Hello everyone,

Can you believe that we are in November already? The first 9 weeks have come and gone. In a few short weeks the holidays will be upon us. At this time, all of the parent/teacher conferences should almost be complete. I hope these conversations were productive and the wonderful progress your students are making was shared. As always, we continue to be very busy here at The Castle. Our first College Day of the year has taken place and we had a FANTASTIC Red Ribbon week. The students loved the Red Ribbon Week program that the PTA provided. Our first Rise and Shine of the year has also taken place and was completely student led by 5th grade students. Our annual Candy Lane Carnival was a great success, as always.

The few weeks leading up to our Thanksgiving break will also be very busy. Keep in the loop with what is taking place here at school through the PTA newsletter, Blasts, the marquee, and Cyber Tuesday. We don’t want you to miss out on any of the fun.

Below is some data from our “Ready to Learn” program. With any new program, a review of the program after a time period is always advantageous. At this time, we will assess the program and hopefully make some changes to make it better. As I shared earlier this year, this program was designed to support one of our campus goals and to also promote student independence and ownership of their learning. The Campus Improvement goal is below with the data from the first 9 weeks of school.

Campus Improvement Goal: During the 2017-2018 school year morning tardies will decrease by 10% over the 2016-2017 school year. 

There is a 61% increase in tardies for the first 9 weeks of school. Students that are late, start the day behind and effect the education of all students in the classroom because of the interruptions.

Some additional data from the first 9 weeks of school.
- 49% of Kindergarteners were Ready to Learn
- 63% of First Graders were Ready to Learn
- 35% of Second Graders were Ready to Learn
- 51% of Third Graders were Ready to Learn
- 67% of Fourth Graders were Ready to Learn
- 36% of Fifth Graders were Ready to Learn

There has been a huge improvement of items being dropped off in the office. I don’t have any data to compare the numbers to from last year but will have data at the end of the second 9 weeks as compared to the first 9 weeks.

As a friendly reminder, when the weather starts getting cold or rainy more people drive their children to school. This makes for a longer drop off line. Please keep this in mind and leave for school earlier. Taking this into consideration when bringing your students to school will greatly help with tardies. Thank you in advance for your help with this.

Every year I share with you how I personally love the month of November. There is crispness in the air and the leaves are changing colors. Well, here in North Texas the colors are not the same as they are in the northeast but they change colors all the same. To me, November is also synonymous with family. November is also the start of the holiday season, which is always a joyous time spent with family and friends. Since I will not have another newsletter article before Thanksgiving, let me take this time to wish you a wonderful, safe and happy holiday with your family and friends.

Donna J. Taylor, M.Ed

The holiday season is approaching quickly. As parents, it is important to help children understand the gift of giving; giving of time and talent rather than of treasure.

This means, as adults, it is good to teach that we need to give of ourselves.

It is so important to give to others. This community has always given to those in need. I am so impressed with the amount of presents that are given to our sister schools so those in need have a good holiday. Thank you for your wonderful generosity.

At this time, I would like to challenge each of you to give in other ways as well.

My children and I fell into a pattern by accident when they were little and we all found it to be very rewarding. My Father-in-law was in a nursing home and passed away on Dec. 24. We had planned to spend the next day with him. Instead of cancelling, I called the nursing home and asked if they could help us to visit those who didn’t have family coming to see them.

When we arrived, we were surprised to find the nursing home residents all gathered in the living room waiting for us to do a program. Talk about stage fright!! Luckily, I had told each of my children to bring something to share (in case they couldn’t think of something to talk about with the “grandma’s and grandpa’s”.

I began the program by introducing all of us. Then each of my girls had the opportunity to share. One read a poem, one read a story and the youngest talked about her favorite gift. Then, I asked the audience to share a story about the best gift they ever received. We closed the program with some of our favorite holiday songs.

The stories we heard and the happiness shown on the faces as they told their stories will live in my heart forever. It was the beginning of a family tradition.

Please begin a new tradition with your family. The benefits you gain as you give of yourself will amaze you.

Happy Holidays.

Carol Rains, M.S.

BRING a VETERAN to LUNCH

We would like to encourage you to bring a veteran to your regular lunch period on Friday, November 10th so that they may be recognized (lunch will not be provided).  

Our PTA Meeting on Tuesday, November 14th will also be a patriotic recognition for all of our veterans who have served or are serving today.  We encourage you to invite them to attend!

1st Grade Teacher Spotlight
Susan Weaver

1) What is your favorite daily activity that reinforces Great Expectations for your students?
During lunch our students also look for peers that are following expectations (sitting down, using appropriate voice levels and eating). A teacher begins by choosing a student that is following expectations. Next, that student looks for another student that is following expectations and gets on the microphone, does a call back and announces the next student (now called a zoomer). The student on the microphone says why they picked the zoomer. At the end of lunch all of the zoomers are dismissed first.

2) How has your class or a particular student exceeded one of the 8 expectations?
One of my favorite times is when my students are turning and talking about their learning. They address each other by name and talk in a complete sentences. Students also provide positive feedback to their peers. See attached picture. 

Red Ribbon Week 2017 was filled with fun, entertainment and most importantly hundreds of pledges by our CHE students to recognize that their Futures are Key. By taking the pledge, they vowed to stay away from unhealthy substances like drugs, alcohol and tobacco, while teaming up against bullying. As parents and caregivers, we are reminded of the important conversations we must have with our kids to help them to remain healthy and substance free. The silly socks and assemblies only serve as fun activities if we are not able to reinforce the crucial messages of drug and bullying awareness and avoidance. Please reference the Red Ribbon Week Parent Talking Points and the Hang Time: Conversation Starters for Parents tools provided last week to help you with these challenging topics.

We are thankful to our Castle community for encouraging and supporting students as they strive to achieve their goals. A special “Thank You” goes to Mrs. Buell and her student council for creating the fabulous posters to reinforce our messages of the week.

Students attentively enjoying the dynamic assembly provided by Wheels of Freestyle.

The team reinforced the messages of being substance free to be able to achieve your goals while showing us some spectacular tricks.

Students pledged to stay drug free because they know that their futures are key!

This month we would like to honor Nicole Schneekloth and the Carnival Crew who made the Candy Lane Carnival a huge success! They had a new crew this year, and and the ladies rocked it! The Carnival was a huge success with the help of Chelsea Molina, Holly Paniagua, Melissa McDade, Christy Romney, Stacy Whitlow, Ashley Loftin, and Amber McGuire. We had a record attendance of 1,012 people coming to enjoy the festivities. The prize drawings was a fun new table we added this year with over 30 gift cards and prizes! The team started in August coordinating with vendors and teachers to make sure the kids enjoyed all the different booths and games. Of course, we had many volunteers from parents that helped make the carnival run smoothly!

Thank you so much for all your dedication and hard work ladies!