Week of November 18, 2024

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I've been reflecting on the many gifts we have at our school. Each and every one of you is a unique blessing to me. Your efforts are truly appreciated, and never taken for granted. You choose to come to Lee and dedicate yourselves each day to creating the most incredible learning environment for our students. Your enthusiasm for education, your adaptability, and your compassion are evident in everything you do. Over the years, I've learned to grow and lead with greater grace and patience, and I see those qualities in many of you as well!  Please take the break to truly relax—avoid any work or thoughts of school! Use this time to focus on yourself and recognize just how amazing you are. I’m excited to show our appreciation during the upcoming "December to Remember." When you come back, it is here! 💗

DID YOU KNOW:

• you can wear warm ups on Friday and "trot the track" during your conference time? Please share pics of your group taking some self-care time!
• Friday, November 15, is Substitute Appreciation Day? Please be intentional in thanking any subs in our building tomorrow!
• the office will clean the lounge fridge out at 2:00, on Friday? Please take your personal items and food home.
• Chess club starts on Monday and Tuesday next week? Please pay attention to the email from Zeal. Learners will come up and sit on the front steps like they do for Cooking Club so that they are supervised until Zeal is done with car line.
• our school presented VRE with this plant and card yesterday? Thank you for your extra prayers sent their way.

FLANNEL FRIENDSGIVING

We look forward to fellowship, flannels, and food with our FamiLEE on Monday.  Thanks to those of you that are bringing items.

PROGRESS REPORT GRADES

3-5, please have your grades in by 8:00 on Tuesday morning.  THANK YOU!

SPELLING BEE

Best wishes to our fifth graders as they compete to represent Lee in the district spelling bee.  You are welcome to watch after school if you have an interest. 

FAMILEE FEAST IS HERE

Please let your famiLEEs know if they want to attend Thursday's Thanksgiving Lunch that they need to sign up ahead of time.  This lunch will be in place of FamiLEE Friday lunch on November 21. Parents can Sign up here.  THIS YEAR: Child Nutrition has requested guests PREPAY ($8) for their meal to expedite the lunch line.  Please send payment to your child's lunch account before the event.  

COPPELL EDUCATION FOUNDATION GRANTS 

The Coppell Education Foundation is accepting donations for our Lee STEAM grant and CISD STEAM grant.  Thank you for considering.  This is the last week!

ATTENDANCE MATTERS

Did you know when student attendance rises, more state funding is allocated to bolster district programs aimed at enhancing student performance and engagement. Higher attendance rates also position districts to secure additional funding from federal and other sources.

As you plan your vacations this year, keep in mind that skipping school can affect your child's learning and overall success. It's also important to follow attendance guidelines set by CISD. Check the school calendar for holidays and schedule trips accordingly to support your child's education. View the CISD calendar here: https://www.coppellisd.com/o/cisd/page/calendar

LIMITED NUMBER OF WINTER WEAR AND HOUSE COLOR SPIRIT WEAR AVAILABLE

Thank you to everyone who supported our winter and spirit wear pre-sale! The pre-sale is officially closed but we do have a limited selection of items for purchase. Check out what’s still available on our website with expected delivery the week ending December 6th. Don’t wait—visit bit.ly/rjlstore to grab yours while supplies last!

COACH'S CORNER

💡District Resource Spotlight

Below are the slides from the CISD Fall Literacy Content Academy.   

Here are some links to resources shared at the Academy you may find helpful.

Information Paper Choice 

ACES Transitions

Reading Continuum Menus

Fountas & Pinnell Running Records

Safe Image Search Links

Workshop Checklist 

When You're Done We Have Just Begun

💎Classroom Tech Treasures  

Quick Keynote Thanksgiving activity to try!  

