CAC PV 5th Grade

In just four weeks, we’ll kickoff the 2019-2020 school year— and I can’t wait! After serving in an administrative role at the secondary campus for the past six years, I’m excited to return to the classroom for a year as I prepare to transition to the principal role at the North Little Rock CAC Elementary campus

As I’m transitioning roles, this has been a busy summer! In addition to wrapping up things on Mustang Mountain, I’ve also been preparing for next year. I’m in the process of adding the necessary 4th-8th grade teacher certification endorsements and have taken four of my Praxis exams. I’ve spent quite a bit of time reviewing the 5th grade curriculum and beginning to map out the school year, and as I think about managing an elementary classroom, I’ve had fun re-reading books like Essential 55 (by Ron Clark), Tools for Teaching (by Fred Jones), Cooperative Learning (by Dr. Spencer Kagan), and The First Day of School (by Harry Wong).

Honestly, though, the most beneficial book I’ve read this summer is one my kids picked out for me:

Even though this will be my first year to teach 5th grade, I’m confident the ten years I spent in the classroom teaching 8th and 9th grade English prior to being a administrator will certainly help. Don’t get me wrong— I still have a lot to learn, but I’m looking forward to it! I know I’ll do some things right and I know I’ll mess up, too. I just ask that you be patient with me as I learn. If there are times that you have concerns, I hope you’ll feel comfortable reaching out to me and letting me know. I’ll do my best to communicate as much as I can so you know what’s going on in class and how your child is doing.

One way I’ll keep you informed is through a weekly memo. A link will be emailed each week and it can also be found here. The template of the memo (while subject to change) can be found here. If you can think of other information that would be helpful to include on the weekly memo, share it with me and I’ll consider adding it.

In addition to the weekly memo, I also created a Classroom Resource Page. I’ve added some helpful resources already (the supply list and the textbooks we’ll be using), and I’ll continue to update the page as we progress through the year. A link to the resource page will always be at the bottom of the weekly memo.

There are so many other things I could share with you, but I’ll wrap this up for now.

I hope you have a great four weeks of summer!

Sincerely,

Jordan Collier