Christiano, Sal / Welcome

J. Michael Conley Elementary School at Southwood Logo

This website is my class newsletter.

Please check it DAILY for updates.

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

- (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 08/11/25

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.

Move to Monday ~~Investigation: Making observations, Making inferences, Making predictions. Control trial, Controls, variables procedures. Pages 7-10~~

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

Pg 533 pages 200-204

pages 539-540. pages 218-222.

pages 541-542. Pre-Test

pages 553-554. pages 442-444

pages 553-554.

pages 559-560. (482-484 )

pages 561-562. pages 462-466.

pages 643-646 (pgs 345&346)

Week of 03/24/25

Monday:

Math – Chapter 15 math test

Science – Lesson 4-6 "What Factors Affect Climate?" (Our focus will be on GEOGRAPHIC factors) Here's the lesson vocabulary. Here are the reading pages ... 209-217 ; Please read this tonight. Today we will go through the first part of the digital lesson.

Tuesday:

Math – Lesson 16-1 Customary units of measure... Review. Today we will discuss, build graphic organizers for and practice converting between measurements for customary units of LENGTH, CAPACITY, and WEIGHT/MASS. Customary Conversions

Wednesday:

Math – Lesson 16-1 Customary units of measure... Lesson resources are found on pages 551-552. Please complete pages 553-554. Here are 3 lesson videos from MrMathBlog. Vid 1 vid2 vid3

Thursday:

Math – Lesson 16-2 Metric units of measure... Review. Today we will discuss, build graphic organizers for and practice converting between measurements for METRIC units of LENGTH, CAPACITY, and WEIGHT/MASS. Metric Conversions

Friday:

Math – Lesson 16-2 Metric units of measure... Lesson resources are found on pages 557-558. Complete pages 559-560. Here's a video lesson from MrMathBlog.

Week of 05/12

Monday:

Fifth Grade Wonderworks trip. Be at the cafe' side of the school by 6:30 AM

Tuesday:

Math – Math for grade 6 lesson 3 Relate decimals and Percents. pg p253-254

Science – Lesson 11-4 What are some Adaptations for Life in water? Lesson pages 559-571 . Lesson Vocabulary . Today we'll complete the work on pages 572-574 .

Wednesday: Half-day dismissal 12:20 NO BACKPACKS

Science – Bouyancy Day 1

Thursday: Half-day dismissal 12:20 NO BACKPACKS

Science – Bouyancy Day 2

Friday: Last day Half-day dismissal 12:20 NO BACKPACKS

Science – Chemistry at Home...

Week of 05/12

Monday:

County Science Assessment

Tuesday: Math – Math for grade 6 lesson 3 Relate decimals and Percents. pg p253-254

Science – Lesson 11-3 What are some Adaptations for Life on Land? Lesson pages 541-543. Lesson Vocabulary . Today we'll complete the digital lesson.

Wednesday: 5th Grade Bye-bye walk Math – Math for grade 6 lesson 4 Ratios pgs 261-262

Science – Lesson 11-3 What are some Adaptations for Life on Land? Lesson pages 541-543. Lesson Vocabulary . Today we'll complete the work on pages 534-536 .

Thursday:

Fifth Grade Promotion Ceremony (you may check Junior out afterward if you'd like)

Science – Lesson 11-4 What are some Adaptations to Life in the Water? Lesson pages 559-571 . Lesson Vocabulary . Today we'll complete the digital lesson.

Friday: Patrol and Student Leadership Field trip Math – Math for grade 6 lesson 5 Equivalent ratios Pgs 263-264

Science – Lesson 11-4 What are some Adaptations to Life in the Water? Lesson pages 559-571 . Lesson Vocabulary . Today we'll complete the work on pages 572-574 .

Week of 05/05 FAST Math Tuesday FSSA Science on Thursday

Monday: Math – Review day 2 Division overview

Science – Lesson 10-1 "How do Environmental Changes Affect Organisms?" Lesson Vocabulary . Lesson reading pages 493-505 . We'll work through our digital lesson today.

Tuesday: FAST Math

Science – Lesson 10-1 "How do Environmental Changes Affect Organisms?" Lesson Vocabulary . Lesson reading pages 493-505 . We'll go through the reading in class, drawing up comparisons of positive and negative effects we have on the environment.

Wednesday: Math – Math for grade 6 lesson 1 Prime Factorization Page P249-250

Science – Lesson 10-1 "How do Environmental Changes Affect Organisms?" Lesson Vocabulary . Lesson reading pages 493-505 . We'll go through the Sum it Up and BrainCheck on pages 506-510.

