For detailed information regarding the two learning options for the upcoming school year, please access this link:

https://www.cfisd.net/en/lead-safely-2020-21

The deadline for selecting a learning option is August 25.

If you have a request for the type of teacher that your child has next year, please e-mail the Assistant Principal for the grade level by June 4.

We work with the current teachers to group all students for the next year and then once we have registration in August, we assign teachers to those classroom groups. We do not take specific teacher names as a part of those requests. If you have something you would like us to know and consider with the grouping (academic weaknesses, teacher personality match descriptions, social concerns, etc) then you can share that with the AP. If names are a part of the request, it will not be considered.

2020-2021 Assistant Principals Are:

Kinder, 2nd, 4th AP: Ann Pruitt - ann.pruitt@cfisd.net

1st, 3rd, 5th AP: Suzanne Davies - Suzanne.davies@cfisd.net

This letter is intended for families with:

· Children who received SNAP food benefits for March 2020

· Children who are certified for free or reduced-price school meals during the 2019-20 Texas school year

· Children who attend a school that offers free meals to all students (Community Eligibility Provision or Provision 2)

If you do not meet at least one of these criteria, you are not eligible for the benefits described below.

Dear Parent or Guardian,

Your household may be eligible to receive Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) benefits to buy food. P-EBT is for children 5-18 years old who received SNAP food benefits for the month of March 2020 and children up to 21 years old who are certified for free or reduced-price meals at school in Texas during the 2019-20 school year. Children that attend a school that offers free meals to all students (Community Eligibility Provision or Provision 2) are also eligible.

The online application for P-EBT is now open. Please review the criteria to see if you need to apply to receive these benefits. The application link is provided below.

Do I need to apply for P-EBT?

Families that DID NOT get SNAP benefits for the month of March 2020

• Yes, you will need to apply.
• Fill out an application here: yourtexasbenefits.com/Learn/PEBT
  
• The application is open until June 30, 2020.
• If you do not currently get SNAP benefits and your child is approved for P-EBT, you will be mailed a P-EBT card loaded with benefits.

Families that DID get SNAP benefits for the month of March 2020·

• You do not need to apply for children ages 5-18. Benefits were loaded onto your existing SNAP card by May 22
• If you have children under 5 and/or between the ages of 19 and 21, you will need to fill out an application for those children. Fill out an application here: yourtexasbenefits.com/Learn/PEBT
  
• If you get SNAP benefits and your child is approved for P-EBT, we will put funds on your current Lone Star Card.

P-EBT is a one-time benefit for families issued through an EBT card (like a debit card). Families receive up to $285 per eligible child. You will have one year from the date the benefits were issued to use your P-EBT benefits. P-EBT benefits are non-transferrable.

If you need help filling out the P-EBT application, please contact is 833-613-6220. For more information, please visit hhs.texas.gov/PEBT or call is 833-613-6220.

Wells Families,

We are still continuing to postpone our fabulous annual Flashback Friday Festival; in lieu of canceling the event altogether. We are unsure of a definitive date that we will be able to re-schedule this event at this time, but we are re-evaluating the options weekly. With the latest communication from our Governor, we are remaining optimistic that it will be possible to have even a modified version of our festival over the summer. As I am writing this, our 5th grade guitar group is practicing with Mr. Kastor for their performance in the background on Zoom demonstrating how our Explorers LEAD the way with determination, faith and persistence in all we do!

The district just released guidelines to principals in regards to re-scheduling events like our festival, as well as procedures for refunds that may be requested for these events. This guidance and information was necessary to consider and follow, so we thank you again for your patience. At this time, we will be issuing any requested refunds for #FBF ticket purchases that were made on School Cash Online. If you would like a refund for your ticket purchase, please send an email to wells@cfisd.net with your name and your student’s name by May 15 and one will be issued for you. If you would prefer to leave your donation, the funds will go towards classroom instructional requests from the teachers.

We will continue to keep you informed as decisions are made by the state and district that would allow us to make plans for any re-scheduled events, such as a new date and plan for our #FBFfestival 90’s edition. We can’t wait to have our families back at the school making memories with their friends and Explorer staff in any way possible.

Thank you for your ongoing support and patience!
Cheryl Fisher

Dear families,

We all hope that you are doing well and that all of our Explorers are healthy during this time apart. If only we had known when we left on March 6 how our world would shortly change. I certainly would have made sure every child and staff member got a huge hug before they left! Our hearts are aching daily from missing our students, our routine, our school and each other so much.

Please share this video for all Wells Explorers at https://www.wevideo.com/view/1645286977 with your child(ren) so they can see some familiar faces and know how loved they are by all of us at Wells!

