FAlcon FAMILY

Weekly Newsletter

September 25-29

Week 7

Courtney Brandel

Principal

courtney.cullum@kellerisd.net

Mrs. Brandel's Message

aDear Falcon Families,

It's been a great week of celebrating student leadership at FES as we wrap up week 6! It's hard to believe we are rounding out our first quarter here in the next couple of weeks and we are in full swing with learning and activities. This week, our 3rd and 4th grade students participated in their STUCO campaigns and elections and we were all incredibly impressed by their ability to share their skills, their strengths, and their heart! I am so proud of each and every one of them and look forward to working with this year's STUCO officers and representatives.

We also held our very first Campus Educational Improvement Committee (CEIC) meeting this week where we worked with a group of dedicated stakeholders to review the first draft of our campus improvement plan, to share in some ideas and feedback on existing processes and practices, and to share ideas for the future. We have a wonderful group and I am excited to work with them as we continue to improve upon the student, staff, and family experience at FES and continue the tradition of excellence.

We look forward to celebrating our grandparents and special guests next week, with over 300 registered to attend our celebration that will take place over two days. We will also be opening our fall book fair, and look forward to our 4th grade students enjoying their field trip, too!

Have a wonderful weekend!

In Falcon Spirit,

Courtney Brandel

Highlighting the tradition of excellence at Florence Elementary School!

Mayor Mizani Visits

Our first grade students enjoyed a visit from our Keller Mayor, Mr. Mizani. He talked about the way he helps our community and the ways in which our students can help, too! Thank you, Mayor Mizani for visiting with our students!

4th Grade Candidates

Our 4th grade students did an incredible job of presenting their speeches this morning in front of the entire 4h grade studnet body! Such amazing leaders in this bunch! We are proud of each and eveyr one of them!

CEIC Meeting

Our campus educational improvement committee met on Tuesday to review our campus improvement plan draft, to provide some insight and feedback on their experiences and to share ideas for the future of FES! Thank you to all who joined us!

Spirit Store fun!

Thank you to our PTA volunteers who led our first spirit store of the year!

Spirit store fun!

Our students loved browsing our spirit store today!

STUCO Celebration

All of our 3rd and 4th grade STUCO canddiates enjoyed an ice cream/ popsicle party to celebrate their amazing job of presenting speeches and participating in the election process!.

4th Grade STUCO candidates

Great job, on your speeches 4th grade STUCO candidates! We have so much leadership and talent! Our 3rd grade students shared their campaign with their homeroom classes and did a great job, too!

STUCO Campaigns

Our students loved seeing each of the candidates and sharing in their campaign this week!

"This is our second year with Ms Harmon and she has gone above and beyond with my kids. They experienced a life changing event and both struggled emotionally during first grade. Ms Harmon came up with a plan for both of them to feel more comfortable at school. The plans were tailored to my kids and have helped them thrive at school, emotionally and academically. We have felt very loved and supported." -- FES Parent

Want to shout out an FES Staff member for embodying the tradition of excellence?

We love celebrating the tradition of excellence at FES! As a part of that process, we will be recognizing our amazing staff members and would like your help.

Please share the name and information of the staff member you feel who is deserving of recognition along with some words that share the reason they are being recognized. Please note, your response with be shared with the staff member and may be featured in our publications/ social media and any student names that are included may be omitted for confidentiality.

Fill out a shout out on this Staff Shout Out Form to help us celebrate excellence among our FES teachers and staff!

upcoming events:

September 22- Chic-fil-A Mobile Spirit Day Fundraiser

September 25-26 Hearing and Vision Screening

September 26- 4th Grade Field Trip to Camp Grady Spruce

September 27- October 3- Book Fair

September 28- 29- Lunch with Grandparents (See details and pre-registration below)

October 2- 1st Grade Performance & PTA Meeting

October 4- College Color Spirit Day

October 5- Fall Yearbook Picture Day

October 6- End of the 1st 9 Weeks

October 6- Red Ribbon Dress Up Day: Superheroes

October 9-13 Fall Break- No School

October 18 3rd Grade Theatre Field Trip (More info to come...)

October 21- FES Fall Carnival (4:00-7:00 PM)

October 20th- Red Ribbon Dress Up: Be Kind to Your Mind, Live Drug Free: Dress up as who/what you want to be when you grow up.

