The Cannon Connection

Good morning Cannon families,

Our campus was absolutely brimming with holiday cheer this week! Highlights included the fantastic GMS Band, Choir, and Theatre performance (featuring many former Cubs!), the spectacular Parade of Lights float built by our AMAZING Dad's Club, and the week's grand finale: our traditional PTA Santa Breakfast. A ginormous shout-out to all our dedicated DADs for building and sharing their engineering process with our scholars, and a huge thank you to the PTA Executive Board for coordinating such a successful and fun Santa breakfast!

On Friday, our Cubs joined our Cannon Dads Club, led by Dr. Nick Gesualdi, to learn about their implementation of STEM thinking and their use of the Engineering Design Process to bring a very creative construction site to life. They interacted with Crane Truck, Dump Truck, Excavator, Cement Mixer, Bulldozer, and Fire Truck; A journey through the book “Construction Site on Christmas Night (link to an animated reading of the book if you're not familiar)”. A massive shout-out to all of our dads—your dedication is truly inspiring!

Our campus was filled with festive pride and holiday harmony this week as we celebrated the annual GMS (Grapevine Middle School) Holiday Performance, which featured the GMS Band, Choir, and Theatre departments. It was a special treat to see several talented former Cubs return to the stage, lending their voices and skills to the show and demonstrating the lasting connection to our school community! The performance was a perfect blend of beautiful music, infectious cheer, and plenty of laughter, serving as a wonderful moment for campus community building and a reminder of the artistic journey our scholars take as they grow.

The week concluded with the joyful traditional PTA Santa Breakfast, which was a resounding success with an amazing turnout! Our campus transformed into a winter wonderland filled with fun activities, including exciting games, a beautiful performance by the Cannon Choir (led by Ms. Jenny Rios), creative crafts, bounce house fun, face painting, cookie decorating, and even friendly snowball fights. But most importantly, the breakfast served as a huge opportunity for Cannon community building, bringing families, students, and staff together in a spirit of holiday togetherness. A truly enormous shout-out goes to our dedicated PTA Executive Board, led by PTA President Mrs. Debbie Flowers, for their incredible hard work and planning in orchestrating this cherished annual event!

Congratulations to our 4th and 5th grade STEM Habit of Mind Hall of Fame Inductees for Communicating Clearly!

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 Friday, December 12th.

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!

This week, our kindergarten scholars will engineer candy houses and our prekindergartners can't wait to showcase their snowmen with a special gallery walk! We will end the week with our Cannon Spelling Bee.

As we prepare for our upcoming holiday parties on Thursday, December 18th please note ALL visitors attending must have an approved background check since visitors will be interacting with multiple students. Please check your confirmation email to verify your approval. If you don’t see one, contact Raptor for assistance. Background checks take 24–48 hours, so please complete yours early. Thank you for helping us keep our students safe!

Only 8 1/2 days until winter break! Let's keep the holiday cheer, Cub PRIDE, and instructional engagement going!

Proud to be your principal,

Dr. Tina Garrett

#BeCannonProud ☮️💗🐻

Families,

The second i-Ready diagnostic will be given to students in grades K-8 during the first two weeks of December. The specific schedule will be shared by your child’s teacher. As a reminder, i-Ready is an online diagnostic that helps your child’s teacher determine their strengths and areas for growth, personalize their learning, and monitor their progress throughout the school year. Results from the diagnostic allow us to meet your child where they are and provide us with data and lessons to support instruction in reading and mathematics. Additionally, it sets your child’s My Path lessons for the spring semester.

Here are a few things you can do to help support your student:

• Make sure they get a good night’s rest before taking the online assessment.

• Talk to your student about why the assessment is important. You can say things like:

• The test will help you find out what you know, what you are ready to learn, and it will help you get “just the right” lessons.

• Try your best, and do not rush, but don’t spend too much time on a question that you do not know how to answer.

• Remember, questions on the test change based on your answers to earlier questions. You will see some questions you don’t know. That is okay! Just try your best.

• Let them know you’re excited to hear about how it goes and to ask them about their experience.

We’re thrilled to partner with you in your student’s learning and can't wait to see their growth and progress from the beginning of the year until now. Teachers will be sending home data on student performance prior to the Winter Break that will show what percentage they are at towards meeting both their target goal for the year and their stretch goal. We can't wait to celebrate with them!

Would you like to help a Cannon Family this holiday season? We have an Angel Tree with toy items that will help make this holiday season special for some of our Cannon Cubs. Sign up for an item below and return the item unwrapped to the Cannon front office by Monday, December 15th. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0E4FA9A62BAB9-61034175-cannon

If you would like to donate to Grace’s Christmas Cottage, you can bring any unwrapped toy and leave it under the Christmas tree in the foyer. We will be sure to get these items delivered to Grace!

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.

This months focus is COOPERATION. One way to think about cooperation “is working together to reach shared goals.” During our lesson we will be practicing cooperation with peers by completing fun challenges. As a family, talk about how the definition applies to how you work together at home. What are some goals you share?

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.

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

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

Friday, December 12 - 🐝Cannon Spelling Bee

Friday, December 12 - 🐾Cannon Spirit Gear Friday - Wear your Cub Gear!

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

Wednesday, December 17 - Cannon Choir Christmas Concert - 6:30 Cannon Cafe

Thursday, December 18 - Winter Holiday Parties (Parents/guardians with Skyward-approved background checks are welcome to attend and help facilitate games and food stations. More information will be shared from teachers)

Thursday, December 18 - Early Dismissal 11:45

No School for staff or students Friday, December 19

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

Friday, January 9 - Middle of Year GLOW Pep Rally! Students are encouraged to wear glow gear!

During Specials time, students will have the opportunity to shop and find gifts for family & friends. There will be over 100 gifts $.25 - $12. This is only for students to participate in at school and is a great way for them to surprise family and friends with gifts they pick out. Parents will not be able to shop with their students, but PTA volunteers and staff will be available for student needs. Parents, please assist your child in setting a budget for everyone they want to buy gifts for. Students can bring money in their completed envelope any day from December 15th to 17th (Monday - Wednesday). Only students with money in hand will be allowed to shop, and students may only shop once, depending on when they bring their money. Space is limited in the Santa Shop therefore students will not be allowed to shop multiple times. Students not shopping will remain in Specials.

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