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    This website is my class newsletter.

    Please check it DAILY for updates.

     

    Parent Announcements:  (Can't find it here anymore...? Check the "archive" page.)

    -(8/16) Chapter 12 math test will be Monday 8/25.    There is a Science Quiz this Friday, 8/22.

    -(day 1) Coach Vance put this car pick-up video on our Facebook page.

    -(day 1) Mr. Threadgill sent a  1st day information letter that covers everything from walkers and arriving at school to lunch menus and dismissal routines.  There are two attachments discussed in the email. I have them linked in the items below.

    -(day 1)  As you can see (on the 5th grade supply list), we have several field trips planned for the upcoming year.  The State of Florida and LCS have updated the requirements pertaining to parent chaperones on school field trips.  This is the document outlining those requirements.  Get set up early this year so you can participate in the fun. The new STATE regulations require parents who are chaperoning be fingerprinted prior to being approved to go on fieldtrips. Fingerprinting will be done at the school district office on West Pensacola St., will cost $61 (for a 5-year permit) and approval times can take up to 6 weeks.  Please do not wait until there are 2 weeks left before a field trip and expect that you will have time to get set up.  The list of trips and dates are subject to change.

    -(day 1) Walkers Verification form....   In an effort to increase student safety, address traffic issues for our neighbors, and limit the number of unattended children standing on and around the busy intersections near school, parents need to get approval for their children to actually walk home from school (not just stand at the corner waiting to be picked up).   Please print, fill out, and return this form to the school for approval. 

    -(day 1)  Parents...  I too, appreciate that birthdays come around only once a year (at my age I am very thankful that they are still occurring).  I appreciate that we want to make them fun.... BUT please contact me or Ms. McGrotha by email ahead of your child's birthday to set up a date for a birthday snack to share with the class.  SOMETIMES there are things going on that would make a particular day a bad day for a snack.... For instance, we may have a test scheduled, or we may have another snack (like blue pops or someone else's birthday treat) already scheduled.  Scheduling takes just a few moments of your day, and it makes the school day go so much smoother. If you choose to show up with treats for Junior's birthday and have not taken the time to reach out to me in advance, I can not guarantee that those treats will get distributed on that day.

     

    -(day 1) I communicate only through school email or school land-line phone.   Because Ms. McGrotha and I will be involved in teaching activities throughout the day. We often will not be able to answer phone calls. The best way to contact us is through email. I check my email 2 to 3 times a day and will do my best to contact you by the end of the day.  I’m sure there will be a lot of questions during the first weeks of school and I look forward to communicating with you.   

    Mr. C's email:   christianos@leonschools.net   

    Ms. McGrotha's email:  mcgrotham@leonschools.net  

    By making email your primary means of contact, it allows us to get back to you in a more timely manner.  

     

    -(day 1) **If you need to change your child's dismissal plan for a particular day, please send an email to CSSOffice@leonschools.net by no later than 2:00 PM.  If you are planning to pick them up early from school, it should be done before 2:15.**

     

    Turning in assignments: 

    Finished assignments will be collected in class the day after they are assigned.  We will collect them in class after we look through the assignment together.    If a student is absent, they can turn in their work on the next business day using our classroom late box.  If the assignment is late because they were absent, I will not count that against their score.  They will be instructed to write the word "absent" at the top of their page before turning it in. It is the student's responsibility to turn in his or her work if they are absent. 

    Taking Assignments Home:

    I understand that sometimes students need extra time to complete assignments.  Math assignments will rarely be more than 10-12 problems.  Science assignments will include lesson reading, online activities and question pages from the book.  We will generally have a 30-35 minute work time at the end of each block.  Any assigned classwork that is not completed before the end of the work day should be taken home and completed there.  

    Missing work: 

    I cannot grade work that is not turned in. If your student has not turned in their work, I cannot put an earned grade in the grade book. If they have a assignment missing, it will appear in the grade book as a Z (which is equal to a 0) until it is turned in. I only grade missing work once a week, so it could take up to a week for a late assignment to get updated in the FOCUS. If the missing assignment is an online assignment, the student should drop me a note telling me that they have completed that specific assignment. It can take up to a week to see a missing assignment show up in the grade book once it is turned in.

