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Originally delivered on 4/3/2018 8:03 am

SUBJECT: Castle Courier Vol. 16, No. 16


 

Volume XVI, Issue 16 - April 3, 2018

Hi Everyone,

A big thank you to everyone having patience in showing your I.D. in support of new visitor system. We really do appreciate your help. Staying on the safety theme…you will be notified whenever we have any type of safety drill (fire, lockdown, sever weather). Lockdown and sever weather drills are done once in the fall and spring. Fire drills take place every month. We have completed our lockdown and severe weather drills for the year already. We still have our April and May fire drills to complete. Students will always be aware that we are practicing (drill). For our lockdown and sever weather drills I actually walk the students and staff through the drills so there is never a chance of miscommunication about the drill being real or not.

Kudos for Castle Hills students, teachers, and staff..….. During the week of March 19th, a representative from Great Expectations visited our campus for 2 days. The purpose of this visit was to evaluate our implementation of Great Expectations. I am very happy to report that based on this evaluation we continue to be a Great Expectation Model School. In order to be awarded this designation, 90% of our teachers need to implement all 17 Great Expectations practices 100% of the time. All of the 20 classrooms visited implemented all 17 practices 100%.

Also, on March 27th Castle Hills Elementary was honored by the Lewisville Chamber of Commerce during their monthly meeting for being named the March School of the Month. School of the Month is awarded each month by the Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by the Denton Area Teachers Credit Union.

Next week State Testing starts. On Tuesday, April 10th, 5th grade students will have their math assessment and 4th graders will participate in their writing assessment. On Wednesday, April 11th, 5th grade students will have their reading assessment. Please remember that the school is closed to visitors on those days. Our students work very hard throughout the year and we are confident that they will do very well on these assessments. Of course, a good night’s sleep and breakfast can’t hurt either.

Although it is only April, this time of year the extra activities in and out of school creates very hectic time of the year. Schedules in school are forever changing, and flexibility is important. It is always our goal here at CHE to ensure communication is a top priority. Please help us stay aligned with our goal of communication and make sure that you read the information that goes home in the Tuesday Newsday Folders, Cyber Tuesday, and blasts that PTA sends out. We will keep our marquee up to date as well. If, for some reason you have a question, please contact your child’s teacher or call the office.

Kindergarten registration is this Thursday, April 5th and Friday, April 6th. Students new to the school at any grade level can register at this time too. Please help us get the word out. Thank you.

Mrs. Donna J. Taylor, M.Ed

 

When I talk to students about the STAAR Test, I tell them something my daughter told me when it was her turn to test in school..She said, “I love testing day. It is my opportunity to show all that I learned,” I love that philosophy. It is looking at the positive instead of the negative. I also remind students that they put in extra questions that haven’t been used before. So, if they find one they aren’t sure of or don’t know how to do, just give it your best shot as it might be a question to see if they can use what they do know to get the correct answer.

I really don’t want our students to come to school afraid of the test. They have learned the skills during the year to do very well on the test. What I do suggest for parents are the following tips:

Ask good questions that your child has to think through to get the right answer. For example: These apples are $0.69 each. That is about 70 cents so how much would it be for 3? There are opportunities all the time for this type of question in the grocery store.

How about one like this: It is now 3:05. We have a 10 min. drive. Soccer practice lasts 1 hour. What time do you estimate we might be home for the night?

Read road signs as appropriate and ask questions about it. See what your children get out of the sign. Or commercials on TV..,..ask what it was about and what they thought about that product.

There are many ways we can quiz our children and make it a fun game instead of “REAL” Math (like homework). The best part is when you can relate something you have done with their “REAL” math homework. “You can do this. Remember when we did…”. Juat think how smart you will be if you jumped the gun on a skill that the teacher taught later!!

When the test day rolls around, follow these guidelines:

  • Don’t talk about that subject the night before.
  • Do something fun to take the child’s mind off testing.
  • Have them get a good night’s sleep.
  • Have a good breakfast (with protein).
  • Tell them they get to show off what they know as they go out the door.

Happy testing season,
Carol Rains

CALENDAR AND UPCOMING EVENTS

PROGRAMS AND REMINDERS

 

STAAR Testing / Campus Closed

We will have STAAR Testing on campus Tue, 4/10 and Wed, 4/11. CHE asks that there be no visitors on campus that day including lunch visitors.

SERVICE AND SUPPORT

 

The PTA Volunteer Program is one of the best ways that parents can support the students and staff at our school.  Our needs can be found on CHEPTA.NET under My Account --> Volunteer Opportunities.

Don't forget your background check! It's required for all volunteers that will be at the school. It takes about three weeks to complete and is active for three years (the year you apply plus the next 2 school years). Click here or below to complete the LISD form.

