1-22-13
Electronics Day is Friday. Congratulations on getting another compliment
chain! Woo hoo!!
12-19-12
We are in the beginning stages of planning the Second Cultural Celebration
event. It will be held Friday, January 25, 2012 from 6:30 pm-8:00 pm at
Cheatham Hill Elementary. Students will develop an awareness of their own
heritage as well as an appreciation for the customs and contributions of
people from around the world. Each country will be represented through:
Games/Crafts, Music, Storytelling, Cultural Dress and Food.
In order to make this event successful parent involvement is important. More
information will be going home after the winter break.
12-16-12
We are saddened by the tragic events that have taken place in Connecticut.
Our hearts go out to the families and the school community.
Please know that as a school and district, we will be reviewing our own
security measures. We are fortunate to have video surveillance and a
restricted-access door system.
As always, we appreciate your support and feel fortunate to serve the
Cheatham Hill Community.
Sincerely,
Dr. Belinda Walters-Brazile, principal
9-28-12
Greetings Parents-
I hope this newsletter finds you all doing well! It has been a FANTASTIC
year so far! We have been busy, busy, busy in class. Here’s an overview of
what your child has been learning, as well information regarding upcoming
topics of study and school
events.
Math-The students have been learning all about number sense. This includes
reading numbers, determining the value of numbers, representing numbers using
standard, expanded and word forms. The kiddos also have been learning how to
round to the nearest 10, 100 and 1,000. Recently they have been working on
adding and subtracting multi-digit numbers using the algorithm method as well
as decomposing numbers. Estimating sums and differences, comparing and
ordering numbers have been taught as well. In addition, we have dove into
the world of algebra and problem solving. The students will continue to use
their math journal to explain and demonstrate their understanding. They have
been doing a super job with this. Our next unit of study is the marvelous
world of multiplication which includes factors, multiples and multiplication
of larger numbers using the algorithm method as well as modeling using base
ten blocks. It is imperative your child master his/her math facts. Time
tests will be administered periodically to check for progress. Please review
these tests and have your child practice at home if necessary.
Mathfactcafe.com and IXL.com are great resources to use! If you have a
little helper with you at the grocery store, he/she can stay occupied with
the “Grocery Math” activity going home next week. This is not required; it’s
just a fun real-world application exercise.
Reading-The students have been learning how to monitor their comprehension
and read for details. Also, they have been learning about literature genres
and how to broaden their reading repertoire. Please encourage your child to
branch out and read something a bit out of their comfort zone at home. I
want the students to build their reading stamina. This is difficult for many
students because they want to get up often and/or flip through the pages of
the books instead of actually reading the entire text. Please encourage your
child to read to you at home. You may read with him/her to model fluency as
well. They soon will be learning more about main idea. Many reading skills
are addressed through guided reading and literacy centers which began this
week. Throughout the week, the students are engaged in an activity called
Poem of the Week. With this activity, a poem is explored in-depth. Fluency,
vocabulary, conventions, comprehension and responding to the poem are
activities that take place. We will be visiting story elements which are
who, what, when, why, where and how. When you’re reading with your child,
ask them questions and give them the opportunity to explain their answers and
show you specific evidence from the text to support their answer. With the
Common Core curriculum there is an emphasis on supporting answers with
explicit text evidence.
Writing-The students have been working on writing a personal narrative. They
have been learning all about and applying the writing process (prewriting,
drafting, revising, editing, publishing) to their writing pieces. I am
noticing difficulty generating ideas and formulating sentences with these
ideas. The kiddos have been working on stretching sentences, using
descriptive words. Please work on this at home. I suggest writing a solid
paragraph using descriptive language with your child with a topic sentence,
supporting details and concluding sentence. Please feel free to have your
child type this paragraph at home and send it to me. Our class would love to
hear them! Also, having a writing journal at home would be a great idea to
encourage your child to write. The more children write, the better writers
they will become.
English-Recently, the kiddos have been learning about nouns-common, proper
and possessive. We will be exploring more parts of speech such as verbs and
adjectives, too. They also will be learning more about subjects, predicates
and fragments in the near future. The students are using their GUMS
(grammar, usage, mechanics, spelling) workbook for practice.
