Friday, August 8, 2014

GREAT GATORS ----- WEEK ONE!


GATORS have been back in school for just a week and I can already tell that this is going to be a fantastic year! During our first few days together, I have truly enjoyed getting to know my new students . . . they are leaders already!

Parents, thank you for making sure your children brought their supplies and for completing all those forms! At “Sneak a Peek” many of you volunteered your time and talents for future events as well as for more immediate needs. There is a wide variety of opportunities for parent involvement at Addison and your willingness to help out is greatly appreciated! Sign-up lists will be available again at Open House on Thursday, August 14.

We have been very busy this week! We have established classroom rules and routines. We attended an assembly with Mrs. Hallmark and Mr. Cohen to review Addison and Cobb County policies and expectations. We have also completed our first week of Spelling and have learned the importance of homework.

Our first week of 8:00 Specials rotations went well. We were able to watch the Gator News show, call roll, complete morning work, check in with our homework and agendas ----- and still arrive on time to Specials! This year, we will always go to Computer Lab on Monday, P.E. on Tuesday, Music on Wednesday, Art on Thursday, and P.E. on Friday. Our mornings are very busy so being on time is very important. The tardy bell rings at 7:45 at which time, students must be inside their classrooms.

We visited the Science Lab for orientation, and then we signed our safety contracts. We were happy to have Sadie's mom and Daniel's mom volunteering. 

In Math, we have had our first addition, subtraction, and multiplication timed tests. Unfortunately, the girls and boys “forgot” too much over the summer. Fluent recall of basic facts is crucial for success in Math. Every student in my class needs to practice daily. On my “Math Practice” page, there are many free interactive websites for multiplication practice. Please make sure that your child has multiplication flash cards. They are cheap (check Dollar Tree) and will be well worth your money! Please, please remind your children to practice every day.

We were given an interesting prompt and wrote our first narrative piece. In fourth grade, we will continue to develop our skills and will grow as young writers.

We met our Book Buddies, Ms. Walston’s awesome kindergarten girls and boys. We had so much fun helping them make a surprise for Open House. I was very proud of the leadership qualities your children showed. They were such nice role models for the younger students. We can hardly wait for our next Book Buddy visit!

Next week, we will have our initial visit to the Media Center and will be checking out some great books so we can meet the expectation of reading for 20 minutes each night. Students are to record their book title and page numbers read at the top of each day's column in their agendas. For example: Boxcar Children, p. 64-81.
Ms. Weston will coming to our classroom for our first fourth grade Guidance lesson on Tuesday.  
ALP students will join Mrs. Schwartz for the first time on Monday. 

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:
                     Review and sign your child's agenda every night.
                     Send a note if there is a transportation change.
                     Send a healthy snack each day.
                     Update your child's lunch account as needed.  

OPEN HOUSE – THURSDAY, AUGUST 14                                     
                      5:00 ALP in Media Center, K and 1st Classroom Orientation
                      6:00 PTA in Cafeteria
                      6:30 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th Classroom Orientation
Only Addison students may go to the gym to watch a movie while parents go to the classrooms. Students must be signed in and signed out by their parents. The gym will be open from 4:45 until 7:40. A shuttle will run from Sandy Plains Baptist Church to Addison Elementary to help with parking.

 I look forward to a seeing you all at Open House and to a wonderful year of helping your children learn and lead!

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