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 6, 2019
Principal Message
We would also like to extend an invitation for you to join us for our Fourth Grade Music Program. The program will begin at 6:30 PM on December 10th.
Pre-registration forms for the Winter Party will be completed electronically. Please fill out your child’s form by Dec.13th to avoid the long lines. The link to register can be found below. Your pre-registration sticker will go home on Dec. 19th for the Winter Party. Please be sure to check your child’s backpack.
We would also like to remind you that our Winter Break officially begins Monday, December 23rd and classes will resume on January 6th. The staff at Gleason wishes you and your family a happy, safe and restful holiday.
Winter Party- Friday, December 20th
Morning Party: AM Pre-K, 10:30-11:00
Afternoon Parties: Grades K-2, 1:00-1:30; and Grades PM PK and 3-5, 2:30-3:00
Due to limited space and trying to provide the safest and most enjoyable environment possible, we are implementing the following guidelines. We appreciate your support in advance.
We are limiting students to 2 guests, including parents/guardians; and guests must be at least 18 years old, not in high school, and will need a V-Soft Sticker or Visitor Sticker to attend. Children 0-4 years of age are also permitted to attend. Students from other elementary, middle, or high school are not permitted to attend the parties.
IDs must be scanned into our system AND the note attached must be returned PRIOR to December 13 to receive a V-Soft Sticker/Visitor Sticker in ADVANCE for the party. NO EXCEPTIONS. Feel free to come by between 9:00-10:30 AM and 1:30-3:00 PM Dec. 9th – Dec. 13th.
If you are not able to attend, but would like to send a visitor in your place, make sure the person is at least 18 years old, not in high school, and has been scanned into the V-Soft System.
If you or your visitor has not been scanned, then you will need to wait in line prior to the beginning of your child’s grade level party to receive a Visitor Sticker. We will begin checking IDs 30 minutes prior to each party and not before that time so that the front desk is able to attend to regular daily responsibilities.
If your visitor does not have a valid Texas/US ID, then the parent/guardian must attend the party with the visitor and the visitor will need to remain with the parent/guardian and wear the Visitor Sticker.
Checking Students Out of School
We encourage you to leave your child in school, however, if you choose to check your student out of school early, please follow the procedures below.
Sign your child out in the teacher’s classroom.
If you choose to have someone other than yourself sign your child out after the afternoon party, you will need to send a note in advance and no later than 8:50 am the day of the party.
Staff members will be standing by exit doors to ensure student safety and will not be able to gather students from classrooms for requests made after 8:50 am, December 20.
If you are allowing the visitor who is taking your place to take the child out of school, please indicate that on the note attached.
NO LUNCH VISITORS OR DELIVERIES PERMITTED ON PARTY DAY
Check your child’s backpack Thursday, December 19 for the 2 V-Soft/Visitor Stickers that will allow you to enter the building and attend the party without waiting in line. Place your sticker on your shirt where all can see, and when the doors open, you will be able to walk directly to your child’s party.Upcoming Family Nights
Math Night:
Mark your calendars! Come join us Under the Big Top for Family Math night on Tuesday, January 21st from 6-7:30pm. This event is for students and their families where everyone will play games and students will take some home too! We hope to see you there!
Pre-K Family Night
Calling all Pre-K students and their families! Mark your calendar for Pre-K Family night on Thursday, February 20th from 6:30 to 7:30pm. This event will offer parents ideas for how to support your Pre-K student at home. We hope to see you there!
A Note from the Nurse....Mrs. Compton
The clinic is in need of both boys and girls winter clothes, pants especially. Gently used clothing that meet the school dress code are appreciated. Clothing can be dropped off at the clinic.
A gentle reminder that all medication must be brought to the clinic by a parent, guardian or other responsible adult and will be secured in the clinic. For the safety and protection of all students, medication will not be sent home with students. Students will not be allowed to carry medications, cough drops, chapstick etc.
From the Library....Mrs. Jones
Author Visit
Celebrated author Angela Cervantes is coming to Gleason Elementary December 10th to talk with our 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. A school cash order link was sent earlier for anyone interested in purchasing her books. She will autograph them on the 10th and they should be sent home that day. Please visit her website at www.angelacervantes.com. A huge THANK YOU to Gleason PTO for funding this author visit.
Name That Book
All students 3rd, 4th & 5th Grade students will be participating in the NAME THAT BOOK PROGRAM by reading the fabulous books. The mission of the Name That Book (NTB) Program is to foster a life-long love of reading in all 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. A list of books that encompasses a wide variety of genres has been provided, and students are encouraged to read as many as possible. The 100 books are chosen by CFISD librarians and are available at our library.
