• Principal's Corner

    Dear Parents,

    Welcome to the 2012-2013 school year! We are so excited about seeing each of you and can't wait to get started with our new year here at TCE! We have incredible learning planned for the children and are looking forward to continually working with all of you and the Coppell community to help provide an excellent education for your children!

    Our theme for Town Center this year is "Engineering our Future." We are a campus that focuses on individualizing education for each child and helping them to find that inner passion for learning that will help them to be the innovators, problem solvers, and creators for the future. We will continue with our S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) initiative in order to help drive instruction and promote even more engagement, hands-on learning opportunities, and career awareness for our students. We will also continue our initiatives with blended learning that help us to utilize various technologies in order to promote communication, academics and global learning for our students. We will have many opportunities this year for you to see the kinds of learning strategies we are implementing with our students, as well as the wonderful variety of technologies that the students use each and every day to help them reach their fullest potential as learners. Due to the wonderful support from our families and PTO, we are able to continue meeting the needs of our students and have wonderful tools available for our campus. We truly appreciate your help and support!

    In planning for the upcoming year, we wanted to share some information about events that will get us ready as we engineer the start of the year!
    August 27th from 7:50am-3:05pm This will be the first day for students. Music in the Morning begins at 7:45 and the tardy bell rings at 7:50. Students should be in the classroom when the bell rings at 7:50. We encourage parents to get their children to school between 7:30 and 7:45.
    (There is no supervision prior to that time and doors are not unlocked until 7:15)
    You may walk with your child to the classroom on the first day. After that, your students will be lining up in the gym for Kinder-4th grade and the 5th graders will be in the cafeteria in the mornings. Students will wait there and the teachers will come and pick them up.

    We ask that parents do not walk their child down to the classroom after the first day, because we are establishing our routines for the year as well as trying to make the most of our instructional learning time each day. Thank you!

    August 28th, 29th, 30th We will have these days as early release days for our Kinder, First and Second graders due to beginning of the year assessments. K-2 students will be released at 12:00. If you are a parent of a kindergartner, first or second grader and are unable to pick up your child and bring them back up to the school at their assigned testing time, we will provide activities for the students while they are waiting for their testing. If your child stays at school on these days, please plan on picking up your child in front of the school at the regular dismissal time of 3:05pm.
     
    September 5th from 6:00-7:00pm  This will be Curriculum Night for 2nd and 4th grade. This is a night for parents to come hear about the curriculum being covered during the school year and get information on class procedures. Please make arrangements for your children to stay at home on this evening. More information about this evening will come home from teachers when the year begins. 

    September 6th from 6:00-7:00pm This will be Curriculum Night for Kinder, 1st, 3rd and 5th grade.  This is a night for parents to come hear about the curriculum being covered during the school year and get information on class procedures. Please make arrangements for your children to stay at home on this evening. More information about this evening will come home from teachers when the year begins.

    September 14th Texan Town will open. We will continue to have Texan Town in the mornings beginning at 7:50am. For those who are new to our school, please know that we welcome parents who have a hobby or talent to be a part of a Texan Town! Please contact Kim Becker at kbecker@coppellisd.com or the front office if you are interested in assisting during Texan Town or would like to lead a job or club. Texan Town is open most Fridays with the exception of Spirit Rally days or special events.

    We would like for you to help us in welcoming some new staff members to Town Center!!

    Joining our Kindergarten team will be Robin Miller. Robin is a native Texan. She graduated from Texas Tech University with a Master's in Education. Robin has been teaching for sixteen years. She is married and has a Fourth Grader and Kindergartener and they will be attending Town Center! Robin loves to travel and her favorite destination is the beach. We are so excited to have her join our TCE family!

    Meredith Garnier was a long-term substitute for us last year and is now a permanent member on staff and will be joining the third grade team. Meredith is a Coppell native and went to school in Coppell from Kindergarten through high school. She graduated from the University of Oklahoma where football games were one of her favorite activities to attend. Boomer Sooner! She has a dog named Jake who is like her own child. In her spare time Meredith loves to shop, hang out with friends and family, and read! We are so happy to have her on board at TCE!

    And leading the way in Special Ed will be Taryn Burton. Taryn grew up in Carrollton, and earned her undergrad at The University of North Texas and her master's at Texas Women's University specializing in adapted physical education. She was a special education teacher for Lewisville ISD and is very excited to be coming over to Coppell ISD and joining the Town Center team. We are excited about her and the positive energy that she has for TCE!

    Alicia Montgomery is our new librarian! But she is not new to CISD, she has spent the last six years teaching 6th grade GT Language Arts at Coppell Middle School East. Prior to that, Alicia spent three years in Wichita Falls teaching 7th grade Language Arts at Kirby Junior High. She completed her Master's in Library Science from The University of North Texas in 2010. In her spare time, Alicia loves to read and talk about books. She is married and has two dogs. Being a librarian has been a dream of Alicia's for a long time and we are so excited to have her at TCE!

    We will also have a new face to add to our support staff for the building. April Dyke will be our new diagnostician working with our teachers and students. We are delighted to have her on board!

    We will have a few other transitions on our campus for various grade levels. As you know, we do our best to support our students and teachers at Town Center and provide an optimal learning experience for everyone.

    We are looking forward to an exceptional school year full of learning, laughter and love at Town Center! As we begin our new journey, we would like to leave you with a final quote...

    "The best way to predict the future is to design it." Buckminster Fuller

     

    Sincerely,

    Angie Brooks Applegate
    Principal
    Town Center Elementary