September Star Student Character Quality

Each month, GES students receive a lesson with Mrs. Horn, school counselor, focused on a character quality. Homeroom teachers nominate one student from their class as the Star Student of the Month who demonstrates that trait the most or shows the most growth with that trait. EMPATHY is the character quality focus for September! You can partner with GES by browsing the Empathy newsletter HERE!

Patriot Day - September 11

On Wednesday, Sept. 11th students are encouraged to wear red, white, and blue in honor of Patriot Day and Texas First Responders Day. During our KGES announcements, our Moment of Silence will be dedicated to honoring the Texas First Responders for their bravery, courage, and determination as they assist in emergencies. 

Dot Day - September 13

Sunday, September 15th is International Dot Day. International Dot Day is a global celebration of creativity, courage and collaboration inspired by Peter H. Reynold's and his children's book, The Dot. 

At GES, we will celebrate on Friday, Sept. 13th by wearing polka dots. Many classes will read the book and have the opportunity to do Makerspaces in the Learning Commons based on The Dot. 

The Dot is the story of a caring teacher who dares a doubting student to trust in her own abilities by being brave enough to “make her mark”. What begins with a small dot on a piece of paper becomes a breakthrough in confidence and courage, igniting a journey of self-discovery and sharing, which has gone on to inspire countless children and adults around the globe.

Each year on International Dot Day – with the help of people just like you – the inspiration continues. What started as a story in the pages of a book is transforming teaching and learning around the world as people of all ages re-discover the power and potential of creativity in all they do.

Summer Reading Challenge

We have been able to celebrate with all our returning 1st graders who maintained their reading levels over the summer. They all went to the Book Vending machine last week. We also have been able to celebrate Mrs. Stephenson's 3rd grade students and Mrs. Courcier's 4th grade students. We will continue to pull students this week as schedules allow to celebrate those returning star students who maintained their reading level over the summer. Students will bring home a bookmark and new book to share! 

September is Fruit and Vegetable Month and National Coloring Day is September 14

Get ready to celebrate the goodness of eating your fruits and veggies! Nutrition Services is excited to provide a fun coloring sheet for every elementary student. This is a fantastic activity to enjoy in the classroom or at home. Coloring sheets will be available to students by Thursday, Sept. 12th. Color your sheet and turn in your beautiful artwork to your teacher or the cafeteria by September 20! Watch it shine on the serving lines during the week of September 23!

We can't wait to see all the amazing artists show off their creativity! 

Three Facts About the VATRE

GCISD registered voters will be asked to consider adding three cents to the Maintenance & Operations tax rate through a voter-approved tax ratification election on the November 5 ballot. Here are three quick facts:

• Even with the VATRE, GCISD’s total tax rate will be lower - Even with the three additional pennies from the passage of the VATRE, the GCISD total overall tax rate (M&O plus I&S) will be lowered by $0.0014. 

• Funds are not subject to recapture - Tax funds collected through these additional three pennies would stay within GCISD and not be subject to recapture, meaning that 100 percent of these funds would remain in the district. 

• The three-cent increase to the Maintenance and Operations (M&O) tax rate would generate approximately $6 million - These funds would be for school district operations, which includes instruction, staff, transportation, maintenance, extracurricular activities and other daily operating expenses, excluding projects included in the recent bond. Bonds are paid for by a separate Interest & Sinking (I&S) fund, which is debt service.

Learn more at www.GCISD.net/VATRE.

Rainy Day Dismissal

Walkers

All walkers will be dismissed to their usual walker locations even on rainy days, unless you’ve communicated other arrangements.  If you wish to pick up your walker in a car on rainy days, please call the front office to notify your child’s teacher prior to 2:30pm or email your child’s teacher prior to 12:00pm. 

• ALL PreK-1st grade walkers and siblings will be dismissed from the front foyer doors.

• 2nd - 5th grade walkers will be dismissed to the Hughes parking lot side near the bike racks. 

If the conditions are not safe for students to exit the building, then all walkers will be held until it is safe for students to exit. 

Car Riders

All car riders will be held inside the building on rainy days and proceed to their usual car loops as names are called. *CAR SIGNS are a necessary part of our dismissal procedure. Please hold them up until you get a signal from our staff member, as it is quite challenging to see clearly when it is raining with the reflection. 

• Pre-K-1st grade students and their older siblings will be held inside the K-2 hallway and exit through the picnic table area and proceed directly to their cars when their name is called.  

• All walk-up parents will be directed to the front foyer doors for dismissal.  NO students will be dismissed to adults who choose to walk up to the picnic table area as this is our car rider dismissal location on rainy days.  

• 2nd-5th grade students will be held in the gym and exit through the gym door directly to the back car loop when their name is called. 

If your child is a car rider, please DO NOT plan to walk and pick up your child on rainy days as this slows down the dismissal process. If you plan to park and walk up to get your child, you will need to call ahead of time and make arrangements for your child to be dismissed with the walkers. 