This program culminates annually with a series of contests to celebrate the students’ comprehensive knowledge of the books. Students participate at the team level by reading at least 6 books from the list.
Name that Book link: https://www.cfisd.net/download_file/31341/348/
Spelling Bee
December 9 at 9:15 in the cafeteria.
On Demand Checkout
The Gleason Library is open for checkout almost every day. Your child does not have to wait for the whole class to come to the library in order to check in a book they have read and checkout a new book. This privilege is extended to students in grades 2 to 5. We add 2nd grade this year and they are doing a great job of returning and checking out books. So, if your child has a book that they have finished reading, encourage them to seek permission from their teacher to make a trip to the library.
PBIS NEWS
Our students had the opportunity to spend their tiger bucks on the PBIS raffle with the tiger bucks that they earned for their ROARing behavior. The raffle was drawn on November 22nd. Did your child join in on the raffle fun? December 16th and 17th, we will have the Holiday ROAR Store. Students will be able to purchase a maximum of three gifts with the Tiger Bucks they earn for their ROARing behavior on the bus and at school. If you're able to volunteer, we need wrappers. It definitely gets you in the giving spirit to see the joy in the kids faces as they find the perfect gift for their loved ones. We are also collecting new or gently used items that would make great gifts for the holiday. Our best sellers are picture frames, candles, toys, books, bags, purses necklaces, bracelets, blankets and ornaments. We also will need tissue paper, jewelry boxes and holiday bags for wrapping. All donations may be brought to the front office. If you're willing to donate your time, please contact Gleason at 281-517-6800 and share your interest.
From the Counselor....Mrs. Salazar
This month we are focusing on the the word joy. We want our student to find a way to be happy even when things don't go their way. This is a life skill that will help your child be more successful because we do not have control over others actions, but we do have control over how we respond. Having resilience and self-regulation will allows us to find joy in situations.
Tips to Find Joy
- Get connected by building strong, positive relationships that provide support and acceptance in both good and bad times.
- Make every day meaningful by doing something that gives you a sense of accomplishment and purpose.
- Learn from experience to guide your future decisions.
- Remain hopeful because we cannot change the past, but we can adapt to the future.
- Take care of yourself by eating healthy, getting plenty of sleep, water and exercise and taking care of your emotional needs.
- Be proactive by taking action in the things you can control.
We appreciate you for helping us make the value come alive each month by pointing out examples of joy. At school, if your child is demonstrating the monthly value that we're focusing on, they may earn tiger bucks, a positive office referral or a spirit stick from a staff member. We appreciate you for being a part of our team by participating in building these inward attitudes into outward behaviors and supporting the upcoming activities.
November Core Value- JOY
Grade Level News
Pre-Kindergarten
It is hard to believe that we have reached our halfway mark through the year. We feel fortunate to have the opportunity to watch your children grow as they practice and acquire new skills and develop their oral language through free exploration and social interaction. During the month of December we will continue to work with identifying letters and producing letter sounds, identifying beginning sound in words, and producing and recognizing rhyming words.
During our math class, the students have enjoyed using pumpkins to graph, sort, and explore. We will continue to interpret graphs, recognize numerals 0-9, and count up to ten objects, with one number for each object. Thank you so much for your continued support to make this a successful year. We look forward to full day Pre-K being implemented on January 6.
Kindergarten
We are excited to learn about the guinea pigs that will be visiting with us this month! Thank you to the parent volunteers who make this possible for our kindergarten kiddos. In reading, we are using our 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. We are growing our minds and strengthening our reading stamina by becoming independent readers. In math, we will begin to compare numbers by saying if the number is more than, less than, or the same as a given number up to 20. We are also continuing to compose and decompose numbers up to 10. In writing, we are continuing to think about our story, planning stories across each page and adding more details to our pictures. As the cold weather approaches, please make sure that your child has their name on all cold weather items (jacket, hat, scarf, gloves, etc.). Also, please update your child’s change of clothes to pants and a long sleeved shirt. Please remember that your child needs to bring a healthy snack and water bottle daily. We wish you and your family happy holidays and cannot wait to see you in the new year!
First Grade
In the upcoming weeks, First grade is truly excited to see how our students are becoming Reading Detectives in order to help them decode words in their books! In Writing, the students will be studying how to write reviews and how to express their opinions in a thoughtful and evidence based manner. Students will complete their Middle of Year benchmarks for Reading, Writing, Istation and HFW.