LEEDERSHIP TIP AND QUOTE OF THE WEEK

DATES TO REMEMBER:

• NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH
• OFFICE ON LOUNGE DUTY

November 17- Chantel's Birthday

November 19- 4-5 Progress Report Grades Due (8:00)

     Campus Spelling Bee (Library Flex 3:30)

November 20- Progress Reports Generated

     FamiLEE Feast (Lunch times)

     Staff Meeting (3:15 Cafe)  No Paras needed

November 21- Joy's Birthday

     3rd Grade Field Trip

November 22- Substitute Appreciation Day

     WICKED MOVIE DATE

November 25-29- NO SCHOOL

Week of November 11, 2024

Thank you all for another incredible week at Lee.  We hope you walked away from Tuesday's professional learning with something new.  I am so so very proud of our school.  Thank you to all of you for presenting and for also being great participants.  You are ALWAYS representing our school well!  I hope you enjoy breakfast from PTO Thursday morning.  We have the BEST PTO!!

DID YOU KNOW:

• that we will have our ESL tutor two days a week through March? Thank you for making sure your learners are ready to go with her. 
• Lee will have round 2 of training with Dr. De La Isla at our November 20 staff meeting?  We have your Teaching Science to English Learners books and will put them in your boxes, now.  There is NO PRESSURE to start reading this book, today, but for those of you that want to dig in during flex time- HAVE AT IT!  Thank you to those of you who have already practiced QSSSA from our first training.

GREAT EMPLOYEES MATTER

PTO MEETING

Our next virtual PTO meeting is coming up this Tuesday November 12 at 6pm. Zoom link will be emailed home prior to the meeting. We will also be highlighting our prize winners and the winning classes from our WAC fundraising campaign. We are SO grateful to everyone who donated and participated in our annual fundraiser. YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Make sure to save the date and join us to hear all the important updates!

WORLD KINDNESS DAY

Wednesday, November 13, is World Kindness Day.  We can't wait to see how our learners spread kindness.  If you have a KIND shirt, join in on wearing it on Wednesday.  We will also celebrate kindness in January with the Great Kindness Challenge.

LEEDERSHIP COUNCIL AND KINDNESS DAY

Our LEEdership Council will be selling kindness bands before school on Wednesday, until 8:15.  This ONE DAY ACT OF KINDNESS will be set up by the front steps.  Learners can buy a bracelet for themselves or for a friend. Please permit your learners come down with their dollars when they arrive or after morning announcements.  Please share the flyer below in your newsletters.  

SAVE THE DATE FOR FAMILEE FEAST

Please let your famiLEEs know if they want to attend our annual Thanksgiving Lunch that they need to sign up ahead of time.  This lunch will be in place of FamiLEE Friday lunch on November 21. Parents can Sign up here.  THIS YEAR: Child Nutrition has requested guests PREPAY ($8) for their meal to expedite the lunch line.  Please send payment to your child's lunch account before the event.  

ATTENDANCE MATTERS

Did you know? When student attendance rises, more state funding is allocated to bolster district programs aimed at enhancing student performance and engagement. Higher attendance rates also position districts to secure additional funding from federal and other sources. A huge THANK YOU to our amazing CISD families for prioritizing student attendance!

Regular attendance enables students to participate actively in lessons, form meaningful relationships with peers, and fully benefit from their education. It also supports teachers in assessing progress and planning effectively. Attendance Matters…You Matter!

COPPELL EDUCATION FOUNDATION GRANTS 

The Coppell Education Foundation is accepting donations for our Lee STEAM grant and CISD STEAM grant.  Thank you for considering.

WINTER WEAR & HOUSE COLORS ON SALE THROUGH NOVEMBER 10th
We are excited to offer winter spirit wear this year with a fun new design that is sure to be a keeper for years to come!  This sale will be the FINAL CHANCE to purchase House color shirts and ONLY CHANCE for winter wear this year.  All items will be on sale through November 10th with delivery of items by the week ending December 6th. Place your orders today: bit.ly/rjlstore

COACHES CORNER

💡District Resource Spotlight

During Math Content Academy, Learning Coaches brought back Stop-Collaborate-& Listen presentations 🎉  

Feel free to check out them out below:

Kindergarten	1st Grade	2nd Grade
3rd Grade	4th Grade	5th Grade

💌 You’re Invited!

Lee Elementary is hosting a Flex Credit Hour opportunity that you are welcome to participate in, led by Diana Lyn. We hope you will enjoy this professional learning and find it supportive of your math goals for this school year! 