Thank you for your patience on rainy days. This can add several minutes to our dismissal process. Our number one priority is getting our students home safely. 

Bring your ID

Friendly reminder that any time you are coming to campus, please bring your ID with you! Whether you are coming to check your child out, eat lunch with them, volunteer to read to a classroom, or ask a question in the front office, you must have your ID to check-in through our secure vestibule. 

GES Guidelines for Success

We wanted to share with you our campus matrix and expectations. We have three main success guidelines or family values that we follow throughout all areas at GES. They are: to be helpful and kind, to be safe and to be respectful. We hope that you could take time to talk about these with your students and help ensure that together we are teaching our children the characteristics of being excellent citizens. Here is the matrix we use for all areas on our campus. Thank you for partnering with us!

GCISD Receives High Marks in Efficiency Audit Required for VATRE

At its August 12 meeting, the GCISD Board of Trustees was presented results of an Efficiency Audit, which is required by the Texas Education Code prior to a school district conducting a voter-approved tax ratification election (VATRE). 

The audit analyzed GCISD's academic, financial and operational performance in comparison to similar districts. Auditors highlighted that GCISD received an "A" in the state’s accountability ratings, an "A" in the state’s financial ratings, and demonstrated an average daily attendance higher than both peer districts and the state average. 

According to the auditors, “When all of the data was pulled together for the report, we concluded that, with respect to all of the eight peer districts, GCISD efficiently uses its resources and would be good stewards of increased tax revenue as a result of this M&O tax rate increase, but that would be for voters to decide in November.”

Read the full story here and learn more about the VATRE at www.GCISD.net/VATRE.

Monday Message Translation

Did you know that Google Sites can be translated into hundred of languages? One of the reasons we use this Google Site as our method of communication to families is to accommodate the various languages that families speak. If you are viewing a Google Site, you can always use the "View" menu in the toolbar and select translate to view this newsletter in your preferred language. 

Snack donations

For some of our families, providing a nutritious snack each day to assist their GES star’s performance throughout the day does not happen consistently because of food insecurities. If you are able, please donate individually packaged Goldfish or pretzels to the front office in order to help us provide that snack for students that arrive at school without it because of the insecurities. This would not pertain to students that simply forgot a snack that day. (Snack for those that simply forget can be donated to the classroom teachers directly.) If your Star forgets his/her snack often, sending multiple days worth of snacks might help. For questions, please feel free to contact Angela Horn at angela.horn@gcisd.net or 817-251-5740. Thank you for your continued generosity and thoughtfulness.

Lunch Visitors

Beginning in September visitors may join us for lunch with their child if they are signed up in advance HERE. Please be sure to share our Sign-up link with your family members who wish to come eat with your child. Also, it is critical that anyone coming to lunch with your child, if not accompanying the guardian, is on your child's emergency contact list. 

Lunch guests will sign-in through our secure vestibule with a valid ID, stop by the front office to check-in and receive a visitor badge, and then meet their GES star at the entrance to the cafeteria. Families will have the option to sit outside in the picnic table area for lunch or in our cafeteria at an empty table near the windows. Parents are welcome to bring in outside food when having their lunch with their child. We ask that you please be courteous to the rest of the community and limit lunch visits with your child to no more than one per month so that all families have the opportunity to visit. We appreciate your cooperation. 

Each family needs only 1 slot reserved. For example, Mom, Dad, and sister may all come eat lunch with Nancy. Only Mom needs to be registered as 1 visitor to reserve 1 picnic table together. When it asks for quantity of visitors, please select just 1. Lunch visitors may only eat with their child or student. You may not invite friends to sit with you when coming for lunch. 

Volunteer Background Check

We LOVE our volunteers at GES! This year we are encouraging all families who plan to come to campus and interact with students to go ahead and complete the background check. Volunteers must complete this EACH YEAR beginning in August! It can take 1-2 weeks for your background check to clear. If you plan to be a guest reader, volunteer at a class party, chaperone a field trip, volunteer with PTA, open car doors with our Dad's Club, etc. you will need a completed Background Check!  

The following link takes you to the online Volunteer Handbook and background check: https://www.gcisd.net/o/gcisd/page/volunteer-background-check 

In order to volunteer at GES, or around GCISD, all volunteers must:

1. read the Volunteer Handbook (this replaces the previous face to face volunteer trainings held on campus)

2. watch the appropriate video included in the handbook

3. electronically sign the verification Google form for each campus you plan to volunteer

4. complete the volunteer background check. A link is included in the handbook.

When you are ready to volunteer at GES, feel free to call the front office at 817-251-5735 to verify that both of the required steps have been recorded as completed. We appreciate your support as you complete these steps and volunteer to work with our GES students.

Follow us on Facebook

If you are on Facebook, we would love for you to follow our Grapevine Elementary Facebook page if you're not already. We post activities and campus life in addition to helpful reminders. We would love for you to follow our story!