CANNON TIMES
A Newsletter For Cannon Staff 2018-2019
Principal Points- Week of March 4, 2019
We will host our final district tours on Tuesday and begin our parent tours on Tuesday as well! The remaining parent tours are scheduled for AFTER Spring Break. All of our guests have LOVED being at Cannon and are so impressed by the work our teams are doing with our scholars! I wanted to share just a few of the compliments we have received from campus visitors over the last two weeks:
From a Lockheed Engineer who came to Cannon during Engineering Week:
"I wanted to reach out and thank you and all of the Cannon Elementary students and staff for welcoming me to your school on Tuesday, Feb. 19, to be your Lockheed Martin Engineer-in-the-Classroom. Being back at the office today has given me some time to reflect on my experiences as an EITC for the various schools I visited last week, and Cannon Elementary surely put a lasting impression on me. I am still very impressed with how quickly your students caught on to the activities. Each and every one them definitely has an engineering mindset that helps them innovate, create, and think outside the box. Surely all of the hands-on activities in Maker Space, Raw Space, and all the other “Spaces” have propelled your students to the forefront of being future leaders in STEM."
From leaders in three area districts after their tours last week:
"So much great information about how you are doing STEM and it is clear you all GET IT!"
"I want to thank you for opening your school to our CFB STEM team. Our principals were very excited about your program and it helped to stimulate their thinking for what they can do with their school teams. They were able to look past the fantastic facility you have built and see the STEM program you and your team have developed."
"Thank you so much for all of the inspiration your teams have provided for our campus over the last few years! We opened a STEAM program at our campus after visiting your school the first time and we modeled so many aspects of our program after your school's model for STEM. We have had tremendous success! We loved getting to visit your brand new school and are so impressed with how Cannon is taking STEM to the next level in your new space! Thank you Cannon educators for inspiring greatness in our campus staff & students through STEM!"
So....KUDOS to ALL OF YOU!! It's so exciting to be able to develop new partnerships who are pursuing STEM at the elementary level and I hope that someday we will be able to form an area elementary STEM coalition, from which we can all learn from each other and have a collectively HUGE impact on kids through STEM-based learning!
Finally, BIG thanks to all staff for your work to prepare for this week's Family Engineering Night! Scholars all across the campus will be sharing their knowledge of our Engineering Design Process, as they work together with their parents on various stages of this process in an engineering design challenge! This is such a GREAT opportunity for our Cannon parents to learn more about STEM-based learning at Cannon!
Also, please remind students & parents to visit the MakerSpace for some awesome student demonstrations and that the Book Fair will be open during this evening's event!
Thank you for planning a GREAT event for our scholars & parents! I know that each of you will be READY for a long & relaxing Spring Break week after this busy night AND crazy start to our 2nd semester! I hope that everyone has an amazing time off with friends and family and takes time for YOURSELF...to relax, rejuvenate and get refreshed during this time!!
Proud to be your principal,
Tona :)
#BeCannonProud
Don't Forget To Share This Family Engineering Night Newsletter With Parents!
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Lisa's Coaching Corner
I appreciate this graphic because it applies to ALL of us equally, students and faculty members. We recently looked at what type of student we were in high school and then applied those categories to our students. Now, think of the same thing through the lens of "The Comfort Zone".
Which zone do you live in your personal life? (too many categories to list)
In your classroom management? In your lesson designing? Communicating with colleagues? With parents? With students?
This would be a great graphic to share with your students. A few modifications to the descriptions would be needed to fit your grade level. One way to deal with social-emotional learning (SEL) is to help students to identify where they are and know that our level changes with different subjects/topics.
One SEL learning goal is building confidence. Take a few minutes to identify a few students that need specific help in building confidence prior to introducing new content. Pulling a small group to prepare those students may impact your classroom in a BIG POSITIVE way.
LB
My favorite quote of the week from Twitter...author unknown.
“We should ask kids what problems they want to solve instead of that they want to be when they grow up” - this engages the why instead of the what.