Spelling-With spelling tests, the children will need to spell the words
correctly and determine the correct spelling pattern of the words.
Throughout the week, the students learn how to separate words into the
appropriate syllables, determine if they are open or closed syllable patterns
while focusing on other patterns. Expect to see a spelling packet coming
home every week there is spelling. I have noticed lately many students not
doing their best with this packet. This affects their spelling grade, too.
Please monitor their work, and have them bring it back to school every day
because we review it throughout the week.
Science-Inquiry process skills, lab safety and the scientific method have
been the focus for the first part of the year. This is continuous throughout
the year. Recently the students began learning about the states of water and
the water cycle. They made really wonderful water cycle baggies. Ask your
child to demonstrate the water cycle dance too! Soon, the students will be
learning about the types of precipitation, characteristics of clouds and
then, we will move onto
weather.
Social Studies-Recently, we ended the unit on economics, but this will topic
will be revisited many times throughout the year. This information will be
embedded with other social studies units. The students have been learning
about landforms, physical features of the United States and various map and
globe skills such as map scale and lines of latitude and longitude. Our next
unit of study will be Indian cultures. The Jim Sawgrass in-house field trip
was an amazing opportunity for the students to gain background knowledge
before we begin the unit.
Other…
-Please remind your child about putting forth his/her best work consistently.
I am noticing many kiddos rushing through work, not reading and/or listening
to directions carefully and turning in work that is not very neat. We cover
an immense amount of complex curriculum on a daily basis so being focused and
giving 100% is imperative.
-If you’d like to donate individually-wrapped candy for the class, that’d be
great!
-Congrats to Emiliano and Havalynn for being our Jr. CHAT representative and
alternate! What a close race!
-Class reading log is due 10-1-12
-Rocket Reader forms are due 10-2-12
-Walk to School Day is 10-5-12
-Safety Village field trip is 10-12-12
-Fall Festival is 10-13-
12
I hope you all have a fabulous weekend, and thank you for supporting your
child’s education.I LOVE this class; they are SUPER STARS!!
8-31-12
Box Top information....
This is an easy way for CHE to make $500.00+ dollars for our students.
We get 50 cent for every new account from now through 9/15/2012!
8-29-12
Reflections Art Contest is accepting entries for Visual Arts, Literature,
Photography, Musical Composition, Dance Choreography and Film Production. The
theme for this year is “The Magic of a Moment”. Deadline to submit is
October 1st, 2012.
Teachers and Parents, please encourage your students to participate. Students
may submit multiple entries in any art category. The class which submits the
most entries, from each grade level, by September 14th (1st collection date)
will get to have Lunch on Stage. The class with the most participation
overall by the deadline date (October 1st) will have donuts catered to their
room. For more information, go to the
website "http://reflectionsches.weebly.com".
8-22-12
Students received a Reflection flyer this week. Reflections provides
opportunities for students to express themselves and be awarded for their
artistic efforts in Dance, Film, Literature, Music, Photograhy and Painting.
Parents, please encourage your students to participate. We are having an Open
House this Friday, August 24th 7:30-8:30am at the Cafeteria, to address any
questions regarding the contest and rules for each art category. Go to CHES
PTA website and click on “reflections Info” for details.
Per the Fire Marshall's Office, no one is allowed to park in a Fire Lane,
whether there is a driver in the vehicle or not, at any time other than the
following:
· 30 minutes prior to the end of the school day and 30 minutes after the end
of the school day (this does not include the After School Program nor any
other activity at the school)
· passengers actively loading or unloading during the day (this would cover
students unloading in the morning at the beginning of the school day)
The focus of this memo is to reemphasize that the only time a vehicle would
be allowed in a Fire Lane would be to actively drop-off and/or pick-up a
student where there is no waiting. Other times, such as After School Program
or after school activities would not be included.
Should you have questions or concerns, please contact the Department of
Public Safety (678) 594-8620.
ATTENTION: 3rd, 4th and 5th graders - This announcement is about Drama Club.
This year, CHES Drama Club’s chosen musical is The Little Mermaid Jr.
Applications are now available in the lobby here at Cheatham Hill. Completed
applications are due by 8am on Wednesday, August 22nd. Auditions will be on
Friday, August 24th. Please send any questions to chesdrama@gmail.com.
Thank you.
