Things You Are Excited About

Good Morning 4th Graders,

In your survey, you created a cool list of things you are excited about.  They were:

No lines - Yeah, when you are dismissed from one class, you are responsible for getting yourself to the next one.  You need to still follow rules like quiet voices, no running, and keeping hands to yourself, but 5th graders are pretty ready to handle this all on their own. 

Playing soccer - Kids play a lot of soccer at recess!

Lockers - See earlier posts, but yes, you'll get a school locker in the Commons Area outside of your team classroom, and a PE locker in the locker room adjacent to the gym.  They are exciting, and you can personalize them a bit with photos and magnets.    

More independence! - Yes, you'll get much more independence in middle school, but with independence comes responsibility, and you'll be responsible for making good decisions while being in charge of yourself around the building.  There will be adult supervision when you transition from place to place, so know that even if we aren't walking you in a line, we're still keeping an eye on safety.    

Seeing my 5th-grade friends - You'll see a lot of the current 5th graders as their lockers will be in the same area as yours.  The Dream and Quest teams are on one side of the building and the Wizards and Knights teams are on the others.  The Knights and Quest 6th graders (current 5th) will be happy to see you!

I was excited about the chocolate milk but that seems like it's not going to happen. - I am sure we'll be back at school at some point, so don't count that chocolate milk out yet!

New friends to make - Starting middle school will be one of the opportunities you get in life to start fresh, reinvent yourself, or change the way that people view you.  You have a clean slate walking in our doors, so if you are trying to work on new friendships, being more outgoing, or even just choosing to be more accountable, this will be a great time to start!

I am excited that there is more than one teacher! - Changing classrooms throughout the day does make it fun, and gives you a few changes of pace at various points.  I think that the days fly by this way!

To have lots of different teachers - Including core teachers, you'll have at least 9 different teachers to meet.  You won't work with them all at the same time, but it will be great to get to know them all!   You'll have 2 core teachers, 2 PE teachers, 2 world language teachers, an art teacher, a music teacher, and a sustainability teacher.  You may also choose to take band than that would add Mr. Liptak to your roster of awesome teachers! 

Going to a different school and moving up a grade - New opportunities, new you!  Yeah!

Classes, lockers, the teachers, new friends, my house is super close to Crossett. - So much to be excited about!!  We are equally as excited to welcome you all, and to have you experience all these new things!

Taking Spanish class - You'll have Spanish for one half of the year and French for the other half.  You'll do that same thing in 6th grade, and then in 7th grade, you'll pick which one you want to focus on for the remainder of your time in Middle School. 

Having a new school! - We love having new students!

New school new library; new teachers - Mrs. Hill our Librarian is awesome, here books are awesome, and her space is awesome!  You'll love seeing her around the building.  The 5th-grade teachers are awesome too!  If I had to choose between the Wizards Team and the Dream Team...I couldn't!!  They are both so cool and you'll love where ever you land!

NOTHING - I hope we can change your mind!  CBMS is a pretty awesome place and it will be even more awesome with you in it!

I am excited that I see all the different kids in different classes and not all the same kids in one classroom. - Yes, your traveling groups will change at times.  You won't always be with the same groups of kiddos!

Being in a new place to learn about and explore - Lots to learn here, for sure!

The musical - Mrs. Dubois does a great job directing the musical!  I wonder what it will be next year?  This past year it was High School Musical Junior and the year before that is was ELF Jr. 

Being able to have lockers (although I can't open combination locks!) - It won't take you long to learn, and teachers will help you practice!

I also thought you might like to hear Maisy's answers to your questions about 5th grade.  Here was her note to you:  

Questions: What does it feel like being in middle school? A days and B days, how do you use a locker lock? Are we going to still have recess? Lunch questions, Band and chorus How long are most of your classes? Do we get our own lockers? what do you think when theirs going to be a test I would ask them what team I am on but they wouldn't know that! how large is the school(I mean the number of students) Is it hard to get to all of your classes? where are the classrooms?

Answers: I will be answering these in one email (each paragraph is a different color)

How it feels being in middle school, It's kind of like Thatcher brook but with a little bit of more freedom, for example, we walk the halls without a line. So if you want to talk with your friends in line just find them and chat BUT if your teacher said to stay quiet do it, usually, you can talk with a normal indoor voice unless if people are working. Also about lockers, They are pretty easy to get into, how though is kind of hard to explain so I'll do the best I can,  you twist left until you find your first number, then you turn right all in a complete circle and find your number, then turn left again and pull up on the green piece of metal below the lock You do get your own lockers. Music, for those of you who don't like singing you are in luck. Chorus is the only place for singing so if you sign up for chorus then that will be the only singing place. in music you do ukulele, Something called soundtrap where you make your own music, Piano, and sometimes a guitar. You are NOT forced to join chorus OR band. Band is really fun I think. You decide what instrument you want out of a flute, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, and Euphonium which is like a miniature tuba you have lessons with the teacher and other people. But you have to remember the time and day and your instrument that's one of the things to remember to do. P.S: chorus and band are on opposite days. A days and B days, everyone in 5th grade has A days and B days. It means this: let's say Today is an A day and tomorrow is a B-day and For you, A-days are P.E. days and B-days are world language days. Tomorrow You would either have French or Spanish witch ever one the office puts you in you would go to P.E. today and world language tomorrow.  Yes yes It is not a lie there is chocolate milk here and it is delicious. Now, anyway, recess, we only have a 15-minute recess if you 1.  Finnish eating fast and its time to go out or 2. when you can stay in and chat with your friends.How long classes are. I'd say 1 hour. Some classes like chorus and band are 40 minutes so not quite 1 hour. Also on the subject of classes, those of you who need people like Mrs. Hanson or Mrs. Tomson have people to work with, don't worry. They are so kind. Their classes are 30 minutes. How I feel when a test is coming. Well if its a pre-test I think Well I'll try my best. And if it's a post-test I think well I just had a whole unit and I will do great. I would ask what team I'm on even though I don't know which one I'm on. I will say that whichever team you're on it will be great. I do have to tell you guys that me and my best friend were put on different teams and we're still really close but we have different a lot more friends. whichever team you're put on will give you lots of friends old and new. I would say that there are about 200-300 kids in the school. It's not very hard to get to different classes because usually, they're just in two classrooms that are next to each other. Math and science are I one classroom and reading and social studies are in the other so it's pretty easy to get to those. where your classes are. That's a bit difficult to answer because we both don't know what team you will be on so I'll give you directions to both of them. To get to dream and quest pretend you're in the main entrance. Walk past the stairs and follow that hallway. you will see a ramp. Don't go up that. that's the band and chorus rooms. Keep walking and you will see something called a commons area. There should be 2 doors one to the right and one to the left and there you go. turn right for dream turn left for Quest. For knights and Wizards, you are back at the main entrance, go right and walk down that kind of zigzaggy hallway, and then you will get to a commons area. Chromebooks are a big part of middle school so you will get your own. You will be able to put stickers on it but I don't know how many you can put I don't know. For us, it was 3 so don't listen to what I say about stickers. The tec office will answer that when they give you the video about them.

I wish that you will have a nice first year at CBMS.

Have a nice day,

Maisy 

Thanks for reading this week, 4th graders! I hope you have a great weekend!

Mrs. Hempey