A Message from Mrs. Taylor
Dear Theiss Families,
As we step into November, I am filled with gratitude for our amazing Theiss community. This time of year reminds us to pause and reflect on all that we are thankful for—our dedicated staff, supportive families, and incredible students who make Theiss such a special place to learn and grow.
Throughout the fall, your involvement has made a lasting impact—from volunteering at events and supporting fundraisers to cheering on your child’s learning at home. Your partnership truly strengthens our school community, and I want to thank you for the many ways you give your time, energy, and care.
One big event that is coming up very soon is election day, November 4th. There are 2 Klein ISD School Board on
the ballot. We encourage everyone to research the candidates and exercise your right to vote. Theiss will be a polling location on November 4th in the gym.
November also brings several opportunities to stay engaged and informed. Be sure to review the upcoming events and important reminders in this newsletter, including details about election day and ways to share feedback with us through our family survey. Your input helps us continue to grow and serve our students with excellence.
As a reminder, our classrooms utilize community circles daily to address the Character TEKS. For the month of November, we’re focusing on the following:
Behavior Standard Focus:
Learner Disposition:
I am a Challenge Seeker! - I am Curious!
Core Values:
Respecting Self/Others Owning Actions Always Collaborating Rising to the Challenge
As we move into the holiday season, I hope you and your family enjoy time together, filled with warmth, joy, and gratitude. Thank you for being an integral part of Theiss Elementary. As always, if there is anything we can assist you with, please reach out and let us know.
With appreciation,
Jessica Taylor
Principal
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Theiss Core Values
Our Core Values spell out ROAR. At Theiss, we teach our students the importance of these values and recognize students who show these traits through their actions. When students show all 4 of these traits, they ROAR!
Talk to you child about how they can ROAR as they start this new school year. Here are a few questions you can ask them:
* What are you learning about? Probe for specifics.
* How are you doing with [insert skill]?
* What level of understanding do you have for [insert skill]? Listen for numbers 1-4 that correspond to how confident your child feeling with what they are learning.
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Effective Learner Dispositions
At Theiss, we want our students to be leaders of their learning. We teach our students about these dispositions to help them understand the learning process. Learning is hard work, and we want our students to have the skills to perservere through challenges, as well as know how to effectively collaborate with others and use their goals and curiosity to guide next steps with their learning.
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Fridays are Spirit Days! Show your school spirit by dressing with your spirit shirt on Fridays, or Thursdays when there is a Friday holiday. You can wear this year's shirt or a vintage shirt from a previous year! Go tigers!
November
Native American Heritage Month
4 Election Day - Student Holiday/Staff Development
6 4th Grade Wunderlich Farms Field Trip
7 Klein Cain Strings Presentation for 5th grade, 9:40-10:05 cafeteria
7 Thanksgiving Food Drive ends
8 National STEAM Day
11 Veteran’s Day Performance - 2 PM; All wear red, white and blue
11 Kindergarten field trip - Cynthia Woods Pavilion School Days
12 Picture Day (Group/Retake/Club)
13 World Kindness Day- Wear yellow or Be Kind shirts
17 Toy Drive begins
18 McDonald’s Spirit Night. 4:30 - 7:30 PM
21 PTO Sponsored Pie Day
24-28 Thanksgiving Break
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December
3 Campus Spelling Bee, 9 AM
5 Doerre Fine Arts Holiday Tour, 8:30 AM cafeteria
8-14 National Hour of Code/Computer Science Education Week
8 2nd grade Holiday Performance, 7 PM, cafeteria
9 PTO Spirit Night - Chipotle, Spring Cypress location
10 Staff Caroling in Memorial Northwest
12 Doerre Theater Tour, 9:00 AM, cafeteria
12 KHS Fine Arts Holiday Tour, 1:25 PM, gym
15 Choir Performance, 5 - 5:20 PM, cafeteria
18 Holiday Party Day
19 Literacy Day, The Nutcracker theme
19 End of Grading Period 2
22-31 Winter Break (Student and Staff Holiday)
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"Of the Month" Celebrations Sponsored by Theiss PTO! |
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Teacher of the Month Ms. Baldwin!
