Mr. Blanc's Class

Thanks to everyone who made it to Back to School Night. I feel lucky to work at a school with such supportive families! Students will have their first spelling packet and reading logs due on Monday, 9/21. They will also be tested on their spelling words that day. In math students will be working on a lesson each day. If a lesson is not finished in class, students are expected to complete it at home and return it to school the following day. Here is a great resource for helping your student with their math homework  http://www.oakdale.k12.ca.us/ENY_Hmwk_Intro_Math .  Next week we will be focusing on comparing and rounding multi-digit whole numbers. If your student is completing their math at school and you want them to work on math at home, have them do Moby Max  https://www.mobymax.com/or1248 . Each student's username is their first name followed by 2015. Make sure to use all lower case letters and leave no space between the name and the year. The password for everyone ...

The first week of school was terrific! We accomplished my three main goals for the week, which were to (1) get to know each other, (2) make sure each student understands the classroom expectations, and (3) get some baseline data on student present levels in reading, writing, spelling, and math. I am hoping to finish collecting the baseline data next week as well as begin with some of the curriculum. The best way that I know how to improve student performance in reading is to have them read. In an effort to encourage students to read, they will be bringing home a Weekly Reading Log beginning this Monday. These will be sent home each Monday, and are due the following Monday. The expectation for the beginning of the year is that students read at least 30 minutes on four separate days within a seven day span. After the students have completed their reading they will write a brief summary to demonstrate comprehension of what they read that day. This week in class we talked a...

Today was an awesome start to the school year! I have three goals for our class this week (1) I want us to get to know each other, (2) I want to make sure that we know and understand the classroom rules and expectations, and (3) I want to get some baseline data on where students are at in reading, writing, and math. Today we made great progress towards the three first week goals. Today the students will be coming home with a First Day packet that was put together by the office. There are some items in the packet that need to be signed and sent back to school. Tomorrow I will be sending home information about my classroom management plan. I'm sending it tomorrow so hopefully, you won't feel too overwhelmed by paperwork. I'm really looking forward to working with the students in this class! If you ever have any questions, please, don't hesitate to send me an email.

Hello! The purpose of this blog is to communicate with families about the events in Mr. Blanc's class. Research shows that when students talk to their parents about school they perform better. When students are asked broad questions about school such as, "What did you learn today?" they often give one word answers like "Nothing." This blog can be a valuable tool to help families facilitate meaningful discussion with their child by giving them specific things to talk about. Please contact me anytime you have any questions or concerns. I look forward to getting to know my new students and their families!

I can't believe we are down to the last week of school! This group of students has been such a treat to work with. They are kind to each other, work hard, and lots of fun. It'll be difficult to say goodbye to such great kids, but I'm glad they won't be far away next year.  Another big part of this being such a great year was the family support this class has received. Thank you to all of the volunteers that helped students with math, reading, art lit, and class parties. Thank you for supporting me by making school work a priority, communicating the needs of your child, and addressing student behaviors at home. It has been wonderful to work with such supportive families! Speaking of volunteers. Since our routine will change during our last week of school, we won't need any classroom volunteers to come next week. Thanks again to everyone who gave their time this year!  On Thursday each student brought home an informational paper about an upcoming health les...

Hopefully your student told you all about our field trip to the State Capitol Building in Salem last week. Make sure to take a look at the previous blog post for pictures from the trip. Thanks again to all of the chaperones that volunteered their time to make the trip possible! Next week in math we will be finishing Module 7. It looks like we should be taking the End of Module Assessment on Wednesday. On Tuesday students will take a practice test that covers all of the material from the module. You can help your child prepare for their test by going over their practice test with them on Tuesday evening. Expect your student to bring home their scored test on Thursday. Each child will be coming home today with their final multiplication fact fluency test. In red ink you will see the number of correct problems they answered in 4 minutes. In black ink you will see the number of problems they correctly answered on this same test during the first week of school. The students should be pr...

We had a great field trip today! Some of the highlights you should ask your student about include: Getting acknowledged on the Senate Floor Walking up 121 steps to the Observation Tower Running into Governor Brown two times Enjoy the pictures!