CANNON CONNECTION
A newsletter for Cannon Elementary families - 2018-2019
WEEK OF DECEMBER 3, 2018
Hi Cannon Parents!
It's hard to believe that it's already December, isn't it? During this busy holiday season, we hope that your family will participate in some of the great activities that are planned!
This week's newsletter has information about upcoming events, as well as important updates and reminders for all of our Cannon parents. Be sure to check out information in this newsletter about:
- Construction Update and next steps for demolition plans of old school building and for exterior construction work.
- Hour of Code will be celebrated at Cannon this week and 100% of K-5 students will participate in coding!
- December Kindness Challenges are included in this newsletter and we hope that all of our Cannon Cubs will participate. We are promoting kindness & compassion through a variety of activities at Cannon this month! Please encourage your child to participate!
- Grapevine Parade of Lights on Thursday 12/6, beginning at 7:00 pm on Main Street in Grapevine. Our Cannon Dad's Club has been busy creating an incredible float to represent our school in this parade. Make plans to come out and support our school and cheer for the Cannon float!
- Arrival/Dismissal and Student Attendance information and reminders for all parents.
Thank YOU for all you do to support our students, staff, and school! I hope to see all of our Cannon families at the parade on Thursday night!
Proud to be your principal,
Mrs. Blizzard
#BeCannonProud
CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
Now that we have gotten settled into our beautiful new school, I know that many of you have questions about next steps with construction, so I wanted to provide you with an update on the construction progress with both our old and new facility.
We have loved the opportunity for our students and staff to engage in unique learning experiences in the new Cannon Elementary School building. Unfortunately, due to issues with moving and installing fiber optic cable and electronics that enable internet service, Lee Lewis Construction has been unable to begin demolition of the former building. I am happy to share that the service has now been transferred over to the new building and crews will begin demolition on the old building beginning mid-December.
Now that the site has been able to dry out, the general contractor is able to move forward with completing the outdoor patio area, which they expect to have ready by the time we return from winter break. As you know, we have been limited in outdoor areas where our students can enjoy recess, so we are excited that we will be able to utilize this outdoor patio area for recess when we return from the winter break, until the playground area is complete. They are anticipating that students may enjoy the new playground by the end of January.
While we were off for the Thanksgiving break, crews graded the grounds, washed down the brick facade and worked on other interior items. Additionally, the general contractor began installing site fencing this week. As we have throughout the duration of construction, we remain in regular and constant communication with our general contractor and will continue to do so until the completion of Cannon Elementary.
With demolition soon to begin, the general contractor is updating their schedule. When we have more information we will communicate major milestones for the work ahead, including an update about changes to our current student arrival/dismissal locations and procedures. I want to thank you for your continued patience and flexibility throughout this process.
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SEEN @ CANNON LAST WEEK!
CANNON 4th GRADER WINS GCISD SPANISH SPELLING BEE!
Congratulations to all of our Cannon 4th & 5th graders that participated in this challenging competition!
FORENSIC ANALYSIS IN 4TH GRADE
KINDERGARTEN GOES TO THE ZOO!
HUGE thank you to all of our Kindergarten parents who were able to volunteer to chaperone this field trip - we appreciate your help!
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Mark Your Calendars.....
UPCOMING EVENTS
12/3-12/7 Hour of Code Week All K-5 Cubs will be involved in coding activities all week!
12/04 - Cubs Night Out @ Chick Fil A - William D. Tate 5-7 PM
12/06 - Grapevine Holiday Parade of Lights 7:00 pm Come see Cannon's amazing float, designed by our Cannon's Dad's Club!
12/08 - Cannon Robotics Team competes - FLL tournament at HMS 9:00-3:15
12/11 - Cannon Spelling Bee 8:30 am - Cannon Café
12/12-12/15 Santa Shop open for students during school
12/15 - Breakfast with Santa - 9-11 AM - $4 per plate - pictures with Santa, Santa Shop shopping, Cannon Choirs will sing
12/20 Candy Houses With Kindergarten Dads - 8:00-10:00 am - Cannon cafeteria
12/20 Cannon Choir Holiday Tour Field Trip 8:00-11:15 am
12/20 Cannon Choir Holiday "Gift" Concert - 6:00 pm - Cannon Café
12/21 Class Holiday Parties 10:15- 11:15 am
12/21 Early Release @ 11:45
12/24-01/07 Student Holiday Break
01/08 Students return to school
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CAMPUS & DISTRICT UPDATES
Calling Cannon Dads! It's Parade Float Time!
If your child/children want to ride on the float in the big parade, you must sign them up using the below form.
Reminder: For your child/children to have a guaranteed spot on the float, you will have needed to help in the building process, or have provided resources for the project.
You can sign your child/children up without having helped, and if there are extra seats available we will fill those with kids on a first come first serve basis.
Here is the sign up form: https://goo.gl/forms/tjAt4WoH98UbCXH53
We are building today, so come on out. Build location: 2126 Spur Trail in Grapevine.
Here are the remainder of the build dates.
- December 2, Sunday 1:00 pm
- December 3, Monday 6:00 pm
- December 4, Tuesday 6:00 pm
- December 5, Wednesday 6:00 pm
PARENTS - WE NEED YOUR HELP PLEASE!
- Take turns with other drivers, as you turn into the parking lot, when entering off of College St. or turning out of the lot onto Pebblebrook Drive.
- Slow down to ensure the safety of all students, pedestrians and other drivers!
- Mobile devices should not be used while you are driving in a school zone, including the parking lot and student loading/unloading areas.