Click here to access the district Academic Calendar.

college spirit days 2023-24 (1).pdf

New News

TEA Security Audits

We are looking forward to an unannounced visit from TEA who will be checking our campus security as a part of a state required audit. This is set to take place within the next month, or so. As such, we continue to ask that all of our students, staff, and campus visitors adhere to our security procedures including:

All visitors/ guests must enter through the main office and follow our check in procedures.
During the school day, door 1 is the only permitted entry/ exit. Please do not let anyone in any exterior door, at any time. (Teachers will utilize their badge access to come in and out during recess).
All adults, including staff members, district employees, vendors, and campus visitors and guests should wear proper identification at all times (KISD badge, raptor tag, visitor tag).
Doors should not be propped open with objects during the school day.

Hearing and Vision Screenings

Nurse Sue will be conducting hearing and vision screenings on September 25-26 during the school day. If your child wears glasses or hearing support devices, please make sure they are wearing them for their examination. Please reach out to her if you have any questions.

Visiting at Lunch Time

We love having our families come to visit for lunch and know that our students look forward to seeing the face of a familiar loved one during the day! During the 10 minute transition between grade level lunches, we ask that visitors kindly wait in the office lobby area in order to allow our amazing custodial team the opportunity to clean and reset the cafeteria for the next group. We want to be sure that the cafeteria is clean, welcoming, and enjoyable for each group who comes through and these few minutes allows us to be sure that is the case!

BUS Route Updates

In order to balance routes, Texas Central busses will be communicating with some families today regarding some route changes. These changes will take place on Monday, September 25 and will only impact some specific stops on Bus 72, 107, and 14. If you do not receive an email from them, your child's route will be unchanged. We will receive a list on Monday and will ensure that each student is in the correct line at dismissal time. If you have any questions regarding bus routes, please reach out directly to Texas Central Busses. https://www.kellerisd.net/Page/174

Literati Book Fair

September 27- October 3rd (Wednesday-Tuesday) (Excludes weekends) from 7:25AM -3:15 PM

Florence Elementary is excited to host fall book fair. The book fair will contain reading materials from multiple grades/reading levels and genres, and students will be provided with an opportunity to visit the book fair during the school day to preview and/or purchase books. We welcome our parents to come before or after school for an opportunity to visit the book fair with their children, in order to preview items and make purchases and will welcome our grandparents to shop with their students during the Grandparents' Luncheon. Proceeds of this event will go to the campus library and help provide books and resources for teachers and students.

Keller ISD recognizes that every family and student is different, and parents have different expectations regarding what literature is appropriate for their children to read. That is why we encourage all parents to discuss reading selections as a family. Just as parents have the right to opt their children out of a school activity/class that conflicts with their religious or moral beliefs (KISD Board Policy EFB (local), parents may request their children to not access campus book fairs.

Keller ISD has an “opt-out” policy, whereby the parents/guardians must sign a permission form to withdraw their child from participating in the book fair without an adult family member present. If you do not wish for your child to participate in the book fair, please print, sign, and return the form below and return it to the teacher by Tuesday, September 26, 2023. If you would like a printed copy of the form, please reach out to our office and Your child will receive alternate lessons/activities to complete while students are visiting the book fair. Please note: children who do not present the classroom teacher with an opt out form will be provided an opportunity to participate in the book fair. If you do wish for your child to participate in the book fair no action needs to be taken.

Book Fair Opt Out Form:

FES Book Fair Opt. Out. .pdf

We need volunteers for greeting grandparents, serving desserts, and taking photos. We still need LOTS of dessert donations! Desserts can be dropped off to the front office anytime Mon-Wed, September 25-27. All desserts must be store bought or prepackaged (not homemade).

PTA Volunteer Sign Up for Grandparents Day

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C084FABAE2FA4F9CE9-grandparents1#/

Dessert Donation Sign Up

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C084FABAE2FA4F9CE9-grandparents2#/

Lunch with Grandparents Schedule

September 28 (Last Name A-H) and September 29 (Last Name I-Z)

We are excited to have over 300 grandparents who are registered to join us next week and look forward to celebrating this special time together!

We welcome our grandparents/ important person to join our students during their student's 30 minute lunch time and then, during their recess time to visit library where they can enjoy browsing the book fair, share with your student some some special activities facilitated by our PTA, and enjoy the special time together. Please note, for confidentiality and to maintain the learning environment throughout our campus, guests will not be able to visit classrooms on this day.

Arrival

When our grandparents arrive, we ask that they bring their ID. They will check in at our sign in table out front and then will proceed to the main hallway to meet their grandchild as they come into the cafeteria. We will have designated tables that have signs on them specifically for our special guests.

Bringing Lunch

Grandparents/ Important Guests are welcomed to bring lunch for their student. Please note, however, that they may not share with any child aside from their own. Additionally, if Nurse Sue communicated allergies in your child's class at the beginning of the year, please communicate these allergy specifications with your child's special guest ahead of time.