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Staff of the Month Ms. Musleh! |
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Please remember to send your child in appropriate shoes on all PE days! Thank you! |
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Save the Date! We love to have our families participate in holiday parties in the classroom. All guests must provide a government issued ID. All volunteers and room parents must be background checked. More information coming soon!
9:00 - 9:45 2nd
10:00 -10:45 KG
11:00 - 11:45 3rd
11:20 - 12:05 5th
11:30 - 12:15 PK
12:50 - 1:35 1st
1:20 - 2:05 4th
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Children are more likely to succeed when they feel a routine of going to school is important. Help your child by setting a consistent bedtime, laying out clothes the night before, and arriving on time each morning. |
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Standards Based Grading
Kindergarten - 2nd Grade in Klein ISD will receive their grades using a standards-based criteria. This slide deck explains how to understand how your child is graded for their report card, how to access the report card and more!
Slide Deck
Learn more on this site.
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NWEA MAP Growth Assessment
In Klein, we use the MAP Growth Assessment to monitor trends in student performance. MAP is a nationally normed assessment, and is not used for grading purposes. Learn how to understand the RIT score your child receives and more using this site! Click here to learn more.
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Parent Resources
Consult the Klein ISD Parent Resources page to find all kinds of helpful information. On this site, you can find quick links for common apps needed by families, links to the quarterly Family Curriculum Guides for each grade level, safety information and more! Click here to access the Parent Resources page.
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Technology Safety
Questions about technology usage? The slide deck linked below shares information about how we keep our students safe when using technology.
Slide Deck
Parent Flyer with Links
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Campus Procedures for Review |
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Lunch Visitors
As many of you know, our space is limited for the many visitors that we have on a regular basis during lunch. To help ensure we have adequate space for our visitors, we assign designated days for visitor lunches. Starting in October, we will begin to utilize the following schedule:
Tuesday: PK, 1st, 3rd
Wednesday: Kinder, 4th
Thursday: 2nd, 5th
We will continue to allow visitors to eat with students on their birthday. If your child's birthday was over the weekend, visitors can use Monday or Friday to eat with your child for their birthday.
Please note the following expectations for parent visitors:
Comply with the Klein ISD dress code. Bring lunch only for you and your child. Sit in the designated area for visitors. Invite only your child to sit with you. Our cafeteria is a cell phone free zone. Check in and out at the front office. Lunch visitors are not allowed in the instructional areas before or after your child's lunch time.
We are excited to bring back this tradition to facilitate extra quality time for you and your child!
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Secure Entrance
Klein ISD procedure for secure entrances are as follows:
As you approach the front door, ring the doorbell and have your ID ready to show in the viewfinder. You will be asked to explain the reason for your visit and to show your ID. The front desk secretary will unlock the door. As you enter, please do not hold the door open for additional visitors behind you.
Please note that the only door that visitors will be allowed in through is the front office door. All other doors are locked and secured throughout the school day. Our campus guard regularly checks our doors and outdoor grounds throughout the day.
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New Personal Device Expectations & Consequence Matrix
Students may bring personal communication devices to school, but they must be turned off, out of sight, and stored away in their backpack, pocket, laptop sleeve, or other personal belongings while on school grounds from the first bell 7:40 to the end of the instructional day at 3:25 including during class, recess, and lunch.
Consequences for student(s) not meeting the expectation are as follows:
Offense Number 1
Admin Conference, Parent Contact
Student may pick up the device at the end of the day in the admin office by 4 PM.
Offense Number 2
Consequences may include a combination of disciplinary measures up to and including Lunch Detention, After School, or Before School Detention and Parent Contact
Student may pick up the device at the end of the day in the admin office by 4 PM
Offense Number 3
One Day of ISS, Parent Contact
Parent/Guardian required to pick up before front office closes by 4 PM
Offense Number 4
Consequences may include a combination of disciplinary measures up to and including ISS, OSS, or DAEP and Parent Contact
Parent/Guardian required to pick up before front office closes by 4 PM
Students who refuse to turn in their device(s) to the administrator will immediately receive additional consequences at the discretion of the administrator.
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Breakfast & Lunch
We offer breakfast and lunch daily at Theiss Elementary. All students will have a SMART card tag to charge their account as they go through the line. One card will stay on your child's backpack and need to remain there at all times for use at breakfast. For lunch, your child's teacher will store a separate ID card in the classroom.