THE FUN STUFF a.k.a. "Why We're All Here"

 

 This month we would like to nominate Leah Thomson and Sharon Butler for all their hard work making Kingdom Tales a wonderful, successful program! Kingdom Tales, is a program which provides each student the opportunity to accomplish what many only dream of: publishing their very own book! Students exercise their creativity and imagination while further developing reading/writing skills, computer skills, and creative arts. Each story is reviewed by a grade level coordinator for compliance with the guidelines who then assemble and bind each book by hand! Our hardworking grade level coordinators are:

  • Kinder: Sarah Verdier and Elizabeth Johnson
  • 1st: Rachel Fite and Diana Klotzman
  • 2nd: Way-Way Pee and Kathleen Rota
  • 3rd: Becky Johannsen, Annie sharp, Meredith Hagedorn and Mary Ann Sartain
  • 4th: Anishta Premier, Deepa Moparty and Juhy Daniels
  • 5th: Sarah Durrant, Amy Blankson and Shannon Peters

This year we had almost 500 authors (approximately 83% of entire student body) and with second copies and library copies, bound a total of 621 books! Thank you so much to everyone who made this event a HUGE success!

         

 


Great Expectations Teacher Spotlight
Ms. Clayborn
3rd Grade

  1. What is your favorite daily activity to do to reinforce Great Expectations with your students?

    Our favorite daily activity to do is â€œTalking Behind Your Back”. I randomly select a student to take a seat and the students take turns saying nice things about the student while present. I’m trying to change the negative connotation of talking behind someone’s back by teaching the students they can speak well of someone who isn't in their presence and to remind them they should only share words about someone they don’t mind them hearing. The students realized they’ve often spoken well of someone not in their presence!
  2. Can you give an example of how your class or a particular student exceeded one of your 8 expectations? 

    I have some WONDERFUL students. They are so helpful and supportive of each another. Often, we complete intentional problem solving in math and a student is randomly selected to share their algorithm. In one of my classes, the students say a little cheer as the person is walking up and is supportive the entire time their classmate is presenting. This nicely satisfies Expectation #4 We will cheer each other to success. 

    

  

 

     International Day of Happiness     

     Wrap Up     

Live Happy helped celebrate the 4th Annual amazing International Day of Happiness at The Castle on March 23rd!

Thank you to all the parents and Ms Chiles who came out to help me in another day of fun and gratitude. This year we showed our appreciation to the Lunch Ladies( Ms. Michelle, Pearla, Cherry and Jimmie) and Ms. Ana for all they do each and everyday to make our school an amazing place for our kids.

The Happiness Wall will be on display each year to encourage our staff and students to pledge to do an act of Kindness at school, home or their community.

Hopefully your kids came home and shared something they are grateful for with you! They were also supposed to ask their parents to let them know one thing they do that makes you proud. It’s a conversation changer from they typical how was your day and what was your special today. It’s these small things we can all do on a daily basis that can make your kids and the family happier. By the way each pledge earns $1 for Boys and Girls Club. To date our kids have raised just under $3000 for this amazing group!

If you have ideas on who we might celebrate at the school or in our community next year please email Katie O’NEIL at koneil@livehappy.com.

                   

 

 

Hi my name is Evani Patil! I am in the fourth grade and my teacher is Mrs. Hardison. Besides being a great Teacher Mrs. Hardison is kind, is always happy and had has a huge smile on her face! I love that about her!

Everyone has a favorite event at their school like science night, cultural night and other events. Today I am going to share you why international day of happiness is special to me. The International Day of Happiness is celebrated worldwide on March 20th. It was founded by philanthropist Jayme Illien to inspire happiness movement worldwide.

My first reason I love this day is, we get to make cards and tell how you share happiness. When you are done, you can put your card in a hat. Our host will draw a card from the hat and if your card gets picked, you’ll go on the stage and get your prize.

My second reason is, during lunch our school will put on good music to cheer you up. Music is a good way to make someone happy. They also read a book sometimes, like when I was in first grade, they read The book with no pictures! I love that we get to wear orange and purple. Those are two of my favorite colors and they make people happy. This year’s celebration was extra special as Mrs. Chiles came to visit and we all love her!

To wrap it up, The international day of happiness is a worldwide celebration and it is a reminder about being happy and also making other people happy and bringing smiles on their faces!

 

My name is Hayden Haggart. I’m in the 4th grade. I love the 4th grade because of my amazing teachers! My homeroom teacher is Mrs. Hardison. She is so special to me because she has taught me so much about ELA and is incredibly sweet.

I participate in an after school program called Encore Kids where CHE students can learn about acting, singing, performance, improvisation, teamwork, and have a blast surrounded by great friends!

I always have a smile on my face and happiness in my heart each Monday looking forward to Encore Kids led by our great teacher, Lorraine.

Some of the performances we have put on over the years include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Aladdin and Maleficent.

We are currently working on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and will be performing it soon. In fact, please come see us perform it on Saturday, May 5th at 1:30pm at Homestead Elementary School located at 1830 E Branch Hollow Drive Carrollton, TX 75007. Tickets are available at the door.

In conclusion, I encourage others to join Encore! My love for singing and performing began at Encore. I am pursuing my passion outside of school too! Recently I performed A Million Dreams at Six Flags Over Texas through my involvement with Pogue Entertainmentand regularly perform at Gilley’s Texas through my involvement with Studio7 performance.

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Thank you to our Platinum Sponsor

 



Castle Hills PTA
1025 Holy Grail Drive
Lewisville, TX 75056