Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Waggoner's Word September 4, 2015



September 4, 2015

Dear Parents,
Calendar of Events for the Week of September 7th-11th:
Monday, September 7th: Labor Day Holiday-No School
Wednesday, September 9th: 7th & 8th Grade Back-To-School Night 6-8PM
Thursday, September 10th: Girls Volleyball vs. Cedar Valley 5:30PM 7th Home/8th Away
7th & 8th Grade Back to School Night is Wednesday, September 9th from 6-8PM.  We will have a general parent meeting in the cafeteria beginning at 6:00PM then off to follow your child’s schedule from 6:20-8:00PM.  Please make sure that you bring your child’s schedule with you so you will be able to navigate through the building and find their class.  We will have eight, seven minute teacher briefs with four minute passing periods.  Teachers will be giving a general overview of their class, expectations, and curriculum activities that they will be covering this year.  The spirit of the evening is to get to know your child’s teachers and get a general sense of what the class is about and will cover.  It’s not a parent teacher conference night.  If you want to schedule a time to meet with the teachers or team of teachers you may do that at any other time.   Our WONDERFUL PTA under the leadership of Joanne Georgeson will be present at both our Back to School Nights and will be conducting a brief PTA meeting, approving the 2015-2016 PTA Budget, and an opportunity for you as parents to meet the PTA Board.  PTA will also have a table set up for you to purchase any Hopewell Spirit wear and sign up for volunteer positions for various events this school year.  We’re off to a GREAT start this year with lots of new staff on board to provide a wonderful learning experience for your children.  A new dawn of excellence has arrived at Hopewell.   The Back to School Night Schedule is attached to this Waggoner’s Word.
PLEASE JOIN OUR HOPEWELL PTA! ONLY $8!
If you have not yet joined our supportive Hopewell PTA please do so ASAP! PTA is a wonderful advocate for all our Hopewell students by providing books for our awesome library, helps organize and do two student dances during the school year, covers the costs of recognizing your children when they achieve great things at school, sells spirit wear that helps keep school pride alive, and sells snacks to patrons and students through our concession stand at our home Hopewell athletic events. They are an incredible group of parents that take many hours out of their own busy schedules to support Hopewell.  You too can do your part by joining PTA for only $8.00 per person.  You may access the PTA membership form by copying and pasting this link to your internet browser: http://teacherweb.com/TX/Hopewell/HopewellMSPTA/photo2.aspx
You may drop off your membership form and $8.00 to our main office or have your child bring it in.  Thanks in advance for your support! We just simply cannot do what we do for our Hopewell kids without PTA!
SIGN UP FOR REMIND 101 TO GET LATEST AND GREATEST HOPEWELL SPECIFIC UPDATES:
Please follow these directions to sign up for my Remind 101 updates throughout the school year. Remind 101 is a one-way text messaging and email system.  ALL personal information remains completely confidential.  I, nor any staff member will ever see your phone numbers nor will you ever see theirs.  These updates will go directly to your phones and email and I promise I won’t slam you with notices-only important info.  Other less urgent notifications or information will be through my Twitter account and the school website.  To sign up for Remind 101 and receive messages via a text just text @hopewellm to 512-960-1765 or to receive messages via email just email to hopewellm@mail.remind.com  It’s as easy as that! 
Please follow Karl Waggoner, Hopewell Principal on Twitter@KarlWaggoner to see both Hopewell School life and other comments and pictures throughout the school year.  Some Tweets will be me giving some shout outs to my senior daughter so bear with me on those!  Most Tweets though will be about Hopewell MS! Just one more mode of communication to keep you all as parents in the Hopewell loop!
ONLINE ENROLLMENT IS STILL OPEN UNTIL SEPTEMBER 11th!
We need your help!  Our records show that you have not completed the INFO-SNAP enrollment verification process yet.  Please help us streamline costs and time by verifying your child’s enrollment information.  You have received an INFO SNAP code by e-mail and conventional mail.  If you need additional assistance please visitroundrockisd.org/enroll for more information. If you don’t have computer access we can help you on campus.  If you’ve lost your INFO SNAP code, please contact the registrar’s office:  Sandra_Sanchez@roundrockisd.org  Our window for completing this process is September 11, so your prompt attention to this is greatly appreciated. 
REMINDER OF HOPEWELL STUDENT PHONE and ELECTRONIC DEVICE POLICY:
This is a reminder that we are requiring ALL students to have their cell phones turned off and put away from the time when they enter the building in the morning until they leave in the afternoon.  Students may use their phones during lunch periods to play games and listen to music or when a teacher allows it for instructional purposes such as research using the internet.  Please do not call or text your child during instructional hours.  If you need to get a hold of them or get them a message, please call the main office at: 512-464-5200.
NEW HOPEWELL LOCKER & BACKPACK POLICY
In order to reduce hallway congestion and to allow more time for students to get to class, we adjusted the locker policy for this school year. Students must put away their large backpacks in their lockers before 1st period. Students may use a small drawstring backpack to carry smaller items. Students may go to their lockers at the following times.
All students before 1st period
6th Grade - between 3rd and 4th period, 4th and 5th (after lunch)
7th grade- between 4th and 5th period and between 5th and 6th (after lunch)
8th grade-between 3rd and 4th and between 6th and 7th period (after lunch)
All students between 7th and 8th period
NEW HOPEWELL MS iDesign Lab led by Michelle McLaughlin our incredible librarian:
The library will be opening the iDesign Lab for students to use beginning the week of September 14th.  Every Tuesday, the library will be open before and during advisory/lunch for students to come in and work with circuits, coding, robotics, and gaming programs.  There will be a different activity each week.  
Some of the activities will involve students inventing and building structures, so I am in the process of collecting materials for them to use.  Below, you will find a list of items we could use in our lab.  Anything you could donate would be greatly appreciated! 
  • recycled materials (water bottles, small dry food containers/boxes, paper towel roll, etc.)
  • craft supplies
  • duct tape
  • fabric
  • yarn
  • ribbon
  • Basically anything students can use to create with
    When you get a chance, stop by the library and check out our new iDesign Lab! 

THANK YOU TEQUILA BAR AND GRILL for providing a nice new Hopewell staff luncheon during in-service week.  We invaded the restaurant with our 22 new staff plus administrators located at the corner or University and Sandy Brook.  We were treated to great food and refreshing iced tea and sodas.  Tequila Bar and Grill also provided our all staff tasty breakfast tacos for our back to school faculty meeting that truly helped set the tone for a great start to the new school year.  The Tequila Bar and Grill staff was so nice and accommodating and I really appreciate what they did for our Hopewell staff.  It’s important to support our local businesses here in the Hopewell MS area.  Thanks!
Hope everyone has a wonderful three day weekend!
See all students back to school on Tuesday, September 8th!

Karl

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