I recognize that you have been receiving a lot of important communication from the district and encourage you to stay connected directly with CFISD communication for updates and important decisions. As parents, we have also been receiving a lot of individual communication from each child’s teachers and we appreciate you being responsive to our calls and e-mails. Our district administration has been following the guidance of TEA, the Commissioner of Education, CDC, and local Government as they make difficult decisions and additional support for our students daily. I will continue to update you as soon as decisions are made and new information is available in the designated “Stay-at-Home Newsletter” that can be found at: https://www.smore.com/4tnm7.

Our teachers will continue to be interactive with our students weekly, but we do have a few changes starting next week that I wanted to share with you as we move into more of a long-term plan across CFISD. At Wells, our teachers typically update their pages on Fridays for the upcoming week. Since the district “Learning at Home” curriculum is posted on Monday mornings for the week, we are moving that weekly overview for parents to Tuesdays. Beginning on April 14 and each Tuesday after, our teachers will also share a priority list for their grade level “Learning at Home” curriculum to help your child and you prioritize and organize all the options. Starting next week, CFISD is also changing the format that our teachers have been following so far. Each teacher will be teaching one lesson a week for their students in each subject. These lessons will be an extension of the curriculum the district is providing. The teachers will determine what the lesson will be about, the format of the lesson and the avenue in which it is delivered. There will be a recording with one lesson for each subject each week provided to all students.

Although I do not enjoy being recorded, I felt like some face-to-face time communication could be nice to have when most of the information has had to come across in written formats. You can listen to this Message to Explorer Parents at https://www.wevideo.com/view/1645333463 for some reassurance and a big Wells “High 5” to each of you from all of us for #HighFiveFriday! We are grateful that we have such a strong commitment year round to scheduling meaningful parent involvement activities that allowed us to have parents K-5 in our building often for different events leading up to spring break. We miss seeing each of you, our VIPS and your families as well!

If you did not catch it, Wells was on Fox 26 news this morning! You can see the coverage at https://www.wevideo.com/view/1645353605 from the 9:00 am news this morning at where they spotlighted Toro joining in on Mrs. B.’s First grade class meeting last week. We had a fun interactive Zoom visit with Toro sharing how we find JOY each day and we even got to do a virtual dance party with him! We are always seeking fun experiences for our students and we appreciate Toro for making this possible for some of our Explorers.

Take care of each other and know that you are all in our thoughts and prayers.

Virtual hugs and love to you all!
Ms. Fisher

Following an executive order from Gov. Abbott, in-person classes in CFISD are now canceled through Friday, May 1. Read more from Dr. Henry in his latest blog post. #COVID19

Exciting news!!! The CFISD Ed Tech Department has created a new opportunity for our students. Every Thursday from 9-10 a.m. (elementary), your child can join the Digital Learning Lab to learn new technology tools! The first elementary digital learning lab took place this morning and was recorded. Here is the link to access the content. The topic is Video Creation!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqanQhT12-o

The link to the event is also posted on the Learning at Home Website under the Digital Learning Lab button. They will be hosting the Digital Learning Lab LIVE every Thursday from 9-10 a.m. through May. There are also sessions for middle school and high school students.

All sessions will be recorded and archived on the Learning @Home Website under the Digital Learning Lab button so students can revisit the sessions anytime.

The Texas Education Agency has issued guidance that districts will be granted instructional minutes waivers so long as the district can provide evidence of instruction and support to students.

Mrs LeCompte would like to share these temporary databases for two book vendors that are allowing students to access their entire digital libraries of ebooks during the quarantine. (ABDO and Capstone) Please see the temporary passwords for both below. Hopefully, all students will be able to access plenty of books during this time at home!

The Wells Library Facebook Page has also been updated with the new and temporary databases and additional links for more author read-alouds and illustrator doodles. You can find this page by searching @WellsElementaryLibrary.

Happy Reading!

Click here for Read-Alouds: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14KzQ6NssNuky31TFZRmSzZOt5l7Bt2aqDO6CDop5pcs/edit

Click here for Wells Elementary Book Talks with Mrs. LeCompte: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wSXQTiSgrRdBP1BwEu6GBGNJVAisu_nf3jcPkkpmwp4/edit?ts=5e99d80c

For the week of March 16-20, our district was placed on "Emergency Closure Leave" where no employees were expected to work or provide instruction. As you know, the schools were closed for a longer period last week and as of Monday, we are no longer on "Emergency Closure Leave".