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DATES TO REMEMBER
03/04-08 Book Fair
03/04 UCAN 3:00-3:45 in Learning Commons
03/05 Campus Tours for other districts - 8:30-10:30
03/05 Campus Tours for parents - 1:00-2:00
03/05 PLC Week A - 4th grade 2:15-3:45
03/06 PLC Week A - 3rd grade 2:15-3:45
03/07 PLC Week A - 5th grade 2:15-3:45
03/07 Family Engineering Night - 5:30-7:00 pm
03/08 3rd grade field trip - Parr Park - 10:50-2:00 pm
03/11- 03/15 SPRING BREAK!!!!
03/18 Campus Tours for lottery - parents - 8:30-9:30; 5:30-6:30 pm
03/18 STEM Leadership 3:00-3:45
03/19 PLC Week B - Kindergarten 2:15-3:45
03/20 Special Olympics
03/20 PLC Week B - 1st grade 2:15-3:45
03/21 Crazy Socks For World Down Syndrome Day
03/21 PLC Week B- 2nd grade 2:15-3:45
03/21 PTA Family Spring Fling & Silent Auction - In & Out Burger Truck - 6:00-8:00 pm
03/22 AttenDANCE party - 2:15 pm in gym
03/25 Dr. Ryan will present at Cannon staff meeting 3:10-3:40
03/26 PLC Week A - 3rd grade 2:15-3:45
03/26 Cubs Night Out - McAlister's in Colleyville
03/27 PLC Week A - 4th grade 2:15-3:45
03/28 PLC Week A - 5th grade 2:15-3:45
03/28 STAAR Specific Training - 4th & 5th teachers/test administrators 3:00 pm
03/28 Cubs Night Out @ Cici's Pizza
03/29 HR hosts College of Education meeting/tour @ Cannon -9:00-10:30 am
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CONGRATULATIONS!!
HATS OFF TO THESE AWESOME CANNON TEACHERS FOR BEING PRESENTERS AT THE MINI-CAST CONFERENCE THIS WEEKEND!
Using Inventor's Biographies For Engineering
Presentation Description: Struggling to integrate? Come see how we integrated science, social studies, reading, and writing with one project completed in separate classrooms. Learn how to create a multidisciplinary project to cover your TEKS, incorporate STEM, and maximize instructional time (without intensive planning)!
Mini-Cast 2019
Getting The Dirt On Forensic Geology
Presentation Description: A crime has been committed in each of the 4 regions of Texas! Come see how students can use properties of soil, other forms of evidence, and logic to put the correct Texas Explorer behind bars. Students will be engaged from day 1 as they explore four different fictional crime scenes. Using their knowledge of properties of soil, reading strategies and logical reasoning skills, students will combine all of the evidence to determine which region the crime was committed in, which early Texas explorer committed the crime and what tool they used to do it!
STEM For All: Strategies for STEM In Inclusion & ELL Classrooms
Presentation Description: Do you love teaching STEM but have multiple developmental, ability, or language levels represented in your classroom? Do you wish there was something that could enable all students to participate and feel good about engineering? Learn simple technology and classroom strategies to enable all students to be successful future engineers in the session.
Authentic Technology Integration In Early Elementary
Presentation Description: Wanting to implement more technology in your classroom but are not sure how to do it? Join us for some great ideas that you could use in your classroom tomorrow as we share how we use 1:1 iPads and technology daily in our Kinder and 1st-grade classes! Some of the things we will cover are Seesaw, Google Classroom, using digital menus, and how to meaningfully incorporate technology into all subject areas.
Engineering: A "Novel" Approach
Presentation Description: Come experience how we developed multiple cross curricular STEM units based on an engaging novel that students won't want to put down. By using literary texts along with critical math and science TEKS, you can help students identify problems within a story, and create real world solutions through the Engineering Design Process. Join us for a design challenge and walk aways with specific Instructional strategies along with student assessment ideas, that will enhance the teaching and learning within your classroom.
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REMINDERS AND UPDATES
U.CAN ON MONDAY
STAFF SHUTTLE - FAMILY ENGINEERING NIGHT
Staff should park in our regular remote parking lot and our awesome transportation department is planning to run a shuttle that evening, just for us! It will begin running at 7:00 pm and will continue running until 7:45 pm OR until the remote lot is empty!
More TELPAS This Week!
Our second - fifth grade ELL students will continue to tak the TELPAS online listening/speaking and reading tests this week. Please make note of times and areas that will be used for testing.
