Rattler Community,

Happy Kindness Week! I hope everyone had a wonderful restful weekend. We are approaching our last few weeks before intersession and I want to thank our community for your support to our campus and students.

I know this Sunday may have called for fun with friends and family. I do encourage all Rattlers to make everyday count and attend school. We are approaching our last weeks of school, and every instructional moment supports the class.

Please take a moment to review our newsletter that covers safety reminders now that Paseo de Este has opened as well as information for February 14th treats.

Below you will find the following.

• Week at a Glance
• New Counselor Newsletter
• Attendance updates
• ValenKIND WEEK
• Lexia recognitions
• Shout-outs for the week.

Respectfully,

Cristina Sanchez-Chavira

Proud Principal of Dr. Sue A. Shook Elementary

School Office Number: 915-937-7102

Email: cchavi@sisd.net

TWITTER: DSShook_ES

#RelentlessRattlers

“We will be relentless in our pursuit for perfection. We won’t ever be perfect – but in the process, we will achieve greatness.” — Vince Lombardi

Pinksocks Life, Inc. is a worldwide non-profit charitable organization focused on promoting human connection around the world focused on empathy, caring, and love. Five years ago a Dr Sue A. Shook Elementary teacher Ms. Zelene Blancas posted a Tweet of her students that within two days went viral. She posted a video of her first graders leaving the class classroom selecting a fist bump, a high five, or a hug to share with one of their classmates as they filed out of the room for the day. This video received recognition worldwide and was featured by national media outlets.

This tweet received the attention of a pink sock member from Pittsburgh, PA who reached out to Ms. Blancas to send pink socks for her class. In 2019, right before the pandemic, the PinkSocks Tribe began a gifting campaign to deliver 1337 socks to Dr. Sue A. Shook Elementary for the largest Pink Socks Life Rally. In November of 2019 Board Members of the Pink Socks Life Organization traveled to El Paso to recognize Ms. Blancas and gift socks to the whole campus. Unfortunately, in 2020, Mrs. Zelene Blancas passed away bringing great sadness to our community.

For the week of Valentine's Day, the Shook Student Council Organization has created a focus on Kindness. Through this we will celebrate kindness in various ways through dress up as well as a Kindness Challenge service project.

The Kindness Challenge service project includes our campus collecting cash donations to be used to purchase socks from the Pink Socks Organization in order to provide them for our new Rattlers as well as pay it forward by providing socks to a campus within our district in the near future. Last year all Rattlers who were enrolled in November 2022 were gifted a new pair of Pink Socks thanks to generous donors. To find out more about the Pink Socks Organization, please visit: Teaching Kindness – PinkSocks Life

During the week of February 12-16, we ask that our Rattlers donate to this service project. Every $1 helps us towards our goal of purchasing 1000 pairs of socks. Please note that each pair costs $5. Teachers will have a collection bag in their classroom that is turned in every day at 10 am.

To thank our community for their participation in this service project, we will hold a Valentine's Day Dance during the school day for all of our students free of charge. The grade level that raises the most money will earn an extra incentive of extended recess on Friday, February 16.

Thank you community for participating in the StuCo ValenKIND Service Project!

This week we kick off our Spring fundraiser. Our campus will be selling delicious Kettle Corn in a variety of sizes and flavors. Your child should have received a form that will allow you to collect preorders and money from friends, family, and neighbors. All money raised will help to provide transportation for grade level field trips as well as purchase end of year trophies, medals and certificates.

On average, it costs the campus $600 to provide transportation along with any entry fees the location may charge for a grade level to attend a fieldtrip. Our goal is to have every grade level, PK-5th, be able to enjoy a fieldtrip before the end of the year and with this money it will help decrease the costs that parents will need to cover. With this fundraiser, the campus will earn 50% of the cost of every bag to help reach our goal.

Students will have until Wednesday, February 28th to collect preorders and payment. Money and form can be turned in anytime between Monday, February 12th and Wednesday, February 28th. Our local vendor will pick up the orders from our campus and deliver freshly popped Kettle Corn when students return from Spring Break on March 19th.

Student Incentives:

Sell at least $50 = Free Dress Pass for a Week

Sell at least $100 = Earn a Free Large Bag of Original Kettle Corn

Should you need another order form or would like to turn in money to the office, please visit the campus during the school day from 8 am to 3 pm.

Thank you in advance for your support!

Valentine's day is a great day for students to share cards, toys, and treats with each other. Students will be able to bring items to exchange with students by Monday, February 12th to exchange on February 14th. Why do teachers need them early? Teachers usually have volunteers come in and sort through and package items for easy distribution in class. Parent Volunteers would come in on the 13th to prepare items for students.

