The Cannon Connection

Good morning Cannon families,

What a FANTASTIC week at Cannon! From honoring our Veterans and hosting leadership tours to experiencing Sky Ranch Camp, our Cannon community had the BEST week!

🏕️🥾🌲Our 5th-grade Cubs had the adventure of a lifetime during their recent experiential learning trip to Sky Ranch Camp! It was truly the best hands-on learning experience, filled with opportunities for growth, teamwork, and unforgettable memories.

• Building Bonds: Students strengthened friendships and built a stronger community through collaborative learning activities.

• Facing Fears: The ultimate test? The zipline! We are so proud of every student who faced their fears and took the exhilarating leap.

• Campfire Fun: Our last evening was capped off with hilarious student-led skits around the campfire, followed by the perfect reward: delicious, toasty s'mores!

This valuable trip, which provided learning outside the traditional classroom setting, would not have been possible without our amazing, dedicated chaperones and teachers! Thank you for giving our students this incredible opportunity to bond, learn, and challenge themselves. I would also like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our PTA for providing us valuable funds to lower the cost of this trip and also ensuring every student that wanted to go was able to attend! We have an FANTASTIC CANNON COMMUNITY!

We couldn't be prouder of our students for their respectful and moving participation in this year's Veterans Day tributes!

Our entire 2nd-grade class delivered a wonderful and memorable performance, honoring our nation's veterans with songs and a triumphant scarf salute. Please help me give our second graders and our Cannon Music Teacher, Ms. Jenny Rios, a HUGE round of applause! Their dedication to practicing truly paid off, and they made the entire Cannon community proud!

We would also like to give a special shout-out to 5th-grade student, Elizabeth Haggard, for representing Cannon Elementary at the Grapevine Middle School (GMS) Veterans Day program. She performed beautifully and showed great leadership in participating in the secondary school tribute.

Thank you to all our students and staff who helped us honor the sacrifices of our veterans.

We are bursting with pride following our recent Leadership Day! A group of 35 K-4 scholars presented to approximately 50 leaders from the Grapevine and Colleyville Chambers of Commerce.

Our students confidently demonstrated how they utilize the Engineering Design Process (EDP) to solve problems and innovate. Their presentations were powerful proof that our Cubs are not just learning, but are actively developing the critical thinking and leadership skills needed to be truly future ready.

Thank you to the Chamber leaders for giving our students this amazing opportunity to showcase their hard work and preparation!

Congratulations to our 2nd and 3rd grade STEM Habit of Mind Hall of Fame Inductees for Thoughtful Planning!

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. We are PROUD to honor our scholars for exhibiting STEM thinking, and we can't wait to celebrate our next group of inductees Monday, November 17th.

If your scholar is selected, your teacher will reach out to you with ceremony details about the specific date and time for each grade's ceremony. We hope you will join us in celebrating our young innovators!

A huge shout-out and thank you to our incredible Applied STEM teacher, Heather Hagar, for her tremendous hard work and dedication! Mrs. Hagar prepared our scholars beautifully for both our recent, exciting STEMapalooza event and the impactful Leadership Day showcase presented to the Grapevine and Colleyville Chamber of Commerce Members. Her guidance ensures our students are engaged in hands-on learning and consistently ready to shine when presenting their skills. We are so grateful for her commitment to making STEM and leadership development a priority for all our students!

We also want to take this opportunity to recognize and send a huge thank you to our phenomenal school counselor, Mrs. Coburn! Mrs. Coburn’s tireless commitment supports our scholars in becoming healthy, happy, and empathetic citizens. Her guidance helps our students navigate challenges, develop crucial social-emotional skills, and ensures they are ready to thrive and lead in our ever-changing world. Thank you, Mrs. Coburn, for fostering a supportive environment where every student can grow into their best self!

As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, we want to take a moment to reflect on how truly grateful, thankful, and blessed we are for our entire Cannon community—our dedicated students, supportive families, and wonderful staff! Your partnership makes our school a special place every single day.

