September 8-14, 2024
Good morning Cannon families,
Thank you to all of our parents that attended our first PTA Principal Coffee; We had an amazing turnout! We had a great informative discussion regarding the state of public education funding and the immense need for PTA support and fundraising. One example we discussed is our dream to continue our LARGE 3rd, 4th, and 5th field trip experiences. Three years ago, our staff worked tirelessly to fundraise to start a 3rd grade NASA field trip, reignite a 4th grade trip to the capitol and the caverns, and continue our long standing tradition of 5th graders attending Sky Ranch Camp. For the past several years, our staff have held parent night out events, dances, hats off to learning days, marquee shout outs, etc.. to reduce the cost of field trips. Historically, the campus has covered the cost of transportation with money from our fundraisers and parents pay for the experience. We are the only elementary campus that have tried to make these large field trip dreams a reality! Just the buses to NASA cost approximately $8,000 each year and continue to fluctuate. Unfortunately, the campus can not continue to sustain these continued and rising transportation costs for these experiences.
Our PTA works to raise funds and vote on a budget to help the campus each year; one example of their support is to help reduce costs for all grade level field trip experiences. Their support each year has allowed us to sustain the 5th grade Sky Ranch field trip without asking parents to cover the cost of buses; however, with the purchase of our amazing playground shade structure the PTA budget was depleted. Our current PTA executive board and members are working very hard to raise money - the Cannon Spirit Store, Calendar Fundraiser, and PTA membership are just a few examples! This past weeked some of our dedicated parents partnered with the city to use our Cannon parking lot as a fundraiser during the annual Italian Car Fest. They raised approximately $973 this past Saturday! A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR AMAZING VOLUNTEERS THAT MADE THIS HAPPEN!! They will also use our parking lot for more upcoming events - think Grapefest, the GHS homecoming parade, the Christmas Parade of Lights, Main Street Days... This has the potential to be an amazing long-standing fundraiser for our PTA community. I can not tell you how PROUD I am to work alongside such dedicated families committed to ensuring our scholars have EXTRAORDINARY experiential learning experiences aligned to our Cannon mission.
WE NEED YOU TO JOIN AND HELP! On Friday, October 11 we will have our first PTA general meeting of the year in combination with a student movie night. Please join us to collaborate and problem solve our funding dilemma.
Public Education Funding Impact
Here is another area we need your help with! Cannon currently has the highest elementary school financial loss, in GCISD, due to absences ☹. All absences count! This has a huge impact on our public education campus funding and our academic progress.
Cannon Week 1 Financial Impact/Loss = $1,196
Cannon Week 2 Financial Impact/Loss = $4,168
Cannon Week 3 Financial Impact/Loss = $6,559
One example of the implication of this funding loss, impacts our general campus supplies and resources. An example of this is copy paper, which is the largest budget supply item for the year. Even with all of our amazing digital resources and technology, our staff and students need paper. Typically a campus budgets approximately $8,000 for paper alone. With budget cuts, we have had to cut this budget to less than $4,000 the past couple of years. A bigger implication is the academic loss and gaps that occur with our scholars. HELP US HELP YOUR CUB; Make sure to have your student attend school each day!
Please remember that the safety of our staff and students at arrival and dismissal is our TOP PRIORITY! Our staff, Dads club, and Sergeant Smith have observed several of our parents on their PHONES in the CAR LINE - Please put down your phones! It's illegal to be on your phone in a school zone and it's DANGEROUS FOR OUR STAFF AND STUDENTS!
REMINDER - Fifth grade parents, your first deposit for our 🏕 Sky Ranch adventure is due this Friday, September 13 -Deposit Due - $120 (total cost of camp = $230, which is the cost per person busses not included); https://gcisdschools.revtrak.net/elementary-schools/can/cannon-sky-ranch/#/list
As always, thank you for your parent partnership!
Proud to be your principal,
Dr. Tina Garrett
STEM Habits of Mind Hall of Fame Celebrations Start this Month!
STEM teaching and learning is an instructional approach to learning and development that integrates the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Through STEM education practices, students develop key skills including: problem solving, creativity, and critical analysis.
Each month we focus on a STEM Habit of Mind characteristic and celebrate our scholars that are chosen to be inducted into our Cannon STEM Habits of Mind Hall of Fame! "The STEM Habits of Mind position children as inquirers, observers, describers, encoders, decoders, engineers, pattern sniffers, experimenters, measurers and predictors." Our Hall of Fame ceremonies begin this Friday! Teachers will reach out to let you know if your Cub is selected to receive this prestigious honor (Dates listed below)!
Monday, September 9 - House Bill 1416 Letters (for identified students) Shared with Families
Wednesday, September 11- Patriot Day/Texas First Responders Day - Wear Red, White, and Blue in honor of our heroes!