For student safety, All sent items must be store-bought and individually wrapped. Please refrain from sending Peanut Products due to our high number of student allergies. We encourage to send items that are not edible such as party favors.

If your child has a food allergy or medical concern, please make sure you have set up a plan to meet the needs of our Rattlers.

We apologize but we will not be accepting any deliveries of any kind on February 14th.

This includes flower or balloon bouquets.

As you may have noticed, Paseo de Este has opened to thru traffic. We ask for your patience and support to ensure student and pedestrian safety. Please see the map below that will take place from 7:00-7:45 and from 3:15- 3:30 to help with the transition with the opening of the street. Thank you for your support. As a reminder, accidents happen in a second. Please be Safe and cordial during our pick-up.

We also remind you to check our other safety reminders listed below. We are able to dismiss in 15 min starting at 3:15. We ask for your support to not park in areas that will obstruct our traffic flow. We want to be efficient for our community and in order to do so, we need your support.

Thank you.

It is that time of year to provide parents with information and answer any questions regarding the STAAR Assessments. As shared in other parent meetings, the STAAR Assessments help the campus gather data on how to further support your child, the grade level and identify campus needs.

During these sessions, parents will learn about the state testing process for students in third through fifth grade as well as how to support their student to be successful. Tips will include strategies to keep them focused leading up to the testing days and how to help them overcome any testing concerns they may have.

Parents who attend earn their child a free dress pass.

Have you logged into the Texas Assessment STAAR Parent Portal?

Use link below for STAAR resources for your child, such as online practice and STAAR released tests. You can also view your child's STAAR history and additional resources based on their progress.

www.Texasassessment.gov

Be Up to Date With Your Child's Grades Through Skyward

Progress Reports will be going out this week but you do not have to wait until your child's report card to see their progress. As a reminder you can also view your child's grades by accessing the parent portal using the Skyward App.

Skyward Family Access | Socorro Independent School District (sisd.net)

MAKE EVERY DAY Count and ensure students that are healthy are attending school daily. Below you will find attendance by grade.

Our goal is to keep the state-mandated average of 97% attendance. Attached you will find the attendance patterns for each grade level.

Congratulations to the following classes for having great attendance for the week of February 5th through the 9th.

PK DL: Mrs. Chagolla 100.00%

2nd: Mrs. Gonzalez 100.00%

3rd DL: Mrs. Martinez 100.00%

1st DL: Mrs. Vazquez Solis 100.00%

3rd: Mrs. Quinn 99.13%

1st: Mrs. Taylor 99.09%

4th Mr. Martinez 99.08%

1st DL: Mrs. Lucio 99.05%

5th DL: Mrs. Reyes 99.00%

1st: Mrs. Hernandez 98.99%

4th DL: Ms. Galvez 98.67%

4th: Mrs. Baeza 98.26%

Kinder DL: Mrs. Cedillo 98.18%

1st: Mrs. Montelongo 98.18%

3rd DL: Mrs. Gonzalez 97.89%

4th: Ms. Ramos 97.39%

4th DL: Mr. Romero, 97.33%

Kinder DL: Mrs. Moreno 97.27%

Kinder: Ms. Gil 97.14%

Thank you for helping us keep healthy kids at school.

The state of Texas holds administrators and parents accountable for monitoring student attendance. Please help support our teachers by bringing in your children ready to learn. We thank you for making attendance a priority. When your child is out, you can email a personal note and/or doctors release to: attendancesueshook@sisd.net

REMINDERS

Early pick-ups

• Early pick-ups are not processed 30 min before dismissal.
• PK/Kinder: No later than 2:15
• 1st-5th : No later than 2:45

INCENTIVES

To thank our students that Make Every Day Count, we will have the following incentives.

• Students with perfect attendance for the week will have a free dress pass for the following Monday.
• Every 9 weeks the class with the highest grade level attendance will receive a Pizza Party.

Make Every Day Count Rattlers!

