovators collaborate towards solving problems in tech. The robot rounds will be held in the main gym (with the same energy of a basketball tournament!) and there will be exhibit booths set up by each competing team in the cafeteria to visit and interact with. This year’s competition theme is “Incision Decision” and robots must navigate a game field to perform tasks that emulate surgical procedures dealing with the heart and brain. Denton ISD has 4 teams competing this year – Guyer, LaGrone, Harpool, and Strickland. Come show your support!

Monday, October 30th, 2023 – 6-8pm – Union 314 and South Lawn

Join UPC on UNT's Campus for our yearly event Boo Bash. Boo Bash offers free children’s games and candy in the South Lawn and Emerald Eagle Ballroom 314 at the University Union, 1155 Union Circle, Denton. Off Campus Student Services will present Family Fun Night Activities. There will also be a face painter on site. Attendees without a UNT Parking Pass can get a free parking pass on site in lot 37 to attend the event. Children must be accompanied by an adult at all times. Questions? Email arianna.raich@unt.edu or call: 940-565-3825.

UNT Athletics wishes to invite all of our elementary kiddos to their Monster Mash. Please share this with your parents and staff!! Info is below.

Get ready for a Spooktacular Halloween adventure!

Gather your gargoyles and ghouls and join us for a night of hair-raising fun as the UNT Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) hosts the Inaugural Mean Green Monster Mash! Come dressed in your best costumes and engage with your Mean Green Student-Athletes. Enjoy safe and fun activities and revel in a night of spine-tingling festivities. Don't miss out on this ultimate family-friendly spooky celebration.

Mark your calendars and join us on Monday, October 30th from 6:30pm-8:30pm in the Indoor Practice Facility for a Halloween celebration you'll never forget!

Denton ISD will provide engagement for students on the upcoming early release day, November 17th, 2023, from 12:00 pm until 3:00 pm for elementary children. The Extended School Day program will coordinate with each campus to provide engaging activities for students while teachers are participating in Professional Learning Communities. In addition, Denton ISD transportation will be provided at both the early release time (12:00pm) and the regular release time (3:00 pm) for all eligible elementary bus students. Parents must sign up each month to participate. If your student currently attends ESD, you do not need to sign up. If you have any questions regarding this, please contact the Extended School Day office at 940-369-0080. Participation in this opportunity will require completion of the form below. All forms must be submitted no later than November 12th, 2023 to participate.

English Form

Spanish Form

This month's Hodge Family Newsletters are devoted to highlighting important bits of information for parents about the importance of Fact Fluency for elementary students. This week we are moving from addition/subtraction to multiplication/division. So how should parents support their children at home in acquiring multiplication and division fact fluency? The authors of Building Fact Fluency, Graham Fletcher and Tracy Johnston Zager, have some ideas:

Eyes on the Prize

First of all, we want to make it clear that it’s important for students to learn their multiplication facts (such as 4 × 6 or 9 × 5), so that later on, they won’t have to stop their thinking in the middle of a more complicated problem to figure out their facts. At the same time, it’s essential that students understand the meaning of multiplication and division and build solid foundations for multidigit operations and place value. The good news is, we don’t have to choose between learning facts and learning math with understanding. In Building Fact Fluency, we work on both goals at the same time, and students learn their facts as an outcome of exploration and work with multiplication and division.

Your child will have ample opportunities to solve problems about accessible, everyday objects such as peaches, balloons, and tennis balls, as well as problems using mathematical tools and numbers. Early on, children will add or skip-count to figure out answers. Eventually, they’ll begin to use more efficient and effective strategies to derive their answers by using what they know to figure out what they don’t know, which is the heart of doing mathematics. Over time and with enough practice, they’ll come to “just know” most of their basic facts.

A typical progression for learning the combination 6 × 8 might be:

• Setting out or drawing 6 groups of 8 objects and counting them all.
• Connecting to a fact they know. Perhaps: “I know 5 × 8 is 40, so 6 × 8 is 48.” Or, “I know 6 × 4 is 24, so 6 × 8 is 48.”
• Eventually, with enough practice, students will say, “6 × 8 is 48. I just know that one.”

You might wonder why we should go through this progression—isn’t it faster and easier just to memorize? To answer that question, we need to remember our goals. We want more than students answering “48” when we ask, “What’s 6 × 8?” We also want them to understand 8 × 6, 26 × 8, and 60 × 80, all of which relate to 6 × 8. We want something deeper than memorization: we want to lay a foundation that will support students through multi-digit arithmetic, fractions, ratios, proportions, and algebra. That’s one reason why we emphasize multiple ways of “seeing” and thinking about each fact. For example, the images below are examples of ways your child will work with 6 x 8: in an array of everyday objects, in groups of tools, and with numerals. In all cases, we’re going for relationships. If we invest time now in building your child’s number strategies, your child will reap the benefits for years to come.

Students are typically in different places in this continuum at the very same time, depending on which strategy we’re working on, how the problem is presented, and a variety of other factors. The same child might “just know” their 5s, but skip count to solve their 4s. Building Fact Fluency is designed so, wherever students are, they can work at a “just right” level of challenge so they become increasingly fluent. If your child is already comfortable with a particular strategy, they’ll extend that strategy into multidigit multiplication and division (8 × 9 becomes 28 × 9 or 28 × 19). Students will have opportunities to discuss the patterns they notice across these different problems, which helps them build connections and deep number sense.

Do you know what Dyslexia is? Are you interested in the characteristics, signs, and risk factors? Please review these fact sheets in English and Spanish for more information. If you think your child may have dyslexia, please speak to your child's teacher about your concerns.

Want more information about what’s happening on campus and how you can help make Hodge a great place to learn and work? Join the PTA! Check out our PTA Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/HodgeHawksPTA or email us at HodgeHawksPTA@gmail.com.

Did you know that our school gets more money for each student we have that qualifies for free or reduced price lunch? These funds are used to purchase more instructional materials, supplies, and staff. So even if you do not plan for your child to eat at our cafeteria, it is important that you complete the application if you think you might qualify. We encourage everyone to complete the form, just in case! To apply for Free and Reduced lunch, click here. If you have questions or any problems with applying, please contact our front office staff, and they will be very happy to help you in any way needed.

We have a free After School Program, ACE (CISNT) available for our students. To find out more about the program and what it has to offer, please click here. Parents can also register their students for a waiting list using the same link.

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