Hello Dickinson Families!

This week we begin Innovative Day with our Dolphins. This means that every student will have the opportunity to attend computer, science lab, library, and participate in STEM activities for a half day. The schedule is below for your reference. Please do your best not to schedule doctors appointments on the students innovative day as we will not be able to make it up for that week. This will allow our teachers the time to plan high quality lessons and students get to participate in enrichment lessons to go deeper with grade level curriculum. Please ask your student about how the first day went.

We have early dismissal this Friday, August 30th at 11:45. On this same day we will be sliding new students into their Ron Clark Houses. If you were a dolphin last year, please dress up in your house colors. New students, please feel free to wear all white. When you slide in you will be given your new house color for as long as you are at Dickinson Elementary! We can't wait!

Grandparent's Day is September 6th. Please fill out the pre-register form, so the grandparents do not have to wait in a long line. The forms will be sent home in your child's Tuesday folder. The schedule is posted below. If you want to go ahead and print it sooner, it has been included in this newsletter.

You will also find a letter from our library below. Not every book is for every child and parents know their child best. Please have a conversation with your child as to which topics you would like your child to explore. We stand ready to assist you, so feel free to reach out to us!

Looking forward to a fabulous week three with our students!

Warm Regards,

Channon Almendarez

#dolphinproud

I know many of you may be new to our car rider line. I want to share a message regarding something that has been brought to our attention. Parents are waiting in line on Tara Blvd and turning right at the stop sign, and then cars are coming down Sansbury and cutting in line after numbers are taken. Please do not cut in line. It slows down the dismissal process. We appreciate your assistance with this matter.

This is the last week to order your Dickinson themed spirit shirt. Please click the link below. Orders will be finalized on September 2nd, and will be delivered to Dickinson and sent home in your child's backpack. This shirt may be worn any day of the week.

2024 Dickinson Elementary - Students – Pinkie and Black

I hope this message finds you well. As we move further into the school year, I want to take a moment to emphasize the importance of regular attendance for your child’s academic success and overall development.

Consistent attendance is crucial because:

1. Academic Progress: Every school day is an opportunity for your child to learn new concepts and practice skills that are foundational for their academic growth. Missing even a day can cause your child to fall behind, making it harder for them to catch up.

2. Building Habits: Developing a habit of regular attendance sets a strong foundation for future success, not just in school but in life. Punctuality and responsibility are skills that will benefit your child throughout their life.

3. Social and Emotional Development: School is not just about academics; it's also a place where children learn to interact with others, build friendships, and develop their social skills. Regular attendance ensures they are fully integrated into the classroom community.

4. Maximizing Potential: When children attend school regularly, they are more likely to feel confident in their abilities, participate actively in class, and take full advantage of the educational opportunities available to them.

We understand that there may be times when absences are unavoidable due to illness or other emergencies. In such cases, please communicate with the school so that we can provide support to help your child catch up on missed work. Please send in a written note within five days of the absence to explain why your child has been out. A doctors note will automatically be excused.

Your partnership in ensuring your child attends school regularly is invaluable. Let’s work together to make this school year a successful one for all our students!

Starting the 2024-2025 school year, Lamar CISD is moving from Smart Tag to Versatrans My Stop. You can access your student’s bus route through the MyStop e-link to view:

- Route number

- Bus stops

- Estimated arrival/drop-off times

Click here to login: https://mystop.lcisd.org/elinkrp/Login.aspx

All you need is your student(s) ID number and date of birth to login. To view instructions on accessing the e-link: https://youtu.be/nmd_284gp9U.

You can also download the Versatrans My Stop App to view your student(s) active bus route’s arrival time to the designated bus stop. Guardians can register one student. If they have more students within the district, they will be added to the same account. To login, you need your student(s) ID number and date of birth.

For more information, please visit https://www.lcisd.org/transportation.

