What's Buzzing at the Heights
Week 18: January 1 - 5, 2024
Dear Hornet Families,
Wow! 84 days of INSTRUCTION are in the books!
As the year comes to a close, we all look forward to a fresh new start. The air is filled with excitement and possibilities. Wishing you and all of your loved ones good health, happiness, love and success in the new year. Together, we will make 2024 a great year!
My greatest wish for each of you is that you find the strength and patience to work alongside your child so they may reach their full potential.
May each child grow as a strong reader and writer to understand the stories they read.
May each child learn their math facts with fluency to find confidence and success.
May each child perform experiments to process how science comes to life and make sense of food chains, circuits and matter.
Our scholars will need us at their side to learn deeper, process and apply these foundational skills they need to THRIVE.
My 2024 New Years Wish for You
12 months of happiness,
52 weeks of fun and laughter,
365 days of success,
8,760 hours of good health,
525,600 minutes of blessings, &
31,536,000 seconds of joy!
Have a Blessed & Prosperous New Year! Together, we can make their lives better! Together, we are better!
On Tuesday & Wednesday, we embrace the return of our Teachers and Staff from a well deserved Winter's break. We will provide professional development and planning time for them to be ready to receive our scholars.
On Thursday, all scholars begin Marking Period 3, MP3. We know our scholars will be ready to LEARN, GROW and continue to BUILD PROFICIENCY in their skills. It is an important time for our scholars to be present and ready to start the new year with their classmates.
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For the 1st time this school year, our attendance was so LOW the month of December, we dropped to 5th in the district in attendance! We have always been top 4! We need our scholars healthy and in school so they can have the confidence to apply their skills. Please bring your children to school daily.
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This month, we ask for your support to help our scholars with the following:
- read daily for 20 minutes (anything of interest to child);
- complete 5 units of Lexia daily,
- practice addition & subtraction facts (Kinder through 2nd grade);
- practice multiplication & division facts (3rd Grade through 5th Grade);
- go to bed early enough to be ready to learn the next day; &
- continue to communicate with classroom teachers
Arrival & Dismissal.
Arrival and Dismissal will be our greatest challenges. Please be patient and kind. We will have all staff on duty to assist and create a system that is safe and efficient.
For Dismissal, we do ask families to ensure their SIGN with child's name in posted in the front windshield so that we can read & call out the name.
Attendance.
If your child is absent, we must have a doctor's note or a personal note explaining why they were absent upon their arrival. For doctor's appointments, take your child to appointment, but bring them back with a doctor's note the same day and it will be counted as present.
NEW: This year, district policy indicates parents/guardians have 72 hours to submit excuse notes justifying child's absence.
Attendance in vital to our scholars success. Every day gone from school, they lose 7 hours of skills, strategies and support for learning. Help us by keeping your children healthy.
We track attendance daily and will communicate with families when children have 5 absences & tardies to establish a Loss of Credit Contract. Our goal is for your child to be healthy and at school without losing credit.
Reporting Absences.
If you need to report an absence, our PEIMS Clerk will be able to assist you. Our team will be receiving the email to help assist you. I will forward all of your messages to the classroom teachers so they are aware of the absence.
Email: attendancehorizonheights@sisd.net
Please include as much detail as possible:
- Child's name
- Grade
- Teacher
- Student ID
- Reason for the absence
All notes will be collected via this email as well. Be sure to include details in the note as the child returns to class.
Tardies.
Children will be counted TARDY whey they enter the building at 7:45 AM. Please ensure you are allowing enough time for your child to arrive to school on time. After 3 tardies, children will be given lunch detention. The traffic is hectic. We begin to receive children at 6:45 AM. Help your child to arrive on time and start their day ready to learn.
Birthday Snacks.
We ask parents to please refrain from bringing in cupcake trays. If you would like for your child to share a treat, it must be a treat individually packaged by the manufacturer. Candy bags, individually wrapped snacks are allowed. Call or email Ms. Hansen and we can help to clarify. We appreciate you!
Thank you for your continued support! We are blessed with an amazing learning community!
Together, we are better!
Respectfully,
Jenifer Hansen
Proud Principal of Horizon Heights ES
Office Number: 915-937-7402
Picking Up Scholars Early
We are asking for your assistance when picking up children early from school. We need your support to be able to process your request in a timely manner.
