Giesinger Gazette
August 3, 2020
Eagles Soar to Excellence
Our Campus Mission:
The mission of Giesinger Elementary is to ensure high levels of learning to facilitate continuous growth of the whole child.
Our Vision:
We envision a school in which staff provide a safe, caring, and positive learning community for all children; create a collaborative culture among children, families and staff; establish high levels of learning by frequently monitoring student progress; and demonstrate a personal commitment to the academic success and general well-being of each child .
2014 National Blue Ribbon School
An Update from Mrs. Ralston
Hello Giesinger Families,
The staff at Giesinger Elementary is hard at work preparing for a successful 2020-2021 school year. We will be ready to greet our Eagles virtually on the first day of school, August 12th.
Teachers will send out welcome emails to their students by Friday, August 7th. A Sign-up Genius link will be included in the email for virtual "Meet-the-Teacher" appointments on Monday, August 10th. Teachers will do their best to accommodate the needs of their students' families for "Meet-the-Teacher." Even in these different times, this is still my favorite time of year. I can't wait to start school with our Eagles.
We know many of you have questions about a remote start, so we want to share some things about our new online structure:
Everything your student will need for their online learning can be found in their Seesaw course (PreK-2nd grades) or their Canvas course (3rd-4th grades). This means there is only ONE log in to get to their teacher and lessons. Teachers will be sending information explaning how to access Seesaw and Canvas prior to the first day of school, August 12th.
Our teachers are creating lessons which, in some cases, can be watched live, but in all cases will be available as a recorded option so the students can watch the lessons as often as they wish and also on a schedule which works for your student and your family.
Students will be expected to be engaged/online daily, but it will never be required to be online at a specific time.
Attendance will be taken daily based on their engagement. Your student must log on and participate every day to be counted “present”. Teachers will check attendance every day for the day before. So, your student has to log on and participate at some point during every school day (12:00am-11:59pm) to be counted present. If your student did not log on or communicate with their teacher at any time during that day, they will be counted absent for that school day. It is mandatory that CISD follow the attendance guidelines set by the State of Texas.
Students will be able to complete their assignments at their own pace throughout the day; however, each assignment will have a clearly stated due date.
Teachers will have posted times when they will be available for questions and interactions. Students and parents are invited to contact teachers by phone, email or set up a face to face online conference if help is needed.
On September 8, the online curriculum will mimic the teaching that is going on in the classroom. With this, we are so grateful that our students will be able to have a seamless transition from in person to online, should that event occur.
Please continue to check the District's Roadmap to Reopening web page for updated information. Conroe ISD will share additional information in the coming days about the start of school.
We can't wait to start a new school year with all of you! For questions, please call the front office at 936-709-2600. We appreciate your support and we look forward to serving you and your students this school year!
Stay safe,
Melissa Ralston, Principal
Parent Volunteers Requested.See Link Below.
Virtual Learning Technology Needs
Conroe ISD has chosen a remote learning plan for all students August 12 until September 8. All students will need to have access to technology while at home. Please complete the Technology Needs Survey if your child needs either a chromebook or iPad.
We will be distributing technology curb side at Giesinger August 10th and 11th.
Technology Needs Survey: https://forms.gle/rHzybw8Lbv9fKqpw6
Technology Distribution for Giesinger Students
We appreciate your patience as we prepare our technology devices for distribution. We are excited to launch our technology curb side pick up starting this Friday, August 7th, 2020, at 8:00 AM. Please drive up to the front of the school to receive your child(s) device. A Giesinger staff member will check out the device to you along with a copy of the device agreement form.
If you do not have internet access, the district has set up 20 access points for access (Conroe HS is the closest to our campus). For more information, please click the link (1:02:00 mark) of Dr. Nulls previous town hall meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQf2ze271_k&t=3750s
Listed below are pick up times for technology for Giesinger students. Student's in grades Pre-K-2 will receive iPad's, and grades 3-4 student's will receive google chrome laptops to complete their virtual assignments.
Friday, August 7, 2020: 8:00 AM- 3:00 PM
Saturday, August 8, 2020: 9:00 AM- 2:00 PM
Monday, August 10, 2020: 8:00 AM- 6:00 PM
Tuesday, August 11, 2020: 8:00 AM- 3:00 PM
Thank you all again for your patience. We look forward to seeing you all and connecting!
Conroe ISD Technology Help Desk
Weekdays beginning Monday, August 10th
7:30 a.m. until 9:00 p.m.
You can call 936-709-7658 or email help@conroeisd.net
*Canvas users can also click the "Help" button prior to loggin in.
New Student Registration
If you have pre-kindergarten or kindergarten age children or a new student who will be attending Giesinger next year, please register them. The link to register is below.