Mar. 4: 2nd grade reading 8:00 - 1st/2nd MPA
Mar. 5: 3rd grade reading 8:00 - 3rd/4th MPA
Mar. 6: 4th grade reading 9:00 - 3rd/4th MPA
Mar. 7: 5th grade reading 8:00 - Paniagua’s room
These rooms will be secured testing environments and CANNOT be entered by non-testing students.
****4th grade ELL students will leave specials early on their testing dates.
Update: GCISD Student Voice Form to be completed by ALL students- MARCH 5th
A few weeks ago, information was sent via Smore to all staff members regarding the Google form that students would soon be filling out to report their experience related to student voice in their classroom/school. It has been decided that the most efficient/effective method for asking students for this feedback will be to push the form directly to all students' devices on a designated date. Due to the assessment related "kiosk mode" situation throughout the district this month, this district "push" can't happen until next week (as opposed to February as initially expected).
Currently, the plan is to push the following forms to the following grade level students' devices next TUESDAY, March 5th. More information regarding this push will be sent next week, but please make sure all students have time and inclination to complete their brief 1 minute survey.
Spring Break Energy Shutdown
Teacher Online Wish List - Book Fair
Kristi is really pushing online book fair sales with parents during our spring Book Fair. Click here for a document with directions for how to create a wish list online. Please consider adding some titles for your own wish list online in case more parents prefer to shop this way.
Kristi also has a cart where you can choose up to three books for parents to purchase for you like we did at the fall book fair. That will be set up by this afternoon so you can come after school or tomorrow to browse and choose your 3 favorites!
Leadership Opportunity - Topic: Assessment and Grading
This invitation is for any GCISD staff member (teacher, administrator, etc...) who is interested in joining a leadership cohort of those who will guide the process of examining assessment and grading practices and expectations during the 2019-20 school year. A limited number of spaces are available for those selected to participate in the Solution Tree Conference on Assessment and Grading this summer (June 19-21) in Austin. Please complete this Interest Form no later than March 6th to indicate your interest. Selected participants will be notified by March 8th. Conference attendees will be expected to participate in meetings and summits during the 2019-20 school year to guide decision making and communication.
K-4 SEESAW FOR SCHOOLS
The district is getting close to finalizing a 3-year contract with Seesaw for Schools for all K-4th grade classrooms. Knowing that we have some teachers who pay for their own subscriptions, the district is asking for those who do pay for their own to hold off on any renewals.
JEANS & KINDNESS MONDAYS IN APRIL!
Leading up to the GCISD annual Rachel's Challenge Rally on April 27th, the district is claiming every Monday in April as Rachel's Challenge Day.
We will focus on a Kindness Aspect of Rachel's Challenge and will post messages on social media developed by Kindness Club members.
Every Monday in April, staff may wear jeans if they are wearing a Rachel's Challenge shirt.
Kindness messages will be shared via the announcements and on social media every Monday in April. Please ask your students to participate by wearing their Rachel's Challenge shirts on Mondays in April and by continuing Rachel's messages of kindness, compassion, and respect.
Perot Museum’s Kosmos Energy STEM Teacher Institute Applications are Now Open!
We now have FOUR Cannon teachers who have applied to be part of this amazing STEM Teacher Institute through the online, digital option!! Why not consider applying in hopes that we could have our own Cannon cohort participating next year? Check it out!
The Perot Museum of Nature and Science is thrilled to offer the Kosmos Energy STEM Teacher Institute, a free, yearlong professional development experience for teachers. Institute teachers engage in a 4-day summer academy in June or July and a minimum of 4 workshops through the Perot Museum during the school year.
The Institute is open to all PK-12 teachers, including those serving public, private, parochial, charter, and Montessori schools. We offer two ways to participate in the Institute: a face-to-face training option of in-person workshops or an online, digital option. CPE credit is awarded for all professional development done through the Institute.
Seats in the Institute are limited. Applications will be accepted until the Institute has filled to capacity.
For more information and to apply, please visit our website at www.perotmuseum.org/professionaldevelopment.
FROM THE MAKERSPACE
Happy Making!
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Worth A Read, Watch or...Listen!!