Thursday: FSSA Science

Science – Lesson 10-1 "How do Environmental Changes Affect Organisms?" Lesson Vocabulary . Lesson reading pages 493-505 . We'll take our lesson quiz and check our work on pages 506-510.

Friday: Math – Math for grade 6 lesson 2 Modeling Percentages Page P251-252

Science – LESSON 11-1 "What is Adaptation?" Lesson vocabulary . Lesson reading pages 523-533. Today we'll work through our digital lesson today.

Week of 04/28 Math test Tuesday (chp 18) FAST ELA Thursday Science test chapter 9 Friday FAST Math NEXT Tuesday

Monday: Math – Chapter 18 Review. Pages 661-666

Science – Lesson 9-4 "What body parts enable Digestion, Waste Removal & Reproduction?" Lesson vocabulary . Lesson reading pages 471-481. Today we will cover the pages concerning waste removal in class.

Tuesday: Math – Test chap 18

Wednesday: Math – review day 1 2 & 3 digit multiplication whole numbers and decimals

Science – Lesson 9-4 "What body parts enable Digestion, Waste Removal & Reproduction?" Lesson vocabulary . Lesson reading pages 471-481. Today we will check our Brain Check (482-484 ) and take our lesson Quiz in class.

Thursday: FAST ELA

Science – Review Chp 9 test

Friday: Math – Review day 2 division with and without decimals

Science – Test Chapter 9

Week of 04/21

Monday: Math – Lesson 18-5 Mean Median Mode and Range Here are the lesson pages 655-656 and complete these lesson pages 657-658

Science – Lesson 9-3 "What body parts Enable Movement, Support, Respiration , and Circulation?" Lesson Vocabulary, Lesson reading pages 449-466. Today we'll complete our Q&A on pages 462-466.

Tuesday: Math – Chapter 18 Lesson 2 Line Plots (with Mean Median Mode & Range) Lesson pages 637-638 Complete pages 639-640 Lesson video.

Science – Lesson 9-3 "What body parts Enable Movement, Support, Respiration , and Circulation?" Lesson Vocabulary, Lesson reading pages 449-466. Today we'll check pages 462-466. Then we'll take our lesson quiz.

Wednesday: Math – Chapter 18 Lesson 2 Line Plots (with Mean Median Mode & Range) Lesson pages 637-638 Complete pages 641-642. Lesson video.

Science – Lesson 9-4 "What body parts enable Digestion, Waste Removal & Reproduction?" Lesson vocabulary . Lesson reading pages 471-481. Today we will cover the first part of the digital lesson together.

Thursday: Math – Lesson 18-3 Represent and interpret line graphs. Complete the digital lesson on ED-Learning. Complete pages 643-646

Science – Lesson 9-4 "What body parts enable Digestion, Waste Removal & Reproduction?" Lesson vocabulary . Lesson reading pages 471-481. Today we will cover the second part of the digital lesso together.

Friday: Math – Lesson 18-4 Balance Point and Fair Share Calculations. Lesson pages are found on 653-654. Complete the Digital lesson on ED-Learning.

Week of 04/14 Math test Tuesday

Monday: Math – Today we'll check lesson 17-7 pages 617-618 . Then we'll do our chapter review (Pages 621-626).

Science – Lesson 9-3 "What body parts Enable Movement, Support, Respiration , and Circulation?" Lesson Vocabulary, Lesson reading pages 449-466. Today we'll dive into the digital Lesson together.

Tuesday: Math – Chapter 17 Math test.

Science – Lesson 9-3 "What body parts Enable Movement, Support, Respiration , and Circulation?" Lesson Vocabulary, Lesson reading pages 449-466. Today we'll go through the reading pages about the Muscular and Skeletal Systems.

Wednesday: Math – Chapter 18-1 Collecting and Interpreting Data- Lesson pages are found on 631-632. Complete pages 633-634. Here's a video lesson.

Thursday: Math – Chapter 18-1 Collecting and Interpreting Data- Lesson pages are found on 631-632. Complete pages 635-636. Here's a video lesson.

Week of 04/07

Monday: Math – Lesson 17-2 "Writing Rules for Number Patterns in Tables" Lesson pages 585-586. Complete pages 589-590. Here's a lesson video from Mr. Math Blog.

Science – Lesson 9-1 " What are Organs and Body Systems?" Take a look at the lesson vocabulary. Please complete the reading of pages 429-441. Today we'll complete the digital lesson.

Tuesday: Math – Lesson 17-5 "Understanding Ordered Pairs" Lesson pages 603-604. Complete pages 605-606 . Here's a lesson video from Mr. Math Blog.

Science – Lesson 9-1 " What are Organs and Body Systems?" Take a look at the lesson vocabulary. Please complete the reading of pages 429-441. Today we'll go through the first part of the reading.