To enter in Pre-Kindergarten in Conroe ISD, a child must be four years old on or before September 1 of the current school year and meet eligible requirements. Please go to the Conroe ISD website for more information.
To enter the Kindergarten program in Conroe ISD, a child must be five years old on or before September 1 of the current school year.
Below is a list of documents that can be provided to establish identity and age for registration:
- birth certificate,
- passport
- school ID card
- military ID
- hospital birth record
- adoption record
- or other legal document that establishes identity
Should you have any questions please contact our Registrar, Mrs. Rickwalt, at rrickwalt@conroeisd.net or call Giesinger at 936-709-2600.
Wearing Masks
At this time, third and fourth grade students in Conroe ISD will be required to wear masks at school. Please know that masks and face shields are not comparable protective equipment. We highly encourage students in kindergarten through second grade to wear face masks at school as well. Students and staff who are wearing masks are less likely to be required to leave school or quarantine. Wearing a mask protects our ability to work and to attend school.
Meal Distribution
- Free Curbside Meal Distribution will continue Tuesday/ Thursday 10-12 through August 11 at Caney Creek High, Oak Ridge High and Sam Houston Elementary.
- Beginning Thursday, August 13, breakfast and lunch meals will be available curbside at every campus for students to purchase or free to students who qualify.
- Curbside Meals will no longer be free for all students.
- Meals will be available on the bus ramp (or designated location) at each school Tuesdays and Thursdays 10 AM-12 PM.
- Multiple meals will be distributed on pick up days. Tuesday: 2 breakfast meals/ 2 lunch meals Thursday: 3 breakfast meals/ 3 lunch meals
- A student meal card located in Parent Access must be presented to scan and identify the student when meals are picked up.
- This can be printed on paper or presented electronically on a phone.
- No change will be made for cash transactions- any change will be applied to student's meal account. Pre-payments can be made at www.myschoolbucks.com .
- Meal prices and the free and reduced meal application are available on the child nutrition website. https://www.conroeisd.net/department/child-nutrition/ .
- The drop date for students to use Free and Reduced benefits from last year is September 24. After this, students will be a "paid status" until a new application is completed.
- Parents can go online to complete a Free and Reduced application for the 20-21 school year. www.myschoolapps.com
- Pre K students are not automatically free this year. An application is required.
- Child Nutrition will deliver Student ID cards to each K-12 campus by August 14 for students to use for meals during in-person instruction.
- Cards will have notches to be attached to lanyards if needed.
Giesinger Elementary Protocols
General Information
- All parents and students are asked to self-screen for COVID-19 prior to leaving home each morning.
- Utilize good hygiene throughout the day.
- Practice social distancing as much as possible.
- At this time, third and fourth grade students in Conroe ISD will be required to wear masks at school. We highly encourage students in pre-kindergarten through second grade to wear face masks at school as well.
Arrival Protocols
- Separate entrances are provided for bus/daycare riders, walkers/bikers, and car riders.
- Hand sanitizer stations are provided at each campus entrance and in each classroom and students/staff will use this upon entering the campus and classrooms.
- Entry doors will be propped open for no touch entry. Staff will supervise to ensure unauthorized persons do not enter opened entry doors.
- Staff will supervise arriving students to ensure hallway safety protocols are followed.
- Students will not congregate together in large enclosed areas waiting to report to staff.
- Parents will not be allowed to accompany students into the school at any time, including the first day of school.
- Students who buy breakfast will eat in their classroom to avoid congregating in the cafeteria during arrival.
Dismissal Protocols
- Students will be dismissed in staggered departure times by walker/daycare, car riders and bus riders from their classrooms to decrease the risk of congregating. The CISD Car Rider and Bus Hub app will be utilized to communicate with teachers regarding dismissal of students.
- All available (non-classroom) staff will be utilized to supervise departing students.
- Hand sanitizer stations are provided at each campus exit and in each classroom and students/staff will use this when exiting the campus and classrooms.
- Exterior doors will be propped open and supervised to minimize contact.
- Parents must remain in designated area (walkers) or in their vehicle (car riders) as they wait for their student(s).
- In the event that a parent has to pick a student up before dismissal, they will use the Giesinger curbside protocol (see below).
- All students will be dismissed from their classroom to avoid congregating in their classroom. Students will be dismissed as their family arrives or bus/daycare arrives.
- Campus will follow new dismissal protocols for walkers, car riders, bus, and daycare.
- Walkers will be dismissed from the playground gated area along White Oak by grade level. Parents/guardians should social distance when waiting for students to exit. Students will be released by grade level according to the following times:
3:20 PK/K
3:30 1st/2nd grades
- Car riders will be dismissed as “flights” and students will be at cones to wait for their families.