Friday, September 13 - Wear your Cannon Cub Spirit Gear! ☮♥🐻
Friday, September 13 - STEM Habit of Mind Hall of Fame Ceremony (4th, 5th, Applied STEM) - Applying Past Knowledge - 2:35 pm Cannon Amphitheatre
Friday, September 13 - 5th grade Sky Ranch Deposit Due - $120 (total cost of camp = $230, which is the cost without busses); https://gcisdschools.revtrak.net/elementary-schools/can/cannon-sky-ranch/#/list
Monday, September 16 - 🔴 Celebrate International DOT DAY - Make your mark by wearing dots!
Tuesday, September 17 - Constitution Day - commemorate the signing of our U.S. Constitution! Wear Red, White, & Blue to Show your Patriotism!
Wednesdays: September 18 - November 6 - Cook~Learn~Grow at Cannon
Register online: https://cooklearngrow.com/dallas-classes/
Wednesday, September 18 - Parent Workshop with Ms. Whitsell - Building Foundational Literacy 6:00-7:00pm Cannon Learning Commons
Thursday, September 19 - Parent Workshop with Ms. Whitsell - Extending Literacy 6:00-7:00pm Cannon Learning Commons
Friday, September 20 - Wear your Cannon Cub Spirit Gear! ☮♥🐻
Friday, September 20 - STEM Habit of Mind Hall of Fame Ceremony (2nd, 3rd, Applied STEM) - Applying Past Knowledge - 2:35 pm Cannon Amphitheatre
Monday, September 23 - Staff Professional Development - No School for Students
Tuesday, September 24 - Beginning of Year Parent Conferences Begin
Wednesday, September 25 - Progress Report 1 Posts in Skyward
Progress reports will be available in Skyward this week. To view your student’s progress report, please follow the instructions below:
Visit www.GCISD.net and click “Quick Links” at the top of the page
Click the Skyward icon and the “Log In Here” box in the middle of the page
Click “Progress Reports/Report Cards” on the menu to the left
Choose 2024-2025 Progress Report 1”
If you are having trouble accessing Skyward, please submit a Help Desk ticket.
Friday, September 27 - Wear your Cannon Cub Spirit Gear! ☮♥🐻
Friday, September 20 - STEM Habit of Mind Hall of Fame Ceremony (Kinder, 1st, Applied STEM) - Applying Past Knowledge - 2:35 pm Cannon Amphitheatre
Monday, September 30 - Fall STEM Book Challenge Launch
September - October: Parent Conferences
Tuesday, October 1 - Yearbook Pictures 📸
Wednesday, October 2 - 👂Hearing and 👀Vision Screening
Friday, October 4 - Wear your Cannon Cub Spirit Gear ☮♥🐻
or 🏒Hockey Opening Day -Spirit Gear- Go Stars!
Friday, October 4 - STEM Habit of Mind Hall of Fame Ceremony (4th, 5th, Music) - Questioning & Posing Problems - 2:35 pm Cannon Amphitheatre
Wednesday, October 9 - National Walk or Bike to School Day~More information from Dad's Club to come!
Thursday, October 10 - 50th Day of School! Dress in your coolest Fifties gear 🐩🧥!
Friday, October 11 - Wear your Cannon Cub Spirit Gear! ☮♥🐻
Friday, October 11 - STEM Habit of Mind Hall of Fame Ceremony (2nd, 3rd, Music) - Questioning & Posing Problems
Friday, October 11- 🎥PTA Movie Night w/ General Meeting 6:30-8:30 Cannon Cafe and Learning Commons
Monday, October 14 - No School - Student & Staff Holiday
Wednesday, October 16 - Report Card 1 Posts in Skyward
Friday, October 18 - STEM Habit of Mind Hall of Fame Ceremony (Kinder, 1st, Music) - Questioning & Posing Problems - 2:35 pm Cannon Amphitheatre
Friday, October 18 - Final Payment Due for 5th grade Sky Ranch $110 (total cost of camp per person = $230, which is the cost without busses) https://gcisdschools.revtrak.net/elementary-schools/can/cannon-sky-ranch/#/list
We need ALL of our Cannon community to participate in our Parent Teacher Association (PTA) Calendar Fundraiser. It's simple - Pick a Day and Pay that Amount! You can select a day (or more). We need to fill up a calendar for each classroom teacher, specials teacher, and our special services teachers. We know our public schools need our help - The aim of our PTA is to fundraise sufficient funds to support our teachers and our Cubs. Prizes will be awarded to each grade-level reaching our $2,000 goal and the top earning class in each grade level will also receive a prize! Our PTA must fundraise to create a budget to support our school. Our PTA does so much for our students, but without a budget we will not be able to fulfill and support our school needs.
