Blanson CTE High FACE Newsletter

• STAAR Re-Testing-Tuesday, December 7th- Tuesday, December 14h
• Final Exams Begin-Monday, December 13th
• Winter Break-Monday, December 20th-Friday, December 31st
• Staff Development-Monday, January 3rd and Tuesday, January 4th
• Beginning of 2nd Semester-Wednesday, January 5th
• Beginning of the Third Nine Weeks Grading Period-Wednesday, January 5th
• Report Card Grades Available-Tuesday, January 11th
• Senior Panoramic Picture-Wednesday, January 12th

See the schedule below for more information on the schedule of exams and early dismissal days.

If you have a 12th grade student at Blanson, here are some helpful reminders from our counselor staff.

Senior To Do List

• Complete FAFSA/TASFA
• Complete the ApplyTexas college application (if not completed already)
• Apply for the Aldine Education Foundation Scholarship and/or Rodeo Houston Scholarship
• Keep up with your coursework
• Clear any make-up hours for Attendance Denial of Credit
• Check your email DAILY for updates on senior activities, Attendance Denial of Credit, scholarship info, etc.

Jaguar Parents,

Current English Language Arts Units of Study

English 1: As we study the development and impact of photojournalism as a catalyst for change in the world, we will investigate the central question: How do images change the world?

English 2: Who gets to tell your story? What does it mean to recreate a person’s story 200 years after their death? Lin Manuel Miranda tells us the story of one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, Alexander Hamilton, in Hamilton: An American Musical. In this unit, we will read a series of related texts to explore the following question: How do storytellers use primary sources?

English 3: A heightened focus on competitive sports can have a variety of implications—both positive and negative—for the players and their community. In this unit, we will read Friday Night Lights and a series of related texts to explore the following question: How do high school athletics reflect American society?

English 4: In this unit, we will read Shakespeare’s famous play Hamlet and explore the following question: How many ways can the same text be read? We will analyze the play through four literary lenses: archetypal, political, psychological, and feminist.

Upcoming English Language Arts Units of Study

English 1: There is more than one side to every story. In this unit we will read The Book of Unknown Americans, a novel by Cristina Henríquez, and will explore the Central Question: How does perspective shape our understanding of events?

English 2: In the novel Things Fall Apart, Pulitzer Prize-winner Chinua Achebe crafts the story of his central character, Okonkwo, an Igbo tribesman that lives during the European colonization of Africa. Through analyzing Achebe’s text, we will explore the following question: What does it mean for things to fall apart?

English 3: In The Warmth of Other Suns, Pulitzer Prize-winner Isabel Wilkerson crafts a history of the Great Migration. Through analyzing her work and a series of related literary and informational texts, we will explore the following question: How do we construct the story of a complicated history?

English 4: How does one exhibit bravery in the face of extreme danger? What does it mean to fight for what you believe in? In this unit, we will consider the question What makes a revolutionary? by exploring the Dominican Republic under the Trujillo regime. To do this, we will read Julia Alvarez’s historical fiction novel In the Time of the Butterflies, examine relevant informational material, and view a documentary film to supplement background knowledge.

Sometimes schools experience peaks in student behavior, such as with periods just before holidays and extended breaks. As such, we want to offer all Jaguar families a few reminders and updates to school policies/practices.

Snacks and Other Food Items

Students may bring snacks to eat for themselves but they are not allowed to bring homemade goods with the intent of giving them away to classmates or staff.

Gifts

Students may bring gifts for classmates but they must be unwrapped and put in a bag so they can be searched at security checkpoints by a staff member.

Backpacks, Laptop Bags, & Purses

Please help us in monitoring what your child brings to school in order to assist with campus safety. This includes food to share with others, weapons, drugs/drug paraphernalia, alcohol-- any items which are illegal to possess or carry, or inappropriate for the age of the child or the school environment.

Students are required to use clear or mesh backpacks. Laptop bags and purses are excluded from this rule, but must function as intended. For example, a student cannot use a purse as a backpack, by placing their personal items and books, folders, pencils, etc. inside. The purse should function as a purse in that it is only carrying personal items.

Dress Code

Students at Blanson are held to a Business Casual dress code. A listing of acceptable and prohibited attire can be found on our school webpage. Assist us with ensuring that students arrive appropriately dressed within Blanson dress code guidelines. Some common dress conde infractions include not wearing a student ID, wearing/bring a pull-over hoodie, wearing jeans on non-Blanson spirit day, wearing graphic t-shirts, and wearing dresses/skirts of an inappropriate length.

Please note that final exams begin next week and we will have NO AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES (December 13-17, 2021).

In October, we celebrated National Principals Month by giving gift baskets to our Principal, Mr. Ibarra. We also held a Food Drive Competition between the three academies here at Blanson. In the end, the HHS Academy took first place, but the real winners were the charities that received the food goods.

In November, we honored our Veterans by hosting a luncheon for Blanson staff members who have served in the military. Later in the month, we gave thanks to our custodians for the wonderful job they do keeping our school clean and safe. We gave each custodian an assortment of foods for their Thanksgiving, including a turkey.

Attendance Denial of Credit (ADoC)

While we understand that many students have been absent due to circumstances beyond their control, the law does still require that all students attend school at least 90% of the time in order to be eligible to receive credit for their classes. As such, please help us to ensure that you student attends school on-time, every day.

• When your student is absent, ensure that a note is turned into the attendance office within 3 days of returning back to school.
• Make a habit of checking your student's attendance records in Home Access Center. Should there be discrepancies, have your student reach out to the teacher for the class where the absence occurred.
• If contacted regarding "Attendance Denial of Credit" ensure that all requested paperwork and make-up hours are recorded and turned into Ms. Sheffield, Assistant Principal over attendance as soon as possible.

Attendance Office Reminders

During regular school days the cut off time to pick up students early is 1:45 pm. We ask that all parents/guardians respect this policy as it becomes increasingly disruption to the school day when students are picked up closer to dismissal time

All parents/guardians who pick up students MUST be on the student's contact list in eSchool

All parents/guardians must have an official form of documentation to pick up a student

cut off time and also on early dismissal day we will not be pulling students out of class for early pick up.

Parents and Guardians,

We are in desperate need of your help! As a district requirement, ALL parents/guardians of Aldine students MUST complete an annual update in Home Access Center. While a lot of parents have already completed the Annual Update, we still have a large number of parents who have not completed this vital step yet and it MUST be completed for your Blanson student. The Home Access Center account MUST be a parent account (not a student account) and this means that a parent MUST have an email address.

If you do not have a parent email on file for your child, please contact the registrar's office at Blanson to update it. If you need any assistance in regards to completing the Annual Update, please contact Mr. Baumann, librarian at Blanson CTE.

Quick Directions on Completing the Annual Update

1. Log in to Home Access Center and check the student name in the top right corner. Select the drop-down to

change to a different student, if needed.

2. Select the Registration page.

3. Select the Update Enrollment tab.

4. Under Available Forms, select Start to access the Annual Update form.

5. Set up access to Online Forms. a. Select the Checkbox “To comply with COPPA, I affirm that I am 13 years or older”. b. Select Begin Forms.

7. Complete the Annual Update application and SUBMIT it ASAP.

Email: BlansonCTEHS@aldineisd.org
Website: blansonhs.aldineisd.org
Location: 311 West Road, Houston, TX 77038
Phone: (281) 591-4950
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BlansonCTEHS
Twitter: @BlansonCTEHS