Upcoming Events @ Mann School

We have lots of upcoming events at Mann to look forward to! See below for more details about each!

• Horseshoe Hooray Store on Thursday 9/24
• Dress Like a Book Character Day Friday 9/25
• Walk & Bike to School Week October 5-8
• Author Visit Lisa Graff October 8

Horseshoe Hooray Store on Thursday 9/24

The first store is this Thursday!!! Be sure to count your horseshoes and check out the Horseshoe Hooray tab at the top of my blog to start think about what you want to spend your HH's on! Remember, you can always save up your horseshoes :)

Dress Like a Book Character Day Friday 9/25

Friday is our first spirit day, Dress Like YOUR Favorite Book Character! Plus we have an exciting, secret all school assembly on Friday!

Walk & Bike to School Week October 5-8

The Mann Green Team invites you to join us for "Walk and Bike to School Week" from October 5-8th. This week is planned toencourage being active, safe, green, and healthy! Students who walk or bike to school will be rewarded with stamps and stickers on their way in to school grounds. Other fun planned activities include the following:
MONDAY - Wear RED for transportation safety!

TUESDAY - Wear BLUE for water conservation!

• Students can earn a raffle ticket by running or walking during recess.
• The Oak Park Public Library Book Bike will be visiting after school to allow students to check out fantastic books and participate in fun activities.

WEDNESDAY - Wear GREEN for reducing waste and being GREEN!

• Mann Community Walk-a-Thon before school will be from 7:30-7:50AM. All Mann families are invited to join us inwalking around the Mann track. Mrs. Garcia will be recording our group mileage and there will be music, chalk, and fun before school! Rain date will be on Thursday.

THURSDAY - Wear your favorite sports shirt or jersey!

• Officer Coleman from the Oak Park Police Department will be visiting during school hours to discuss "Safe Routes toSchool."
• The Oak Park Public Library Book Bike will be returning after school to allow students to check out fantastic books and participate in fun activities.

*Please support those who donated for this week: The Park District of Oak Park, Forevermore Dance and Theatre Arts, and Green Home Experts.


Thank you! Please contact the Green Team Co-Chairs with any questions:
Saritha Reddy (sarithagreddy@yahoo.com) and Mary Ann Bender-Coates (maryannbender@comcast.net)


Author Visit Lisa Graff October 8

As you probably know, we are reading The Thing About Georgie by Lisa Graff as a class read aloud right now! The kids beg me to read more chapters each day! We are so lucky to have author Lisa Graff come to Mann to talk about her books and the writing process on October 8th.

Magic Tree Bookstore will also provide us with books for her to sign for your child if you want to purchase one.

Please send in this form and a check, payable to MANN PTO, to the attention of Mrs. Rolfes by next Friday, 9/25th if you care to buy a book for your child. This purchase is completely optional and whether or not you choose to buy the book will have no impact on your child's experience with Lisa Graff.

Lots of Updates!!!

MAP Testing

I wanted to let you know there was a slight change to our Reading MAP test times.  We will now be testing on Thursday 9/17 from 12:30 to 1:45pm.  

iPads

Please make sure iPads are coming to and from school each day, and that they are being fully charged each night.  

Currently students are using their iPads to complete their Selfie Missions.  Please see my "Selfie Project" tab above for more details.  There is a district wide issue with the Google Slides app, among others, crashing; please use Keynote if you are having trouble with Google Slides.  Remember, have fun and be creative!  Be sure to look at the grading rubric to know what Mrs. Chrystall is grading you on!  The projects are due on Monday! I can't wait to see them! 

Vocabulary
Each week, students will complete vocabulary activities based on specific roots (combination of schoolwork and homework).

By the end of the week, students will need to know the meaning of the root, and be able to provide a sentence using a word with the specific root.

Unit 1:
1. Aqua = water
He loved to watch the fish swim back and forth in theaquarium.
2. Hydr = water
Marathon runners can become dehydrated during a race if they do not drink enough water.
3. Mar/Mer= sea
We looked out the marina watching the sailboats come and go.

Student Council Application 
This is a great way to get involved in making Mann an even better place!  Please fill out the application if you are interested!  

MannPower After-School
** I highly recommend Board Games Galore & Yoga for the little ones! I hear they have a fabulous teacher (shameless plug for my Mann Power classes ;)

Registration is NOW open
and ENDS Sunday, September 20 at 2:00 PM
Session I runs from September 28 through December 11. The Program Guide is attached to this email as a PDF and is now available on the Mann PTO Website at http://www.mannpto.org/mannpower.php.

To update your child’s teacher information or to setup your “Family Account”, please visit the online registration site atmannschool.classtrackonline.com. Instructions for setting up your Family Account are listed both on the registration site and the PTO Website. Returning families should continue to use their current accounts.


Click here for the MannPower Program Guide.

Please note that Cast Jr will be held on Mondays!

ALL MannPower questions should be sent to Mann.Power@live.com

Curriculum Night Presentation & Recording

Character Traits Introduction with Ormie the Pig

Characters are the reason we fall in love with books and movies!  We learn so much about their character traits through not only what they say, but what they do.  Today we started exploring the character traits of "Ormie the Pig."  He is quite possibly the most endearing, cutest pig I have ever seen.  I love his perseverance, drive and creativeness!  We will continue to develop this skill in our reading and writing this trimester!



Check out the quick padlet we did with the character traits of Ormie and some evidence of these that we observed through his actions.

Created with Padlet

Want smart kids?!? Here's the secret to it!

Thanks for joining us at curriculum night tonight! Here is the article I mentioned during the presentation! I'm so looking forward to a wonderful year working together! 

"The Secret to Raising Smart Kids" is a great article by Carol Dweck that explains growth mindset in more detail and gives tips for parents. Please take some time to read this article! Let me know what you thought of it!

Happy First Week!!

What a fun first week of school! I am loving the quality of work and the effort I am seeing from these kiddos! It really makes Mrs. Chrystall smile!  It has been so wonderful getting to know all of these great personalities in our classroom through Mystery Bags, Bio Poems, Flying Disks, The Best Part of Me, and so much more (ask your child about these first week of school activities and writing pieces). I am so looking forward to seeing all the parents and showing off our classroom filled with our fabulous student work at Curriculum Night next week! Remember it is Thursday 9/10. There will be a "Classroom Open House" from 6-6:30 and then we will present as a team in the auditorium from 6:30-7. I hope you can all make it!  This year, we will be filming our presentation to post on our blog for those not able to make it! 

For MAP testing, I added a tab at the top of my blog that has our testing dates and times.  We will also write a note in our planners as a reminder the night before.    

First Day of School SELFIE!!  

Welcome Back: Whole School Assembly! 

The Fun 4th Grade Team

Thank you to our first fabulous mystery reader!  The kids loved the funny short story from Homer Price.  

The Word of the Day: Neuroplasticity

Today we watched two short, interesting videos: Neuroplasticity and The Learning Brain.  Parents, I suggest taking a few minutes to watch these videos and discuss them with your child!  This is powerful knowledge for the kids to get their hands on!

We also read a fantastic article, "You Can Grow Your Intelligence."  This article was involved in a rather interesting research study that I read many  years ago and it had marvelous effects on student effort and growth!  

Finally parents, if you have the time (this is a longer one), give this article a read: New Research: Students Benefit from Learning That Intelligence Is Not Fixed!  I find this all fascinating and I hope you do too! 


Thanks for your support from home :)