LISD E-Newsletter

March 6, 2020 

Admin Alley

Lackland Elementary Playground Open for Play!

 

A ribbon cutting ceremony was held today for the new Lackland Elementary playground. More than a year ago, our teachers and administration expressed the need for our older students to have somewhere to play and release their energy.  The two other playgrounds Lackland Elementary has were not built for our older students, so we agreed and decided to build a playground for them.

The ribbon cutting was well attended and included students, parents and staff.  A special thanks to board trustee MSgt Brian Case who also attended the brief ceremony.

Students were anxious and super excited about their new playground. After the ribbon cutting, students swarmed the playground and ran around unable to contain their excitement. One student proclaimed, “This is the best day of my life!”

Around the District

 Camp Gladiator comes to Lackland! Amazing teamwork and LOADS of fun! We hope we can get tons of Lackland members to come take advantage of the many opportunities being offered to get a great full body workout! Great for ALL fitness levels! Come join us! 

The Instructional Technology Coaches (Dana Kickler - LES; Lauren Billingsley - SHS) have released the premiere episode of their new podcast, Shut Down and Restart with Instructional Technology! They were joined by guests Jeannine Freeman, Mary Kemper, and Miguel Guhlin as they explored the essential question: What is instructional technology? 

Podcasts will be released monthly. You can listen at bit.ly/shutdownpod or wherever you listen to podcasts. We hope you join us as we partner with educators to cultivate 21st Century learning in our students.  

Lackland ISD Shares Survey Results

Parents Speak

 

Thank you for taking advantage of the opportunity to share your voice as members of the Lackland ISD learning organization by participating in the Fall 2019 survey opportunities.  The links below will give you access to reports.  These reports will share results and comparison data for survey results from Spring 2017 – Fall 2019. 

Lackland ISD parents from both the elementary and secondary campuses have the opportunity to participate in a family survey.  The survey solicits feedback related to family-school relationships.  This survey measures barriers to engagement, family engagement, school climate, and school fit.  You are encouraged to review the results of family survey and engage with your child’s teachers and campus personnel to support us in improvement efforts.

 

   Family Survey Spring 17' - Fall 19'

 

In addition to the survey opportunities, parents were asked to provide specific feedback regarding two things our schools do well and two things we could do to improve.  Accolades shared were related to an understanding staff, student safety, and teacher’s dedication to the students. Communication and the playground are areas where growth is a welcomed opportunity.   To improve communication to parents many teachers are utilizing various apps to communicate information. Additionally, there are newsletters sent home from teachers, monthly calendars sent via email and the e-news.  Furthermore, because of your input we’ve be able to develop a monthly series of Let’s Talk events tailored to the needs of your families.    Campus and district teams are currently reviewing data and developing plans to inform learning organization priorities towards continuous improvement.  Our goal is to provide periodic updates regarding actions taken. 

We share this information with you to enlist your continued engagement with the survey and our efforts towards continuous improvement.  Please continue to share your needs and desires through the surveys; as you can see your voice is making a difference.

*Attention Concerning COVID-19

  New Parent Portal Login:  https://txeis20.txeis.net/ParentPortal/login?distid=015913

Join the Lackland ISD Student Support Team

 

Lackland ISD is gearing up to build a solid team of substitutes to help us accomplish mandatory training for our teachers and staff.  Do you love children?  Do you have a degree? Do you hold a teaching certificate in Texas or another state? If so Lackland ISD needs you! Please consider applying to be a substitute at www.lacklandisd.net under our Human Resources Department tab. 

Stacey Happenings 

CyberPatriot Mayor’s Cup

Over 700 people attended the season finale for CyberPatriot in the San Antonio area last Saturday, the 10th  annual Mayor’s Cup. This year’s event was held at the Omni in the Colonnade and five competitors and Mr. Keller represented Stacey. The day started with a college fair followed by a luncheon, guest speakers and awards ceremony.

Speakers included Lt Gen Timothy Haugh (Commander, 16th AF), Dan Cruz of Texas Cyber Foundation and Mayor Ron Nirenberg. They talked of the importance of cyber skills in the future and praised San Antonio for fielding 350 teams, more than any other metropolitan area in the world. Cris Cook then presented awards and prizes. Of the 6,700+ teams, 28 advanced to the finals, including ROTC teams from Roosevelt and Brandeis high schools. They will represent the SA area at the finals in Maryland next month. Mayor Nirenberg then awarded the final prize, the Mayor’s Cup, to AJROTC team 3670 from Roosevelt, one of the CyberPatriot team finalists.