THANK YOU FOR HELPING US KEEP OUR CUBS SAFE!
ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILD TO TAKE THE DECEMBER CANNON KINDNESS CHALLENGE!
Help us promote KINDNESS at Cannon all month long!! Below is an image of a Kindness Challenge Calendar for our Cubs to use for ideas on ways to do an act of kindness each day of the month! Click here for a PDF version of this challenge and share it with your children. We are doing many things throughout the month to promote acts of kindness for all of our Cubs, including our annual campus-wide community service project! We are so proud of how our Cubs have embraced our Soles 4 Souls challenge to collect 500 pairs of shoes for someone in need! Thank you for your support of this project!
Hour of Code is This Week!
This week our Cannon scholars will take part in Hour of Code, a worldwide effort to celebrate computer science! Students will have multiple opportunities to explore aspects of coding in the classrooms through various activities and lessons.
As a STEM campus, our students have the opportunity to be engaged in a variety of coding learning experiences throughout the year. However, this week, each grade level will also make connections with others outside the classroom to learn more about coding, including Computer Science students from Grapevine Middle School, who will be teaching coding lessons to all of our Kindergarten-5th grade Cubs!
IMPORTANT REMINDER ABOUT SCHOOL SCHEDULE
Students should be seated and ready to start the day before the 7:40 bell. All exterior doors are locked promptly at 7:40. If you arrive to school after 7:40, and there are no staff members visible in the parking lot area, you MUST park and walk your child to the building entrance, ring the bell, and wait to be admitted, before walking your child into the front office. For safety reasons, it is critical that all students are accompanied by a parent, in order to ensure they safely gain entrance to the building.
By making slight adjustments to morning routines and leaving for school 5-10 minutes earlier, you will be able to avoid any unexpected traffic delays and ensure that your child arrives to school on time and has a positive start to their school day. Thank you for making it a priority to have your child at school in time to be in class by 7:40 each day!
ATTENDANCE LAWS - DID YOU KNOW?
We have been receiving some questions from parents who are beginning to receive letters about their child's school attendance. Did you know that there are very specific laws about attendance, including tardies & early dismissals, for students who attend public schools in Texas? I have provided some information below about attendance policies in GCISD, in order to keep all of our Cannon families informed.
● Class instruction starts at 7:40. All children are expected to be in their classroom at this time. That means students are LATE if they come in the doors at 7:40.
● Texas Education Code Section 25.094 Attendance for Credit law states that a child must be in class 90% of the time in order to be eligible for grade promotion. Tardies and early dismissals accumulate and count towards time away from class and are unexcused. This also applies when a child is picked up for an early dismissal.
● You should report an absence by calling 817-251-5678. If your child goes to the doctor, we need a doctor’s note. If your child is sick but you didn’t go to the doctor, then we need a written note from you explaining the absence. You may also email Ashley Houck, our data secretary at ashley.houck@gcisd.net to record the absence. Illness is an excused absence when a note is sent in.
State laws require us to inform you when multiple absences/tardies occur. Two different types of letters are sent to you based on two different TEC laws.
Even a little time away from the classroom affects your child’s learning. We hope that this information helps make clear the processes we must follow to be in compliance with state laws. Thank you for your help with making sure your child is in attendance and on time to school every day possible!
Book Of The Month - November/December
Check out all of the details using the presentation and newsletter links below!
Parent Technology Academy
GCISD Parent Technology Academy is BACK! Sessions are scheduled monthly with more to come! Come and learn along with others about the ever-changing world of technology in which your children are living!
Sessions can be found on the Parent Technology Academy Webpage
Parents, help us provide relevant evening parent education programs for you. Please take just a moment and complete our 1 question survey:
Amazon Smile
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NEWS FROM CANNON PTA
PTA QUICK PICKS!
Check out these "quick picks" of reminders & information from PTA:
- UPCOMING PTA EVENTS:
Cub Night Out: Tuesday, December 4th, Chick-fil-A on William D. Tate 5-7 PM. You can dine in or drive through but please make sure you tell them you are here for Cannon!
HoHoHo! The Cannon Secret Santa shop is coming December 12-15! In order to provide a great shopping experience for your student we need your help! Please sign up below to help us with the Santa Shop!
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0d44ada72ca1fd0-santa
Saturday, December 15th - Breakfast with Santa 9-11 AM. Pancake breakfasts are $4 per plate. There will be pictures with santa, shopping in the santa shop, and the Cannon Cub Choirs will perform. We need your help with this event! Please check the link below and join us in the fun! https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0448a9af2aa4fc1-pancake
Additional events at cannonpta.com/calendar
Stay connected by following Cannon PTA on social media. Click here to "like" the PTA Facebook page. Follow them on Twitter @CannonPTA.
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QUICK LINKS FOR PARENTS
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I want to make you aware of where you can see information and resources, specifically about the Cannon construction project. Also, check out the awesome exterior renderings of our new school below!!
Please reach out to me to let me know of any questions you may have about this project. This is a VERY exciting time for our Cannon school community and I want to make sure all of our Cannon families stay informed!
Click here to see project updates on all GCISD Bond programs
Click here to sign up for construction updates by email about the Cannon project!
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Cannon Elementary: A GCISD STEM School
Email: tona.blizzard@gcisd.net
Website: http://www.gcisd-k12.org/Domain/1428
Location: 1300 W College St, Grapevine, TX, United States
Phone: 817-251-5680
Facebook: facebook.com/CannonSTEM
Twitter: @canSTEM