We wish all of our families a joyful and restful holiday. Please enjoy the break and cherish this time spent with your loved ones! Your next principal newsletter will be shared on Sunday, November 30th.

Proud to be your principal,

Dr. Tina Garrett

#BeCannonProud ☮️💗🐻

Grand Friends, get ready for some STEMtastic fun! We’re excited to welcome everyone for Grandfriends Day! To help the check-in process go smoothly, we’ll be offering Fast Passes. Please sign up for a Fast Pass only if you are 100% sure you’ll be attending, as this helps us plan and keeps lines moving efficiently. Even with a Fast Pass, we ask that you allow a little extra time for signing in and picking up your pass when you arrive. We can’t wait to celebrate this special day with our grandfriends!

We're excited to announce that your child's artwork will be on display in a special PreK-5th Grade Cannon Art Show held in the school gym!

Art Show Schedule

• Student Preview Tour: On Thursday, November 20th, all students will get a sneak peek during their Specials class. They'll tour the entire art show and complete a fun scavenger hunt while observing the creative pieces from every grade level.

• Grandfriend's Day Viewing: For students participating in Grandfriend's Day, they will bring their guests to the gym to view the artwork on Friday, November 21st, between 8:30 AM and 10:30 AM. This is a fantastic opportunity for your child to proudly show their art to their special grandfriend!

Artwork Purchase Option

There is an option for grandfriends (or parents!) to purchase the framed artwork as a keepsake.

• A small percentage of every purchase goes directly to the Cannon Art Department to fund future art material needs for our students. It's a great way to support our art program!

• If you or a grandfriend are interested in purchasing your child's framed artwork, please visit the Online Art Show website or purchase it on Nov. 21st during Grandfriends Day in the gym between 8:30-10:30 am.

We look forward to celebrating the creativity of our students!

Get ready for the annual Literati Book Fair, happening November 17th–November 21st!

We're so excited to bring hundreds of new and popular titles to our school. The best part? The online book fair is already open! You can start shopping now and browse an even wider selection of books.

To make your student's in-person shopping experience smooth and worry-free, we highly encourage purchasing a digital Gift Card online for them to use at the fair. Be sure to connect to our school when checking out! This is the safest and easiest way to ensure your student has their funds for books without the risk of losing cash or the hassle of sending physical money to school!

• Shopping Time: Students will shop with their class only during their assigned Specials period on Monday through Thursday.

• Open Shopping (Friday): On Friday, November 21st, the fair will be open for general shopping for students until 2:00 PM, this includes shopping with Grandfriends!

Happy Reading!

We are beginning our annual food drive benefitting our own Cannon families for the upcoming holidays. We are collecting non-perishable items from the suggested list provided below. Each grade level will be responsible for specific food items. We will collect food items from November 4th - December 12th. Items should be dropped off in the foyer. Thank you so much for supporting our Cannon community.

We are looking forward to focusing on GRATITUDE this month! One way to think about Gratitude is “choosing to appreciate the people and things in our lives.” Practicing Gratitude can increase our well-being and our happiness.

At home, you can practice Gratitude by talking about some small, specific things that you are Grateful for. Maybe it's your favorite water cup, the way the cat sleeps on the chair, or when you smell banana bread baking in the kitchen. Spend some time as a family trying to think of at least 10 small things that you have Gratitude for and then choose to notice them this week with a smile.

Contact Mrs. Coburn

If you would like Mrs. Coburn to contact you or check on your student, you can complete the following link: Request to Talk to Counselor

Please be advised: If you make any changes to your Skyward form for Senate Bill 12 (Counseling Services, Health Services, or Club Participation), you must notify the campus support staff either verbally or via email. The Skyward system does not alert staff of resubmissions, so your communication is necessary to ensure your changes are received.

November 10 - 21 - 🪙PTA Mario Kart Penny Wars!