- Bus/Daycare will be dismissed from the back of the campus.
Transition Protocols
- Students and staff will stay to the far right side of the hallways and throughout the campus to reduce the possibility of contact. Campus wide visuals and language will be used to remind students of this procedure “Walk Right, Stay Right”.
- Classroom doors will be propped open to reduce high touch areas when possible.
- Classrooms will stagger releases from each class (when traveling to common areas-lunch, recess, specials) to limit the number of students in the hallway during transitions, when possible.
- Students will use visual cues (arrows and dots) on the floor to assist in social distancing and relay hallway expectations of “Walk Right, Stay Right”.
- All available (non-classroom) staff will be utilized to supervise transitions and maintain social distancing.
- Teachers, along with support staff, will supervise restrooms to ensure social distancing and safety protocols are followed.
Students will use visuals (social distance dots on the floor) to know where to stand when waiting for the restroom. The amount of stalls in the restroom will determine the capacity of the restroom. (For example, if a restroom has two stalls, only two students will be allowed in that area at a time. Other students will have to wait on the dots outside until one becomes available.
When possible, grade levels will use a designated restroom to minimize contact.
- Students will use hand sanitizer during each transition upon entering and exiting the classroom and/or common area.
Lunch Protocols
- Cafeteria capacity will be based upon current guidelines.
- Physical distance will be provided around each available seat.
- Seats will be marked by visual (dot) so students are clear on where to sit that maintains social distancing. Students will be provided a bar code identification card that will be used to purchase breakfast/lunches and avoid using a keypad to purchase their breakfast/ lunch. Break-away lanyards will be provided by the school to attach to student identification cards and will be stored in the classroom each day to minimize contact.
- Seating charts will be used to log all students at all times in the cafeteria.
- Students will use visual cues (arrows and dots) on the floor to reinforce physical distance and traffic patterns in the cafeteria.
- In the event that students are not able to lunch in the cafeteria, classrooms as well as other designated areas will be used to create social distancing.
- Lunch times are subject to change in order to reduce the number of students in the cafeteria at one time.
- Hand sanitizer will be provided at cafeteria entrances and exits.
- All available staff will be utilized to supervise cafeteria procedures and maintain social distancing.
- No visitors will be allowed in the building for lunch.
- Parents are encouraged to make prepayments on students’ accounts using MySchool Bucks, cash, or checks to avoid cash transactions during meal service.
- Cafeteria meals will be pre-packaged in boats/bags for easy transport to classrooms, if necessary, and to prevent food from being exposed to others.
- Food will be pre-packaged for quick selection to decrease the amount of time spent in line.
- A la carte items will be limited to limit time spent in line.
Recess Protocols
- All grade level teachers will be on duty monitoring students at recess.
- Recess schedules are subject to change in order to limit the number of students on the playground at a given time.
- Staff will supervise students on the playground to supervise procedures and maintain social distancing.
Classroom Protocols
- Students will use hand sanitizer upon entering and exiting classrooms at all times. Students may wash their hands in lieu of hand sanitizers when the classroom setup allows for hand washing.
- Hand sanitizer will be provided by CISD and available to classrooms at all times.
- Teachers and staff will make every effort to distance students away from one another as much as instructionally possible.
- Students will use their own supplies. Sharing of supplies will be limited and in the event that it is necessary, will be cleaned and wiped down with disinfectant between student use.
- Students will use backpacks to hold school supplies. Backpacks may be used to transport materials to departmentalized teachers as well as art classes.
- Teachers will develop and implement classroom procedures that limit student movement such as turning in assignments and passing out materials.
- Students will be taught procedures to sanitize their personal work space with hand sanitizer or cleaning wipes.
- Teachers will have students engage in supervised handwashing following proper handwashing guidelines (at least 20 seconds at least two times each day) in addition to washing hands after using the restroom and before eating
- Visual cues and school wide common language will be used to help students with social distancing and proper handwashing.
- Commonly-touched surfaces in classrooms will be cleaned and disinfected between student groups.
- Ongoing instruction will be provided to students on appropriate hygiene practices as well as campus protocols.
Visitor Protocol
- Only visitors essential to school operations will be permitted to enter Giesinger Elementary.
- Virtual meetings will be used to reduce the number of campus visitors.
- All individuals entering the building must wear a face mask covering their mouth and nose at all times.
- Visitors will be required to complete a COVID 19 screening form in the reception area prior to entering the building.
- Parents needing to drop items off for a student will contact the school to arrange a curbside pick-up.
