Tuesday, August 7th

Very busy day today...

ELA - We continued to read John Brown and students discussed details and made inferences based on the text.

Social Studies - We watched the Bill of Rights BrainPop video and too notes on some basic constitutional concepts.

Math - Students reviewed PEMDAS and made up their own sentences for the acronym (mine was Perhaps Everyone Made Dreadful Artichoke Sandwiches).  After that they wrote their own math problems that had at least 3 operations in them (all of them for level 4 students), and they shared a problem with another student to solve.  They concluded math by working on this week's class work.

Silent Reading Time... A great way to conclude the day...

Monday, August 6th

ELA -- Students received their vocabulary words and we started reading John Brown, by John Hendrix.  I will read this short story aloud and students will analyze the informational elements of the text.

Science -- This unit we'll be going over classification and today students created their own categories for classifying everyday objects.

Math -- We reviewed order of operations and completed the BrainPop quiz.  Students began a series of textbook problems to practice what they've learned.

Friday, August 3rd

Math - Students took a pre-test on Unit 1 and they took notes on Order of Operations.


Social Studies - We started our Unit of Inquiry, Who We Are, by looking at the Bill of Rights (since part of "Who We Are" as Americans involves the first ten amendments of the U.S. Constitution).  Students analyzed individual amendments in groups and tried to put each amendment into "plain" English.


Spanish - Students has Spanish today with Senora Pina.  


ELA - Students took a spelling inventory test and next week they will receive their vocabulary words.

Thursday, August 2nd

After a slight schedule snafu students had Art and set up their subject notebooks for Language Arts and Math.  We discussed classroom discipline, class/individual rewards, leaner profiles and did an outdoor team building activity (until the sun and bugs drove us back inside).  We finished the day with silent reading.  


Note about school supplies:  If you have not purchased school supplies the only thing we really NEED at this point is composition books.  Since each student needs 5 (one for each subject AND Spanish) we need quite a few of them.  Thanks!


Homework:  Send in school paperwork, complete the job application & send in snacks.

Brunch : )

First Day of School!

We had a wonderful first day of school! Upon arriving students had to fill our a survey/questionnaire and we learned some interesting things about each other.  Students went through the "Brainiac Orientation" and we had our first class meeting to establish our communication agreements.  Students had P.E. and Music and after lunch they wrote about their hopes and dreams for this school year.


We had our first library visit and we concluded the day by talking about the classroom jobs and how students apply for the job they want.  


Homework: Job application (students), Parent/Guardian Questionnaire (parents/guardians)

August School Menu

The school will not be sending out paper copies of the August School Menu.

Parent Volunteers

I hope everyone is enjoying the last few scraps of summer vacation!  Please review the list below for different roles parents can take in the classroom.  If you have any other suggestions for parent roles or questions please let me know via email (cblack@csdecatur.net) or in person at the meet & greet.  Thanks!

Communications Team

--Come to the school every Monday afternoon to stuff the students' communications folder. 

--Folders must be done before dismissal at 2:30pm.

Room Parent(s)

--Be the communication liaison between me and the other parents.

--Coordinate monthly birthday celebrations.

--Coordinate classroom parties (we had 1 reward party and an end of the school year party)

Field Trip Chaperones

--Accompany us on field trips as needed.

Please check this blog periodically.  I will update it as needed.  Thanks!