While no teams from Stacey advanced, Mr. Keller said he was very proud of the teams that Stacey fielded this past year. All four reached the platinum tier in scoring, including the ‘All-girls’ team, a first for our school. Sophomore Lauren Sawvel said “The Mayor’s Cup was informative about the different colleges that offer cyber pathways. It was a fun experience to meet other teams from San Antonio.”

(L-R) Catie Traxler, Sam Gagnon, Conner O’Malley, Allison Flores and Lauren Sawvel.

Last Saturday, five area high school financial literacy teams competed in the finals of the 12th Annual Jr. Duel in Ol’ San Antonio, which was hosted by the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants (TXCPA) San Antonio at Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union's headquarters in Live Oak.

 

Representing Stacey Junior-Senior High School were seniors Bella Evans, Jacob Gamboa and Sara Kinney.

 

Below are the final results of last Saturday's competition.

 

• Douglas MacArthur High School – first place, $1,000 + trophy

• Saint Mary’s Hall – second place, $750 + trophy

• Ronald Reagan High School – 3rd Place, $500 + trophy

• Virginia Allred Stacey Junior-Senior High School – finalist, $250 + plaque

• Knippa High School – finalist, $250 + plaque

 

The Jr. Duel was started in 2008 by TXCPA San Antonio in response to studies that showed a majority of high school students graduate without basic financial knowledge. In the past 12 years, more than 7,200 students from 16 San Antonio area high schools have participated in the competition.

 

Participants were presented with a theoretical case of a family in financial distress and asked to write an executive summary of their analysis and solutions. Financial professionals then selected the finalists based on how well they believe the solutions helped the family improve its financial situation.

The boys' basketball season came to an end on Friday, February 28th after a tough loss to Hearne. The team played hard until the end and never gave up. We are going to miss this year’s seniors and we wish them well going forward. The team finished with an overall record of 24-10 and 10-2 in district play. They won two tournament championships along the way and had several players win awards. “Overall it was a great season and this team was one of my favorites to coach”.  Coach Flores

Yesterday the Stacey Drama Club competed in the UIL One Act Play district competition. Their production on “Antigone Now” advanced to bi-district competition. Theresa Born won All-Star Crew, Taylor Grider won Honorable Mention All Star Cast, Mark Dombrowski and Aaliyah Kirton won All Star Cast and Hayley Sablan and Valeria Zamora Martinez won Best Performer awards. Congratulations to the entire cast and crew.

An Interview with Mr. Robert Gordon

By: Bella Evans, 12th

 

     Coach Gordon, you are a well-beloved teacher at this school. You go above and beyond as a teacher making sure that you get to know your students and athletes and today, I wanted others to get to know you, too.

Q1: Where did you go to high school?

A: Amarillo High, Amarillo Texas. Class of 1980. Yes that’s right, my 40th Reunion is this summer.

Q2: Were you an athlete? If so, which sport(s) did you participate in?

A: Yes, I lettered three years in tennis and two years in basketball and baseball.

Q3: Did you know you wanted to go into the military after high school?

A: No, actually I went to Amarillo Community College on a tennis scholarship but left after my first year to join the Air Force.

Q4: So coach, you had a successful military career before you became a teacher. What made you want to transition into being a teacher?

A: I retired after 26 years of service that I really enjoyed, however, I needed to continue to work. I was the fourth generation male to serve. After retirement, I decided to honor the women's side of my family and now I’m the fifth generation to go into teaching.

Q5: What subjects in school do you teach? 

A: AVID, so I touch on all core classes.

Q6: What impact do you hope to have on your students life?

A: To be truthful and honest. Be the best of yourself, pray daily throughout the day. Kind of the Air Force core values of Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence in All You Do.

Q7: Outside of teaching in the classroom, you also coach on the court. What’s the biggest lesson you hope to teach your athletes?

A: Don’t give up, give your best effort on every point. That’s why we practice; you play how you practice.

Q8: Besides basketball, which sports do you also follow?

A: You name it. I’ll even watch a marbles tournament.

Q9: What is your favorite part about coaching\teaching?

A: Sharing what I know.

Q 10: When you’re not in school teaching, what are you most likely doing?