In Math the students will learn how to compare and order tens and ones using place value up to the number 99. Also we will learn how to identify coins and their value and count by 2s, 5s, and 10s.
We look forward to finishing out the first semester strong!
Second Grade
During reading, we are continuing to interact with fiction and informational texts by asking questions, making inferences and making personal and text -to-text connections.
We are excited to begin writing informational paragraphs in Writing Workshop. We will be giving information and supporting details on topics we know about and have experienced.
Our 2nd grade mathematicians will begin learning about customary and metric measurement. They will also be telling time by the hour, half hour and to the minute. Begin practicing telling time with your child using an analog clock.
During Science, our students will begin exploring the earth's natural resources. They will understand the importance of taking care of our world.
Third Grade
This month in Reading, we will be diving into informational texts. We will explore the various structures informational texts can take on, such as a sequential structure or a descriptive structure. We will also analyze the graphic features present in informational texts. We will identify the most important information provided even without headings as a guide. We will also be recording our thinking before, during, and after reading various pieces by stopping and jotting.
In Language Arts, we will be immersing ourselves into informational paragraphs. We will identify the structure needed for informational paragraphs: a main idea with supporting details. Once we are familiar with this structure, we will be writing our own informational paragraphs on a topic of choice.
This month in Math, we will continue to discuss and solve one and two-step word problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. We will move on to discuss data analysis. Students will apply mathematical process standards to solve problems by collecting, organizing, displaying and interpreting data. We will discuss bar graphs, pictographs, frequency tables and dot plots. We will also be having our Math DPM on Tuesday, December 17th and Wednesday, December 18th.
In Science, we will continue to discuss and observe weather changes. We will also be comparing weather in different cities. We will begin our Geology unit by discussing different landforms. We learn about how rapid changes can cause the Earth’s surface to change. We will finish the month learning how soil is formed by decomposition.
Fourth Grade
Happy Holidays from 4th grade. We hope you enjoy your holiday break and you are able to keep our students reading twenty minutes a day.
In Math we are currently working through Division area model and standard algorithm up to 4 digit dividends by 1 digit divisor. Next up will be Fractions focusing on unit fractions and decomposing fractions. Math DPM will take place on Dec. 10 and 11th.
In Science we are currently working on a Weather Unit.
In Reading we are working on further developing stronger readers specifically working in Nonfiction.
In Writing we are currently working on further exposure to Informational Essay Writing.
Fifth Grade
We are working hard this month on our unit with measurement. We will use formulas to calculate the perimeter and area of squares and rectangles as well as the volume of rectangular prisms and cubes. Using different units of measurement we will measure to the nearest quarter unit such as quarter inch/cm/mm etc. The foundations of this unit will be the student's fluency in multiplication math facts. Students should have their math facts memorized by now. Keep practicing at home and making it fun to learn and memorize.
In Science we will be learning about the Water Cycle, Weather, Climate , Planet Order and Earth’s Rotation. Our Science DPM will be on December 12th.
In reading, we are wrapping up our fiction unit and beginning our informational unit. As your child reads at home, ask them what the genre of their book is and have them point out characteristics specific to that genre. Have them name the text and graphic features of their book. If they’re reading fiction, have a conversation about the main character and the supporting characters. Talking to your child about what they’re reading has tremendous benefits. In writing, we are wrapping up our fiction stories and we’ll be working on composing an informational piece. Be sure to ask your child what their topic of focus is and what they know about their topic.
Upcoming Events
December 9- Gleason Spelling Bee 9:15 AM
December 10- Author Angela Cervantes visits 3rd-5th
December 10- 4th Grade Music Program 6:30-7:30 pm
December 20- Winter Parties No lunch visitors no lunch deliveries
10:30-11:00 AM PK
1:00-1:30 KG, 1st, and 2nd
2:30-3:00 PM PK, 3rd, 4th, and 5th
December 23-January 3- Winter Break
January 6- Classes Resume
January 17- Marking period 2 ends
January 21- Marking Period 3 begins
January 20- Student/Staff Holiday
January 21- Family Math Night 6:00-7:30 pm
January 24- Report Cards go home
January 27- CFISD Horizon Showcase
Important information about lunches
December 20th
District’s Student Insurance
Below is the link to the district’s student insurance webpage.
http://www.cfisd.net/en/parents-students/registration/student-insurance/