- Visitors and staff will maintain appropriate social distancing for student meetings, including ARD’s and 504 meetings.
- Deliveries to students including lunches will be limited and on an emergency basis only. Students who forget their lunch will be allowed to charge a meal to the cafeteria.
- PTO meetings will be held virtually to minimize outside contact.
Clinic Protocols
- There will be a separate area designated for “sick” and “well” visits to the clinic.
- Mrs. Corbit will make classroom visits to students in order to minimize movement in the hallway.
School Supplies
If your family is in need of school supplies for the 2020-2021 school year, please contact Mrs. Barton at abarton@conroeisd.net or 936-709-2608. Please do so by August 7th.
If you pre-ordered school supplies then our PTO will be sending information for curb side pick-up on August 10-11 at Giesinger.
2019-2020 Yearbooks
2020-2021 CISD Calendar
Get Connected!
Stay in touch with CISD by downloading our new mobile app!
Download the app on your mobile device today and select ‘yes’ to receive push notifications with the latest news and updates from the District.
Key Features:
- Push Notifications - Select ‘yes’ when you download the app to receive the latest push notifications from the District.
- Calendar Events - Add events to the calendar on your personal mobile device directly from the calendar section on the app.
- News - Check out the latest District-wide and school news all in one place!
School Messenger
All SMS messages received from the Conroe ISD District Office and your child's campus will begin with "Conroe ISD:" and come from the subscribe code 67587. If you have not yet opted-in to receive SMS messages, you can do so at any time throughout the school year by texting "Y" to 67587.
Would You Like to Join the Giesinger PTO?
Our PTO believes in the students, staff, and families at Giesinger. By contributing to our fundraisers, you are making all kinds of quality programs and events available to ALL of our students!
Membership Donation Levels:
$10 Bronze Individual Membership
$25 Silver Individual Membership
$50 Gold Individual Membership
https://giesinger.conroeisd.net/committee/get-involved/pto/
The purpose of the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) is to:
(a) promote the welfare of children at Giesinger
(b) to foster cooperation between parents and teachers in the education of children at Giesinger
(c) to unite school and community efforts in securing for all children the best education
(d) to engage in fundraising activities for the educational and recreational benefit of Giesinger, its children, teachers, and staff as determined by the PTO and in accordance with the PTO by-laws.
Parent Access Login
To access your child’s information online you must register for an account.
Please go to the following link and follow the directions below:
Click the “Student/Parent” tab
Click on “Parent Access Center”
Click “Register”
Amazon Smile~ You shop. Amazon gives.
Select Giesinger Elementary School as your charity!
What is AmazonSmile?
AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support your favorite charitable organization every time you shop, at no cost to you. When you shop at smile.amazon.com, you’ll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to your favorite charitable organizationHow do I shop at AmazonSmile?
To shop at AmazonSmile simply go to smile.amazon.com from the web browser on your computer or mobile device. You may also want to add a bookmark to smile.amazon.com to make it even easier to return and start your shopping at AmazonSmile.How do I select a charitable organization to support when shopping on AmazonSmile?
On your first visit to AmazonSmile smile.amazon.com, you need to select a charitable organization to receive donations from eligible purchases before you begin shopping. We will remember your selection, and then every eligible purchase you make at smile.amazon.com will result in a donation.School Information
- Our doors open at 7:30 for all students.
- Students are counted "tardy" after 8:00. Instruction begins promptly at 8:00 and we want our students present and ready to learn!
- Please do not drop off students before 7:30 as there is no adult supervision on the front porch.
- Breakfast is served from 7:30-7:55.
- Transportation changes need to be made by 2:00. Emergency transportation changes can me made no later than 2:30.
- Students will not be checked out after 2:30.
- Dismissal begins at 3:10.
- Please display your car or walker sign when picking your students up each day. This is for the safety for all students and to help our staff and substitutes on duty.
- Thank you for your continued support. Eagles Soar to Excellence in All We Do!
Meet The Giesinger Office Staff
Connect With Us!
"Eagles Soar to Excellence In All We Do!"
Email: giesinger@conroeisd.net
Website: http://giesinger.conroeisd.net
Phone: 936-709-2600
Facebook: www.facebook.com/GiesingerCISD/
Twitter: @GiesingerElementary
The Conroe Independent School District (District) as an equal opportunity educational provider and employer does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, or disability in educational programs or activities that it operates or in employment matters. The District is required by Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, as amended, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as Board policy not to discriminate in such a manner.
For information about Title IX rights or Section 504/ADA rights, contact the Title IX Coordinator or the Section 504/ADA coordinator at 3205 W. Davis, Conroe, TX 77304; (936) 709-7752.