Wednesday: Math – Lesson 17-6 "Graphing Data" Lesson pages 609-610 . Complete pages 611-612 . Here's a lesson video from Mr. Math Blog.

Thursday: Math – Lesson 17-4 "Graph a Number Pattern" Lesson pages 597-598 . Complete pages 599-600. Here's a lesson video from Mr. Math Blog.

Science – Lesson 9-1 " What are Organs and Body Systems?" Take a look at the lesson vocabulary. Please complete the reading of pages 429-441. Today we'll complete pages 442-444 .

Friday: Math – Lesson 17-7 "Graph and Analyze Relationships" Lesson pages 615-616. Complete pages 617-618 . Here's a lesson video from Mr. Math Blog.

Science – Lesson 9-1 " What are Organs and Body Systems?" Take a look at the lesson vocabulary. Please complete the reading of pages 429-441. Today we'll check pages 442-444 and take our lesson quiz.

Week of 03/31 FSA Writing Test Tuesday - Science test Wednesday - Math test Thursday

Monday: Math – Lesson 16-2 day 2 "Metric units of Measure"... Lesson resources are found on pages 557-558. Complete pages 561-562. Here's a video lesson from MrMathBlog.

Science – Chapter 4 review. (prepare by having pages 225-228 done) (weather symbols)

Tuesday: Math – Lesson 16-3 "Multi-Step Measurement Problems" Lesson pages 563-564 . Complete pages 565-566 . Here's a video lesson from MrMathBlog.

Science – Florida State Writing Assessment

Wednesday: Math – Chapter 16 review. pages 569-574

Science – Chapter 4 test. (on ED-Learning)

Thursday: Math – Chapter 16 Test (do the ED-Learning Digital Lesson "Writing inputs and outputs on 2-column tables")

Science – Chapter 9 "The Structure of Living Things" (Our focus will be on body systems in the human body and a comparison to similar structures in other species.) Pre-Test

Friday: Math – Lesson 17-1 "Record Inputs/Outputs in a 2-Column Table." The lesson pages are found on 579-580 . Please complete pages 581-582.

Science – Lesson 9-1 " What are Organs and Body Systems?" Take a look at the lesson vocabulary. Please complete the reading of pages 429-441. Today we'll discuss the 5 requirements that all organisms must meet to be considered living and we will go through the vocabulary on the digital lesson.

Week of 03/24

Monday: Math – Chapter 15 math test

Tuesday: Math – Lesson 16-1 Customary units of measure... Review. Today we will discuss, build graphic organizers for and practice converting between measurements for customary units of LENGTH, CAPACITY, and WEIGHT/MASS. Customary Conversions

Wednesday: Math – Lesson 16-1 Customary units of measure... Lesson resources are found on pages 551-552. Please complete pages 553-554. Here are 3 lesson videos from MrMathBlog. Vid 1 vid2 vid3

Thursday: Math – Lesson 16-2 Metric units of measure... Review. Today we will discuss, build graphic organizers for and practice converting between measurements for METRIC units of LENGTH, CAPACITY, and WEIGHT/MASS. Metric Conversions

Friday: Math – Lesson 16-2 Metric units of measure... Lesson resources are found on pages 557-558. Complete pages 559-560. Here's a video lesson from MrMathBlog.

Week of 03/17

Monday:

No School

Tuesday: Math – Check page 533 and review or study of 3-D figures and volume calculations thus far.

Science – Chp 4 Lesson 4 "How do Weather Patterns Help us Predict the Weather?" Here is the lesson vocabulary. Read pages 191-199. Today we'll look at the reading and explore air pressure and the 4 types of air masses.

Wednesday: Math – Lesson 15-6 "Finding the Volume of Composed Shapes." The lesson is found on pages 537-538. Complete pages 539-540. Here's a lesson video from MrMathBlog.

Thursday: Math – Lesson 15-6 "Finding the Volume of Composed Shapes." The lesson is found on pages 537-538. Complete pages 541-542. Here's a lesson video from Khan Academy

Science – Chp 4 Lesson 4 "How do Weather Patterns Help us Predict the Weather?" Here is the lesson vocabulary. Today we'll complete pages 200-204.

Friday: Math – Chapter 15 review. Pages 543-548

Science – Chp 4 Lesson 4 "How do Weather Patterns Help us Predict the Weather?" Here is the lesson vocabulary. Today we'll take our lesson quiz and check pages 200-204.

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

The process is simple:

Go to the school or LCS website,
Click on the Classlink link.
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
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 o n how to find the FAST resource and practice page.

Last Modified Yesterday at 10:46 AM