This year to ensure your child's safety all change of transportation notes must be sent to the front office or you can call by 2:00 to make a change. Teachers need to focus on instruction during the day so please do not send them any emails for a change. Please call the front office at 832-223-1400. There is a form below you can print and have for your file in case you want to send in a note. A handwritten note will be accepted as well. Thank you for your understanding!

There is a likely chance that we will have a rainy day dismissal during the first week of school. In order to manage rainy day dismissal well, please read the following procedures and please bring your patience.

• Rainy day dismissal will be called no later than 2:45 and a Skylert message will be sent.
• For safety measures, no student will be allowed to walk or ride their bike home.
• Every walker or bike rider should have an alternate way of getting home on rainy dismissal days.
• Walk in pick-ups during dismissal of walkers and bikers will not be processed in the front office until the car rider line is completed. The process will start around 3:20.This will allow the staff to focus on getting the traffic moved smoothly and quickly.
• Recommendation is to have your child be a car rider and get in line no later than 2:55.
• Having students ride the bus is always a great way to alleviate stress during rainy days as well.

As a campus, we will monitor these procedures and notify you should a change happen with this process. Our top priority, is to get every child home safely. Thank you for your understanding!

Bus Riders!

Parents please follow the steps to sign up for the My Stop App.

Kinder parents must have a blue card to receive students from the bus. If you do not have your card, students will be brought back to Dickinson.

The parent portal will allow you to see when your child gets on and off the bus too!

Please register right away!

Every student will have a transportation tag in a plastic cover attached to their backpack this school year. This tag will serve as a visual for our staff to ensure every child is getting home safely. Please do not remove it from the backpack.

This year each child will receive a car rider number printed on the back of their Dickinson transportation tag. Every student will receive a number even if that is not their permanent transportation. You will need to hang the transportation tag in your car rearview mirror to receive your child in the car rider line at the end of the day. If you do not have your tag, the staff will ask you to park and go inside to show your id to ensure the safety of every child.

Any kindergarten or first grade parent of walkers will be required to bring this card at walker dismissal to ensure that every child is matched to the appropriate guardian. Our top priority is making sure our students get home safely. If you have an older sibling who will be walking the younger sibling home, please fill out the form below and the front office will keep it on file. Your child's teacher will have them available as well.

Parents are not allowed to park along the playground curb and be a walker. If you want to park you must pass the entire playground. Please look for signs.

Skyward has a software package called Skylert to where the campus and district can send out communications via e-mail and text messages. Parents will automatically receive e-mails but must choose to receive text messages. Occasionally, the campus will send out text messages about important calendar events, but more importantly when we conduct Safety Drills. The district sends out important information about bus delays, school closures or delays. I strongly encourage all of our parents to sign up for text messages in Skyward! Below is a pdf with the directions as to how to activate the text message feature. This is a quick task to take care of when you are completing all of the Skyward Beginning of the Year Forms.

Mrs. Almendarez and Mrs. Peters had a wonderful time at the Back 2 School Bash on Saturday. This year Mrs. Peters will be working with grade levels kinder, second, and fourth. Mrs. Almendarez will work with first, third, and fifth grade levels. We work hard to know all the students however if you have specific concerns, please start by reaching out to your child's teacher first, Mrs. Lowe our counselor, and then us if you are needing additional information. We are all here to support the students, but please know your child's teacher is the best point of contact.

Please meet our counselor Suzanne Lowe. Her role is to support your child's academic, social, and emotional well-being. She will work closely with teachers and parents to ensure each student thrives. Whether it's through group sessions or classroom lessons, her goal is to create a positive and supportive environment for all students.

Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns to her at suzanne.lowe@lcisd.org.

Pictured from Left to Right:

Lisa Morrey: Instructional Coach

Yadi Salinas: Emergent Bilingual Specialist

Suzanne Lowe: Counselor

Angela Peters: Assistant Principal

Channon Almendarez: Principal

Leslie Norra: Dyslexia Specialist

Joanne Bromonsky: Librarian

Skyward Beginning of the Year Forms ~ Please complete these before Meet the Teacher on Thursday!