The grade level with the largest contribution will have a popsicle party and teachers will Pie in the administrative team in the face! The class in each grade level with the largest contribution will enjoy a silly string party!
Three Facts About the VATRE
GCISD registered voters will be asked to consider adding three cents to the Maintenance & Operations tax rate through a voter-approved tax ratification election on the November 5 ballot. Here are three quick facts:
Even with the VATRE, GCISD’s total tax rate will be lower - Even with the three additional pennies from the passage of the VATRE, the GCISD total overall tax rate (M&O plus I&S) will be lowered by $0.0014.
Funds are not subject to recapture - Tax funds collected through these additional three pennies would stay within GCISD and not be subject to recapture, meaning that 100 percent of these funds would remain in the district.
The three-cent increase to the Maintenance and Operations (M&O) tax rate would generate approximately $6 million - These funds would be for school district operations, which includes instruction, staff, transportation, maintenance, extracurricular activities and other daily operating expenses, excluding projects included in the recent bond. Bonds are paid for by a separate Interest & Sinking (I&S) fund, which is debt service.
Learn more at www.GCISD.net/VATRE.
Happy or Not is Back!
The GCISD Nutrition Department are excited to introduce the new and improved version of the Happy or Not device as part of our ongoing efforts to gather valuable student feedback on our school lunches. Over the past few years, this device has traveled through the district, offering essential insights into our menu choices. The key question we’re asking is, “How was your lunch today?” Please see the attached instruction sheet for the two part survey.
Understanding our students' preferences helps us better meet their needs, and the Happy or Not device makes it fun and easy for students to share their thoughts with just the press of a button. We’ll be collecting this feedback at Cannon September 9-20th.
Attendance Reminders - Absences have a financial impact!
We need your help! Cannon currently has the highest elementary school financial impact due to absences ☹. This has a huge impact on our funding and academic progress.
Cannon Attendance:
Week 1 Financial Impact/Loss = $1,196
Week 2 Financial Impact/Loss = $4,168
Week 3 Financial Impact/Loss = $6,559
Important attendance information: Attendance matters! Absences from class may result in serious disruption of a student’s learning and educational experiences. Parents and students are encouraged to avoid unnecessary absences. Two important state laws govern attendance. In efforts to promote student attendance and learning, please note the following reminders and updates to GCISD attendance requirements.
Laws Governing School Attendance:
Compulsory Attendance (AKA Truancy)
Pre-kindergarten and Kindergarten
Students enrolled in prekindergarten or kindergarten are required to attend school and are subject to the compulsory attendance requirements as long as they remain enrolled at a campus.
Ages 6–18
State law requires that a student who is at least six years of age, or who is younger than six years of age and has previously been enrolled in first grade, and who has not yet reached their 19th birthday, shall attend school, as well as any applicable accelerated instruction program, extended-year program, or tutorial session, unless the student is otherwise excused from attendance or legally exempt. Students/families who do not meet compulsory attendance will be referred to the GCISD Attendance Review Board and/or referred to Tarrant County Court for truancy. If a student fails to attend school without excuse on three or more days or parts of days within a four-week period but does not fail to attend school for the time described below, the district shall initiate truancy prevention measures on the student.
Attendance for Credit or Final Grade (AKA 90% Rule)
To receive credit or a final grade in a class, a student in kindergarten–grade 12 must attend at least 90 percent of the days the class is offered. With the exception of absences due to serious or life-threatening illness or related treatment, all absences, whether excused or unexcused, must be considered in determining whether a student has attended the required percentage of days. Students who are in danger of losing credit or promotion will be contacted by the campuses with plans for opportunities to regain lost instructional time.
Official Attendance-Taking Time
Official attendance is taken every day at 10:00 a.m. Attendance is taken at 8:55 a.m. at Collegiate Academy and 12 p.m. for Bridges.
Documentation after an Absence
Up to eight days per year (four per semester) may be excused by a parent note for missed attendance beyond medical, approved excused, and statutorily exemptions. Vacations taken during the school year will be coded as unexcused absences. All absences whether excused or unexcused count toward the 90% rule.
A parent must provide an explanation for any absence upon the student’s arrival or return to school. The student must submit a note signed by the parent. The campus may accept a phone call from the parent, but reserves the right to require a written note. A note signed by the student will not be accepted unless the student is age 18 or older or is an emancipated minor under state law. The campus will document in its attendance records whether the absence is excused or unexcused.
Cannon Elementary: A GCISD STEM School
Email: tina.garrett@gcisd.net
Website: https://can.gcisd.net/
Location: Cannon Elementary School, West College Street, Grapevine, TX, USA
Phone: 817-251-5680
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cannonSTEM/
Twitter: @canSTEM