Monday, November 17 - STEM Hall of Fame (PreK, Kinder, & 1st) -Thoughtful Planning

Monday, November 17 - Cannon Campus Excellence Committee Meeting - Art Room 3:30-4:30

November 17-21 -📔Cannon Book Fair; Starting November 20 - 🖼️ Cannon Art Show

Friday, November 21 - Cannon's Annual Grand Friend's Day 8:30-10:30! Grand Friends, get ready for some STEMtastic fun! We’re excited to welcome everyone for Grandfriends Day! To help the check-in process go smoothly, we’ll be offering Fast Passes. Please sign up for a Fast Pass only if you are 100% sure you’ll be attending, as this helps us plan and keeps lines moving efficiently. Even with a Fast Pass, we ask that you allow a little extra time for signing in and picking up your pass when you arrive. We can’t wait to celebrate this special day with our grandfriends!

Monday, November 24-Friday, November 28 - Thanksgiving Break!

Monday, December 1 - Students and Staff return!

December 1-12 - 🎯 Middle of the Year iReady Diagnostic Testing Window

Thursday, December 4 - Grapevine Parade of Lights - Come out to Main Street to Cheer on our award winning Dad's Club! WE can't wait to see their Float Engineering come to LIFE!

Wednesday, December 2 - Progress Report 2 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 2025-2026 Report Card 2”

Friday, December 5 - 🕵🏼‍♀️ Hats Off to Learning! $1 wear a hat - All proceeds go toward reducing field trip costs.

Friday, December 5 - ☕PTA Principal Coffee - 8:30-9:30 in our Cannon Cafe

Saturday, December 6 - PTA Santa Breakfast:

8:30-9:15 - Early access for sensory sensitive families

9:15 - Doors open for all families

10:00-11:00 - Community Building, Pictures with Santa, Games, Breakfast - so much fun!

Thursday, December 11 - 🍬Kindergarten Candy House Design Challenge 8:30-9:30

Friday, December 12 - 🐝Cannon Spelling Bee

December 15-17 - Student Holiday Shop -🐧Penguin Patch!

Thursday, December 18 - Winter Holiday Parties and Early Dismissal 11:45

Winter Break: Friday, December 19 - January 6; Students return to school on Wednesday, January 7, 2026

Hi fellas,

It’s the REAL 'most wonderful time of the year' -- float building season.

We're ready to build another award-winning Cannon Parade of Lights float! If you're not already part of our groupme... sign up here as that's where we'll do more of the quick/day-to-day communication about the build.

🪙 Penny Wars is in FULL swing - with a lot of SABOTAGE! 🪙

Our Cannon PTA is hosting a fun and competitive Penny Wars fundraiser from November 10 - 21 to support our Cannon Cubs!

What is it?

Each grade level is a "team" competing to earn the most points by dropping coins and bills into their designated buckets. Grades can add points with pennies and bills (e.g., a $\$1$ bill is $+100$ points) or sabotage other teams by adding silver coins (e.g., a nickel is $-5$ points).

Why participate?

This is a fundraiser for the Cannon PTA to help fund field trips and teacher appreciation events!

School-Wide Goals & Rewards:

• $500: Music played during lunch on a Friday!

• $1,000: Mario Kart Character Race at our MOY pep rally in January!

• $5,000: The highest earning grade-level teachers get to silly-string Dr. Garrett!

The highest scoring grade level at the end of Penny Wars wins a pajama day and Hot Chocolate Party!

Out CUBs are having the BEST time - Lets keep the games going!

Cink here -

GCISD is having a successful start to the school year! Please help us keep that momentum going by taking a moment to review with your students the 2025-2026 Student Code of Conduct and 2025-2026 Student Parent-Handbook, which includes dress code and updates from the 89th Legislative Session.

We welcome our parents to engage in our events throughout this school year! Any parent attending or supporting an event during the school day must have a cleared background check. That includes field trips, holiday parties, field day, and volunteering on campus during the school day!

Background checks must be completed each year! Click here to learn more: GCISD Volunteer Page

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

Instagram: @CannonSTEM