BearKat Chat
#BearkatBEST, #❤️ofaBearkat - May 2022
Our Vision: Educating the whole child: mind, body and spirit!
Mote's Note - A note from the Principal - Kyla Mote
We are working hard till the very last minute! STAAR and End Of Year testing begins Tuesday.
We will not be able to accomodate lunch visitors this week due to STAAR testing. Thank you for understanding.
Thank you so much to those that sent appreciation to our staff this week, there was so much kindness shared. Thank you for all your support, all year long.
The PTO board met this week to plan for next year. Thanks to a great fundraiser, PTO will be able to support and provide things like our online learning tools (Education Galaxy, Brainpop/BrainpopJr, and Generation Genius), field trips, cultural arts events for Prek-5th, teacher appreciation, laminating materials, spirit sticks/keychains, classroom materials and so much more next year. PTO has great ideas for some fun gatherings/events next year so please be on the look out for joining, being a liaison/chair/or helping in any way you are interested and able. We want you to be apart of our amazing school. There was some inquiry in providing a shade tent for the big equipment piece that was relocated, however that tent costs approx. $20,000 so we may be looking at a quick fall fundraiser specifically to purchase that as it does get very warm to play on in the hot months. Please let me know if you know of a company that might be interested in donating toward the shade tent and I will be glad to reach out.
Chromebooks for summer: Chromebooks will go home with students for the summer. If you are moving within CFISD zone please keep your chromebook and take it with you to the new school (including fifth to sixth). If you are moving away from CFISD, please return your chromebook to the school by the last day of school.
Update on the fences: The gates do not have the locks yet as they were backordered so at this time the gates remain open. Once the locks arrive, it is my understanding that the gates will be badge entry from 8:45am-4:10pm, however, they will be open during non-school hours. During arrival and dismissal, you may assist your child with getting inside/outside the gate if needed.
Updates on Lenny: Lenny is back training on campus and we hope that he will be ready for our full campus adoption on May 19th. Thank you to all those that supported with Love for Lenny. The veterinarian, Cypress Animal Hospital, has sponsored him for yearly annual checkups and maintance for the life of the dog. PetSuperMarket across the street from the school is sponsoring his food for life as well as baths monthly. James Rowlett, a local realtor, has supported with $500 to support Lenny's needs as well. Our community support including our amazing PTO has really come together to make this comfort dog become ours. If everything goes as planned, Lenny will be on campus as a staff member all day, everyday, beginning in August.
Updates on construction: At this time, we will not be under contruction until next summer. We are still hopeful that the parking lot may be in progress this summer but the building will not.
Changes for next year: School hours: 8:45am-4:10pm.
Our car rider doors will still open at 8:15am so that students may come in and get breakfast if they would like to eat, and then head on to class. (At this time, Breakfast/Lunch will not be free for everyone next year so if your student needs assistance with these, please complete the online forms as soon as possible). School will start at 8:45am so we need all students in school by 8:42am to make sure we are in our seats and ready to learn by 8:45am.
The cafe will be closed by 8:50am so please plan to be early if your child will need breakfast.
How to access report cards: Please access your child's report card at the end of the year via the Home Access Center.
Please see below for upcoming dates for this year. I will send "save the dates" for August meet the teacher as soon as we have them scheduled.
May 13- Wear Green for Mental Health Awareness
May 17- PreK field day
May 17- 5th Grade Cafeteria Jam - 5:30-8:00 by classes (please see note from Mr. O).
May 17- Jeremiah's Italian Ice Spirit Night
May 20- 5th Grade Day at It'z
May 23 - VIPS Breakfast
May 24- Texian Time Machine (4th Grade)
May 25- Senior and 5th Grade Walk/Clapout (Seniors, meet at Cafe doors) Parents are invited to the hard top to see the graduates and 5th graders.
May 26-Last day of school - Parties during Large Group times (PE/ART/MUSIC)
NURSE NOTES
Reminder:
Please make arrangements to attend a drive-thru to pick up your student’s medications ON:
Tuesday, May 24, 2022
11:00 a.m – 1:00 p.m
OR
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
4:30 p.m – 6:30 p.m.
All medications must be picked up from the clinic by a parent/guardian, or designated responsible adult.