DID YOU SEE THIS AWESOME MINDSET SELF-TALK GRAPHIC ON TWITTER? Be sure to click on the link embedded in this tweet for some amazing FREE visuals/graphics!
CHECK OUT THESE 10 BEST STEM EDUCATION PODCASTS FOR TEACHERS! There are several on this list that I already subscribe to, but there are also some that I can't wait to check out!
ELEMENTARY STUDENTS DESIGN UNDERWATER ROBOTS FOR ANNUAL STEM COMPETITION! The video below highlights this amazing competition that elementary students in New Mexico compete in annually to design the best underwater rover. Aren't kids in STEM amazing??
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DISTRICT ASSESSMENT & STAAR UPDATES
STAAR RESOURCES & UPDATES
INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES PLAYLIST FOR TEACHERS 2018-2019 is a terrific resource that many of our Cannon staff is currently already using, not just as STAAR resource, but as a great resource for instructional/formative assessment strategies that you may have never tried. These playlists of strategy suggestions are extensive and are categorized by:
- movement and discourse playlist
- rehearsal and practice playlist
- extending thinking playlist
- learning from mistakes playlist
- evidence of learning playlist
STAAR Mini-Practice Tests
The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is releasing a series of mini-practice tests, including Spanish versions, that are meant to provide students an opportunity to practice using new online features in the STAAR Online Testing Platform ahead of the spring 2019 test administrations. The mini-practice tests will include the basic calculator tool (English and Spanish versions for mathematics), the dictionary tool (English and Spanish versions for reading and writing), and American Sign Language (ASL) videos (English versions only). These mini-practice tests will be available in the STAAR Online Testing Platform beginning December 31, 2018.
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CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION CORNER
Science Blog and Curriculum Map Information
If you teach science, please take some time to read the GCISD Science blog and watch the screencast explaining our newly designed elementary science curriculum map. Please subscribe to the blog in order to stay up to date!
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INFORMATION TO SHARE IN PARENT NEWSLETTERS
DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO IS INTERESTED IN STEM @ CANNON?
Attention Cannon Parents!
Please feel free to share the information tour dates shown below and ask them to sign up for a tour using this link. Thank you for your help!
Click on the image below for information about ordering meals from the In-N-Out Burger Truck during the Spring Fling!
MATH TELESCOPING EXAMS
Lee esta información en español
Testing opportunities for telescoping in math for the 2019-20 school year are available in the spring and summer for GCISD students who are completing Grades K - 7.
The Math Telescoping Information Packet will be available on the district website under the For Parents and Students Directory by selecting the link for Acceleration Exams, Math Telescoping, Grades K - 7.
Parents will find information about the requirements to qualify for Math Telescoping and instructions about the TWO STEP Online Registration Process. There will be links to print the Information Packet, begin the TWO STEP Online Registration Process to register for the spring exams, view the TEKS on the TEA website, and download Study Guides for the exams purchased from UT-Austin.
The online registration form went live on February 19th for the April 27th test administration.
The online registration form will go live on May 6th for the June 19th test administration.
The exam dates and registration deadlines for each exam date are listed below:
Spring Exam Date: Saturday, April 27, 2019 | 9 a.m. Colleyville Middle School
Online Registration Opens – Spring Exam Date: February 19, 2019
Online Registration Deadline – Spring Exam Date: March 6, 2019
The online registration form will not be available on March 7, 2019
Exam Fee Payment Deadline – Spring Exam Date: March 7, 2019
Summer Exam Date: Wednesday, June 19, 2019 9 a.m. Heritage Middle School
Online Registration Opens – Summer Exam Date: May 6, 2019
Online Registration Closes – Summer Exam Date: May 20, 2019
The online registration form will not be unavailable on May 21, 2019
Exam Fee Payment Deadline – Summer Exam Date: May 21, 2019
The Parental & Family Engagement CONNECTION
The February newsletter (volume 15, 3rd quarter), The Parental & Family Engagement CONNECTION, is available in English, Spanish, German, Korean, and Vietnamese. This edition of the newsletter includes articles about What Kids Can Do When Bullied, What to Do When Your Child Doesn’t Want to Go to School, Helping Your Child with Test Taking, Healthy Breakfast Burritos, Volunteer at Your Child’s School, Strong Athletes – Smart Students, and Fathers and Education.