Lamar Consolidated ISD beginning of year forms will be completed online through the Skyward Family Access Center. All students Kindergarten - Fifth grade must have these completed each school year. By offering these forms digitally, we will be able to guarantee more accurate information inside of our Student Information System while also saving both you and our administrative staff a great deal of time.

Examples of beginning of year forms include verifying family contact information, updating emergency contacts, noting student health information, the Student Handbook signature page, technology usage form and such. These items will be available through your normal Skyward Family Access login. To access this information, click on the Family Access button in the top left of the LCISD webpage and then choose the Beginning of Year Forms button.

If you need assistance please visit the LCISD webpage https://www.lcisd.org/students-parents/family-access/beginning-of-year-forms for directions or reach out to our front office staff: Elva Rodriguez at 832-223-1400.

If there was a delay in getting the BOY forms completed, no worries simply complete & submit them then call the front desk (832-223-1400) to obtain the name of your child's homeroom teacher. If you wish to reach out to your child's teacher before Meet the Teacher on Thursday, August 8 leave a message at the front desk for a return phone call. Please know our teachers are in training all week preparing for the 2024-2025 school year.

STUDENTS: Kindergarten - 5th Grade

Breakfast ~ $1.25

Lunch ~ $2.45

LUNCH VISITORS: $5.00

Annual Volunteer Background Checks Via Raptor

Want to volunteer? Plan to attend field trips? Assist with Holiday Parties?

Dickinson Elementary has an amazing reputation for partnering with our parents and community to serve our students in a multitude of ways. It's important to review and update the volunteer application regularly to ensure it meets current safety standards and legal requirements. This process helps to create a safe and supportive environment for both volunteers and the children they interact with.

If you completed this task last year, you received a message via e-mail like this sample:

Hello,

Your ability to volunteer at Lamar Consolidated ISD will end on 6/30/2024. If you plan to volunteer after that date, please take this time to complete a volunteer application by selecting this link https://apps.raptortech.com/Apply/NTk1OmVuLVVT.

Thank you,

District Volunteer Coordinator

For our new volunteers, please follow these steps to become a volunteer at Dickinson:

1.) Apply to volunteer by completing the volunteer application found https://apps.raptortech.com/Apply/NTk1OmVuLVVT

2.) After you receive your volunteer clearance email, contact the campus or department you wish to support as a volunteer to receive information on next steps.

If you have any questions or would like more information about the district’s various volunteer opportunities, please contact:

Asia S. Duhon (Partners in Education Coordinator) at mailto:Asia.Duhon@LCISD.org OR 832-223-0383.

Technology Devices

Personal Technology Lamar CISD believes that appropriate use of students’ technology devices enhances our students’ education. This includes but is not limited to: cell phones, smart phones, iPods, iPads, electronic tablets, and laptop computers. At Dickinson Elementary: All electronic devices stated above, including Smart Watches, must remain in the student's backpack turned off during the instructional day. Please review the code of conduct below regarding cell phone(electronic devices) policy. We have technology available for students to use while on campus. Thank you for reviewing this information with your child before school starts. We want to ensure that students are engaged in their learning and want to help minimize distractions.

If you would like to purchase a student spirit shirt with our new school theme for this upcoming school year, please click the link below to order. Students may wear this shirt any day of the week.

SLC (Structured Learning Classroom) & Kindergarten Orientation

This is a time for these families to have an orientation with their child in the teachers classroom. They will be reviewing campus routines, procedures, and share more about their classroom.

Meet the Teacher

This is a come and go event where your child will get to meet their teacher and bring school supplies. At the event we will have PTO selling spirit items, district transportation for questions, Girl & Boy Scouts sign up, Watch Dog Dads Sign Up, daycare representatives, and Jeremiah's Italian Ice selling ice cream.

