The Patriot Post

Dear Shepard Families,

What a fantastic Red Ribbon Week we are having! A huge thank you to Ms. Byrd for organizing our fun dress-up days, and to our PTA volunteers for coordinating the Dennis Lee assembly tomorrow and decorating our trees with red ribbons.

Everyone looked so fun and festive in their book character costumes this morning! Be sure to ask your students about today’s assembly—it was truly outstanding! The choir from Plano Senior High School performed Disney songs in their costumes, and the kids got to sing along to their favorites. The smiles on their faces were priceless! If the choir ever discontinues this tradition, our music teacher and I might just have to recruit some parents and teachers for a choir debut, haha.

Wishing everyone a fun and safe Halloween! Teachers always cross their fingers (and toes!) that students enjoy the festivities while still getting some rest afterward and starting the day with a healthy breakfast to balance all that Halloween candy! Speaking of our hard-working teachers, I keep a staff candy jar in the office for those who need a sweet pick-me-up during the day. If your kiddo ends up with "too much candy" and you’d like them to choose a few pieces to donate, feel free to send them our way. No pressure, though—you might want to impose a "candy tariff" so you can enjoy some of those extras yourself! I know my kids always drive a hard bargain on Halloween!

Thank you for your continued support!

Sincerely,

Christy James

November 5th- Student holiday; Parent-Teacher Conferences

November 7th- Cafeteria Menu: Thanksgiving Meal

November 8th-PTA Board Meeting, PATS Award Assemblies, PTA Turkey Trot Festival

November 18-20th- 5th Grade Camp

November 21st-3rd Grade Musical Performance

November 25-29th-Thanksgiving Break

December 20th- Early Release Day, Class Winter Parties

December 23-January 7th Student Winter Break

Its Fall Ya’ll! Trot out to Shepard this Friday, November 8th for some Fall Fun, rain or shine!

Parking Lot opens at 5:30 PM, the Turkey Trot (weather permitting) will begin in the field near Wilson Track. Students will look for their grade level sign and line up until it is time for their race to begin. Please have your student line up by 5:30 PM for the races to begin by grade level at 5:40 PM!

Wear your best Turkey Costume or Grade Level color (see below). The Trot is for fun & will be run in grade levels.

Kinder- Yellow

1st- Orange

2nd- Green

3rd- Blue

4th- Red

5th- Purple

Fall Festival is provided by the Shepard PTA, no charge for entrance, food available for purchase.

Shirts are available for purchase on our PTA Website https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fshepardpta.membershiptoolkit.com%2fpacket%2f13521&c=E,1,rPVekdwV4kS9mTpXADL5MP3qRVwokuz-tfbB5x3YKdHkfUFSRPPgxmSAK6REIcq0qZehy3l7T6kHgN1fhTht4mi-cG2qmedr-4U7Oae9VCtZBwcDxA,,&typo=1 or any shirt can be worn to match your grade level color! Purchase or participation is optional, these shirts can be used for turkey trot, field day, field trips, etc. & colors will stay with each grade level.

The PTA is selling grade-level shirts at a fantastic price! These shirts are perfect for students to wear during the Turkey Trot, Field Day, field trips, and more. Visit the PTA website to purchase one for your child, or grab one at the Turkey Trot Festival on November 8th. The colors will remain consistent over the years, making them great for passing down to siblings as they continue their journey at Shepard! The yellow bar below will take you to the link!

Mrs. Rodriguez has been working on some special art for students to use for this project. Parents can order products with their child's artwork, and a percentage goes to our school! These make great gifts or keepsakes for parents and for the students! Flyers should be coming home soon!

Braum’s Book Buddy is a reading incentive program for children in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grades. Each child can earn up to six Braum’s ice cream treats per school year just by reading, and it is free to participate in the program!

The program begins in October and lasts through the school year. Teachers distribute Braum’s Book Buddy booklets to their students and then monitor book reading by placing a Book Buddy sticker in the student’s booklet for each book read. When a student has read six books or 100 minutes a week, the teacher rewards the student with a coupon for a free treat from Braum’s!

It's not too late to order your child's school picture! If you have lost or have trouble accessing the QR code sent home in your child's backpack, you may use the link on this flyer to order pictures. Thank you for your support!

This month, teachers are talking about being empathetic. Click on the picture for the family newsletter for ideas to support this at home.

Guidance Lesson This Week

Gratitude- Choosing to appreciate things in our life, things in others, and things in the world can be a challenge, but practicing Gratitude will help us to be more confident, calm, and focused.

Food Drive- Shepard Elementary will host a food drive for Lovepacs-Plano from November 4-15. Our Pacesetters are organizing this event and want to fill up 31 boxes of food for families. The items Lovepacs are low on are 18 oz. Chunky soup(not condensed), canned tuna/chicken, and granola bars. Please help us reach our goal.

Click on the picture to print the November Wellness Challenge. Students who complete two challenges (10 total) they will get five Patriot Points. Students who complete all challenges, will receive ten Patriot Points. Please turn in calendars to Coach B. during PE to receive the reward.

Please click on the picture to submit a shout-out to one of our awesome Shepard staff members! Mrs. James will surprise the teachers with their special message at our next assembly!

Thank you for all of your efforts to make sure students are here and on time every day. We've got this!

Please remember to use the back drive for carpool drop off.

Bikes and scooters need to be walked to the bike rack to avoid collisions with student walkers. Unfortunately, dogs are not allowed on campus. Please use the crosswalks to cross the road.

Shepard staff wears shirts with happy faces or positive messages to staff and students on Mondays. We love when our students join us by wearing any happy face shirt or a tshirt with a positive message.

Plano ISD’s volunteer management platform, VOLY, is open and ready for 2024-25! Every person who wishes to serve as a volunteer must complete/update a VOLY volunteer application and criminal history search each school year. For more information, please visit our district’s volunteer web page. Library volunteer sign up is at https://tinyurl.com/3ydprayd

Use the link if you would like to visit during your child's lunch time to eat with them in our "Patriot Patio" area. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0A4CAFA628A1FDCF8-50923715-2024

• Please remember that students need sneakers on PE days.
• Please remember to avoid coming into the office to pick up students after 2:35 p.m. unless absolutely necessary.

Golden Chick has chosen to support our school by donating 50 cents from every Churros purchase to Shepard!

Our PTA has been so instrumental in creating this unique Shepard experience. By joining, you are not committing to volunteering (although we would love your help) but you are helping support their wonderful experience at Shepard. School spirit wear is purchased through the PTA website.

It's time for our Fall Fundraiser, and this year we are doing Penny Wars!

Start saving those pennies and change!