LAS UPDATE

Check out the CISD ESL/Bilingual Newsletter

LESSON IN LEADERSHIP

DATES TO REMEMBER:

• NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH
• NATIONAL SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY WEEK
• YELLOW HOUSE LOUNGE DUTY

Nov 11- Veteran's Day

Nov 12- Virtual PTO Meeting (6:00)

Nov 13- Kindness Bracelet Sale

     Yellow House Field Trip 

     Flex Learning (3:15-4:15)

Nov 14- Green House Music Performance (2:00 & 6:30)

Nov 15- CK off

Week of November 4, 2025

Well done with this year's Write a Check.  We KNOW you have been working so hard to ramp up participation and to reward your learners.  We aren't telling the kids until tomorrow, but PTO is going to extend WAC one more week in hopes we can meet our goal.  Great idea shared from Zara's parents... a paper wrist band with a reminder for kids to share about WAC with parents.  

We hope you enjoy all of the snacks and food this week!  Some of you have asked for the corn dip recipe.  Email me if that was you, and I will share it.  We are 50/50 on liking/not liking candy corn- HA!  The Spud Bar should "butter" you up for Diwali yummies on Friday.  PTO will be treating you to breakfast, next Thursday, to thank you for all that you do.

DID YOU KNOW:

• today is the LAST DAY to turn in your self care bingo cards?  I will announce the winner at the end of the day.
• November 1 is the last day to Early Vote?  A long lunch time has been provided if you need time to vote on Tuesday.  Don't forget to make your voice heard!
• CISD is looking for staff and parents interested in serving on the Implementation Team of the Strategic Plan?  Anyone (staff or parents) can apply at www.coppellisd.com/committee if they are interested.  
• we should be getting woodchips for the playground in another week?  The maintenance department also is working to fill in some holes on the field and along the cement walkways.
• thanks to Cassie securing the PO, we have gotten Mystery Science for Lee Staff?  As stated in her email: to reconnect- click this link, log in with your school email, make sure you are linked to RJL Elementary.  WAHOO!!!
• we will have some underground spirit days next week if you want to participate?  On Monday, wear socks with sandals.  On Wednesday, wear a holiday shirt (any holiday- 4th of July, Christmas, etc.), and on Thursday,  wear patterns on patterns. 

THANK YOU FOR AN AMAZING TRUNK OR TREAT
Our Admin team and PTO would like to extend a great BIG THANK YOU to ALL who participated in our annual Trunk or Treat and made it an event to remember. We couldn’t have done it without everyone who donated candy, volunteered their time, and for all of the FamiLEE community who attended the event! An extra special THANK YOU to Green House for winning the trunk or treat contest.

SOCIAL SPURS SPUD LUNCHEON

Don't forget to stop by the lounge for lunch on Thursday.  Thank you to everyone for their donations and effort behind the scenes to organize this fun lunch.

DIWALI

Thank you to our Diwali Divas for treating everyone during Diwali.  Happy Diwali to those of you that celebrate.  Please remind learners that they can wear their traditional Indian clothes, on Friday, to celebrate.

WRITE-A-CHECK DEADLINE EXTENDED: 3 DAYS LEFT TO DONATE!

We have extended our annual fundraising campaign through November 4th in an effort to reach our goal. This will be the LAST opportunity to donate. As you know, this is the main source of funding for our FamiLEE PTO, and is in lieu of sending learners door to door selling fundraising items each year. The recommended donation is $100 per student, however every dollar counts, so please donate how you feel comfortable.

As of Wednesday we were at 64% of our goal with 38% participation! THANK YOU SO MUCH to all who have contributed - your generosity and support is incredible, and we truly could not provide support to our school without you.  If you have yet to contribute, please consider donating today - every dollar counts! bit.ly/RJLWAC

DISTRICT PL ON TUESDAY

Please make sure that you have signed up for our five sessions for Tuesday.  All staff has to attend professional learning this day, including paraprofessionals.  Thank you to all of you Spurs who are presenting and hosting sessions.  You make your Admin Team SO PROUD!

Conference Bulb
Learning Journal Links:

Keynote

Notability

NO SCHOOL FOR LEARNERS ON TUESDAY

COLLEGE SHIRT DAY

Wednesday is College Shirt Day.  Encourage learners to participate by wearing a college shirt on the first Wednesday of each month.

