Mustang Message

Shaping the 2025-2026 Academic Calendar: Your Voice Matters

Pflugerville ISD is committed to creating an academic calendar that reflects the diverse needs of our students, families, and staff. As we plan for the 2025-2026 school year, we invite our students, families, and staff to play an active role in shaping a calendar that supports high-quality instruction, respects family schedules, and honors important holidays while prioritizing professional development for our educators.

The proposed calendar options were thoughtfully crafted by the District Academic Advisory Council (DAAC), a collaborative group of parents, staff, and community members dedicated to ensuring the academic calendar aligns with our district's goals and values. Their work aims to balance instructional time, teacher planning needs, and the unique dynamics of our community.

This year, the DAAC has developed two calendar options for your consideration: Draft 1 and Draft 2. To help you make an informed choice, we have also included a Side-by-Side Comparison of the two drafts.

• Draft 1

• Draft 2

• Side-by-Side Comparison
  We encourage you to review the drafts and share your thoughts. Your feedback is invaluable in helping us finalize a calendar that works for everyone.

Does your 4th or 5th grade love problem-solving and board games? Then your child might be interested in Math Pentathlon!

Math Pentathlon is a program where students will meet after school to learn and practice 5 fun math board games with other 4th and 5th graders. Practice will begin Tuesday, January 14th and continue through the end of April. After learning and practicing all 5 games, students will compete in a tournament on April 26th at Leander ISD, Rouse High School. The tournament cost is $49/child until February 24th. After that date, the cost is $62. I will pass along the tournament registration information after practices have begun. In order to participate in the tournament, one parent needs to be available to accompany your child and stay to help with the tournament on April 26th.

If your child is interested in joining our team, please follow the link below to register your child by Friday, January 31st as there is limited room. In addition, if you would like to volunteer to help coach please let me know. I would love to have you as part of my coaching team! In order to participate, your child must be able to stay after school for practice on Tuesdays until 4:00 pm. Our first practice will be Tuesday, January 14th.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe-kJWZ9tZKPA8xpmCJlUtQ1TgEq2tXmgVindjQzBWJpT5N6g/viewform?usp=sf_link

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact me at Nancy.Lorfing@pfisd.net.

Thank you,

Nancy Lorfing and Linda Helmsin

Math Pentathlon Coaches - Division III

Murchison Elementary will be hosting GirlStart again this Spring. Girlstart After School provides 4th & 5th-grade girls with a fun, free, weekly STEM enrichment program in the fall and spring semesters that builds confidence and encourages them to pursue paths to higher education and discover more significant career opportunities. Additionally, Girlstart After School seeks to enhance and supplement girls’ classroom science learning through engaging activities that introduce important STEM concepts in a hands-on and informal environment. As a standards-aligned STEM program, Girlstart After School supports the science and math learning recovery for our participants. Girlstart’s STEM CREW program leaders serve as role models and empower their program members to be “brave, creative, and curious.”

The first Girlstart club will be on January 23rd and will take place weekly on Thursdays from 3-4:15 p.m in room 402. Students can sign up by completing the registration/permission form found here: Registration Form (English) or Registration Form (Spanish). The deadline to apply is Wednesday, January 15th. Participation in Girlstart will be determined on a first-come, first-served basis. Please ensure that weekly participation will be consistent before registering your child.

If you have questions or concerns, please contact Chinwe Onwujuba (chinweokwu.onwujuba@pfisd.net)

PTO will be sending an electronic update for the January meeting since this time of year is so busy. We will have the next formal meeting on February 11. Be on the lookout for their electronic update to be coming soon!

Our next awards assembly will be held on Friday, January 17. You will know if your child is getting an award because their teacher will reach out to you or you will see that they made all A's on their report card. 2nd-5th grade report cards will be available in the Skyward Portfolio on Tuesday, January 14.

Students who receive an award will get a dog tag. If your child received a dog tag previous years or earlier this year, feel free to have them wear the chain to school on awards assembly day. That way they can display their previous achievements and add another dog tag to the chain if they get another one!

Award times are listed below:

7:50-8:05 -- 5th grade

8:10-8:25 -- 4th grade

8:30-8:45 -- 3rd grade

8:55-9:15 -- 2nd grade

9:20-9:40 -- 1st grade

9:45-10:05 -- Kindergarten

Coach Harvey and Coach Smith are excited to bring Kids Heart Challenge back to Murchison. Kids Heart Challenge (Formally Jump Rope for Heart) brings awareness and support to the American Heart Association. This challenge also gives back directly to Murchison PE to help with equipment and supplies. You student(s) should have brought home a packet describing what the program is and how to register. Hope you will join us as we bring awareness and support to the AHA.