ValenKIND Challange Week

Random Acts of Kindness Week

Free Dress for the Week for all students that attended the Valentines Day Dance

Monday, February 12th

• ValenKIND Dress Up: Show Love, Peace and Kindness. Wear Tye-Dye Clothing OR Free Dress for those with Perfect Attendance week of February 5th
• Spring KettleCorn Fundraiser Kickoff During PE

Afterschool 3:30-4:30

• Snapology (Science Lab)
• 5th Basketball Practice 3:30-5:30 (Quinn)
• UIL Music Memory (Pichardo)
• UIL Creative Writing (Loo)
• UIL Oral Reading (Franco)
• UIL 3rd-5th Music Memory (Breceda)
• UIL 4th and 5th Number Sense (Romero)
• UIL Reading Writing (Chavez)
• Bluebonnet Club (Jones)

• ValenKIND Dress Up: Rattlers are Powered by Kindness. Dress Like a Superhero or wear a superhero T-shirt or Wear uniform bottoms and top
• STAAR Parent Session in Library 9 am
• Girls Basketball game at Shook 6pm

Afterschool Programs 3:30-4:30

• UIL Chess Puzzle (Rivera)
• NEHS (Galvez)

• Rattler Round Up

Wednesday, February 14th: ValenKIND DAY -

• NO DELIVERIES ACCEPTED ON CAMPUS
• ValenKIND Dress Up: We LOVE Kindness. Wear Red or Pink with Your Pink Socks
• Valentine’s Day Pink Socks Dance During School Day

Afterschool Programs 3:30-4:30

• UIL 5 Ready Writing (Macias)
• UIL 5 Listening Skills (Gil)
• UIL 5 Social Studies (Hernandez 5th)
• UIL 2 Music Memory (Pichardo)
• UIL 3/4 Music Memory (Breceda)
• UIL 5 Dictionary Skills (Sanchez)
• UIL 5 Map Skills (Gomez)
• Rattler Cheer (Franco/Brittany)

Thursday, February 15th

• ValenKIND Dress Up: Rattlers are Crazy for Kindness. Crazy Hair and Sock Day
• Campus Math Bee During School

Afterschool programs 3:30-4:30

• Rattler Round Up
• Young Rembrandts
• 5th grade basketball AT Shook 6pm Girls/ 7pm Boys

Friday, February 16th, 2023

• ValenKIND Dress Up: Kindness Rocks. Wear Rock and Roll or Band Tee
• First Grade Fieldtrip

Afterschool Programs 3:30-4:30

Rattler Community,

As a reminder, please make sure you are supporting our dismissal procedures. These procedures ensure that we are able to clear our traffic in 15 min or less. We ask for our continued support as well as thank you for your courtesy. Continue to be respectful to each other and avoid the following

• speeding
• cutting in line
• honking
• trying to circumvent the procedures.

We are proud of our community and how our actions reflect our commitment to student safety.

Student Safety and Community Safety is our priority. It takes a second for an accident to occur and for this reason, we need to make sure that we have a clear mind and are not rushed when we approach our campus.

General

• Remember to be courteous to all drivers.
• Please refrain from honking or cutting drivers off. We need to always be courteous to each other. We are part of the same community.
• We understand that we do not have enough parking for all parents. All schools struggle with parking. Please be aware of where you are driving and who is around you.
• Always use crosswalks or approach administration or support personnel to cross you. We are our children's roll models. Would you like your child to think it is safe to cross anywhere down a street?

Car Drop-Off Etiquette

Car drop-off must be used by students that are independent enough to exit their vehicles with their backpacks on. Support your parent community by doing the following.

• Always remain in your vehicle. *If you need to exit your vehicle to help your child, then your option should be to park and walk your child.
• Always park at the top of the lane, first sign. Please do not stop at the door walkway. This limits the number of kids that can exit the vehicle.
• Make sure students are ready to exit the vehicle. If your child requires much assistance from you, please park as you are encouraged to not exit your vehicle.

Car-pick-up Etiquette

• Always display on your DASHBOARD your YELLOW car sign. If you do not have a car sign, please park to pick up your child.
• Do not exit your vehicle. Always remain in your vehicle. We will bring your child to you.
• Never park in our pick-up area
• Do not utilize the exterior or 2nd lane to have kids run to you OR pass the vehicles before you.

In the event you feel a driver or parent is impacting student, please do not engage. Notify administration. We will do the following.

• The administration will contact the parent and advise them of proper procedures
• Second or severe offense: Vehicle information will be given to police services.

Thank you, Rattler Community, for your support. Let us make sure we keep our Rattlers safe.

Parents there are a few traffic concerns that have started to come up and we would like your support in making sure you do your part to keep our Rattlers and community safe.