Beginning Monday, March 23, the district is providing online instruction for K-12, all subjects at www.cfisd.net through their "Learning at Home" program. The teachers in CFISD will not be supplementing the district curriculum. They will be available Mon-Fri from 9-2 to provide academic support, check in with the students, respond to e-mails and will be checking in with each student at least once a week. We are grateful technology allows us to stay connected and keep in touch with our Explorers!

Thank you for your support as our teachers and support staff navigate these unchartered waters. Our students will be learning differently than they have before and our teachers will be teaching in a different way. We do not have all the answers, but we will try to help and will do the best we can. Our amazing staff is ready to make the most of any adventure!

The homeroom teachers will be contacting every student between Monday-Wednesday this week. They may call from an unknown number, so please expect that call to come through.

Our staff will be working remotely, in light of the national crisis we are experiencing and to protect public health and safety of our staff. Please feel free to use the staff directory on our School Info App to contact any staff member by e-mail or view their Google page with resources.

We've got this!

Cheryl Fisher

Thank you so much for your patience during this week of Emergency School Closure. During this week, the district has provided some extended learning resources and I shared some below, but no teachers were required to respond or offer learning activities. District administration has been meeting to problem-solve and plan for long-term curriculum support and principals have been meeting online as well to navigate the current situation. You can expect to be hearing updates from district communication soon and I will also be providing campus-specific information as decisions are made.

Our first priority is always student safety and we are appreciative to CFISD for keeping the health of our community as a top priority. We all miss our routine and being together daily with our students, families and Wells staff; however there are many blessings to focus on during this time of uncertainty.

This newsletter is to keep our Explorers updated with information and resources from Wells and CFISD. As decisions are made and updates are available, they will be posted here for your reference. There will be no grades taken on any of these resources, but I have compiled some options for you as you are keeping our kids occupied and busy learning from home. As always, the best thing you can do is build in at least 30 minutes of reading time a day. Basic writing assignments or math facts practice are always helpful. For our younger ones, practicing sight words daily is also important.

Please reach out at cheryl.fisher@cfisd.net if you or anyone in your family has any needs during this extended break. As a family, we take care of each other...even from a distance! We would also love to see pictures of our Explorers learning from home or out in nature, so feel free to send those as well or share with social media using #ExploreWells and tagging @CFISDWells and @CyFairCFisher. We miss all 1020 of our students!

Take care,

Cheryl Fisher

Your kids will love this! To help keep our kids learning and busy, Booster has opened their character video website to all. The kids love their resources and there is as daily fun like storytime and exercise time.

• Curbside Meals:

• Beginning Monday, March 16 ▪ Breakfast will be available from 7:30 - 9:30 a.m. ▪ Lunch will be available from 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. ▪ Dinner will be available from 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
• Children 18 years and younger (must be present) may pick up meals at any CFISD school listed; this is not dependent on where the student is enrolled.
• Schools available for curbside meals: Arnold MS, Bane ES, Cy Creek HS, Cy Lakes HS, Cy Park HS, Cy Ridge HS, Cy Springs HS, Danish ES, Francone ES, Frazier ES, Holbrook ES, Horne ES, Kirk ES, Langham Creek HS, Thornton MS o Beginning Tuesday, March 17 ▪ Goodson MS will be added to the original list of schools.

· Scholastic Learn at Home – day by day projects to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing – link: classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html

· Storyline Online – Celebrities read popular books aloud to kids.

· Also, check out @lbookends on Twitter – they have created a Padlet with many resources for teachers/students/parents.

· Very important: Please use the Wells Library Page – Symbaloo and links

Instructions to get to page:

Go to www.cfisd.net

- Tab at top of page to Parents and Students

- Tab on left side of page to Academics – scroll down and click on Library Resources

- Click on Find Your Campus Library – choose Wells Elementary

Wells Families,

Our PE, Art and Music teachers have created a Google Classroom so that their lessons are more accessible to everyone.

To Access:

• Open Google Classroom
• Click on the +
• Click on "Join Class"
• Enter Class Code: dth3fay
• 
  

Thank you!

PEAMS Teachers

CANCELED EVENTS

• Name that Book
• Colorguard Showcase
• HOLA
• YMPA
• YLPA
• Choral Festival
• JROTC Pass and Review
• Retirement Banquet
• VIPS Appreciation Event
• Career Fair
• Teacher of the Year

EVENTS TO BE DETERMINED

• Proms
• Graduations

Principal: Cheryl Fisher

Email: wells@cfisd.net
Website: https://wells.cfisd.net/en
Location: 10607 Mason Road, Cypress, TX, USA
Facebook: facebook.com/CFISDWells
Twitter: @CFISDWells