HAPPY WEDNESDAY THUNDERBIRDS!
February 3, 2021
This week is Counselor Appreciation Week! Thank you to Ms. Cano & Ms. Piedra for EVERYTHING they do! We are fortunate to have such wonderful counselors at THES!
We celebrate Black History Month.
This month marks the first week of the celebration of Black History Month.
As part of our classroom activities, I would like to invite you to encourage your Thunderbird to research and learn about the accomplishments of some of our most influential historical figures.
To continue to share the information students have learned, we will highlight student projects, activities, and researched biographies throughout our school.
PBS children’s video link: https://youtu.be/f00AatzvxC0
Reminder
Feb. 12th is a DOI day and Feb. 15th is Staff Development. Both are holidays for students.
Revised Austin ISD Calendar for 2020-2021
Click to access AISD-Calendar-2020-2021v4.pdf
Parent Meetings
- Thunderboard- All welcome to join March 16 at 4pm
- PTA Executive- PTA Executive Team March 2nd at 4pm
- General PTA Meeting- All welcome to join TBD
I ♥︎ THES
Calling all Thunderbirds! It’s that time of year again. Time for I ❤ THES. This is our annual PTA fundraiser and we need your help this year more than ever. Normally, we would have other fundraising opportunities throughout the year, such as the Fall Carnival, Tamalada, and others. This year, we have been prevented from having any.
Want to be more involved?
Becoming involved in the leadership teams at Travis Heights Elementary is a great way to support your child and the entire learning experience for the whole community. Find out more by going (here) to our website.
Go Fund for Vivian/ THES
Friends of the late Vivian Ballard have created a memorial fund to provide much needed new literature for our Travis Heights Elementary School. If you would care to donate, please go to https://gofund.me/2610cd91
Vivian, an activist for most of her life, devoted much of her time and energy to the school. She opened her home, the beautiful Fairview (also known as the Gullett House at 1304 Newning), to meetings of parents and educators and often sponsored fundraisers to improve the school and expand its connection to our community.
In remembering Vivian, an avid reader, her family, friends, neighbors, and staff at THES have created Vivian Reads to make more quality books available to our young readers. Money raised will be used to buy age-appropriate, library-quality books in Women in Leadership, Human Rights, Nutrition and Health, and History/Geography.
Asynchronous Days Reminder
Please mark your calendars! The following days will be asynchronous, meaning all students will learn in a remote off-campus setting:
- Friday, Feb. 26.
- Friday, March 5.
- Friday, April 9.
Asynchronous days limit the amount of time spent on campus. To further protect our community, we will use this time to do additional deep cleanings of our campuses. Thank you for your continued support and flexibility.
Principal Update & Coffee Chat Feb 19
Our next schedule Principal Update & Coffee Chat is Friday, Feb. 19th, 10-11am. The Coffee Chat theme is:
What to do when kids complain…. Easy tips to diffuse complaining with your child. Avoiding power struggles to keep the peace, it is easy as 123.
February 19 at 10:00am
https://zoom.us/j/96476232276?pwd=d2xsYlhGb3U0NVVXR2hsdXVlWllMQT09
Meeting ID: 964 7623 2276
Passcode: joinus
Wear Red for health.
Austin ISD will participate in Healthy Heart Week February 1st – 5th, a Coordinated School Health (CSH) initiative. This year will be focusing on the physical heart and emotional heart. We encourage students and staff members to wear red Friday, February 5th. Show your support by sharing any pictures via Twitter using the hashtags: #AISDGoesRed2021, #BeWellDoGood, and #AISDHasHeart. Find out more here: Healthy Heart Week
Thunderbirds our MOY testing window opens February 8th-19th.
The data we collect from our MOYs help our teachers to prepare a plan to support our Thunderbirds academically. Please help us by supporting your Thunderbird with a few reminders. The MOY benchmarks will be given in the areas of Math and Reading for grades 3rd-5th. Writing and Science will be given to students in 4th-5th. Below are a few reminders:
- Get a good night’s rest.