    Late work is accepted, but there are 2 penalties that are associated with it.  The first penalty is lower test and quiz scores, which come as a result of opportunities to practice new skills being missed; teams practice for big games BEFORE the game... not after.  The second is a 10% reduction in score as a result of work being late.  One constant in life is that when you are late 9 with your bills, work, business dealings, relationships, cooking dinner...) there are natural consequences that must be dealt with.  One of our main goals this year is getting Junior ready to deal with 6 teachers, who will each have 160-180 students, next year. 

    A reminder...  being absent does not remove the responsibility of completing work for the day on which your child is absent.  All work is listed on the class website.  A PDF of the work is linked on the website and all online assignments are able to be accessed from Junior's ClassLink account at home. It is your child's responsibility to get that work turned in when they return.  I afford them an additional 2-3 days to facilitate that happening should they need it.  After 2-3 days, a grade of 0 (Z) is put into the grade book.)

    Cellphones:

    Our classroom is a learning environment, and we try to make it as distraction-free as possible.  To that end, cellphones are to remain in a student's backpack from the time they are on school's grounds until they leave. If your child needs to call you, they will be able to do so on the classroom or main office phones. If you need to speak to your child, you should call the front office.  If a student is found with a cell phone, they will receive a verbal reminder of classroom expectations. If they are found with their cell phone again, the cell phone will be taken to the front office where you can retrieve it at the end of the day.  Because technology is constantly improving, any devices that can connect to your child's phone or act as a messaging device on their own are subject to the same expectations (eg. smart watches).  Leon County Guidelines.

    Gradebook: 

    The gradebook will be found on FOCUS. If you do not have a parent portal log in, I highly encourage you to get one, but you can check your child's grade using their FOCUS account at home. The gradebook is broken into 4 different components. 50% for chapter/unit assessments, 20% assignments/classwork, and 30% for quizzes. If you see a "Z" in the gradebook, that means an assignment is missing. An "X" means that I have excused your student from an assignment. NG means that I have not graded that assignment yet.  I input daily assignment grades 2–3 times a week. 

     

    SYW

    When you look at your child's work and you see the letters SYW you may take pause and wonder, "what does     SYW mean?"  SYW is a classroom prompt I use to remind students the importance of   Showing Your Work.  For instance, when we are looking at our math work from the previous day, and I ask, "How did you do that (which I do almost every time)?" You'll be able to quickly recount HOW you worked through that problem.  If I ask, "Did anyone do this differently?"  You'll be able to describe your alternate solution strategy.
     
    The most important reason for     SYW-ing comes to light when you miss a question.  What did I do wrong?  Where did I make my error, because I set up the problem correctly?  How do I explain this issue to the teacher?  None of these can occur, if you don't know what you did EXACTLY.

    I remind the class every time we get a test or quiz back, that I can't see how to help you if you don't     SYW.  I can't give you partial credit on a question if I don't see that you had that problem set up correctly, or that you did the first 2 steps properly but made a mistake on the 3rd part.  I can give partial credit if you do do those things.

    SYW ... if you're not doing it, you're doing the math wrong.

    SYT... in science, it's "Show Your Thinking."  With our focus on Claims/Evidence/Reasoning, I will be continually asking your children to EXPLAIN their thinking.  One-word answers aren't enough to explain the thought process behind scientific claims.  Our focus for the first part of the year will be to learn the differences and connections between observations (the key to doing science) and claims.  Along the way we'll dig deep into putting voice to the thinking (reasoning) needed to move from observation to making claims that can be tested. 
    SYW      & SYT, Two vital skills
     

     

    (day 1)-  Two great math fact games that I highly recommend on TangMath.com  -   Numtanga   &   Kakooma

               Numtanga is a game that helps students with number recognition in multiple formats.

               Kakooma is a multi level game that challenges growth in mastering multiplication and addition facts. 

     

     

    Our classwork  (subject to change...  Please check EVERY day for updates)   

     

     

    Week of   08/18/25        Science Quiz this Friday            Next Monday....  Chapter 12 math test.

     

    Monday: 

    Math –      Lesson 12-3 Evaluating Numeric Expressions.  The lesson pages are found on pages 427-428.  Please complete the selected questions on page 429-430.

