Stay In-the-Know: This Week’s Top News You Can’t Miss
- Coats for Kids Drive is this Thursday and Friday! See details below
- Clothing donations needed for the Casis Health Office. Find requested items/sizes below
- The community is invited next Wednesday, November 11th, at 8:15am to the School-Wide Veterans Day Program
- Parent volunteers are welcome to join students for Casis Garden Days, November 4th–6th. More information below
Casis Weekly (11/4/26-11/6/26)
- News from The Principal — November Student Holidays, AISD School Psychologist Appreciation Week, Snacks Coming to Casis Cafeteria, Clothing Donations for the Casis Health Office, Hillview Playground Upgrade, Veterans Day Recognition, School-Wide Veterans Program, Fall Prospective Parent Tour, Character Strong Implementation & Practices, Important Dates, Traffic Safety Procedures
- PTA News — November Garden Days, Coats for Kids Drive This Week, Casis Food Drive Next Week, Food Drive Volunteers Needed, General PTA Meeting, Forest Club, Middle School Info Session, Thank You Volunteers
Have something you want to include in the Casis Weekly? Please send information to PTA VP of Communications Emily Peavey by Wednesday to be included in the following Monday issue.
Cougar PRIDE Families,
It’s going to be another great week at Casis! Our school-wide ‘Crazy Hat Day’ was so much fun for everyone. I enjoyed seeing so many creative and interesting hats, as well as adorning a few of my own. And it was just wonderful to see all of our littles in the ‘Early Childhood Character Parade’ that morning too. Our ‘Administrator Coffee Chat’ was also full of some great conversations. I hope that everyone had an enjoyable and safe Halloween over the weekend. November will continue to be a month of various fall activities, like our upcoming ‘Veterans Day Program’ and ‘Fall Prospective Parent Tour’. And we will continue to focus on student learning growth and enrichment opportunities, as well as on safe and secure practices. Please see important information for the week below.
Mr. Tinnon
NEWS FROM THE PRINCIPAL
NOVEMBER STUDENT HOLIDAYS
Monday, November 2 and Tuesday, November 3 are Student Holidays. Staff will be engaging in professional learning on Tuesday. We look forward to seeing everyone back on campus Wednesday for a short learning week. We hope that families enjoy their days off.
AISD SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST APPRECIATION WEEK
This week is set aside to show appreciation for School Psychologists that work in the school district. AISD recognizes the important contributions of school psychologists, educational diagnosticians, and other evaluation specialists. At Casis, we are so fortunate to have the support of the following district persons on our campus: Kim Batiansila, Jennifer Fleming, Laura Gist, Whitney May, and Holly Thomas. These individuals build meaningful relationships by supporting students, partnering with families and educators, and strengthening school communities. We truly appreciate our evaluation team at Casis!
SNACKS COMING TO CASIS CAFETERIA
The Food Service Team will soon begin offering snacks for sale in the Casis Cafeteria. See informational flyer here: AISD A la Carte Snack Flyer. If families want to put additional monies on their child(ren)’s account(s), they may certainly do so. Please know that there will be some general guidelines around the purchase of snacks during lunch time. (1) Snacks must be purchased at the beginning of your child(ren)’s lunch time, (2) Students will not be allowed to purchase additional snacks once they are seated, (3) Snack purchases will be limited to 3 items in one sitting, (4) Snacks are not meant to replace a child’s lunch, and (5) If students don’t have cash or money on their account, snacks can not be purchased. Please review these guidelines with your child(ren), as they will be reinforced with students during lunchtime.
CLOTHING DONATIONS FOR THE CASIS HEALTH OFFICE
The Casis Health Office is in need of clean and gently used clothing items for students. The following items/sizes in particular are needed: Boys shorts, pants, & underwear (sizes 4-7,10,12, and 14). Gently used shorts and pants are welcome, but please only new/never worn underwear. Feel free to send in these items with your child with a note attached stating that they are for the Health Office. Any and all donated items are greatly appreciated.
HILLVIEW PLAYGROUND UPGRADE
The Hillview Playground is getting an upgrade! We’re excited to share that new nature-based play equipment will be installed over the next few months. Also, there will be a few installations that will be considered memorial pieces, in honor of Linnie McCown and Abby Pohl, our students who passed away in the Kerrville floods last July. The whole project is scheduled to be completed by January. We can’t wait to unveil this new area and for our primary students to enjoy more nature-based activities on the Hillview side of our campus.
