Dear Families,

I’m very excited to start the school year with you tomorrow and hope that you are excited as well.  Sometimes our excitement can be tempered by the anxiety we feel about starting something new.  I want everyone to know that we will be having a very relaxed day tomorrow, so please don’t worry.  When students enter the building they will come right to the classroom, room 151 in the Lighthouse.  Once they’ve arrived, students will get to pick their seat and start on a word search that includes every students’ name.  Throughout the course of the day, we will participate in P. E., attend a 4th grade assembly and play some games to help us get to know our classmates.

 

Our Unified Arts schedule this year is as follows:

Monday: Library or Guidance (2nd and 4th quarters)

Tuesday: Music or Art (2nd and 4th quarters)

Wednesday: P.E.

Thursday: Music or Art (2nd and 4th quarters)

Friday: P.E.

Lunch daily: 12:55

 

You’ll notice that our lunch time is pretty late in the day.  As a result, we will be playing around with our snack time to see what works best for students.  The first day of school is pizza day if your child would like hot lunch.

 

See you tomorrow,

Mr. Cheney

Joseph.Cheney@colchestersd.org 

Dear Families,

On Thursday, we will be walking to Bayside Park around 11:00 (give or take 30min) to play games and eat lunch.  Although there will not be any swimming, students should still bring a change of clothes, sunblock, snacks, a cold lunch, and activities to play while at the park.  We will play a game of super soaker, so please bring them if you have them.  Students may only get people wet that choose to play in the game.  Anyone that uses a super soaker outside of the rules I outline will have their soaker taken away (I will have some soakers available for kids that don’t have one).

We’d love to have parents join us if they’re free.  We usually start the festivities on the baseball fields behind the basketball court and work our way toward the pavilion.  If there is anyone that can volunteer to meet us at the parking lot adjacent to the baseball fields with a few coolers of water, that would be greatly appreciated (if this is something you can do, please email me).

Lastly, if the weather is bad or students have finished their work, we may watch some Roald Dahl movies to complement the reading we’ve done of Roald Dahl’s books.

Thank you,

Mr. Cheney

Dear Families,

This is just a friendly reminder that our Cardboard Arcade will be tomorrow, Thursday, June 6, from 2:00-2:45.  We hope to see you then!

 

Thanks,
Mr. Cheney

Dear Families,

We have just enough chaperones to make our field trip work on Monday.  A big thanks to the parents and grandparents that carved out time to join us.

 

Thank you,

Mr. Cheney

 

Dear Families,

We are in danger of cancelling our field trip to Shelburne Museum.  At this point we only have 2 chaperones.  We need at least 3 more.  If we don’t get 3 more chaperones by tomorrow, I’ll write another post letting you know of our decision to cancel the Shelburne Museum trip.

Thanks,
Mr. Cheney

Dear Families,

We only have 2 volunteers to be chaperones for our upcoming field trip to the Shelburne Museum on Monday, June 3.  We need at least 3 more chaperones.  Please email me and let me know that you can chaperone.

Joseph.cheney@colchestersd.org 

Thanks You,

Mr. Cheney

Dear Families,

We struggled with our behavior today.  It’s that point in the year where kids start to look out the window and yearn to get onto the sunny playground.  I try to oblige that desire once or twice a day and give kids some extra time to run around outside.  In order to get that time on the playground, I do require kids to at least attempt some of the work put in front of them.  Today, we had a couple students jump up on the counter and hang their feet out the window, because they hadn’t done their work and were going to have to stay inside until they got it started.  If you could take a minute tonight to express your feelings about that behavior with your child it would be appreciated.

 

We have a field trip to the Shelburne Museum scheduled for Monday, June 3.  In order to make this a reality, we need 7-8 chaperones.  Please fill out your child’s permission slip and consider volunteering to chaperone.  Parents or grandparents that complete a background check are welcome to attend.

 

Thank you,

Mr. Cheney

Dear Families,

Students have been participating in the Long Trail Walk / Marathon challenge and will continue to do so for 2 weeks.  Any student that is able to walk a marathon (26.2 miles) in the two weeks will get a reward of a candy bar of their choice (please don’t tell my wife, she’s a dental hygienist).  Most kids have walked 5 miles in the two days we’ve had school this week.  In order to give everyone the opportunity to complete the challenge and get the reward, parents may walk the trail after school with their children and email me the number of laps they complete, or walk around your neighborhood with your children and email me the distance you walked.  Additionally, next week, any time a parent comes in to visit we will stop what we’re doing and walk with that parent for 10 minutes.  Parents are welcome to come in any time from 9:40 – 12:10, and again from 1:10 – 2:40.

Thanks,
Mr. Cheney

Dear Families,

Your children were outstanding this week.  I was a little worried with field trips on back to back days, but this class was amazing.  They were actually the best behaved class I’ve ever taken on these two field trips.  They were polite, cleaned up after themselves, focused on the tour guides, and answered all of the tour guides questions with 90% accuracy.  They were great representatives for Colchester!

Please enjoy the pictures posted on Twitter by clicking on the link to the left.  Once there, click on latest, and you should see pictures from yesterday and today.

Thanks,
Mr. Cheney

 

Dear Families,

Students should wear their Lighthouse shirts on our field trips Thursday and Friday.  Usually, I’d ask that students wear their Lighthouse shirts to school during our all school meeting on Wednesday, but I’d prefer to save them for our field trips.  The weather on Thursday and Friday looks iffy at best, so please send students in with a raincoat or umbrella.  Students should bring a cold lunch, snacks, and a drink in an unbreakable container.  Students may also bring activities for the bus including electronics as long as the songs and games are rated “E” for everyone.   We will not be going to any gift shops, so please don’t send your child with money.  If you are a chaperone and wish to buy something, please keep your purchase as quiet as possible.

Thank you,

Mr. Cheney