For Doctor's Appointments:
If possible, pick you your children before 1:00 PM.
For PK & Kinder:
Children must be picked no later than 2:00 PM.
For 1st-5th Grade:
Children must be picked up no later than 2:30 PM.
Thank you for your support!
As we begin MP3, we will be working with our scholars to prepare them for the end of the year. For our 3rd through 5th graders, this means preparing them for their STAAR exams.
- We will continue with our teachers providing amazing Tier I instruction daily in all content areas.
- We will provide children time for small group support in math and reading during the school day.
- We will have stations for the children to practice their skills to proficiency during class time in math, reading, writing and science.
- We will offer AFTERSCHOOL TUTORING for scholars starting next week.
- We will offer 2 sessions of Saturday Learning Camp for our 3rd through 5th grade scholars on the following dates:
- Saturday, January 20 from 8:00 AM to 12:00 Noon
- Saturday, February 10 from 8:00 AM to 12:00 Noon
- 2 hours dedicated to math, 2 hours dedicated to reading/writing
- For 5th Graders, 2 hours dedicated to science
- In MP4, we will offer 2 sessions of Saturday Learning Camp for our 3rd through 5th graders on the following dates:
- Saturday, April 6 from 8:00 AM to 12:00 Noon
- Saturday, April 20 from 8:00 AM to 12:00 Noon
- 2 hours dedicated to math, 2 hours dedicated to reading/writing
- For 5th Graders, 2 hours dedicated to science
- As is TRADITION, our lower grade teachers will be collaborating with our STAAR teachers to provide small group instruction and move our scholars forward during these Saturday sessions.
- We need your support to ensure your children are healthy and in class so our teachers can support them to reach their full potential.
Please, be sure to plan for these dates as they are vital to your child's success!
Together, we can do this!
Pre-Kinder students:
- Red polo tops only
- Khaki or blue pants/shorts/skirts
Kinder -5th Grade Students:
- Hunter green, navy blue or white polos
- Khaki or blue pants/shorts/skirts
The school uniform does NOT have to have the school name or logo.
Monday-Wednesday: School uniform: uniform shirt & uniform slacks/shorts/skirts
Thursday: College Day (attire from your favorite college) with jeans/slacks
Friday: Spirit Day Shirts and jeans (with no holes, no tears/ripped)
Way to go Hornets!
The following classes have FREE DRESS on Wednesday:
- No Classes had Perfect Attendance
We will ask that our PK still wear their RED shirt as this is a safety protocol to know that an adult must be with them. They can accessorize with hats, glasses, etc. Thank you!
Stay healthy! We can do this Hornets!
Each week, we will recognize the TOP 10 Classes with amazing attendance.
The goal is to work as a class to reach 98% attendance. We are super proud of our scholars for staying healthy and making school a priority!
- 2nd Grade: Ms. Luevano's Class, 98.95%
- 5th Grade: Ms. Arvizu's Class, 98.37%%
- PK: Ms. Chavez's Class, 98.18%
- 3rd Grade: Ms. Martinez's Class, 98.18%
- 1st Grade: Ms. Reyes' Class, 98.18%
- 2nd Grade: Ms. Galvan's Class, 97.89%
- 4th Grade: Ms. Peregrino's Class, 97.64%
- Kinder: Ms. Gamez's Class, 97.27%
- 3rd Grade: Ms. Hitter's Class, 97.27%
- 3rd Grade: Ms. E. Herrera's Class, 97.14%
Congratulations to these classes as they are in the top 10 for amazing attendance!
You make a difference EACH day you are in ATTENDANCE!
Always, be the BEST version of YOU!
Our school Nurse, Diana Barrera, will continue to serve our learning community. She has been with us for one year and loves our scholars and working with our parents.
Time: 7:30 AM to 3:30 PM
Phone: 915-937-7407
Email: dbarre02@sisd.net
Jenifer J. Hansen
Email: jhanse@sisd.net
Website: https://www.sisd.net/horizonheightses
Location: 13601 Ryderwood Avenue, Horizon City, TX, USA
Phone: (915) 937-7402
Twitter: @HHeights_ES