During this event we will have a parent volunteer meeting for the Innovative School Day volunteer. There is more information on what that means at the bottom of this newsletter.

Dolphin Dive

This event is recommended for parents only to come and learn more about your child's curriculum for the school year. Teachers will review special dates for their grade level. There will be two sessions that you may choose from and allows for multiple grade levels to visit. (5:00-5:45) & (6:00-6:45) Presentations will be posted online for review afterwards in case you cannot make it.

For our new families, please check your correct enrollment path during this transition period by following these steps:

To locate where a student would attend school for the 24. 25 school year based on an address:

• On the district web page in the blue bar at the top of the page, click My Bus/School.
• In the middle of the next page, under transportation, click on the blue button Find My Bus/School.
• You will see the attendance zones color coded. If you click on one of the color-coded zones, it will tell you what school that zone attends.
• Under the left-hand side, you can click the level of school you want to find. It defaults to 24.25 school year.
• There is also a search feature in the middle of the page so you can enter an address. After you enter the address and click enter, the schools will show on the left-hand side that the address is zoned to.

If you are in need of a daycare, here are a list of current daycares zoned to us.

• Kids Resort (On Campus) 281-762-8469
• Primrose 281-343-8889
• Kensington 281-232-4400
• Infinite Learning Academy 281-762-2586

As a friendly reminder you can follow us on Facebook and all past newsletters are housed on our Dickinson Website page. I will be posting updates throughout the summer.

CriticalInformationasLamarCISDMovesfromSmartTagtoMyStopin2024-2025

MUST DO ~ URGENT!

Lamar CISD families,

Lamar CISD has been named the first hypergrowth District in Texas, which requires significant planning to ensure our schools remain a great place to learn and our students get the best education available.

To enhance the services provided by our Transportation Department, we are asking all parents and guardians to complete a Transportation Form for each student, regardless of their mode of transportation to school. This includes bus riders, car riders, bike riders, and walkers. The form is available in Skyward and must be filled out for both current and new students.

It’s especially important for bus riders to fill out the Transportation Form to ensure they have access to bus services at the beginning of the school year. To plan accordingly for your student, please review a list of important dates below:

• August 4: Deadline to submit the form for students who want to receive bus transportation on the first day of school (Monday, August 12).
• August 5 - 21: During this time, if families fill out the Transportation Form requesting bus transportation for a student, then the student will start receiving bus transportation on Monday, August 26.
• August 22 or after: During this time, if families fill out the Transportation Form requesting bus transportation for a student, then the student will start receiving bus transportation after five school days.

Important Student Transportation Information for

2024-2025 School Year

Lamar CISD was recently named a hypergrowth district, which requires significant planning to ensure our schools remain a great place to learn, and our students get the best education available. For the 2024-2025 school year, and in alignment with our mission to remain a destination District, Lamar CISD is moving from Smart Tag to Tyler Technologies Versatrans My Stop ™ (My Stop).

This change will require all parents/guardians to complete a Transportation Form. We are requesting this form to be filled out for all current and new students including bus riders, car riders, bike riders, and/or walkers.

It’s especially important that students who ride the bus complete this Transportation Form so they can receive bus services at the start of the school year.

The new transportation software will provide a smoother experience for our drivers, which increases the safety of our students. Additionally, My Stop will provide a parent portal, student rider onboarding, and student rider location.

To plan accordingly for your student, please review a list of important dates below:

· Sunday, August 4: Deadline to submit Transportation Form for students who want to receive bus transportation on the first day of school (Monday, August 12).

· Monday, August 5 – Wednesday, August 21: During this time, if families fill out the Transportation Form requesting bus transportation for a student, the student will start receiving bus transportation on Monday, August 26.

· Thursday, August 22 and beyond: During this time, if families fill out the Transportation Form requesting bus transportation for a student, the student will start receiving bus transportation five school days after the form is submitted.