- Eat breakfast and prepare for the day.
- Charge your device and have your headphones available.
A Cultural Fest During Pandemic Times
To make our Cultural Fest happen this year, we are inviting you to create a short video about your culture to share with our THES community. Find details here: Cultural Fest 2020-21
If there are any amazing video experts out there who want to help, please email southaustinteacher@gmail.com. We’d love to use some of these videos to show off our school to prospective parents, too!
Family Survey
The Family Survey is available to guardians from January 5th through March 5th. Please take a moment to complete and share your family’s insights into shaping the future of AISD. The survey can be found by following this link.
Prime Time for Spring
Attached are the Spring Virtual Prime Time Enrichment Classes created for our Thunderbirds. We all are doing our best to adjust to the current changes while continuing to keep healthy socially and physically, we can still bring engaging after-school opportunities to our students.
All the classes will be on AISD Zoom. Registration is easy for parents available in English and Spanish. Parents, please sign up if you are interested.
Transfers and Dual Language Applications
The beginning of the transfer season for 2021-2022 will be delayed. The frozen schools announcement will also be delayed. Please check back on this website for updates as they become available. All deadlines will be pushed back as well. Thank you for your patience.
More Information:
- For the quickest response, you can send us a message at: https://www.austinisd.org/contact-us (Choose Student Transfers).
- Please call if you have questions about transfers for the 2020-2021 school year (512-414-1726)
Applications for enrollment into Dual Language programs for the elementary 2021-22 school year are being accepted NOW through February 26, 2021.
Find more information about the application process on the Dual-Language page
Transfer Window is Open
Requests for school transfers for families living within district boundaries begin Tuesday, Jan. 26.
In-district transfer requests submitted between Jan. 26 and Feb. 19 will receive equal consideration. In-district transfer requests received after Feb. 19 will be considered on a first-come, first-served basis.
Every child is welcome to join Austin ISD, including families who live outside the district boundaries but wish to enroll their child in AISD. The out-of-district transfer window opens Feb. 1 and submissions will be processed in date and timestamp order and considered after the in-district priority and lottery requests.
Transfers can be submitted online in the Parent Cloud, faxed to 512-414-4994, or mailed to AISD Central Office, 4000 S. IH-35 Frontage Road, Room 151, Austin, TX 78704.
Please visit the transfer website at Transfer Information | Austin ISD.
District Of Innovation Professional Development Days (No school for students)
Travis ECHS Vertical Team DOI Days: 02/12/2021 and 03/12/2021. These dates are student holidays and staff development days. Please be sure to mark your calendar.
Nominate your hero!
Salute is AISD’s annual celebration to recognize some of the district’s outstanding team members for their continued dedication to student excellence and achievement in our schools.
District staff, families, and the community are invited to submit a nomination for a staff member they believe represents the very best of AISD. This year’s Salute Awards ceremony, in partnership with Austin Partners in Education, will recognize the winners in five categories: Classified Staff of the Year, Counselor of the Year, Librarian of the Year, Assistant Principal of the Year, Principal of the Year, and PTA of the year along with APIE Hall of Fame award winners. Also, Teachers of Promise and Teachers of the Year will be honored.
The THES community can submit nominations in English or Spanish by visiting AISD Salute 2021.
Health Guidelines
Please review the information provided in the links below to learn more about how to respond if you believe your child has a positive COVID case and general guidelines for when to keep your child home from school. If you have any questions, please contact our school health room at 512-414-. Thank you!
When to Keep Your Child Home (English) or (SPANISH)
The Center for Disease control provides guidance for best practices to avoid infection and available resources. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/need-to-know.html
Free COVID Testing ids available through Austin Public Health (APH).
