Caraway Principal's Newsletter
January 16, 2017
Friday the halls were buzzing as students headed to their academies. It's always a fun experience for our students and we are excited to continue the growth of this initiative on our campus. Thank you parents for your support of our students and campus. I hope you had a great weekend.
Warm Regards,
Katrina Bailey, Principal
Aviation Academy
STEAM Academy
Pet Palace
Imagination and Meditation Academy
Environmental Heroes
Lego Energy Academy
Upcoming Events for January
- January 16 - No School/Martin Luther King Jr. Day
- January 18 - Science Fair and Science Night 6:00-8:00 p.m.
- January 19 - Mustang Express for 5th Graders (visit to CVMS)
Innovation Lab Fun
Innovation Lab Fun!
More Happy Students
Innovation Lab
As we are continuing in our design, the idea is to accommodate a wide range of activities, materials and tools. A possible range of activities might include:
- Cardboard construction
- Engineering
- Coding
- Woodworking
- Electronics
- Robotics
- Digital fabrication
- Building kinetic machines
- Textiles and sewing
We are currently in the process of building a Lego Wall. If you :), or your child has outgrown their Legos we will gladly take them.
Engineering Day, February 24th
On Friday, February 24th Caraway will hold it’s 2nd annual Engineering Day! We are inviting all interested parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, older siblings and friends to participate.
We want to give the students a broad a view of engineering possibilities, so we want to host engineers from many different disciplines. Please consider coming into school to share your love for engineering, how you’re creating solutions to everyday problems, how you’re merging art and technology to create wonderful new things or how you’re working with teams to change the landscape of our world!
Engineering Day will run for the first half of the day February 24th and be organized into three 45-minute rotations. We’d love to have you participate for as many rotations as you are able. You can indicate your availability when you sign-up. (Please note, you’ll need to arrive at school at least 15 minutes before your scheduled rotation begins.)
Rotation 1: 8:15am-9:00am
Rotation 2: 9:00am-9:45am
Rotation 3: 9:45am-10:30am
You can sign-up to help in three different capacities this year:
(1) You can give a presentation to a classroom or combination of classes demonstrating something from your real-world engineering experience that will be interesting and engaging for the students. (see Volunteer Signup link below)
(2) For those with coding experience, you can assist in our laptop rooms to help kids run Hour of Code apps to build upon their coding experience. (see Volunteer Signup link below)
(3) You can help your child’s homeroom teacher if extra help is needed to run hands-on activities in the classroom. (Look for communication from your child’s teacher for help in the classroom.)
We want this to be an inspiring day for the students, so presentations need to be age-appropriate. Every presentation needs to have something that is “hands-on.” Demonstrations and interactive presentations are encouraged. Be creative, and have fun! The DiscoverE.org website has great, quick online training we encourage everyone to view to prepare for presenting to grade-level audiences. “Effectively Talking to Kids about Engineering” and “Leading Kids Through a Successful Engineering Experience” are both great.
To assist in scheduling and best align presentations with grade-level groups, we’re requiring volunteers sign-up by January 30th. Please complete the Google Form in the link below to let us know how you want to help and give us more information about your presentation for the students.
Caraway Elementary 2017 Engineering Day Volunteer Signup Link
The committee will provide feedback on submitted presentations if needed to adjust for engagement and age-level appropriateness. While we want to match you with your kids, please be aware that the schedule may not allow you to present in all classrooms of all your children.
Thank you in advance for volunteering to participate. Your involvement will be a tremendous blessing! We look forward to making this a stimulating day for all our students that will hopefully ignite a passion in some to go further into the problem-solving discipline of engineering.
Erica Gant
Volunteer Coordinator, Engineering Day
PTA News
Denim Drive Recap
Let's ring some bells for 1ST GRADE, who donated 39 pairs of jeans to win 1ST PLACE for Caraway's "Jean-gle Bell Denim Drive." 1st graders will start off the new year with a special snack party reward in January. Congratulations!!
Across all grades, Caraway donated a total of 174 pairs of jeans to the RRISD Clothes Closet. Your donations make a real difference to families in our community.
Of course, we collect gently-used clothes (not just jeans) year-round in the PTA Room for the Clothes Closet -- and we also need volunteers to help sort clothes once a month. Email hnellene@alumni.utexas.net for more information.
Science Night
We also have some volunteering opportunities. In case you are willing to help out, please email to carawaysciencenight@gmail.com.
We love to see you all there.
Science Fair Volunteers Needed
Dear Caraway Parents and Friends,
We are in need of volunteers for the Kathy Caraway Elementary Science Fair coming up soon on January 18, 2017. We need adults to help assist with guiding parents and judges to the appropriate rooms that morning, monitors for each of the three judging rooms, judges for the fair itself, and monitors for the rooms later that evening during project viewing time during Science Night.
Please click on the link below to learn more, and to sign up.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at: nicole.dockrey@gmail.com
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C094EAAA829A5FB6-caraway
Daily School Schedule
7:35 a.m. First Morning Bell
7:40 a.m. Tardy Bell/All Doors Lock/Start of School Day
2:50 p.m. End of the School Day
Caraway Office Staff
Melanie Solis, Assistant Principal
Marjan Amiri, Counselor
Judy Gullen, Nurse
Pam Bauerkemper, Administrative Assistant
Nancy Richards, Registrar
Cheryl Borden, Office Specialist