Medications not collected during the above times will be disposed of on May 26th unless prior arrangements have been made with the school nurse at 281-320-7165.
Counselor Corner - From our Counselors - Laura Hernandez and Karen Rhymes
Credit by Exam Information
Students in grades K-5 will have four opportunities during the school year to use “credit-by-exam” to accelerate to another grade level. Students will only have one opportunity to test for each grade level considered. Testing will begin with mathematics, followed by reading/language arts and science, if required. Students who meet the criteria ⎯ [score of 80% or better on each subtest of the exam] ⎯ may advance one grade level.
Summer Testing (June & July)
- Testing will be conducted in a districtwide setting.
- Students who want to skip grades K-5 will be tested in June or July.
- Please contact Mrs. Rhymes (counselor) by May 20th to fill out paperwork
Los estudiantes de kindergarten a 5to grado tendrán cuatro oportunidades durante el año escolar para usar el sistema de “crédito por examen” para adelantar y pasar al siguiente grado. Los estudiantes solo tendrán una oportunidad de rendir la prueba por grado considerado. Las pruebas empezarán con Matemáticas, seguidas por Lectura/Lenguaje y Ciencias, si fuera necesario. Los estudiantes que cumplen con los requisitos - [puntaje de 80% o más en cada prueba del examen} - podrían avanzar un grado.
Pruebas de verano
- Las pruebas serán administradas a nivel distrital.
· Los estudiantes que deseen saltarse un grado entre Kinder y 5to grado serán evaluados en junio o julio.
· Por favor, póngase en contacto con la Sra. Rhymes (consejera) antes del 20 de mayo para llenar los documentos.
Telecommunication Letter (link)
BLACK PTO
Presidents Corner
Thank you to our Bearkat families and community for the support of our Bearkat Bash fundraiser! Your support to our school is very much appreciated!
Thank you to our volunteers that continue to support our school in so many different ways. We couldn’t do all we do without your time and dedication you give.
Please be on the lookout next week for an email with more information about the volunteer opportunities for our 2022-2023 school year!
Kim Elliott
PTO President
VIPS TEAM
Thank you so much to all our volunteers that work so hard to make Black Elementary a success. Our March Volunteer of the Month was Tara O’Brien! We are so grateful for her time and dedication.
Junior Achievement is coming to a close. Thank you so much to our volunteers who presented 5 weeks of lessons to all of first and second grade classes! The kids looked forward to you each week and had a blast doing these lessons! A special shout-out to Sara Martin for making this program such a success!
Save the Date for Black Elementary’s Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast on May 23 at 9:30 a.m. in the cafeteria. Remember to log your hours for a chance to win a special prize!
Attention 5th Grade Parents:
*Permission slips have been sent home with your 5th grader, please make sure to sign them and return them to school as soon as possible or they will not be able to attend 5th Grade Day at IT’Z.
*Be on the lookout for the snack bag sign up being sent out through email soon! We appreciate your help in advance with any donations!
*We will also be sending out a sign up for 5th grade day. Any parent that has met the requirements to attend 5th grade day will add their name to our emailed sign up. All parents MUST have a school issued ID tag to enter IT’Z. We will be printing tags from our sign up list. If you have not been to the Black Elementary campus this school year, you will need to get your tag in person in the front office and bring your driver’s license to be scanned. IT’Z will not allow late parent arrivals, doors are locked at 10AM. Please make arrangements to have your school ID tag before May 20th so you are able to attend on time!
*Parent volunteers are needed the morning of May 20th to decorate the outdoor walkway at Black Elementary. If you are able to help, please email 5thgradeday@blackpto.net.
Thanks - Tara and Kayla
Cultural Arts Team
Hospitality
I want to Thank Everyone that has helped in making the Teacher Appreciation Week this week a success and all events during the school year. Due to the donations made by families and outside sponsors we have been able to do something every day this week to show our staff we care. Please continue to look at the sheet that was sent home with your Bearkat to know what they can do each day to help celebrate the staff. You will find I have included a link to the teacher’s and staff's favorite things list in case you and your Bearkat would like to treat a Teacher or a Staff member with something special https://hanging-meal-2594.glideapp.io/ . Bearkat families thank you for all your support you have shown the Hospitality Committee this school year. If you have any questions on how you can volunteer with this committee please email me at hospitality@blackpto.net.