Cafeteria Lunch

If your special guest or child will be ordering a meal, please be sure to pre-pay to FES Cafeteria through your child's Sodexo account. They will accompany their gandchild through the line and pick up their lunch as they go through. This will be denoted on their tag as they come in, so they don't need to do anything extra to receive a lunch. (https://www.schoolcafe.com/KELLERISD)

Cafeteria Menu for Grandparents Day Luncheon

Thursday, September 28th: Glazed chicken drumsticks with a roll, mashed potatoes and gravy, with veggies.

Friday 29th, September 29th: Steak fingers with a roll, mashed potatoes and gravy and veggies.

Adults - $4.50 and Children: $2.95 per meal

Watch D.O.G.S.

Thank you, to those who attended our kick off meeting! We had a great start and a wonderful group of participants on Tuesday! Mrs. Bowen will share the link to the Watch D.O.G.S. calendar to those who have forwarded their volunteer approval email to her (angelina.bowen@kellerisd.net). The first day for Watch DOGS will be October 2nd.

Add your photos to the yearbook

Please upload your pictures on www.TreeRing.com for HOCO Week/Parade & Fun Run by October 6th. Last call for all pictures from Meet the Teacher and First Day of School!

We LOVE VolunteerS!

✅Get Cleared to Volunteer! All volunteers must complete a yearly background check. Click the link to apply for a volunteer position through KISD.

Click here to access the KISD background check application.

✅Check out our events and let us know how you can get involved! Click here to sign up to help!

✅Check the PTA Website for upcoming volunteer opportunities.

https://florenceelempta.membershiptoolkit.com/Volunteer

PTA Events and Volunteer Opportunities

Information Central for PTA!

We are encouraging ALL our families to register on the PTA website, even if they have not become PTA members. We want you to have access to be able to volunteer and get information that you need. Plus it will prepare you for BCI and KMS as they also use this website program as well.

Please go to

https://florenceelempta.membershiptoolkit.com/

Chic Fil A

Don’t Forget that our Spirit Day at Chick-fil-A continues until 10pm this evening, Friday the 22nd. With every mobile carry out or mobile drive through order a donation is made in support of FES (@ the Keller Pkwy location only)!

Spirit sweatshirt sale

FES Sweatshirt Pre Orders will be available now until October 1st! There are both adult and youth sizes available. Delivery will be in November. Go to the FES PTA Website below to order NOW! https://florenceelempta.membershiptoolkit.com/

Volunteers Needed

We need some dependable parent volunteers to help Nurse Sue with Hearing & Vision screenings on Sept 25 & 26th.

https://m.signupgenius.com/#!/showSignUp/70A0F4DAFA62EA3FC1-vision

Congratulations Florence PTA!

Congratulations Florence PTA on the Head Start Award this year! Thank you to all of our members who have joined during the month of August! If you would like to join and support our school, children and teachers you may go to JOINPTA.org, select Keller ISD and Florence! Every member Counts! ❤️👏🏼👏🏼

Please visit our PTA website for more information

https://florenceelempta.membershiptoolkit.com/

Reflections

Let's Get Creative! Reflections is here! Theme: "I am Hopeful Because..." Information, entry form and rules: https://www.txpta.org/reflections Reflections is a PTA-sponsored arts recognition program where students can express their creativity in the categories of dance choreography, film production, literature, music composition, photography and visual arts. All participants will be recognized and there are advancement opportunities at the district, state and national levels. We will host two brainstorming workshops at Florence where we will guide students through the process of reflecting on the theme, "I am Hopeful Because...," assist in creating a strong artists' statement, help formulate a plan for completing their projects on their own time, and provide them with some basic supplies if applicable to help bring their ideas to life!

Our first workshop on Wednesday was a great success! Please RSVP by google form below, if you would like to participate in our Next Workshop on Tuesday, Sep 26th 7:25-7:55am.

https://forms.gle/eKtntYmp38t88F3s6

Candy Needed!

We need Candy! (Insert green monster)

It’s time to feed that MONSTER again! We need candy for Fall Carnival, preferably non-melting and no nuts! The green monster will be located in the front office to place those donations!

Community Store House-Run in the Dark Oct 2023-Boo Run. Please register on the CSH website to participate!

https://www.communitystorehouse.org/run-in-the-dark

Cafeteria Menu- September 2023- UPDATED

Sept. Updated Lunch Menu.pdf

Cafeteria information

https://kellerisd.sodexomyway.com/

What time is breakfast? Breakfast will begin at 7:25. The line will close at 7:50 for students to be in class at 7:55.

How do I add money to my child’s cafeteria account? You may place money on your child's lunch account by setting up an account for them on School Cafe. The link is below and you will need your student's ID # to do so.

Sodexo - Breakfast and Lunch.