Communication is Key

Here's a great blog post I stumbled upon from News 2 You, one of my favorite resources. Communication and demonstration of knowledge can be so difficult for nonverbal students. This blog post is full of excellent tips, tricks, examples, and more...enjoy!

https://www.n2y.com/n2y/blog?id=931 

Engineering Expo is Next Week

Please come out to our Expo next week. The EXPO is November 20th from 1:15-2:20. All of our students are creating an arcade inspired game that uses force. We have everything from marble mazes to a basketball game. They cannot wait to show off their designs! 

Here is a quick preview of what you will see:

We are open for business next week :)

A few marble mazes

How fast can you race around this track?

Could you score 10,000 points by getting a beanbag in one of these holes?

Table top football taken to another level. 

Can you whack-a-mole?

It's just a homemade fooseball table. What?!?!?

Show off your b-ball skillz with this game. 

Don't forget to turn in your tickets to the arcade store for a cool prize. 

Every business needs a lock on the door!

We can't wait! See everyone on the 20th at 1:15!

Engineering EXPO November 20th

Field Day Postponed

Due to the forecast calling for heavy rain tomorrow, field day will be postponed until next Friday. Unfortunately, at this time, it looks like it may rain next week as well. If it rains heavily starting on Wednesday of next week, we will once again postpone field day until May. We want to thank you all so much for your understanding – fingers crossed we have a sunny week next week!

Monarch Invasion

The past 2 weeks our class has studied Monarch butterflies and how they migrate in the fall.  We read about them with our weekly newsletter from News 2 You and studied them in IC.  We are lucky to have a garden at our school where Ms. Twining (our resident butterfly expert) found us a Monarch caterpillar.  We loved our little caterpillar.  We feed him Milkweed, watched him grow, and named him Dave.  We all enjoyed watching his transformation the past 2 weeks.  This morning the transformation was complete.  When we walked into our classroom we had a beautiful butterfly.  We were able to go out to the garden this morning and release Dave to explore the world.  It was really cool to explore and learn about these beautiful creatures with our students.  Here are some pictures of the transformation.

Can you spot the caterpillar?

He got really BIG!

I had no idea that a pupa could be so pretty!

Just a little over a week later...

Caught you! 

Someone is ready to start flying!

Look at those wings!

We will miss you Dave!

Exciting News!

Dear Christie Families, 

We want to thank you for your flexibility as we moved to a blocked specials schedule for the first part of the school year. The instructional planning time gained by teachers during the blocked schedule was used to plan ahead and review the larger picture of the school year. As the first nine weeks has come to an end, we are excited to share that beginning November 1st, we will be returning to the traditional schedule where specials takes place each day. 

As always, thank you for your continued support!

Christie Elementary 

Don't forget the spirit assembly on Friday. K-2 starts at 8 and 3-5 will follow immediately after (hopefully starting at 9). 

PTA has gone DIGITAL!

Stop by our PTA's new website.  It's a one stop shop for Newsletters, event updates, volunteer information, and much more.  Here's the website: PTA website.

Mark your calendars:
Oct. 12: Parent/ Teacher Conference Day – No Classes
Oct. 13: PTA Board Meeting @ 6:30 p.m.
Oct. 16: EPI Fundraiser Orders Due
Oct. 16: "Around the World" Teacher Appreciation Luncheon
Oct. 21: Room Parent Orientation from 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Oct. 23: Assemblies (K-2nd @ 8 a.m.; 3rd—5th @ 9 a.m.)
Oct. 26—30: Red Ribbon Week
Oct. 30: Field Day (Rain date: Nov. 6)
Nov. 9—13: Book Fair

Red Ribbon Week:
Monday: Wear red
Tuesday: Team up against drugs and wear your favorite sport team shirt
Wednesday: Turn your back on drugs and wear your shirt backwards
Thursday: Wear crazy socks!
Friday: It’s Field Day and healthy bodies have more fun! Wear your field day shirt and invite your parents to field day.

Order your AVID shirt by Wednesday

Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) is a program with college readiness in mind. It focuses on closing the achievement gap by teaching students strategies to help them have ownership of their learning and reach their full potential. We use organizational tools and agendas in 4th and 5th grade, but we have instructional strategies site-wide. Writing, inquiry, collaborating, organization and reading to learn are only a few of the AVID strategies we implement.

