What a fabulous FIRST DAY of school!

I absolutely loved meeting all my students today and I am really looking forward to a wonderful school year! I have included the presentation of all the information the students received today and the activities we completed today for your reference (it also has the HW listed at the end).  Be sure to review and sign you child's planner tonight and each night for the rest of the school year. :)

Fill out the iLearn form electronically or a paper version will be sent home later this week.

Parents, be sure to fill out my parent input form if you have not yet.  I will use this information to create a parent email group from the year and the questions help me teach your child.

Don't forget Curriculum Night is on Wednesday, September 7th.

Thanks so much for your continued support from home!  Email me if you have any questions!

Welcome back to a new school year!!

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 Coconuts who are now big-shot 5th graders (maybe even some of my Chrystall Miners who are off to Julian this year)! Hopefully everyone will be at the Back to School Picnic on Thursday, August 57 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.....

A year ago, my husband and I bought a house in Chicago that is over 100 years old and we have been working our way through DIY videos on Youtube to fix it up.  This summer was filled with projects around the home; including moving into our master bedroom on our top floor that we spent a year gut rehabbing ourselves.  

Our first little home on the day we bought it (June 2015)!  Chicago, IL 

Our house today!  Still lots of work to do, but we are getting there :)

For a few weeks in July & August, we boarded a plane and headed to Europe to visit family and see some new sights. Mr. Chrystall's brother & wife (Greg & Natasa) live in Stockholm, Sweden so that is where we spent most of our time!  It was great touring the city with locals and spending time with family!  We also spent a few nights in Norway exploring the beautiful fjords!

Boat tour of Sognefjord in Norway.  #stunning  It was a cold and rainy day so we had to wear these fabulous red jumpsuits!   

Bergen, Norway

On top of Mount Floyen in Norway. 

Yayoi Kusama exhibit at Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden. 

Stockholm city.  Water everywhere! 

Mr. Chrystall, Me, Greg & Natasa (Mr. Chrystall's brother & his wife)

Exploring in Norway! 

At the archipelago in Sweden. 

Swedish castle.

Besides working on our house and traveling, we spent a lot of time playing with our puppy, Nell and working on our gardening skills!  Tomatoes are one of my favorite foods so I absolutely love growing them!  

Nell at Montrose Dog Beach! 

To my new students and parents:

I have an "About Me" section on my blog, 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! I promise! 

What we learned at The Grove...

Be sure to follow me on Twitter @MrsChrystall to see all our photos from the day!

Perpendicular Padlet

Created with Padlet

Mystery Skype Report

Written by our Mystery Skype reporter, Lauren, from Mrs. D's class:   

"Today we did a mystery Skype with a third grade class. They asked us questions and we answered then we switched. Using only yes/no questions we determined they were in North Carolina by asking the question "is your state Capitol Raleigh" they said yes. Then they figured out that our state was Illinois  and then we told them a little bit about where we live and they did the same. I think all the Daredevils and Coconuts had a blast."

Rube Goldberg Machine Videos

While half of the class was at chorus, we worked with Mrs. Diviacchi's class to explore force, energy and simple machines by making Rube Goldberg Machines!  Here are videos of their failures and successes!  Enjoy!


Here is the presentation I created for this project to learn more about Rube Goldberg and the scientific principals involved.

Fun Facts about Illinois

Today the kids read all kinds of interesting facts about our state, Illinois. Then we made a poster of all our favorite random facts!