A: Enjoying my grandson, Myles, and fishing with my son.

Q 11: Being in the military you’ve been and seen a lot of places. Is there anywhere that you would recommend people go to for vacation?

A: Hawaii (mostly Maui), Australia, New Zealand, Pago Pago Samoa, and Madagascar

Q 12: Speaking of vacationing, after retirement, do you have a list of places you want to go to?

A: Boston, Vancouver BC, fishing in Alaska, and Israel.

 

Thank  you Mr. Gordon!!

Meet Ms. Street!

by: Sam Gagnon, senior

Inspired to education by Little House on the Prairie, we have the wonderful Ms. Cristina Street as a teacher at our school. (She was big fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder and the TV show as a kid).  Ms. Street is a Stacey math teacher who found a passion in algebra but quickly took a liking to lower maths due to her admiration of modeling and deconstructing mathematical processes. Some of her most enjoyable experiences at Lackland have been taking the 6th grade to the McDonald’s Observatory in Fort Davis, where students spent several days participating in a variety of activities. She claims, “The stars in west Texas are absolutely amazing!”, and states that we can have a great time even without cell reception. This is no surprise because Ms. Street talks about how she used to  watch the bull graze on a large field of bluebonnets that is now Marbach Road.

When teaching, she appreciates the “aha” moment that students can have when beginning to understand something, and the delight of running into old students. Growing up as a military brat herself, she is no stranger to Lackland, and found that growing up she became a great Pen Pal, although now she has Facebook to keep in touch. When not in school, nothing satisfies her like reading a good book in pj’s with her cats. She is “resilient, persistent, outgoing, not afraid to take risks, flexible, adaptable, a problem-solver, and determined”--traits that she attributes to being raised as a Military Brat.

-thank  you Ms. Street!

Elementary Happenings 

1st graders improvising an accompaniment for “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring” in music class with Miss Coffey this week.

“Farmers have noticed an increase in erosion on their farmland. The rain water flowing downhill is carrying away the soil used for farming. In addition, the wind is blowing over the flat farmland and carrying away the soil. Your team must design a blueprint of your solution before building a model. “

 

4th graders in Ms. Ingram’s room are up for the team challenge!

We Mustache you to Smile for 1st grade! 

 To prepare for the Common Assessment 5th-grade students toured the world of math. They worked collaboratively to solve problems involving volume, measurement, addition, multiplication, fraction operations and much more. As students visited each location they filled in a square of their math passport.

What do you do when you finish all of the Roots stories?...you throw a sticky note party to kick off your new Wings adventure!

3rd grade Rocks

Happy Birthday Dr. Suess 

4th grade ceramics

This week Kona ice came out to visit.

5th graders using the new playground as an extension of their classroom.

Parents,

Please don't forget to check the Elementary lost and found. It is located right across from the interior Library doors.

Ring the door and let us know that you are here to check the lost and found and we will buzz you in.

Photo taken February 27, 2020!

PTSO Spot light 

Good Information

*Spanish version 

click these links for more information: 

*Storytime

*Creative Canvas

*RRivero - The Waiting Room

*RRivero - March Madness

 *STEM Night

*Spring Break week

******

San Antonio Public Library’s Johnston Branch

by the Medina Annex
March Calendar

*Come and Go Crafts

 *Spring Break

*Women's Wild Wagers

*Genealogy 

Wednesday, March 18, 2020, 9:00 a.m.--12:00 p.m.

Engaging Children in Reading and Science through Picture Books Science textbooks can be overwhelming for many children while picture books tend to focus on fewer topics and give more in-depth information of the concepts. Join us in this session to learn how to combine science and reading in a natural way. Experience hands-on science lessons using picture books to help your child read to learn about the science concept being taught. You will leave this session with lots of tools to help you engage your child in science at home and help open your child’s mind to discover the wonders of science that surrounds them on a daily basis! Session ID# 58869

Thursday, March 19, 2020, 9:00 a.m.--2:30 p.m.

(1 Hour Lunch Break Provided) Building Basic Reading Skills at Home- Make and Take Session Join us for a fun, interactive and crafty session designed to guide you through creating engaging activities to support your child’s acquisition of basic reading skills. We will focus on the development of print concepts, phonemic awareness and phonics skills. This sessions is appropriate for parents with students in any grade level that require remediation for independent decoding. All materials will be provided. Session ID# 59524

Random Shots

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