• Cell Phone Use: The use of cell phones within school zones is prohibited (unless used with a hands-free device) under Section 545.425 of the Texas Transportation Code. This could result in a $200 fine or more concerning, contribute to an accident. We have noticed more and more parents in line looking at their cell phone and not paying attention to the traffic flow or pedestrians. Accidents can happen in a second. Please put all phones away
• Speeding in a school zone. In the morning we have noticed vehicles speeding to try to beat the gates closing in the morning. Please note that to avoid speeding we do close the gate at 7:43 unless there is a long traffic line.
• Dropping off students in unsafe areas (street).
• Parking in the parking lot and having students run through the parking lot with other moving vehicles.

It is tradition on our campus to purchase STAAR testing shirts with our theme for those students in 3rd-5th grade. These shirts are at no cost to you as Shook will be purchasing them. Every year we purchase these shirts as a way to help motivate the students and show them that we, as a school, know they will do their very best.

Please return the order form no later than Friday, February 16th. Our rally shirts will be a 50% Cotton / 50% Polyester short sleeve t-shirt. Any student that does not return their form by Friday, will be sized by the school and the size we determine will be ordered. No exchanges will be available.

In case you missed the VSP Track meeting, attached you will find the informational flyer shared during the meeting as well how you can sign your child up.

To register your child for the track season, please visit http://bit.ly/42ce51T

This program is completely dependent on parents volunteering to be a coach. Without a coach, teams cannot be formed which is why you will see on the informational flyer that no payment is to be made until a coach has reached out to you. If you are interested in coaching, please reach out to Mr. Patti. This is a developmental program helping students learn the fundamentals of track. Any parent regardless of your track knowledge can coach!

Please note that while this program is apart of the district, it is run by our amazing coordinator Mr. John Patti. Should you have any questions about VSP or Track, please reach out to him at (915) 204-2666.

Effective on Sept.1st, 2023 it is now in law that a student may be either removed from class and placed in a disciplinary alternative education program, or expelled from a school for the possession, use, or delivery of marihuana or e-cigarettes on or near a public school property or at certain school events. You will notice posters posted around our campus. Please make sure you talk to children and make sure you secure any personal vaping items so that students do have access to them.

Please take the time to talk to your children regarding the consequences that can come from making threats to an individual or campus or through social media. Socorro ISD and Dr. Sue A. Shook Elementary, take all campus or student threats very seriously. Incidents that involve students making threats to other students, adults, and/or the school will be handled using the SISD Student Code of Conduct and if necessary may lead to an investigation by our campus SRO.

Please talk to your child about the consequences that come with making threats to others. We appreciate your support.

As a reminder, students are not able to bring in cupcakes or snacks to celebrate a birthday. We have a high number of students with the following medical conditions

• Food Allergies to gluten, peanuts, eggs, wheat etc.
• Lactose intolerant
• Type I Diabetes.

In order to minimize their risk to exposing them to food items that may cause them physical harm, our campus does not accept any type of treat that will be consumed on campus. Please help us keep all of our students safe. Classroom teachers will make sure your child feels special that day by singing to them and may provide them with an item to distinguish that it is their birthday. You are welcome to send them to school with a birthday sash or button.

How is this different from allowable treat days and treat parties earned for incentives?

Allowable treat days and incentive days are planned days that allow parents to work alongside educators and the campus to ensure their child is taken care of by offering alternatives and ensure they are not feel excluded. Thank you for your support.

Systems are working and this week we will begin to work on arriving on time. Students' tardiness will go into effect soon. Note the following

• Doors and Gates will open at 7:00 am
• First Bell will ring at 7:30 am
• MUSIC will play over the intercom at 7:40 for the last 5 minutes before the tardy bell.
• Tardy Bell will ring at 7:45
• Breakfast in the classroom will be served from 7:30-7:45 am
• Instruction will start promptly at 7:45

Thank you, parents, for not blocking our walkways and stopping at the endpoints. This helps us have a visual of the students coming in and support any students that need guidance.

Email: cchavi@sisd.net
Website: https://www.sisd.net/site/default.aspx?domainid=4099
Location: 13777 Paseo Del Este, El Paso, TX, USA
Phone: 9159377100
Twitter: @DSShook_ES

Mrs. Chavira: Principal

Email: cchavi@sisd.net

Assistant Principals

Mr. Estrada: restra18@sisd.net

Mrs. Hurtado: nhurta@sisd.net

Counselors

Mrs. Duarte: cduart@sisd.net

Ms. Galvez: mgalve01@sisd.net

Librarian

Ms. Jones: bjones01@sisd.net

Parent Liason

Mrs. Brittany Burnette: bburne01@sisd.net

Community in Schools

Ms. Sonia Esparza: sonia.esparza@sisd.net