It's never too young to start thinking about college. A college-bound culture is a culture of success and everyone can benefit from that at any age. AVID is really stressed in 3rd, 4th, and 5th and we're trying to move it into all grade levels in the near future. It'll be available at Carpenter Middle School and in Plano high schools.

Our AVID liaison for Christie Elementary, Mr. Ramos in 5th Grade, has designed an awesome Avengers themed t-shirt to help promote the program.

You pay for your shirt(s) online, and they will ship to Christie 4-7 days after the closing date which is Wednesday, September 30th! Teachers, parents, and students are all encouraged to order and proceeds exceeding a certain order amount will be used towards Christie College Week to promote our college-bound culture. It's a win-win! I hope that you join me in supporting both Christie and the AVID program with Plano ISD.

The shirt design:

How to order your AVID shirt:

You may place your orders beginning September 9, 2015.

The site will close at 8am on September 30, 2015.

NO LATE ORDERS WILL BE ACCEPTED.

1. Go to: www.barefootathletics.com/cof ENTER CODE: COF107847

2. Read and acknowledge online Terms & Conditions.

3. Enter sizes and quantities for each item, enter the student’s full name and teacher’s name then click “Add to Cart”.

4. Check your selections and make any necessary corrections. No changes may be made after your order is placed.

5. Once your order is correct click “Proceed to checkout”.

6. Enter your shipping & billing information.

7. Verify that your order is correct. No changes may be made to an order once placed. Read our terms and conditions. Check the box next to “Yes, I agree with the terms and conditions”, and then click “Continue”.

8. Enter your payment information and click “Pay for Order”. You will receive a confirmation email.

***NOTE***

ORDERS SHIPPING TO THE SCHOOL: Orders will be delivered to the school as part of the Christie AVID order.

** If you have any further questions regarding the Plano AVID program at Christie please contact Jason Ramos at jason.ramos@pisd.edu **

Welcome Back!

Welcome back to a new year! It was a great first week to have in the books. We loved seeing all the new faces and meeting all the new families. 

My name is Cassie Doss and this is my ninth year teaching and I've been lucky enough to spend my years here at Christie. When I'm not at school, I love playing with my dog Geno, spoiling my nephew and 3 nieces, and going to the movies. 

We have an amazing team of teachers and assistants, Emily Mainville, Sondra Nino, Tressa Hubbard, Eva Peale, and myself are looking forward to a great year!

More to come soon about our new classroom layout 😃

T Minus 12 Hours

The Expo is tomorrow and we are ready!

I hope everyone can make it. We will tour 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade projects from 8-10 and will present our project from 1-2:30. 

A little preview of tomorrow:

School Dance on Friday!!!

Testing Our Pendulums

May 21st will be here soon! More to come...

Engineering EXPO

Our school wide Engineering EXPO is coming soon. 

We kicked off our final engineering project of the year with a single question: Can we design and build a structure that can paint without a paintbrush?

We did some research and found that a pendulum would be a perfect structure for our challenge. Our kids broke off into groups to tackle their pendulum designs. They spent a full day creating a blueprint and brainstorming possible materials we would need. We decided to test their designs using straws and connectors. They did an amazing job! Some found that their original design worked and some found that they needed to make some early adjustments. If you want to bring these ideas home, here are some of the vocabulary words we are using: structure, motion, force, and pendulum. 

We are off to a great start. I can't wait to show off our final projects. See you on the 21st!

Here are few pictures from today. 

What's been going on?

We have been really busy the past few months!

In math we have covered ordering numbers, identifying numbers with 2 and 3 digits, reading a picture graph, and solving story problems with addition and subtraction. Vocabulary we are using: between, before, after, sum, total, difference, and ordinal numbers. 

In LA we are working on identifying nouns, action verbs, and adjectives. We are also working to expand out sentences to include a detail. 

In Reading we have put a lot of focus on nonfiction stories. In hope you Gus are getting a chance to read the News 2 You stories that we are sending home. The kids are really enjoying them each week!

IC seems to be everyone's favorite these days. We spent the last month researching and studying about our solar system. The kids have learned to order the planets, learned facts about each planet, and made a PowerPoint about Ceres, a dwarf planet. Ask them about the solar system and I hope you will get an ear full of knowledge :)  also, check out story it's planets in YouTube. It's their current favorite.