The Paw Print

Our Student Council is excited to lead this year’s Birkes Food Drive, supporting families in our community. Each grade level is assigned specific items to bring, but any donations are welcome—no glass containers, please! Many of these items will help children right here at Birkes.

Grade-Level Items:

• Pre-K & Kindergarten: Canned goods (fruits & vegetables)
• 1st Grade: Dry goods (rice, pasta, stuffing)
• 2nd Grade: Peanut butter & jelly
• 3rd Grade: Paper goods (toilet tissue, paper towels, facial tissue, napkins)
• 4th Grade: Canned soup
• 5th Grade: Cereal

Thank you for your generosity and support of our Birkes community!

Student Council Sponsors
Irene Robles - Kevin McGown and Cassidy Malone

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Nurse Rhymes at 281-345-3304 or email at judith.rhymes@cfisd.net.

Mark your calendars! Book Fair will be the week of November 16th-20th. Book Fair will be CASHLESS this year.

Birkes Elementary proudly participates in the PBIS program, where students earn Bulldog Bucks by showing their P.A.W.S. which stands for Pride, Attitude, Wise Choices, and Safety. These bucks can be traded for rewards like classroom incentives, extra recess, games in the library, and more.

We would love to expand these reward opportunities and kindly ask for your support. Even a small donation can help us add special experiences like Popsicle or Popcorn Parties, Birkes Bistro lunch on the stage, and other fun activities. Thank you for helping make Birkes PAWSitively awesome. You can donate by clicking the red button below.

All students in Cypress-Fairbanks ISD will receive a Chromebook/Charger to use for instructional purposes. The devices will be checked out to individual students. All Chromebooks and accessories are the property of Cypress-Fairbanks ISD. Parents can choose to opt out of the LTE 1:1 Program during the beginning of the year student registration process or when registering a student new to the district.

🐾 Beginning-of-Year Dress Code Reminders

As we begin a new school year, we want to share a few important CFISD dress code reminders to help our Bulldogs come to school ready to learn each day.

Please keep these guidelines in mind:

• Shorts, skirts, and dresses must be mid-thigh length or longer.
• Clothing should not be too tight, loose, sagging, baggy, or revealing.
• Spaghetti straps, backless tops, low-cut tops, and shirts that are too short are not permitted.
• Pajama pants are not permitted as school attire.

Our goal is to maintain a positive, comfortable, and distraction-free learning environment for all students.

Thank you for joining us during lunch. To help lunch run smoothly and provide a positive experience for all of our Bulldogs, please review and follow these guidelines:

• 🍎 Lunch may be brought for your child only. Food may not be provided or shared with other students.
• 👋 At the end of the lunch period, when the lights go out, please allow your child to rejoin their class and make your way to the front office to check out.
• 📵 Photos and videos are not permitted in the cafeteria during lunch to protect the privacy and confidentiality of all students.
• 🐾 Please limit lunch visits to one visit per week. This allows students time throughout the week to socialize, build friendships, and connect with their classmates.

Thank you for helping us keep lunchtime safe, enjoyable, and focused on our students.

Find information below about student transportation.

If your student is absent at our daily attendance time of 10:02 AM, we kindly ask that you send an excuse note to the school.

To help us keep records up to date, please make sure to send the excuse note within 3 days of the absence. The note should include:

• Student’s name and grade

• Reason for the absence

• A phone number where we can reach you

• Parent or guardian's signature

If your child visited a doctor or dentist, please send in the official note from their office. Only the dates listed on the doctor’s note can be excused. For any additional days, a signed parent note is needed. Thank you so much for your support in helping us keep everything running smoothly!

Parents and/or legal guardians are strongly encouraged to regularly monitor the Home Access Center (HAC). The HAC allows parents to monitor their child’s attendance, grades, and schedule to ensure accuracy and take appropriate action when necessary.

Parents no longer have to access HAC to see their children's report card. Parents can now click the report card online icon shown below for report cards.

Student birthdays are recognized on our daily announcement slides.

In addition, if you'd like to have your child's birthday celebrated at school, we offer parents the opportunity to purchase ice cream or cookies from the cafeteria to be distributed to their child's class during lunch. In order for our cafeteria to prepare for this, you must give at least two weeks’ notice and have the appropriate funds in your child’s lunch account. You may email carrieann.boehm@cfisd.net if you are interested.

Parents and guardians can also purchase a Birthday Marquee Message for $21, which includes a two-day display. You can make the purchase through your child's School Cash account. Please submit payment at least 10 school days before your child's birthday.

For any questions or late payments, please email sally.attar@cfisd.net

Students may purchase breakfast or lunch daily. For more information about how to create an account with School Cafe, please follow this link: https://www.cfisd.net/parents-students01/nutrition-services/school-caf233-cafeteria-account

A message from the cafeteria

Extra snacks are available for all grade levels, and students may purchase as many as they’d like. Parents can set limits on extras, choose specific days for purchases, or block them entirely by going to CFISD.net → Departments → School Nutrition Services → School Café. This is also where you can add money for meals, snacks, or birthday treats.

If you prefer, you can send cash or a check in an envelope labeled with your child’s name, “meal account,” and the deposit amount.

Each student will receive two photo ID badges at the beginning of the school year at no cost. The badges and the unique student number will be used to account for students utilizing transportation services, checking out library books and textbooks, purchasing food items from the cafeteria, providing a means for easy identification of students in common areas of the school and for other uses as determined by campus administration. One of the badges will be attached to the student’s backpack and is required to be utilized for transportation services. The second ID will remain at the campus. Students must have the ID badge in their possession each day and follow campus procedures related to wearing the ID badge. If a student loses the ID, a replacement must be promptly purchased from the designated school office/location. The charge will be placed on the students School Cash Account.

Replacement costs are as follows:

• Plastic ID: $3.00
• Lanyard: $1.00
• Plastic Sleeve: $1.00
• Total: $5.00

Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students will be issued red plastic sleeves and must have the sleeve and badge to ride the school bus home. If the student is not identified with the red plastic sleeve and badge, they will not be allowed to ride the bus home. Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students are to be met at the school bus at the bus stop to be released. Additionally, if no one is available to meet the pre-kindergarten or kindergarten student at the bus, the student will be returned to the campus.

Bulldogs, our Birkes PTO is a group of volunteers that support the students and teachers with things like funding the Field Trips, Teacher Appreciation, Spirit Shop and much more! We are hoping that each family can come together to donate $10 towards the PTO because together, we can do a lot to support the school. Please consider donating to this great cause! You can easily do it by bringing it in an envelope in your child’s folder or via the PTO website.

We have BRAND NEW PTO WEBSITE! https://birkescfisdnet.ptboard.com/

We also have a free app to download- PTBOARD. It makes accessing the PTO website easy and available to view anywhere.

It includes the Yearlong Calendar for all things PTO at Birkes, a Student Directory for those that join, All Volunteering Opportunities, Teacher Favorite Things Lists, 5th Grade Activities, Forms and Payments, and much more! Please create an account on it to stay in the loop!

Volunteering Events Coming Up:

Re-takes Picture Day Nov 10th

November Breakfast Bar Hospitality Event Nov 17th

Spirit Shop during lunches November 20th.

WE NEED SRC CLASSROOM DEMO VOLUNTEERS FOR 3rd-5th GRADE! Please look at the schedule for training dates in November.

Events Coming Up:

Family Fun Night Monday November 16th

We have a 5th grade raffle coming up this evening as well.

Spirit Night Texas Roadhouse Monday November 30th

For any questions, please email birkesptopresident@gmail.com- we would love to help you!

Here are several flyers to help you navigate all things Birkes' families and students need to know!