    Science –      Investigation:  Making observations, Making inferences, Making predictions.  Control trial, Controls, variables procedures.  Pages 7-10 

    Tuesday:     

    Math –      Lesson 12-3 Evaluating Numeric Expressions.  The lesson pages are found on pages 427-428.  Please complete page 431  

    Science –         The Scientific Method(s)   We'll review a video and discuss the finer points of the Scientific Method>

    Wednesday:   

    Math –      Quiz-   Evaluate Expressions using PEMDAS, Write expressions from a word problem & Identify Common X & + properties

    Science –     Observations Inferences and Opinions.  We'll watch and discuss a video about these and discuss their place in science.  

    Thursday:   

     Math –      Lesson 12-4 Evaluate expressions with parentheses.  The lesson pages are found on on pages 433-434.   Please complete the selected questions on  pages 435-436.

    Science –     Qualitative observations vs. Quantitative observations.   

    Friday: 

     Math –      Chapter review and Check work from lesson 12-4  pages 435-436.

    Science –  Quiz-   observation, evidence & the scientific method.

     

    Math test chapter 12 Monday.....

     

     

    Daily Schedule  

      Mr. C's homeroom   Ms. M's homeroom
    Times   Times  
    8:30-10 Math 8:30-10 ELA
    10-1045 Science 10-1045 SS & Intervention
      Transition to Block 2 Classes switch  
    10:45-11:30 SS & Intervention 10:45- 11:30 Science
    11:33-11:58 Lunch 11:33-11:58 Lunch
    12-12:25 Recess 12-12:25 Recess
    12:25-1:50 ELA 12:25-1:50 Math
    1:50-2:35 Special Areas 1:50-2:35 Special Areas
    2:45 Transition to dismissal areas    

     

     

    Did Junior forget an assignment... was he or she absent... here they are.  Any late assignments that are turned in will be put in the gradebook, but will lose 10% unless there is an excused absence attached to the day the assignment was given or due.

    Assignment pages for this quarter:

     

    Work that's in the gradebook

     

    Math                                                Science

      pages 417-418

       pages 427-428                                                

                                                         

                                                    

                                                              

                                                         

    _Past Work

     

    Week of   08/11/25            

     

    Monday: Math –      Our focus today and tomorrow will be lesson 12-1.  Here are the lesson pages from the text pg 415-416.  We’ll develop the rules for the different properties we use regularly in general math.  Then we’ll work on an interactive practice problem set together.    N/A

    Science –     Observation activity  N/A

    Tuesday:   Math –      Our focus today will again be lesson 12-1.  Here are the lesson pages from the text pg 415-416.  We’ll use an interactive video from ED-Learning then we’ll complete pages 417-418 (selected problems) in class. 

    Science –        What is Science? What is a Scientist?    Ology & Ologist.  

    Wednesday:   Math –      Our focus today will be lesson 12-2; writing numeric expressions. Here are the lesson pages from the text pg 421-422.  We’ll practice writing expressions for word problems using different properties we developed in lesson 12-1.  Then we’ll work on an interactive practice problem set together. 

    Science –     What do scientists do?   The skills of science.  

    Thursday:    Math –      Our focus today will be lesson 12-2; writing numeric expressions.      Here are the lesson pages from the text pg 421-422.  We’ll use an interactive video from ED-Learning then we’ll complete pages 423-424 (selected problems) in class. 

    Science –      The tools that scientists use.  The concept of Measurement.

    Friday:  Math –      Lesson 12-3 Evaluating Numeric Expressions.  The lesson pages are found on pages 427-428.  Please complete the selected questions 428 problem B only  on page 429-430. 

    Science –  The tools that scientists use.  The concept of Measurement.

     

     

    Having difficulty logging in to your child's classlink account (or FOCUS) at home..?

    The process is simple:

    1. Go to the school or LCS website,
    2. Click on the Classlink link.
    3. When prompted for username or email, use their student email, which is their student ID (found on your Portal account) which in most cases starts with 171.... or 1800..... and is 9 digits in length, followed by @edu.leonschools.net        For example:    180001234@edu.leonschools.net
    4. When prompted for their password, it is the same 5 (or for a few 6) digit PIN they use at school.  

    That should get you in to their ClassLink account... If you have more than one child who is a student using a computer at home, I suggest NOT saving the login information in your browser as it will make it next to impossible for the 2nd or 3rd children to log in to their own accounts.

    Email me if you have need for their ID number and PIN....

     

     

     

    Link to FDOE's FAST resource & practice page

     

    Link to a printout of my powerpoint on how to find the FAST resource and practice page.

     

     
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