Sunday, September 25, 2016

Watts Going on in Fourth Grade

Week of September 26-30

Last week was an exciting week as scholars got to dive into design challenges and other exciting learning opportunities. Thank you to all the scholars and families that donated water bottles to help make the water filter design challange possible. Even the fourth grade teachers got a chance to learn some new instructional strategies thanks to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History! 
There are a few reminders that we want to make sure you are aware of this week. First, our scholars have the exciting opportunity to visit the Grapevine water treatment plant next week on October 4th. A permission slip was sent home last week. If you have not seen one, have your scholar ask their homeroom teacher to provide them with another one. Second, your scholars have their first TEKS check (test) in Science this Tuesday, September 27th. More details about this can be found below. Third, students will be coming home with Words Their Way spelling list this week. Each student has been assigned to a color group so that they will be assigned a spelling list that best meets their needs as a speller. 

Science TEKS checks

If you have been in GCISD in the past, you know what TEKS checks are. For those scholars and parents who are new, they are the tests given at the end of a Science unit. They are written by the district and a valuable way to assess your scholar on what they have learned throughout the unit. In the past, some teachers have sent home study guides. This year, I sent home their Science Notebooks. We put valuable information into these on almost a daily basis. Everything they need to know to be successful can be found in their notebook. If you want to see a breakdown of what your child is expected to know, you can find that HERE.


Attendance

Cannon has started a school wide effort to increase attendance and decrease the number of tardies. Each classroom is working on setting up a reward system to encourage scholars to make it to school and to be on time. We value the time we get with our scholars and want them to miss as little as possible. Ask your scholar about what they are doing in their classroom! 



Choir Mini-Performances Scheduled

Choir practice is in full swing and Mr. Lollis has scheduled some mini-performances for the choirs at upcoming Friday assemblies. The choirs will only perform one song (2-3 minutes long) during these assemblies, but it provides a great opportunity for the choir students to sing in front of an audience and the rest of our Cannon Cubs always love to be entertained by our Cannon choirs!

Cannon Cub Choir (3rd-5th graders) will be doing a mini-performance at the Friday Assembly scheduled for September 30th at 7:40 am. Students will be performing one song called The Spider and The Fly, which can be found in the Google Classroom.

Ositos Choir (1st & 2nd graders) will do their mini-performance at the Friday Assembly scheduled for October 7th at 7:40 am.

Members of these choirs should plan to wear their choir shirts, jeans, and sneakers on and be at the gym no later than 7:30 am on the date of their scheduled mini-performance.

Parents are welcome to attend!