Our breakfast line is open from 7:40 - 8:00 to allow time for students to be on time to class. For lunch times, please contact your child's teacher for their specific lunch time.
Please utilize the School Cafe app to add money to your child's account, set up autopay, set limitations on additional purchases and more! Items such as snacks, second meals, extra drinks and desserts are available for an additional charge. With this new app, you can control how many extras your child is allowed to eat and even specify dates when this may be available.
We offer free and reduced prices to those who qualify. To complete a free and reduced lunch application, please create an account through School Cafe and complete the application in the app.
Please remind your child that we do not share or trade food. The only food that may be consumed at school is that which is provided by the cafeteria, the classroom teacher for instructional purposes, the PTO, or food brought by themselves for their consumption.
For specific questions related to the Theiss cafeteria, please contact Ms. Saaed, our cafeteria manager, at 832-484-5980.
**Parents will be allowed to return to eat lunch in the cafeteria starting in October. This allows us time to establish our routines and procedures and reduce separation anxiety for our youngest learners.
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Lunch Drop Off and Delivery Procedures
We are committed to safety for our students and, in doing so, will continue to utilize the following lunch drop off and lunch delivery procedures.
Food deliveries for staff will be dropped off on a cart on the front porch, so no unauthorized delivery people will enter the school. Food delivery service drop offs for students will be turned away. We highly discourage dropping off fast food meals for our students. Student drop offs (food or forgotten items) will be left on a small, marked table in our front office. Only parents/guardians can drop off lunch for their child, and their child only. Parents will need to write the student's name and teacher on a sticky note and leave it on the cart. Students will come through the front office to pick up their items and return back to class through the front office. Parents are responsible for making sure students know to come get the dropped off item by coordinating in advance. For forgotten items (glasses etc...), please send the teacher a message. The teacher will send the student to pick up when possible. Please note that our teachers are focused on teaching the class, and may not immediately see any messages about forgotten items or lunch drop offs. Please make sure that your child has everything they need for the day each morning as they come to school. We will follow standard protocols and require IDs to enter the front office to drop off items.
Thank you for understanding and following these procedures throughout the school year.
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Arrival & Dismissal Procedures
Pro Tips for Arrival:
Teach your child how to unbuckle and exit the vehicle on the right side independently. Parents must stay in the vehicle during the car line drop off area. Allow your child to exit once you are next to a sidewalk, instead of waiting until close to the door. This keeps our lines from backing up on the main lanes Do not drop off students prior to 7:40. There are not adults monitoring students before 7:40 each morning. Lock your bike on the bike racks for safey. Teach your child to walk their bike as soon as they turn onto school property.
Pro Tips for Dismissal:
Please keep your car number visible to staff until your car is loaded. Car tags are most visible when hanging in the middle of the windshield (ie: from a hanger on the rear view mirror, or hanging from the visor etc...). When simply placed on the dashboard, we cannot see when walking by your vehicle. Dismissal can be a great time to network with other families. We highly encourage families who want to stick around to chat or play during dismissal to utilize the park near the clubhouse until dismissal is complete. The playground is off limits until dismissal is complete, usually by 4:00.
Click here to view all procedures.
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Attendance Basics & Updates
Attendance is very important to your child's education. We know that sometimes students will need to be absent due to illness, family emergency etc. Please arrange vacations, out of town trips and doctor appointments to limit school disruption as much as possible. You can view student holidays here on the Klein ISD student calendar. When students accumulate absences at 5, 10 and 15, letters are sent to parents to keep you updated. After 19 absences, a committee must review the child's case to determine if the child needs to be retained due to absences.
It's also important for students to be on time to class. This year, the tardy bell rings at 8:05. Tardies will be entered into Skyward. Classes begin right after this bell rings, so student entering late are missing out on key instruction and interventions. Tardies will prevent a student from earning attendance recognition awards each quarter and could result in formal intervention plans if tardies become chronic.
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Process for Reporting Absences:
All parent notes regarding absences must be either handwritten or reported using Skyward Family Access. Visit this link for directions on how to report an absence through the Skyward Family Access app and through the web application. You can also use Skyward Family Access to report an early dismissal request. Truancy letters are automatically generated after 3 unexcused absences in a short period of time. Please make sure to send notes through Skyward Family Access to ensure your child's absences are excused.