LEEDERSHIP COUNCIL MEETING

We will have a LEEdership Council meeting on Wednesday morning at 9:00.  Please send them down with their iPad when the announcement is made. 

VETERANS DAY

Teachers, we would like to honor Veterans, on November 11, on social media. We are looking for relatives of anyone at Lee or any of our designers as well. Could you please reach out to your parents and ask them to send you information on anyone in their families they would like honored through Lee social media for Veteran's Day? We would like a photo, as well as their branch, rank and years served. We will create a social media post celebrating them.  Please know this is also open to you and your family members as well.  Please forward all information to Chantel before end of the day next Friday, November 8. 

CIP
The 2024-2025 Campus Improvement Plan can be found here. Each quarter this document should be reviewed and updated.  Leadership, please download the PDF into Noteability or print it off.  Review it  and annotate it with your house in your Thursday Meeting.  Please get your annotated copy to Angel and Kat by Friday, November 8.

TOY

FINAL REMINDER!!!  NOMINATIONS DUE NOVEMBER 8!!!  Please take time to nominate someone in our building for this incredible honor.   If you need admin to cover your class so you can observe your nominee, to help you better answer the questions, or to give you time to complete the nomination, please arrange that with us.  We are happy to help.  Here is the TOY Website and Nomination Criteria and Form.

SAVE THE DATE FOR FAMILEE FEAST

Please let your famiLEEs know if they want to attend our annual Thanksgiving Lunch that they need to sign up ahead of time.  This lunch will be in place of FamiLEE Friday lunch on November 21. Parents can Sign up here.  THIS YEAR: Child Nutrition has requested guests PREPAY ($8) for their meal to expedite the lunch line.  Please send payment to your child's lunch account before the event.  

ATTENDANCE MATTERS

Did you know? If every student missed just two fewer days of school, CISD could receive an additional $1.3 million! This funding supports teacher salaries, classroom materials, support staff, enrichment activities, and more. Your child's attendance makes a difference! Let's prioritize attendance to benefit our entire school community.

WINTER WEAR & HOUSE COLORS ON SALE THROUGH NOVEMBER 10th
We are excited to offer winter spirit wear this year with a fun new design that is sure to be a keeper for years to come!  This sale will be the FINAL CHANCE to purchase House color shirts and ONLY CHANCE for winter wear this year.  All items will be on sale through November 10th with delivery of items by the week ending December 6th. Place your orders today: bit.ly/rjlstore

COPPELL EDUCATION FOUNDATION GRANTS 

The Coppell Education Foundation is accepting donations for our Lee STEAM grant and CISD STEAM grant.  Thank you for considering.

PANIC BUTTONS

Panic buttons have been installed around the building.  They are the white and black buttons in your rooms (by your phones).  These buttons are required by the state and they will soon be connected to the new cameras installed around campus.  Currently, these buttons are functioning.  If held down for 3 seconds or longer, they alert Admin and our monitoring company.  In the future, these will also be connected to the nearest camera to your button.  Please review with your learners that they have permission to push these "only in case of emergency."  We will also discuss on morning broadcast next week. 

COACHES CORNER

District Resource Spotlight

November 3, Father of Texas Day, is this Sunday! It is a day in memory of Stephen F. Austin, the great pioneer patriot and Father of Texas.  Checkout PebbleGo for some resources for our learners! 

PebbleGo Next (4th and 5th Grade)

PebbleGo (3rd grade and under)

Instructional Idea to Try!

LAS UPDATE

LESSON IN LEADERSHIP

DATES TO REMEMBER:

• NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH
• NATIONAL SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY WEEK
• YELLOW HOUSE LOUNGE DUTY

Nov 3- Daylight Savings Time

Nov 4- Julie's Birthday

Nov 5- District Professional Learning Day

     NO SCHOOL FOR LEARNERS

     ELECTION DAY

Nov 6- College Shirt Day

     LEEdership Council Meeting (9:00)

     Leadership Mtg. (3:15 Yellow House)

Nov 7- PTO Thankful Thursday Breakfast    

Nov 8- Annah's Birthday

     TOY Nominations Due

     Veteran information due to CK

     CIP Notes due to Kat & Angel