Birthday Wall
Are you looking for a special way to celebrate your Bearkat’s birthday? For just $5 you can have your Bearkat’s picture featured on the birthday wall located in the main hall during their birthday month. Forms can be found in the PTO packet that was sent home. If you have any questions or need a form, please feel free to reach out to Christina Longer at culturalarts@blackpto.net.
SRC
We still have many open slots for this years SRC demos. Please see the attached sign up genius and link to the training calendar to sign up to lead a demo. If you have any questions, please contact Christina Longer at SRC@blackpto.net with any questions or concerns.
Training link - https://www.cfisd.net/cms/lib/TX50000664/Centricity/Domain/792/SRC%20VIPS%20Training%20Calendar%202021-2022-rev2.pdf
Sign up genius - https://www.signupgenius.com/go/409094CA8A72DA1FE3-science1
YEARBOOKS $28.00
Make your Yearbook purchases on the Balfour site. Be sure to include your students' grade and homeroom class, as this helps with the delivery process.
https://www.balfour.com/texas/cypress/black-elementary-school
Also please remember that Yearbook is dependent on amazing photos!
Please share those special photos with the yearbook using the Balfour Image Share App.
The app can be downloaded on any phone and our project code is 229380.
Make sure submitted photos include names of kids, events, grade and any other important details.
We can not include every photo but we do aim for a variety of kids and events!
If you want to volunteer as a photographer for an event contact yearbook@blackpto.net
$28.00
Safety Information
District Childfind
Childfind services
The Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District Special Education Department provides educational services to over 10,000 students with special needs.
Teachers, instructional aides, speech pathologists and related service personnel provide instruction and related services to students who have a disability. Students are eligible for special education services from the age of 3 through 21. Students who have hearing and vision disabilities may receive services from birth.
To be eligible for special education services, students must meet eligibility requirements as a student with an orthopedic impairment, other health impairment, auditory impairment, visual impairment, diagnosis of deaf/blind, intellectual disabilities, emotional disturbance, learning disability, speech impairment, multiple disabilities, autism, non-categorical early childhood, or traumatic brain injury.
Cypress Fairbanks ISD instructional arrangements for elementary school-aged students include in-class support, resource classes and speech/language therapy. Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE, formerly PPCD), adaptive behavior, and LIFE Skills classes are offered as cluster services at the elementary level.
In-class support, resource classes, LIFE Skills, adaptive behavior and speech/language services are available at all secondary level campuses.
Related services may include psychological services, occupational therapy, physical therapy, orientation and mobility training, school health services, adaptive equipment and special transportation.
Other special education service options include the Dorothy Carlton Center, the Maybelline Carpenter Center, homebound, adaptive physical education, itinerant and on-site services to the visually impaired.
As part of the Northwest Harris County Cooperative for the Hearing Impaired, services for students who have auditory impairments are offered at Birkes Elementary, Matzke Elementary, Spillane Middle School and Cy-Ridge High School. In addition to receiving instruction at the on-site campuses, students may be served by itinerant teachers, speech pathologists, and/or an audiologist at their home campus.
Are you the parent of a pre-school (3-5 years) or school aged child and have concerns regarding your child’s physical, speech, and/or emotional development? Is your child experiencing academic problems which could interfere significantly with educational success? If so, contact the Special Education Department at 281-897-6400 to discuss your concerns and learn more about the referral process.
Tipline @ Black Elementary
Cy-Fair Tipline is an anonymous reporting system that allows students and parents to communicate school concerns or threats to their campus administration through the Internet or via text messaging. Students and parents are able to submit reports/tips via text or email anonymously 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. To access the system: http://www.safe2helptips.com/cf148s. This link is also located on the school website under 'Contact Us'.
School Messenger
School Messenger
School Messanger -
Siga los siguientes pasos para registrarse y recibir alertas de emergencia del distrito.
OTHER FLYERS AND INFO
Thank you to the following corporate sponsors that support our school.
Black Elementary Info
Email: black@cfisd.net
Website: black.cfisd.net
Location: 14155 Grant Road, Cypress, TX, USA
Phone: 281-320-7145