NEW RESOURCE! Download and share this COVID-19 Testing Information PDF Flyer with your campus community: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-2mXldjJtmYuOUch4i-TtvwaARRJsiDJ/view?usp=sharing
COVID-19 testing is recommended for those who:
- have COVID-19-related symptoms
- have had close contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19
- have traveled in the last 14 days
Staff and students can schedule free testing by using this link: https://www.austintexas.gov/covid-testinfo
View APH testing site locations here: https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?webmap=a223cdc9a0b4409cb8abe3707c84af2e&extent=-98.2656,30.1148,-97.214,30.6335
7 Tips for Supporting Students With Anxiety About News Events:
- First recognize and name your own feelings. (Self-reflection – remember emotions are contagious.)
- Co-construct agreement for how to have conversations about the news event.
- Provide regular opportunities for students to share how they are feeling. Acknowledge their feelings. This may sound like, “ I hear that you’re worried about…”
- Help students manage anxiety by encouraging students to focus on their locus of control. “What are all of the little things we can do to help ourselves and others?”
- Cultivate hope. Ask, “What is one hope you have for yourself? Your family? Your community?”
- Practice and teach active listening: listen, acknowledge, offer support.
- Utilize the 4 Speak Up strategies from Teaching Tolerance: Interrupt, Question, Educate, Echo.
How to Check Status on District Systems
AISD’s technology team has launched a webpage that allows school communities to check the status of district systems such as the cloud and portal, as well as Accelify, School Messenger, and Zoom, at www.austinisd.org/technology/status.
Integral Care Mental Health
If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, Integral Care has a 24/7 Crisis Helpline at 512-472-4357 (HELP). You can also Text TX to 741741 to connect to Crisis Text Line. Crisis Text Line provides free, 24/7 crisis support via text.
Help with food, utilities, rental assistance or other community resources:
Call 211 to speak to someone for assistance, or visit ConnectATX (United Way of Greater Austin)
Austin ISD Parent Engagement Support Office has created a helpful community resource guide that includes information on services for:
- Health and Wellness
- Legal and Immigration
- Housing
- Education
- Austin ISD
- Other Resources
To review the AISD & Community Resource Guide, please click HERE.
Important Tech Tip for remote Chromebook users.
There are specific 2 issues with Chromebooks that could be causing a problem across the fleet. 1) Gliche, freeze, Zoom issues. And proxy errors or 2) iBoss requests.
There was a management software change and the CBs may need to resync. They also may need an OS update.
If the machine is acting up, do both steps to start fresh.
Step 1
Chrome OS needs to be v. 87+. It may need to be manually done.
- Open a browser page.
- Goto top right corner and click on the 3 dots.
- Choose HELP.
- Choose ‘About Chrome’
If it is version 87, great. If not then click on the link and check for updates. Have it install the current version.
Step 2
The district changed the management program (how devices receive updates, etc.) Wednesday to Cisco, replacing iBoss. This may create Proxy errors.
A Power Wash will reset and resync the device. This can also be good for a host of other oddities that show up in Chromebooks.
To Power Wash/Reset your Chromebook
- Sign out of your Chromebook.
- Press and hold Ctrl + Alt + Shift + r.
- Select Restart.
- In the box that appears, select Powerwash. Continue.
- Follow the steps that appear and sign in with your Google Account.
FAQs
Does everyone have to do that?
No. If you are having problems though, start with the above procedure.
What if that did not fix it?
Return the device to the office with the students first, last name; student #; and description of the problem taped securely to the device.
The front office will check out a new device.
AISD Mobile App Information
The app will allow all AISD students, staff and families to receive notifications from the district and campuses for which they wish to subscribe. Other helpful tools include COVID-19 Screen and Go, an efficient self-screening process for users to complete before coming into contact with others or before leaving home for work or school. The screening feature is available to students, staff and visitors. The app also allows for quick access and links to:
- Parent Cloud
- Parent Self Serve
- WheresTheBus
- School Café
- School Directory
FRIENDLY REMINDERS
- Download the AISD App today for iPhone and Android.
- Keep up with what’s happening in the District by watching this week’s AISD in 3.
- Visit Austin ISD’s Community Learning Spaces webpage.
- BLEND is Austin ISD’s online learning platform. Tutorials are available in English and Spanish.
- Austin ISD is now offering free seven day meal packs at curbside sites.
- Follow Austin ISD on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.