DOWNLOAD INSTRUCTIONS TO ACCESS TRANSPORTATION FORM

VISIT TRANSPORTATION WEBSITE

Our Site Based Management Team voted and decided to make a slight change to the Dickinson dress code. Students may wear a collared (polo style, no logo) solid color navy blue, light blue, red, or white tops. A Dickinson spirit shirt may be worn any day of the week. Bottoms, including leggings may be in solid color khaki, navy blue or black pants, capris, shorts, skirts, skorts, or jumpers. If leggings or tights are worn, they must be under shorts, skirts, or jumpers. Blue denim jeans permitted on Fridays.

This is a video that all of the students and staff were required to watch as part of our safety protocol. LCISD is committed to keeping all of our students and staff safe. If you ever have questions, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Our fence is completed. I am currently working with maintenance and operations to get some signage with hours and expectations during non-school hours.

Get your Dolphin reading and logging their reading minutes with our Beanstack Reading Challenges! The Library sponsors monthly challenges where students read and then log their reading minutes through ClassLink and the Beanstack app. Students who complete challenges within the challenge dates will earn a Brag Tag to celebrate their reading achievement.

Safety is our top priority! In Lamar CISD, we follow the Standard Response Protocol (SRP) to prepare and respond to crisis situations should there ever be a need. It is important to be prepared for a quick response to keep our staff and students safe. When we practice drills, parents will receive an e-mail that we practiced a drill. Below is information about the SRP so that you can keep informed about the protocols we have in place. We need your support for when you visit the campus by wearing your visitor badge on the left or right side of your chest / torso in visible view for our staff members to see at a quick glance. The sticker badge should not be worn on the pants, arm, purse or other areas besides the upper chest area. Thank you for your help keeping our dolphins and staff safe!

The culture of Dickinson Elementary includes a partnership with our community. Last year, our parents volunteered hundreds of hours to support our students and staff. We value our partnership as together we educate our dolphins. This year all volunteers are required to register as a volunteer. This includes PTO Board Members, work room volunteers, Watch Dog Dad volunteers, room parents, field day volunteers, library volunteers, and the list continues! Please visit this website to begin the process:

https://www.lcisd.org/community/volunteers

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to the front office at 832-223-1400.

Thank you for giving the gift of time for the success of our campus! What you value, you give your time to! - Channon Almendarez

Join the PTO! Our annual Membership Drive kicked off at Meet the Teacher on August 8th thru September 10. There are several membership levels to choose from. Joining the PTO does NOT mean you are sentencing yourself to hours of free labor...unless you want to, ha! We use 100% of the membership funds raised (along with all of our other fundraisers throughout the year) to support the school, our students and teachers.

Did you know that the PTO is responsible for paying for all of the school field trips? Field Day, HMNS Science Night, Yearbook creation, Field Day, campus improvements? Yes, that's from us too! We even offer every single teacher and support staff their own classroom budget to use as needed. Even our very own Sue the Dolphin is a gift from the PTO. Bottom line: we need YOU! We accept monetary donations, volunteer hours, participation in Spirit Nights, Trunk or Treat and more. Please email president@dickinsonpto.com with any questions!

• August 30th: Ron Clark Pep Rally / Early Dismissal
  
• September 2nd: Labor Day Student & Staff Holiday
• September 6th: Grandparents will be invited to have lunch with their grandchildren.
• September 10th: Dolphin Dive (Curriculum Night) 5:00-7:00 Session 1: 5:00-5:45 and Session 2 6:00-6:45
• September 26th: Early Release Day @ 11:45
• September 27th: Fort Bend County Fair Day (Student Holiday)

Email: channon.almendarez@lcisd.org
Website: https://www.lcisd.org/campuses/dickinson/home
Location: 7110 Greatwood Pkwy, Sugar Land, TX 77479, USA
Phone: 832-223-1400
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Dickinsondolphins