First Day of School... Is right around the corner!

Hello 4th Grade Families,

Welcome to the 2015/16 school year! I am THRILLED to be your child’s 4th grade teacher this year. It will be an engaging year for me and the students with high expectations and lots of learning. I am so looking forward to seeing everyone on our first day of school (and to seeing these dance moves from the parents as you drop off your kids on our first day- ha :)

Until we meet, here are a few things that you should know: 

• All fourth grade students will enter and dismiss from the 7 West Door. 
• There will be time for a snack while we work in the morning, so please send a healthy, nut free snack. It is recommended to label the snack with your child's name. Please note that fourth grade is scheduled to have lunch at 11:00am this year with recess following lunch. 
• It is recommended that each student have a water bottle labeled with their name at school, especially during the warmer weeks. Although, we have pretty exciting news in 4th grade... Each classroom received air conditioning units this summer, so we will be much cooler in the pod!
• Our classroom blog is updated frequently with class news and photos, be sure to check it often and follow the blog via email.  
• 4th Grade Curriculum Night is on Thursday, September 10th. More details and times will come out shortly.  
• I'm on Twitter!  Please follow me @MrsChrystall :) 

• Use this link to complete the iLearn iPad Program permission form online this year! We are asking that this be completed by Thursday, September 3rd. We are scheduled to begin iPad boot camp the following week and need these completed from all students to begin and to receive their iPads!  
• And finally, please complete my parent input form if you have not yet.  I will use this information to make our parent email list this year, and it is really helpful information about your child for me to start the school year with!  

Parent Input Form

Hello Parents!  Please take a moment to fill out my parent input form if you have not yet.  It is really helpful information for me to start the year with!  I will give horseshoe hoorays to your kid on the first day of school if you fill this out before Monday!!  Yay!!

Link to Parent Input Form



I hope to see everyone at the Back to School Picnic tonight!

Counting Down the Days to a Fabulous NEW School Year

Well hello to all my former and soon-to-be Mann families. I hope that everyone had a fun, fabulous, and refreshing summer. I know I sure did. :) I am so looking forward to meeting my new group of students and to seeing my Chrystall Miners who are now big-shot 5th graders. Hopefully everyone will be at the Back to School Picnic on Thursday, August 27 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on the Mann Blacktop. 

I know I will soon hear about everyones summer breaks, but I thought I'd take a moment to let you know what Mrs. Chrystall has been up to this summer.....

Well just a few days after the school year ended, Mr. Chrystall and I closed on our first home. It is a semi-fixer upper in Chicago, so we have spent most of our summer days & evenings working on the house and more importantly enjoying our home. We love, love, love our new backyard!

Our first little home!  Chicago, IL

Where we spend almost all of our free time!  

I love getting my hands dirty! Mrs. Chrystall rototilling the front yard to get ready to lay sod!  That's my dad lounging on the steps!  Ha!  

For a few weeks in July, we boarded a plane and headed to Europe for a wedding. Mr. Chrystall's brother was getting married in Margate, a costal town in England about a 2 hours drive from London! After a wonderful week in England and a beautiful wedding, we headed to Croatia for a family holiday. I have to say Croatia is my new favorite country and we are already planning our next trip there! We also had a chance to briefly explore Helsinki in Finland.

LONDON!  The start of our European Adventure.

Big Ben

Buckingham Palace 

Croatia!  The most beautiful country!

Pula Arena!  

The beaches are remarkable!  Water, water everywhere you look!  

We rented a car and drove along the coast all the way from the north to the south of Croatia.  Everywhere we looked, our jaws were dropping over the stunning scenery.  This is at one of our many unplanned pitstops along the way.  

Helsinki, Finnland!  

To my new students and parents:

I have an "About Me" section on my blog that I wrote last year; it gives some information about me, personally and professionally.

Parents, you already have some homework! Please take a few minutes to fill out this parent input form. I will use this information to create a email group and to quickly find out more about your child! I will give a HORSESHOE HOORAY to any child whose parent filled it out prior to the first day of school!

The last thing I have to say to you, new 4th graders, is-- GET READY TO LEARN LIKE YOU'VE NEVER LEARNED BEFORE! This is going to be a year jam-packing with rigorous learning and really high-expectations. I am going to push you to grow as an individual, think outside of the box, and to put in more effort than you knew you had in you. It's going to be a fabulous year, kiddos!