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Early Dismissals
If you know that your child will need to leave school early, please send a note with your child the morning of the early dismissal or submit a request through Skyward Family Access. Office staff will give your child an early dismissal pass to ensure students and teachers know what time he/she needs to report to the office so he/she is ready for pick-up. Any student waiting for more than 15 minutes will be sent back to the instructional setting until the parent arrives. Parents are required to come in and sign the child out before he/she will be allowed to leave the school. Any early dismissal requests after 2:30 may be delayed due to the start of the campus dismissal procedures.
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Legal Paperwork Updates
If you have legal paperwork regarding your child's custody arrangement or regarding people who need to have restricted access to your child, please bring the original document with the judges signature to the office so we can make a copy to retain in your child's cumulative record. We follow all the legal requirements of court ordered documents, and are able to fully comply best when we have the records on file.
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Wednesday Folders
You can expect your child to bring home a folder each week on Wednesday. This folder is used to communicate your child's progress and updates towards learning targets for the week prior. Please review this information with your child, sign the folder and return to school the next day.
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Birthdays
We love to celebrate birthdays with your child and will work hard to make it a special day for them at school!
However, sending invitations to school to pass out will not be allowed. Instructional time cannot be used to support or promote private social events such as birthday parties.
At this time, we will not be accepting birthday treat bags. If you would like to arrange for an edible treat to be shared for your child's birthday during the lunch period, please follow the KISD protocols and begin the process 2 weeks in advance. We will be enforcing the 2 weeks notice without exceptions this year. No food brought up to the office will be allowed without going through this process. Thank you for your cooperation.
Please see the KISD District procedures that we follow in more detail here.
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Back to School Information from the nurse can be found on this document.
Here are a few reminders from Nurse Kerry and updates for this school year:
IMPORTANT District Medication Change: If your child will need ANY medication while at school, there has been a change to Klein ISD procedures. All medications (prescribed or over the counter) will need a written order by a licensed healthcare provider. Clinic staff will not be able to use the prescription label as proof of the written medical order or parent authorization for OTCS for 2 weeks, as in the past. Medications (prescription or over the counter) will not be accepted if expired, not in the original container, or without complete written orders. The licensed healthcare provider can use the district medication authorization form, an action plan, or a letter from their office to provide their signed consent. Please understand the medication intake process will require patience for safety and inventory. If time is a constraint, please consider making an appointment with the clinic prior to bringing in the medication and appropriate paperwork. No students are permitted to carry any type of medication (including, but not limited to, topicals, cough drops, vitamins, prescriptions, supplements) in their lunch kits, backpacks, or to and from the clinic. Any student requiring any type of medication during the school day must have a parent or designated guardian deliver the medication to the clinic and follow the district guidelines for intake and inventory. The school is not able to store or intervene in the hand off of medications between households. Please send your child with a change of clothes in their backpack for accidents or unexpected soils. This includes socks and shoes. Celebration foods must be submitted at least 2 weeks prior to the requested date in order to screen rosters for permissions and food allergies. A complete ingredient list/label must accompany ALL food being requested to serve and must be presented at time of request 2 weeks in advance. We encourage you to utilize the campus food services celebration treats that are offered for your convenience. No requests will be accepted in the month of August for safety as rosters are being screened and updated for food allergies and special considerations. Foods prepared at home will not be accepted and must be in a pre-packaged, sealed container. Due to clinic volume and acuity of conditions, teachers may be aiding students who have minor scratches, bumps or bruises in the classroom, therefore, you may not be receiving notification from the nurse for these types of injuries. The clinic staff will continue to inform you if children are ill and need to be dismissed home, have bumped their heads, have suffered a serious injury or a significant change in their medical condition.
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School Store & Spirit Items
One of the service projects and fundraisers for Theiss Elementary is the operation of our school store. Students can purchase spirit shirts, spirit items and school supplies from the school store from 7:45 - 8:00 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Follow us on Facebook: Theiss Elementary School, @TheissKISD
Join our Facebook group to get instant updates from the website!
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We'll post links to all the previous newsletter from this school year here!
August
September
October
November
December
January
February/March
April
May
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