Here is Murchison's KHC page: https://www2.heart.org/site/TR?fr_id=11259&pg=company&company_id=489022

We are very excited for the new year at Murchison Elementary School in Pflugerville, TX! Our wonderful Coach Harvey and the Murchison Elementary PTO are looking for business sponsors for our 2025 T-Shirt for Field Day, which will take place on Friday, March 14, 2025 and Mustang Stampede Fun Run which will take place on Friday, April 11 at our campus. Field Day and The Mustang Stampede are our two biggest events for students in the spring. Having one shirt they can wear to both events adds to the sportsmanship and unity for our students while they get active and have a blast outside!

With your help & sponsorship, we will be able to provide EVERY student at Murchison Elementary with a FREE school t-shirt, with your business name or logo on the back. This shirt will be worn at multiple events by over 750 students, providing continuous exposure for your business! We have tiers ranging from $250-$2,000 for all levels of support.

Thank you so much for your consideration. If you are interested in participating, please fill out the linked Google Form document or respond with any questions you might have. I’m looking forward to hearing from you! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSereEWz1V_z7CX3hzPTMuNWIq7M4ExOZa6ziSNjAkXNMFODTQ/viewform?usp=header

Want to make a staff members' day? Give them a shout-out through the PfISD Pfamily Pflyer! Click here to submit your Pfamily Kuddos for the google form.

The 2023-2024 Texas Academic Performance Report (TAPR) is now publicly available on TEA’s website here.

Campus TAPRs will also be posted to each webpage in the “About Us” → “Performance Indicators” section.

I will briefly review the results of the TAPR at the PTO meeting on February 11.

Ms. Grillo & the MES Library is so excited to welcome award-winning author Chris Barton to visit all students at MES on January 24th! Chris will be selling copies of several of his books through Black Pearl - books will be signed and delivered on the day of Chris' visit. Please purchase at the following link. At checkout choose the “Pick Up in Store” option and please include: CHILD'S NAME/TEACHER/GRADE in the comments section. Books will be delivered to students on the day of the visit, no need to pick up on your own! For any questions, please contact me at theresa.grillo@pfisd.net. Please purchase books by January 17th to ensure delivery on the day of the visit.

Purchase books here: https://shop.blackpearl bookstore.com/gift-registry/_rFvE-IozIg

Ms. Grillo is so excited to share that we have the amazing opportunity to host New York Times bestselling author/illustration Nick Bruel, creator of the Bad Kitty series, on Thursday, January 16th at Murchison for our 1st through 4th graders! I know our students will be so excited to meet and learn from such a popular author!

Nick will be sharing about his brand new book Bad Kitty: Party Animal! If you would like to purchase a signed copy of the book that will be delivered to your child's classroom on the day of the event, please follow this link (wouldn't this make a fun holiday gift?!): https://www.bookpeople.com/schools/author-visits/fall-24/visit/var/nick-bruel

**Please note, orders placed after January 2nd cannot be guaranteed to be delivered on the day of the event. Orders after Jan. 2nd will likely be delivered after the event, but will still be signed.**

Please make sure to select the correct school from the drop-down on the event page and write your student’s name and teacher in the comments when checking out!

Please note: only 1st through 4th grades will be invited due to time and space constraints. Thank you for understanding if you have kiddos in other grade levels! We will have more fun live events coming soon for them!

Please let me know if you have any questions at: theresa.grillo@pfisd.net

Thank you!

-Ms. Grillo

Our Special areas team will regularly update their newsletter. To see updates for PE, Art, Music, and STEM, click here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1L9KEOq4FWj4X5t8_MrxoIv1P_sEIecSsQMjKaZtZzoI/edit?usp=sharing

January 17 -- Awards Assemblies

January 20 -- No School (Student and Staff Holiday)

February 11 -- PTO meeting at 6:30 p.m.

February 14 -- Valentine's Day parties

February 17 -- No School (Student Holiday)

February 18 -- Jump Rope Challenge Kindergarten-1st Grade (parents can come into the gym in the morning to see students jump rope, challenge their parents, and show their skills!)

February 19 -- Jump Rope Challenge 2nd-3rd Grade

February 20 -- Jump Rope Challenge 4th-5th Grade, XSTREAM Night (more information coming soon)

February 18-21 -- PTO Penny Wars (more information coming soon)

Find the whole Pflugerville ISD academic calendar here: https://www.pfisd.net/calendar

Website: https://mes.pfisd.net/
Location: 2215 Kelly Lane, Pflugerville, TX, USA
Phone: 512-594-6000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/murchisones/