Welcome to Dr. Sue A. Shook Elem

Message from Mrs. Chavira, Campus Principal

Dear Parent or Guardian,

Welcome to the 2025–2026 school year! It is with great pride and excitement that I continue to serve as the principal of our incredible Rattlers community. Over the past eight years, I’ve had the honor of working alongside a team of dedicated educators and staff who are deeply committed to student success. Together, we’ve built a campus that stands out as a school of choice, an achievement that reflects the hard work, passion, and excellence of our entire school family.

To Our New Families, we are thrilled to welcome you to our fast-growing and vibrant school community! Thank you for your patience during the enrollment process. We are so glad you’re here. We’re confident that you’ll find our campus to be a place where students thrive, families feel supported, and learning is celebrated every day.

At our school, we believe in keeping our families informed and connected. That’s why you’ll receive a newsletter like this one every Sunday once the school year begins. We encourage you to take a few moments to skim through it each week to stay up to date with important news and upcoming events.

We also invite you to explore our website and follow us on Twitter @DSShook_ES for the latest campus and district announcements. We have opened a new Instagram:@dsshookes account where we post fund videos created by our team. You’ll notice an option below to translate the newsletter into various languages. While we strive for accuracy, we appreciate your understanding if any translations are imperfect, as they are generated automatically.

Below, you’ll find answers to many of our most frequently asked questions at the start of the year. We recommend reading through the newsletter now and referring back to specific sections as needed throughout the year.

Our campus is built on strong systems that support our number one priority: student safety. We are committed to creating a welcoming environment for all families and continuously work to improve our practices. If you ever have questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the campus directly. Whether it’s myself or any member of our dedicated staff, we are here to listen, support, and work with you to find solutions that are always in the best interest of our students.

We are honored to serve this community and look forward to getting to know you better.

Respectfully,

Cristina Sanchez-Chavira

Proud Principal of the Rattlers

School Office Number: 915-937-7102

Email: cchavi@sisd.net

TWITTER: DSShook_ES

#GameOnRattlers

Meet the Teacher Event

We are excited to have our meet the teacher event for the upcoming year. Please note that it is not mandatory to attend but highly encouraged.

You can drop off your supplies while on campus
You can purchase a spirit shirt in the library
Receive information from our area Partners in Education and sign up early for

Young Rembrandts
Snapology
Alchemy Karate
Mathnasium

Kona Ice will be on campus

Supply Lists

25-26 Supply Lists

Uniforms

PK STUDENTS

When your child is on campus, they will be utilizing a uniform. Our uniform for PK consists of RED or WHITE polo tops and khaki or navy-blue pants.

Kinder thorough 5th grade

Students in Kinder through 5th grade can wear

Orange, Blue (Navy or Royal blue) or White Polo shirts. School Logo not necessary
Khaki or Navy Blue Bottoms

Thursdays students can wear a college or university shirt with uniform bottoms.

Fridays students can wear a spirit shirt with jeans or a uniform top with jeans.

Dress Code

Lists by grade level

Bell Schedule

Pre-K & Kindergarten Schedule

7:45 a.m. - 2:45 p.m. (PK/Kinder students are not able to wait for older siblings. Students must be picked-up within 15 min of dismissal).

1st - 5th Grade Schedule

7:45 - 3:15 p.m.

Daily Bell Schedule

7:30-7:45: Breakfast in the classroom

7:45: Gates and doors close.

Students must be walked in by an adult through the front doors if they are late

Dismissal

2:45 p.m. Pre-Kinder & Kinder Dismissal (No Early Pick-ups after 2:15)

3:15 - Dismissal for 1st through 5th grade (No early pick-ups after 2:45)

Plan your vacations or time off considering our 25-26 Calendar

First Day of School: Doors will open at 7:15, All parents can accompany students

Other Information

2nd day of School Ettiquette

After school Car-Pick-up/Drop-off Etiquette

We all have seen parodies of what car-pick up or drop-off is like. As funny as they are, they serve some truth. When everyone is on the same page, we are able to run smooth systems that promote student safety. Please keep the following in mind.

CAR Pick-up info for BOTH areas

Car-pick up is only available for:

1st through 3rd in the front pick-up area
4th and 5th in our back pick-up area.

Older siblings will join lower grade siblings up to 1st grade to facilitate the process for parents. ex. If you have a 5th grader and 3rd grader, the 5th grader will join the 3rd grader at their canopy.

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. Please be safe.

FOR DAY 2 and on Car drop-off etiquette

Car drop-off must be used by students that are independent enough to exit their vehicle with their backpack 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.

Always approach our campus reminding ourselves that accidents occur when we are rushed or not thinking. We are surrounded by children and their safety is our priority.

Morning Arrival Day 2 and so on

Day 2 and on, students will enter the campus on their own. Parents, please note that there is staff throughout the building and students are safe once they are in the building.

Below you will have all entry door information.

ENTRY DOORS

Cafeteria/Gym (drop-off for ALL GRADES K-5th grade Students)

PK, Kinder and First will enter the Main side Door and be held in the Gymnasium.
2nd through 5th will enter the cafeteria door. All will remain in the cafeteria until 7:15. At 7:15 and after they will proceed to their grade level hallways in the building or modular.
*Older siblings can enter the main side door and take sibling to gymnasium before proceeding to the cafeteria.

Modular gate:

Only 4th and 5th grade students can be dropped off at this gate
NO LOWER GRADES (PK -3rd can be dropped off at these gates)
Students will proceed to their hallway.
Campus staff and teachers are monitoring doors and hallways.

What happens once my child is in the building?

PK, Kinder:

Pre-Kinder and Kinder students will have a tag placed on their backpack with their teacher's name. This will allow us to line them up in the gymnasium by teacher. Please make sure this is on their backpack daily. This will allow staff to help kids line up until we get to know all of our new students and who their teachers are. Teachers will be in the gymnasium and will take students to class. We minimize the interaction between upper and lower grades to help early childhood grades learn their routines with minimal distractions from crowds or other students.

First grade:

First grade students will also be held in the gymnasium and are walked by monitors to their hallway at 7:15 where they are monitored by teachers on duty.

2nd and 3rd grade.

Will exit to the playground where they are monitored to enter their hallway at 7:15. Staff and teachers are monitoring students.

4th and 5th

Go directly into their modular building and are monitored by teachers and staff.

Arrival by the gym

We need a clear site to students coming into the school. Please see the map below. Parents will not be able to go past the green areas. If your child is crying, we will have our counselors and staff ready to assist. If we are not able to bring them into the building, we may ask you to walk them to the front where we will pick them up from you at 7:45 when we are done receiving all students.

We are expecting students crying after the first day. We will do our best to bring them in but do not want to cause them distress. For most students this is only temporary, and we hope to help them acclimate to a school setting.

Birthday Treats

Thank you, parents, for your support with the birthday treats and for ensuring they are only pre-packaged pastries. Students are now able to bring their pre-packaged birthday treat any day of the week for distribution.

Why can't we deliver full treats, candy, or party favors?

As a reminder, we have multiple students with a variety of allergies as well as students with Type I Diabetes. This process facilitates an arrangement to be made between the educator and the student with an allergy or medical concern.

Why can't we deliver party favors?

As a reminder, schools are set up for instruction and we have students in our campus that come from a variety of cultures and backgrounds. Full party bags and favors cannot be distributed in school. You are more than welcome to send the educator invites to distribute to the whole class (not partial or selected students) so that they can join your child for their birthday party.

Outside Food

Students are not allowed to walk in with outside food or energy drinks as breakfast items. Any items will be picked up by the educator and taken to the front office to be disposed of.

Thank you for your support.