VETERANS DAY RECOGNITION
Veterans Day (originally known as Armistice Day) is a federal holiday in the United States observed annually on November 11, for honoring military veterans, persons who have served in the United States Armed Forces. It coincides with other holidays including Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, which are celebrated in other countries that mark the anniversary of the end of World War I. Major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect. Armistice Day was renamed Veterans Day in 1954. We celebrate and honor all Veterans on this special day!
SCHOOL-WIDE VETERANS PROGRAM
We will have our annual Veterans Day Ceremony on Wednesday, November 11 at 8:15 a.m. This school-wide event will take place in our Cafeteria and Gym. We invite our school community to join us in presenting and pledging to the American & Texas flags, with the help of local Scouting troops. We’ll also sing patriotic songs and hear songs sung by our 5th Grade Concert Choir. There will be patriotic student group readings and our local veterans will also be recognized in this community ceremony. All are invited to come out and celebrate this very meaningful day with us. Staff and families are encouraged to invite veterans to attend this special (and often emotional) event. We always look forward to the annual hosting of this traditional community event at our school!
FALL PROSPECTIVE PARENT TOUR
Prospective Parent Tours are great opportunities for families to get to learn about our school culture and programming, as well as take a tour of our facility and amazing outdoor learning spaces. School Administration and PTA Leadership will lead these adult only tours. We look forward to sharing and showing all of the things that make Casis Elementary such a stellar educational choice for their children. The first tour of this school year will take place on Tuesday, November 17 at 9am–10am. Can’t wait to show these potential new families our amazing school community!
CHARACTER STRONG IMPLEMENTATION & PRACTICES
AISD and Casis Elementary will continue implementing Character Strong, the district Character Education and Behavioral Support program. This program is meant to provide students with the necessary skills and strategies to be the very best humans that they can be in the world. Students will hear morning messages and receive lessons from their teachers about topics like respect, gratitude, honesty, courage and more. Teachers will be providing weekly lessons and sending home monthly information to families about the different program topics learned each month. The lessons derive from a program called, “Purposefull People”. Here’s a Family Introductory Letter about Purposefull People. Each month we will cover a different Character Strong topic and resources will be shared to help families have meaningful conversations at home about the learned trait. Here’s an Overview of the monthly topics that will be taught. The Character Strong trait for the month of November is Gratitude. Here’s the Family Connection Newsletter – Gratitude for this month’s theme, as well as a list of recommended books for both school and home: Gratitude Book List. We are so excited to be ‘Character Strong’ at Casis Elementary!
IMPORTANT DATES
November – Native American Heritage Month
Mon., Nov. 2 – Fri., Nov. 6 – AISD School Psychologists Appreciation Month
Mon., Nov. 2 – School Holiday
Tues., Nov. 3 – Election Day/Student Holiday/Staff Professional Learning Day
Wed., Nov. 11 – School-Wide Veteran’s Day Program at 8:15am
Tues., Nov. 17 – Prospective Parent Tour at 9:00am
Mon., Nov. 23 – Fri., Nov. 27 – School Holiday (Fall Break)
TRAFFIC SAFETY PROCEDURES
Please adhere to the guidelines in your particular arrival/dismissal area (Front Circle Drive or North Parking Lot). See Arrival & Dismissal Plan here. We continually ask for your patience and cooperation in exercising safe practices in your area.
Additionally, please see the following reminders/updates:
- Walkers should use crosswalks at all times.
- Bikers should park bikes at bike racks and walk bikes through crosswalks.
- Drivers should ALWAYS be aware of our foot and bike traffic.
- Drivers should consider TURNING OFF ENGINES when not moving forward.
- Avoid Parking in the Casis Village, if conducting school business.
- Front Circle Drive & Hillview are available for parent parking during the day.
- The North Parking Lot is designated for staff parking only.
- Vehicles using the North Parking Lot during arrival and dismissal (3rd – 5th) should be aware of all walkers who are using the parking lot crosswalks.
- Vehicles cued on Northwood for Circle Drive afternoon pick-up should remain in one moving line to avoid double-parking.
- Vehicles who need to enter the North Parking Lot for morning/afternoon drop-offs/pick-ups of 3rd – 5th graders may safely by-pass the ‘Circle Drive’ vehicles to enter the parking lot.
We ask that everyone exercise extra caution and patience. Adherence will help to maintain safety for all. We truly appreciate everyone’s compliance with the above requests.