GOT OLD ELECTRONICS?
Do you have any small old, broken electronics gathering dust? We are collecting these for our Breaker Space and our 4th grade scholars also have a project coming up and could use your old electronics to explore!
Suggestions for small items to donate: (No items with GLASS screens please! )
- Electronic toys - we LOVE these!
- Keyboards
- Remotes
- Small appliances (hair dryers; coffee makers; toasters; styling tools, etc...
- Clocks
- Phones
- Smoke detectors; Flashlights; Tools
- We would love to learn from anything you might have!
Please drop these items off in the front office or send them to school with your students to be taken to the office. THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!
Parent Technology Academy
GCISD Parent Technology Academy is BACK! Come and learn along with others about the ever-changing world of technology in which your children are living!
Spring Parent Technology Academy Sessions
GCISD Technology is excited to announce our Spring Session line up with several new sessions. Stay tuned as more will be added to our list as we keep receiving the request from the community.
March 21st - Internet Addiction " Gaming"--SIGN UP HERE
More than 5 million kids may be addicted to video games. 31% of males and 12 % of females report that have felt addicted to gaming. Come to hear from Dr Kay Trotter, PhD, LPC-s, RPT-S from local Kaleidoscope Behavioral Health as she discusses the signs and symptoms of this growing addiction. Learn some tips and be a part of the discussion around online gaming and internet addiction.
April 16th - Apps Parents Need to Know -SIGN UP HERE
Take part in this interactive discussion around the growing world of apps that students are using. Go being the scenes to hear the truth behind the apps and what dangers there are to those who use them
Virtual Session Coming Soon - Fortnite ( a Parents Guide ) - SIGN UP HERE
Many have asked some come and experience Fortnite for parents. Hear about details of the game and dive into parental settings for the various gaming systems students use to play online.
All sessions can be found on the Parent Technology Academy Webpage
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TWITTER REMINDERS FOR @canSTEM
BIG thanks to all of our staff members that have already been actively tweeting about the great learning going on in your classrooms!
Please help us reach our campus goal for all staff to participate in a 5-minute a day communication plan, as stated in George Couros's quote shown here. It's truly a simple way to SHARE & LEARN from the best minds in GCISD! I am going to be highlighting our school twitter account HEAVILY with parents & our school community, to help create our own "outward culture of celebration"!!
As a reminder, please include our school's handle, @canSTEM, and our hashtag, #BeCannonProud in all of your tweets, so that they can be automatically retweeted on our school account. At the end of the day, simply go to @canSTEM and scroll through our school's tweets for 5 minutes and see what your colleagues are sharing! If you want to learn more from them about an idea they shared....you will only have to walk across the building to get more information firsthand!
Please click here to see our staff list of social media accounts. Please add/update any information so that we can make sure we follow each other!
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TO-DO LIST
- Set a timer and complete daily attendance ON TIME every day!
- Review Anne's TELPAS testing information for this week
- Use the U.CAN meeting time on Monday to finalize your team's plans/work for Family Engineering Night on Thursday!
- Review the info in this newsletter about the "push-out" Student Voice surveys that will go to students on Tuesday, March 5th.
- Create your Teacher Wish List for the Book Fair, either online or in the Learning Commons!
- Consider applying for the Perot/KOSMOS Energy teacher STEM Institute.
- Consider applying to be part of the Grading & Assessment Leadership opportunity.
- Make sure your grade level STEM "brag boards" & artifacts are on display for tours this week! District Tours are on Tuesday morning and parent tours are Tuesday afternoon.
- Prepare to host an AMAZING Family Engineering Night to all of our Cannon families!!
- Complete the Energy Shutdown checklist before leaving for Spring Break.
- See the Information To Share With Parents section of this newsletter for communication about campus events & other district news that needs to be included in your own newsletters, blogs, etc...
- HAVE A RELAXING AND FUN SPRING BREAK! Take care of YOU!!
- Please click here to see our staff list of social media accounts. Please add/update any information so that we can make sure we follow each other!
- Review the information in this newsletter about the 5-minute a day communication plan. Tweet & blog about all of the great things you are doing in your classroom/grade! Don't forget to use @canSTEM and our hashtag #BeCannonProud this year in all of your tweets!